The Commentariat -- August 5, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Brian Murphy of the Washington Post: "President Obama took sharp aim at critics of the Iran nuclear deal on Wednesday, saying many of those who backed the U.S. invasion of Iraq now want to reject an accord that showed America's ability to work with partners rather than push ahead with potentially dangerous unilateral action."

*****

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama will call for the restoration of the Voting Rights Act on its 50th anniversary Thursday, the White House said. Obama will hold a teleconference to commemorate the landmark legislation and call for its renewal, following a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that voided one of its central provisions. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who rose to prominence in the 1960s as a civil rights leader, will participate.... Asked about the timing of the event, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that 'one person's irony is another person's serendipity. Maybe there will be an opportunity for Republican candidates to discuss the right for every American to cast a vote.'...".

... Ed Kilgore: "It will tell you a lot about the GOP and about Fox News if the subject is not mentioned on Thursday night." ...

... CW: If we were a normal country, we'd be having parades to celebrate the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, just as we would have had last week to celebrate 50 years of Medicare & Medicaid, programs that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Instead, millions of Americans will be glued to Fox "News" listening to a panel of preening jerks who not only oppose voting rights but also will tell us how we have to phase out Medicare & Medicaid "entitlements," leaving Americans with "nothing," as Jeb! puts it. ...

... A Glimmer of Hope in Oklahoma. Oklahoma! Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "Nearly a year ago, a coalition of voter-advocacy groups wrote ... to Oklahom's top elections official to deliver a stark, but not uncommon, message: The state ... was not giving citizens receiving public assistance an opportunity to register to vote, which is a requirement of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act." Then a surprising thing happened: "Last week, the coalition and Oklahoma's election board announced an agreement in which the state committed to asking any person who interacts with welfare agencies whether they want to register to vote and then to helping them through the process. That includes assistance with helping them register online."

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama is rolling out a campaign of private entreaties and public advocacy over the next several weeks to build support in Congress for the nuclear deal with Iran, an effort to counter a well-financed onslaught from critics who have promised to use a monthlong congressional recess to pressure lawmakers to oppose the accord. In a speech at American University in Washington on Wednesday, Mr. Obama will seek to explain and defend the international agreement reached last month, which would lift some sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon." ...

... Julian Hattem of the Hill: "The highest-ranking Jewish Democrat in the House [Steve Israel (NY)], announced his opposition to the nuclear accord with Iran on Tuesday, in a blow to the Obama administration's lobbying efforts.... In addition to Rep. Israel, Reps. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) also came out against the deal on Tuesday...."

New Rule. Drew Harwell & Jena McGregor of the Washington Post: "The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday is expected to finalize a long-delayed rule forcing businesses to share their 'pay ratio.'... Once the pay-ratio rule is in place, millions of workers will know exactly how their top boss's payday compares to their own, revealing a potentially embarrassing disparity in corporate riches that many companies have long fought to keep hidden. While the average American's pay and benefits have been growing at the slowest pace in 33 years, executive wages have soared. Fifty years ago, the typical chief executive made $20 for every $1 a worker made; now, that gap is more than $300-to-$1, and growing."

Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "The anti-abortion activist group Center for Medical Progress have released a fifth undercover video of Planned Parenthood employees discussing fetal tissue donation. The videos purport to show employees of the women's healthcare organization illegally trafficking in fetal tissue, though, like previous videos, there is no apparent evidence of such activity." See also news re: Jeb! under Presidential Race. ...

... ** Callie Beusman of Vice (Aug. 2): "... the Center for Medical Progress is a flimsy front set up by three anti-abortion extremists, one of whom has ties to violent radicals -- including the man convicted of murdering abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. And, since the Center's founding in 2013, it has potentially violated numerous federal and state laws in its single-minded quest to malign Planned Parenthood." Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. Also, read Victoria's comment in today's thread. ...

... CW: Yesterday, I misstated the Senate's Planned Parenthood vote. Two Democrats, not one, voted to defund Planned Parenthood: Joe Donnelly (Ind.) & Joe Manchin (W.Va.) Republican Mark Kirk (Ill.) voted with Democrats against the defunding measure. ...

... CW: A couple of commenters have mentioned this disgusting diatribe by Joe Scarborough, so here it is (Joe begins about 36 sec. in). Mika is no Elizabeth Warren:. We've discussed elsewhere the distortions & outright lies Joe embeds in his holier-than-thou remarks:

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel intensified his campaign against the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers on Tuesday, denouncing it as a fatally flawed and dangerous accord and charging that proponents are trying to muzzle criticism of it with deceitful claims. 'As a result of this deal, there will be more terrorism, there will be more attacks, and more people will die,' Mr. Netanyahu said in a webcast viewed by thousands of American Jews. 'This is a very dangerous deal, and it threatens all of us.'"

Presidential Race

Carol Leonnig, et al., of the Washington Post: "The FBI has begun looking into the security of Hillary Rodham Clinton's private e-mail setup, contacting in the past week a Denver-based technology firm that helped manage the unusual system, according to two government officials. Also last week, the FBI contacted Clinton's lawyer,David Kendall, with questions about the security of a thumb drive in his possession that contains copies of work e-mails Clinton sent during her time as secretary of state." ...

     ... CW: At first blush, this story seems to be well-reported, albeit, like so many reports of this nature, it relies in part on anonymous sources. All those "declined to comment"s suggest the gist of the story is accurate. One would think that the administration would have had a handle on how all sensitive material was being transmitted electronically. Either it did not -- as it appears -- or Clinton & other officials who had access to her e-mail account knowingly evaded the "known" system.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Gov. John Kasich of Ohio is in and former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is out of Fox News's Republican debate on Thursday night in Cleveland, officials with the network said Tuesday, resolving the mystery of which lower-polling candidates will make the cut for the first debate of the 2016 presidential contest.... The others included in the lineup are Donald J. Trump, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ben Carson, former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey." I just love that this is the Times' top story (at 7:30 pm Tuesday). ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "Fox added a 5 p.m. candidate forum that will air prior to the main debate. Derisively referred to as the 'kiddie table' debate, it will include former Texas governor Rick Perry (at 1.8 percent), former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum (1.4), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (1.4), businesswoman Carly Fiorina (1.3), Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C., 0.7), former New York governor George Pataki (0.6) and former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore (0.2). Former IRS commissioner Mark Everson, who filed a complaint about the selection process with the FEC, will not be included." ...

