The Commentariat -- July 23, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Michael Gordon & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday told skeptical lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the recently negotiated accord with Iran is the only chance to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and that failure to enact the agreement would isolate the United States internationally.... Mr. Kerry's testimony, along with the testimony of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, came as the Iran deal architects made their first public appearance before lawmakers since the accord was announced last week." ...

... Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Senate Republicans opened the first public hearing on the Iranian nuclear agreement Thursday with sharp criticism that made clear they are unlikely to be persuaded to support a deal aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a bomb."

Tom Dart of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton said that the death of Sandra Bland is an example of the 'hard truths about race and justice' that America needs to face as uncertainty and anger over the circumstances of the 28-year-old's death continued on Thursday."

*****

Julia Preston of the New York Times: "Under new immigration enforcement programs the Obama administration is putting in place across the country, the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants -- up to 87 percent -- would not be the focus of deportation operations and would have 'a degree of protection' to remain in the United States, according to a report published Thursday by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington. The report found that about 13 percent of an estimated 11 million immigrants without papers, or about 1.4 million people, have criminal records or recently crossed the border illegally, making them priorities for deportation under guidelines the administration announced in November and put into effect July 1. The new program is likely to result in a drop in overall deportations from inside the country by as much as 25,000 a year..., but an increase in deportations of immigrants who were convicted of serious crimes, pose national security threats or were caught crossing the border illegally."

Alexander Bolton & Peter Schroeder of the Hill: "The Senate late Wednesday voted to move forward with a six-year federal highway bill, giving Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a significant victory even as his legislation encounters stiff opposition from his own party in the House. In a 62-36 vote, the Senate agreed to begin debate on the legislation." CW: Sorry, I don't consider it a "significant victory" to get an agreement to debate a bill a week before funding for its programs run out, especially when "Democrats and Republicans in the lower chamber united in objecting to the Senate bill on Wednesday, with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) saying it wouldn't fly." ...

... "Congress Can't Write A Highway Bill Without Punching Poor People In The Face." Laura Barron-Lopez & Arthur Delaney of Huffington Post: "Instead of a gas tax, senators went looking for loose change in the couch cushions and came up with the money by cobbling together 16 separate provisions, most of which are unrelated to transportation.... One proposal ... saves billion by eliminating retirement or disability benefits for certain recipients with outstanding felony warrants.... The [transportation] fund will expire on July 31" if the Senate & House can't pass, then reconcile their bills into one President Obama will sign. CW: What's the rush? In case I haven't mentioned it before, the Turtle & the Orange Man are incompetent boobs.

Stephen Ohlemacher & Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "The trustees that oversee Social Security said the disability trust fund will run out of money in late 2016, right in the middle of a presidential campaign. That would trigger an automatic 19 percent cut in benefits. The report said the fund faces 'an urgent threat' that requires prompt action by Congress. There is an easy fix available: Congress could shift tax revenue from Social Security's much larger retirement fund, as it has done in the past. President Barack Obama supports the move. But Republicans say they want changes in the program to reduce fraud and to encourage disabled workers to re-enter the work force." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "The Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday proposed a rule aimed at ending a common and lucrative practice among private equity firms that allows them to artificially lower their partners' personal income tax bills. The practice targeted by the I.R.S. allows private equity firms to convert management fees they receive from their investors, which would normally be taxed as ordinary income, into capital contributions invested in their funds. Profits generated on such contributions are treated as capital gains or dividend income and subject to a sharply lower tax rate."

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday her department is going to review all information surrounding the controversial videos of Planned Parenthood officials taken by an anti-abortion group.... Republican members of Congress have been calling on the DOJ to investigate whether Planned Parenthood is in violation of the law after the first video, showing members of the group discussing fetal tissue, surfaced.... Two GOP-led committees, both in the House, launched investigations into the organization after the first video was released last week."

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post appealed to the United Nations on Wednesday to help secure the release of jailed reporter Jason Rezaian, accusing the Iranian government of flagrant human rights violations in a year of 'arbitrary and unlawful' detention of the veteran journalist, company officials said. A petition filed before the U.N. Human Rights Council sought to increase the international pressure on the Iranian government over its treatment of Rezaian, whose 365 days in prison as of Wednesday amount to the longest incarceration by far of any Western journalist held by the Islamic republic." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

In a Washington Post op-ed, Secretaries John Kerry & Ernest Moniz make their case for the international nuclear deal with Iran. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Illustration by David Parkins for Nature.Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker: It now appears that holding global warming to the 2-degree Celsius limit brokered in the Copenhagen Accord (and which will require a "herculean effort" to achieve even if nations actually make the effort) is still too much to avoid environmental catastrophe. ...

... Here's the Nature story (which Kolbert cites) by David Victor & Charles Kennel: "Politically and scientifically, the 2 °C goal is wrong-headed. Politically, it has allowed some governments to pretend that they are taking serious action to mitigate global warming, when in reality they have achieved almost nothing. Scientifically, there are better ways to measure the stress that humans are placing on the climate system than the growth of average global surface temperature...."

Presidential Race

Wesley Lowery & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "The rise of Black Lives Matter has presented opportunities for [Democratic presidential candidates], who are seeking to energize black voters to build on the multiethnic coalitions that twice elected Barack Obama. But the candidates have struggled to tap into a movement that has proved unpredictable and fiercely independent. It is a largely organic web of young African American activists -- many of them unbound by partisan allegiances and largely unaffiliated with establishment groups such as the NAACP that typically forge close ties with Democrats." ...

... CW: Just like the Occupy movement, these kids are angry, rude, disorganized & naive. That may be a good way to make headlines (just ask Donald Trump), & in the long haul, their methods may work because they highlight genuine issues. In the near term, the approach is not a good way to materially influence policy. Pissing off policymakers doesn't really encourage them to cave to your demands. Worse, it emboldens the opposition: I'm sure Republicans are thrilled with Black Lives Matter because the group's tactics give them more reason to ignore the needs & rights of "those people" while further instilling fear & loathing in their racist constituency.

