The Commentariat -- July 26, 2013

** Charlie Savage of the New York Times: Chief Justice John Roberts has been reshaping the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. "In making assignments to the court, Chief Justice Roberts, more than his predecessors, has chosen judges with conservative and executive branch backgrounds that critics say make the court more likely to defer to government arguments that domestic spying programs are necessary. Ten of the court's 11 judges -- all assigned by Chief Justice Roberts -- were appointed to the bench by Republican presidents; six once worked for the federal government. Since the chief justice began making assignments in 2005, 86 percent of his choices have been Republican appointees, and 50 percent have been former executive branch officials. Though the two previous chief justices, Warren E. Burger and William H. Rehnquist, were conservatives like Chief Justice Roberts, their assignments to the surveillance court were more ideologically diverse, according to an analysis by The New York Times.... The court's complexion has changed at a time when its role has been expanding beyond what Congress envisioned when it established the court.... The idea then was that judges would review applications for wiretaps to make sure there was sufficient evidence that the F.B.I.'s target was a foreign terrorist or a spy. But, increasingly in recent years, the court has produced lengthy rulings interpreting the meaning of surveillance laws and constitutional rights based on procedures devised not for complex legal analysis but for up-or-down approvals of secret wiretap applications." CW: Charlie Savage is one reason the New York Times remains indispensable. ...

... Scott Shane of the New York Times: "American intelligence agencies, which experienced a boom in financing and public support in the decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, have entered a period of broad public scrutiny and skepticism with few precedents since the exposure of spying secrets and abuses led to the historic investigation by the Senate's Church Committee nearly four decades ago."

... CW: worth noting: we would not be reading either of the above reports if not for publication of the first of Ed Snowden's leaks. ...

... President Christie Will Be Tough on Terrorists. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Thursday offered a clear broadside against Republicans drifting toward a more libertarian view of foreign policy, lumping Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in with them and suggesting they explain their position to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.... He dismissed some of the current privacy/national security debates as 'esoteric.'" ...

... Update. President Paul Will Protect Your Constitutional Rights. If Governor Christie believes the constitutional rights and the privacy of all Americans is 'esoteric,' he either needs a new dictionary, or he needs to talk to more Americans, because a great number of them are concerned about the dramatic overreach of our government in recent years. Defending America and fighting terrorism is the concern of all Americans, especially Senator Paul. But it can and must be done in keeping with our Constitution and while protecting the freedoms that make America exceptional. In the words of the governor's favorite lyricist [Bruce Springsteen], 'You know that flag flying over the courthouse, Means certain things are set in stone. Who we are, what we'll do and what we won't.' -- Doug Stafford, aide to Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.)

Charlie Savage & Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced on Thursday that the Justice Department would ask a court to require Texas to get permission from the federal government before making voting changes in that state. The move opens a new chapter in the political struggle over election rules after the Supreme Court struck down a portion of the Voting Rights Act last month.... His statements come as states across the South, from Texas to North Carolina, have been rushing to enforce or enact new restrictions on voting eligibility after the Supreme Court's ruling in Shelby County v. Holder.... The move relies on a part of the Voting Rights Act that the Supreme Court left untouched in the Shelby County case":

... Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog explains how the DOJ could invoke the preclearance requirement in spite of the Supreme Court's Shelby County decision. ...

... Scott Lemieux of Lawyers, Guns & Money: "I'm not terribly optimistic about the federal courts as currently staffed will effectively enforce the Voting Rights Act, but it's worth trying to do everything possible. And, as Holder says, there's 'no substitute for legislation that will fill the void left by the Supreme Court's decision.' If only he were right that the issue 'transcends partisanship.'" ...

... Toljaso. Mark Sherman of the AP: Justice Ruth Bader "Ginsburg said in an interview with The Associated Press that Texas' decision to implement its voter ID law hours after the court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act last month was powerful evidence of an ongoing need to keep states with a history of voting discrimination from making changes in the way they hold elections without getting advance approval from Washington.... [Ginsberg] dissented from the 5-4 decision on the voting law. Ginsburg said in her dissent that discarding the law was 'like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.' Just a month removed from the decision, she said, 'I didn't want to be right, but sadly I am.'"

President Obama spoke about infrastructure & the economy yesterday at the Port of Jacksonville, Florida:

President Obama's economic speech, short version. Pretty good:

... Michael Lind of Salon favorably reviews Obama's economic agenda (with the exception of his Wall Street-friendly retirement plans), & sees his speech Wednesday as a marker for "the day the right lost the economic argument.... When even USA Today goes all Keynesian instead of going Galt, the Right is clearly losing the argument about the economy. Conservative Republicans have enough power in Congress to block most of the progressive agenda. But they do not have a plausible alternative to the progressive vision of the past, present and future of the U.S. economy that President Obama has set forth." ...

... Erik Wasson of the Hill: "The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Thursday estimated that keeping the spending cuts from sequestration in place through fiscal 2014 would cost up to 1.6 million jobs. Canceling the cuts, on the other hand, would yield between 300,000 to 1.6 million new jobs, with the most likely outcome being the addition of 900,000, the CBO said." ...

... Zachary Goldfarb & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Senior White House officials are discussing a budget strategy that could lead to a government shutdown if Republicans continue to demand deeper spending cuts, lawmakers and Democrats familiar with the administration's thinking said Thursday. The posture represents a more confrontational approach than that of this spring, when President Obama decided not to escalate a fight over across-the-board reductions known as sequestration in an earlier budget battle with Republicans....White House officials also are discussing a potential strategy to try to stop the sequestration cuts from continuing, the lawmakers and Democrats said. Under this scenario, the president might refuse to sign a new funding measure that did not roll back the sequester. No decision has been made." ...

That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard of. As long as Barack Obama is president, the Affordable Care Act is going to be the law.... I was around in 1995. Some of these guys need to understand that if you shut down the federal government, you'd better have a specific reason to do it that's achievable. Defunding the Affordable Care Act is not achievable through shutting down the federal government. -- Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), on the threat of 12 of his fellow Republican senators to shut down the U.S. government if ObamaCare is not defunded ...

The only two things that really risk the Republican majority in 2014 would be if we shut down the government or if we defaulted on the debt. -- Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.)

... Paul Krugman: "... the good news about Obamacare is, I’d argue, what's driving the Republican Party's intensified extremism. Successful health reform wouldn't just be a victory for a president conservatives loathe, it would be an object demonstration of the falseness of right-wing ideology. So Republicans are being driven into a last, desperate effort to head this thing off at the pass."

Rep. Steve King (R-Disgusting) thinks it's okay for him to falsely accuse hundreds of thousands of kids he doesn't know of being drug mules, but it's an abridgement of his First Amendment rights to speak & assemble when the House leadership criticizes his racist remarks. Note to Merriam-Webster: just put a picture of King next to your definition of "sociopath." ...

... Matt Fuller of Roll Call has more on the King-Boehner standoff. Plus, a video of King's full House floor speech, including a "fascinating" history lesson. CW: I guess it's a chicken-&-egg question, but a fractured view of history sure goes hand-in-hand with wacky political views. ...

... Alex Altman of Time: "King is not exactly a mainstream Republican. Among his crusades, he has opposed anti-dogfighting laws, likened House janitors swapping out incandescent light bulbs to Stasi troops, and suggested Barack Obama's birth announcement in Hawaiian newspapers could have been placed by telegram from Kenya. But if the measure is votes and not words, King is more representative of the House Republican immigration position than the party would like to admit. Just last month, 97% of Republicans backed a King amendment that prohibits funding from an Obama administration directive to stop deporting so-called DREAMers." ...

... Brett Logiurato of Business Insider: "And when these leaders outcast King as a 'fringe' member of the House Republican caucus, Democrats can gleefully point out that he has largely guided the party's legislative actions on immigration in 2013." ...

.. Ha Ha. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker on Steve King's fetish for young Mexican bodies.

Charles Pierce with a reality check: "Even if the formal [Republican] party structure collapsed tomorrow, the gains it already has made, combined with the vast corporate money available to conservative politicians, the network of extra-party organizations and institutions, and the myriad grassroots operations centered around various separate issues, would keep the forward momentum going for years. (And that's not even to mention the virtual lock that like-minded individuals have on the federal judiciary.) The important thing is the goal, not how you get there. At that, the Republicans are doing just fine." ...

... Gene Robinson: "Here's the basic problem: The Democratic Party seems likely to grow ever stronger nationally while the GOP remains firmly entrenched locally. This means the stubborn, maddening, unproductive standoff between a Democratic president and a Republican majority in the House may be the new normal."

Binyamin Appelbaum & Annie Lowrey of the New York Times: "President Obama's choice of a replacement for the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, is coming down to a battle between the California girls and the Rubin boys. Janet L. Yellen, the Fed's vice chairwoman, is one of three female friends, all former or current professors at the University of California, Berkeley, who have broken into the male-dominated business of advising presidents on economic policy. Her career has been intertwined with those of Christina D. Romer, who led Mr. Obama's Council of Economic Advisers at the beginning of his first term, and Laura D’Andrea Tyson, who held the same job under President Clinton and later served as the director of the White House economic policy committee. But no woman has climbed to the very top of the hierarchy to serve as Fed chairwoman or Treasury secretary. Ms. Yellen's chief rival for Mr. Bernanke's job, Lawrence H. Summers, is a member of a close-knit group of men, protégés of the former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, who have dominated economic policy-making in both the Clinton and the Obama administrations. Those men, including the former Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Gene B. Sperling, the president's chief economic policy adviser, are said to be quietly pressing Mr. Obama to nominate Mr. Summers." ...

     ... CW: the reporters don't say so, but it's worth remembering that Larry Summers doesn't think women are genetically as capable as men to figure out all that sciency-y, math-y stuff. ...

... ** Mike Lux in the Huffington Post: "Larry Summers, the guy who helped push the bank deregulation bill that created these monstrous Too Big To Fail banks.... It is hard to imagine a worse pick politically for Obama than Larry Summers.... Progressives and women's groups will fight this tooth and nail, and any chance of the president looking like he is a fighter for the middle class on the economy will go up in smoke." Read the whole post.

Clifford Krauss of the New York Times: "Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to the destruction of critical evidence after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday. Halliburton, an oil services company, will pay the maximum allowable fine and be subject to three years of probation, the Justice Department said. It will also continue its cooperation in the government's ongoing criminal investigation. Separately, Halliburton made a voluntary contribution of $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation."

Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors on Thursday brought what they called the largest hacking and data breach case in the country, charging five people with running an organization that hacked the computer networks of more than a dozen corporations, stealing and selling at least 160 million credit and debit card numbers. The scheme was run by four Russian nationals and a Ukrainian, said the prosecutors, who announced the indictments in Newark. Paul Fishman, the United States attorney for the District of New Jersey, said losses ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars."

Ben Protess & Peter Lattmann of the New York Times: "Federal authorities announced a raft of criminal charges on Thursday against SAC Capital, the hedge fund run by the billionaire Steven A. Cohen, an unusually aggressive move that could cripple one of Wall Street's most successful stock trading firms. In the 41-page indictment that includes four counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud, prosecutors charged SAC and its units with permitting a 'systematic' insider trading scheme to unfold between 1999 and 2010, activity that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits for the firm. The case seeks to attribute criminal acts of several employees to the company itself, claiming that the fund 'enabled and promoted' the illicit behavior."

Alyssa Newcomb of ABC News: "The only minority on the all-female jury that voted to acquit George Zimmerman said today that Zimmerman 'got away with murder' for killing Trayvon Martin and feels she owes an apology Martin's parents.... She said the jury was following Florida law and the evidence, she said, did not prove murder." ...

... Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "... conspiracy theorists are convinced Trayvon Martin's killer staged a car crash to boost his beleaguered image." CW: I'm sticking with the police scanner theory. If Zimmerman wanted to clear this up, BTW, he could tell his attorney how he "happened" on the scene, fire extinguisher in hand.

Local News

Javier Hernandez & Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Anthony D. Weiner's mayoral campaign entered a dark and chaotic phase on Thursday as he admitted to having explicit online relationships with at least three women since he left Congress, and the woman at the center of the latest scandal appeared on television, remembering him as a 'perpetually horny middle-aged man.' ... Mr. Weiner's once-resurgent political standing in New York City seemed to erode by the moment, as more graphic pictures of his penis appeared online and his conduct and lack of candor were denounced from the campaign trail to the halls of Congress." ...

... Ah, It Was All the Wife's Fault. Carl Campanile of the New York Post: "Anthony Weiner came up with an extraordinary excuse yesterday to explain why he went back to sexting after supposedly kicking the habit -- he was suffering from marital woes. In a startling e-mail letter sent to rally campaign supporters, Weiner said he sought hot-blooded female consolation on the Internet when he and his wife, Huma Abedin, hit a rocky patch in their relationship last summer. At the time, Weiner had been out of Congress for a year, having resigned in disgrace, and was giving interviews with his wife at his side claiming he was cured." ...