... Harry Enten of 538: "National surveys haven't been great at predicting the results of primary elections. In fact, the candidate leading in a February to July polling average has become the nominee just seven of 12 times in open primaries since 1980.... It turns out the best individual predictor of the eventual results has been early New Hampshire polling...." (Footnotes deleted.)

I look forward to being FoxNews 5pm debate for what will be a serious exchange of ideas & positive solutions to get America back on track. -- A Sarcastic Commenter Rick Perry

The Doofus, Ctd. Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Jeb Bush on Tuesday questioned the need for the federal government to spend $500m on women's health annually.... 'You could take dollar for dollar -- although I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues -- but if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine, federally sponsored community health organizations to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues. But abortions should not be funded by the government -- any government, in my mind.'... Bush's comments sparked instant backlash from Democrats and pro-choice advocates, including Hillary Clinton, who responded on Twitter by calling her Republican opponent 'absolutely, unequivocally wrong.'... Bush attempted to walk back the comments in a statement issued shortly after his appearance at the convention, saying he 'misspoke' and intended to question the funding specifically for Planned Parenthood and not women's health in general." In his "correction," he said, "I was referring to the hard-to-fathom $500m in federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood -- an organization that was callously participating in the unthinkable practice of selling fetal organs." ...

... CW: (a) Planned Parenthood is not "participating in the unthinkable practice of selling fetal organs," so his "correction" is predicated on a big fat lie. (b) As we know, the federal government doesn't fund most abortions, but they do pay for abortions in the case of rape, incest or the health of the mother. So whether or not Jeb! knows that Planned Parenthood does not receive federal funding for most abortions -- and it's not at all clear he does know that -- he is going beyond current federal law in opining that "abortions should not be funded by the government." ...

... Worse than Mitt. Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Bush's speedy response actually shows some progress, since it took him days to come up with the correct answer after he suggested in May that he would have invaded Iraq in 2003 even 'knowing what we know now.'... In the past three months, Bush declared 'immigrants are more fertile,' said Americans 'need to work longer hours,' and discussed a Medicare 'phase out.'... The severity and regularity of Bush's flubs have drawn comparisons to the last GOP presidential nominee.... Bush is one of the few candidates with a background in finance, but unlike Romney's long and successful career at Bain Capital..., Bush spent seven years advising Lehman Brothers and Barclays [which took over what was left of Lehman], and was present as the former collapsed in 2008." Also, Bush is faring worse in polls than Romney did at a comparable point in his campaign. ...

... BTW, for word-salad fans, here's how Jeb! led into his pronouncement that the federal government is overspending on women's health care: "The argument against this is, well, women's health issues are going to be -- you're attacking, it's a war on women, and you're attacking women's health issues." I defy anyone to definitively tell me what that means.

     ... For a rundown of how Planned Parenthood is funding & how they spend those funds, Janell Ross of the Washington Post has the numbers. Apparently it is too much to ask of presidential candidates that they be familiar with issues their own parties is raising. ...

     ... In another post, Ross points out that women's healthcare costs typically exceed men's costs: "... these costs are so significant that in the years before the Affordable Care Act outlawed the practice in 2014, health insurance companies regularly charged women more for coverage, anticipating both more frequent use of their health-care benefits than ... men...." CW: Ross doesn't mention it, but one reason for this disparity is that "women bear the majority of the social, economic, and health-related burdens associated with contraception." Obviously, Jeb!, you lying, ignorant doofus, when it comes to contraception, men & women both benefit from Planned Parenthood's services for women. ...

... Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post thinks Jeb! raises an important issue: "How many dollars are too many dollars for women's health issues?"

... Fortunately, some men do take responsibility for contraception. ...

... Too Much Information. Isabelle Taft of Politico: "... at a town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire Tuesday morning ... [Chris Christie] explained to a diner full of voters, 'I'm a Catholic, but I've used birth control, and not just the rhythm method'":

     ... CW: Christie was not discussing his view on Planned Parenthood here. Instead, "Near the two-hour mark of the event, a man cited three Bible verses to raise arguments in support of environmental conservation and ending wars abroad." So his justification for his anti-environmental, pro-war stances is his sex life. Excellent.

** Jonathan Chait: "It must be galling for the party regulars to prostrate themselves helplessly before the base, purging any hint of independent thought, only to watch [Donald Trump,] a formerly pro-choice, libertine if not liberal, Democratic donor, waltz into the lead.... His affect supplies his appeal -- he is strong, mad, and, above all, unapologetic in a world that demands he apologize. Trump is not the spokesman for an idea at all, but the representation of undifferentiated resentment."

After Gawker published one of Donald Trump's cellphone numbers as payback for Trump's releasing Sen. Lindsey Graham's phone number, he recorded a new voicemail message for the phone:

When Lindsey Graham's cell number was released to the public, his response was to set the cell phone on fire and destroy it with a bat, an ax and a cinder block ... which is actually not good for the environment. Donald Trump turns the number into a campaign announcement that has received within the first few hours tens of thousands of calls. Now do you see the difference between Donald Trump and the rest of the field? -- Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who apparently is not too busy boning up on marital law or suing the Daily Beast

Copy of Lindsey Graham tweet:

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Ted Cruz Anti-Iran Deal Site Accidentally Links To Big Photo Of Ass Instead Of Senator [Maria Cantwell]'s Twitter Account." CW: Yeah, maybe "accidentally."

In yesterday's Comments thread, Akhilleus wrote, "American presidential politics truly has become a cheap carny sideshow." CW: I can't imagine why he would say such a thing.