Official GOP Position: Science, U.S. Military Are "Absurd." New York Times: Martin O'Malley cites climate change as a contributor to Middle East unrest; the National Academy of Sciences & the U.S. military agree; Prince Rebus calls the thesis "absurd."

Marc Caputo of Politico: "In his highly touted speech on government reform this week, Jeb Bush ... [said] he would take on 'Mount Washington' in the same way he made 'Mount Tallahassee' more accountable when he was governor of Florida.... But Bush's eight-year record shows he often stood by appointees who were mired in scandal or mismanagement until long after damaging revelations emerged, and in only three reported instances clearly fired agency heads -- including one in the wake of a sexual harassment allegation and another who was implicated in a kickback scheme."

Katie Glueck of Politico: "Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has already emerged as one of the GOP presidential field's most vocal critics of Donald Trump, ratcheted up his rhetoric again Wednesday as he slammed the real estate mogul's presidential bid as a 'cancer on conservatism' and warned that, left unchecked, Trump could be the demise of the Republican Party." ...

... Frank Rich: "For all the other much-discussed factors contributing to the Trump boom -- the power of celebrity, his 'anti-politician' vibe, his freak-show outrageousness, his Don Rickles-style putdowns -- it is the substantive issue of immigration that remains the core of his appeal to his fans." CW: Why, it almost seems Rich is saying that the GOP is the party of racists. Rich also discusses the cult of Cosby & the musical "Hamilton."

Another Supplicant Bows to Lord Romney. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who jumped into the race for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this week, will huddle with Mitt Romney on Thursday in Wolfeboro, N.H., where [the] former GOP nominee has for years been a summertime resident."

Beyond the Beltway

Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "A panel appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended on Wednesday that the minimum wage be raised for employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state to $15 an hour over the next few years. Wages would be raised faster in New York City than in the rest of the state to account for the higher cost of living there. The panel's recommendations, which are expected to be put into effect by an order of the state's acting commissioner of labor, represent a major triumph for the advocates who have rallied burger-flippers and fry cooks to demand pay that covers their basic needs. They argued that taxpayers were subsidizing the workforces of some multinational corporations, like McDonald's, that were not paying enough to keep their workers from relying on food stamps and other welfare benefits. The $15 wage would represent a raise of more than 70 percent for workers earning the state's current minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. Advocates for low-wage workers said they believed the mandate would quickly spur raises for employees in other industries across the state, and a jubilant Mr. Cuomo predicted that other states would follow his lead."

Elahe Izadi & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "Sandra Bland previously attempted suicide after the loss of a baby and was feeling 'very depressed' on the day of her arrest, according to a handwritten jail intake screening form Texas officials released Wednesday. Bland -- a 28 year-old African American woman -- died in a Waller County jail three days after a Texas trooper pulled her over on July 10 during a routine traffic stop. Officials classified her death as suicide by hanging, but those who knew the Illinois woman treated that classification with skepticism and as 'unfathomable.'" CW: Since the screener determined that Bland was "very depressed" & had previously attempted suicide, why didn't her jailers put her on suicide watch? ...

... Washington Post Editors: "... it's plain to us that Ms. Bland shouldn't have died in jail -- because she never should have been in that cell to begin with. A dashcam video the Texas Department of Public Safety released Tuesday shows that the encounter that led to her arrest and charging spiraled out of control, in large part because of the arresting officer's confrontational behavior.... We see no reason why Ms. Bland shouldn't have collected her traffic warning and driven on -- annoyed, but alive."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Dylann Roof, the man suspected of killing nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., last month was indicted on Wednesday on federal hate crime and other charges, including some that carry the federal death penalty, two law enforcement officials said on Wednesday. Mr. Roof, 21, already faces nine counts of murder in state court and could face the death penalty there. But Justice Department and F.B.I. officials have said the Charleston shooting was so horrific and racially motivated that the federal government must address it." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "Turkey scrambled fighter jets to its border with Syria on Thursday after gunmen on the Syrian side opened fire on a Turkish outpost, killing one military officer and wounding five soldiers, a senior government official said. The official said the gunmen were Islamic State militants. If the government is right, the shooting would be the first time the Islamic State and the Turkish military have engaged in a direct clash since the militant group gained large sections of territory along Turkey's 500-mile border with Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than four years."

New York Times: "The defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday morning as American and Iraqi military officials finished plans for an assault meant to retake Ramadi from the Sunni militant group known as the Islamic State."

The Commentariat -- July 22, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "Dylann Roof, the man suspected of killing nine people at a historically black church in Charleston, S.C., last month was indicted on Wednesday on federal hate crime and other charges, including some that carry the federal death penalty, two law enforcement officials said on Wednesday. Mr. Roof, 21, already faces nine counts of murder in state court and could face the death penalty there. But Justice Department and F.B.I. officials have said the Charleston shooting was so horrific and racially motivated that the federal government must address it."

Stephen Ohlemacher & Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the AP: "The trustees that oversee Social Security said the disability trust fund will run out of money in late 2016, right in the middle of a presidential campaign. That would trigger an automatic 19 percent cut in benefits. The report said the fund faces 'an urgent threat' that requires prompt action by Congress. There is an easy fix available: Congress could shift tax revenue from Social Security's much larger retirement fund, as it has done in the past. President Barack Obama supports the move. But Republicans say they want changes in the program to reduce fraud and to encourage disabled workers to re-enter the work force."

