memeorandum: Foxx settles in for bumpy ride at DOT (Keith Laing/The Hill)

9:45 AM ET, July 6, 2013

Top Items:

President of Venezuela Offers Asylum to Snowden — CARACAS — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday he had decided to offer asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has petitioned several countries to avoid capture by Washington.

Discussion: KDVR.com, CNN and Mediaite

Reuters:

Venezuela's Maduro offers asylum to U.S. fugitive Snowden — (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday he had decided to offer asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who has petitioned several countries to avoid capture by Washington.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette, The Hill, Business Insider, BBC, Firedoglake, emptywheel and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

BBC:

Venezuela and Nicaragua make Snowden asylum offers — The presidents of both Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated their countries could offer political asylum to US fugitive Edward Snowden. — Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro said it would give asylum to the intelligence leaker …

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, Mashable and The Moderate Voice

Robert Robertsson / Reuters:

Iceland parliament declines Snowden's citizenship bid — (Reuters) - A bid by Edward Snowden for Icelandic citizenship failed when the country's parliament voted not to debate it before the summer recess, lawmakers said on Friday, with options for the U.S. fugitive narrowing by the day.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, Weekly Standard and Business Insider

Jake Miller / CBS News:

John Kerry on his boat during Egypt upheaval, State Dept. concedes — As regime change was unfolding in Egypt, Secretary of State John Kerry spent time on his boat Wednesday afternoon in Nantucket Sound, the State Department acknowledged to CBS News on Friday, after repeatedly denying that Kerry was aboard any boat.

Discussion: Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Ed Driscoll, The Gateway Pundit, Twitchy, Power Line and Patterico's Pontifications

Jennifer Epstein / Politico:
Reversing denial, State says Kerry was briefly on boat

Discussion: Post Politics, The Greenroom and Weasel Zippers

Patrick Marley / JSOnline:

Scott Walker signs abortion bill; providers quickly sue — Legislation requires doctors to have hospital admitting privileges — By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel — Madison — Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Friday requiring doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges …

Discussion: Washington Post, Post Politics and NPR

Associated Press:
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker signs abortion bill requiring ultrasound

Discussion: CNN

Jerusalem Post:

‘Muslim Brotherhood claims interim Egyptian president is Jewish’ — Wash Post: MB website said Israel conspiring to insert ElBaradei. — The Muslim Brotherhood claimed in a post on its official website that Egypt's new interim president Adli Mansour is Jewish, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Discussion: “The Lid”, National Review, Weasel Zippers, The Gateway Pundit and Jihad Watch

Keith Laing / The Hill:

Foxx settles in for bumpy ride at DOT — New Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is taking the wheel of transportation policy for the Obama administration at a precarious time for road and transit funding. — The transportation funding bill that was passed under Foxx's predecessor …

Discussion: Politic365

Trayvon Martin:

State rests and defense begins its case in George Zimmerman trial — SANFORD — Trayvon Martin's mother sat at the witness stand Friday, head held high, and decisively insisted that the chilling cries captured on a 911 call belonged to only one person: her slain child, Trayvon Benjamin Martin.

Discussion: Power Line, NPR and Booman Tribune

Erin Donaghue / CBS News:
George Zimmerman trial: Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother, testifies her son was screaming in 911 call

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Taylor Marsh

Richard A. Serrano / Los Angeles Times:

Police chief killed with rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program — WASHINGTON—A high-powered rifle lost in the ATF's Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, “The Lid”, The Gateway Pundit, Michelle Malkin, Twitchy and Riehl World News

Hadas Gold / Reuters:

George W. Bush to push immigration reform — Former President George W. Bush is expected to make a speech next week on how immigration reform is good for the country, the Dallas Morning News reports. — Bush will speak after a citizenship ceremony at the George W. Bush Presidential Center …

Discussion: Politico

Dianne Solis / The Scoop Blog:
George W. Bush expected to talk about immigration reform Wednesday at Bush Institute

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The Fix, The Hill and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Catherine Rampell / Economix:

Yes, the Sequester Is Affecting the Job Market — The across-the-board automatic federal budget cuts that began in March do not seem to be derailing the recovery so far, given that the job market over all has continued to grow. And certainly some of the scariest predictions about the sequester …

Discussion: Daily Kos