memeorandum: Op-Ed Obamacare court ruling is nonsensical and cynical (Los Angeles Times)

12:00 PM ET, July 26, 2014

Top Items:

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Editor's Note: An Apology To Our Readers — What we're doing about an episode of plagiarism. — Starting this Wednesday, Twitter users began pointing out instances in which a BuzzFeed writer, Benny Johnson, had lifted phrases and sentences from other websites.

Discussion: Business Insider, Althouse, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Sean Higgins / Washington Examiner:

Eleanor Holmes Norton says 'you don't have a right to know' what's going on in government — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL WHITE HOUSE CONGRESS ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON PRESIDENT DARRELL ISSA TRANSPARENCY — Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting congressional delegate for the District of Columbia …

Discussion: Right Wing News, Liberty Unyielding and Committee on Oversight …

Tom Williams / Roll Call:

Simas Ignores Subpoena Again as White House Defies Issa (Updated) (Video) — Top White House political adviser David Simas refused again Friday to honor a congressional subpoena, prompting Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to vote to rebuke the administration.

Discussion: Questions and Observations and Ed Driscoll

Los Angeles Times:

Op-Ed Obamacare court ruling is nonsensical and cynical — At last count, more than 8 million people are getting healthcare through an Obamacare exchange. Almost three-quarters of them are using the federal exchange. These millions of Americans ought to be able to finally leave behind …

CNN:

U.S. Embassy in Libya evacuates personnel — (CNN) — The U.S. Embassy in Libya evacuated its personnel on Saturday because of heavy militia violence raging in the capital, Tripoli, the State Department said. — About 150 personnel, including 80 U.S. Marines were evacuated from the embassy …

Discussion: ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys, Outside the Beltway and Mediaite

Matthew Lee / ABC News:

US Evacuates Embassy in Libya Amid Clashes — The State Department has shuttered the U.S. embassy in Libya and evacuated American staffers there as the security situation in the capital Tripoli deteriorates amid worsening clashes between rival militias. — The department said in a statement …

Discussion: Associated Press

John Hudson / Foreign Policy:

Freshman Congressman Mistakes Senior Government Officials for Foreigners

Discussion: OnPolitics, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress, RT, Balloon Juice, Los Angeles Times, Politico, CNN, The Raw Story, Mediaite, Gawker, BuzzFeed and Deadspin

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo: U.S. Congressman Mistakes U.S. Gov't Officials For Indian Officials (VIDEO)

Alexandra Zavis / Los Angeles Times:

Palestinians say they were waiting to evacuate when UN shelter was hit — It was supposed to be a place of refuge from a devastating war. — Hundreds of people were crammed into a United Nations-run elementary school in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday when the converted shelter was hit by a series of explosions.

Discussion: CBS News, The BRAD BLOG, AOL and Firedoglake

Associated Press:
Reports: ‘Extremely short’ cease-fire in Gaza

Discussion: Liberty Unyielding, Hot Air and rubber hose

Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon: Israel Can Win — Slandered, despised, insulted, degraded …

The Raw Story:

NASA: Solar storm in 2012 nearly ‘knocked modern civilization back to the 18th century’ — Back in 2012, the Sun erupted with a powerful solar storm that just missed the Earth but was big enough to “knock modern civilization back to the 18th century,” NASA said.

Discussion: SOOPERMEXICAN

Alex Altman / TIME:

Obama Eyes Major Immigration Move — The President may be preparing to provide temporary legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants — When President Obama issues executive orders on immigration in coming weeks, pro-reform activists are expecting something dramatic …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Weekly Standard, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air and Washington Post

Doug Sosnik / Politico:
Blue Crush — How the left took over the Democratic Party.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, New York Times, Washington Monthly and CNN

Carrie Budoff Brown / Politico:
Obama's immigration flip flop

Discussion: The Hill and Yahoo! News

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

After CIA gets secret whistleblower email, Congress worries about more spying — WASHINGTON — The CIA obtained a confidential email to Congress about alleged whistleblower retaliation related to the Senate's classified report on the agency's harsh interrogation program …

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times and RT

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

The Internet Isn't Ready For Hillary — Nothing doing here. Except in the fever swamps. — The sort of Hillary Clinton story that goes viral. — Via westernjournalism.com — The other night, Hillary Clinton took questions from Twitter users, live on YouTube.

Discussion: Althouse