Beyond the Beltway

AP: "A sheriff in Mississippi says authorities are searching for two men who fired gunshots from a vehicle at soldiers at a military facility. No injuries were reported.... The soldiers were training at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center in Hattiesburg.... U.S. Special Forces Command designated Camp Shelby as one of the sites where a multi-state military training exercise, 'Jade Helm 15', was expected to take place, according to The Army Times.... Authorities say they are still looking for two white males who allegedly fired from [a red Ford Ranger] and fled in the vehicle." CW: The revolution has begun. The shots heard 'round the world, & all.

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "A [white] police officer in Alabama proposed murdering a black resident and creating bogus evidence to suggest the killing was in self-defence.... Officer Troy Middlebrooks kept his job and continues to patrol Alexander City after authorities there paid the man $35,000 to avoid being publicly sued over the incident." The city attorney claimed the city's insurance company made the decision to settle. CW: You may want to read this. The police chief said it was all okay because Middlebrooks wasn't going to kill the man himself; he was just urging the man's brother to kill him & telling the brother how to cover up the murder.

Michael Cooper of the New York Times: "The Metropolitan Opera said on Tuesday that the new production of Verdi's 'Otello' that will open its season next month will not use blackface makeup on the white tenor singing the title role, breaking with a performance tradition of more than a century.... Long after most theater companies stopped using dark makeup for their Othellos -- seeing it as an uncomfortable vestige of minstrelsy -- leading opera companies around the world continued to use dark makeup for their Otellos."

Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "Shipments of hunting trophies are still allowed by United Parcel Service, a UPS spokeswoman told The Washington Post on Tuesday, noting that the global shipping giant follows U.S. and international laws, not public opinion, in determining what it will and won't ship." ...

... AP: "An American doctor accused of killing a lion in an illegal hunt in Zimbabwe said on Tuesday that he had complied with all rules and regulations, filled out all the necessary paperwork and obtained the correct permits."

News Ledes

New York Times: "There are 'very strong presumptions' that the airplane part that washed ashore last week on the French island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean came from the missing [Malaysian Airlines Flight 370] Boeing 777, an official said on Wednesday at a Paris news conference after experts inspected the object."

Bloomberg: "The trade deficit in the U.S. widened in June as the strong dollar lifted imports and hobbled exports, representing a hurdle for economic growth. The gap grew by 7.1 percent to $43.8 billion, the largest in three months, Commerce Department figures showed Wednesday...."

Guardian: "Radical cleric Anjem Choudary has been charged with encouraging support for Islamic State, Scotland Yard has said. Choudary, 48, of Ilford, faces a charge of inviting support for a proscribed organisation, namely Isis."

BBC News: "Russian freediving champion Natalia Molchanova is feared dead after going missing on Sunday. The 53-year-old was diving for fun off Formentera, a Spanish island near Ibiza, when she failed to surface. Search efforts have been continuing but it is feared she may have been caught up in strong underwater currents." The Washington Post story is here.

The Commentariat -- August 4, 2015

Internal links & defunct videos removed.

Joby Warrick & Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: "Opponents of the Obama ­administration's Clean Power Plan prepared Monday for all-out war against the carbon-cutting regulation, blasting the measure publicly while accelerating behind-the-scenes efforts to stop its implementation. On the day of the rule's official adoption, key lawmakers and industry groups sharpened their rhetorical attacks and vowed to battle the measure in Congress and in the courts. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stood before the Senate to declare his intention to 'do everything I can to fight' the regulation, which is chiefly designed to reduce reliance on coal to generate power." ...

... Coral Davenport & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "In the early months of 2014, a group of about 30 corporate lawyers, coal lobbyists and Republican political strategists began meeting regularly in the headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ... to start devising a legal strategy for dismantling the climate change regulations they feared were coming from President Obama. The group [is] headed in part by Roger R. Martella Jr., a top environmental official in the George W. Bush administration, and Peter Glazer, a prominent Washington lobbyist...." ...

... Edward Rosenfeld of CNBC: "President Barack Obama unveiled his plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants on Monday, potentially kicking off a legal battle between regulators and coal industry supporters. Calling the plan 'the single most important step America has ever taken in the fight against global climate change,' Obama emphasized that the regulation was about the present -- not just the predictions of forward-looking models." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Adam Vaughn of the Guardian: "Hundreds of businesses including eBay, Nestle and General Mills have issued their support for Barack Obama's clean power plan, billed as the strongest action ever on climate change by a US president.... The rules are expected to trigger a 'tsunami' of legal opposition from states and utilities who oppose the plans, which will significantly boost wind and solar power generation and force a switch away from coal power. Republican presidential hopefuls moved quickly to voice their opposition, saying they would be economically damaging. But 365 businesses and investors wrote to 29 state governors to strongly support the rules, which they said would benefit the economy and create jobs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Michael Grunwald of Politico: "If you're really ranking them, the Clean Power Plan is at best the fourth-strongest action that [President] Obama has taken to combat climate change, behind his much-maligned 2009 stimulus package, which poured $90 billion into clean energy and jump-started a green revolution; his dramatic increases in fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks, which should reduce our oil consumption by 2 million barrels per day; and his crackdown on mercury and other air pollutants, which has helped inspire utilities to retire 200 coal-fired power plants in just five years.... Nevertheless, the new plan is already being hailed by environmentalists, denounced by industry, and hyped by the media as a bombshell. It doesn't fit the narrative to suggest that the plan is really kind of eh. It only fits the available facts." ...

... Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "The conservative Republican-dominated red states most ideologically resistant to federal regulation in general also tend to be the states most reliant on carbon-intensive fuels (particularly coal) for their electricity. They're also the most invested in the existing fossil-fuel economy. By contrast, the blue Democratic-leaning states most ideologically sympathetic to [President] Obama's efforts against climate change also tend to be less reliant on coal for their electricity and less integrated into the fossil-fuel economy.... All 10 of the states that emit the most carbon per megawatt-hour of electricity generated voted for Mitt Romney over Obama in 2012.... Obama by contrast, carried ... nine of the 10 states with the absolute lowest emissions.... Notwithstanding [deep] concessions [to fossil-fuel dependent states], several Republican governors have already signaled that they do not intend to submit plans for reducing their state's carbon emissions to the EPA, as the rule requires."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "GOP lawmakers in Congress will make their first explicit move Monday to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood after a series of undercover videos raised questions about its practice of harvesting tissue for research from aborted fetuses. The Monday evening procedural vote on a Senate bill to immediately halt funding to the group is expected to fail. Democrats have vowed to filibuster the bill, and Republicans have thus far been unable to peel off enough support to counter it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... ** New Lede: "Senate Democrats on Monday blocked a Republican-backed effort to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood following the release of undercover videos raising questions about its practice of harvesting tissue for research from aborted fetuses. The 53-46 procedural tally fell short of the 60 votes needed to proceed with a bill that would immediately halt funding to the group." ...

... Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) announced he had ended the state's Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood in response to an anti-abortion 'sting' video campaign against the reproductive health service.... The move comes despite the fact that the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana do not provide abortion....

     ... Times-Picayune: In his announcement, Jindal claimed, "'multiple videos have surfaced showing Planned Parenthood Federation of America senior personnel and other employees describing how they actively engage in illegal partial birth abortion procedures and conduct these abortions in a manner that leaves body parts intact so that they can later be sold on the open market.'... Planned Parenthood has 30 days to appeal. The administration said the contract gave either party the right to cancel the contract at will after providing written notice." CW: Jindal's assertion is a flat-out lie. So-called partial-birth abortions are illegal, & Planned Parenthood doesn't do them. ...

... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: "By attempting to capitalize on the videos in an unscrupulous way, conservatives have unleashed political forces Republicans can't control. Anti-abortion zealots are now demanding that Republicans in Congress refuse to appropriate money for government operations unless Planned Parenthood's funding is abolished -- a new test of Republican pro-life bona fides." ...

... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "... this dog-and-pony show is less about defunding Planned Parenthood and more about giving Republican politicians a chance to reassure their base that they, too, hate the idea of low-income women obtaining affordable reproductive health care. If Republicans are smart, they'll move on -- at least until the next time the anti-sex police decide there's some new fake thing they're all outraged over.... We should all be alarmed that a bunch of charlatans can snap their fingers and get congressional Republicans to come crawling." ...

... CW: This might be a good place to remind everybody, including all boneheaded members of Congress, that Planned Parenthood gets no federal funding for abortions. Period. These bozos are not voting to defund abortions; they're voting to defunds mammograms, contraceptive aides & other healthcare services. Update: Elizabeth Warren made this point on the Senate floor yesterday. Listen to Warren's speech, & bear in mind that a short time later Joe Manchin & 52 Republicans voted against women anyway, including those who claim to support women's rights like Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte & Lisa Murkowski. Shame on them.

Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Sen. Chuck Schumer is teaming up with another Schumer -- actress and comedian Amy -- on Monday to push for stricter gun-control laws. The two Schumers held a news conference in New York to unveil a new proposal drafted by the senator meant to prevent violent criminals, abusers and those with mental illnesses from obtaining guns. The push comes in the wake of the shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, last month at a screening of Amy Schumer's new movie 'Trainwreck,' where two women were killed and at least nine other people were injured." Chuck Schumer & Amy Schumer are cousins. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "More than 120 wealthy Democratic donors have written to the party's leadership in Congress to express support for the Iran nuclear deal, the latest move in a fierce battle for votes on the historic agreement. The letter, whose signatories include Hollywood producer Norman Lear, several retired ambassadors and members of the uber-wealthy Democracy Alliance donor network, warns lawmakers that scuttling the deal 'would put us back on a path to a nuclear-armed Iran, another costly military campaign -- or both.'" ...

... Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Persian Gulf monarchies issued a cautious endorsement on Monday of the accord Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated last month to constrain Iran's nuclear program. 'This was the best option among other options,' said Khalid al-Attiyah, the foreign minister of Qatar, who hosted a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council that Mr. Kerry attended." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eric Segall: "With no cameras in their courtroom, secret votes on which cases to hear (and why), no rules on when or even if their taxpayer-funded papers become public, and no review of individual decisions whether or not serving on a case would be improper, we are worlds away from an open and transparent Supreme Court of the United States." Via Paul Waldman.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor addresses the paper's "tortured history" of coverage of Hillary & Bill Clinton. Times executive editor Dean Baquet told her, "If you look at our body of work, I don't believe we have been unfair." Sullivan noted, "But the Times's 'screw-up,' as Mr. Baquet called it, reinforces the need for reporters and their editors to be 'doubly vigilant and doubly cautious.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post is not impressed with Sullivan's "wishy-washy" column. He notes that the original Times story, 11 days old on Monday, still contains the error that two inspectors general sent the DOJ a security referral; only one of them sent a referral, according to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). Sullivan has not addressed this likely error. Since Times editors granted Sullivan access which they denied other media reporters, she should have (a) done a better job, & (b) been willing to talk to reporters. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Paul Waldman: "... the spasm of speculation over a Biden run that happened in the last couple of days is absurdly overblown." Waldman credits the rumor to the grafs that followed "the ankle-deep river of bile directed at Bill and Hillary Clinton that is characteristic of most of what [Maureen] Dowd writes." Waldman likes the Onion's running gag about Biden. Here are links to recent stories (the sources possibly vetted by Michael Schmidt of the New York Times) which do kinda suggest Biden may not be presidential material. However, none of these Biden spoofs makes him out to be as big a nitwit as the idiot featured below are in reality.

Jeremy Peters & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "After weeks of preparing for a smash-mouth debate with Donald J. Trump, 14 Republican candidates found themselves instead Trump-less but sandwiched into a constricting format on Monday night, delivering strikingly uneven performances just days before the first big test of the presidential primary contest. Rather than making the other contenders look more presidential, however, the event, at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., seemed to shrink the candidates." Jeb Bush proved particularly maladroit. ...

... The Union Leader report by Dan Tuohy, which is exceptionally boring, is here. Should you care to waste two hours plus, you can still watch Losers' Big Night Out here. OR save yourself the time & read P. D. Pepe's summary in today's Comments. ...

... Gabriel Sherman of New York: "[Tuesday] around 5 p.m., Fox News executives are scheduled to gather in Roger Ailes's second-floor conference room at the network's midtown headquarters to decide who will be the next president of the United States the lineup of candidates who will participate in the first Republican debate on Thursday in Cleveland.... Based on the five most recent polls that meet Fox's standards, [Donald] Trump will be center stage flanked by Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. On the bubble, it's looking like Ohio governor John Kasich will edge out Rick Perry for the final spot. If current numbers hold, the remaining prime-time participants will be: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, and Rand Paul." ...

... Paul Singer of USA Today: "Former IRS commissioner Mark Everson, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, will file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday alleging that he is being unfairly excluded from the first debate, he told USA TODAY. Everson is arguing that election law requires debate organizers to set 'pre-established and objective standards' for inclusion, and that Fox News has not met that requirement for Thursday's debate in Cleveland." ...

... Joe Strupp of Media Matters: "Veteran presidential campaign correspondents and media experts are criticizing Fox News' unprecedented role as a gatekeeper in the Republican primary."

Dana Milbank: "The gap between those who vote in GOP primaries and the rest of the electorate is growing.... This Republican sliver of the electorate, growing isolated and angry, is inclined toward exotic views. Trump, rather than causing the insanity Paul speaks of, is exploiting it."

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "... the Huckabees and Cruzes simply cannot compete with Donald Trump..., [whose] "novelty and lack of normal political constraints is what is allowing him to run circles around his competitors who had hoped to play in the Crazy space. Showmanship, lack of touch with reality, and a palpable handle on the grievance and unrestrained self-assertion that is at the center of modern Republican base politics have made Trump, for now, almost impossible to outdo in a crowded field." (CW: Maybe Marshall will change his tune when he sees Ted's Second Amendment Bacon. See below.) ...

... OR, as David Brooks, America's Explainer, puts it: "Never before have we experienced a moment with so much public alienation and so much private, assertive and fragile self-esteem." CW: However did this happen? ...

... Joanne Freeman, in a New York Times op-ed, explains to America's Explainer that the moment is not exactly as unprecedented as he asserts: "Politicians have always resorted to dumb claims, blatant insults, bold exaggerations and baldfaced lies to gain press coverage and win votes.... Such grandstanding was particularly blatant in the mid-19th century, an era with a political climate much like our own." Back in the day, such extremism resulted in the Civil War. ...

... Greg Sargent: "David Brooks argues this morning that Trump's 'allure' is rooted in how voters 'feel,' i.e., 'alienated,' 'frustrated,' and 'angry.'... But here's another possibility: what if a key source of his appeal is that a lot of Republican voters agree with what he's saying about the issues?"

Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Food safety experts and gun experts have warned against cooking bacon on the barrel of a machine gun, after Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz released a video showing him doing just that." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Turns out Machine Gun Bacon is not an original recipe. (At the end of the linked video [at the end of Caitlin Cruz's story], chef Dustin Ellermann rubs his hands together & giggles, "Let's go kill some more pigs." Presumably with a machine gun. ...

... Steve M. has a lot more on Dustin Ellermann, Ted's inspirational mentor. Read it & vomit. Upset about rumors that officials were confiscating militia members' weapons during the Bundy Ranch confrontation, Ellermann asked "What happened to America?" Good question. Remember, this guy -- who also wrote in favor of Texas secession -- isn't just an evangelical gun nut (who runs a Christian children's camp where he teaches the kids to shoot up the countryside for Jesus), he's serving here as a model for a U.S. senator & presidential candidate.

Oh, Gawker is back. Sam Biddle: "Last month, American reality show entertainer turned American political system entertainer Donald Trump publicized presidential rival Sen. Lindsey Graham's cell number, urging his supporters to 'try it.' In the spirit of open and fair political debate, we now bring you Trump's number." A commenter writes, "He doesn't even have a (212) number? I thought he was rich. Poser." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

... Josh Feldman of Mediaite: "Trump.com, the official website for Donald Trump's organization, was hit by hackers [Monday] who posted a message to Jon Stewart praising him in his final week hosting The Daily Show. The Twitter account @TelecomixCanada is apparently responsible for the hacked message...."

... Punked. Neetzan Zimmerman of the Hill: "Harvard Lampoon tricks Trump with fake endorsement." The Crimson story, by Mariel Klein, is here. CW: That is, I think it's the Crimson story.

Punked. Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Wisconsin governor Scott Walker encountered what looked like a group of young supporters during a campaign stop on Monday at a [Manchester, N.H.,] pizza shop, only to be presented with a fake check from the billionaire Koch brothers by a group of climate activists.... 'I'd like to present you with this check from the Koch brothers for climate denial,' [Tyler] McFarland, 23, told Walker." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton turned himself in to law enforcement officials on Monday in the face of felony charges on securities fraud." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Caroline Bankoff of New York: "In response to the uproar over the death of Cecil, Delta Airlines has announced that it will no longer ship hunting trophies that come from lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses, and buffalo. Delta (the only American carrier that flies directly to Africa) joins Lufthansa, Emirates Airlines, and British Airways -- all of whom pledged to stop transporting various exotic-animal parts this spring, before it was cool. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that Air France, KLM, Iberia, IAG Cargo, Singapore Airlines, and Qantas have 'signaled' a willingness to do the same."

CW: I didn't read Jake Halpern's profile/interview of Darren Wilson, Michael Brown's killer, but I read enough excerpts to know Wilson is a classic racist. Black lives matters? No so much.

Possibly Not the Best Application of Law Enforcement Tactics. ACLU: "A deputy sheriff shackled two elementary school children who have disabilities, causing them pain and trauma, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Children's Law Center, and Dinsmore & Shohl. The children, an 8-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, were so small that the school resource officer, Kenton County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Sumner in Covington, Kentucky, locked the handcuffs around the children's biceps and forced their hands behind their backs, the lawsuit charges."

News Ledes

New York: "The FBI arrested three North Carolina men on Saturday for allegedly planning to go to war with the United States when the government imposed martial law."

AP: "Two people were killed and more than 20 injured when a circus tent collapsed in a storm during a performance in New Hampshire. Authorities said about 100 people were inside the tent at the Lancaster Fairground, about 90 miles north of the state capital in Concord, when it fell down on Monday."

