A.M. Links: White House Still Trying to Minimize Surveillance News, President Names Medal of Freedom Honorees, Fatal Miami Tasing to Be Probed

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  Credit: Vaguely Artistic / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

  The White House's latest response to the latest report that the National Security Agency is accessing e-mail contents without a warrant is to insist it's only a small percentage of Internet traffic and to repeat that the average American's emails are "not being read." Note that this phrasing does not mean that the contents are not being accessed, indexed or documented. Just not "read."

• Former Washington Post Editor Ben Bradlee, who oversaw coverage of the Watergate scandal, will be receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Presumably this is so President Barack Obama can laugh directly in his face. Oh, and Oprah Winfrey's getting one, too.
• The fatal police Tasing of a teen in Miami Beach is being probed by the city and the state.
• Two young women from London who were volunteering as teachers in Zanzibar had acid thrown in their faces.
• Two Congressmen in Chicago have been connected to an illegal lobbying scheme that was part of an effort to eliminate sanctions against Zimbabwe. Neither have been charged with anything, but two other Chicagoans have been charged with accepting millions in illegal payments.
• A Florida man apparently shot his wife dead at their home and then posted a picture of her body on Facebook.

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