OBAMA ADMINISTRATION FACES A NEW CONTROVERSY

The National Security Agency is collecting the telephone data of millions of Verizon customers in the U.S.

The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald has uncovered the biggest political story of the day, forcing the Obama administration to handle yet another controversy.

Greenwald wrote, “The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April. The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an ‘ongoing, daily basis’ to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.”

While not specifically confirming any details of the story, a senior Obama official has defended the practice as an essential tool to prevent terrorism.

• National Security Agency secretly collected call records of Verizon customers in the U.S.
• Al Gore called the NSA collection “obscenely outrageous“
• Lindsey Graham “glad” NSA’s tracking phones
• NBC/WSJ poll shows a slight majority — 52% — saying they favor a proposed pathway to allow undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens.
• Health care law’s unpopularity reaches new highs: 49% say they believe the ACA is a bad idea
• President Barack Obama wants to see the nation’s classrooms transformed into digital learning centers
• Attorney General Eric Holder told NBC’s Pete Williams he has “no intention” of stepping down
• War on women in Congress re-emerges
• Why is immigration reform losing steam?
• A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has come to an agreement on immigration overhaul legislation
• One House Republican member will write his own immigration proposal instead
• Senate votes to end debate on farm bill
• IRS employees in Cincinnati start pointing fingers at Washington
• The House votes to stop the Dept. of Homeland Security from buying millions of rounds of ammo
• A survivor was found overnight in the rubble of a collapsed building in Philadelphia that killed 6
• Edward Markey and Gabriel Gomez clashed in their first debate in Massachusetts’ special U.S. Senate election Wednesday
• “New kind of Republican?” Gomez is out with a new ad
• Tom Emmer likely to run for Bachmann’s congressional seat
• Michigan’s John Dingell to become longest serving lawmaker
• A new Bloomberg poll finds that 52% of Americans “support allowing same-sex couples to marry
• Gabby Giffords presses Chris Christie on guns
• Sebelius ordered to make exception on transplant

Drop your comments.