memeorandum: Does Anybody Care If Assad Uses Chemical Weapons Again? (Jeffrey Goldberg/Bloomberg)

10:50 AM ET, August 22, 2013

Top Items:

Scott Stump / TODAY.com:

Bradley Manning: I want to live as a woman — Facebook - Twitter - Reddit - Pinterest - Email — Bradley Manning, the Army private sentenced to military prison for leaking classified documents, revealed he intends to live out the remainder of his life as a woman. — “I am Chelsea Manning.

Chelsea E. Manning / TODAY.com:

‘I am Chelsea’: Read Manning's full statement — Video: “I am Chelsea Manning. I am female,” explains the Army private via a statement read on TODAY Thursday. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday for leaking classified government documents.

Discussion: Guardian, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Week, Weasel Zippers, Telegraph, msnbc.com, Shakesville, Associated Press, Mashable, The Other McCain, New Orleans Times-Picayune and Gawker

Michael Pearson / CNN:

Bradley Manning says he wants to live as a woman, be called Chelsea — (CNN) — Bradley Manning wants to be a woman. — The U.S. Army soldier sentenced this week to 35 years in prison for leaking 750,000 pages of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said Thursday …

Discussion: Guardian and KTLA 5, more at Mediagazer »

Tal Kopan / Politico:

Bradley Manning: ‘I am a female’ — Army Pfc. Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman, his lawyer announced Thursday morning. — Manning, who was sentenced on Wednesday to 35 years in prison, asks to be called Chelsea Manning in a statement Manning's lawyer read Thursday morning on the “Today” show on NBC.

Discussion: Courthouse News Service and Feministing

New York Times:

France Urges ‘Force’ in Syria if Chemical Attacks Are Confirmed — PARIS — As Western powers pressed the Syrian authorities to permit United Nations inspectors to examine the site of a claimed poison gas attack outside Damascus, France said on Thursday that outside powers should respond …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Associated Press, Daniel W. Drezner, Weasel Zippers, Wall Street Journal and Duck of Minerva

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
McCain: Assad sees ‘green light’ from US to use chemical weapons

Discussion: Politico

CNN:
France calls for ‘force’ if Syria chemical weapons use is proved

Discussion: Foreign Policy, Via Meadia, Hot Air and The Week

Michael Hirsh / NationalJournal.com:
Why Assad Will Win — The U.S. is giving up on the Arab Spring …

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Jeffrey Goldberg / Bloomberg:
Does Anybody Care If Assad Uses Chemical Weapons Again?

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Dish, sana.sy, Guardian and FP Passport

Eli Stokols / KDVR.com:

Sparks fly after Sen. Marble's ‘chicken’ comment in poverty hearing — DENVER — Democratic lawmakers couldn't believe their ears as they listened to Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, deliver a long soliloquy explaining that more blacks and Hispanics live in poverty, in part, because of fried chicken.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Moderate Voice, Wonkette, The Raw Story, Taegan Goddard's … and WTVR-TV

Alex Isenstadt / Politico:

The great Democrat hope: Government shutdown — They'd never say it publicly. But catch many Democrats in an honest moment and they would admit that a Republican-led government shut down this fall might be the best thing — perhaps the only thing — that could revive their fading hopes of capturing the House next year.

Caren Bohan / Reuters:

Republicans weigh using debt limit as leverage on Obamacare — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers, who staunchly oppose President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, are considering using a fall showdown over the country's borrowing limit as leverage to try to delay the law's implementation.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, PoliticusUSA, The Plum Line and RedState

Rich Lowry / Politico:

Ted Cruz, traitor to his class — Henry Adams said that politics is the systematic organization of hatreds. For the left, over the past year it has seemed at times to be the systematic organization of hatred of Ted Cruz. — The freshman senator is not the first Texan to be so honored.

Discussion: National Review, Slate and CNN

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:
Ted Cruz: Savior or bane of the Republican Party?

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show

Evan McMurry / Mediaite:
GOP Strategist To MSNBC: Ted Cruz Is ‘Lying to the Voters’

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Sam Baker / The Hill:

University of Virginia cuts some health benefits, citing ObamaCare costs — The University of Virginia said Wednesday that it will stop offering health insurance to some employees' spouses because of rising costs under ObamaCare. — The university said the Affordable Care Act will add $7.3 million to its healthcare costs next year.

