memeorandum: Bergdahl Deal Could Be First Step to Emptying Gitmo (Josh Rogin/The Daily Beast)

3:15 PM ET, June 2, 2014

Top Items:

Nathan Bradley Bethea / The Daily Beast:

We Lost Soldiers in the Hunt for Bergdahl, a Guy Who Walked Off in the Dead of Night — For five years, soldiers have been forced to stay silent about the disappearance and search for Bergdahl. Now we can talk about what really happened. — It was June 30, 2009, and I was in the city of Sharana …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, New York Times, Gawker, Balloon Juice, The PJ Tatler, Telegraph, Washington Monthly, Yahoo! News, Mediaite, Hot Air, Liberaland, CNN and Weekly Standard

Jake Tapper / CNN:

Fellow soldiers call Bowe Bergdahl a deserter, not a hero — (CNN) — The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him — veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose …

Mark Thompson / TIME:

The 6 U.S. Soldiers Who Died Searching For Bowe Bergdahl — Troops suggest that Bergdahl's desertion makes him more traitor than hero — Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was freed by the Taliban over the weekend after they held him for nearly five years, in exchange for five Taliban leaders …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, PoliticusUSA, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Washington Free Beacon and Hot Air

Washington Post:

Mixed reaction to Bergdahl's recovery by service members who consider him a deserter — Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's recovery after five years in captivity has rekindled anger among some of his military peers over how he came to fall into enemy hands and the price the United States has paid to get him back.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, NPR, Just Security, The Dish, Hot Air, Fox News, Lawfare and CNN

Marc A. Thiessen / Washington Post:
Here's what happens when Taliban leaders are released

Discussion: AEIdeas

Susan Jones / CNSNews:
Susan Rice: Bergdahl Was ‘Captured on the Battlefield’

Discussion: Hit & Run and Patterico's Pontifications

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Susan Rice: Bergdahl Served With ‘Honor and Distinction’

Discussion: National Review

Marty Lederman / Just Security:
The Bergdahl Exchange [Third UPDATE]

Discussion: CNN, Lawfare, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, defense.gov, Josh Blackman's Blog and Fox News

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:
Bergdahl bumps VA from spotlight

Discussion: The Daily Beast, NPR, Firedoglake, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, NBC News, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo and CNN

Associated Press:
Debate Stirs Over US-Taliban Captive Swap

Discussion: The Agonist

epa.gov:

Clean Power Plan Proposed Rule — Get Involved — On June 2, 2014, EPA proposed a commonsense plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants. States, cities and businesses across the country are already taking action to address the risks of climate change.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Business Insider, Guardian, Hit & Run, Wall Street Journal and NPR

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Hill:

Obama's new climate war opens — President Obama is opening a climate change war with Republicans on Monday with the Environmental Protection Agency's unveiling of sweeping new standards on carbon emissions from power plants. — The new rules are a central part of Obama's climate change agenda meant …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Taylor Marsh and CNN

ThinkProgress:
8 Things You Should Know About The Biggest Thing A President's Ever Done On Climate Change

Discussion: The Daily Beast, TIME, Energy, Security, and Climate and The Dish

Coral Davenport / New York Times:
Obama to Take Action to Slash Coal Pollution

Ben Adler / Grist:
Obama's proposed power plant rules fall slightly short of environmentalists' hopes

Discussion: National Review, Washington Post, AEIdeas, Legal Planet, Bloomberg View and Talking Points Memo

Fox News:
Obama administration targets coal with controversial emissions regulation

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Say Anything, Washington Free Beacon and The PJ Tatler

New York Times:
Trying to Reclaim Leadership on Climate Change

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Post, Politico and Booman Tribune

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Reporter Over Identity of Source — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from James Risen, a New York Times reporter facing jail for refusing to identify a confidential source. — The court's one-line order gave no reasons …

Discussion: emptywheel, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Freedom of the Press …, Hit & Run, NPR and Poynter

Associated Press:
Justices reject reporter's bid to protect source

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Politico, more at Mediagazer »

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

NRA Issues Amazing Statement Admitting Bringing AR-15s To Chipotle Is Dumb — In a remarkably frank statement issued on Friday, the National Rifle Association said that gun activists in Texas had “crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness” with their demonstrations at fast food restaurants.

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Bloomberg View, PoliticusUSA, Hot Air, Texas Politics, Washington Free Beacon, Joe. My. God., Mediaite, The Raw Story, The Week and Balloon Juice

CBS News:

FBI manhunt on for San Francisco man, Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II, who may have explosives — Shares - — SAN FRANCISCO — The FBI has issued a nationwide alert to law enforcement agencies about a San Francisco social media consultant they consider armed and dangerous who is wanted on suspicion of possessing explosives.

Discussion: CBS San Francisco, Hot Air and The Gateway Pundit

Cara Liu / KTVU-TV:
San Francisco man sought by FBI active in political circles

Discussion: RT, The Gateway Pundit and The Week

CNN:

Spain's King Juan Carlos I to abdicate — Madrid, Spain (CNN) — After nearly 40 years on the throne, King Juan Carlos I of Spain will be stepping down, the country's prime minister said Monday. — Crown Prince Felipe, 46, will succeed his father, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced in nationally televised address.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Barcepundit and The Agonist

CNN:
Spain's King Juan Carlos I to abdicate

Discussion: Hot Air and Hollywood Life

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Fox Panel Laughs At Ingraham: Benghazi ‘Will Never Go Away, At Least With You’ (VIDEO) — When conservative radio host Laura Ingraham invoked Benghazi during a discussion of President Barack Obama's foreign policy on “Fox News Sunday,” she was met with laughter instead of shared outrage.

Discussion: Mediaite

Jen Heger / RADAR:

Donald Sterling's Gal Pal V Stiviano Brutally Beaten Up In New York City, Her Lawyer Claims — Called The ‘N Word’ By Group Of Assailants — The woman at the center of the Donald Sterling racism scandal, the ex-Los Angeles Clippers owner's gal pal V Stiviano, was badly beaten up by two white men …

Discussion: CNN, Scared Monkeys, The Daily Caller and Jezebel

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

On Inequality Denial — A while back I published an article titled “The Rich, the Right, and the Facts,” in which I described politically motivated efforts to deny the obvious — the sharp rise in U.S. inequality, especially at the very top of the income scale.

Discussion: Shakesville, UK Blog on The Huffington Post and Daily Kos

Politico:

THE OBAMA PARADOX — The ritual started in earnest last fall in the midst of the biggest humiliation of Barack Obama's presidency, the failure of the health care website. Anytime he heard a sliver of good news, the president reacted the same way: He knocked on the polished cherry wood table in the Roosevelt Room.

Discussion: National Review, Capital New York and Althouse

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

An Obama Effigy Hanging From A Bridge Shut Down A Busy Highway In Missouri — Police are investigating if it should be viewed as a legitimate threat to the president. — Grain Valley and the bridge are just southeast of Kansas City. — Via google.com — According to Fox4 News in Kansas City …

Discussion: Mediaite