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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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The clock ticks down on the Patriot Act and the debate heats up today over
domestic surveillance activity in the wake of 9/11. Critics allege that the
president allowed for the federal government to spy on Americans. The White
House says it's doing what needs to be done in the fight against terrorism. The
New York Times, which broke the initial report on this story, has more today on
how domestic calls were accidentally intercepted, according to some officials,
as a result of the president's order:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/politics/21nsa.html.
Tonight on Hardball, Andrea Mitchell, NBC's chief foreign affairs correspondent
who is sitting in for Chris, will bring you the latest on all of this and
whether there's a deal on the horizon for the Patriot Act when she talks with
Sen. George Allen (R-VA) and Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE).
For more on the political fallout, Andrea will be joined by Ron Brownstein,
reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Brownstein wrote on Tuesday
about how Republicans are just plain happy to hear Democrats argue about
national security. Check it out here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess20dec20,1,3713831.story.
And Hardball's David Shuster will explain how warrants are handled by the FISA
courts, why the administration decided not to use them, and why one of the
court's judges has resigned. Here's the Washington Post's front page story
today on why that judge reportedly left his post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/20/AR2005122000685.html.
Andrea also will welcome former CIA operative Bob Baer and Frank Gaffney, a
former assistant secretary of defense, to talk about what the domestic spying
story means for intelligence gathering and fighting terrorism.
Plus, presidential historian Michael Beschloss will be here to talk with Andrea
about executive power, how presidents use it, how it has evolved over more than
two centuries. Please join us!
Here are some things you might not have read yet today:
--AP reports on the Senate shooting down drilling in ANWR for now
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10560979/
--AP breaks down the 51-50 vote in the Senate today to cut the deficit
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10559749/
--Hardblogger All-Star Bob Shrum opines on the meaning of the Iraqi election
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#051220b
--AP hears today that former lobbyist Jack Abramoff might be close to a deal
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10553782/
--NBC's Joel Seidman finds the Abramoff tentacles extending to Guam
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10547524/
--Newsweek's Andy Borowitz satirizes holiday season spying
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10548574/site/newsweek/
--Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html
Brooke Brower compiled the "Hardball Briefing" in Washington, D.C.
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