memeorandum: In Obama's war on leaks, reporters fight back (Leonard Downie Jr/Washington Post)

9:15 AM ET, October 6, 2013

Top Items:

U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets — CAIRO — American commandos carried out raids on Saturday in two far-flung African countries in a powerful flex of military muscle aimed at capturing fugitive terrorist suspects. Members of a Navy SEAL team emerged before dawn …

Discussion: Power Line, Associated Press, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Taylor Marsh, NPR, The Long War Journal and Hot Air

New York Times:

U.S. Says Navy SEALs Stage Raid on Somali Militants — NAIROBI, Kenya — A Navy SEAL team targeted a senior leader of the Shabab militant group in a raid on his seaside villa in the Somali town of Baraawe on Saturday, American officials said, in response to a deadly attack on a Nairobi shopping mall …

Discussion: BizPac Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Hinterland Gazette and Guardian

Kimberly Dozier / ABC News:

A U.S. military official tells The Associated Press that Navy SEALs have raided a Somali coastal town looking for a specific al-Qaida suspect in connection with the Nairobi shopping mall attack, but did not get their target. — A former U.S. military official also confirms the raid by the SEALs, but no other details have been provided.

Craig Whitlock / Washington Post:

Pentagon to recall most furloughed workers, Hagel says — The Pentagon will recall most of its furloughed civilian workers in the coming days, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Saturday, in a move that could substantially ease the impact of the government shutdown on the federal workforce.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and CitizenSiegel

defense.gov:

IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Statement by Secretary Hagel on the Pay Our Military Act — Today I am announcing that most DoD civilians placed on emergency furlough during the government shutdown will be asked to return to work beginning next week. — Immediately after President Obama signed …

Discussion: NPR, The Raw Story, New York Times and msnbc.com

Carlo Muñoz / The Hill:
Hagel recalls most defense staff

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal:
Pentagon to Recall Most Workers

Discussion: American Spectator

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Frankenstein Goes to Congress — Our question for today is: Why don't the Republicans just throw in the towel? Really, this is not going well for anybody. — Lots of reasons. There's Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the General Patton of the government shutdown.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Balloon Juice

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

NYT reporter: Obama admin “most closed, control-freak administration I've ever covered” — Remember when the media rushed to talk about transparency in the Barack Obama “Hope and Change” era? Good times, good times. Leonard Downie, who once worked as the executive editor of the Washington Post …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Weasel Zippers

Leonard Downie Jr / Washington Post:

In Obama's war on leaks, reporters fight back — Leonard Downie, a former executive editor of The Washington Post, is the Weil family professor of journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. This article is based on his report “The Obama Administration and the Press …

Discussion: NewsBusters and CANNONFIRE

Adam Afriyie / Daily Mail:

How I'm going to force PM to hold the referendum on Europe NOW: An incendiary intervention on Euro vote by leading Cameron rebel Adam Afriyie — I believe there should be an EU referendum before the next General Election. It's in our national interest to resolve this issue as soon as possible …

Discussion: Guardian, Spectator and BBC

Associated Press:

TEXT OF OBAMA'S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE AP — President Barack Obama conducted an interview Friday with AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace that covered a wide range of topics - the government shutdown, the debt ceiling, health care, foreign affairs and the name of Washington's professional football team.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Business Insider and msnbc.com, more at Mediagazer »

Mary K. Reinhart / Arizona Republic:

Experts: Arizona only state to halt welfare checks during shutdown — FONT: — Policy experts say Arizona appears to be the only state in the nation so far to have withheld welfare checks because of the federal shutdown, a move key state lawmakers want Gov. Jan Brewer to reverse.

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:
Arizona Is Only State To Stop Welfare Checks During Shutdown

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Hinterland Gazette and Liberaland

Chris Muir / Day by Day Cartoon:

Obamaha Beach.

Discussion: Power Line

Colbert I. King / Washington Post:

The rise of the New Confederacy — It took on new force with fears of the federal government in Washington interfering with their cherished way of life. It gathered steam with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. And it all came into full flower when shore batteries fired on Fort Sumter.

Discussion: Daily Kos, his vorpal sword and NewsBusters