Top Items:
David Frum / The Atlantic Online:
Obama's Speech on ISIS, in Plain English — Qua speech, Barack Obama's address Wednesday on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria was surprisingly terrible: a disorganized mess, insincere and unconvincing. To appreciate just how bad and bizarre it was, compare the president's speech announcing …
Discussion:
New Yorker and Washington Monthly
RELATED:
CNN:
Kerry: U.S. not at war with ISIS — (CNN) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday would not say the United States is at war with ISIS, telling CNN in an interview that the administration's strategy includes “many different things that one doesn't think of normally in context of war.”
Discussion:
Firedoglake and Hot Air
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Question for the State Department: Isn't Obama waging preemptive war in Iraq now? — Via the Free Beacon. I would have phrased the question differently, like, say, “When exactly did President Obama decide that the Bush doctrine is awesome?” Because he has, you know. But we needn't quibble over semantics.
Discussion:
Power Line, Firedoglake and Washington Free Beacon
Byron York / Washington Examiner:
Five things that could go horribly wrong with Obama's action in Iraq
Five things that could go horribly wrong with Obama's action in Iraq
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, Foreign Policy and ABC News
Geir Moulson / Associated Press:
Britain: Won't take part in airstrikes on Syria
Britain: Won't take part in airstrikes on Syria
Discussion:
Hot Air, RedState, The Dish, NO QUARTER USA NET and Washington Post
Jeff Shesol / New Yorker:
Obama's Coalition of the Willing and Unable
Obama's Coalition of the Willing and Unable
Discussion:
Hullabaloo, New York Times and Bloomberg View
New York Times:
Struggling to Gauge ISIS Threat, Even as U.S. Prepares to Act
Struggling to Gauge ISIS Threat, Even as U.S. Prepares to Act
Discussion:
Slate, The Atlantic Online, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Opinio Juris, The Intercept, BillMoyers.com, Prairie Weather, Sarah Palin, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Mahablog, The Hill, Hot Air, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite, Associated Press, Informed Comment and No More Mister Nice Blog
Matthew Duss / American Prospect:
In Fight Against ISIL, Obama Finds Himself Facing Michael Corleone's Dilemma
In Fight Against ISIL, Obama Finds Himself Facing Michael Corleone's Dilemma
Discussion:
BREITBART.COM, Guardian, Bloomberg View, AEIdeas, The Dish and Hullabaloo
Rajiv Chandrasekaran / Washington Post:
Countering Islamic State will be hard in Iraq and harder in Syria, officials say
Countering Islamic State will be hard in Iraq and harder in Syria, officials say
Discussion:
The Atlantic Online, Jerusalem Post, ThinkProgress, Amanda Coyne, Hot Air, The Intercept, Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Times and CANNONFIRE
Ron Bell / Yahoo Global Public Policy:
Shedding Light on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC): Court Findings from Our 2007-2008 Case — Today we are pleased to announce the release of more than 1,500 pages of once-secret papers from Yahoo's 2007-2008 challenge to the expansion of U.S. surveillance laws.
Discussion:
Engadget, The Intercept, The Hill, Politico, Mashable, Gigaom, Guardian, Hit & Run, The Verge and VentureBeat
RELATED:
Craig Timberg / Washington Post:
U.S. threatened massive fine to force Yahoo to release data — The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it failed to comply with a broad demand to hand over user data that the company believed was unconstitutional, according to court documents unsealed Thursday …
Discussion:
Gawker, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and emptywheel
Amanda Coyne:
Loose Lips: Hell hath no fury like a Palin family visit. Campaigns gear up. Mayor Dan grabs a Tiger by the tail. — About 65 people showed for the fundraiser for gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker and lt. gov. candidate Byron Mallott on Monday night. It wasn't the usual Dem crowd.