... CW: As I recall, a number of contributors gave me a hard time a few weeks back when I said that because of his exploitation of young women (or at least people he thought were young women -- they could have been teenagers or 55-year-old men or whoever), Anthony Weiner was not qualified for high public office. I hope these latest revelations cause at least some of you to see it my way. ...

... Rachel Weiner (no relation, I guess) of the Washington Post: "a Marist/NBC/WSJ poll finds Weiner tied for second place among both registered and likely Democratic voters. City Council President Christine Quinn is once again in the lead. 'Weiner has lost his lead and his negatives are at an all-time high,' pollster Lee Miringoff said."

Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times: "Seven women have now accused [San Diego] Mayor Bob Filner of sexual misconduct, including four in a group interview Thursday night on public television. Meanwhile, Filner appeared at two public events Thursday, dodging reporters' questions about the allegations of sexual harassment contained in a lawsuit filed Monday by a former top aide."

Deirdre Walsh & Ashley Killough of CNN: "House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tore into Anthony Weiner and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, saying Thursday the two former House Democrats should 'get a clue' as they face backlash for their questionable behavior with women. 'Let me be very clear, the conduct of some of these people that we're talking about here is reprehensible,' Pelosi said at her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. Her comments came after Rep. Jerry Nadler, a fellow Democrat who represents part of Manhattan, made biting comments about Weiner, saying Wednesday night that the New York City mayoral hopeful 'needs serious psychiatric help.'" Nadler called on Weiner to drop out of the mayoral race.

Craig Jarvis of the Raleigh News & Observer: " Waiting until the last full day of the session, the [North Carolina] state Senate on Thursday approved the abortion bill that it had been holding for nearly two weeks. The Senate voted 32-13 to approve a House-written version of the sweeping bill. It would impose stricter regulations on abortion clinics, require more contact between abortion clinic doctors and patients, and limit insurance coverage for the procedure. Senate Bill 353 was a House rewrite that took into account concerns raised by the state Department of Health and Human Services. The bill now goes to Gov. Pat McCrory, who has said he would sign the House version but not the Senate's, over concerns that the Senate's bill imposed undue obstacles to abortions rather than acceptable health safeguards."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Obama administration announced Friday that it was reviving the repatriation of low-level detainees from the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which had dried up after Congress imposed strict limits on transfers.... The White House said it had informed Congress that it intended to return two detainees to Algeria under the terms of a statute that requires Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to certify that various security conditions have been met."

New York Times: "As vast dueling demonstrations took place across Egypt on Friday, the state news media reported that former President Mohamed Morsi -- who has been detained incommunicado for three weeks -- was being investigated on accusations of conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in a prison break in 2011." ...

... Al Jazeera: "Egyptian police fired tear gas at anti-military protesters after the government vowed to clear them from the streets of Cairo 'in a legal manner'. Dozens of people were shown on television on Saturday injured in a field hospital, shortly after the police action near the October 6 bridge in Nasr City according to Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal. State television said that 35 people were injured."

Guardian: "The US government has completed its case against Bradley Manning, the source of the massive WikiLeaks trove of state secrets, accusing the 25-year-old soldier of being a traitor who used his training and skills to deliberately and systematically harm the US and provide assistance to al-Qaida. Major Ashden Fein, the lead prosecutor, unleashed a wave of rhetoric against the army private at the conclusion of his closing arguments in Fort Meade, Maryland, where the trial is in its eighth week. At the culmination of almost four hours in front of the judge, Fein sought to press home the most serious and contentious charge against Manning -- that he knowingly 'aided the enemy' by transmitting state secrets to WikiLeaks." ...

     ... Update: "The lawyer representing ... Bradley Manning has asked the judge presiding over the soldier's court martial to decide between two stark portrayals of the accused -- the prosecution's depiction of him as a traitor and seeker of notoriety, and the defence's account that he was motivated by a desire to make a difference in the world and save lives."

Cleveland Plain Dealer: "A hearing in the Ariel Castro kidnapping case has been set for Friday morning at 10 a.m. before County Common Pleas Judge Michael Russo, presumably to discuss a possible plea deal."