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "The Washington Post appealed to the United Nations on Wednesday to help secure the release of jailed reporter Jason Rezaian, accusing the Iranian government of flagrant human rights violations in a year of 'arbitrary and unlawful' detention of the veteran journalist, company officials said. A petition filed before the U.N. Human Rights Council sought to increase the international pressure on the Iranian government over its treatment of Rezaian, whose 365 days in prison as of Wednesday amount to the longest incarceration by far of any Western journalist held by the Islamic republic."

In a Washington Post op-ed, Secretaries John Kerry & Ernest Moniz make their case for the international nuclear deal with Iran.

*****

Josh Lederman of the AP: "Brushing off his 'chest-beating' critics, President Barack Obama accused opponents of the Iran nuclear deal Tuesday of being the same people who rushed the U.S. into an ill-fated war in Iraq. As he sought support for the deal from U.S. veterans, he said the deal's foes were merely popping off soundbites that accomplish nothing.Obama assumed a confident yet combative tone at the Veterans of Foreign Wars' national convention in Pittsburgh, where he also said he was still not satisfied with the care being provided by Department of Veterans Affairs":

... Halimah Abdullah of NBC News: "Veterans ripped a sign that read 'The Emperor Benghazi Has No Clothes' from a protester's hands as a group gathered for President Barack Obama's speech on veterans' issues in Pittsburgh. The tussle occurred as the president spoke to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars about stressing the need to honor soldiers' service."

Brian Murphy of the Washington Post: "President Obama vowed Tuesday that his administration is 'not going to relent' until Iran releases three Americans held in custody, including a Washington Post journalist reaching the one-year mark of his detention. Obama also demanded clear information from Tehran to assist in finding the whereabouts of a former FBI agent and CIA contractor last seen in Iran."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama embarks on a trip to Africa this week that includes a controversial stop in Ethiopia, where the authoritarian government has come under sharp international criticism for its handling of political dissent. The Ethiopia visit has raised hackles among human rights advocates who question the administration's level of concern about human rights...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has used an unusually emotional interview to reveal he walked away from nuclear talks with Iran on three separate occasions, insisting that the claim that he was too eager to seal a deal was 'one of the dumbest criticisms I've ever heard in my life'":

     ... Also linked yesterday afternoon. ...

... Oren Dorell of USA Today: "As the Senate opens a two-month congressional review of the nuclear agreement with Iran on Thursday, opponents of the deal are spending tens of millions of dollars to rally the American public and U.S. lawmakers against it. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, United Against a Nuclear Iran and the Republican Jewish Coalition are among groups that will spend between $20 million and $40 million to blast the deal with TV commercials that began airing last Friday, social media ads and new websites that include alleged flaws in the agreement and contact information for members of Congress." ...

... Samuel Kleiner & Tom Zoellner in a Los Angeles Times op-ed: "Munich analogies refuse to die. The habitual Munichization of conservative foreign policy thinking long ago reached the point of self-parody, but it won't go away.... The most courageous acts on the part of statesmen aren't necessarily those that concede nothing. Like Kennedy rejecting LeMay's call for airstrikes, courage can be resistance to an irrevocable hard line. The nuclear deal with Iran, like any deal, has its risks. But Obama undoubtedly exercised statesmanship in bringing it to completion. It deserves reasoned consideration, which is nothing like what these Republicans automatically hollering about Munich are offering." ...

... Zack Beauchamp of Vox: "Republicans have an Iran problem: They are politically wedding themselves to something that is, in practice, going to be very difficult or impossible for them to do. Unless something substantial changes on the ground -- maybe Iran is caught in a major violation and refuses to fix it -- American opponents of the Iran deal are probably not going to be able to kill it." But Munich!

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "A six-year highway bill crafted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was in limbo Tuesday after lawmakers rejected a motion to move forward with the measure in a 41-56 vote. Democrats voted in unison against proceeding to the 1,030-page bill, arguing they had no time to review the complicated legislation. Eleven Republicans also voted against the motion."

Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "An anti-abortion group has released a second undercover video of an official at a Planned Parenthood affiliate discussing the costs associated with harvesting fetal tissue for medical research. The edited video, which runs for over eight minutes, is the second surreptitious recording to be released by activist group Center for Medical Progress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress provides background bullet points on the Center for Medical Progress. CW: Here's another one: the name of their organization is the opposite of what it is; they probably got the idea from Peacemaker missiles.

** Barney Frank Explains Marriage & Freeedom to the Easily-Outraged. (Portland Press-Herald): "In the spirit of conciliation, I want to offer reassurance to those who reacted to the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision with a mix of outrage and horror: It will have no effect on how you live your lives. This is not a prediction of what will happen in the future. It is a distillation of the nearly 12 years of experience in Massachusetts since our Supreme Judicial Court issued the forerunner of this ruling in 2003. No member of the clergy has had to participate in any marriage she or he found sinful, immoral or even offensive. No house of worship has been forced to open any of its premises ... for ceremonies that contravene their religious tenets."

     ... CW: Frank's column may seem elementary, almost comical, to you, but to the Easily-Outraged, it's startling news.

American "Justice," Ctd. New York Times: A Long Island judge sets bail at $500,000 for a man charged with causing traffic fatalities while driving under the influence. In December, the same judge set bail at $250 (no more zeroes) for a friend of his who also was charged with causing a traffic fatality while intoxicated.

Presidential Race

Annie Karni of Politico: During Hillary Clinton's livechat Monday, HuffPost reporter asked Clinton, "'Senator Mitch McConnell said about you today: "The gender card alone isn't enough.... How do you respond to an attack like that?' Clinton's response -- a riposte that the gender card is being played 'every time Republicans vote against giving women equal pay, deny families access to affordable child care or family leave, refuse to let women make decisions about their health or have access to free contraception' -- was a forthright appeal for women's votes...." Clinton's campaign later produced this video, literally playing the gender card.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "Gov. John R. Kasich, a blunt-spoken and unorthodox Republican who bucked his party by expanding Medicaid under President Obama's health care law and says politicians must 'reach out and help those who live in the shadows,' announced Tuesday that he was joining his party's long list of candidates for president. Mr. Kasich, 63, became the 16th prominent Republican to enter the 2016 field." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Get to Know Your Presidential Contenders. Digby profiles John Kasich, a candidate "even more ridiculous than Donald Trump."

