The Commentariat -- Aug. 16, 2013

Mark Landler & Peter Baker of the New York Times: " President Obama announced Thursday that the United States had canceled longstanding joint military exercises with the Egyptian Army set for next month, using one of his few obvious forms of leverage to rebuke Egypt's military-backed government for its brutal crackdown on supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi. Though the decision is an embarrassment to Egypt's generals, and will deprive Egypt of much-needed revenue, it lays bare both the Obama administration's limited options to curb the military's campaign against Islamists in Egypt and the United States' role as an increasingly frustrated bystander":

... Gene Robinson: "There may be little the United States can do to end the savage bloodletting in Egypt, but at least our nation can be loyal to its ideals by bearing witness and telling the truth. In this, President Obama has failed."

** Oops, Our Bad. Barton Gellman of the Washington Post: "The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.... The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.... The Obama administration has provided almost no public information about the NSA’s compliance record." ...

We also have federal judges that we've put in place who are not subject to political pressure. They've got lifetime tenure as federal judges, and they're empowered to look over our shoulder at the executive branch to make sure that these programs aren't being abused. -- President Obama, June 2013

... Even the Foxes Aren't Guarding the Henhouse. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, "the leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government's vast spying programs, said that its ability to do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans. The chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said the court lacks the tools to independently verify how often the government's surveillance breaks the court's rules that aim to protect Americans' privacy. Without taking drastic steps, it also cannot check the veracity of the government's assertions that the violations its staff members report are unintentional mistakes." ...

... So, as Casey Chan of Gizmodo writes, "Basically, the NSA gets to do whatever it wants and no one can really check it." ...

... This Is Rich. Marcy Wheeler: as the NSA & Justice Department officials whined to the Washington Post's Walter Pincus that the media weren't publishing "their side of the story," the NSA was refusing to allow the Post's Barton Gellman to publish stuff they told him. ...

... Mark Hosenball of Reuters: "Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government's electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier than previously reported, according to U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the matter.... Snowden has said he left Dell for a job at Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii around March of this year, specifically to gain access to additional top-secret documents that could be leaked to the media." ...

... Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post: Ed Snowden denies that his father or his father's lawyers represent him: "Neither my father, his lawyer Bruce Fein, nor his wife Mattie Fein represent me in any way." Snowden complains that the media have "been misled by individuals associated with my father into printing false claims about my situation." He praises the lawyers & journalists with whom he's worked. CW: as I speculated some while back, Ed has always been a problem child.

Karen McVeigh of the Guardian: "The Pentagon has unveiled a range of initiatives to curb sexual assault in the ranks and tackle what military leaders have described as a "crisis" of confidence which prevents victims coming forward. The new initiatives, to be implemented immediately, include greater protections of victims, including the expansion of an air force initiative to provide victims with a legal advocacy programme. Other changes include ensuring that pretrial investigations are conducted by judge advocate generals and improved tracking and follow-up of sexual assault cases."

Voters R Ingorant. Paul Krugman: A public poll conducted this week found that "a majority of those who replied said the deficit has gone up, with more than 40 percent saying that it has gone up a lot. Only 12 percent answered correctly that it has gone down a lot.... Do people like [Eric] Cantor or [Rand] Paul know that what they're saying isn't true? Do they care? Probably not... We have an ill-informed or misinformed electorate, politicians who gleefully add to the misinformation and watchdogs who are afraid to bark. And to the extent that there are widely respected, not-too-partisan players, they seem to be fostering, not fixing, the public's false impressions." ...

... Caveat Emptor. Well first of all, for a criminal practice there has to be a gun. It's pretty simple. -- Rep. Tom McClintock (RTP-Calif.), arguing that Wall Streeters don't commit crimes & should not be regulated ...

... ** Congressmen R Ingorant. Charles Pierce on "your wingnut congresscritters." Pierce is looking for a successor to Michele Bachmann, & he finds three well-qualified candidates, not counting Louis Gohmert. The citation from Molly Ivins is priceless.

Peter Hamby of CNN: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie planted himself firmly in the Republican Party's establishment wing Thursday with a pugnacious speech calling on his party to focus on pragmatism rather than ideology and crippling internal debates.... Some of Christie's remarks ... were interpreted by many here as another jab at Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a potential rival for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "The critical bulk of Republican caucus and primary voters are only going to tolerate Christie if he's the practical means to the ends defined by people like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan. If he has contempt for those ends, then all the favorable poll numbers in the world won't save him. But you get the sense that contempt is one emotion Chris Christie has a real hard time disguising, and that could be his undoing."

Scott Malone of Reuters: "Delegates to a summer meeting of the Republican National Committee are scheduled to vote Friday on a possible boycott of 2016 presidential debates sponsored by CNN and NBC if the networks go ahead with plans for special programs on Democrat Hillary Clinton." CW: Is this part of their "outreach" program or a wilful effort to keep non-Foxbots from seeing what a bunch of unhinged wingers the GOP contenders are? ...

... Be Careful What You Wish For. Steve M. of No More Mr. Nice Blog: "... there's talk in the Republican Party of bypassing mainstream journalists when selecting debate moderators, in favor of conservative media figures." RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer promoted radio winger Mark Levin as debate moderator. Steve reprises a few of Levin's derogatory remarks about likely 2016 GOP candidates for the presidency & notes that Levin likes Ted Cruz. "Yeah, go ahead, GOP -- try to get a fair, balanced debate with this guy acting as moderator."

Reince Sez Mitt Is a Racist. Brent Logiurato of Business Insider: " In condemning Rep. Steve King's incendiary comments on immigration, RNC chairman Reince Priebus swept in his party's presidential nominee, saying that talk of 'self-deportation' was 'horrific' and even 'racist.' Mitt Romney repeatedly used the term during the Republican primary campaign to talk about how his immigration enforcement policies would lead to unauthorized immigrants leaving the U.S. of their own accord, rather than needing to be deported. 'Using the word 'self-deportation' -- it's a horrific comment to make,' Priebus said, in a forceful rebuke. 'I don't think it has anything to do with our party. When someone makes those comments, obviously, it's racist.'" ...

     ... CW: look for an upcoming quote from Mitt, claiming he never used the term "self-deportation." Also, "I love Mexicans: my father was a Mexican; some of my best gardeners were Mexicans, & I was mighty sorry I had to fire them. I am not a racist."

Philip Bump of the Atlantic: "Now that the tedium of the 2012 campaign is over, President Obama is making good on his 2010 pledge to put solar panels on top of the White House. The panels (American-made, of course) will be the second set the building has ever seen. The first ones were removed when Ronald Reagan was president, which may not surprise you."

Local News

New York Times Editors: In the Detroit bankruptcy case, Detroit is giving bankers who sold the city derivatives precedence over city pensioners, many of whom do not get Social Security. "Detroit's problems are a reminder of broader challenges, identified but still unmet: protecting pensions; protecting municipalities from Wall Street; and, at long last, revoking the obscene privileges of banks that allow them to prosper on the failings of others.

Washington Post Editors: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell "has said he would propose measures to tighten the state's Swiss-cheese ethics laws but has not yet done so. He has refused to summon lawmakers to Richmond for a special session on ethics reform. And aside from apologizing for embarrassing Virginians, he has not spoken frankly about any of the particulars, what he and his wife did wrong and why they did it. He delivered the apology itself only after enlisting a veteran Washington political image-maker, suggesting that the governor regards the whole affair mainly as a public relations problem rather than what it is: a symptom of shabby and unprincipled governance."

Vogue profiles Texas state senator Wendy Davis. (Clink "Print" to read the whole thing.) CW: I'm glad to see Davis get media attention, & I get that Vogue is a fashion magazine (they picture Davis is designer dress & shoes, neither of which she could afford). But I wish Vogue would also see fit to profile powerful women whose actual profiles are not as svelte as Davis's. As I recall, they've profiled women like Sarah Palin, Kathleen Sebelius, Jill Biden & Michelle Obama, all beautiful women. What about, um, Sonia Sotomayor or Barbara Mikulski, who are very powerful women?

News Ledes

New York Times: Sgt. Kimberly D. Munley , a member of Fort Hood's civilian police force, testified today in the trial of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the admitted Fort Hood killer. "Her testimony came at the end of the second week of Major Hasan's military trial. A jury of 13 senior Army officers has heard testimony from more than 70 witnesses called by the prosecution."

Politicker: Tomorrow New York City will begin its appeal of the judicial ruling that the city's stop-&-frisk practices are unconstitutional, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an unrelated press conference.

AP: "Egypt is bracing for more violence after the Muslim Brotherhood called for nationwide marches after Friday prayers and a 'day of rage' to denounce this week's unprecedented bloodshed in the security forces' assault on the supporters of the country's ousted Islamist president that left more than 600 dead." ...

