memeorandum: Tech giants get Obama's ear on NSA (Jessica Meyers/Politico)

4:00 PM ET, December 17, 2013

Top Items:

‘This Is the End of the Presidency’ — Tracking the same horrible second-term path as Bush, can Obama learn from the past? — Claiming a mandate he never had, the newly reelected president foisted a bold agenda upon Congress and the public, then watched it collapse within months …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Dish, Politico, Outside the Beltway, Hit & Run, Mediaite and ABC News

Washington Post:

Obama suffers most from year of turmoil, poll finds — President Obama is ending his fifth year in office matching the worst public approval ratings of his presidency, with record numbers of Americans saying they disapprove of his job performance and his once-hefty advantages over Republicans …

Discussion: neo-neocon, Outside the Beltway, Weasel Zippers, Scared Monkeys, Washington Monthly and Althouse

Washington Post:

Post-ABC poll: Obama, Republicans, Health care and 2014 midterm — Poll Questions

Discussion: The Fix, National Review, The Daily Caller, CNN and No More Mister Nice Blog

Gary Langer / ABC News:
A Drop in Opposition to Obamacare Helps Stabilize a Struggling Presidency

Discussion: NewsBusters and Daily Kos

Brett LoGiurato / Business Insider:
Obama's Current Approval Rating Is The Ugliest Since Nixon

Discussion: The Week, TIME and Ed Driscoll

Emily Bazelon / Slate:

Snap Out of It — If this judge doesn't buy the legal basis for the NSA's intrusive phone snooping, no one should. — If you have been lulled into a state of somnolence about former government contractor Edward Snowden's revelations that the government is collecting records …

Discussion: Hit & Run, New York Times, Close Read, The Atlantic Online, The Volokh Conspiracy, Politico, BillMoyers.com, Washington Post and The Dish

New York Times:

A Powerful Rebuke of Mass Surveillance — For the first time since the revelation of the National Security Agency's vast dragnet of all Americans' telephone records, a federal court has ruled that such surveillance is “significantly likely” to be unconstitutional.

Scott Lemieux / American Prospect:
Four Takeaways from Yesterday's NSA Ruling

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Guardian, NYT Bits, Poynter and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Seung Min Kim / Politico:

White House to tap Microsoft exec to fix HealthCare.gov — The White House is tapping the private sector for its next point man to oversee the troubled Obamacare website. — The administration is set to announce that Kurt DelBene, an executive at Microsoft, will succeed Jeff Zients …

Discussion: CNN, TheBlaze.com, Mediaite, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Gigaom

Kathleen Sebelius / HHS.gov:
Former Microsoft Executive Kurt DelBene To Replace Jeff Zients

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wonkblog, “The Lid”, Post Politics, The Verge, Business Insider and First Read

Jessica Meyers / Politico:
Tech giants get Obama's ear on NSA

Discussion: Guardian, The Verge and Business Insider

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Thought Leader — Little boys and girls in ancient Athens grew up wanting to be philosophers. In Renaissance Florence they dreamed of becoming Humanists. But now a new phrase and a new intellectual paragon has emerged to command our admiration: The Thought Leader.

Discussion: Business Insider, Paul Krugman, Capital New York, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite and Patterico's Pontifications

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

WAS IT SOMETHING WE SAID? — Moral Hazard, the Irish setter owned for photo-op purposes by New York Times columnist David Brooks, sat at the window of the farmhouse and watched the sparrows dance upon the new-fallen snow. There was a warm glow about the room from the blazing fireplace …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Edward Snowden / folha.uol.com.br:

An Open Letter to the People of Brazil — Atualizado em 17/12/2013 às 08h11. — Six months ago, I stepped out from the shadows of the United States Government's National Security Agency to stand in front of a journalist's camera. — Espionage Whistleblower Edward Snowden to Seek Asylum in Brazil

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, BuzzFeed, CNN, The Hinterland Gazette, Mashable, Gawker, World News and Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Bradley Brooks / Associated Press:
Snowden Petitions Brazil For Asylum In Exchange For Help With Spying

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Patterico's Pontifications

Guardian:
Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil over US spying in return for asylum

Discussion: Rasmussen Reports, WorldViews, The PJ Tatler and RT

Kim Hjelmgaard / USA Today:
Snowden to Brazil: Swap you spying help for asylum

Discussion: Techdirt, Business Insider, TechCrunch, The Week, The Verge, The Daily Caller, First Read, BillMoyers.com and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Rep. Jim Matheson / Facebook:

When I launched my first campaign in 1999, I knew that the arc of my public service would have many chapters. It has been a tremendous privilege to serve the people of Utah during my time in the United States House of Representatives, but my time in the House should not be the sum total of my service.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Rothenblog, Post Politics, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Caller, First Read and Roll Call

The Hill:

Rep. Wolf retires after 17 terms — Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) announced Tuesday he will retire from Congress after 17 terms, opening up a competitive House seat in Northern Virginia. — Wolf, 74, has represented his district in North Virginia since 1981 and is the longest-serving member from the state.

Discussion: CNN and Politico

Abby Livingston / Roll Call:
Frank Wolf Will Not Seek Re-Election (Updated)

Discussion: Post Politics, Talking Points Memo, Rothenblog and Daily Kos

Elizabeth Stoker / The Week:

Why conservatives just don't get Pope Francis' anti-poverty crusade — U.S. conservatives like to pair the cross and the coin, but that's not the case elsewhere around the world — O — n Sunday, Pope Francis matter-of-factly announced that he was not actually a Marxist, telling Italy's La Stampa, “The Marxist ideology is wrong.

Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal: Of Jane Fonda and Pope Francis

The Hill:

Senate GOP to decide filibuster strategy — Stinging from Senate Democrats' gutting of the filibuster, Senate Republicans will use their private caucus lunch Tuesday to decide on their strategy for holding back a string of nominees. — Now that Senate rules prevent the minority party …

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Times and The World's Greatest …

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Senate poised to approve budget

Discussion: CNN, KTOO, Washington Monthly and Roll Call

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

Jerry Brown, urged to run for president, won't rule out 2016 bid — Some are urging California Gov. Jerry Brown to run a fourth time for president, in part to stop the front-runner, Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / May 23, 2013) — If he weren't the nation's oldest governor …

Nathan Allen / Grist:

Reddit's science forum banned climate deniers. Why don't all newspapers do the same? — In addition to my career as a PhD chemist, I am one of a select few who enjoy the privilege of moderating content on reddit.com's science forum. The science forum is a small part of reddit, but it nonetheless enjoys over 4 million subscribers.

Discussion: Twitchy and ThinkProgress

Rick Kissell / Variety:

Fox News Remains Ratings Champ As 2013 Comes to Close — It and rivals CNN, MSNBC down from last year — Fox News Channel maintained its grip on the cable-news network ratings prize in 2013, drawing more viewers than the combined averages of CNN, MSNBC and HLN.

Discussion: BREITBART.COM, Michelle Malkin, BizPac Review, Taylor Marsh, Scared Monkeys, The PJ Tatler and The Gateway Pundit

Isaac Chotiner / The New Republic:

Q&A: The Top North Korean Expert Explains What Happened to Kim Jong Un's Uncle — The purge and execution last week of the uncle of North Korea's ruler, Kim Jong Un, has sparked worried questions from international observers about his grip on the nuclear-armed country.

Discussion: New York Times and The Week

David Nather / Reuters:

Next Obamacare crisis: Small-business costs? — Think the canceled health policies hurt the Obamacare cause? There's another political time bomb lurking that could explode not too long before next year's elections: rate hikes for small businesses. — Like the canceled individual health plans …

Discussion: Politico, AEIdeas, VodkaPundit and Talking Points Memo

Jorge Saenz / Associated Press:

Francis Dumps U.S. Cardinal Who Is Outspoken Critic Of Abortion, Gay Marriage — ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pope Francis announced changes in the influential Vatican office that evaluates and nominates candidates for bishop around the world. — Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington was appointed Monday to the Congregation for Bishops.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Jordan Zakarin / BuzzFeed:

Shia LaBeouf Apologizes After Plagiarizing Artist Daniel Clowes For His New Short Film — UPDATED: The similarities between LaBeouf's HowardCantour.com and Clowes' Justin M. Damiano are astounding. “In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process …

Discussion: Telegraph, CNN, Guardian, Gawker and The Verge

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Exclusive: Inside Steve Stockman's Disgusting, Condemned Campaign Office (PHOTOS) — Those looking for dirt on Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) need look no further. TPM has obtained photographs taken by the local officials who recently shut down Stockman's campaign office in Webster, Texas.