The Commentariat -- July 29, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon News:

Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "A University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted on murder charges on Wednesday in the fatal shooting of a driver this month. In the indictment handed down by a grand jury in Hamilton County, the officer, Ray Tensing, is accused of killing the driver, Samuel DuBose, during a traffic stop near the campus on July 19. At a news conference, the county prosecutor, Joe Deters, said that Officer Tensing 'purposely killed' Mr. DuBose after the officer lost his temper. The death of Mr. DuBose, who was black, at the hands of Officer Tensing, who is white, joined a string of recent episodes ... that have raised hard questions about law enforcement use of force, and the role of race in policing."

Chris Brennan & Jeremy Roebuck of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah [D] and four associates were indicted Wednesday on racketeering conspiracy charges stemming from several alleged schemes to misuse campaign funds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money to further their political and financial interests. The five schemes include accepting a $1 million illegal loan for Fattah's failed 2007 mayoral campaign from a 'wealthy supporter' and then repaying some of it using "charitable and federal grant funds" that passed through a nonprofit founded and controlled by Fattah, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said at a news conference."

*****

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration has decided to give states more time to comply with proposed regulations that will require dramatic cuts in greenhouse-gas pollution from power plants, people familiar with the plans said Tuesday. The Environmental Protection Agency will give states an additional two years -- until 2022 -- to begin phasing in pollution cuts, even as the agency toughens the standards that many states will ultimately have to meet."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Jonathan J. Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 for passing classified documents to the Israeli government, will be released on parole in November after 30 years in prison, a government panel decided on Tuesday. Mr. Pollard's lawyers announced the decision of the United States Parole Commission on Tuesday afternoon, and officials at the Department of Justice confirmed that Mr. Pollard had been granted parole." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Tuesday defended the Iran nuclear agreement as a 'strong deal' before skeptical members of Congress who expressed concern that it will eventually give Iran the freedom to build nuclear weapons and finance mayhem in the region. Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kerry told lawmakers that it is a 'fantasy' to think that sanctions can prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons should it choose to do is." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... William Saletan of Slate presents arguments on why Kerry should STFU. Kerry is revealing way too much, Saletan says. ...

... Eugene Scott, et al., of CNN: "The longest-serving Jewish member currently in Congress announced Tuesday that he'll back the Iran nuclear deal, saying it is the best way to protect Israel. 'I believe that Israel, the region, and the world are far more secure if Iran does not move toward possession of a nuclear weapon. I believe the Agreement is the best way to achieve that,' said Democratic Rep. Sandy Levin in a statement. The support of a veteran Jewish representative, who has served Michigan for 33 years, could be significant in building momentum for Democratic backing of the deal." ...

... CW: Levin's statement ends with a poignant remembrance:

Each Member of Congress will bring both private and public life experiences to address this difficult issue. I along with my brother and late sister when we were in our teens experienced with our parents great personal joy when President Truman announced U.S. recognition of Israel. It was something that we could take hold of amidst the unfolding horrors of the years before. Israel's security has and always will be of critical importance to me and our country. I believe that Israel, the region, and the world are far more secure if Iran does not move toward possession of a nuclear weapon. I believe the Agreement is the best way to achieve that. In my view, the only anchors in public life are to dig deeply into the facts and consult broadly and then to say what you believe.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "A Republican congressman has filed a request to oust House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) in a new and unusual challenge to his leadership from the GOP's right flank. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) on Tuesday evening filed a 'motion to vacate the chair,' which, if successful, would force the election of a new speaker. Such a challenge has never before succeeded in the House, and only once before -- 105 years ago -- has it been attempted."

Ted-o-thon Cut Short. Dana Milbank: "Finally, Senate Republicans are standing up to the bully who terrorized them the past two and a half years.... In a broader sense, Republican senators seem to be growing in confidence that they can defy what remains of the tea party and affiliated conservative groups...."

** Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times Magazine on the "Republican activists who have systematically dismantled" the Voting Rights Act. CW: Thanks again, Supremes.