AP: "Spanish police on Friday detained the driver of a train that crashed in northwestern Spain, lowered the death toll from 80 to 78 and took possession of the 'black box' of the train expected to shed light on why it was going faster than the speed limit on the curve where it derailed. And in an interview with The Associated Press, an American passenger injured on the train said he saw on a TV monitor screen inside his car that the train was traveling 194 kph (121 mph) seconds before the crash -- far above the 80 kph (50 mph) speed limit on the curve where it derailed."

The Commentariat -- July 25, 2013

Michael Shear & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama tried to move past months of debate over guns, surveillance and scandal on Wednesday and reorient his administration behind a program to lift a middling economy and help middle-class Americans who are stuck with stagnant incomes and shrinking horizons. Returning to the site of his first major economic speech as a young senator eight years ago, Mr. Obama lamented that typical Americans had been left behind by globalization, Wall Street irresponsibility and Washington policies, while the richest Americans had accumulated more wealth. He declared it 'my highest priority' to reverse those trends, while accusing other politicians of not only ignoring the problem but also making it worse":

     ... Here's the text of the speech. ...

... Greg Sargent: "Given implacable GOP opposition to his agenda, Obama has little choice but to try to seize the rhetorical and ideological initiative in hopes that it will make a difference in the spending fights ahead, and beyond that in the midterm elections. In service of that goal, Obama sought to frame the problems facing the country in as grandiose terms as he could.... Obama talked about declining wages and rising inequality not just as urgent moral problems, but as threats to long term growth and shared prosperity, and decried trends creating these problems that have been decades in the making. He noted that the deficit is falling faster than it has in decades. Obama then made the case against continued GOP austerity as a threat to the recovery and the middle class...." ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: "... the reason Obama keeps calling for these steps is that congressional Republicans keep blocking them. And while versions of these ideas, or some of them, were in the Recovery Act, the evidence suggests they worked pretty well.... He's having at least some success working with less extreme members, like Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Not coincidentally, Obama chose his words carefully, criticizing a 'a sizable group of Republican lawmakers' who have threatened not to raise the debt limit but also praising the 'growing number of Republican Senators [who] are trying to get things done.'" ...

... E. J. Dionne says this time is different. ...

... Court Harson of NBC News: "The Republican Party is no longer content being the party of 'no.' Now they've launched an offensive against nearly everything President Obama stands for -- vowing to slash funding for programs he supports. And that includes Obamacare -- they say they won't even agree to a budget beyond the end of the fiscal year if even a penny is used to fund the president's signature health reform law. The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee puts it simply: 'His priorities are going nowhere.'" ...

... Sahil Kapur of TPM outlines some of the desperate attempts by conservatives to derail ObamaCare. Interestingly, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell does not seem to be going along with the program. CW: It seems possible his Tea Party primary challenger could change that. ...

... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Wednesday he opposes a plan endorsed by at least a dozen Republican senators to shut down the government to block funds for ObamaCare." The only other GOP senator to say he opposed the tactic is John McCain. ...

... Paul Krugman: "... think about [this] for a moment: the cause for which the GOP is willing to go to the brink, breaking all political norms, threatening the US and world economies with incalculable damage, is the cause of preventing people with preexisting conditions and/or low incomes from getting health insurance. Apparently, the prospect that their fellow citizens might receive this help is so horrifying that nothing else matters." ...

... To wit, David Morgan of Reuters: "With the Obama administration poised for a huge public education campaign on healthcare reform, Republicans and their allies are mobilizing a counter-offensive including town hall meetings, protests and media promotions to dissuade uninsured Americans from obtaining health coverage." CW: I guess this is the "Show 'Em You've Got the Courage to Get Sick & Die" Campaign. ...

... Norm Ornstein in the National Journal: "... to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation -- which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil -- is ... contemptible. One might expect this kind of behavior from a few grenade-throwing firebrands. That the effort is spearheaded by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate ... takes one's breath away." ...

... Carrie Brown & John Bresnanhan of Politico: "Armed with a PowerPoint presentation and a direct line to President Barack Obama, [White House Chief of Staff Denis] McDonough has spent the past three months soothing Democratic anxieties over the most divisive health care expansion in decades. He meets every other week with [Max "Train Wreck"] Baucus, briefs vulnerable Democrats on the administration's progress and treks up to the Hill on a moment's notice to visit offices unannounced. McDonough's message: We've got this."

