The Commentariat -- June 4, 2014

Internal links removed.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama met on Wednesday for the first time with the newly elected president of Ukraine and pledged American support for efforts to stabilize a country.... Mr. Obama used the meeting to announce that the United States would increase nonlethal aid to Ukraine with $5 million worth of night-vision goggles, body armor and communications equipment sought by its security forces. He praised President-elect Petro O. Poroshenko, saying that Mr. Poroshenko 'understands the aspirations and hopes of the Ukrainian people' and represents a better future for his country."

Adam Goldman & Scott Wilson of the Washington Post report on the debate inside the Obama administration re: the retrieval of Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier held by the Taliban. ...

... Boehner Checks Off His Umbrage-Taking Chore of the Day. John Parkinson of ABC News: "House Speaker John Boehner called on the Obama administration today to clarify not only what steps it took to finalize the exchange of five Taliban detainees for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, but also 'what steps the president has taken to guarantee this exchange is not a signal that it is open season on our fellow citizens, both military and civilian personnel, serving our country abroad.'" ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "The White House has apologized to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for failing to alert her in advance of a decision to release Taliban commanders from Guantanamo Bay. Feinstein told reporters that she received a call from Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken on Monday evening apologizing for what the administration is calling an 'oversight.'" ...

... Telegraph: "A video released through the Taliban's media arm appears to show the moment Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier who spent five years in captivity, is released [no link]":

... Jake Tapper of CNN: "Former Army Sgt. Evan Buetow was the team leader with Bowe Bergdahl the night Bergdahl disappeared.... Within days of his disappearance, says Buetow, teams monitoring radio chatter and cell phone communications intercepted an alarming message: The American is in Yahya Khel (a village two miles away). He's looking for someone who speaks English so he can talk to the Taliban. 'I heard it straight from the interpreter's lips as he heard it over the radio,' said Buetow. 'There's a lot more to this story than a soldier walking away.'" ...

... CW: Gee, I was so impressed that our excellent media so quickly located so many of Bergdahl's former mates. To a man, they describe him as a deserter or traitor. So I guess it must be true. Or maybe, just maybe somebody is writing this plotline:

     ... Rosie Gray & Kate Nocera of BuzzFeed: "A former Bush administration official who was hired, then resigned, as Mitt Romney's foreign policy spokesman played a key role in publicizing critics of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the released prisoner of war. The involvement of Richard Grenell, who once served as a key aide to Bush-era U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton and later worked for Romney's 2012 campaign, comes as the Bergdahl release has turned into an increasingly vicious partisan issue." ...

     ... ** Adam Weinstein of Gawker has more. BTW, from a New York Times story that featured the soldiers' beefs: "Pentagon officials say those charges are unsubstantiated and are not supported by a review of a database of casualties in the Afghan war." ...

... Charlie Savage & Andrew Lehren of the New York Times: "... a review of casualty reports and contemporaneous military logs from the Afghanistan war shows that the facts surrounding the eight deaths [Bergdahl's critics are attributing to the search for him] are far murkier than definitive — even as critics of Sergeant Bergdahl contend that every American combat death in Paktika Province in the months after he disappeared, from July to September 2009, was his fault." ...

... Jack Shafer of Reuters: "... instead of facing an Army court-martial for allegedly deserting his post on June 30, 2009, Bergdahl finds himself facing a brisk public court-martial in the press.... The press ... has a responsibility to cover Bergdahl's alleged desertion and its fallout. But whatever Bergdahl's alleged transgressions, his guilt or innocence should be determined by the military, not the media. Bergdahl also deserves something better than being treated as a political pawn by the Republicans who have brought the full weight of their tongues down on President Barack Obama." ...

... Tom Kludt of TPM: "Conservatives Go From Zero To Impeachment In Record Time On Bergdahl." ...

... CW: This column, by Alan Gomez of USA Today, is appearing in local newspapers across the country under the headline "Is It Ever Right to Negotiate with Terrorists?" But in the local paper where I am today, the piece gets a banner headline that better matches the content: "U.S. Has Long Negotiated with Terrorists." ...

... Paul Waldman, in the Washington Post: "... even when they have a reasonable complaint about a decision President Obama has made, Republicans are so quick to jump on the train to Crazytown that they undermine their own legitimate arguments."

Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The new director of the National Security Agency says he believes whistleblower Edward Snowden was 'probably not' working for a foreign intelligence agency, despite frequent speculation and assertion by the NSA's allies to the contrary. In one of his first public remarks since becoming NSA director in April, Admiral Michael Rogers, who also leads the military's cybersecurity and cyberattack command, distanced himself on Tuesday from contentions that Snowden is or has been a spy for Russia or another intelligence service." CW: Read the whole story. Rogers sounds like less of a dick than Keith Alexander, the previous NSA director. Admittedly, Alexander set a high standard of dickery.

** CW: Once again Akhilleus has surprised me with some essential information that had eluded me; this time it was the source of the Koch family fortune. (See yesterday's Comments.) Yasha Levine, writing in AlterNet, has the story (pub. April 2010): "The secretive oil billionaires of the Koch family ... would not have the means to bankroll their favorite causes had it not been for the pile of money the family made working for the Bolsheviks in the late 1920s and early 1930s, building refineries, training Communist engineers and laying down the foundation of Soviet oil infrastructure."

The NRA Is Very Sorry It Leaned Slightly toward Reasonable for a Few Seconds. (You might call it a misfire.) Sam Frizell of Time: "The National Rifle Association has walked back its apology for the actions of pro-gun activists who carry loaded assault weapons in public places to protest gun restrictions, with a top official calling a previous critique of so-called open carriers 'a mistake.'"

Tom Edsall: Some conservative writers oppose the Tea Party's tax-slashing obsession, but these "reformers" are not likely to prevail till Republicans begin losing their base of white workers.

MoDo in Wonderland. When in Denver, don't try the Alice B. Toklas brownies. Maureen Dowd experiences a terrifying high; others have been sickened -- or worse. ...

... John Cole of Balloon Juice thinks MoDo is stupid. She should have been out taking in the Colorado scenery instead of sitting alone in her hotel room with a candy bar that said, "Eat me." He has a point, but I can imagine many people -- perhaps myself included -- being equally as stupid. ...

... Margaret Hartman: MoDo lights up Twitter. Don't miss the tweets. Some reimagine the column as if Peggy Noonan wrote it.

Primary Races

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "There was no clear winner early Wednesday in the most hard-fought Republican Senate primary race this year, with the six-term incumbent Thad Cochran of Mississippi and his Tea Party-backed challenger, State Senator Chris McDaniel, running neck and neck after a night of lead changes.... In Iowa, state party officials were heartened by the victory of State Senator Joni Ernst. Winning support from both mainline Republicans and the party's more conservative voters, Ms. Ernst took more than 50 percent of the total against four opponents. She only needed 35 percent to avoid having the nomination settled at a state convention."

The Jackson, Mississippi, Clarion-Ledger story, on the Cochran-McDaniel race, is here.

Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register on Joni Ernst's victory.

Senate Race

Noah Bierman & Todd Wallack of the Boston Globe (June 2): Scott Brown, candidate for U.S. Senate representing New Hampshire, & formerly (thanks to Elizabeth Warren) Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), received stock worth $1.3 million (at the time) from a Florida start-up which is a self-proclaimed firearms manufacturer -- but somehow sells hairspray instead. "Global Digital Solutions Inc. does not yet sell or make guns. It has no revenue, no patents, no trademarks, no manufacturing facilities, and no experience developing weapons, according to its most recent corporate filings.... It is the kind of company, with scant assets and a shifting business model, that some financial professionals warn investors to steer away from. The company, instead of selling firearms, has churned out press releases to attract small investors, including the one about Brown joining the firm, and issued millions of shares of stock to fund its operations." The company has a "virtual office" as a prestigious West Palm Beach address. You could get the same prestigious address, too, for $299/month. ...

... Bierman & Wallack: Brown defends his deal. "The report [linked above] prompted one of Brown's opponents in the GOP primary, Bob Smith, former US senator, to call on Brown to file a financial disclosure form with the US Senate. Last month, Brown obtained permission to delay filing his form until Aug. 9, one month before the Republican primary. Smith and [Sen. Jean] Shaheen [D] have filed their paperwork." ...

