Top Items:
Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:
Barack Obama's early VA response: Executive inaction — President Barack Obama wants to talk about flexing his administrative and executive power to do more. Instead, he got stuck talking about a clear administrative and executive failure that, at least so far, he hasn't done much about.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Towleroad News #gay and The Hill
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate Dems close ranks on VA — Senate Democrats are closing ranks behind Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and President Obama's decision to keep him in the cabinet despite Republican calls for his ouster. — As of Thursday afternoon, not a single Democratic senator had called for Shinseki's resignation.
Gregg Zoroya / USA Today:
Shinseki pledges to fix VA's problems — WASHINGTON — VA Secretary Eric Shinseki issued a message to veterans Thursday defending his leadership and promising to fix delays in care that have rocked his agency and the Obama administration in recent days. — The 71-year-old head of the Department …
Discussion:
National Review, The Heritage Foundation, Hot Air and Politico
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Schumer: Obama will act on immigration if GOP doesn't — Senate Democratic leaders say President Obama will act unilaterally to reform the nation's immigration system if House Republicans fail to pass legislation by the end of July. — “They have about a six-week window …
Discussion:
Instapundit, CBS News and The Moderate Voice
The Clarion-Ledger:
MS Tea Party vice chairman arrested in Cochran case — UPDATED: Madison city court officials say that Mark Mayfield will appear before a judge today. — Also, attorney Kevin Camp, who represents Clayton Kelly, said two more arrests either have been or will be made in addition to Mayfield.
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Scott Simmons / WAPT Channel 16:
2 more face charges in Cochran photo case — Kelly to appear in court — There have been more arrests in a case involving pictures taken without permission of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's wife. — 16 WAPT's Scott Simmons has learned that two people are facing charges in connection with the case.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and RedState
New York Times:
A Surveillance Bill That Falls Short — A year ago, it would have been unimaginable for the House to pass a bill to curtail the government's abusive surveillance practices. The documents leaked by Edward Snowden, however, finally shocked lawmakers from both parties into action …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Daily Kos, NPR and Re/code
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Dustin Volz / NationalJournal.com:
Google, Facebook Warn NSA Bill Wouldn't Stop Mass Surveillance
Google, Facebook Warn NSA Bill Wouldn't Stop Mass Surveillance
Discussion:
Washington Post, emptywheel, Techdirt, Engadget, New York Times and Booman Tribune
Spencer Ackerman / Guardian:
NSA reform bill loses backing from privacy advocates after major revisions
NSA reform bill loses backing from privacy advocates after major revisions
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Justin Amash, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, TalkLeft, The Verge, The Daily Caller, Mashable, Los Angeles Times and Sunlight Foundation Blog
James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:
Not long ago, the left raved about the VA. — The unfolding scandal at the Veterans Health Administration was enough to drive the earnest liberals at Vox.com to mild profanity, and in a headline no less: “What the Hell Is Happening at the VA?” Here's the answer: … Damn.
Discussion:
Liberal Values, American Spectator, Mediaite, Power Line, BuzzFeed, CNN, American Prospect and Washington Post
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J.D. Gordon / Fox News:
Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo treated better than our vets
Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo treated better than our vets
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Jason Leopold / Guardian:
Pentagon report: scope of intelligence compromised by Snowden ‘staggering’ — A top-secret Pentagon report to assess the damage to national security from the leak of classified National Security Agency documents by Edward Snowden concluded that “the scope of the compromised knowledge related …
Discussion:
Prairie Weather, Firedoglake, emptywheel and Hot Air
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Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
NBC News's Brian Williams interviews Snowden, Greenwald
NBC News's Brian Williams interviews Snowden, Greenwald
Discussion:
The Huffington Post
Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
NBC News To Sit Down With Snowden For First American TV Interview
NBC News To Sit Down With Snowden For First American TV Interview
Discussion:
The Week and The Huffington Post
Jonathan Karl / ABC News:
White House Contacted YouTube During Benghazi Attack, Darrell Issa Says — A still-classified State Department e-mail says that one of the first responses from the White House to the Benghazi attack was to contact YouTube to warn of the “ramifications” of allowing the posting of an anti-Islamic video …
Discussion:
PoliticusUSA, The Lonely Conservative, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Liberaland and The PJ Tatler
Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Eric Cantor stresses support for legalization measure — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Wednesday stressed his support for a legalization measure for young undocumented immigrants in the military, after he was criticized by advocates who see him as the main obstacle to immigration reform.
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Caller, Hot Air and Washington Post
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Kate Nocera / BuzzFeed:
Senate Democrats Will Probably Block Military DREAMers Measure From Defense Bill
Senate Democrats Will Probably Block Military DREAMers Measure From Defense Bill
Discussion:
Hot Air and The Daily Caller
Mike Hudack / Facebook:
Please allow me to rant for a moment about the state of the media. — It's well known that CNN has gone from the network of Bernie Shaw, John Holliman, and Peter Arnett reporting live from Baghdad in 1991 to the network of kidnapped white girls. Our nation's newspapers have …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, Mashable, Mediaite, Gawker, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Poynter, Gigaom and Unfogged, more at Mediagazer »
CNN:
Las Vegas, Cincinnati out of the mix for 2016 GOP convention — (CNN) - Las Vegas and Cincinnati withdrew bids to host the 2016 GOP convention, the Republican National Committee announced Thursday. — Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, and Kansas City are still in contention to host the convention …
Discussion:
Politico
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Cincinnati.com:
Cincinnati out for 2016 GOP convention
Cincinnati out for 2016 GOP convention
Discussion:
OnPolitics, New York Times and ABC News
Noemie Emery / Weekly Standard:
They Had a Dream — Rule by experts comes a cropper — They had a dream. For almost a hundred years now, the famed academic-artistic-and-punditry industrial complex has dreamed of a government run by their kind of people (i.e., nature's noblemen), whose intelligence, wit, and refined sensibilities would bring us a heaven on earth.
Discussion:
The Other McCain and Roger L. Simon
Los Angeles Times:
Mark Cuban discusses his own prejudices in startling terms — It turns out, regarding race-related views among NBA owners, Donald Sterling may have company. — Less than a month after Sterling rocked the sports world with racist remarks, Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has openly acknowledged his own prejudices.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Patterico's Pontifications and abc30.com