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Senate approved a plan Wednesday to restructure the government's education loan program, tying interest rates to the market and imposing limits on how high those rates can go.... Some Democratic senators are already saying that they will have to take action on it again soon. The legislation, which still needs the approval of the House, would dramatically lower interest rates on nearly all new federal education loans taken out by undergraduates, graduate students and parents for the coming school year. But as the economy improves, those rates are expected to increase and could surpass the current rates within five years.... [Elizabeth] Warren [D-Mass.] introduced an amendment with Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) that would cap the new interest rates at the current rates. That amendment failed. So too did an amendment introduced by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) that would have authorized the new rates for just two years...."

Profiles in Cowardice. Bernie Becker of the Hill: "The Senate's top tax-writers have promised their colleagues 50 years worth of secrecy in exchange for suggestions on what deductions and credits to preserve in tax reform. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the panel's top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), assured lawmakers that any submission they receive will be kept under lock and key by the committee and the National Archives until the end of 2064." Thanks to James S. for the link.

Brett Logiurato of Business Insider: "The House of Representatives voted against an amendment that would have severely limited the National Security Agency's ability to collect data on telephone communications by a 205-217 vote.The amendment would have barred the NSA from blanket collection of records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, including telephone records, 'that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215.' It was co-sponsored by Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), a libertarian Republican, and John Conyers (D-Mich.)." ...

... The New York Times story, by Jonathan Weisman, is here. ...

... Glenn Greenwald comments here.

John Hilsenrath & Damian Paletta of the Wall Street Journal: "The race to become the next leader of the Federal Reserve looks increasingly like a contest between two economists: Lawrence Summers and Janet Yellen."

Obama 2.0. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Wednesday nominated Caroline Kennedy to be ambassador to Japan, moving to give a scion of America's most enduring political dynasty a diplomatic post that has often gone to political heavyweights."

Tom Edsall of the New York Times on the "Political Endangered Species List.... The dangers facing middle-of-the-road Democrats in swing districts is reflected in the exceptionally high casualty rate suffered over the past four years by the Blue Dog coalition of conservative and moderate Democrats." Edsall highlights the predicament of Patrick Murphy, the Democrat who defeated Allen West, "the notorious Republican Congressman from Florida who once described President Obama as 'a low-level socialist agitator,' before suggesting on another occasion that his supporters were 'a threat to the gene pool.'"

I don't think there's anyone in Congress who has a stronger belief in minority rights than I do. -- Rand Paul

John Lewis. -- Constant Weader

Should it be prohibited for public, taxpayer-financed institutions such as schools to reject someone based on an individual's beliefs or attributes? Most certainly. Should it be prohibited for private entities such as a church, bed and breakfast or retirement neighborhood that doesn't want noisy children? Absolutely not. -- Rand Paul, 2002, writing in opposition to the Fair Housing Act

It's not all about race relations, it's about controlling property, ultimately. -- Rand Paul, in 2012, defending his father's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Later in the interview, Paul called the matter "an obscure issue."

I think we have really gotten beyond that now. We have an African-American President, African-Americans are voting at a higher percentage than whites. -- Rand Paul, June 2013, explaining why the Voting Rights Act is unnecessary

Paul] insists he will continue outreach efforts to black and Hispanic voters despite reports about a former aide's past connections to neo-Confederate groups. -- Chris Moody of Yahoo! News ...

... CW: in fairness to Li'l Randy, Moody notes that "Paul has championed legislation that would reform how the justice system handles drug laws, which disproportionately affect black men. In March, he co-authored a bill with Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy that would provide judges more flexibility in handling drug cases. Paul said he is planning further work on prison reform that would eventually reinstate rights to convicted felons who serve their time." In addition Paul has made numerous efforts to reach out to minority groups, though of course these efforts are also self-serving.

Sergi Loiko of the Los Angeles Times: "The latest bid by fugitive National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to leave a Moscow airport has run into bureaucratic hurdles, his Russian lawyer said Wednesday. Russian media reported that Snowden would be allowed to leave the transit zone where he has been holed up for more than a month following a government decision to consider his request for temporary asylum. But he was turned back at passport control because he did not have all the paperwork he needed, a Russian immigration official told The Times." ...

... Fox "News": "... now it appears that even with new legal papers, [Snowden] still must wait at the airport while Russian authorities consider his asylum request."

