The Commentariat -- July 29, 2013

Hope Yen of the AP: "Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream. Survey data exclusive to The Associated Press points to an increasingly globalized U.S. economy, the widening gap between rich and poor and loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs as reasons for the trend. The findings come as President Barack Obama tries to renew his administration's emphasis on the economy, saying in recent speeches that his highest priority is to 'rebuild ladders of opportunity' and reverse income inequality." James S. mentioned this in yesterday's Commentariat.

"Detroit Looks to Health Law to Ease Costs." Monica Davey & Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "As Detroit enters the federal bankruptcy process, the city is proposing a controversial plan for paring some of the $5.7 billion it owes in retiree health costs: pushing many of those too young to qualify for Medicare out of city-run coverage and into the new insurance markets that will soon be operating under the Obama health care law.... But if large numbers of localities follow that course, it could amount to a significant cost shift to the federal government."

Kate Pickert of Time: "Earlier this month, the Washington Post published a blockbuster front-page story about a secretive committee that determines what Medicare pays physicians for their work. Part of the American Medical Association (AMA), the committee estimates the time and intensity of various doctor tasks, and the recommendations are plugged into a formula that sets Medicare reimbursements. The committee overestimates the time it takes to perform myriad medical procedures, which thereby increases the amount doctors can earn from Medicare.... What's surprising about this AMA committee's influence is ... that the federal government relies on the committee so heavily -- almost blindly at times." The Affordable Care Act's Independent Payment Advisory Board may reduce the power of this group.

Kari Rea of ABC News: "Today on 'This Week,' Glenn Greenwald ... claimed that those NSA programs allowed even low-level analysts to search the private emails and phone calls of Americans":

... Digby: Meanwhile, we had David Gregory fluffing the NSA's pool boy, Congressman Mike Rogers, on Meet the Press. Rogers explained at length, without any follow-up, that the vote this week that came just 6 votes short of dismantling the NSA programs was a result of the public being upset about the administration's abusive Big Brother IRS and Obamacare which they confused with the benign NSA that's doing God's work. That is no joke, it's what he said. And then he lied repeatedly about other details we already know while the petty little Villager David Gregory (who, like so many others, obviously can't see past his personal animosity toward Greenwald to the underlying issues) asked him to go on at length about how Edward Snowden is killing people." ...

... Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Pressure is building within the US Senate for an overhaul of the secret court that is supposed to act as a check on the National Security Agency's executive power, with one prominent senator, [Ron Wyden {D-Oregon}] describing the judicial panel as 'anachronistic' and outdated.... Sunday, the prominent Democratic senator for Illinois, Dick Durbin, added his voice to the mounting criticism of the Fisa court, telling ABC's This Week: 'There should be a real court proceeding. In this case, it's fixed in a way, it's loaded. There's only one case coming before the Fisa, the government's case. Let's have an advocate for someone standing up for civil liberties to speak up about the privacy of Americans.'" ...

... Ditto from Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times, with a few different examples of the shift. ...

... David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: Sen. Ron "Wyden [D-Oregon] finally has the audience he sought. All it took was Snowden. This is an awkward fact of Wyden's success: To get anyone's attention, the senator needed somebody else to break the laws that he would not. 'This debate should have started long, long, long ago. And it should have been started by elected officials and not by a government contractor,' Wyden said Friday." ...

... Missed this report by Peter Wallsten of the Post, published July 26: "The Obama administration's top intelligence official acknowledged Friday that there have been 'a number of compliance problems' in the government program that has collected phone data on millions of Americans. James Clapper, director of national intelligence, also said the government had not collected any other bulk data on Americans using its authority under the USA Patriot Act beyond the phone information and Internet data gathered under a separate program that was canceled in 2011." You can get to Clapper's letter from Wyden's site. If the task box doesn't load automatically, click "please click here." When the task box opens, click on "Open with Adobe reader."

Paul Krugman: urban sprawl inhibits social mobility.

John Broder of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's decision to nominate [Gina] McCarthy, 59, [to head the EPA] was an act of defiance to Congressional and industry opponents of meaningful action on climate change. It was also a sign of his determination to at least begin to put in place rules to reduce carbon pollution."