The Commentariat -- August 3, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Edward Rosenfeld of CNBC: "President Barack Obama unveiled his plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants on Monday, potentially kicking off a legal battle between regulators and coal industry supporters. Calling the plan 'the single most important step America has ever taken in the fight against global climate change,' Obama emphasized that the regulation was about the present not just the predictions of forward-looking models." Here's a clip:

... Adam Vaughn of the Guardian: "Hundreds of businesses including eBay, Nestle and General Mills have issued their support for Barack Obama's clean power plan, billed as the strongest action ever on climate change by a US president.... The rules are expected to trigger a 'tsunami' of legal opposition from states and utilities who oppose the plans, which will significantly boost wind and solar power generation and force a switch away from coal power. Republican presidential hopefuls moved quickly to voice their opposition, saying they would be economically damaging. But 365 businesses and investors wrote to 29 state governors to strongly support the rules, which they said would benefit the economy and create jobs."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "GOP lawmakers in Congress will make their first explicit move Monday to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood after a series of undercover videos raised questions about its practice of harvesting tissue for research from aborted fetuses. The Monday evening procedural vote on a Senate bill to immediately halt funding to the group is expected to fail. Democrats have vowed to filibuster the bill, and Republicans have thus far been unable to peel off enough support to counter it."

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "Persian Gulf monarchies issued a cautious endorsement on Monday of the accord Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated last month to constrain Iran's nuclear program. 'This was the best option among other options,' said Khalid al-Attiyah, the foreign minister of Qatar, who hosted a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council that Mr. Kerry attended."

Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Sen. Chuck Schumer is teaming up with another Schumer — actress and comedian Amy -- on Monday to push for stricter gun-control laws. The two Schumers held a news conference in New York to unveil a new proposal drafted by the senator meant to prevent violent criminals, abusers and those with mental illnesses from obtaining guns. The push comes in the wake of the shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, last month at a screening of Amy Schumer's new movie 'Trainwreck,' where two women were killed and at least nine other people were injured." Chuck Schumer & Amy Schumer are cousins. ...

... Adam Gabbatt of the Guardian: "Food safety experts and gun experts have warned against cooking bacon on the barrel of a machine gun, after Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz released a video showing him doing just that."

Oh, Gawker is back. Sam Biddle: "Last month, American reality show entertainer turned American political system entertainer Donald Trump publicized presidential rival Sen. Lindsey Graham's cell number, urging his supporters to 'try it.' In the spirit of open and fair political debate, we now bring you Trump's number." A commenter writes, "He doesn't even have a (212) number? I thought he was rich. Poser."

Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Wisconsin governor Scott Walker encountered what looked like a group of young supporters during a campaign stop on Monday at a [Manchester, N.H.,] pizza shop, only to be presented with a fake check from the billionaire Koch brothers by a group of climate activists.... 'I'd like to present you with this check from the Koch brothers for climate denial,' [Tyler] McFarland, 23, told Walker."

Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor addresses the paper's "tortured history" of coverage of Hillary & Bill Clinton. Times executive editor Dean Baquet told her, "If you look at our body of work, I don't believe we have been unfair." Sullivan noted, "But the Times's 'screw-up,' as Mr. Baquet called it, reinforces the need for reporters and their editors to be 'doubly vigilant and doubly cautious.'" ...

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post is not impressed with Sullivan's "wishy-washy" column. He notes that the original Times story, 11 days old on Monday, still contains the error that two inspectors general sent the DOJ a security referral; only one of them sent a referral, according to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). Sullivan has not addressed this likely error. Since Times editors granted Sullivan access which they denied other media reporters, she should have (a) done a better job, & (b) been willing to talk to reporters.

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton turned himself in to law enforcement officials on Monday in the face of felony charges on securities fraud."

*****

Greg Sargent on how President Obama's Clean Power Plan is likely to play out in the upcoming national elections. "Given that this would combine Obummer Mandates with a new effort at international engagement that many GOP primary voters will likely oppose, it could perhaps make Obama's climate push even more ideologically toxic to Republicans, requiring the GOP candidates to outdo one another in their zeal to oppose it." ...

... New Rules. Eric Holthaus of Slate: The Obama administration's climate-change policy is fairly lame.

Two key legislators -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) & Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) -- have come out in favor of the Iran nuclear deal. Via Greg Sargent.

The New Kochs, Ctd. Ken Vogel of Politico: "Charles Koch, in a Sunday afternoon speech to conservative donors and GOP dignitaries, compared the causes of his conservative political and policy operation to the American Revolution, the abolitionists, suffragettes and civil rights crusaders. 'They all sought to overcome an injustice. And we, too, are seeking to right injustices that are holding our country back,' Koch said on the second day of a summit he and his brother David Koch convened the at the St. Regis Monarch Beach luxury resort, which drew 450 rich conservatives, as well as numerous leading Republican politicians.... For the Koch network, the cause is reforming the criminal justice system, and reducing government spending and regulation that conservatives believe limits prosperity for all Americans. Or, as Koch put it Sunday, 'we aim ... to remove the shackles preventing all Americans, especially the disadvantaged, from pursuing their dreams.'" CW: Yes, the "disadvantaged" should be free to sell arms to Iran, pollute the environment & have offshore accounts, too. ...

... Matea Gold & James Hohmann write the Washington Post story. CW: I'm all dewy-eyed.

CW: Yesterday, I pointed to a Reuters story about how Donald Trump's companies regularly hire low-wage foreign workers under the barely-regulated H-2 temporary visa program. I missed this excellent BuzzFeed investigative piece (July 24) on how the H-2 visa program "works": "The H-2 visa program invites foreign workers to do some of the most menial labor in America. Then it leaves them at the mercy of their employers. Thousands of these workers have been abused -- deprived of their fair pay, imprisoned, starved, beaten, raped, and threatened with deportation if they dare complain. And the government says it can do little to help."