     ... Al Jazeera Update: "Scores of people have been killed in Egypt after security forces opened fire on anti-coup protesters staging a "day of rage" against the military-led government. In the worst of the violence on Friday, at least 95 people were killed and hundreds injured in Cairo's Ramses Square as anti-coup protesters were fired on by government forces. A correspondent for Al Jazeera described lines of bodies in a makeshift morgue in the nearby Al-Fath mosque."

Reuters: " India's navy said on Friday divers had found the bodies of three sailors who were on board a submarine badly damaged by a fire and explosions and that it was unlikely any of 15 other missing crew members would be found alive. Eighteen sailors were missing after weapons stored in the forward section of the Russian-built INS Sindhurakshak exploded in the middle of Tuesday night, causing a fire as it lay berthed in Mumbai, the navy's worst losses in more than four decades."

The Commentariat -- Aug. 15, 2013

Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: "... the United States spends much less on the education and well-being of poor people, especially poor children, than any other rich country -- and that retards their chances of escaping poverty.... Countries -- and most parts of the United States -- that invest heavily in all their children's health care, nutrition and education end up with a much stronger ladder of opportunity and access. And that's something we can change. So if we want to restore the American dream, we now have the beginnings of a path forward." ...

... CW: yeah, but what if -- after obtaining a good education -- there are no good jobs. A friend told me that where she lives there are job openings for positions that require a college degree & pay $12.50 an hour.

The Party of Racists. Tom Edsall in the New York Times: "There is a growing body of evidence that those intent on moderating the [Republican] party's ideological rigidity ... face opposition from Republican primary voters, the most powerful force in the party." ...

... Racism by Any Other Name.... CW: Edsall calls the voters' anti-immigration hysteria "conservatism," but he does quote Sean Trende, who has argued that the near-future GOP can do better mining non-college-educated whites than appealing to Hispanics: "Whites are sliding toward minority status, and becoming more internally homogenous at the same time." Call it "conservative" or "internally homogenous," it's still racism. ...

... Nonetheless, "Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, and former Govs. Haley Barbour and Ed Rendell [who] co-chair the Bipartisan Policy Center's Immigration Task Force, take a stab at building consensus on immigration reform in this Politico essay.

The interesting thing about voting patterns now is in this last election African-Americans voted at a higher percentage than whites in almost every one of the states that were under the special provisions of the federal government. So really, I don't think there is objective evidence that we're precluding African-Americans from voting any longer. I don't see a problem with showing your driver's license to vote. I also think that some people are a little bit stuck in the past when they want to compare this. There was a time in the south when African-Americans were absolutely prohibited from voting by selective applications of bizarre and absurd literacy tests. And that was an abomination, that's why we needed the Voting Rights Act, but that's not showing your ID. -- Sen. Rand Paul

... CW: I suspect Paul is so ignorant he believes his own propaganda. I sent him a copy of Jamelle Bouie's post that explains some provisions of North Carolina's voter suppression law. ...

... Charles Pierce has more on Paul's idea of the meaning of FREEEDOM.

Prof. Devon Carbado, et al., in a New York Times op-ed: "The historic ruling by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin that the stop-and-frisk practices of the New York Police Department violate the Constitution is being applauded as a major victory against unreasonable policing.... The ruling ... does nothing to disrupt the authority the Supreme Court has given police officers to target African-Americans and Latinos with little or no basis. Despite the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures, the Supreme Court's interpretation of that provision gives the police frighteningly wide discretion to follow, stop, question, frisk and employ excessive force against African-Americans and Latinos who have shown virtually no indication of wrongdoing."

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, an Army Ranger and paratrooper, stands accused of forcible sodomy, adultery and other charges that could land him in prison. Prosecutors say he abused his command authority by sleeping with a subordinate officer, a taboo in the armed forces and a violation of military law. They charge that the relationship turned violent on two occasions, when he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex. In addition, Sinclair faces charges that he had inappropriate communications with three other female officers. Sinclair has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Besides the rare spectacle of a general in the dock, however, the case poses a critical test of how the U.S. military handles allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, crimes that have long bedeviled the armed forces." ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In an effort to stop military lawyers from using comments by President Obama to prevent sexual assault prosecutions, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has sent out a directive ordering the military to exercise independent judgment in the cases and effectively ignore the president's remarks. 'There are no expected or required dispositions, outcomes or sentences in any military justice case, other than what result from the individual facts and merits of a case and the application to the case of the fundamentals of due process of law,' Mr. Hagel wrote in a memorandum dated Aug. 6 that is to be disseminated throughout the military."

Jim Miklaszewski, et al., of NBC News: "The Department of Defense announced a plan Wednesday to extend a range of federal benefits to same-sex spouses of military service members starting Sept. 3. The Pentagon will extend to legally married same-sex couples the same privileges and programs that are provided to legally married heterosexual couples, including benefits tied to health care, housing, and family separation allowance, compensation paid to military members when their dependents can't live with them at their permanent duty station."

This Is Amusing. Greg Sargent: "Various reports are telling us that House Republicans are mulling a new anti-Obamacare strategy: Rather than push for a government shutdown to force the defunding of Obamacare, they will use the coming debt limit fight to force the administration to delay implementation of the law.... This latest move from a shutdown-based strategy against Obamacare to a debt limit-based one (presuming it's even real) is part of a larger pattern, in which GOP leaders try to talk conservatives out of the favored insane and dangerous strategy of the moment by promising another confrontation around some other leverage point later." ...

... This Is Amusing, Too. Peter Hamby of CNN: "Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich reprimanded his fellow Republicans in unusually harsh terms Wednesday, blaming GOP members of Congress for developing 'zero' alternatives to President Obama's health care reform law." "When I was in Congress, blah, blah, blah...." ...

... More Amusement. Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "right wing push-poll accidentally finds Obamacare is popular." ...

... Jonathan Cohn: when the anti-ObamaCare crowd gloats over the "sticker shock" Americans will experience when they purchase insurance under the plan, they're really only talking about their well-off friends. "... the number of people receiving discounts is a lot larger than even many analysts seem to realize. It turns out that about half the people who buy their own insurance today will be eligible for subsidies. For them, the subsidies will be worth an average of $5,548 per household, effectively discounting the price by two-thirds." CW: so it looks like the real objection to ObamaCare is in service of the relatively wealthy; i.e., a substantial chunk of the GOP base. Those students that the Koch brothers' FreedomWorks are trying to talk into "burning their ObamaCare cards"? Most of them are likely eligible for subsidies.

New York Times Editors: "President Obama must make clear his unequivocal opposition to the Egyptian military's conduct. He can do so by immediately suspending military aid and canceling joint military exercises scheduled for September." ...

Washington Post Editors: "Before the July 3 coup in Egypt, the Obama administration privately warned the armed forces against ousting the government of Mohamed Morsi, pointing to U.S. legislation that requires the cutoff of aid to any country where the army plays a 'decisive role' in removing an elected government. Yet when the generals ignored the U.S. warnings, the White House responded by electing to disregard the law itself. After a prolonged and embarrassing delay, the State Department announced that it had chosen not to determine whether a coup had taken place, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry declared that Egypt's military was 'restoring democracy.' Because of those decisions, the Obama administration is complicit in the new and horrifyingly bloody crackdown launched Wednesday by the de facto regime...." ...

... Julian Pecquet of the Hill: "'As we predicted and feared, chaos in Cairo,' [Sen. John] McCain tweeted after dozens of pro-Morsi protesters were killed when their sit-in camps were raided. 'Sec Kerry praising the military takeover didn't help.'" ...

... Egypt's Crackdown on Journalists. Abigail Hoslohner of the Washington Post: "'If I see you again, I'll shoot you in the leg,' a police officer told my colleagues, Sharaf al-Hourani and Mansour Mohamed, and me. Security forces on the roof of a nearby building watched us through binoculars. Two helicopters circled overhead." See yesterday's News Ledes.

Meteor Blades of Daily Kos: Democratic "pressure being exerted on the White House over the {[Fed] chairman's post have, according to The Wall Street Journal, made the president cross.... Sources informed the Journal's reporters, there have been behind-the-scenes efforts telling the dissenters to keep their traps shut.... [Larry Summers] would be a rotten choice. And the [20] senators who seemed also to think so when they signed the letter of support for [Janet] Yellen should ignore the White House staff's calls for them to cease their criticism. That criticism is a favor to the president even if he doesn't see it that way." ...

... Scott Lemieux, in Lawyers, Guns & Money: " One suspects that the annoyance is based partly on the fact that the people firing at the Summers trial balloon are clearly right on the merits. Yellen is more qualified for this job. Breaking glass ceilings is an important consideration. Letting pre-existing personal relationships excessively influence the choice for Fed Chair (as opposed to a political adviser) is inappropriate." ...

... "L'état, c'est moi." Digby: "Democracy is so icky sometimes, isn't it, what with people expressing their opinions all over the place and telling the president what they think he should do and all? Why a president can hardly do anything anymore without a bunch of citizens and lawmakers weighing in on his decisions.... There is no tradition, law or rule that says the public, the party and members of congress cannot make their wishes known ahead of time and try to lobby the White House to make whatever choices they prefer. In fact, it's downright undemocratic for the executive to imply that they shouldn't."

J. K. Trotter of Gawker is not impressed with the New York Times' long piece on the Clinton Foundation (linked here yesterday): "Of course the Clinton Foundation is a disorganized shitshow stuffed with creepy hacks and starfuckers; of course it bends to the whims of Clinton disciples (and donors).... That the Clinton family has surrounded itself with rich idiots and ethically bankrupt grifters is repellent and a little sad. It's not, however, new or exciting." ...

... Maggie Haberman of Politico: "Hillary Clinton is fielding offers from colleges and universities -- including Harvard and her law school alma mater, Yale -- to give her a formal academic role, a move that would give her a platform outside her family's foundation."

Local News

Howard Mintz of the San Jose Mercury News: "Barring an unforeseen legal bombshell, gay marriage is here to stay in California. In a one-line order, the California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to halt same-sex marriages throughout the state, rejecting the latest legal bid to revive Proposition 8's ban on gay nuptials. The justices, meeting in their weekly closed-door conference, declined to hear a case brought last month by backers of Proposition 8 who argue that the law should remain in effect in at least 56 of the state's 58 counties." ...

... Brooke Adams & Ray Parker of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Utah has a 'sovereign right' to define and regulate marriage and a constitutional amendment that bars recognition of same-sex marriage enshrines that right, state attorneys say in a brief filed in U.S. District Court. The state disputes assertions by three couples who filed a challenge to Amendment 3 in March, including the claim that the amendment was aimed at furthering privately-held views that same-sex couples are immoral and inferior to heterosexual couples." ...

... Robert Parry in Consortium News, March 2013: "... there is no language [in the U.S. Constitution] referring to states as 'independent' or 'sovereign.' That wording comes from the Articles of Confederation (which governed the country from 1777 to 1787), but was expunged by the Constitution, which transferred national sovereignty from the 13 original states to 'We the People of the United States.' ... The Constitution also contains a long list of prohibited activities by the states.... The Constitution further dictates the structure of state governments, requiring them to operate as republics (Article IV, Section 4). Most significantly, the Constitution makes federal law 'supreme,' giving federal courts the power to strike down state statutes deemed unconstitutional.'"

San Diego Union-Tribune: "Momentum is building toward the recall of beleaguered Mayor Bob Filner with four local businesswomen organizing an anti-Filner march around City Hall on Sunday to coincide with the first day that signatures can be collected to oust him from office. Meanwhile recall proponents say they've raised more than $100,000 for the petition drive and created a new website -- recallbobfilner.com -- for donations and volunteers. They are also planning to kick off their signature-gathering efforts in multiple locations Sunday...." ...

... Gail Collins: Filner seems to have disappeared, having ending his two-week "rehab" program early. "Also, the mayor is trying to get the city to pay his mounting legal fees by arguing that San Diego is responsible for everything because Filner never received the sensitivity course required for city employees." ...

... Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic has an excellent piece on what the chairman on San Diego's Democratic Party heard about Bob Filner's history of preying on women. She suggests the chairman should have consulted its lawyers, who should have known how to do due diligence in vetting Filner. For the women, who were not Filner's employees, the bottom line is that when some creep makes an inappropriate pass at you (and, yes, I think there are "appropriate passes" & a lot of men know how to make them), you have little recourse unless the pass involves touching "private parts."

Send in the Clowns. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) press release: "Congressman Steve Stockman Wednesday invited the rodeo clowns who performed at the Missouri State Fair, and were banned or ordered into 'sensitivity training' when one clown mocked President Barack Obama, to perform at a rodeo in Texas' 36th District. Fair officials did not reveal the clown's identity.... 'Liberals want to bronco bust dissent. But Texans value speech, even if its speech they don’t agree with,' said Stockman, 'From Molly Ivins to Louie Gohmert and every opinion between Texans value free and open political speech. I'm sure any rodeo in Texas would be proud to have performers.'" ...

     ... CW: Somebody should tell Steve the First Amendment does not guarantee a right to employment. You have a First Amendment right to tell callers your boss is a jerk, to tell customers the food is terrible at this restaurant, to tell your company's clients to go fuck themselves. You do not, however, have a right to keep your job after you express such opinions. ...

     ... Somebody should tell Peggy Noonan, too. But as contributor Diane suggested yesterday, Noonan is probably too daft or drunk to comprehend such subtleties. Diane wonders what Noonan's response would be "if a rodeo clown had appeared dressed in a diaper and a Reagan mask with a sign around his neck 'I knew my name this morning' shouting 'Nancy, where are my pills.' I wager she would have downed a 5th of vodka and with a halting but classy stumble, made it to her bed to pass out."

News Ledes

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Bert Lance, the former state highway director who helped Jimmy Carter climb to the presidency and then joined his White House administration, died Thursday evening. He was 82."

New York Times: "The death toll from Egypt's bloody crackdown on supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, soared beyond 500 across the land on Thursday with over 3,700 people injured, the Health Ministry said, in a further sign of the extent and the ferocity of Wednesday's scorched-earth assault by security forces to raze two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo."

The Commentariat -- Aug. 14, 2013

** Maureen Dowd does an excellent job of trashing Larry Summers. Sometimes MoDo gets it so right.

Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian: "The White House has moved to dampen controversy over the role of the director of national intelligence James Clapper in a panel reviewing NSA surveillance, insisting that he would neither lead it nor choose the members."

Robert Reich, in a New York Times op-ed, on the consequences of an impotent, do-nothing Congress: "Political decision making has moved to peripheral public entities, where power is exercised less transparently and accountability to voters is less direct. What we're losing in the process isn't government -- it's democracy.... It's bizarre that a self-styled populist insurrection, [the Tea Party,] would end up making our government less accountable to the people. But that's exactly what it's done."

** Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: John "Lewis is a congressman from Georgia and the sole surviving speaker from the March on Washington in August 1963. His history makes him the closest thing to a moral voice in the divided Congress. At 73, he is still battling a half-century later. With the Voting Rights Act in jeopardy now that the Supreme Court has invalidated one of its central provisions, Mr. Lewis, a Democrat, is fighting an uphill battle to reauthorize it. He is using his stature as a civil rights icon to prod colleagues like the Republican leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, to get on board.... Mr. Lewis has an answer for those who say the election of a black president was a fulfillment of Dr. King's dream: It was only 'a down payment,' he said in an interview." ...

... Charles Pierce: In her speech on voter suppression, "What [Hillary Clinton] did was throw some serious chin music at the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.... Say what you will about her, she punches in her own weight class." Thanks to James S. for the link. ...

... ** Jamelle Bouie, in the Daily Beast, details the provisions of the anti-Democrat North Carolina voter suppression act, which "would have never passed federal muster" under Section 4 of the federal Voting Rights Act, struck down by the Supremes. "In the meantime, North Carolinians will have to live in a state that doesn't respect their right to participate. And worse, we should expect similar behavior from other states that were under federal preclearance before the Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County." ...

... Election law expert Rick Hasen is skeptical that the lawsuits filed against North Carolina's voter suppression law will be successful. Via Jonathan Bernstein. ...

... AND Chris Fitzsimon of North Carolina Policy Watch: Gov. Pat McCrory still doesn't know what's in the law he signed. Also via Bernstein.

Steve Benen on why GOP members of Congress appears to have lost their enthusiasm for townhall meetings: "The first [reason] is that the Republican Party base is starting to push for things Republican Party lawmakers don't want to deliver -- a government shutdown, national default, impeachment, hearings into the president's birth certificate, a special committee to investigate Benghazi conspiracy theories -- and town-hall forums put GOP officials in an awkward position of disappointing the far-right activists the party has worked so hard to rile up. The second is the flip-side: the Republican Party base is pushing for extremism, many Republican officials are going along, and invariably someone catches this on video. In other words, we're looking at a dynamic in which Republicans (a) will be pressed to say something stupid; or (b) will go ahead and say something stupid."

Fernando Espuelas of Univision, in the Huffington Post: "In the immigration reform morass that has gripped our government like quicksand, we see [John] Boehner's manifest weakness. It's no secret that the Tea Party radicals in his own caucus have terrorized the Speaker into immobility and sometimes outright incoherence."

CW: It's impossible to read the essays & news reports linked above without realizing that Republicans are fundamentally opposed to democracy. John Boehner won't allow a vote on issues like immigration that a majority of representatives (and of the public) would favor. Senate Republicans won't let a popularly-elected Democratic president appoint his own judges or even his Cabinet members. They won't allow the passage of any bill the Democratic majority of the Senate favors. Republicans try to defund lawfully-enacted programs they don't like. Republicans legislatures & governors throughout the country are knocking themselves out to suppress the vote of "those people," even when "those people" may be their own college-going children or poor grandmas. Republican-appointed justices rubber-stamped the efforts to suppress the vote. They apparently don't even want to talk to constituents because a few voters might pose awkward questions. There are occasions, of course, when minority views should prevail; for instance, when laws & practices discriminate against a group or when a presidential nominee is particularly unfit. I don't think Congress should take a public poll every time a bill comes up for consideration. But, with some exceptions, Congress generally should act in ways that reflect the "will of the people," & not just the people of their own districts. Maybe "all politics is local," but members of Congress have to rise above parochial interests & consider the general welfare of all Americans. They may hail from Mississippi or Idaho, but their title is United States Congressman or United States Senator & their oaths are to the United States Constitution. They should act as if they know that.

Nicholas Confessore & Amy Chozick of the New York Times delve into Bill Clinton's shady foundation, which is now the Bill, Hillary & Chelsey Shady Foundation. Nice graphic here.

Senate Races

Matt Friedman & David Giambusso of the [New Jersey] Star-Ledger: Newark Mayor Cory Booker has easily prevailed in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, the Associated Press projects. Booker will now face Steve Lonegan, the Republican primary winner, in the Oct. 16 special election to succeed the late Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). Results show Booker well ahead of his three rivals tonight: U.S. Reps. Rush Holt (D-6th Dist.) and Frank Pallone (D-12th Dist.), and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex). The difference is so large -- with Booker leading his closest opponent, Pallone, by a two-to-one margin -- that the Associated Press called the race with just 7 percent of the vote in."

Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Believing it to be 'God's will,' South Carolina State Sen. Lee Bright (R) announced Tuesday that he will [run] a 2014 primary challenge to U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R). Over four years in the State Senate, Bright has taken a number of out-of-the-mainstream positions on a wide array of issues, aligned himself with the anti-government William Wallace Caucus, and served as state campaign chair for the presidential campaign of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Bright also is on the board of a right-wing seminary that believes women should be subservient to men, both in the church and in the home." Read the whole post to learn more Bright Ideas. CW: I don't see how Graham can lose to this crazy bastard (a "fiscal conservative" who can't seem to pay his own bills & taxes), even in South Carolina. Via Charles Pierce, who is amused. As for me, I'm seeing Graham & Bright decked out in Confederate uniforms, fighting a duel to the death, with swords.

Gubernatorial Race

Washington Post Editors on Terry McAuliffe's venture GreenTech, in which he remains the company's largest shareholder: "GreenTech relies heavily on financing from wealthy foreigners, many of them Chinese, who pony up at least $500,000 each through a federal program designed to attract overseas investors. In return for their investments, they receive U.S. visas and may become eligible for permanent residency green cards.... According to former GreenTech employees..., the plant is a Potemkin manufacturing facility, where managers stage a semblance of production for the benefit of visitors. Company officials deny that. If it's untrue, they should allow journalists to see for themselves," which they won't....

... CW: so Virginians have to decide whether they want a shady character or a right-wing nutjob as governor. In view of McAuliffe's ethical challenges, I think it's likely that current Gov. Bob McDonnell's sleazy cash-grabbing will rub off as much on McAuliffe as on Ken Cuccinelli. (Kenny has grabbed a little cash from McDonnell's friend, too, making him both a nutjob and a shady character, but McAuliffe's deals are getting more attention now than are Kenny's.) I suspect voters prefer ideologues to crooks.

Local News

Katherine Skiba & Marina Villeneuve of the Chicago Tribune: "Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who pleaded guilty to misspending about $750,000 in campaign funds, will learn today how much his crime will cost him. A federal judge will sentence Jackson on a felony conspiracy count and also will sentence his wife, Sandi, on a related charge of failing to report about $600,000 in taxable income." ...

       ... UPDATE: "Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was sentenced today to 30 months behind bars and his wife, Sandi, got a year in prison for separate felonies involving the misspending of about $750,000 in campaign funds. The Jacksons will be allowed to serve their sentences one at a time, with Jackson Jr. going first, based on the wishes of the family as expressed by Dan Webb, an attorney for Sandi Jackson. Jackson Jr. will report to prison on or after Nov. 1, the judge said."

