memeorandum: Obama to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan (Karen DeYoung/Washington Post)

9:25 AM ET, May 28, 2014

Top Items:

Kristina Wong / The Hill:

US to keep troops in Afghanistan — President Obama announced Tuesday that the U.S. will keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan, after the U.S. combat mission ends in 2014, a senior administration official said. — That number would be cut in half by the end of 2015, the official said.

Discussion: Politico and Firedoglake

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Obama to leave 9,800 U.S. troops in Afghanistan

Discussion: emptywheel, Reuters, Power Line and CNN

Fox News:
Obama announces plan to keep 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan after 2014

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Daily Surge and Washington Free Beacon

Mark Landler / New York Times:
U.S. Troops to Leave Afghanistan by End of 2016

Discussion: The Verge and Outside the Beltway

Julie Pace / ABC News:
Obama Says US Finishing the Job in Afghanistan

Discussion: Politico

Charlie Savage / New York Times:

Holder Hints Reporter May Be Spared Jail in Leak — WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. hinted Tuesday that the Justice Department might choose not to jail a New York Times reporter for defying a subpoena forcing him to discuss his confidential sources — even as the Obama …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Prairie Weather and Associated Press, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Feds seek extra redactions in drone memo — The Justice Department plans to ask a federal appeals court to delete additional material from a drone-related legal opinion before it's made public—redactions that would go beyond those the court approved last month, a government lawyer said in a legal filing Tuesday night.

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
Court Extends Curbs on the Death Penalty in a Florida Ruling

Discussion: Washington Post, SCOTUSblog and Bloomberg View

Cliff Schecter / The Daily Beast:

How the Gun Nuts Try to Excuse Away the Santa Barbara Slaughter—and Why They're All Wrong — The firearms fanboys have been more creative than usual, scrambling to defend their precious weapons in the wake of the massacre in Santa Barbara. It's only made their excuses lamer.

Discussion: NewsBusters, Washington Post, Hullabaloo and Yahoo! News

Brittney Cooper / Salon:
White guy killer syndrome: Elliot Rodger's deadly, privileged rage

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Reason, The Daily Banter, Hit & Run, Guardian, Gawker and The Daily Caller

Jeffrey Lord / American Spectator:
Gun Control Won't Stop the Next Elliot Rodger

Discussion: Right Wing News, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Mediaite

Sasha Weiss / Culture Desk:
The Power of #YesAllWomen — On Saturday night at around eight …

Discussion: Daily Dot, The Daily Beast, CNN, Daily Kos, Yahoo! News, BuzzFeed, Gawker, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Atlantic Online, New York Times and Pharyngula, more at Mediagazer »

Eric H. Cline / New York Times:

Climate Change Doomed the Ancients — THIS month, a report issued by a prominent military advisory board concluded that climate change posed a serious threat to America's national security. — The authors, 16 retired high-ranking officers, warned that droughts, rising seas and extreme weather events …

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Lane DeGregory / Tampa Bay Times:

Beverly Young: I'm running against David Jolly in '16 — Democrats failed to find a candidate to challenge Republican David Jolly for the congressional seat long held by the late C.W. Bill Young, but they may have one lined up for 2016: Beverly Young, the congressman's widow who campaigned for Jolly earlier this year.

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and BizPac Review

Paige Lavender / The Huffington Post:

Joe The Plumber: 'Your Dead Kids Don't Trump My Constitutional Rights' To Have Guns — Samuel Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, insisted the deaths of innocent people “don't trump” his constitutional rights in an open letter to the families of victims in Friday's shooting rampage near …

Discussion: New York Times and Booman Tribune

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:
Joe The Plumber To UCSB Parents: 'Your Dead Kids Don't Trump' My Guns

Discussion: Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, addictinginfo.org, Little Green Footballs, Pharyngula, Mediaite, The Week and BarbWire.com

Kyle Mantyla / Right Wing Watch:
Joe The Plumber: 'Your Dead Kids Don't Trump My Constitutional Rights'

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette

Randall Balmer / Politico:

The Real Origins of the Religious Right — They'll tell you it was abortion. Sorry, the historical record's clear: It was segregation. — One of the most durable myths in recent history is that the religious right, the coalition of conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and Ricochet

Tracy Connor / NBC News:

EXCLUSIVE: Edward Snowden Tells Brian Williams the U.S. Stranded Him in Russia — In the sit-down, Snowden also fought back against critics who dismissed him as a low-level hacker — saying he was “trained as a spy” and offered technical expertise to high levels of government.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post and CBS DC

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:

Kinsley, Greenwald and Government Secrets — Michael Kinsley's review of Glenn Greenwald's new book, “No Place to Hide” hasn't even appeared in the printed Book Review yet - that won't happen until June 8 - but it's already infuriated a lot of people. After the review was published online last week …

Discussion: Freedom of the Press …, Washington Post, The Dish, Mediaite, Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality, Talking Points Memo, Hullabaloo and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Ken Auletta / Comment:

SUMMING UP THE FIRING OF JILL ABRAMSON — The story of Jill Abramson's abrupt termination as the executive editor of the Times is one of those running stories in which reporters peel away one layer only to be presented with another. The earlier layers are still a part of the truth …

Discussion: Fox News and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

First on CNN: First major TV ad on VA scandal — Washington (CNN) — The Veterans Affairs scandal's been a major issue on the campaign trail the past couple of weeks. Now it's front and center in the campaign ad wars. — Crossroads GPS, the non-profit sister organization to American Crossroads …

Stephen F. Knott / The National Interest:

Did Woodrow Wilson Destroy the American Presidency? — You make the call. — Robert W. Merry's recent post, “The Six Best U.S. Presidents of All Time,” posed some provocative questions as to how one should define “greatness in the presidency.” Unfortunately, in scholarly circles …

Discussion: Power Line

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

‘Duck Dynasty’ star Phil Robertson to address Republican Leadership Conference — Phil Robertson, the controversial star of the hit TV show “Duck Dynasty” will address the upcoming Republican Leadership Conference on Thursday. — Robertson will talk to the annual confab in the evening of its opening day …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Hinterland Gazette

Scott Bixby / The Daily Beast:

Should Atheists Pay for a Prayer Day? A Nebraskan Town's Crisis of Faith — In La Vista, Nebraska, a day of ‘faith and freedom’ hasn't exactly brought everyone together. Atheists asked why the town was holding a state-sponsored day of faith. La Vista's mayor railed that ‘minorities’ weren't running his city.

Discussion: I Acknowledge

Bill Frezza / Forbes:

Lumber Union Protectionists Incited SWAT Raid On My Factory, Says Gibson Guitar CEO — “Henry. A SWAT team from Homeland Security just raided our factory!” … “No this is really serious. We got guys with guns, they put all our people out in the parking lot and won't let us go into the plant.”

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit