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.
Discussion:
Hot Air, The PJ Tatler 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
Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Scarborough: I've Never Heard Anyone Object To Obamacare Over Race (VIDEO) — Joe Scarborough said Friday that he doesn't understand what evidence Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has to back up his claim that opposition to President Barack Obama's signature health care law is driven by his race.
Discussion:
Mediaite, Hot Air, Politico and U.S. Senate Committee …
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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:
Washington Monthly, CBS News, Patterico's Pontifications, Liberal Values, American Spectator, Mediaite, Power Line, BuzzFeed and CNN
J.D. Gordon / Fox News:
Al Qaeda terrorists at Guantanamo treated better than our vets — President Obama finally addressed the nation Wednesday about the growing scandal at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. After meeting with VA Secretary Eric Shinseki he pledged to hold folks accountable. — Thanks, Mr. President.
Discussion:
Real Clear Politics
Gregg Zoroya / USA Today:
Shinseki pledges to fix VA's problems
Shinseki pledges to fix VA's problems
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation, National Review, Hot Air and Politico
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, Re/code, The Verge, The Daily Caller and Techdirt
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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, Shakesville, Daily Kos, Hit & Run, TalkLeft, Mashable and Los Angeles Times
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, Booman Tribune and New York Times
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
2 more face charges in Cochran photo case
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Scared Monkeys, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and RedState
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:
CNN, Patterico's Pontifications, ThinkProgress and abc30.com
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, The Week and Talking Points Memo
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
Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:
Ralph Nader and Grover Norquist: Washington's Most Unlikely Bromance — If even these political opposites can agree on a few things, is there possibly hope that Washington can still align to get things done? — When you think of the funniest personalities in Washington, Ralph Nader doesn't spring to mind.
Discussion:
Yahoo! News
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:
Scripting News, Althouse, Balloon Juice, Mashable, Mediaite, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Gigaom, Poynter and Unfogged, more at Mediagazer »
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:
The Gateway Pundit, PoliticusUSA, The Lonely Conservative, 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
Cincinnati.com:
Cincinnati out for 2016 GOP convention … WASHINGTON—Cincinnati officials withdrew the city's bid to host the 2016 GOP convention because the U.S. Bank Arena does not meet the necessary specifications, the city's host committee announced on Thursday. — John Barrett, president and CEO …
Discussion:
OnPolitics, New York Times and ABC News
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