... Charles Pierce: "It seems that our old pal McDreamy, in the wake of getting his ass kicked into the Housatonic by Senator Professor Warren, was stuck for some pocket change, and engaged his big brain in a get-rich-quick scheme so shameless that it would have embarrassed Ralph Kramden." ...

... CW: Brown is like some stock cartoon naif -- a handsome, gullible buffoon who gets everything wrong in obvious, comical fashion, but the girls love him anyway because ... handsome. Maybe he's our Candide.

Presidential Race 2016

Whenever Hillary speaks (including remarks like "No comment"), somebody writes it down & it ends up on the front page or a magazine cover.

News Ledes

Guardian: "The US has said it is looking forward to working with the government of the Egyptian president-elect Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, while urging him to carry out human rights reforms. The US president, Barack Obama, will speak with the former army chief in the coming days, the White House said in a statement."

New York: "Initially, the NYPD just wanted V. Stiviano to go away, but apparently they now believe her claim that she was assaulted by two men on Sunday night. Dominick Diorio, a 40-year-old Long Island man, has been charged with assault as a hate crime and aggravated harassment for allegedly punching Stiviano in the face and shouting racial slurs outside the Gansevoort Hotel."

The Commentariat -- June 3, 2014

Internal links removed; obsolete video & related text removed.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama announced more steps on Tuesday to bolster security in central and eastern Europe with additional deployments and training as he arrived in Poland for the start of a four-day European trip aimed at locking arms with allies following Russia's intervention in Ukraine."

Dana Milbank: "Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy sounded like the sort of unflinching liberal that progressives had hoped Barack Obama would be. Not only did McCarthy roll out a broad new rule Monday that would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent at existing power plants over 16 years, but she did so while ridiculing those on the other side." ...

... Clifford Krauss & Diane Cardwell of the New York Times: "Leaders in the fossil fuel industries said they would need time to read the fine print of the long E.P.A. draft, and they noted that there were sure to be years of lawsuits and negotiations over compliance. But many of them said they could live with the new policy." ...

... Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker: "... the new rules aren't really very ambitious. (Many commentators pointed this out even before the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, had signed them.) In many ways, the Administration seems to be benefitting from what might be called, to paraphrase George W. Bush, the sympathy of low expectations." ...

... Not According to Mary Landrieu. Clare Foran of the National Journal: "Mary Landrieu is not a fan of President Obama's global-warming rule -- and she wants Louisiana voters to know it. 'While it is important to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, this should not be achieved by EPA regulations,'." the Democratic senator said in a statement Monday." ...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has found that each year this regulation will kill 224,000 jobs and force energy rates to skyrocket, so it's no wonder President Obama is circumventing Congress to implement his latest job-killing regulation. -- RNC Chair Reince Priebus, in a statement similar to ones made by top GOP lawmakers

Adam Weinstein of Gawker provides an excellent, balanced account of the controversies surrounding the retrieval of Taliban hostage prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl. ...

     ... Zeke Miller of Time: "At a press conference in Warsaw on Tuesday, Obama batted away congressional objections that he violated a provision of a 2013 law that required congressional notification before the release of any prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. 'We've consulted with Congress for some time about prisoner exchange,' the president said. 'We don't leave our men or women behind,' he added":

... Ken Gude in Think Progress: "The five detainees that were included in the deal would have to be released soon anyway because the U.S. involvement in the armed conflict against the Taliban is ending. And the Obama administration has been exceptionally good at preventing released Guantanamo detainees from engaging in militant activities against the United States, especially compared to the Bush administration." ...

... Mark Thompson of Time profiles the six U.S. soldiers who died hunting for Bergdahl. ...

... Maggie Haberman of Politico: "Hillary Clinton defended President Obama's move to free a long-held U.S. prisoner of war from Afghanistan in exchange for five men being held at Guantanamo Bay in a speech on the outskirts of Denver on Monday night." ...

... Conspiracy Theory No. 789. What Did Hillary Know & When Did She Know It? Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Republicans are raising questions about whether Hillary Clinton knew about the White House plan to release senior Taliban commanders in exchange for the last U.S. prisoner of war. President Obama met with his former secretary of State for lunch on Thursday, two days before it was announced that Bowe Bergdahl had been released from captivity in exchange for five high-profile Taliban prisoners."

Alexander Bolton: "Tea Party Patriots has filed a complaint against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with the Senate Ethics Committee to protest his repeated attacks against Charles and David Koch.... The complaint further states that Reid 'has misused Senate staff or resources to engage in partisan campaign activity in violation of federal laws and Senate rules.'" ...

... Tarini Parti of Politico: "Outside groups poured a staggering $2.5 billion into the 2012 election — far more than the $1.6 billion spent by party committees -- as power migrated from party honchos to a handful of billionaires and political consultants, according to a book released Tuesday by Politico Chief Investigative Reporter Kenneth P. Vogel.... Vogel details the explosion of cash in politics and the efforts of conservative and liberal millionaires whose costly forays into politics are not dissimilar from those of rich sports junkies who spend millions to buy a professional team. There's even some overlap between big donors and team owners."

Mark Follman of Mother Jones: The NRA notices it has gone too far. "In an extraordinary move on Friday, the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action -- the organization's powerful lobbying arm in Washington -- issued a lengthy statement seeking to distinguish between 'responsible behavior' and 'legal mandates. It told the Texas gun activists in no uncertain terms to stand down." In response, Open Carry Texas labeled the NRA "gun control extremists." ...

Yup, that's the NRA warning gun owners against 'acting without thinking' because it might lead to the 'lasting consequence' of gun restrictions -- not, you know, people being shot. -- Evan McMurry of Mediaite

Gender Bias Kills. Jason Samenow of the Washington Post: "People don't take hurricanes as seriously if they have a feminine name and the consequences are deadly, finds a new groundbreaking study. Female-named storms have historically killed more because people neither consider them as risky nor take the same precautions, the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes." ...

     ... Caveat. The study's findings may be bogus.

High Hopes. Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: "Newly discovered documents from tobacco company archives at UC San Francisco show that major companies in the cigarette industry investigated joining the marijuana business in the late 1960s and early 1970s.... The documents, discovered by public health researchers, were disclosed Tuesday in the Milbank Quarterly, a health policy journal. They not only shed new light on the Nixon era, but appear when some Wall Street analysts and health advocates say tobacco companies may again be considering the expanding market for legalized weed."

Congressional Election

Evan Wyloge of the Arizona Capitol Times: After losing two local elections, GOP candidate Scott Fistler decided to run for Congress in a heavily-Hispanic district. So he changed his name to Cesar Chavez & (belatedly) registered as a Democrat. Fistler/Chavez is not taking media questions just now, but "should he be able to get to them. Questions must be screened, no more than five questions, no question longer than five words and Chavez will not discuss his name change, he explained in the email." On his campaign Website, Fistler/Chavez confuses Hugo Chavez with Cesar Chavez with photos that depict "Chavez" (Hugo & Cesar) supporters. ...

... SFK of Lawyers, Guns & Money calls this "the GOP's 2014 Hispanic outreach plan." ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos: "I think we've found the Republican path forward once they finally exhaust all remaining electoral options. Just pretend to be someone else."

Beyond the Beltway

Stephanie Clifford & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "A New York City Department of Investigation inquiry has implicated Charles J. Hynes, the former Brooklyn district attorney, in the improper use of money seized from drug dealers and other criminal defendants to pay a political consultant more than $200,000 for his work on Mr. Hynes's unsuccessful re-election campaign last year. The report, which has been referred to the state attorney general and several other agencies, concluded that Mr. Hynes could face larceny charges for the misuse of public funds."

Beyond the Borders

The Elephant Slayer. Jon Lee Anderson of the New Yorker: How an elephant-hunting jaunt with a paramour, paid for by a Saudi businessman, brought down Juan Carlos of Spain, who yesterday announced he would abdicate.

Marie's Sports Report
... Includes Some News That Actually Matters

Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times: "Dan Marino, the Hall of Fame member and former Miami Dolphins quarterback, last week sued the NFL over concussions, according to federal court records. As the behind-the-scenes effort to gain approval for the proposed $765-million settlement of the concussion litigation continues, Marino and 14 other former players sued in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia. At least 41 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, or their estates, are among about 5,000 former players suing." CW: The headline & lede are accurate but misleading. Marino is among 15 litigants in this particular suit, each of whom is equally important.

Debbie Emery of the Hollywood Reporter: In a lawsuit filed Monday, "Maiko Maya King claims to have been in a romantic relationship with ... Clippers owner [Donald Sterling] from 2005 to 2011, and says that she was later subjected to "a steady stream of racially and sexually offensive comments" when she was employed by him, according to the lawsuit. Read the complaint here." ...

     ... Via Margaret Hartmann, who notes, "King is represented by Gloria Allred, whose appearance in this debacle is long overdue."

News Lede

Washington Post: An historian has located the bodies of more than 800 babies in a sewer at a former home for unwed mothers in Western Ireland.

The Commentariat -- June 2, 2014

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Monday will announce one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation's power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, according to people briefed on the plan."

     ... From Davenport's report: "Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for trapping heat in the atmosphere and dangerously warming the planet." [Emphasis added.] ...

... D. R. Tucker of the Washington Monthly: "The 'scientists blame' phrase is a disgusting, abhorrent hedge.... Somebody please tell the New York Times that the right-wing folks who hate the paper will continue to hate the paper, no matter how much false objectivity appears in the paper. Stop trying to woo the folks who despise you."

How about this: If global warming happens, the flooding may cause some people to lose their guns. -- Virginia, a commenter trying to think up a way to win over climate deniers (via the Brad Blog)

... "A Youthful Dalliance." Alec MacGillis of the New Republic: Back when Barack Obama was King Coal (or at least Prince Coal).

Paul Krugman: “Chris Giles, the economics editor of The Financial Times..., has not gone well for Mr. Giles. The alleged errors were actually the kinds of data adjustments that are normal in any research that relies on a variety of sources. And the crucial assertion that there is no clear trend toward increased concentration of wealth rested on a known fallacy, an apples-to-oranges comparison that experts have long warned about.... Yet inequality denial persists, for pretty much the same reasons that climate change denial persists: there are powerful groups with a strong interest in rejecting the facts, or at least creating a fog of doubt.”

Tom Hamburger & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "Joy about the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl yielded Sunday to questions about Obama administration decision-making in the deal for the American prisoner of war, which included the release of five high-ranking Afghan Taliban detainees. Congressional Republicans and others focused on a series of concerns that are likely to reverberate in coming days: whether the deal breached U.S. policy forbidding negotiations with terrorists, whether sufficient safeguards were in place to ensure that the released Taliban prisoners do no further harm to the United States and whether Congress was informed about the prisoner trade, as required by law. Separately, some inside the military raised questions about the cost associated with rescuing Bergdahl, who drifted away from his unit five years ago under curious circumstances." ...

... Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: “National security adviser Susan Rice and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel defended the Obama administration's decision to trade five Taliban-affiliated terrorism suspects for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only known American prisoner of war in Afghanistan, who on Saturday was recovered by U.S. Special Operations forces." ...

... The official White House statement is here. ...

Ambassador Rice basically said to you, 'Yes, U.S. policy has changed. Now we make deals with terrorists,' ... The reason why the U.S. has had the policy for decades of not negotiating with terrorists is because once you start doing it, every other terrorist has an incentive to capture more soldiers. -- Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas), on This Week

     ... Politifact: "Even though presidents and officials often say 'we do not negotiate with terrorists,' it has not proven to be a hard-and-fast rule. Obama's actions so far do not signal a change in policy, but rather the latest in a long line of exceptions presidents have made throughout recent history. We rate Cruz's statement Mostly False." ...

... Josh Rogin of the Daily Beast: "Now that President Obama has proven Congress can't stop him from releasing terrorists, the administration could be primed to empty out the prison at Guantanamo Bay." ...

... ** Dan Lamothe & Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's recovery after five years in captivity has rekindled anger among some of his military peers over how he came to fall into enemy hands and the price the United States has paid to get him back. Bergdahl, 28, is believed to have slipped away from his platoon's small outpost in Afghanistan's Paktika province on June 30, 2009, after growing disillusioned with the U.S. military's war effort." ...

... Nathan Bethea provides a first-hand account of the search from Bergdahl in the Daily Beast. "For five years, soldiers have been forced to stay silent about the disappearance and search for Bergdahl. Now we can talk about what really happened." ...

... Impeachment! Michael Tomasky thinks Bergdahl is "the new Benghazi."

Manu Raju & Burgess Everett of Politico: "With Eric Shinseki out at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the focus now shifts to Capitol Hill, placing [Bernie Sanders,] Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, at the center of the growing VA health care controversy. Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, is assembling a legislative package to help address the issue in the hopes that he can consolidate support within the veterans community and assuage concerns of vulnerable Democrats." ...

... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: How the GOP's turning up the volume on the VA scandal will backfire.

Politico's big piece today is "The Obama Paradox" by Carrie Brown & Jennifer Epstein. CW: It's supposed to be a think piece. But it's Politico. Ergo, I wouldn't look for useful analysis, but the story contains some interesting tidbits. ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "That visit to the Gap.... "'What he cherishes and misses [about New York city] is the serendipity -- you don't know who you're going to bump into or what they're going to say,' senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said following the Gap excursion. 'He hungers for that.' Though, after running into Bill Clinton a few times, he'll probably get over it." ...

... CW: What struck me about the Politico article -- assuming a word of it is true -- is how much Obama wants to be like the Clintons. Not only did he fill top administration posts with Clinton acolytes (not to mention a real-live Clinton); not only does he follow Clinton-type policy prescriptions (international trade deals, faggedaboud serious financial reform, etc.); now Obama even longs for a Clintonesque post-presidency. Weird. And dismaying, especially since this is the guy most of us voted for because he wasn't a Clinton.

Kyle Cheney & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "Right now, 36 states rely on HealthCare.gov, the federal exchange, to enroll people in health coverage. At least two more states are opting in next year, with a few others likely to follow. Only two states are trying to get out.... The federal option was supposed to be a limited and temporary fallback. But a shift to a bigger, more permanent Washington-controlled system is instead underway.... It's coming about because intransigent Republicans shunned state exchanges, and ambitious Democrats bungled them." ...

     ... CW: Not stated in the Politico article (of course) is this: Despite the Healthcare.gov start-up debacle, it turns out that the federal government does a lot of stuff better than do state governments. As long as humans are running things, there always will be screw-ups (see Veterans Administration), but federal government screw-ups are usually no worse than private-sector screw-ups (what's the wait-time to see your doctor for a non-emergency?); the fed goofs just get more attention because the not-responsible/irresponsible party & news media cover them. Nobody cares if your insurance agent is an incompetent jerk or if you have to wait 8 weeks to see your doctor.

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is weighing in on the rampage in Santa Barbara, California, calling both for stricter gun laws and for background checks for people with mental illness. 'The real problem here is we have too many guns in the hands of criminals, people with psychiatric problems -- as this guy obviously did -- and minors,' Bloomberg said on 'Meet The Press' on Sunday. "And we've got to find some ways to stop that." ...

... Adam Nagourney, et al., of the New York Times: Elliot Rodger had always had severe psychological problems.

CW: Missed this. Benjamin Wittes, in a New Republic/Lawfare piece, gives his take Ed Snowden's NBC News interview.

Primary Races 2014

Adam Wollner of the National Journal provides a rundown of tomorrow's primary races.

Presidential Election 2016

Maggie Haberman of Politico: "'Hard Choices,' meet 'Failed Choices.' The Republican opposition research group America Rising will release an e-book on Hillary Clinton's tenure at the State Department, describing her own book about her service as 'spin' aimed at a presidential campaign. The e-book, 'Failed Choices: A Critique of the Clinton State Department,' will be available on Amazon just as Clinton's own 'Hard Choices' hits bookstores on June 10."

News Ledes

AP: "President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday swore in a Palestinian unity government, taking a major step toward ending a crippling territorial and political split among the Palestinians but also setting the stage for new friction with Israel."

Guardian: "After nearly 40 years on the throne, King Juan Carlos of Spain is to abdicate in favour of his son Crown Prince Felipe, the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, announced on Monday." The New York Times story is here.

New York: "One day after video surfaced of V. Stiviano making her own racist remarks in footage filmed for a reality-show pilot, there was another unfortunate development in the Donald Sterling saga. Stiviano's attorney, Mac Nehorary, told Radar Online that she was beaten up by two white men while leaving New York's Gansevoort Hotel on Sunday night."