** Jonathan Weisman of Slate on Jeb!'s boring, 'radically conservative" economic proposals: "... his positions seem to be GOP boilerplate mixed with a dash of hardcore conservative fantasy, all dressed up with some rhetorical gimmicks. Bush might be the grown-up in the room. But you have to consider the room."

American conservative Daniel Larison in the American Conservative: Scott "Walker may think that he is getting the upper hand in the primaries by positioning himself as the most aggressive hard-liner, but in the process he is revealing that he has extraordinarily bad judgment on these issues and confirming that his lack of foreign policy experience is a major liability for him. Why should voters trust him with the presidency when he is eager to boast about his readiness to start an illegal war against a country that just negotiated an agreement with the U.S. and its allies?... A preventive war against Iran would be entirely unjustifiable, unnecessary, and illegal under international law.... There is no difference in practice between a war that is called 'preventive' and what a previous generation condemned as a war of aggression." Thanks to Keith H. for the link. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Lincoln Caplan of the New Yorker: "Someday, a novelist with Wisconsin roots will tell the story of [Scott] Walker's engagement in squalid politics -- and whether it carried him to the White House. Now, however, it is possible to document the close ties between the national network of major conservative donors backing Walker and the conservative lobbying groups that turned the Wisconsin court into a political tool, which forfeited much of its remaining legitimacy with last week's ruling [in which the conservative justices dismissed Walker's 'criminal scheme' to flout campaign finance laws]." Confederates in other states are planning to use the decision to argue against any & all campaign finance laws.

Breaking. Donald Trump Is Still a Jerk. Nick Gass & Adam Lerner of Politico: "On Tuesday, [Donald] Trump ramped up his attacks on ... [Sen. Lindsey Graham] -- who made headlines Monday for calling the Donald a 'jackass' -- and even gave out Graham's private phone number. Trump began his rambling diatribe by calling Graham a 'lightweight' and an 'idiot.' 'He doesn't seem like a very bright guy. He actually probably seems to me not as bright as Rick Perry. I think Rick Perry probably is smarter than Lindsey Graham,' Trump added, riffing on prior insults he had lobbed at the former Texas governor." ...

Trump as Lounge Lizard. Jonathan Capehart: Al Sharpton recalls a conversation with James Brown that illustrates what Donald Trump doesn't get: "When you get on the main stage, Reverend, whatever you did to get out the lounge don't do that on the main stage." ...

... Amy Chozick & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "In the rarefied world of New York moguls, Rupert Murdoch never thought much of Donald J. Trump.... 'When is Donald Trump going to stop embarrassing his friends, let alone the whole country?' Mr. Murdoch wrote on Twitter on Saturday after Mr. Trump mocked [John] McCain for having been captured as a pilot during the Vietnam War. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal, the crown jewel of Mr. Murdoch's print company, News Corporation, published a scathing editorial calling Mr. Trump a 'catastrophe.' And The Post's front page screamed, 'DON VOYAGE,' under a headline declaring, 'Trump is toast.' Mr. Trump responded by trashing The Journal on Twitter."

Beyond the Beltway

ABC 7 Chicago: "An appeals court vacated five convictions and threw out the sentence of former Ill. Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday afternoon. The rest of Blagojevich's convictions were affirmed by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.... Trial Judge James Zagel could reduce the sentence, but guidelines also would permit him to leave it unchanged."

Michael Graczyk of the AP: "A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows that a Texas state trooper tried to pull a black motorist out of her car, then drew his stun gun and threatened her after she refused to follow his orders during a traffic stop. The roadside encounter swiftly escalated into a shouting confrontation as the officer attempted to drag 28-year-old Sandra Bland from her vehicle, with the officer at one point saying, "I will light you up," as he held the stun gun. Days later, Bland was found dead in a jail cell...."

Meg Wagner of the New York Daily News: "A Florida gun shop owner has banned Muslim customers from his store. Andy Hallinan declared Florida Gun Supply in Inverness a 'Muslim-free zone' Saturday in response to a Kuwait-born gunman's shooting rampage in Chattanooga that killed four Marines and a sailor." In a news video accompanying the story, the reporter says the DOJ is investigating. ...

     ... Paul Waldman: "Did he do it in front of a Confederate flag? Why yes, he did."

The Commentariat -- July 21, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "Gov. John R. Kasich, a blunt-spoken and unorthodox Republican who bucked his party by expanding Medicaid under President Obama's health care law and says politicians must 'reach out and help those who live in the shadows,' announced Tuesday that he was joining his party's long list of candidates for president. Mr. Kasich, 63, became the 16th prominent Republican to enter the 2016 field."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama embarks on a trip to Africa this week that includes a controversial stop in Ethiopia, where the authoritarian government has come under sharp international criticism for its handling of political dissent. The Ethipia visit has raised hackles among human rights advocates who question the administration's level of concern about human rights...."

Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has used an unusually emotional interview to reveal he walked away from nuclear talks with Iran on three separate occasions, insisting that the claim that he was too eager to seal a deal was 'one of the dumbest criticisms I've ever heard in my life'"

Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "An anti-abortion group has released a second undercover video of an official at a Planned Parenthood affiliate discussing the costs associated with harvesting fetal tissue for medical research. The edited video ... is the second surreptitious recording to be released by activist group Center for Medical Progress."

American conservative Daniel Larison in the American Conservative: Scott "Walker may think that he is getting the upper hand in the primaries by positioning himself as the most aggressive hard-liner, but in the process he is revealing that he has extraordinarily bad judgment on these issues and confirming that his lack of foreign policy experience is a major liability for him. Why should voters trust him with the presidency when he is eager to boast about his readiness to start an illegal war against a country that just negotiated an agreement with the U.S. and its allies?... A preventive war against Iran would be entirely unjustifiable, unnecessary, and illegal under international law.... There is no difference in practice between a war that is called 'preventive' and what a previous generation condemned as a war of aggression." Thanks to Keith H. for the link.

*****

Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve introduced new restraints on Monday that would apply solely to the nation's eight largest banks, which hold more than $10 trillion in loans and securities.... The regulations stop short of requiring banks to shrink to a particular size, an approach that the Obama administration and Congress deliberately avoided in the Dodd-Frank Act, the signature financial overhaul passed five years ago. Instead, in its new rules, the Fed is setting standards for the amount of capital a bank must have. The new requirements could persuade the firms to get smaller over time -- making them more resilient to economic shocks and less likely to damage the economy should they fail. 'This final rule will confront these firms with a choice: They must either hold substantially more capital, reducing the likelihood that they will fail,' Janet L. Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, said in a statement, 'or else they must shrink their systemic footprint, reducing the harm that their failure would do to our financial system.'" ...

... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "President Obama said Monday that he would nominate Kathryn M. Dominguez, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, to a seat on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. Ms. Dominguez, an expert on the behavior of currency markets, fits the mold of a modern central banker.... But her confirmation prospects are uncertain. Republicans, who control the Senate, have not set a hearing for Allan R. Landon, a bank executive Mr. Obama nominated to the Fed's board in January."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is steering the Senate toward a multi-year highway bill that could take the funding issue off the table through the 2016 elections. The bill could be released as early as Tuesday, though the Kentucky Republican is keeping the details close to his chest as conservative groups watch for anything that resembles a tax hike. McConnell has ruled out raising the gas tax and opposes paying for the bill by devising a new tax regime for overseas profits, limiting his options. But the GOP leader is taking a hands-on approach in negotiations with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and on Monday expressed confidence that a deal was imminent." CW: Toll roads, Mitch! With complimentary EZPasses for "jobs-creators" & contributors to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Burgess Everett of Politico: "Influential Republicans called it 'inappropriate' and an 'affront' to Americans that President Barack Obama took his nuclear accord with Iran to the United Nations before a congressional vote.... On Monday morning, the U.N. Security Council unanimously backed the pact to scale back Iran's nuclear ambitions and begin loosening some sanctions, the same day that the 60-day congressional review clock began ticking on Capitol Hill. Though Congress has the ability to block lifting congressional sanctions on Iran that are a key portion of the deal, members of both parties are frustrated that the vote for international economic relief for Iran comes two months before a pivotal congressional vote.... Asked Sunday on 'Meet the Press' if this move jams Congress, [Secretary of State John] Kerry responded: 'Absolutely not. We specifically, to protect the Congress, put in a 90-day period before [the U.N. resolution] takes effect. So nothing will change,' Kerry said." See also Akhilleus's comment in today's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Scott Clement of the Washington Post: "A majority of Americans support the Iran deal despite widespread doubts it will stop the country from developing nuclear weapons, according to new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey finds 56 percent support and 37 percent oppose a deal lifting economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for the nation agreeing not to produce nuclear weapons." ...

... Josh Lederman of the AP: "Ernest Moniz, the eccentric MIT professor-turned-U.S.-Energy-secretary, by all accounts played a pivotal role in reaching the historic nuclear accord. Now with his diplomatic legacy on the line, President Barack Obama is turning to Moniz to help sell the deal to a highly skeptical Congress.... This week, he'll appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where doubts about the nuclear pact run high. In between, aides say, the secretary is squeezing in one-on-one briefings with lawmakers ahead of a likely congressional attempt to scuttle the deal. While juggling his 'day job' running the Energy Department, he's also lobbying foreign energy ministers who are similarly suspicious of the deal." ...

... CW: Not sure what Lederman finds "eccentric" about Moniz, other than his "exacting palate when it came to his martinis."

Dominic Holden of BuzzFeed: "Democrats in Congress plan to introduce broad legislation this week to protect LGBT people from discrimination -- including in housing, workplaces, schools, and public accommodations. In effect, the Equality Act would extend the same raft of rights to LGBT Americans that are currently afforded to other protected groups, including people of color, under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.... The measure's introduction coincides with a committee vote on a Republican-backed bill to protect people and organizations who disagree with same-sex couples marrying." CW: This should work out well.

"American Limbo." Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker on the difficulties undocumented residents face. "If Clinton wins, and Congress remains in Republican hands, the new President will be reduced to attempting the same kind of piecemeal executive actions as Obama -- if the courts even allow those to proceed. If a Republican wins, [undocumented people's] chances of deportation will rise. Either way, the issue will remain on the national agenda, even as the opportunity to come to any solution continues to recede." See also Scott Walker's "Merkel moment" linked under Presidencial Race.

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley and a host of other well-intentioned liberals want to hike the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. This is a badly misguided idea. And Hillary Clinton has been right to avoid endorsing it, despite strong pressure from the left.... At just $7.25 an hour, today's federal minimum wage is absurdly low.... [It might work in some parts of the country.] In other, lower-cost parts of the country, however, a $15 minimum -- which, remember, is more than double the current federal level -- would likely throw many, many more people out of work." ...