Jack Hitt of Mother Jones: "Police Shootings Won't Stop Unless We Also Stop Shaking Down Black People." CW: Hitt is right about that of course, but what his story inadvertently reveals is a huge flaw in the low-tax libertarian philosophy. Many local governments have chosen to lower property taxes & raise revenue instead via fines for minor vehicle & home infractions -- from failures to signal to cheesy miniblinds (really). Police & code enforcement officials are expected to earn their wages by citing citizens, & for some odd reason, they tend to cite poorer citizens. I don't doubt that the city councilmembers who have developed this flawed structure ran for office on low-tax platforms, & voters chose them for that very reason. As Hitt points out, carried to its logical extreme (and municipalities do carry it to the extreme), it is often more costly to demand payment (by jailing those who can't pay) than it would have been not to fine the citizens in the first place.

Paul Krugman: After writing a post criticizing "crotchety crank" Ron Paul's ever-erroneous wacko economic theories -- which he is now selling in video format! -- "I've received some mail from Ron Paul admirers deeply angered by the suggestion that they are not engaged in deep intellectual argument. By and large the mail reads like this:

Dear shmak, Paul Krugman!
Stop insulting Ron Paul!
You are low level Socialist/Liberal who should be jailed
for Life
your insulting writing style.
Ron Paul is Real Man with Capital M
and you are nobody!

     ... CW: I suspect Krugman is unfair to these writers. I'm sure he cleaned up their spelling.

Paul Krugman in the New York Times Book Review: Don't bother to buy Thomas Picketty's "new" book, because it's really 15 years old & doesn't reflect recent economic changes, new data & revised scholarship, even his own.

Ellen Brait of the Guardian: "Several New York retailers, including Walmart, Sears and Amazon, have agreed to remove realistic toy guns from their shelves and pay $300,000 in penalties as part of a settlement with the state. State attorney general Eric Schneiderman announced on Monday that his office had found over 6,400 toy guns sold from 2012 to 2014 that violated preexisting New York laws, which ban the sale of black, blue, silver, or aluminum toy guns. Instead, these must be brightly colored or translucent."

Presidential Race

Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Days before the first Republican debate, Donald Trump has surged into the national lead in the GOP primary race, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush following, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows. Trump is the first choice of 19 percent of GOP primary voters, while 15 percent back Walker and 14 percent back Bush. Ten percent support retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson." ...

... Steven Thomma of McClatchy News: "... the McClatchy-Marist Poll has temporarily suspended polling on primary voter choices out of concern that public polls are being misused to decide who will be in and who will be excluded. The Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducts the national survey, said the debate criteria assume too much precision in polls in drawing a line between candidates just a fraction apart, presume that the national polls being averaged are comparable, and turn the media sponsoring most of the polls from analysts to participants."

He's the Doofus, Not the Donald. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump's surge in the polls has been met with barely concealed delight by Jeb Bush and his supporters. Mr. Trump's bombastic ways have simultaneously made it all but impossible for those vying to be the alternative to Mr. Bush to emerge, and easier for Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor, to position himself as the serious and thoughtful alternative to a candidate who has upended the early nominating process.... Mr. Trump has essentially frozen the rest of the field." Trump is peeling off potential Scott Walker voters, in particular.

Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Donald Trump is assembling a team of political strategists and campaign staffers charged with sustaining his lead in the Republican presidential polls. While strategists say Trump still got a ways to go to catch up to his rivals for the White House, he is taking aggressive steps to build a political machine, particularly in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire." ...

... Laura Reston of the New Republic: Donald Trump is a candidate in the longstanding American tradition of Know Nothings. CW: Worth nothing [Oops! That was a Freudian typo; s/b "worth noting"]: Reston's little history lesson reminds us anew that the Northeast has never been immune to racist sentiments. ...

... Mistakes Were Made. Emily Atkin of Think Progress: "... Donald Trump said on Sunday that more power should be given to the police. 'It's a massive crisis,' Trump said on Meet the Press, when asked about the concerns of the Black Lives Matter movement. 'Some horrible mistakes are made. At the same time, we have to give power back to the police, because crime is rampant.'" ...

... Black People Are All Alike. Emily Atkin: "In an interview with ABC News on Sunday..., [Donald Trump] said Americans wouldn't elect another black president for a long time because of Obama's 'poor standard.'... ' think that he has set a very low bar and I think it's a shame for the African American people." CW: Okay, no more white presidents because Warren Harding, Andrew Johnson, George W. Bush, etc. Sorry, Donald. I'm going for the best-qualified Inuit. ...

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "The Trump campaign confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday that longtime aide Sam Nunberg had been fired, after Business Insider reported on an eight-year-old social media post. In 2007, a post on Nunberg's Facebook page referring to the veteran civil rights campaigner Al Sharpton read: 'Meeting Rev Sharpton today, no joke -- he will tell him that his daughter is N---!'" CW: Good to hear that Trump won't abide racism.

Zachary Warmbrodt of Politico: "Donald Trump made clear on Sunday that he's not ruling out a third-party run if his bid for the Republican presidential nomination falters. In a phone interview on ABC's 'This Week,' the billionaire businessman-turned-political celebrity said he'd have 'no interest' in running as a third-party candidate if he's 'treated fairly' by the Republican Party but 'would certainly not give that up' if he felt burned." CW: Since the Republican party is essentially impotent, this is more a warning to Roger Ailes & Fox "News" debate questioners. ...

When people are chopping off other people's heads and then we're worried about waterboarding and we can't, because I have no doubt that that works. I have absolutely no doubt.... When you see the other side chopping off heads, waterboarding doesn't sound very severe. -- Donald Trump, on ABC's "This Week with Whomever"

... CW: There really should be more violence against teachers.

E. J. Dionne: Some GOP candidates, like Jeb! & Marco, "talk about the need to restore paths to upward mobility, [but] their underlying proposals remain rooted in the thinking of the Reagan era...: that government can do little about what ails us and that the path to nirvana is still paved with tax cuts and business deregulation. But as progressive economist Joseph Stiglitz noted to me..., it's precisely the rules and policies of the past 35 to 40 years that have helped lead the middle class into its current economic impasse."

