The Commentariat -- July 24, 2013

Reuters: "Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was on Wednesday granted documents that will allow him to leave a Moscow airport where he is holed up, an airport source said on Wednesday." ...

     ... UPDATE. Daniel Strauss of the Hill: "White House press secretary Jay Carney on Wednesday said the administration is pressing Russian officials to clarify the status of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, amid reports he has been granted permission to leave Moscow airport."

... Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The Obama administration has forcefully urged the defeat of a legislative measure to curb its wide-ranging collection of Americans' phone records, setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives over domestic surveillance. A statement from the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, late on Tuesday evening capped an extraordinary day of near-revolt on Capitol Hill concerning the secret National Security Agency surveillance programes revealed by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by the Guardian and Washington Post." ...

... James Risen & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the N.S.A. director, met with Democrats and Republicans to lobby against a House bill that would stop the financing for its phone data collection program. The Republican-sponsored legislation is one of the first Congressional efforts to curb the agency's domestic spying efforts since they were leaked by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor." ...

... Hayes Brown of Think Progress: "Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) warned an audience at the Center for American Progress on Tuesday of the threat that the post-9/11 surveillance state could not only become permanent, but extend far beyond even its current reach.... While Wyden was unable to comment in detail on whether spying programs exist beyond those now revealed, he made clear that he believes that the current incarnation of the PATRIOT Act would authorize nearly limitless intrusion into citizens' lives."

... Justin Elliott of ProPublica: the NSA claims it doesn't have the technology to surveil its own employees' e-mails. CW: the NSA made this claim in response to an FOIA request by Elliott. Sounds like a convenient excuse to me.

My friend Barack asked me to pass this along to my friends. So here ya go:

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "As Mr. Obama prepares to deliver a major economic address on Wednesday in Illinois, Republicans in Washington are delivering blow after blow to programs he will promote as vital to a more robust economic recovery and a firmer economic future -- from spending on infrastructure and health care to beefing up regulatory agencies. While Mr. Obama would like to keep the economic conversation lofty, his adversaries in Congress are already fighting in the trenches." ...

... Dana Milbank: the White House is promoting today's speech as a Very Big Deal. "But even a reincarnated Steve Jobs would have trouble marketing this turkey: How can the president make news, and remake the agenda, by delivering the same message he gave in 2005?" ...

... Matt Canham of the Salt Lake City Tribune: "Sen. Mike Lee [R-Utah] has delivered an ultimatum: Stop funding Obamacare or he'll try to shut down the entire federal government. Utah's firebrand conservative is hitting friendly radio and TV shows to rally Republicans to his cause, appearing on Fox News' morning show Monday saying so far he has at least 13 senators on board. They'll make their stand in October, when Congress is expected to vote on a continuing resolution that will keep the federal government functioning. Lee sees it as the last attempt to wind down Obamacare before it takes full effect Jan. 1." ...

... Charles Pierce notes the Lee's "massive hissy fit" reveals him to be a "massive chickenshit," who proposes "to keep all the really popular stuff and do away with everything that makes the really popular stuff possible." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "I'm not sure congressional Republicans really want to enter a promising midterm election year just having engineered another phony crisis, but I also don't know if they can put this particular genie back in the bottle.... The GOP has managed to talk itself into a very firm belief that this national version of Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health plan is a satanic abomination that will either ... crash and burn taking the entire U.S. economy down with it, or succeed in seducing Americans to sell themselves into the voluntary slavery of 'socialized medicine.'" ...

... Alex Roarty of the National Journal: "A majority of adults don't want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to the latest United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll, preferring instead to either spend more on its implementation or wait to see if changes are needed later. But based on recent news that the White House is delaying its employer health insurance mandate, the public appears convinced that the law's implementation is going poorly." ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday joined the White House's campaign to build support for Obamacare, as she urged a major Hispanic advocacy group to help spread the word as state exchanges prepare to open.... The first lady also spoke briefly on immigration reform, telling the crowd of Hispanic activists that while the fight for new legislation is 'hard,' they shouldn't give up 'because I promise you that my husband won't give up until a good bill gets on his desk.'" ...

... "Cruel & Indecent." The Spanish-language La Opinion: "Family values are a pillar of traditional Republican discourse. But as soon as it comes time to address immigration issues, all of their emphasis on family unity goes out the window, replaced by advocacy for division. This is the logical conclusion that follows from the KIDS Act, being developed by the House of Representatives.... It is the height of hypocrisy to posture oneself as representing family integrity, while heartlessly promoting actions that divide the family home, whose human worth knows no borders." ...

... Most Hispanic Kids Are Drug Smugglers. Some of them are valedictorians -- and their parents brought them in. It wasn't their fault. It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians. They weren't all brought in by their parents. For every one who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds -- and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they've been hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. -- Rep. Steve King (R-Disgusting) ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "... no GOP leader has yet disavowed [King's] intolerant views. For now, despite some prominent talking heads softening their attitudes on immigration, anti-immigrant bias remains strong in the Republican Party, blocking any chance of reform making it through Congress. But America is changing, and if Republicans want to stay relevant, they'll have to kick prejudices like King's out of the party." ...

     ... Shocking Update. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement late Tuesday that comments from King ... likening so-called DREAMers to drug mules was 'wrong.' King's remarks came from an interview conducted last week but circulated widely on Tuesday.... Eric Cantor (R-Va.) ... said of King's remarks: 'I strongly disagree with his characterization of the children of immigrants and find the comments inexcusable.'" ...

     ... Totally Expected Update. Steve Benen: "... soon after, King doubled down on his remarks, appearing on an Iowa radio show to say, 'It's not something that I'm making up. This is real.' ... In case facts still matter, King's assessment isn't even close to being accurate.... [King] may come across as a racist buffoon that the American mainstream finds repulsive, but at this point, he's winning -- King has been fighting to kill comprehensive immigration reform, and by all appearances, House Republican leaders intend to hand him and his allies the outcome they prefer ... largely because Boehner and his friends are too inept to lead."

Li'l Randy Is No Ike. For inspiration and guidance, I often look towards America's great military leaders. Some of the best observations on war and diplomacy come from the president who was also one of our most decorated generals, Dwight Eisenhower. -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.)

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "Paul repeatedly referenced ... Eisenhower ... as a model for Paul's argument for a foreign policy that drastically cuts foreign aid and minimalizes overseas entanglements." But Eisenhower continued the internationalist policies of FDR & Truman, he promoted CIA covert actions, he bankrolled the French war in Vietnam, he used foreign aid as a central strategy. "Paul needs to find a new model for 'inspiration and guidance.' We suggest he consult a biography of [isolationist Sen. Robert] Taft [R-Ohio]."

Mark Murray of NBC News: "The American public's dissatisfaction with Washington has reached new heights, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.... A whopping 83 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress' job, which is an all-time high in the survey. What's more, President Barack Obama has seen his job-approval rating dip to its lowest level since August 2011, when the debt-ceiling showdown wounded almost every Washington politician."

We all know John Boehner has no control over his House caucus, but is Mitch McConnell losing control of Senate Republicans, too? Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is trying to contain a GOP rebellion on spending levels, a struggle that has major implications for budget negotiations this fall. Nineteen Republicans voted Tuesday to advance a motion to begin debate on a bill funding the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, even though McConnell says the bill will bust the spending cap set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA)."

New York Times Editors: "The government should not be making money off the backs of struggling student borrowers. In the long term, the loan program needs to be restructured so that the loans are closely linked to the government's actual cost of borrowing, which could reduce rates for students. A Senate compromise bill that is supposed to address the harmful rate increase falls well short." The editors recommend the Congress accept an amendment offered by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) & Jack Reed (D-R.I.) which would cap loan rates.

Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post: " President Barack Obama is leaning towards former White House Economic Adviser Larry Summers as his choice to replace Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve, according to people who have been briefed on the administration's thinking. Liberal critics of Summers' economic record, along with those who continue to question his ability to work with women, are waging a last-minute campaign to persuade the president to change his mind and instead choose the other frontrunner for the job, Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen."

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Chris Christie is full of himself.

Maureen Dowd continues with her coverage of the gruesome Whitey Bolger trial.

Reid Cherlin, formerly a White House assistant press secretary to Robert Gibbs, argues in The New Republic that it's time to end the White House press conference, which is a waste of time for both the press & the White House.

Local News

David Chen & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "A new scandal involving raunchy online messages engulfed Anthony D. Weiner, imperiling an improbable political comeback that had catapulted him to the top of the New York City mayor's race. Mr. Weiner, who left Congress amid revelations that he had engaged in a pattern of reckless online conduct, acknowledged during a hastily arranged news conference that the behavior had continued even after his resignation." ...

... Weiner & his wife Huma Abedin speak at a news conference:

... Here is the BuzzFeed post, by Ben Smith, which is mentioned in the Times story. ...

... Politico's story, by Mike Zapler & Katie Glueck is here. ...

... Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "A high-profile interview with People Magazine seen as a first step in rehabilitating his tattered image came a week after Anthony Weiner allegedly stared an online relationship with a woman that quickly descended into dirty messages and pictures." ...

... Here's the Dirty's first post. The Dirty's main page is here & currently ledes with a post of a pixelated image of Weiner's penis. The main page has links to other posts, but the links are broken. ...

New York Times Editors: "... the serially evasive Mr. Weiner should take his marital troubles and personal compulsions out of the public eye, away from cameras, off the Web and out of the race for mayor of New York City."

Katy Steinmetz of Time: "For nearly two weeks, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has refused to resign in the face of sexual harassment allegations, apologizing for any misbehavior while maintaining his innocence. It has been an awkward dance of acknowledgement and resistance, and one made easier by the anonymity of his accusers. That changed Monday when Irene McCormack Jackson, the mayor's former communications director, accused Filner of sexual harassment in a lawsuit against him and the nation's eighth largest city." ...

... Craig Gustafson of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "The former top spokeswoman for Mayor Bob Filner sued him and the city for sexual harassment Monday, alleging he repeatedly made unwanted sexual advances toward her and put her in a headlock on several occasions so she couldn't get away." ...

... Mark Walker of the Union-Tribune: "Five hours after his former communications manager went public with allegations of sexual harassment against him, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner issued a written statement asking again that due process be allowed to run its course."

The Apology Tweet. Laura Vozzella & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Gov. Robert F. McDonnell announced Tuesday that he repaid more than $120,000 in loans to a businessman whose nutritional supplement he and his wife promoted, and he apologized for the first time for a gifts scandal that has consumed his final year in office. 'I am deeply sorry for the embarrassment certain members of my family and I brought upon my beloved Virginia and her citizens,' McDonnell (R) announced via Twitter. 'I want you to know that I broke no laws and that I am committed to regaining your sacred trust and confidence. I hope today's action is another step toward that end.' The McDonnells paid back Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. $52,278.17 for a $50,000 loan made to first lady Maureen McDonnell in 2011 and $71,837 for $70,000 provided last year to a real estate company the governor owns with his sister."

David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the Supreme Court in 2011 to uphold an order against California's overcrowded prisons. Now Gov. Jerry Brown wants him to block a release of more than 9,000 inmates."

Charles Pierce on North Carolina's legislative Jubilee, with a special shout-out to Chief Neutral Arbiter John Roberts, "who had been crusading against the [Voting Rights Act] for his entire career as a government lawyer...."

Senate Race

Molly Reddin of The New Republic: "... just because [Liz] Cheney is the worst species of partisan hack doesn't mean that her target is a bastion of comity and compromise.... What [Sen. Mike] Enzi [RTP-Wy.] is, on an average day, is a personally inoffensive, fairly ineffectual conservative nonentity.... For years, his vote has mainly been good for making sure that every meaningful piece of legislation to come before the Senate faces a filibuster.... He is susceptible to the worst pressures of tea partyism.... Enzi ... has not engaged in a meaningful attempt at compromise since 2009.... Even then, it was not clear that he was participating in good faith.... Because he attracts praise for the 'integrity' he projects while paralyzing the Senate at every opportunity, you could say that Enzi is the worse of the two [between Enzi & Cheney]."

Gubernatorial Race

Alexander Burns of Politico: "Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli once suggested that society would benefit from enforcing anti-adultery laws, according to a report dating to the Republican's days as a state senator. Speaking to Richmond's Style Weekly magazine back in 2008, Cuccinelli defended laws criminalizing extramarital sex, saying that such restrictions 'ought to stay on the books.... Frankly it wouldn't hurt to enforce them more,' Cuccinelli is quoted saying." CW: a truly excellent use of our criminal justice system, Kenny. Also an excellent way to solve our unemployment problems -- millions of people would be in jail instead of working or looking for work, & thousands of single people could be put to work building new jails. Plus, your brilliant suggestion would totally disband Congress. And, no, Kenny, you're not an extremist at all. You can start your prosecutin' with my ex-husbands.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The New York City Council notified [Madison Square Garden] that it has 10 years to vacate its 45-year-old premises and find a new home, the Garden's fifth since it opened in 1879. By a vote of 47 to 1, the Council voted to extend the Garden's special operating permit for merely a decade.... Ten years should be enough time, officials said, for the Garden to find a new location and for the city to devise plans for an expanded Pennsylvania Station, which currently sits below the Garden, and the redevelopment of the surrounding neighborhood."

New York Times: "President Obama, in his first punitive response to the ouster of Mohamed Morsi as president of Egypt, has halted the delivery of four F-16 fighter planes to the Egyptian Air Force."

Reuters: "At least 56 people were killed and 70 injured when a train derailed on the outskirts of the northern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday in one of Europe's worst rail disasters."

New York Times: "Ronell Wilson, whose first death sentence for killing two undercover police detectives was overturned, was sentenced again on Wednesday to die by a federal jury that heard gripping testimony about his time in jail, where he roamed freely after the shootings, intimidated fellow inmates and fathered a child with a guard."

AP photo/Office of George Bush.The Classy President Bush. AP: "Former President George H.W. Bush has shaved his head to show solidarity for the sick child of a Secret Service agent. A statement issued by a Bush spokesman Wednesday says the 89-year-old former president acted earlier this week at his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. That was after he saw members of his Secret Service detail with newly shaved heads to show support for the 2-year-old son of an agent."

Guardian: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced their newborn son is to be called George Alexander Louis. He will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. The announcement at 6.20pm showed the couple have chosen to stick with very traditional royal names. There have already been six British monarchs called George -- the last being the Queen's father, George VI. Louis is also a favourite and was the name of Lord Mountbatten, the uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh."

Guardian: "Lance Armstrong has claimed the United States government was happy to overlook drug-taking allegations because it was ready to take advantage of the publicity of being associated with him.... His legal team is now claiming the US government's federal lawsuit against him be dismissed because the case is too old."

San Francisco Chronicle: "The family of a man killed when a bicyclist slammed into him in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood last year didn't want the rider to spend time behind bars, prosecutors said Tuesday. Chris Bucchere, 37, avoided jail time when he agreed Thursday to plead guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter for having killed 71-year-old Sutchi Hui as he walked through a crosswalk at Market and Castro streets on March 29, 2012. Bucchere is scheduled to be sentenced to three years of probation on Aug. 16."

AP: "An out-of-control natural gas well off the Louisiana coast has caught fire, hours after a blowout that prompted the evacuation of 44 workers. Meanwhile, officials stressed that Tuesday's blowout wouldn't be close to as damaging as the 2010 BP oil spill...."

Reuters: " A federal judge on Tuesday delayed until next year the enforcement of Alabama's new abortion law, which tightens restrictions on providers and, according to opponents, could force the closing of more than half of the state's abortion clinics."

The Commentariat -- July 23, 2013

** CW: This essay, by Kurt Eichenwald of Vanity Fair, is perhaps the best piece I've ever read on conservatives' war on poor women & their families. It is eloquent not in its style -- Eichenwald wrote it while his wife was having surgery for breast cancer -- but for its visceral outrage. Via Charles Pierce.

Mark Landler & Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "The Pentagon has provided Congress with its first detailed list of military options to stem the bloody civil war in Syria, suggesting that a campaign to tilt the balance from President Bashar al-Assad to the opposition would be a vast undertaking, costing billions of dollars, and could backfire on the United States. The list of options -- laid out in a letter from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, to the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin of Michigan -- was the first time the military has explicitly described what it sees as the formidable challenge of intervening in the war." ...

... Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The top US military officer warned senators on Monday that taking military action to stop the bloodshed in Syria was likely to escalate quickly and result in 'unintended consequences', representing the most explicit uniformed opposition to deeper involvement in another war in the Middle East. Alluding to the costly, bloody occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that once the US got involved militarily in the Syrian civil war, which the UN estimates to have killed about 93,000 people, 'deeper involvement is hard to avoid'." ...

... Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "The House and Senate intelligence committees have approved CIA weapons shipments to opposition fighters in Syria, allowing the Obama administration to move ahead on the stalled program, senior congressional and administration officials said Monday.... Both the House and Senate panels voted on the administration's plan last week, officials said. The agreement allows money already in the CIA's budget to be reprogrammed for the Syria operation, a covert action that President Obama approved early last month."

OMG. George Zimmerman, Action Hero. Matt Guttman & Alexis Shaw of ABC News: "George Zimmerman, who has been in hiding since he was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, emerged to help rescue a family who was trapped in an overturned vehicle, police said today. Zimmerman was one of two men who came to the aid of Dana and Mark Gerstle and their two children, who were trapped inside a blue Ford Explorer SUV that had rolled over after traveling off the highway in Sanford, Fla. at approximately 5:45 p.m. Thursday, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. The crash occurred at the intersection of I-4 and route Route 46, police said." CW: By coincidence, I was driving on I-4 at Route 46 at about 5:45-6:00 pm Thursday. I didn't see no stinking crash. ...

... Kerry Pickett of Breitbart News embellishes the story, which is sensational enough: "The SUV later caught fire.... According to Sanford Police Zimmerman had a fire extinguisher with him."

... According to John Hawkins of Right Wing Daily, "This is God reaching down in his own way to shame the people attacking George Zimmerman & let him prove he's a good guy." CW: thank God for reminding George to bring his fire extinguisher to the scene. ...

... Erin Ryan of Jezebel: "According to Sanford police (who apparently don't care that everyone now knows where George Zimmerman is), Zimmerman was just, I don't know, moseying along the highway like normal people tend to do ... when he just happened to stumble across an overturned truck, and he pulled the person in the truck to safety like the hero he always imagined he was.... It's a good thing that the person in the cabin wasn't armed and didn't feel threatened by Zimmerman's entry into their vehicle, or, you know, Zimmerman could have gotten himself shot." ...

... Kathy, a commenter on No More Mister Nice Blog, provides a plausible explanation of how Zimmerman happened upon the accident: "I have to wonder if he was listening to the police scanner, waiting for his moment." ...

... CW: I'm pretty sure the Sanford sheriff's department is fixing to make Zimmerman their Good Citizen of the Month. ...

... Carrie Healey of the Grio: "The Buckeye Firearms Foundation started a fund to buy George Zimmermann 'a new gun and fight attacks on the Second Amendment.' ... U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Department of Justice has an open investigation into the case. Sanford Police Capt. James McAuliffe confirmed Thursday that all evidence related to the February 2012 shooting is on hold, which includes Zimmerman's gun." CW: Gosh, I hope they get him a new fire extinguisher, too. ...

... Stanley Fish: "... 'stand your ground' is more than a declaration of a right; it is an injunction -- stand your ground, be a man. Retreating in order to avoid violence is not the commendable act of a prudent man, but the act of a coward, of someone who runs away. It is this aspect of the Stand Your Ground laws -- their implicit affirmation of a code of manliness -- that links them to the novelistic and filmic representations of the old west.... As civilization advances, and the law book replaces the gun, these rationales for violence sound increasingly hollow, and more and more westerns are self-consciously elegiac...." ...

... This piece on ALEC/NRA-promoted laws by Brendan Fischer of PR Watch, republished in Truth-Out, is a week old but still a valuable read: "Justice under Stand Your Ground laws have been anything but equal. The Tampa Bay Times found that people who killed a black person walked free 73 percent of the time, while those who killed a white person went free 59 percent of the time. Other studies have shown that Stand Your Ground is more likely to be applied in cases of white-on-black crime, and in May, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights launched an investigation into racial bias and Stand Your Ground laws."

We have more people in acting positions in Washington than there are in Hollywood. -- Prof. G. Calvin Mackenzie ...

... George Condon of the National Journal on "why the confirmation process is completely broken.... It is unprecedented in history for any Cabinet department to be headless for [so] long -- things are even worse below the surface.... Vacancies are scattered broadly across the Washington landscape.... The basic problem remains -- neither branch has sufficient capacity to handle the vetting process." ...

... Sarah Binder in the Monkey Cage: Harry "Reid's strategy tells us a bit about the conditionality of the nuclear option: First, the more narrowly targeted the nuclear gambit, the more credible it seems to be.... Second, the political feasibility of the nuclear option seems conditioned on the behavior of the minority. Strident overreaching by the Republicans ... helped Democrats to paint the GOP as going a step too far in a Senate parliamentary arms race.... Third, keep in mind that the CFPB, NLRB, EPA and Labor department are critical institutions for pursuing core Democratic policy interests...." Binder wonders what will happen now with judicial nominees, particularly the three Obama nominated to the D.C. court, which the GOP claims has too many judges.

** Fernando Espuelas of Univision in the Huffington Post: "We're now almost a decade into the immigration 'debate' and the rising antagonism toward non-white Americans is hitting a fever pitch.... Perhaps emboldened by the acrid assertions of certain Tea Party members of Congress who revel in fostering racial divisions as a way to cement their shrinking power base, the temperature is rising and the rhetoric is crude.... It's time for John Boehner to decide if he is a national leader or merely a party hack raised by fate to the level beyond his true capacity, thereby staying in 'power' by appealing to the lowest-common denominator and ignoring an urgent need for America." Via Jonathan Bernstein.

Steve Benen on seven ways Republicans are trying to sabotage ObamaCare even though "for millions of Americans, very little matters more" than access to affordable health insurance. Perhaps the most shocking: "refusing to help their own constituents navigate the system." Then there's lying about the costs, repeated attempts to repeal the ACA or essential parts of it, denying funds to implement the system, & threatening groups who would help do PR for the ACA. At the state level, there's refusing to allow Medicare expansion & refusing to create health insurance exchanges. CW: I would add refusing to fix aspects of the law -- like the employer mandate, which would improve the ACA in ways that would appeal to GOP constituencies. ...

... Some stars won't be intimidated. Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "What do Oprah, Funny or Die and the Grammys have in common? All three, it turns out, have volunteered to promote Obamacare." Others stars who will participate in promoting ObamaCare: Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keyes, Jon Bon Jovi & Amy Poehler. ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "ObamaCare is at the center of a rapidly escalating fight that threatens to shut the government down this fall. Senate Republicans, including two members of the leadership, are coalescing around a proposal to block any government funding resolution that includes money for the implementation of the 2010 Affordable Care Act." ...

... David Rogers of Politico: "... the Republican budget strategy in Congress shows almost daily signs of coming apart. The central premise, as sold by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, was that Washington could wipe out deficits in 10 years and protect defense spending, all while embracing the lower appropriations caps dictated by sequestration. Four months later, it's proving to be a bridge too far. Only three of the 12 annual spending bills have even been debated -- by far the worst record since the GOP took over the House. Against their better judgment, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee have been required to cut important investments in science, community development and foreign aid. Senate Republicans are peeling off in protest -- setting up a crucial procedural vote at noon Tuesday on the transportation and housing budget." ...

... Matt Fuller of Roll Call on House Republicans' summer constituent outreach plan: basically, it's bash Washington & President Obama because they've got nothin'. ...

... Dana Milbank interviews John McCain, who has returned to maverick status. CW: a definite plus in ensuring Sunday show bookings. ...

... Ferinstance. Greg Sargent: "McCain has now said the American people will not put up with another round of GOP debt limit and government shutdown 'shenanigans.' McCain also bluntly warned House Republicans against using the debt limit fight to gain the repeal of Obamacare, which he said 'is not going to happen.'"

Bryon Tau of Politico: "With his ambitious second term agenda stalled, President Barack Obama sought to rally his most faithful activists Monday, calling on them to push back in the face of congressional paralysis. 'I'm going to need your help,' Obama told a crowd of Organizing for Action volunteers at a Washington, D.C. hotel":

Joe Nocera on three court rulings re: treatment of Guantanamo prisoners that won't change much.

Revolving Door. Ben Protess & Peter Lattman of the New York Times: "Robert Khuzami, a former a terrorism prosecutor and recent enforcement chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission, has taken a $5MM/year job at white shoe law firm Kirkland & Ellis. "In doing so, he is following the quintessential Washington script: an influential government insider becoming a paid advocate for industries he once policed."

Your Tax Dollars, Misplaced. Sarah Lynch of Reuters: "The U.S. Marshals Service has lost track of about 2,000 encrypted two-way radios worth millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing internal records it had obtained through a public records request. The paper reported that the problems date back to at least 2011, when the Marshals were deploying new versions of the radios to communicate in the field."

I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the Presidency. -- Former President Harry Truman, who lived on an Army pension of $112.56 per month after leaving office

Last year, Bill Clinton earned seventeen million dollars giving speeches, including one before a company in Lagos that paid him seven hundred thousand dollars. -- George Packer of the New Yorker

Frank Bruni: "... some of the same dynamics that fed the crisis in Catholicism -- an aloof patriarchy, an insularity verging on superiority, a disinclination to get secular officials involved -- exist elsewhere. And the way they've played out in Orthodox Judaism illustrates anew that religion ... can ... be a self-preserving haven for wrongdoing."

New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan offers some insights into why Nate Silver left the Times for ESPN, despite the Times' reported efforts to retain him. ...

... Mike Allen of Politico has more.

Presidential Race

CW: I missed this last week, but I thought you'd want to know how the 2016 GOP race for the presidency is getting started. Tom Hamburger of the Washington Post: "Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Rand Paul (Ky.) ... were the key speakers at a meeting of 400 Iowa ministers and their spouses. The senators also attended an Iowa Republican Party fundraiser." ...

... AND this from Leonardo Blair in yesterday's Christian Post: "Hundreds of pastors in Iowa anointed U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul with a shower of prayers after they collectively promoted an agenda to abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), get rid of Obamacare, champion religious freedom, defend marriage and fight abortion on Friday." ...

... MEANWHILE. Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "Long before any candidates announce their presidential bids, the next race for the White House is unofficially underway. Political operatives for two independent groups -- American Bridge 21st Century on the left and America Rising on the right -- are already tracking potential contenders, aiming to build robust research files that can be used against the opposition. The organizations are part of a wave of super PACs, advocacy groups and even for-profit corporations that are poised to play their biggest role yet in national politics."

Right Wing World *

Hucksters. Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: conservative bloggers & media stars aren't selling only their phony political philosophy; they're also selling lots of worthless -- but expensive -- products to their ignorant fans. Seitz-Wald cites some egregious examples.

* Where the answer to "Have you no shame?" is always "No."

Local News

Bernie Woodall of Reuters: "Labor unions trying to stop Detroit from cutting pensions filed a new challenge to the city in bankruptcy court as the federal judge overseeing the case said he would hear arguments on Wednesday. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Steven Rhodes agreed on Monday to a request by Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr to fast track a hearing on whether other courts can hear lawsuits against Detroit, while it seeks federal bankruptcy court protection."

News Ledes

William & Kate leave the hospital & show off the new baby:

Reuters: " Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for simultaneous raids on two Iraqi prisons and said more than 500 inmates had been set free, in a statement posted on militant forums on Tuesday. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was formed earlier this year through a merger between al Qaeda's affiliates in Syria and Iraq, said it had carried out the attacks on Abu Ghraib and Taji jails after months of preparation."

Washington Post: "Dennis Farina, a Chicago policeman who initially moonlighted as a movie actor for the comparatively easy money but quickly became an acclaimed staple of crime dramas and comedies, playing characters on both sides of the law, died July 22 in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 69. The cause was a blood clot in a lung, said a spokeswoman...."

The Commentariat -- July 22, 2013

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called on lawmakers across the country, including in his home state of Arizona, to review the Stand Your Ground law that allowed George Zimmerman to walk free in the days after he killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and conceded that the country still has 'a long way to go' towards achieving full equality for African Americans.... The senator also praised the remarks Obama delivered about the Zimmerman case on Friday...":

John Whitesides of Reuters: "House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner refused on Sunday to say whether a comprehensive immigration overhaul should include a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, declaring that the House debate is 'not about me.' Boehner, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," dodged repeated attempts to get him to spell out his personal views on a path to citizenship for up to 11 million illegal immigrants now in the United States...."

Brendan Sasso of the Hill: "The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is pushing to fast-track legislation that would require police to obtain a warrant before accessing emails and other private online messages. Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-Vt.) goal is for the Senate to unanimously approve his bill before the August recess, according to one of his committee aides. Any opposition could delay a vote until after Congress returns in the fall." ...

... David Lightman, et al., of McClatchy News: "Congress is growing increasingly wary of controversial National Security Agency domestic surveillance programs, a concern likely to erupt during legislative debate _ and perhaps prod legislative action _ as early as next week." ...

... "Underwear 2." Michael Crowley of Time: "... in remarks at a national security forum on Friday, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole illustrated why the federal government is still on high alert. Speaking in unusual detail, Pistole offered specifics about an underwear bomb devised by a master al Qaeda bomb-maker in Yemen meant to be exploded in an airliner over the United States last year. The plot was foiled thanks to a double-agent inside al Qaeda's Yemen branch, in a case that has also become the subject of a controversial Justice Department leak investigation."

David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: "The maneuvering in markets for oil, wheat, cotton, coffee, [aluminum] and more have brought billions in profits to investment banks like Goldman, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, while forcing consumers to pay more every time they fill up a gas tank, flick on a light switch, open a beer or buy a cellphone. In the last year, federal authorities have accused three banks, including JPMorgan, of rigging electricity prices.... Using special exemptions granted by the Federal Reserve Bank and relaxed regulations approved by Congress, the banks have bought huge swaths of infrastructure used to store commodities and deliver them to consumers -- from pipelines and refineries in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas; to fleets of more than 100 double-hulled oil tankers at sea around the globe; to companies that control operations at major ports like Oakland, Calif., and Seattle.... All of this could come to an end if the Federal Reserve Board declines to extend the exemptions that allowed Goldman and Morgan Stanley to make major investments in nonfinancial businesses — although there are indications in Washington that the Fed will let the arrangement stand."

David Leonhardt of the New York Times: "... researchers identified four broad factors that appeared to affect income mobility, including the size and dispersion of the local middle class. All else being equal, upward mobility tended to be higher in metropolitan areas where poor families were more dispersed among mixed-income neighborhoods. Income mobility was also higher in areas with more two-parent households, better elementary schools and high schools, and more civic engagement, including membership in religious and community groups.... In Atlanta, the most common lament seems to be precisely that concentrated poverty, extensive traffic and a weak public-transit system make it difficult to get to the job opportunities."

We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal. -- John Boehner ...

... ** "Anarchists of the House." Jonathan Chait: "... a regular feature of life in the Republican House: the party leadership draws up a bill that's far too right-wing to ever become law, but it fails in the House because it isn't right-wing enough.... Chaos and dysfunction have set in so deeply that Washington now lurches from crisis to crisis, and once-dull, keep-the-lights-on rituals of government procedure are transformed into white-knuckle dramas that threaten national or even global catastrophe.... The Republican fringe has evolved from being politically shrewd proponents of radical policy changes to a gang of saboteurs who would rather stop government from functioning at all." ...

... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "With major battles looming in the fall over the federal budget and the debt ceiling, President Obama is trying to regain the initiative, embarking on a campaign-style tour of the Midwest this week to lay out his agenda for reinvigorating the nation's economy, administration officials said Sunday."

The Wrong Guy Retired

** John Paul Stevens, in the New York Review of Books, lays out the many ways the Supreme Court's Shelby County decision is in error. Here's one biggie: "Not only is Congress better able to evaluate the issue than the Court, but it is also the branch of government designated by the Fifteenth Amendment to make decisions of this kind." Stevens' conclusion is a powerful rebuke:

This case is about power in several respects. It is about the power of our people to govern themselves, and the power of this Court to pronounce the law. Today's opinion aggrandizes the latter, with the predictable consequence of diminishing the former. We have no power to decide this case. And even if we did, we have no power under the Constitution to invalidate this democratically adopted legislation. The Court's errors on both points spring forth from the same diseased root: an exalted conception of the role of this institution in America.*

* Ironically, the justice who actually wrote Stevens' powerful conclusion was none other than Antonin Scalia. Only he wrote it in his dissent in the DOMA case, which overturned the odious Defense of Marriage Act. ...

... BUT. Still Crazy, Scalia Blames Activist Judges for the Holocaust. Bob Ward of the Aspen Times: "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used the twin terrors of Nazi Germany and radical Islam to warn a Snowmass Village audience Saturday about the dangers of judicial activism....Scalia received a standing ovation." CW: you have to jump through some hoops to gain access to the story.

Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE (Carl Jr.'s & Hardee's), in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: "I am concerned that the ACA could actually cause the number of our covered employees to decrease, particularly in the first year. The penalty for declining coverage will be low compared with the cost of coverage; and employees will know that if they happen to get sick, they can get insurance after that. So the economically rational decision for young people, like our crew employees, is to pay the penalty and forego the insurance." CW: Hmm, this sounds right. If I find out differently, I'll let you know. ...

... I'm skeptical because it's usually a mistake to believe anything published in a right-wing opinion forum. To wit, David Weigel of Slate: "The [conservative] Illinois Review makes a find that's been bouncing around conservative social media all day. 'Nine years ago,' argue the authors, 'then-State Sen. Barack Obama actually co-sponsored a bill that strengthened Illinois' 1961 "stand your ground" law.' If true, this would render hypocritical or null so much of the presidential palaver about the NRA-supported gun law. Wouldn't it? ... No: 'Stand your ground' is substantively different than what Obama backed in Illinois. He backed a tweak to the 'castle doctrine,'" which applies only to home or property invasion.

Sticking by Their Four-Pinocchio Whopper. Despite the fact that both Dean Baker & Paul Krugman have pointed out that the Washington Post's lede editorial claims that unfunded state & local pension plans are nearly quadruple what they actually are, the Post has not appended a correction. Krugman writes, "I'll be curious to see how the paper's correction policy works here." Apparently, not at all. Glenn Kessler, the WashPo fact-checker, should check his paper's opinion editors. ...

... The WashPo's War on Public Pensions? Doug Milhous of Balloon Juice points out that a couple of weeks ago WashPo editorial writer Charles Lane exaggerated Detroit's unpaid pension indebtedness by a factor of (nearly) two in assessing why the city went bankrupt. CW: So far the Post editors are exaggerating unfunded pension liabilities exponentially with each new editorial. Shall we look for a factor of 16 next time? ...

... Steven Yaccino & Michael Cooper of the New York Times: "Kevyn D. Orr, [Detroit's] emergency manager, has called for 'significant cuts' to the pensions of current retirees. His plan is being fought vigorously by unions that point out that pensions are protected by Michigan's Constitution, which calls them a contractual obligation that 'shall not be diminished or impaired.'"

... Paul Krugman: "... the deficit scolds have a new case to misinterpret" -- Detroit. ...

... Enter right, Bill Keller, warning that New York City could become the next Detroit -- "The issue [for NYC] is the same one that helped send Detroit toward bankruptcy last week and has put other American cities on the disabled list: the immense pile of promises made over the decades to the city's employees -- the teachers and cops and firefighters and bus drivers and sanitation workers and maintenance crews who labor to keep the city, physically and socially, in working order."

Li'l Randy's Top White Supremacist Aide Quits. Justin Sink of the Hill: "An aide to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who has come under fire for statements about the Civil War has resigned. Jack Hunter, who previously worked as a shock jock known as the 'Southern Avenger' and said Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth's heart was 'in the right place,' said he did not want to be a distraction for the senator, who is openly considering a White House run in 2016." ...

... Maybe because Hunter's attempts to get his "former self" deleted from the record wasn't working out. Lorraine Wilke of Addicting Information: "According to Chris Haire, his former editor at the Charleston City Paper, Hunter recently got in touch to ask (beg?) that Haire remove columns he'd written which 'no longer reflected his current worldview.' Haire didn't take kindly to the request: 'While I told him that I would have removed one or two posts -- it's not uncommon for writers to hastily pen a column they later regret -- I found the breadth of the request to be excessive, and to be honest, quite cowardly.'"

John Hooper of the Guardian: "On 15 June, the pope appointed Monsignor Battista Ricca, an Italian cleric and former Vatican diplomat, to be 'prelate' of the [Vatican] bank.... As such, Ricca is entitled to attend meetings of both the bodies that oversee the scandal-ridden IOR's operations -- its board and a five-strong commission of cardinals.... According to the latest edition of the weekly news magazine L'Espresso, Ricca has a past punctuated with scandal. Its report, which the pope's spokesman branded as 'not trustworthy', claimed Ricca lived more or less openly with a Swiss army officer while at the Holy See's nunciature (embassy) in Uruguay. It said he arrived with his lover and, while running the post between nuncios, provided him with both accommodation and a job."

Local News

Stephanie Condon of CBS News: "Gov. Rick Snyder, R-Mich., said Sunday on 'Face the Nation' that granting Detroit a government bailout would be the wrong way to help the bankrupt city."

David Chen of the New York Times: "Fed up with what he views as a pattern of obstructionist behavior, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has taken the rare step of filing a lawsuit against the city comptroller, John C. Liu, for rejecting two municipal contracts.... The lawsuit ... is the latest and perhaps most pronounced skirmish between Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Liu, a Democrat who is now running for mayor."

News Ledes

AP: "A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new North Dakota law that bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected -- as early as six weeks into pregnancy. U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland in Bismarck granted a temporary injunction Monday that blocks the law from taking effect on Aug. 1."

Washington Post: "Seventy-one detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay will get parole-board-style hearings at the Navy base in Cuba, the Pentagon said Sunday, though it did not say when the panels will meet, whether the media can watch and which of the long-held inmates will go first. The disclosure followed a flurry of e-mails after 10 p.m. Friday from Pentagon bureaucrats notifying attorneys for some of the 71 inmates that the government was preparing to hold the hearings, which were ordered by President Obama two years ago."

Guardian: "The Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted to the private Lindo wing at St Mary's hospital in London in preparation for the birth of her first child. In a brief statement released at 7.30am, Kensington Palace said: 'Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted this morning to St Mary's hospital, Paddington, London, in the early stages of labour.'" ...

     Update: It's a Boy! Full Kensington Palace statement, via the Guardian:

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm.

The baby weighs 8lbs 6oz.

The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth.

The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news.