Sam Roudman in the New Republic: the Bank of America building, touted when it opened in 2010 as an "environmentally-responsible high-rise building," in fact "produces more greenhouse gases and uses more energy per square foot than any comparably sized office building in Manhattan." Roudman explains how that came about, mostly because of the way BoA uses the building & because faulty standards gave BoA the green rating in the first place.

** E. J. Dionne: "Yes, let's mess with Texas." Eric "Holder's move shows is an utter contempt for efforts to deprive our fellow Americans of their right to cast a meaningful ballot. It is a contempt that all of us should feel."

Bill Keller: "People may no longer give [President] Obama suspicious glares in department stores or clutch their purses when he enters an elevator, but they have typecast him according to their own fears and expectations of a black man in the White House. They are still profiling Barack Obama."

Garrett Epps, in a Salon republication, takes to the Second Amendment with textual analysis and concludes that it "is in equipoise." Interesting anyway.

Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Francis is reaching out to gays, saying he won't judge priests for their sexual orientation, in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returns from his first foreign trip. Francis says: 'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?' His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, authored a document that said men with deep-rooted homosexual tendencies should not be priests. Francis is being much more conciliatory, saying gay clergymen should be forgiven and their sins forgotten."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed wonders, "Is This The Most Embarrassing Interview Fox News Has Ever Done?":

... CW: for what it's worth, there is plenty of evidence that some of the models for Jesus were Zealots, & some "sayings of Jesus" written in the Gospels are consistent with Zealotry. No serious scholar would disagree with this, though some weigh other attributes more heavily than radical aspects that the Gospel writers included to define Jesus; e.g., his Pharisaic sayings are perhaps more prevalent than the political sayings attributed to him. But there is not much evidence that Jesus was an actual person. I'd have to read Aslan's book to see if he acknowledges the scholarship that pretty much debunks the Jesus biography.

Local News

** Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the federal government would not be bailing out Detroit (see yesterday's Commentariat for link), but John Cassidy of the New Yorker writes, "President Obama should stress the necessity of shared sacrifice, and push the state of Michigan to take on more of the city's fiscal responsibilities, perhaps by offering it more federal aid. Once all the parties come to an agreement, the federal government could also help with the tasks of downsizing and of rebuilding roads and schools, and taking other measures to attract businesses and families." As for the country's collapsing infrastructure, "Where better to start than in Detroit?" Leaving Detroit's fate in the hands of a Republican governor & his backers is handing conservatives the opportunity "for showdowns with public-sector unions across the country."

Make that magnifying glass a mirror. Daily News artwork.Greg Smith of the New York Daily News: "Serial sexter Anthony Weiner paid a private eye nearly $45,000 in campaign cash to investigate his lie that a hacker posted a crotch shot on his Twitter feed, campaign spending records show. Weiner's brazen attempt to cover his tracks occurred shortly after Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when his first sexting scandal erupted and he went into furious spin control trying to save his career in Congress. He maintained that he had been victimized -- and promised an investigation to get to the bottom of how it happened."

Adam Martin of New York: Maureen Dowd & Rush Limbaugh agree about Huma Abedin's reason for sticking with der Weinerschnitzel.

News Lede

Washington Post: "A wave of vandalism continued to mar some of Washington's more popular landmarks Monday with at least three more attractions spattered with green paint, and authorities announced the arrest of a woman near one of the incidents at Washington National Cathedral. The latest crimes occurred three days after the Lincoln Memorial was hit in similar fashion. On Monday, the light-green paint was discovered on an organ in the cathedral's Bethlehem Chapel, in the cathedral's Children's Chapel and on the granite base of a statue next to the Smithsonian Castle on the Mall. D.C. police said Monday evening that they had charged Tian Jiamel, 58, whom they believe to be homeless, with one count of defacing property."

The Commentariat -- July 28, 2013

Scott Wilson of the Washington Post: "President Obama praised veterans of the Korean War at a ceremony Saturday marking the anniversary of the armistice, using their return to an apathetic America decades ago as a promise to better care for the generation returning from distant battlefields today":

Here is "a transcript of an interview with President Obama conducted by Jackie Calmes and Michael D. Shear of The New York Times. The interview was conducted at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., on July 24, 2013." ...

... Stories from the interview:

     "In a week when he tried to focus attention on the struggles of the middle class, President Obama said in an interview that he was worried that years of widening income inequality and the lingering effects of the financial crisis had frayed the country's social fabric and undermined Americans' belief in opportunity." ...

     "President Obama said in an interview that he would evaluate construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on the basis of whether it would significantly contribute carbon to the atmosphere. But he mocked Republicans' arguments that the approval of the pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, would create many jobs in the United States." ...

     "President Obama waved aside persistent Republican criticism of his signature health care law last week, saying in a New York Times interview that the overhaul would become vastly more popular once 'all the nightmare scenarios' from his adversaries proved wrong." ...

... Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Health premiums in Marylands exchanges will be 'among the lowest of the 12 states that have available proposed or approved rates for comparison,' the state's exchange — Maryland Health Connection -- announced Friday. The news comes just as New York,Oregon, Montana, California, and Louisiana are also reporting lower than expected premiums." ...

... Of course, even when the news is good, Republicans will lie about it, fudging figures to make it appear insurance premiums will go up. Take Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, ferinstance. CW: Also, it would help if the local papers, who according to Forbes' Rick Unger dutifully reported Pence's distorted figures, actually checked the facts instead of just typing up Mike Pence's press releases.

Nobody Loves Larry (Except Maybe Barry.) Steve Leisman of CNBC: "Wall Street overwhelmingly believes President Obama will and should pick Janet Yellen to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, according to a survey." Fifty percent of "the Wall Street pros" CNBC surveyed said Obama should choose Yellen; 2.5 percent said he should nominate Larry Summers. ...

... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "... Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher complained on CNBC that picking Yellen would be 'driven by gender.' Oh, he admits she's qualified for the job, but hastened to add, 'There are other capable people.' Which seems to suggest that Obama should exhaust every male candidate before settling on a female one, a course of action that would not be 'driven by gender' because men don't have a gender." ...

... Digby: "President Obama has long been suspected of being wobbly on women's issues.His record is, at best, mixed.... He should be seeking every opportunity to appoint qualified women to powerful positions. And when they are more qualified by dint of superior temperaments, there's really no excuse for him not to."

We simply conclude that the law has long recognized the distinction between the owners of a corporation and the corporation itself. A holding to the contrary -- that a for-profit corporation can engage in religious exercise -- would eviscerate the fundamental principle that a corporation is a legally distinct entity from its owners. -- Judge Robert Cowen of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, explaining to Mitt Romney, et al., that corporations are not people, my friend ...

... Sam Baker of the Hill: "A federal appeals court said Friday that the owners of a private company could not challenge the contraception mandate in President Obama's healthcare law. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals said the owners of Conestoga, a cabinet-making company, could not challenge the mandate because of their personal religious beliefs." CW: This is good news, EXCEPT, "The decision conflicts with another federal appeals court's ruling, which increases the likelihood that the Supreme Court will eventually hear the issue." Via Steve Benen.

Your Sunday Sermon courtesy of Tailgunner Ted:

     ... The Moral of Today's Sunday Sermon, courtesy of CW: not all bigots are knuckle-dragging numbskulls. Ted is a damned good speaker, quite capable of rallying the knuckle-dragging numbskulls.

Local News

NEW. Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "On CNN's State of the Union show on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was firm in saying that there will be no federal bailout for the city of Detroit, which is going through the largest city bankruptcy in America's history." ...

... Susan Kelly of Reuters: "Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said on Saturday he would defend retirees who risk losing public pensions because of Detroit's bankruptcy, putting him at odds with the city's emergency manager appointed by fellow Republican Governor Rick Snyder. Schuette, an elected official, said the Michigan state constitution is 'crystal clear' in stating that pension plans are a contractual obligation that may not be diminished or impaired.... The attorney general said he would file in federal bankruptcy court on Monday on behalf of the pensioners affected by the biggest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history."

Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "In a new sign of tumult within Anthony D. Weiner's embattled political operation, his campaign manager [Danny Kedem] has quit, leaving his already skeletal team without a day-to-day leader." ...

... Maureen Dowd: Huma Abedin's friends "fear Huma learned the wrong lesson from Hillary, given that Bill was a roguish genius while Weiner's a creepy loser."

Isn't She Lovely. Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell bought nearly $9,800 in clothing with money from her husband’s political action committee and tapped into his campaign and inaugural funds to buy $7,600 in mostly unspecified items, according to records and a representative for the PAC. The spending is legal under Virginia's lax campaign finance laws, which prohibit the conversion of political funds for private use only when a PAC or campaign committee disbands -- not while it is operating. But the purchases are unusual in Virginia.... Investigators ... are looking into whether the former Washington Redskins cheerleader and mother of five received free cosmetic dental work from a Richmond-area dentist, jewelry from a state delegate and a $15,000 Bergdorf Goodman shopping spree from [businessman Jonnie] Williams."

Ian Lovett & Rob Davis of the New York Times: "Rather than mollifying his critics, [San Diego Mayor Bob Filner's] announcement on Friday that he would take two weeks away from City Hall to seek what he described as intensive behavior therapy has only further angered many residents, who complained that he was dragging the city through the mud in hopes of salvaging his own career." ...

... San Diego Union-Tribune Editors: "Filner has created a mountain of wreckage. There is a City Hall in chaos, not just because of the last two weeks of turmoil but also because of the last eight months of management by bullying, confrontation and perhaps even corruption. There is a city again stained with a national laughingstock image just as it was emerging from the dark days of 'Enron-by-the-Sea.' There are the numerous personal lives that have been torn apart, from his ex-fiancee to his accusers. There is a local Democratic Party leadership that was riding high with his victory last November but is now seen as hypocritical enablers of Filner's inappropriate behavior for supporting him even after being warned two years ago by one of their own that he had a history of verbally and physically harassing women."

Presidential Election 2008

Muffling Miss Sarah. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Sarah Palin said Friday she was banned by the McCain campaign from talking about Bill Ayers and President Obama's controversial former pastor Jeremiah Wright during the 2008 presidential election. 'Though I was during the campaign running for V.P., I was banned from talking about Jeremiah Wright and Obama's friend Bill Ayers,' Palin said in a Fox News interview. '... Couldn't talk about Obama's lack of knowledge, and job inexperience, and the things that he said like America had 57 states, things like that.... I wasn't allowed to talk about things like that because those elitist, those who are the brainiacs in the GOP machine running John McCain's campaign at the time said that the media would eat us alive if we brought up these things.'"

News Lede

Washington Post: "The first substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in years will begin Monday evening in Washington, the Obama administration announced, after Israeli leaders agreed Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners.... The release of Palestinian prisoners was one of the major roadblocks to the peace talks."

The Commentariat -- July 27, 2013

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "As President Obama considers potential successors to the current Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, a debate about the merits of the chief contenders has exploded into public view.... The White House sought to lower the temperature on Friday by putting out word that the president was unlikely to announce a choice before the autumn.... [Lawrence] Summers, 58, is a provocative figure among key Democratic constituencies. He was a chief architect of financial deregulation during the Clinton administration and later resigned the presidency of Harvard University after making remarks about women that set off a storm of controversy. [Janet] Yellen, 66, would become the first woman to lead the Fed, or indeed any major central bank. Beneath those political currents, there are also indications that Mr. Summers, now a professor at Harvard, and Ms. Yellen disagree about the central issue confronting the central bank: how much longer and how much harder to push for economic growth."

Kelly Kennedy of the AP: "For the first time in history, federal health officials said Friday they will ban certain types of Medicare and Medicaid providers in three high-fraud cities from enrolling in the taxpayer-funded programs for the poor as part of an effort to prevent scams. The strict moratoriums, which start Tuesday, give federal health officials unprecedented power to choose any region and industry with high fraud activity and ban new Medicare and Medicaid providers from joining the programs for six months. They wouldn't ban existing providers. The administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the agency is targeting providers of home health care in eight counties in the Miami and Chicago areas. All ambulance providers would be banned in eight counties in the Houston area."

Michael Schmidt & Steven Myers of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a letter sent to the Russian minister of justice this week that the United States would not seek the death penalty against Edward J. Snowden, and would issue him a passport immediately so he could travel back to the United States. The letter also offered reassurances that the United States would not torture Mr. Snowden.... 'We believe these assurances eliminate these asserted grounds for Mr. Snowden's claim that he should be treated as a refugee or granted asylum, temporary or otherwise,' Mr. Holder said in the letter, which was sent to Justice Minister Aleksandr V. Konovalov." ...

... Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "The outcome of [Bradley] Manning's case will affect how leakers are treated in the future and could even affect the legal status of future journalists, though the Obama administration doesn't appear ready to cross that line just yet." His is the first case invoking the Espionage Act that has come to trial.

Sahil Kapur of TPM: "The GOP push to hold government funding hostage to gutting Obamacare appears to be losing steam in Congress as a growing chorus of Republicans and conservative writers are coming out of the woodwork to urge hardliners within their party to be realistic." ...

... Byron York of the Washington Examiner: "Tensions inside the Republican Party about a proposal to defund Obamacare reached a new level Friday when Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a lawmaker with unsurpassed credibility in the field of cutting federal spending and limiting the size of government, called the defunding plan 'dishonest' and 'hype.'" Via Greg Sargent. ...

... Conservative Ramesh Ponnuru of the National Review in Bloomberg News: "Conservatives on Capitol Hill think they have a chance to strike a mortal blow against President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul this fall. If their plan goes forward, however, it will backfire.... If Republicans stay firm in this demand, the result will be either a government shutdown or a partial shutdown combined with a debt default. Either would be highly unpopular, and each party would blame the other. The public, however, would almost certainly blame Republicans.... First, Republicans are less popular than the Democrats and thus all else equal will lose partisan finger-pointing contests. Second, the executive has natural advantages over a group of legislators in a crisis atmosphere. Third, people will be naturally inclined to assume that the more anti-government party must be responsible. Fourth, some Republicans will say that government shutdowns or defaults are just what the country needs, and those quotes will affect the image of all Republicans. And fifth, the news media will surely side with the Democrats." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... a sizable group of Republican lawmakers are largely impervious to the kind of prudential arguments Ponnuru is making. Trouble is, the more noise they make, and the more it is echoed by conservative activists and opinion-leaders, the more attractive the defund-Obamacare-or-else position will become to other Republicans who want media attention, small-dollar campaign contributions, or perpetual shelter from a primary challenge."

** Alec MacGillis of the New Republic: "The alacrity with which Texas, North Carolina and other states have rushed to take advantage of the ruling seriously weakened the sober conservative argument, from Chief Justice John Roberts and others, that Southern states no longer needed to be singled out for special scrutiny because they had long since left their discriminatory ways behind. And it all but invited Attorney General Eric Holder to take this new step, to announce that his department would still do everything in its power to ensure fairness at the polls." ...

... Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post: "If you believe a handful of Texas Republicans, Attorney General Eric Holder's new effort to enforce the Voting Rights Act in their state and elsewhere brazenly defies the Supreme Court, which struck down part of the law in June.... In reality, the attorney general's move to use the Voting Rights Act provisions the Supreme Court left in place is perfectly consonant with the ruling, and not just in a technical sense. It also comports with the court's logic." ...

... Look who agrees with Stromberg. Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said the Voting Rights Act authorizes the Justice Department to seek a court order requiring states to get federal approval before implementing new election procedures, as Attorney General Eric Holder said he will do Thursday in the case of Texas.... Sensenbrenner, who as head of the House Judiciary Committee in 2006 championed the last VRA reauthorization, suggested those critics [from Texas] have misread his law. 'The department's actions are consistent with the Voting Rights Act,' Sensenbrenner said Thursday in an email."

Ron Brownstein of the National Journal links general Republican intransigence to the George Zimmerman case: "In their unwavering opposition to Obama on issues from health to immigration, House Republicans are systematically blockading the priorities of the diverse (and growing) majority coalition that reelected him. Without more persuasive alternatives, Republicans risk convincing these emerging communities that their implacable opposition represents a 'stand-your-ground' white resistance to minorities' own rise."

Diane Cardwell of the New York Times: "Alarmed by what they say has become an existential threat to their business, utility companies are moving to roll back government incentives aimed at promoting solar energy and other renewable sources of power. At stake, the companies say, is nothing less than the future of the American electricity industry. According to the Energy Information Administration, rooftop solar electricity -- the economics of which often depend on government incentives and mandates -- accounts for less than a quarter of 1 percent of the nation's power generation. And yet, to hear executives tell it, such power sources could ultimately threaten traditional utilities' ability to maintain the nation's grid." CW: evidently, a major job requirement for energy company exec is "greedy bastard."

Charles Blow: "Our 50 states seem to be united in name only. In fact, we seem to be increasingly becoming two countries under one flag: Liberal Land -- coastal, urban and multicultural -- separated by Conservative Country -- Southern and Western, rural and racially homogeneous. (Other parts of the country are a bit of a mixed bag.) This has led to incredible and disturbing concentrations of power."

Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog: "As 2016 approaches, it appears that Chris Christie's foreign policy approach will be a noun, a verb, and 9/11. This leads him to praise government surveillance programs and President Obama, and to attack Rand Paul. In the current GOP climate, I really don't think this is going to work for him.... Right now, the folks in the GOP base are in a bizarre place: they hate Muslims, but they also hate Obama, so there's Paul-esque anger on the right about drones and surveillance, but it's mostly about surveillance of people like themselves and the potential use of drones on Regular Americans in America." CW: an amusing post, until you realize Steve is probably right. ...

... Digby: "So Chris Christie went full-Rudy at a GOP Governor's meeting in Colorado [Friday] and took a swipe at Rand Paul.... Surprised? You shouldn't be. Christie's whole schtick is about being the biggest bully on the block.... Of course he's a national security hawk. That's how Republicans always demonstrate they have a big swinging stick and are willing to use it."

David Corn of Mother Jones: "Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington -- including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner -- has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for 'a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation,' according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.... With her involvement in Groundswell -- which zeroes in on contentious issues that come before the high court, including voting rights, abortion, and gay marriage -- Ginni Thomas continues to be intricately associated with matters on which her husband may have to render a decision." Read the whole story. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the heads-up.

Meredith Shiner of Roll Call: "Sens. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, will travel to the district of Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, to hold a forum for the DREAM Act. The event is in response to incendiary remarks made by King last week.... In floor remarks delivered Thursday, Durbin had strong words for King, whose comments he called 'mean' and 'hateful.' ... Durbin said at the time he believed King should meet a few DREAM Act students to see if interacting with them might change his mind. Now it appears that instead of waiting for King to take the proactive steps of doing so, the Illinois Democrat will bring the students to him." ...

... Solange Uwimana of Media Matters: "Fox News has repeatedly given Rep. Steve King (R-IA) a platform to discuss a number of political issues, including immigration, this year but has completely ignored his comments likening undocumented immigrants to drug smugglers -- even as the network has continued to discuss immigration issues. By contrast, both CNN and MSNBC have covered King's comments, which have drawn widespread condemnation from congressional Republicans":

... As Erik Wemple of the Washington Post points out, "The newsworthiness of those comments is not a partisan thing. House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, both Republicans, slammed the remarks, with Boehner calling them 'hateful' and 'wrong.' 'There can be honest disagreements about policy without using hateful language. Everyone needs to remember that,' Boehner said."

Local News

David Firestone of the New York Times on North Carolina's voter suppression bill, which Gov. Pat McCrory (R) has said he would sign: "The law requires a government-issued photo ID card to vote, but doesn't allow student IDs, public-employee IDs, or photo IDs issued by public assistance agencies. It shortens the early voting window, bans same-day registration during early voting and prohibits paid voter registration drives. Counties will not be able to extend voting hours in cases of long lines, or allow provisional voting if someone arrives at the wrong precinct. Poll 'observers' are encouraged to challenge people who show up to vote, and are given new powers to do so. None of this has anything to do with fraud." ...

... Election law expert Rick Hasen: "The intent here is to make it harder for people -- especially non-white people and those likely to vote Democratic -- to register or cast a vote that will be counted. It also makes money matter more in North Carolina politics and kills public financing of the North Carolina courts."

Craig Gustafson, et al., of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Mayor Bob Filner, who has been dogged by calls for his resignation over sexual harassment allegations, called his treatment of women 'inexcusable' Friday and said he would undergo two weeks of intensive behavioral therapy but not relinquish power." CW: well, great, that takes care of everything then. ...

... TBogg of Firedoglake disagrees: "Somehow I don't think that two weeks of summer camp at Lake Titty-No-Touch is going to make this go away." TBogg's post includes details of a few of Filner's sexcapades. ...

... Contributor Nancy asks, "How is this creep allowed to say whether he keeps his job?" He's an elected official, that's how, & only the people can remove him. Generally speaking, sexual harassment is not a crime, but a civil tort. Inasmuch as Filner has admitted to some form of harassment, & inasmuch as some of the claims against him allege physical abuse, it seems to me a prosecutor at some level could bring criminal charges for sexual battery. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress has more on this. He says in California, Filner's offenses appear to amount to misdemeanor sexual battery. According to Kevin Roderick of LA Observed, "Under the San Diego city charter, the only way Filner can be removed from office is by recall election or conviction of a felony." So far, despite calls for his resignation, it looks as if Filner can tough it out. ...

... P.S. Looks as if Filner doesn't limit his harassment to women. This Union-Tribune report, dated June 20, 2013, strongly suggests that Filner improperly removed from a closed-door meeting of the city council a male attorney from the city attorney's office. The assistant city attorney Filner forcibly removed, coincidentally or not, is black.

The Enforcer? Jeane MacIntosh of the New York Post: "Jason Weiner, who owns Manhattan bistro Almond, reached out to Anthony's sexting partner, Sydney Leathers, on April 12 -- just two days after [Anthony] Weiner's strategic comeback interview ran in The New York Times Magazine -- and grilled her on intentions, Lou Colagiovanni, a Vegas-based political activist, told The Post.... Jason Weiner blasted Colagiovanni's claim as 'a complete and utter falsehood.'" It's absolutely true because you read it in the New York Post. ...

... Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "I don't mean to sound like a prude, but what the hell do you have to do to be disqualified from high-level politics in this country? When someone told me a while back that Weiner was running for Mayor, I thought it was a joke. This married politician sent unsolicited pictures of his penis to female strangers on the Internet! It's not a crime, I guess because indecent exposure laws haven't been updated for the cyber age, but basically, he's a 21st-century flasher who used the U.S. Congress as a raincoat."

AP: "With the help of a few Democrats, Missouri's Republican-led Legislature appears to be positioned to override Gov. Jay Nixon's [D] veto of a high-profile bill that seeks to nullify federal gun-control laws in the state and make criminals out of federal agents who attempt to enforce them." ...

... Unrelated to the above, Charles Pierce points to this Saint Louis Post-Dispatch account of a stupid murder in Missouri. The reason for the killing, which began with a supposed trespassing offense (though it isn't clear the people were trespassing), according to the shooter: "I just shot the one closest to me,' Crocker said, according to police." Yet state legislators, in their wisdom, think nullifying already-weak federal gun laws is a capital idea. So what if it leads to capital offenses, as it inevitably will. Because what Missouri needs is more guns in the hands of people who just shoot whoever happens to be close-by.

Senate Race

Kentucky Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Alision Lundergan Grimes, the state attorney general, kicks off her senate campaign. Via the National Memo. Thanks to Nisky Guy for the link to this effective tearjerker.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Lindy Boggs, who succeeded her husband in the House of Representatives after his plane crashed in Alaska and who went on to serve nine terms on Capitol Hill, notably as a champion of women's rights, died on Saturday at her home in Chevy Chase, Md. She was 97." The Washington Post's obituary is here. The Post has a slideshow here.

New York Times: "The police and armed civilians opened fire Saturday with live ammunition on protesters against Egypt's new military government, witnesses said, killing scores of people as hopes faded that the Egyptian military would reach any political accommodation with the Muslim Brotherhood and its ousted president, Mohamed Morsi." ...

     ... The story has been updated. New lede: "The Egyptian authorities unleashed a ferocious attack on Islamist protesters early Saturday, killing at least 72 people in the second mass killing of demonstrators in three weeks and the deadliest attack by the security services since Egypt's uprising in early 2011."

AP: "Army Col. Denise Lind began deliberating Friday after nearly two months of conflicting evidence and arguments about ... [Bradley Manning]. A military judge, not a jury, is hearing the case at Manning's request. Lind said she will give a day's public notice before reconvening the court-martial to announce her findings. The most serious charge is aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence in prison."

NBC 6 Miami: "SWAT officers shot and killed a suspect after he killed six people in an Hialeah apartment building, ending an hours-long standoff early Saturday, Hialeah Police said."

AP: "The former police officer who pepper-sprayed students during an Occupy protest at the University of California, Davis is appealing for worker's compensation, claiming he suffered psychiatric injury from the 2011 confrontation. John Pike has a settlement conference set for Aug. 13 in Sacramento, according to the state Department of Industrial Relations' website. Pike was fired in July 2012, eight months after a task force investigation found that his action was unwarranted." ...

Former UC officer John Pike.You meanies have hurt Sgt. Pepperspray's feelings. Perhaps you would have been nicer if you'd realized what a sensitive, vulnerable guy he is.