... CW: Rampell does not seem to take into consideration how middle-class taxpayers are currently subsidizing companies that pay low wages -- thru direct benefits like food stamps, thru Medicaid & other ACA subsidies & via the Earned Income Tax Credit, to name a few. At $15/hour, workers still would be eligible to receive some of these benefits, but at lower levels. As Bernie points out, the Walton family owns as much wealth as 90 percent of the rest of us combined, while we pay taxes to support workers WalMart refuse to pay a living wage. I find this outrageous.

Sarah Dutton, et al., of CBS News: "... 58 percent of Americans favor re-establishing diplomatic relations between the [U.S. & Cuba], while just 24 percent oppose. Seventy-two percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents support re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, while Republicans are divided, with 44 percent in favor."

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Sen. Robert Menendez, indicted on corruption charges, accused federal prosecutors Monday of misconduct that included allowing an FBI agent to give false testimony.... The allegation was included in multiple court filings submitted by lawyers for Menendez (D-N.J.) seeking a dismissal of the charges. The senator's legal team also argued that the Justice Department had ignored a law shielding members of Congress from criminal prosecution when they are doing their official jobs as legislators."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Former Sen. Saxby Chambliss says he believes Edward Snowden should be publicly hanged as soon the United States can 'get our hands on him.' The Republican from Georgia, who recently retired from the Senate, served previously as the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence."

** Eric Holthaus of Slate: "In what may prove to be a turning point for political action on climate change, a breathtaking new study casts extreme doubt about the near-term stability of global sea levels. The study -- written by James Hansen, NASA's former lead climate scientist, and 16 co-authors, many of whom are considered among the top in their fields -- concludes that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years.... In the study's likely scenario, New York City -- and every other coastal city on the planet -- may only have a few more decades of habitability left. That dire prediction, in Hansen's view, requires 'emergency cooperation among nations.'" ...

Jesse Coburn of the New York Times: Reem Sahwil, a 14-year-old disabled Palestinian who begged Chancellor Angela Merkel to allow her family to stay in Germany, has become a "potent symbol" of the plights of Middle Eastern refugees in Europe. (Merkel told Sahwil, "Tough luck, kid." [CW approximate translation])

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The Nasty Boys' Revolt. Sasha Goldstein of the New York Daily News: "Two of Gawker's top editorial decisionmakers quit Monday following the unanticipated removal last week of a controversial post that was roundly criticized around the Internet. Gawker Media executive editor Tommy Cragg and the site's editor-in-chief, Max Read, both decided to step down as a stand against the decision to remove a story about David Geithner, chief financial officer of Conde Nast and brother of former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The article, posted Thursday evening, allegedly outed David Geithner as a married, closeted gay man who backed out of a scheduled tryst with a gay porn star during a business trip to Chicago." ...

... Gabriel Sherman of New York has more on "Gawker's existential crisis." ...

... CW: Ironic, of course, that Cragg & Read (that can't be his real name) have walked out in a huff over an issue re: "journalistic integrity" when a reasonable person might conclude that they possessed minimal integrity themselves in deciding to out someone who had a famous brother but was not a public figure in his own right. ...

... Ryan Holliday of the New York Observer: "Hypocrisy is too weak a word when it comes to Gawker. It is instead an indisputable pattern of malice and mendacity almost without parallel in the history of media. It is essentially a twelve-year spree of destruction, pain and waste. The sole purpose of the entire repugnant edifice has been to make a single owner fabulously rich and a revolving door of mediocre writers feel important and powerful." ...

... MEANWHILE, Gawker is doing absolutely nothing. It's last post (as of 8:45 am ET Tuesday) was a shared weather report loaded just after noon ET Monday.

Presidential Race

Dara Lind of Vox on why black progressives & Bernie Sanders don't see eye-to-eye (and apparently never have). ...

... Jamelle Bouie: "Regardless of where you stand on the wisdom of the direct action against Sanders and O'Malley, it showed the limits of Sanders' brand of liberal coalition-building.... For Black Lives Matter activists..., racism is orthogonal to class: They're two different dimensions of disadvantage, and to improve the picture on one isn't always to improve the picture for the other. Jim Crow, for instance, coexisted with strong unions, high wages, and an active welfare state. When that heckler [at Bernie Sanders' Netroots forum] said 'Public college won't stop police from killing us,' that person was right.... If Sanders is too stubborn to abandon the pitch he's used for decades and adopt one more suited to today -- then we may have seen the beginning of the end of Berniemania. (To his credit, it already appears as though Sanders is learning.) ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "A day after being heckled by Black Lives Matter protesters at a progressive conference in Phoenix, presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders spoke out against police brutality at a pair of large-scale rallies Sunday in Texas. 'We want a nation where a young black man or woman can walk down the street without worrying about being falsely arrested, beaten or killed,' Sanders ... said during a stop in Dallas that reportedly drew 8,000 people to a hotel ballroom." Later, Sanders made similar comments to a crowd of more than 5,000 people in Houston.

The Doofus Plan. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush ... outlined a wide-ranging plan on Monday to rein in the size of the federal government and curb the influence of lobbyists who live off it. Portraying himself as a political outsider -- despite his family's 12 years in the White House -- Mr. Bush called for a 10 percent reduction in the federal workforce, an immediate hiring freeze, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget and a six-year waiting period before members of Congress can become lobbyists.... Mr. Bush demanded changes to the Civil Service system that would make it far easier to punish and replace employees.... Elements of Mr. Bush's agenda seemed at odds with the campaign he is running. For example, Mr. Bush took direct aim at K Street, Washington's collection of lobbying firms that have long employed former lawmakers to do the bidding of major corporations.... As a candidate, Mr. Bush has harnessed the fund-raising prowess of the K Street crowd, bringing in millions of dollars for his 'super PAC' from Washington lobbyists, political operatives, lawyers and business leaders." Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. ...