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America

Steven Greenhouse / New York Times:
U.P.S. to End Health Benefits for Spouses of Some Workers

Discussion: Via Meadia

Matt Higgins / CBS DC:
Illinois Offering $9-An-Hour Jobs To Have Workers Sign People Up For ‘Obamacare’

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Weasel Zippers

Scott Gordon / nbcdfw.com:

Police: Texas Lt. Gov. Dewhurst Asked to Get Relative Out of Jail — In statement, Dewhurst says he acted as “concerned family member” — The Allen Police Department released the full audio of a call Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made to police to find out what he had to do to get a recently arrested relative out of jail.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Post Politics

Erich Schlegel / ABC News:
Texas Lt. Gov. Calls Police After Relative's Arrest

Discussion: CNN

Talking Points Memo:

Liz Cheney Pays Fine For Fishy Fishing License — Republican Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney paid a $220 bond Wednesday for making a false statement on an application for a fishing license last year, Jackson Hole News&Guide reported. — Records show that the daughter …

Discussion: Daily Kos

jhnewsandguide.com:
Breaking news: Cheney pays $220 for fishing license ticket

Discussion: The Fix, Politico, Taegan Goddard's …, Ballot Box and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Lauren McGaughy / New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Polls show Louisianians disappointed with Jindal, blame Obama for post-Katrina response — President Barack Obama is shown here with Gov. Bobby Jindal and Gen. Thad Allen in 2010. According to a poll released Wednesday, Jindal's approval rating in his home state has dropped 13 points below that of the president.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's … and Prairie Weather

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:
Jindal plummets and other notes from Louisiana

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Real Clear Politics, The Political Carnival and Taegan Goddard's …

Steve Benen / The Rachel Maddow Show:
Forgetting the relevant Katrina detail, eight years later

Discussion: What Would Jack Do, ThinkProgress, The PJ Tatler, FIRST DRAFT, Mediaite, Washington Monthly, No More Mister Nice Blog, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo and The Moderate Voice

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

NSA gathered thousands of Americans' e-mails before court struck down program — The National Security Agency unlawfully gathered as many as tens of thousands of e-mails and other electronic communications between Americans as part of a now-discontinued collection program, according to a 2011 secret court opinion.

New York Times:
Secret Court Rebuked N.S.A. on Surveillance

Discussion: MiamiHerald.com and TalkLeft

Seth / GLAAD:

Wentworth Miller rejects Russian film festival invitation; ‘As a gay man, I must decline’ — Actor and screenwriter Wentworth Miller today rejected an invitation to attend the St. Petersburg International Film Festival, citing Russia's anti-LGBT laws. In a letter to the Festival's Director …

Discussion: CBS News, BBC, The Moderate Voice, CNN, Gawker, BuzzFeed, Towleroad News #gay, LGBTQ Nation, Deadline.com, PinkNews.co.uk and Good As You

Michael A. Fletcher / Washington Post:

Recession's pain reaching deep into the economic recovery — The buying power of Americans continues to be weaker than it was when the recession ended four years ago, underscoring the lasting damage wrought by the downturn, according to a report released Wednesday.

Discussion: Sense of Events

Jeffrey A. Singer / Wall Street Journal:

Jeffrey Singer: The Man Who Was Treated for $17,000 Less — Bypassing his third-party payer, my patient avoided a high hospital ‘list price.’ — Every so often I have an extraordinary and surprising experience with a patient—the kind that makes us both say, “Wow, we've learned something from this.”

Mayor Bob Filner / Most Recent:

CNN: Spa owner says groped by Filner — Businesswoman claims Filner put his hands on her behind while they were being photographed — A prominent businesswoman came forward today as the 18th woman to accuse San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment.

Discussion: Politico and Washington Wire

Mayor Bob Filner / Most Recent:
Proposed Filner settlement reached

Discussion: KPBS San Diego and NPR

Robert Costa / National Review:

Bolton 2016? — How serious is John Bolton about potentially running for president? He's about to start hiring for his political operation. — The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and conservative star is ready to hit the road, play in the 2014 midterm elections …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …