The Commentariat -- August 6, 2015

Internal links removed.

Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "A federal appeals panel ruled Wednesday that a strict voter identification law in Texas discriminated against blacks and Hispanics and violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -- a decision that election experts called an important step toward defining the reach of the landmark law.... The appeals panel said Wednesday that because illegal intent to discriminate had not been established -- in passing the law, legislators declared an interest in preventing voter fraud -- the district court in Texas should seek ways to alter the voter law short of overturning it entirely. The state could, for example, reinstate the acceptance at the polls of certain forms of identification that may be more easily available." ...

... Rick Hasen: "This is a narrow but important victory coming on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act.... It is quite possible that Texas will try to take this case en banc to the full 5th Circuit, or perhaps to the Supreme Court. It is also possible that Texas would let this play out in another round at the district court and then appeal, but that seems less likely. This also strikes me as an opinion written as narrowly as possible to still give a victory to the plaintiffs."

How to Get Voting Rights through a GOP Congress. Rick Hasen in Slate: "A strengthened Voting Rights Act should start with this proposition: When the state has no good reason for making it harder for people to register and vote, doing so should be illegal. If we can get Congress to acknowledge this fundamental point, we won't have to worry about parsing racial or partisan intent.... Voting rights will be protected without having to prove Republican racism. We will protect not just minority voters but student voters, military and overseas voters, poor voters, and voters who move around a lot and lose their registrations.... A colorblind amendment to the act seems like the only path through a Republican Congress to adding voting rights protections for the next 50 years of the Voting Rights Act.

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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Wherein the President explains international relations in the way that even your Uncle Fred & Tom Cotton, could understand:

... New York Times Editors: "President Obama on Wednesday made a powerful case for the strong and effective nuclear agreement with Iran.... Mr. Obama's defense of the deal, which is designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from sanctions, was blunt and forceful. He likened Republicans to Iranian hard-liners.... The speech was so trenchant because Mr. Obama ably connected the opposition to the Iran agreement to recent history." ...

... Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed: "President Obama told Jewish leaders Tuesday that he'll talk to the Israeli press next month to sell the Iran deal in Israel, according to two sources who attended the meeting."

Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic makes a compelling case that when Congress returns in September, it will be in perpetual crisis mode: "... expect the slew of angry-populist presidential candidates, some of them sitting senators, including [Donald] Trump, Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, and others, to push Congress to toughen up, stare Obama and his Democrats down, and push for confrontation" on a host of issues, which now includes defunding Planned Parenthood. CW: Better not plan to visit Washington, D.C., this fall.

CW: Katha Pollitt of the Nation agrees with a comment I made here yesterday. In a New York Times op-ed, Pollitt writes, "On the issue of fetal-tissue research, we need to hear loud and clear from the scientific community. Anti-abortion activists are calling for a ban on this research, which ironically is used primarily to find treatments for sick babies. Will scientists let that happen?" Pollitt also urges women, their families & doctors to speak up for abortion & abortion rights. ...

... Amanda Marcotte of Alternet, republished in Salon, has a useful & informative guide on how to counter arguments against Planned Parenthood. "... conservative talking points are easy to debunk, but it's also important not to get so much in the weeds that you forget the larger point: The assault on Planned Parenthood is not about the videos at all, but a larger war on women being waged by conservatives.... The real goal is to make it harder for women -- especially low-income women -- to have happy, healthy sex lives.

AP: "Police must get a search warrant to obtain records about cellphone locations in criminal investigations, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union said the decision by a three-judge panel of the fourth US circuit court of appeals conflicts with two other federal appeals court rulings and increases the possibility that the US supreme court will take up the issue. Attorneys last week asked the supreme court to review an appeals court ruling in a Florida case that said search warrants are not required."

Linda Greenhouse: "In Batson v. Kentucky, decided in April 1986, the [Supreme C]ourt ruled that prosecutors could be required to provide a race neutral explanation when their use of peremptory challenges to strike black potential jurors raised an inference of discrimination.... But the open secret is this: Batson hasn't really worked.... Blacks are still being excluded from juries at disproportionate rates, especially when the defendant is black and the crime victim is white." The Supreme Court has finally agreed to hear one egregious case of bias against black jurors. "What if we abolished peremptory challenges? There is nothing in the Constitution that requires them.... There clearly aren't five votes on the Supreme Court to abolish peremptory challenges. But just as clearly, their continued existence threatens to erode even further the public's confidence in the fairness of the criminal justice system, already stretched to near the breaking point."

Anna Palmer & Jeremy Herd of Politico: "Combined, Boeing and GE have halted political contributions to more than a dozen Republican lawmakers opposed to reauthorizing the [Export-Import] bank, after cutting checks to those lawmakers during the 2014 election cycle.... And an additional 17 Ex-Im opponents that received contributions in 2014 from one of GE's political action committees have gotten nothing this year from either company.... The battle over Ex-Im is the latest example of the GOP splitting with the business community."

Sam Byford of the Verge: John Hersey's "Hiroshima is one of the most remarkable works of journalism ever published. Its narrative non-fiction style was unusual for the time [1946], but even more striking was the way Hersey humanized the Japanese victims with sensitivity and dignity so soon after barrages of wartime propaganda had portrayed them as barbarians.... Albert Einstein reportedly ordered a thousand copies to spread the word, and several newspapers serialized it; Hersey asked them to donate to the American Red Cross rather than pay him." Read Hersey's essay here. It took up most of the New Yorker's August 31, 1946 issue.

Presidential Race

Scott Kauman of Salon: Megyn Kelly, one of the Fox "News" debate questioners, says Fox has a secret plan to keep Donald Trump in his place (um, would be center stage), should he fail to follow debate rules. ...

... Kaufman & Benjamin Wheelock do a send-up of the GOP slate: "What if the Democratic presidential primary were as bizarre as the GOP one currently is?" Their satirical take is totally unfair; unlike one candidate in their hypothetical Democratic primary, none of the GOP candidates is currently incarcerated.

Hillary's Trump Card. Robert Costa & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Former president Bill Clinton had a private telephone conversation in late spring with Donald Trump at the same time that the billionaire investor and reality-television star was nearing a decision to run for the White House, according to associates of both men. Four Trump allies and one Clinton associate familiar with the exchange said that Clinton encouraged Trump's efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party and offered his own views of the political landscape.... The call came as Trump was making a final decision about whether to run, and he was candid about his political ambitions and his potential interest in seeking the White House during the talk.... Clinton never urged Trump to run, the four people said." ...

Yay! Steve M. Has a Conspiracy Theory: "... the lead author is Robert Costa, who used to write for National Review and whose sources include many prominent Republicans. I assume the party has been saving this up for the eve of the first debate and fed it to Costa. But will Republican voters get the intended message -- that Trump is a traitor deployed by the evil Clintons to divide the GOP and guarantee Hillary's election? The fact that four 'Trump allies' confirmed the story tells me that either Trump isn't worried about that possibility or his 'allies' are very, very stupid.... On Twitter, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times has said that the call was recorded."

... Paul Krugman: "It's true that Trump isn't making sense -- but neither are the mainstream contenders for the GOP nomination. On economics, both Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are into deep voodoo. Bush takes his experience of presiding over a giant housing bubble in his state, as proof that he can double America's underlying growth rate. Walker is Brownback-light: his governorship on Wisconsin was premised on the proposition that tax cuts, spending cuts, and union-bashing can create an economic miracle, but the reality is budget deficits and subpar growth, lagging in particular the performance of neighboring Minnesota.... I'm not denying that Trump is a clown, an absurd figure. But given his party's field, that's not a distinctive judgment." ...

... Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump's presidential campaign ended its relationship with an Arizona-based politico Tuesday evening after BuzzFeed News asked about Islamophobic Facebook posts he wrote and racially charged Facebook posts about Barack and Michelle Obama. Asked by BuzzFeed News about Aaron Borders, who identified himself on various social media profiles and his LinkedIn as Trump's Arizona state director, the Trump campaign originally falsely denied that he had any connection to the campaign. But audio recordings provided by Borders to BuzzFeed News show Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski informing Borders of the campaign's intent to hire him. In a second recording, Lewandowski tells Borders that he is going to fire him over the Facebook posts, and in a third recording delivers a threat 'to sue your fucking ass to next year.' Trump fired a longtime aide last week after Business Insider unearthed racially charged Facebook posts." ...

... CW: It appears "I'm going to sue your fucking ass to next year," is the default method of handling any little unpleasantness that may come the way of the Donald. In Trumpspeak, it is of a piece with, yet a lesser threat than "I'm going to mess your life up ... for as long as you're on this frickin' planet." You can see why Trump appeals to the lumpenproletariat of the right; he is the Tony Soprano of presidential candidates: a loudmouthed, garish, sociopathic mob boss with a family of wiseguys to whack anyone who annoys him. There are millions of angry people out there who wish they had the wherewithal to be more like Tony & Trump. ...

... Scott Keyes of Think Progress: "Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump regularly calls for getting rid of gun-free zones. However, if the real estate magnate is to succeed in his quest, he'll have to start with places like Trump-branded hotels and golf courses.... ThinkProgress spoke with a number of hotels and golf courses in the Trump empire and found that multiple locations were gun-free zones, even for guests with concealed-carry permits." CW: Nice catch, Scott, but the inconsistency between Trump's policies & his corporate practices is entirely consistent with Republican Rule IOKIYAR. ...

... James Surowiecki of the New Yorker: P. T. "Barnum's key insight into how to arrest public attention was that, to some degree, Americans enjoy brazen exaggeration. No American businessman since Barnum has been a better master of humbug than Trump has.... [Trump's] bizarre blend of populist message and glitzy ways has allowed him to connect with precisely the voters that any Republican candidate needs in order to get elected (including many whom Romney couldn't reach)."

Glen Thrush & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Jeb Bush ... was as surprised as anybody when Donald Trump jumped into the 2016 presidential race in June.... Like everyone else, Bush soon found Trump impossible to ignore.... 'Seriously, what's this guy's problem?' he asked one party donor he ran into recently according to accounts provided by several sources close to Bush -- and he went on to describe the publicity seeking real estate developer now surging in public polls far ahead of Bush and all the 15 others in the Republican field as 'a buffoon,' 'clown' and 'asshole.'" Whatever Bush wants to call Trump, the most accurate appellation ... is the label that should have been Bush's: 'frontrunner.'"

The Sound of Rich People Clapping. Ken Vogel of Politico: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won a surprising nod in an informal straw poll of major conservative donors gathered by the Koch brothers' operation last weekend in Orange County, California, according to sources familiar with the gathering. In a closed-door session that included about 100 donors, Republican pollster Frank Luntz asked donors to clap to indicate their choice for the Republican Party's nomination. While Luntz did not formally track or announce the results, sources say it was clear that Walker got the most applause, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who received roughly the same amount of applause.... Walker's presentation on Saturday did not exactly electrify the crowd, though it seemed generally well-received." CW: No doubt what they find so attractive in the Scottie Puppet is how lightweight he is: they can pull his string with remarkably little effort. ...

... Freeedom & the One Percent. Alele Stan in the American Prospect: At last weekend's Koch Konfab, Jeb! was his awkward self, but he said something that surely pleased his lovely hosts who own "the second-largest privately held corporation in the United States":

The one that is unique to America? Private property rights. Private property rights.... And you know what the second was? Private business. Not a public company ... a private business. Because a private business, by the way, through trial and error, they can do what they want. They don't have to worry about the quarterly returns, and get on the call to listen to shareholders or analysts say why it's stupid to be spending money on something that may be out of the ordinary. -- Jeb!

     ... Stan: As president, Bush would help these secretive companies "do what they want."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "A supporter and former close adviser to Senator Rand Paul has been charged with hiding secret payments to secure the endorsement of an Iowa lawmaker during the 2012 presidential campaign of his father, former Representative Ron Paul, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Jesse Benton, who was Ron Paul's presidential campaign manager, is accused of paying more than $70,000 to Kent Sorenson, a former Iowa state senator, to win his support ahead of the state's caucuses in 2012. Mr. Sorenson had been backing former Representative Michele Bachmann but later switched to support Mr. Paul." ...

... Sean Sullivan, et al., of the Washington Post: "Jesse Benton, a longtime ally of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who is heading up a super PAC supporting his presidential campaign, has been indicted by a federal grand jury.... Two other former Ron Paul campaign officials were indicted, including John Tate, who was Ron Paul's campaign manager and is now also involved with heading up the pro-Rand Paul super PAC; and Dimitri Kesari, who was Ron Paul's deputy national campaign manager.... Both Ron Paul and a spokesman for Rand Paul issued statements accusing the Justice Department of a politically-motivated attack.... Benton is married to the granddaughter of Ron Paul, Rand Paul's father."

Gubernatorial Race

Alan Yuhas of the Guardian: "A Mississippi truck driver who claims to have spent no money on his campaign won a nomination to be governor early Wednesday morning. Robert Gray, 46, reported spending zero dollars on his campaign to become the Democratic party's nominee for governor, and defeated two rivals with 51% of the vote. He told the Associated Press that he did not vote on Tuesday 'because he was busy'.... 'I know my two opponents, they campaigned real, very hard. But still they wasn't getting to the mass majority of people.'... He said that his family did not know he was running for office. The state Democratic party has said it has contacted Gray, and Mississippi public radio reported that the unexpected nominee was quickly shuffled behind closed doors at the party headquarters in Jackson." CW: Sounds like an excellent candidate. ...

... R. L. Nave of the Jackson Free Press: "Gray said he plans to stay in the race until November and wants to debate Gov. Phil Bryant. At his own party, Bryant walked out clad in cowboy boots and a smile to the cheers of family, friends and patrons as the predictable results came that he would represent the GOP as their nominee for Mississippi governor."

Beyond the Beltway

Cindy Chang & Joel Rubin of the Los Angeles Times: "Capping years of scandal, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has agreed to federal oversight and to sweeping reforms aimed at ending deputy abuse of inmates as well as improving chronically poor treatment for mentally ill inmates. The agreement announced Wednesday establishes an independent monitor who will make sure the reforms are carried out. Richard Drooyan, a former Los Angeles Police Commission president who served on a blue-ribbon commission that was highly critical of Sheriff's Department operations, was appointed to be the monitor."

Josh McElveen of WMUR Manchester: "New Hampshire's Republican-led Executive Council rejected $639,000 in state funding for Planned Parenthood along party lines Wednesday amid a renewed national debate over whether the organization should receive public money.... The contract rejection will cut Planned Parenthood's public funding by about one-third in New Hampshire, officials said, as the organization will still receive federal money. Both [Gov. Maggie] Hassan [D] and Jennifer Frizzell, vice president for public policy at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said the loss of the state contract will result in diminished services." The deciding vote came from Chris Sununu, a son of John, who claims to be pro-choice but who is evidently tacking right in a run-up to a gubernatorial bid.

Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "A man armed with a hatchet attacked a movie theater in the Nashville area on Wednesday afternoon before he was shot and killed by police officers, authorities said. One man was injured by the hatchet. That man and two other people also needed treatment after being 'blasted with pepper spray' by the attacker, said ... a Nashville police spokesman."

Jade Helm, Ctd. AP: "Investigators are questioning a person of interest after shots were reportedly fired a second consecutive day near a military facility in southern Mississippi, officials said Wednesday. There were no reported injuries.... The description of the shooter was the same in both instances, Patterson said: a white male in a red pickup truck.... Earlier reports that two people were involved proved to be wrong...." ...

... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "How federal agents foiled a murderous Jade Helm 15 retaliation plot" where in three men planned "to lure government forces into a trap, federal officials say, and were amassing a stockpile fit for war.... Federal officials say three North Carolina men -- Walter Eugene Litteral, 50; Christopher James Barker, 41; and Christopher Todd Campbell, 30 -- spent months compiling their cache, much of it purchased through a military surplus store owner who became so concerned about the plot that the person became the FBI's informant."

Jim McLean, KCUR, Kansas City: "Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's administration will not follow through on plans to limit welfare recipients to cash withdrawals of $25 per day. Phyllis Gilmore, secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, said Tuesday that federal officials objected to the limit, saying that it would prevent needy families from having 'adequate access to their cash assistance.'... Gilmore said in a news release, 'This was an amendment offered during legislative debate. At the time of discussion on the floor, DCF advised against such a low limit. I'm pleased that we now have the guidance we needed to rescind this measure.'" Via Think Progress.

News Ledes

New York Times: "A Stradivarius violin that disappeared without a trace after it was stolen in 1980 from the violin virtuoso Roman Totenberg has been found, and is being restored to his family, said one of his daughters, Nina Totenberg. Ms. Totenberg, the legal affairs correspondent for NPR news, reported the discovery of her father's stolen violin on Thursday morning on NPR's 'Morning Edition.' She said in an interview that law enforcement officials were planning to hold a news conference about it in New York on Thursday afternoon.... Ms. Totenberg said that the woman had inherited the violin from the man Ms. Totenberg's father had suspected all along of stealing the instrument."

AP: "What initially appeared to be another mass shooting at a [Nashville] movie theater ended up being an attack by a disturbed homeless man who wasn't armed with a real gun and was eventually shot and killed by police."

AP: "Japan marked the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Thursday, with Mayor Kazumi Matsui renewing calls for U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders to step up efforts toward making a nuclear-weapons-free world. Tens of thousands of people stood for a minute of silence at 8:15 a.m. at a ceremony in Hiroshima's peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack, marking the moment of the blast. Then dozens of doves were released as a symbol of peace."

Washington Post: "The United States has begun conducting airstrikes over Syria from a base in southern Turkey, the Pentagon said Wednesday, opening a new front in the Obama administration's air war against the Islamic State."

New York Times: "Bill Cosby will be questioned under oath in October in a second case involving accusations that he sexually assaulted a young woman, a judge said on Wednesday. The deposition of Mr. Cosby, 78, in the case involving Judy Huth, a California woman who said she was molested by the entertainer in 1974, when she was 15, was allowed to go forward last month, when the California Supreme Court denied Mr. Cosby's petition for review."

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."