David Lieb of the AP: " The president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association has resigned after getting flak about a State Fair event in which a rodeo clown riled up the crowd as a bull chased a masked man imitating President Barack Obama. An attorney for rodeo announcer Mark Ficken said Tuesday that his resignation from the group is not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing on his part but rather a protest that the association has not banned the rodeo clown from its membership. Ficken's resignation from the rodeo group comes as he tries to hold on to his job as superintendent of the Boonville School District. The school system announced Monday that it is hiring an investigator to look into whether Ficken was involved in any 'inappropriate conduct' during Saturday's bull riding event at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia." CW: Yo, Mark. Bet you didn't think your 15 minutes of fame would be all about what a total asshole you are. But, you know, that's what happens sometimes when you're a total asshole.

News Ledes

Baltimore Sun: "Jack W. Germond, the irascible, portly columnist and commentator who was a fixture on the American political scene for nearly 50 years, including nearly 20 of them in The Baltimore Sun's Washington bureau, died Wednesday morning of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his home in Charles Town, W.Va. He was 85."

Washington Post: " Violent clashes spread across Egypt on Wednesday after security forces stormed two sprawling protest camps in an early morning assault that killed scores of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi. With at least 281 people killed, it was the deadliest day in Egypt since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and the fallout dealt a further blow to the prospect that the country might resume its path toward democracy. At least 37 died in clashes in the conservative oasis town of Fayoum." New York Times story here. The Times' The Lede has updates here. Al Jazeera's liveblog is here. ...

... Washington Post: "A 15-year veteran of Sky, Mick Deane was one of three journalists reported killed in Egypt on Wednesday. Also killed Wednesday was Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz, a 26-year-old reporter for Xpress, a sister publication of Dubai's Gulf News. She was fatally shot near Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Mosque, the scene of a major crackdown by the Egyptian military and police on a pro-Morsi encampment. Abd Elaziz was on leave from the newspaper and was visiting Egypt.... Social media users in Egypt reported the death of a local news photographer, but those reports could not be confirmed. At least a dozen other journalists were detained, injured or threatened Wednesday as the violence raged, suggesting increasing danger for journalists in an already hostile working environment."

... Guardian: "The United States has led a chorus of international concern about Egypt's crackdown on demonstrators, publicly condemning the violence that resulted in the worst loss of life on a single day since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi last month. The White House said 'the world is watching' after a day on which at least 278 people were killed. But there was still no sign that the US was prepared to characterise Morsi's removal by the army as a coup -- which would trigger an automatic congressional ban on $1.3bn in annual aid to the powerful Egyptian military."

New York Times: "While just two former London traders for JPMorgan [Chase] were criminally charged on Wednesday, the cases intensify the scrutiny of the bank's executives in New York, where lax controls and the pressure for profits aggravated the problem. Federal authorities outlined the breakdown in the bank's oversight in the two criminal complaints against the employees: Javier Martin-Artajo, a manager who oversaw the trading strategy, and Julien Grout, a low-level trader in London. The employees, accused of manipulating the books to disguise hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, operated for months with scant supervision and the impression that higher-ups of the bank supported them."

AP: "Defense attorney David Coombs says [Bradley] Manning will take the stand during the sentencing phase of his court-martial Wednesday at Fort Meade near Baltimore." ...

     ... Guardian Update: "Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted last month of leaking an enormous collection of classified documents to WikiLeaks, has said he now regrets his actions and that he was 'sorry that they hurt the United States.' 'I am sorry for unintended consequence of my actions. When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people,' Manning told his sentencing hearing, in an attempt to receive a reduced sentence." ...

     ... The Hill: "WikiLeaks late Wednesday described Bradley Manning's apology as 'forced' but, nonetheless, called on a court to take 'compassion' and 'understanding' into account during his sentencing."

Al Jazeera: "Security forces have moved in on two Cairo protest camps set up by supporters of Egypt's ousted President Mohamed Morsi, launching a crackdown that quickly turned into a bloodbath with dozens dead. Conflicting reports have emerged over the number of people killed. However, Al Jazeera's correspondent counted 94 bodies in Rabaa al-Adawiya's makeshift hospital, while some members of the Muslim Brotherhood have put the figure up to 2,200, with about 10,000 injured. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the Brotherhood's figure."

Guardian: "A Russian-built submarine of the Indian navy has exploded in Mumbai harbour, with 18 sailors believed to be trapped inside. Several other crew members were reported to have escaped by jumping off the submarine when it blew up on Tuesday night, sparking a huge fire. Several injured navy personnel were being treated in a naval hospital."

AP: "Canada's transportation agency is suspending the operating license of the U.S.-based rail company whose runaway oil train derailed and exploded in a Quebec town, killing 47 people. The agency said Tuesday it is taking away the certificate of fitness for the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway and its Canadian subsidiary, effective Aug. 20."