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 and The PJ Tatler
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:
No More Mister Nice Blog and BizPac Review
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Schumer: Obama will act on immigration if GOP doesn't
Schumer: Obama will act on immigration if GOP doesn't
Discussion:
Instapundit, CBS News, The Moderate Voice and Politico
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
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:
Shakesville, CNN, ThinkProgress and abc30.com
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Ramona Shelburne / ESPN:
Shelly Sterling to negotiate sale — Disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has agreed to allow his wife, Shelly, to negotiate a forced sale of the team, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN. — Shelly Sterling and her lawyers have been negotiating with the NBA since …
Mark Cuban / USA Today:
'I'm bigoted in a lot of different ways'
'I'm bigoted in a lot of different ways'
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler, Tennessean.com, bet.com, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Morning Plum: Obama slams ‘false equivalence’ media — At a fundraiser last night, President Obama unleashed a surprisingly spirited and comprehensive attack on both-sides-to-blame media coverage. While he has taken issue with Beltway coverage before, what was particularly noteworthy …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, NBC News, Balloon Juice, Booman Tribune, NPR, Outside the Beltway and Talking Points Memo
Amanda Marcotte / Salon:
How right-wingers are amping up their war on science — From climate change to reproduction, Republicans are increasingly deciding “science” is whatever they say it is — No longer content just to claim to be “skeptical” of scientific findings they find disagreeable …
Discussion:
National Review
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.
Not long ago, the left raved about the VA.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, CBS News, neo-neocon, Patterico's Pontifications, Liberal Values, American Spectator, Mediaite, Power Line and BuzzFeed
John Fund / National Review:
The Hard Sell on Climate Change — Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN, was very forthright about his media priorities at a Society of Professional Journalists dinner in New York City on Monday. — He told Bill Carter of the New York Times: “Climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, that we all talk about.
Rasmussen Reports:
Georgia Senate: Nunn (D) Holds Slight Edge Over GOP Finalists — Georgia Republicans won't have a specific nominee for a couple more months, but the final two contenders are running slightly behind Democrat Michelle Nunn in Rasmussen Reports' first look at the U.S. Senate race in Georgia.
Discussion:
Outside the Beltway, Political Insider blog and Taegan Goddard's …
Ed Payne / CNN:
Tennessee brings back electric chair — Editor's note: CNN's original series “Death Row Stories” explores America's capital punishment system at 9 p.m. ET/PT Sundays, beginning July 13. Join the conversation about the death penalty at facebook.com/cnn or Twitter @CNNorigSeries using #DeathRowStories.
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys and Gawker
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Erik Schelzig / Associated Press:
Gov. Haslam signs bill to allow electric chair in Tennessee
Gov. Haslam signs bill to allow electric chair in Tennessee
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times
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:
The Hill, Washington Post, NPR, Daily Kos, 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, Hit & Run, TalkLeft, Daily Kos, 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, Booman Tribune, Engadget and New York Times
detroitnews.com:
Michigan SOS: Conyers will remain off Aug. 5 ballot — Conyers (Elizabeth Conley / The Detroit News) — U.S. Rep. John Conyers will remain off the Aug. 5 ballot after Secretary of State Ruth Johnson decided Friday that the Detroit Democrat still lacks enough valid signatures to participate in the primary election.
Discussion:
Washington Post
Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:
Did a Pennsylvania Republican Lose Because He's Openly Gay? — Mike Fleck ran unopposed three times, but appears to have been beaten by a write-in candidate after coming out in 2012. — Pennsylvania may have become the 19th state to allow same-sex couples to marry Tuesday but did it also vote …
Ronald Brownstein / NationalJournal.com:
The One Thing Each Party Needs to Overcome by 2016 — So far, neither side has made much progress toward solving its lingering challenge. — Each party emerged from the 2012 presidential election facing one key electoral challenge before the next contest in 2016.
Discussion:
Booman Tribune
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
Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:
A Response to Michael Kinsley — In 2006, Charlie Savage won the Pulitzer Prize for his series of articles in The Boston Globe exposing the Bush administration's use of “signing statements” as a means of ignoring the law. In response to those revelations, Michael Kinsley …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Freedom of the Press …, Scripting News, Power Line, Firedoglake, Eschaton and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »
Richard Rubin / Bloomberg:
IRS Will Revise Proposal on Political Nonprofit Groups — The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said today that it will revise proposed rules governing nonprofit groups' involvement in politics. — The rules, released last year, were an attempt to provide guidance for how much political …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon and The Week
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Sara Carter / TheBlaze.com:
$1 Million Bounty to Be Offered for ‘Smoking Gun’ in IRS Targeting Scandal
$1 Million Bounty to Be Offered for ‘Smoking Gun’ in IRS Targeting Scandal
Discussion:
Progressives Today and Right Wing News
Sam R. Hall / The Clarion-Ledger:
Connecting the dots: Mayfield, Sager, Mary and McDaniel — Mark Mayfield is an attorney, Madison County Republican Party leader and officer in multiple tea party organizations. — Richard Sager is an elementary school physical education teacher and high school soccer coach.
Discussion:
CNN, The Daily Caller, The Other McCain, Hot Air, The Daily Beast, The Hill, The Raw Story and Talking Points Memo
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