... CW: Not sure how Jeb! will get people he's laid off to "work longer hours." The balanced-budget amendment is of course idiotic & further evidence that Jeb! understands nothing about macroeconomics. He may be competent to run a hotdog stand (if the family's usual backers to advance him the seed money), but he is intellectually incapable of administering a national economy. Maybe he's tossing this out now because John Kasich -- No. 1 champion of the balanced-budget amendment -- intends to announce his candidacy today (Tuesday). ...

... Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post on the mess John Kasich has made of public education in Ohio. CW: A record worthy of Bobby Jindal. ...

... Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "... tales of angry tantrums have dogged Kasich throughout his long career, from the state Legislature, to the halls of Congress, to the governorship. So much so that even the famously volatile Sen. John McCain once said of Kasich: 'He has a hair-trigger temper.'"

Eli Stokols of Politico: "Suddenly, the gloves are off between Scott Walker and Jeb Bush.... Bush's political ethos -- his stated philosophy of refusing to pander to the right to win the primary only to become unelectable in the general election -- is itself an implicit rebuke of Walker, who has flipped his positions on immigration and Common Core to better align with the primary electorate (the two issues for which Bush remains opposite the prevailing GOP orthodoxy). For his part, Walker views Bush as a scion of a tarnished political dynasty, another establishment moderate who, like Mitt Romney before him, will struggle to excite the conservative base should he become the GOP nominee."

In his feud with Jeb! -- who suggested Walker's plan to undo the Iran agreement on Day One of his presidency was not "mature" or "thoughtful" -- Scottie-Boy had an excellent comeback:

I believe they should be prepared to act on the very first day they take office. It's very possible -- God forbid, but it's very possible -- that the next president could be called to take aggressive actions, including military action, on the first day in office. And I don't want a president who is not prepared to act on day one. So, as far as me, as far as my position, I'm going to be prepared to be president on day one.

... CW: I don't think Walker has the vaguest idea of how a transition of power works. He just can't think in real-world detail:

     ... Maybe all this is unnecessary if the outgoing president has cooties. Meanwhile, let's all hunker down in anticipation of the first-ever Inauguration Day War (with Whomever). ...

... Scott Walker doesn't know much about evolution, or genetics, or climate change, but he knows WAY MORE about gynecology than medical scientists. Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Monday banning abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization.... Walker said Monday that at this point in a pregnancy a fetus can feel pain, an assertion that the medical establishment says is unproven. 'At five months, that's the time when that unborn child can feel pain,' Walker said. 'When an unborn child can feel pain, we should be protecting that child.'" ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "Twenty-week bans have been struck down in Arizona in 2013 and in Idaho in May of this year, both cases heard by the 9th District. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the Arizona case in 2014, meaning a 20-week ban is unconstitutional. Don't expect Walker to be concerned about the consequences of signing this bill, though, including what's likely to be an expensive lawsuit for his state. He's got a presidential primary to think about, and Republican primary voters are who he signed this law for." ...

... Walker has a Merkel moment. Scottie's response: It's all Obama's fault.

** Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: Donald Trump "has exposed and exploited the Republican Party's two great weaknesses: the fact that many of its voters don't agree with Party leaders on immigration and the fact that the Party is powerless to do much about it." Read the whole post.

Dan Balz & Peyton Craighill of the Washington Post: "Businessman Donald Trump surged into the lead for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with almost twice the support of his closest rival, just as he ignited a new controversy after making disparaging remarks about Sen. John McCain's Vietnam War service, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Support for Trump fell sharply on the one night that voters were surveyed following those comments. Telephone interviewing for the poll began Thursday, and most calls were completed before the news about the remarks was widely reported." ...

... Des Moines Register Editors: "It's time for Donald Trump to drop out of the race for president of the United States.... Trump, by every indication, seems wholly unqualified to sit in the White House. If he had not already disqualified himself through his attempts to demonize immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, he certainly did so by questioning the war record of John McCain.... He has become 'the distraction with traction' -- a feckless blowhard who can generate headlines, name recognition and polling numbers not by provoking thought, but by provoking outrage." ...

     ... CW: Look for Trump's upcoming tweets: "Des Moines Register editors r losers." "... dummies in Des Moines...," "I'm like really smart," "I made $10BB while Des Moines R eds. scribbled bull 4 pennies," etc. ...

... Steve M. is amused by this aspect of the poll: Trump "does far better among those who are not college graduates than among those who are. Trump is also in the 30s among Republicans with a household income of less than $50,000 a year." Steve: "The conventional wisdom has been that Mitt Romney lost the general election in 2012 because he didn't have the common touch, and therefore Republicans need to nominate someone who's less of an elitist. But then you ask the GOP's working-class voters to pick a candidate -- and Trump's their man. Go figure." ...

... CW: I completely get it. To Trump voters, he is just like them, only he hit the jackpot that keeps alluding them. They're crass, obnoxious bullies whose idea of fun involves loud &/or violent sports; they go to garish casinos in Atlantic City, as a woman once told me, "for the ambiance." There is an underlying presumption that the examined life is for "losers" and conspicuous consumption is evidence of "winners." They boast that their Golden Rule is "Do unto others before they do unto you." Any good fortune they do have they (a) show off, & (b) attribute to their own superiority. This country is full of Donalds.

... Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to apologize to military families Monday during his first public comments since the flamboyant real estate mogul mocked his military record in a campaign event Saturday. 'I think he may owe an apology to the families of those who have sacrificed in conflict and those who have undergone the prison experience in serving their country,' McCain said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Monday, stressing that prisoners of war serve honorably. 'Somehow to denigrate that in any way, their service, I think is offensive to most of our veterans.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: Trump's dismissal of McCain's heroism shows Trump knows nothing about the dangers American pilots faced during the Vietnam War. "The missions were extremely perilous: McCain was in range of North Vietnam's Soviet-provided missiles." ...

... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... the corollary to Trump's smugness: his open disdain for people who aren't fortunate. Being poor, he suggests, is as much the fault of poor people as being rich is entirely to his own credit. If they are not rich, then they are losers -- and Trump knows what he thinks about losers.... The contempt he has for undocumented immigrants or for a child in a rough neighborhood is of the same species as that he exhibited toward McCain. He likes the people who aren't struggling. The other Republican Presidential candidates ... also need to look at how an unexamined affinity for the wealthy has become part of the G.O.P.'s ethos, too." ...

... Byron York of the Washington Examiner: "... for the actual voters who were in the room when Trump spoke to the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Saturday, it's possible Trump's greater sin ... [was his] casual and disengaged characterization of religious faith.... 'While there were audible groans in the crowd when Trump questioned whether McCain was a war hero,' [a] senior Republican said via email, 'it was Trump's inability to articulate any coherent relationship with God or demonstrate the role faith plays in his life that really sucked the oxygen out of the room..'" Via Paul Waldman. ...

When I drink my little wine -- which is about the only wine I drink -- and have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness, and I do that as often as possible because I feel cleansed. -- Donald Trump, explaining the meaning of holy communion to evangelicals

Get over it, you transubstantiating weirdos; that "body of Christ" is just a little cracker! -- Constant Weader translation

... Ed Kilgore: "Perhaps this is all exactly what Trump needs to take his presidential campaign out of the GOP and into a third-party candidacy. In that case Republicans will rue this weekend far more than Donald Trump."

CW: As long as the Republican party is the Confederate party, it will never mount a presidential candidate who is intellectually, morally & tempermentally fit for the top job. Many former Republican voters have figured that out. Meanwhile, the Democrats have at least three candidates who meet the minimum job requirements, & there are a number of others who have decided not to run but who are likely even better-qualified.

Other Races

Russell Contreras of the AP: "Citing sprawl development and a need for more Mexican-American elected officials, 'Breaking Bad' actor Steven Michael Quezada said he is jumping in a heated race for county commissioner in Albuquerque, New Mexico." Quezada is a Democrat. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly notices that Republicans are starting to go after HUD Secretary Julian Castro on the assumption that Hillary Clinton (or some other Democrat!) might tap him as her running mate.

Beyond the Beltway

Brian Ross, et al., of ABC News: "Four days after the [Chattanooga] shooting, the FBI has not found any connection to overseas terrorist groups, but Mohammod Abdulazeez's diary says that as far back as 2013, he wrote about having suicidal thoughts and 'becoming a martyr' after losing his job due to his drug use, both prescription and non-prescription drugs, the family representative said. In a downward spiral, Abdulazeez would abuse sleeping pills, opioids, painkillers and marijuana, along with alcohol, the representative said. Most recently, the 24-year-old was having problems dealing with a 12 hour overnight shift, and had to take sleeping pills, according to the representative. The young man was also thousands of dollars in debt and considering filing for bankruptcy."

David Montgomery of the New York Times: "A Waller County[, Texas,] sheriff's official described a timeline for the jail cell of ... Sandra Bland, that started early in the morning of July 13, when she refused a breakfast tray around 6:30 a.m., until a jailer found her hanging shortly after 9 a.m. For about 90 minutes during that period, there was no movement by jail officials in the hallway leading to her cell, according to a video that the authorities released from a camera inside the jail."

Ellen Fentress of the New York Times: "The Mississippi Highway Patrol on Monday was investigating a car wreck that killed an outspoken advocate of the Confederate flag. Anthony Hervey, 49, author of 'Why I Wave the Confederate Flag, Written by a Black Man,' died Sunday, the state police said, after the Ford Explorer carrying him and Arlene Barnum, 60, of Stuart, Okla., went off the road and flipped over while returning from a pro-Confederate flag event in Birmingham, Ala." ...

... CW: With due respect for the recently departed, this Clarion-Ledger story by Clay Chandler, strongly suggests Hervey was a loudmouthed crank who could be a violent adversary.

William Rashbaum of the New York Times: David "Sweat has revealed ... [details] ... to investigators reviewing his stunning June 6 escape with another inmate from the maximum-security prison in Dannemora, N.Y.... It is also a story of neglect by those who were supposed to keep Mr. Sweat behind bars; of rules and procedures ignored; and of a culture of complacency among some prison guards, employees and their supervisors, whose laziness and apparent inaction -- and, in at least one instance, complicity -- made the escape possible."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Theodore Bikel, the multilingual troubadour, character actor and social activist who created the role of Baron von Trapp in the original Broadway production of 'The Sound of Music' and toured for decades as Tevye in 'Fiddler on the Roof,' died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 91.

New York Times: "E. L. Doctorow, a leading figure in contemporary American letters whose popular, critically admired and award-winning novels -- including 'Ragtime,' 'Billy Bathgate' and 'The March' -- situated fictional characters in recognizable historical contexts, among identifiable historical figures and often within unconventional narrative forms, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 84 and lived in Manhattan and Sag Harbor, N.Y."

New York Times: "A military drone strike this month killed the leader of a shadowy Qaeda cell in Syria that American officials say has been plotting attacks against the United States and Europe, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday. The leader, Muhsin al-Fadhli, was killed on July 8 while traveling in a vehicle near Sarmada, in northwestern Syria, a Defense Department spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, said in a statement."

New York Times: "Eight senior executives at Toshiba, the Japanese industrial conglomerate, including the chief executive, resigned on Tuesday, as they took responsibility for a $1.2 billion accounting scandal, one of the country's largest."

Washington Post: "Defense Sec. Ashton B. Carter met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday in the first high-level U.S. encounter with the Israeli leader since world powers struck a nuclear agreement with Iran, which Israel warns is a dangerous mistake."