Rick Perry Discovers Government Regulation. David Dayen in the New Republic: Rick Perry inherited mortgage-lending regulations that are stricter than what even the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau promotes. Altho he wants to gut the CFPB, Perry is now touting his state's strict lending regulations, which saved Texas from the burst bubble that brought down Florida's economy just after Jeb! left the governorship. In his speech on Wall Street reform, Perry also "endorsed higher capital requirements for the largest banks so they can absorb trading losses rather than pass them on to the government. He also advocated for a firewall between investment and commercial banks, which is not unlike the Depression-era Glass-Steagall reforms now championed by the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.... Even if Perry doesn't make it to the general election [and he won't], he's done the country a service by telling the truth about the value of consumer protection."

Paper Soldier. Craig Whitelock of the Washington Post: "a detailed examination of [Sen. Lindsey] Graham's military record -- much of it obtained under the Freedom of Information Act -- shows that the Air Force afforded him special treatment as a lawmaker, granting him the privileges of rank with few expectations in return. During his first decade in Congress, the Air Force promoted Graham twice even though documents in his military personnel file reveal that he did little or no work. Later, the Pentagon gave the military lawyer a job assignment in the Air Force Reserve that he highlighted in his biography for several years but never performed.... After he became a colonel, Graham began to dedicate more hours to the Reserve. He deployed for brief stints in Iraq and Afghanistan, visits timed to overlap with his travels there as a senator. For nearly a decade, however, Graham gave inaccurate public descriptions of his job assignment...."

CW: For reasons beyond me, Rick Santorum thinks this fake Hillary site, a product of his own campaign, is hilarious. I'm sticking -- so to speak -- with santorum.com

Beyond the Beltway

Hedge Clippers: "Hedge funds and billionaire hedge fund managers have swooped into Puerto Rico during a fast-moving economic crisis to prey on the vulnerable island. Several groups of hedge funds and billionaire hedge fund managers have bought up large chunks of Puerto Rican debt at discounts, pushed the island to borrow more, and are driving towards devastating austerity measures. At the same time, they are also using the island as a tax haven.... Known as 'vulture funds,' these investors have followed a similar game plan in other debt crises, in countries such as Greece and Argentina." Via Think Progress. ...

... Alice Ollstein of Think Progress: “'The reason Puerto Rico has such unsustainable debt has everything to do with the policies of austerity and the greed of large financial institutions,' said [Sen. Bernie] Sanders [I-Vt.]. He additionally noted that just seven years ago, Congress 'acted with a fierce sense of urgency to bail out Wall Street,' yet is now dragging its feet on helping the commonwealth of Puerto Rico." ...

... Paul Krugman: "... too much austerity can be self-defeating. It would, in particular, be a terrible idea to give the hedge funds that have scooped up much of Puerto Rico's debt what they want -- basically to destroy the island's education system in the name of fiscal responsibility. Overall, however, the Puerto Rican story is one of bad times that fall well short of utter disaster. And the saving grace in this situation is big government -- a federal system that provides a crucial safety net for American citizens in times of need, wherever they happen to live." ...

... Or Not. Lizette Alvarez & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "On an island where more than 60 percent of residents receive Medicare or Medicaid -- an indicator of Puerto Rico's poverty and rapidly aging population -- the dwindling funds have set off outpourings of concern among patients and doctors, protest rallies and intense lobbying in Washington. And while the crisis is playing out most vividly today, its cause dates back decades and stems, in large part, from a vast disparity in federal funding for health care on the island compared with funding for the 50 states. This disparity is partly responsible for $25 billion of Puerto Rico's $73 billion debt, as Puerto Rico's government was forced to borrow over time to keep the Medicaid program afloat, according to economists."

The Anti-Education Governor. Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "Teachers can't hotfoot it out of Kansas fast enough, creating a substantial shortage expected only to get much worse. Why? Well, there's the low pay.... Then there's the severe underfunding for public education by the administration of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, so much of a problem that some school districts closed early this past school year because they didn't have the cash to keep operating.... The Kansas Board of Education decided in July to allow six school systems -- including two of the largest in the state -- to hire unlicensed teachers to ease the shortage.

AP: "The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, prepared on Sunday to become the latest powerful state official booked on felony charges. But unlike when Governor Rick Perry smiled for his mugshot last year, Republicans are not rushing to Paxton's defense."

AP: "A person of 'interest' was taken into custody in connection with the fatal shooting of a police officer during a traffic stop in Memphis, police said on Sunday." ...

     ... Update: Adrian Sainz of the AP: "Tennessee police officials on Sunday identified a suspect in the fatal shooting of a Memphis police officer, and an intense search for the man is underway. Tremaine Wilbourn, 29, faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Officer Sean Bolton, 33, on Saturday night, Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong said at a news conference.... Armstrong said Bolton interrupted a drug deal in progress.... The driver [of the vehicle in which Bolton was sitting] later turned himself in to police, and police described him as a person of interest in the case before he was released without being charged."

Way Beyond

Washington Post: "Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sunday called a parliamentary election for Oct. 19, kicking off an 11-week campaign -- a marathon in Canada -- that is likely to focus on a stubbornly sluggish economy and his decade in power. Polls indicate that Harper's right-of-center Conservative Party, which has been in office since 2006, could well lose its majority in the House of Commons."

Farai Mutsaka of the AP: "Zimbabwe accused a Pennsylvania doctor on Sunday of illegally killing a lion in April, adding to the outcry over a Minnesota dentist the African government wants to extradite for killing a well-known lion named Cecil in early July. Zimbabwe's National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority accused Jan Casimir Seski of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, of shooting the lion with a bow and arrow in April near Hwange National Park, without approval, on land where it was not allowed."

News Ledes

Guardian: "Former City trader Tom Hayes has been sentenced to 14 years in jail after becoming the first person to be convicted by a jury of rigging the Libor interest rate. Hayes, 35, a former UBS and Citigroup yen derivatives trader, was convicted of eight counts of conspiracy to defraud."

New York Times: After being closed for five weeks, the Greek stock exchange reopened today, & prices plummeted.

AP: "Fire officials called for thousands of evacuations as numerous homes remained threatened by Northern California wildfires Monday, while more than 9,000 firefighters battled 21 major fires in the state, officials said. Wildfires were also burning in Washington and Oregon as the West Coast suffered from the effects of drought and summer heat."