Discussion:
The Immoral Minority, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Americans Against the … and The Huffington Post
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Rebecca Schoenkopf / Wonkette:
Anchorage PD: Palins Were ‘Present’ At 20-Person Brawl. Fate Of Hos' Weave Unknown — and we done called up the Anchorage PD to say “yo, Palin fight?” and they said “maybe.” ALL THE PULITZERS PLS. — Anita in the Anchorage Police Department's communications office is sitting at her desk …
Discussion:
The Immoral Minority, Mediaite, Liberaland, The Raw Story and Gawker
Randi Kaye / CNN:
New Michael Brown shooting witnesses describe scene — (CNN) — Two men, shocked at what they saw, describe an unarmed teenager with his hands up in the air as he's gunned down by a police officer. — They were contractors doing construction work in Ferguson, Missouri, on the day Michael Brown was killed.
John Eligon / New York Times:
Missouri Enacts 72-Hour Wait for Abortion — KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Republican-controlled Missouri legislature has enacted one of the most stringent waiting periods for women seeking abortions, overriding a veto by the state's Democratic governor, Jay Nixon.
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Robert A. Cronkletonthe / Kansas City Star:
FBI investigating vandalism at Cleaver's KC office
FBI investigating vandalism at Cleaver's KC office
Discussion:
ABC News and Business Insider
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
U.S. seeks up to 16 months in prison for Dinesh D'Souza — (Reuters) - The U.S. government wants conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza to be sentenced to as much as 16 months in prison, following his guilty plea to a campaign finance law violation.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Don Van Natta Jr / ESPN:
Ray Rice told Goodell he hit fiancee — Ray Rice told NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on June 16 that he punched his then-fiancee in a casino elevator, four sources have told “Outside the Lines,” an assertion that contradicts Goodell's statement this week that “when we met with Ray Rice …
Discussion:
ProFootballTalk, 7online.com, Guardian, The Big Lead, SBNation.com, abc7.com, TMZ.com, Robert Littal Presents …, Deadspin, The Raw Story and ABC News
Rasmussen Reports:
North Carolina Senate: Hagan (D) 45%, Tillis (R) 39% — Is Kay Hagan's “war on women” strategy beginning to pay off? The embattled incumbent Democrat has now moved ahead of Republican challenger Thom Tillis in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race. — The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey …
Discussion:
nccivitas.org and Talking Points Memo
New York Times:
Stop the Anti-Obamacare Shenanigans — SO far, opponents of the Affordable Care Act have lost every major battle to repeal or invalidate it. Some of them are now urging the courts to interpret the health reform law in a way that would guarantee its failure.
Discussion:
Associated Press
Reuters:
Russia says air strikes in Syria would be act of aggression without U.N. vote — (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria without a U.N. Security Council mandate would be an act of aggression, raising the possibility of a new confrontation with the West in coming weeks.
Discussion:
Hot Air and Weekly Standard
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Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Kansas High Court Rejects Kobach's Request To Transfer Senate Case — The Kansas Supreme Court has decided to hear the lawsuit Democratic Senate nominee Chad Taylor has brought against Secretary of State Kris Kobach, after Kobach argued that the case should be transferred to a lower court.
Discussion:
Election Law Blog
Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Court won't release costs of Gitmo camp — A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Pentagon need not make public a document detailing the costs associated with a Guantanamo Bay prison camp used to house so-called high-value detainees. — In a ten-page opinion (posted here) …
Tara Palmeri / Page Six:
Arnold had Shriver scrubbed from portrait — He scrubbed her from his heart! — Arnold Schwarzenegger was so hot to erase any memory of his marriage to Maria Shriver that he had her face scrubbed from his official portrait as governor of California — and he didn't even care …
Discussion:
Mediaite, Truth Revolt and Politico
Jeff Sessions / National Review:
Don't Give the Masters of the Universe Their Amnesty — Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, delivered a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday evening about Senate Democrats' refusal to support legislation to block the president's proposed executive actions …
Discussion:
Doug Ross, Business Insider and VDARE.COM
Byron Tau / Politico:
Judge strikes down Ohio law on election lies — A federal judge has struck down an Ohio state law that allows the government to regulate political falsehoods. — In a Thursday decision (posted here), U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black sided with the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List …
Discussion:
Mediaite
New from the Guttmacher Institute:
Birth Control Pills Should Be Available Over the Counter, But That's No Substitute for Contraceptive Coverage — In recent weeks, some opponents of the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) contraceptive coverage guarantee have promoted the idea that oral contraceptive pills should be available to adult women without a prescription.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, Liberal Values and ThinkProgress