memeorandum: Gabriel Gomez endorses ENDA (Chris Johnson/Washington Blade)

11:45 AM ET, June 16, 2013

Top Items:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

U.S. surveillance architecture includes collection of revealing Internet, phone metadata — On March 12, 2004, acting attorney general James B. Comey and the Justice Department's top leadership reached the brink of resignation over electronic surveillance orders that they believed to be illegal.

Discussion: Lawfare, Balloon Juice, emptywheel and The Volokh Conspiracy

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Cheney calls Snowden a ‘traitor,’ defends NSA surveillance programs — Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday defended the National Security Agency's data surveillance programs and labeled admitted leaker Edward Snowden as a “traitor.” — “I think he's a traitor...I think he has committed crimes …

Discussion: Politico

Erik Wasson / The Hill:

Palin slams military intervention in Syria: ‘Let Allah sort it out’ — Former GOP vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin told a Washington audience Saturday that the U.S. should not get involved in the Syrian civil war. — Palin argued that the U.S. should not intervene …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Weasel Zippers, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The PJ Tatler and New York Times

Paige Lavender / The Huffington Post:
Sarah Palin On Syria: ‘Let Allah Sort It Out’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Taylor Marsh and The Raw Story

Declan McCullagh / CNET:

NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrants — National Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Weasel Zippers, Althouse, americanthinker.com, The PJ Tatler, Balloon Juice, Ed Driscoll, Guardian, Little Green Footballs, The Verge, The Huffington Post, National Review and Patterico's Pontifications

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Video: Congressman Claims He Was Told Government Could Listen To Phone Calls Without A Warrant

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

The Boston Globe:

A 13-point gap with 10 days to go, but disengaged voters remain unpredictable — Democrat Edward J. Markey holds a solid lead over his Republican rival, Gabriel E. Gomez, as the two enter the final week of the special US Senate campaign, according to a new Boston Globe poll.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …, CNN and Outside the Beltway

Chris Johnson / Washington Blade:

Gabriel Gomez endorses ENDA — Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon — Send via Email — Send this page to Print Friendly — U.S. Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez supports ENDA (Photo by Gabriel Gomez for Senate; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Discussion: Blue Mass Group and Towleroad News #gay

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Bill Schools Barry on Syria — WASHINGTON — NOT only is President Obama leading from behind, now he's leading from behind Bill Clinton. — After dithering for two years over what to do about the slaughter in Syria, the president was finally shoved into action by the past and perhaps future occupant of his bedroom.

Discussion: Althouse and Prairie Weather

Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:

Dick Cheney Laughs Off Privacy Concerns Over Government Surveillance — Former Vice President Dick Cheney (R), whose false statements helped propel the United States into an eight year war in Iraq, said Sunday that citizens should simply “trust” the federal government on matters of privacy and security.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:

North Korea Proposes High-Level Talks With U.S. — SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Sunday proposed high-level talks with the United States, saying that it was ready to discuss easing tensions and eventually denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. — The North's proposal indicated …

Washington Post:

Eric Holder has been an excellent attorney general — We were disappointed to read David Ignatius's June 9 op-ed column, “A mediocre attorney general,” purporting to represent the views of a number of unnamed Washington lawyers about Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s tenure.

Discussion: Right Wing News, The BLT, The Hill and The Hill

Robert Fisk / The Independent:

Iran will send 4,000 troops to aid Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria — World Exclusive: US urges Britain and France to join in supplying arms to Syrian rebels as MPs fear that UK will be drawn into growing Sunni-Shia conflict — Washington's decision to arm Syria's Sunni Muslim rebels …

Discussion: Israel Matzav and BBC