memeorandum: August recess now high season for interests lobbying lawmakers (Matea Gold/Washington Post)

11:55 AM ET, August 5, 2013

Top Items:

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Republicans Against Reality — Last week House Republicans voted for the 40th time to repeal Obamacare. Like the previous 39 votes, this action will have no effect whatsoever. But it was a stand-in for what Republicans really want to do: repeal reality, and the laws of arithmetic in particular.

Discussion: The Mahablog, Balloon Juice, Business Insider, Politico, Post Politics, Daily Kos and Paul Krugman

Stan Collender / Stan Collender's Capital Gains …:

Budget Bedlam This Fall — August actually is a pretty good time to be in Washington. — Yes, the weather usually is awful. But with Congress gone, getting to work isn't as stressful because there's less demand on roads and public transit. You can get up later and still get to work on time.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and CNNMoney.com

Associated Press: House GOP plans anti-Washington push in August

Reuters:

Exclusive: U.S. directs agents to cover up program used to investigate Americans — (Reuters) - A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across …

Discussion: The Hill, Weasel Zippers, emptywheel, Gawker, The Switch, Taegan Goddard's …, The Hinterland Gazette, Hit & Run, Hot Air, Dean's World, VodkaPundit and The Lonely Conservative

Hilary Andersson / BBC:

Boston bomber ‘had far-right papers’ — What was behind Boston bombing? Hilary Andersson reports — One of the brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston bombings was in possession of right-wing American literature in the run-up to the attack, BBC Panorama has learnt.

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, The PJ Tatler, The Daily Caller, The Raw Story, Business Insider and Jammie Wearing Fools

Associated Press:

Dead people gave nearly $600K to campaigns since 2009 — WASHINGTON — The dead can't vote, but they can give money to politicians. — Thirty-two people listed on federal campaign records as “deceased” have contributed more than $586,000 to congressional and presidential candidates …

Discussion: Ballot Box, Reuters, The Raw Story, CBS DC, Real Clear Politics and Jammie Wearing Fools

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Obamacare message war goes local — CENTREVILLE, Va. — A race to define Obamacare to the masses began today between the stacks at the Centreville Library. Over pizza in Decatur, Texas. And with a glass of wine in Naples, Fla. — Dozens of communities around the country hosted pro-Obamacare events …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, americanthinker.com, Twitchy, NewsBusters, The Lonely Conservative, Michelle Malkin, Heritage Action for America and VodkaPundit

Wall Street Journal:

Congress's ObamaCare Exemption — The President intervenes to give Members and staff a break. — To adapt H.L. Mencken, nobody ever went broke underestimating the cynicism and self-dealing of the American political class. Witness their ad-libbed decision, at the 11th hour and on the basis …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, americanthinker.com, Real Clear Politics, Betsy's Page and American Power

New York Times:

The Last Temptation of Tina Brown — On Nov. 12, 2010, Tina Brown gathered the staff of her Web site The Daily Beast in the third-floor conference room at its Chelsea offices with its commanding views of the Hudson. Brimming with the fervor she has brought to all her endeavors …

Discussion: Politico, Gawker, Taylor Marsh, TheBlaze.com, Business Insider, Poynter, The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed, more at Mediagazer »

Andrea Chang / Los Angeles Times:
Newsweek sold again, this time to digital news company IBT Media

Discussion: Capital New York and Ed Driscoll, more at Mediagazer »

Associated Press:

Embassies stay closed out of ‘caution’ … CAIRO — The U.S. State Department announced that 20 embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa will be closed through Saturday, including a small number of additional posts that were not shuttered on Sunday.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, msnbc.com, Scared Monkeys and US Department of State

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:
U.S. Extends Closing of Some Diplomatic Posts

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CBS News, msnbc.com, The Week, Foreign Policy, Wall Street Journal, Hot Air and Guardian

By Ali Watkins / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Embassy closings, travel warning renew debate over NSA data collection

Discussion: Firedoglake

Joseph Gerth / Courier-Journal:

Mitch McConnell targets Obama; Alison Lundergan Grimes aims at McConnell at Fancy Farm — FANCY FARM, KY. — U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell found himself under withering attack on Saturday from both his right and left as he tried to make his case for reelection before a boisterous crowd …

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:
McConnell slams GOP challenger as ‘Bailout Bevin’ in new ad

Discussion: CNN

Perry Stein / Talking Points Memo: Tea Party Challenger To McConnell: ‘Be A Man, Run On Your Record’

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

G.O.P. Governors Warn Party Members in Congress Not to Shut Government — MILWAUKEE — Worried about the potential impact on the fragile economies in their states, Republican governors this weekend warned their counterparts in Congress not to shut down the federal government as part of an effort …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Plum Line, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Prairie Weather and Booman Tribune

Prof Mark Post / BBC:

World's first lab-grown burger is eaten in London — The world's first lab-grown burger was cooked and eaten at a news conference in London on Monday. — Scientists took cells from a cow and, at an institute in the Netherlands, turned them into strips of muscle that they combined to make a patty.

Discussion: Althouse

Alok Jha / Guardian:
Google's Sergey Brin bankrolled world's first synthetic beef hamburger

Discussion: Death and Taxes, Hot Air and The Week

Ralph Z. Hallow / Washington Times:

Newt Gingrich sees major Mideast mistakes, rethinks his neocon views on intervention — Welcomes libertarian debate on U.S. military involvement — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a leading neoconservative hawk and staunch supporter of Israel, says the U.S. military interventions …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and CBS DC

Robert Draper / New York Times:

Steve Schmidt Says Republican Campaigns Haven't Changed. But They Will. — You've been hired by the A.C.L.U. to win over Republicans on same-sex marriage. What's the argument that you make to those who are resistant? — A few years ago, there was universal agreement in the party that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Discussion: The Fix

Benjamin Wallace-Wells / New York Magazine:

What Is Chris Christie Doing Right? — He's hugely popular in a state way to his left. He's unafraid to take on a national party considerably to his right. And he's most adored when he's acting reprehensibly. — In New Jersey, charisma is a blunt instrument.

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Reaction

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

New study finds vast online marketplace for guns without background checks — The marketplace for firearms on the Internet, where buyers are not required to undergo background checks, is so vast that advocates for stricter regulations now consider online sales a greater threat than the gun show loophole.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Wonkblog, The Raw Story and The PJ Tatler

Sarah Lacy / PandoDaily:

Olivia Nuzzi won't defend herself against the latest lies, so allow me — I'm no stranger to receiving hate and abuse on the Internet, and beyond. I'm not going to link to any of it in this post, but if you've been following my career or Pando for a while you've probably seen it.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller and New York Times