Max Siegel of the New York Times: "Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, formally inaugurated a new political party bearing the name of his antisecrecy organization on Thursday and declared his own unorthodox candidacy for a seat in the Australian Senate in national elections to be held here later this year." CW: just an excellent idea. I'm sure he's in it to represent the people -- at least all of those Aussies who can stop by the Ecuadorian embassy in London to air their grievances.

Local News

** Dahlia Lithwick of Slate on "What's the Matter with North Carolina."

CW: I'm tardy on this story, but here it is anyway: Martin Weil & Freedom du Lac of the Washington Post on Morgan Lake, whose car was hit -- twice -- by a tractor-trailer on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge & forced over the side & into the bay. "In 2010, Travel + Leisure magazine named it one of 'the world's scariest bridges.'" Lake tells her amazing story:

     ... The Post has a follow-up story, with video of Lake in the water, here.

AP: "A federal judge on Wednesday swept aside lawsuits challenging Detroit's bankruptcy, settling the first major dispute in the scramble to get a leg up just days after the largest filing by a local government in U.S. history. After two hours of arguments, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes made clear he's in charge. He granted Detroit's request to put a permanent freeze on three lawsuits filed in Ingham County, including another judge's extraordinary decision that Gov. Rick Snyder trampled the Michigan Constitution and acted illegally in approving the Chapter 9 filing."

WeinerGate, Ctd.*

Michael Barbaro & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "The racy online conversations that have jeopardized Anthony D. Weiner's campaign for mayor of New York began with an angry Facebook message, according to the editor of a blog who has communicated with the young woman involved. Not long after Mr. Weiner resigned from Congress, the 22-year-old woman reached out to express her disappointment in him. Mr. Weiner eventually responded and, at his urging, their exchanges veered from politics to sex within a week, as he demanded dozens of explicit photographs, said Nik Richie, the editor of The Dirty, the blog that first documented the exchanges.... Mr. Richie's account ... cannot be independently verified."

Robin Abcarian of the Los Angeles Times: "Hate to say it, but you can't trust a woman whose husband has been screwing around."

Gail Collins: "... there is a point in political scandals when bad behavior stops being a joke and just becomes sad and depressing. We have reached that point with Anthony Weiner."

mistermix of Balloon Juice: "Weiner is an idiot but he didn't do anything illegal, his wife has forgiven him, and the question we ought to be asking is if he's capable of being a working mayor or whether he'll just be a show pony the way he was in the House."

Weiner's Big Boner. CW: It seems to me Weiner's mistake was not the sexting dickpics & making false promises to strange women less than half his age. That might be stupid, callous & a little risky, but he's a politician, & stupid, callous & risky is what politicians do. No, mistake was marrying & having a child. Surely he was self-aware enough to realize that wedding vows were not going to change behavior that he certainly engaged in regularly during the decades he remained single. Had the Dirty published these Tweets & e-mails involving an unmarried New York congressman, they probably would have stayed at the level of the Dirty, Gawker & similar gossip sites. The New York Times wouldn't have touched the story with a ... well, you know. If he had never married, Weiner would still be making raucous speeches in the House, & he would probably also be running for mayor of NYC, since he long ago said that was his dream job.

BuzzFeed IDs the woman Weiner was sexting.

* Bear in mind, it's never-ending.

News Ledes

AP: Virginia "Johnson, half of the renowned Masters and Johnson team, was remembered Thursday as one of the key figures in the sexual revolution. Johnson, whose legal name was Virginia Masters, died Wednesday of complications from several illnesses at an assisted living center in St. Louis. She was 88."

AP: "The owner of a natural gas drilling rig aflame off of Louisiana's coast said preparations were under way for the possible drilling of a relief well to divert gas from the site and bring the well under control. Adam Bourgoyne, a former dean of Louisiana State University's petroleum engineering department, said such an effort is a complicated task that could take weeks to complete."

AP: "Deposed politician Bo Xilai will go on trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power within weeks, wrapping up a festering scandal that China's new leaders want disposed of as they cement their authority. Bo, 64, was a rising political star who ran the metropolis of Chongqing until he fell from power last year in a scandal that saw his wife convicted of killing a British businessman. On Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency announced that he was charged with bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power and will stand trial in the eastern city of Jinan."

Washington Post: "Closing arguments in the trial of [Bradley] Manning, a former intelligence analyst in Iraq, begin Thursday."

The Commentariat -- July 24, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Local News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Senate Race

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

Gubernatorial Race

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

News Ledes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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