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: More than 167,000 people petitioned the White House, arguing that Edward Snowden was "a national hero and should be immediately issued a full, free and absolute pardon." In a statement, the White House said no, thank you.

Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "A new undercover video released by opponents of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday includes graphic depictions of a technician sorting through the tissue collected after an abortion.... 'This video really shows such extremely disturbing violations of patient privacy and dignity,' Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said on a call with reporters. A new Hart Research survey released by the group showed voters don't support congressional defunding efforts.... The Obama administration's top health official, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, on Tuesday deferred questions on the investigations to DOJ and suggested her department is not conducting its own review of Planned Parenthood." ...

... Jennifer Haberkorn & Anna Palmer of Politico: "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) earlier this week called to halt Planned Parenthood's federal funding while Congress investigates whether the organization broke a federal ban on profiting from fetal tissue donation. The Senate plans to hold a vote on a defunding amendment from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and others that is likely to fail." ...

... CW: If you're not a friend of Planned Parenthood, you're not a friend of women. It's that simple.

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "... Facebook, already a major player in past cycles, has been working to expand its digital dominance in the political realm. Facebook -- which has 189 million monthly users in the United States -- has pitched its tools and services to every presidential campaign in the 2016 race, not to mention down-ballot races, to showcase new features as candidates seek to reach and recruit new supporters and potential donors.... Facebook has rolled out several tools since the last presidential election to help campaigns reach voters more efficiently and effectively." CW: You must find the "tools" the campaigns are using to be invasions of privacy.

A Marine Corps lieutenant colonel is relieved of her commend, & the Marine Corps Gazette subsequently decides not to publish her essay criticizing the Corps' treatment of female Marines. C. J. Chivers of the New York Times has the backstory, & publishes the essay. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Anne Barnard of the New York Times: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip "Erdogan's stance [against Kurdish militants] presents a complication for the United States and other NATO allies. Under alliance rules, they are bound to protect Turkey from threats, and they have long listed the Kurdish militant group that fought a long insurgency in Turkey, the P.K.K., as a terrorist organization. But they are eager not to let the Kurdish issue overshadow the international fight against Islamic State militants who have seized much of Syria and Iraq and sought to inspire attacks around the world."

** Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. The New York Times' "Very Good Sources." Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic: "... the huge embarrassment over the story claiming a criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton for her emails -- leading the webpage, prominent on the front page, before being corrected in the usual, cringeworthy fashion of journalists who stonewall any alleged errors and then downplay the real ones -- is a direct challenge to its fundamental credibility. And the paper's response since the initial huge error was uncovered has not been adequate or acceptable.... Someone should be held accountable here, with suspension or other action that fits the gravity of the offense." Ornstein suggests that the government leakers, whoever they might be (Trey Gowdy), had been shopping around the criminal investigation story & the reason the Times scooped the others is that the Times didn't check its facts. ...

... Jonathan Allen of Vox has more. The Times story, he says, results from "a bureaucratic turf war between the [state] department and the intelligence community" as to what is classified or "senstive" & what is not, a disagreement which the IGs asked the DOJ to mitigate, not litigate; in other words, a boring story.

Presidential Race

Zaid Jilani of AlterNet: "Of all the arguments the Democratic establishment has thrown out against Bernie Sanders' candidacy, perhaps the most recurring one revolves around electability. 'Sure, you agree with him,' they argue, 'but he can't win.' A just released CNN poll finds Sanders out-polling all of the GOP's major candidates, though pretty much tied with Jeb Bush." ...

... Also, Too. Tuck Chodd & Mark Murray of NBC News: " The Unpopularity Contest: The numbers inside the new NBC-Marist poll tell a story beyond the horesraces in Iowa and New Hampshire. They underscore how most of the top presidential candidates are unpopular right now with the general-election audience in both states. And that's especially true for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and (not much surprise here) Donald Trump. The one exception? Bernie Sanders."

AP: "Hillary Clinton says she will not take a position on the Keystone XL pipeline until she becomes president, citing her work on the issue as secretary of state. Clinton told voters in New Hampshire on Tuesday that she will not 'second-guess' Barack Obama's pending decision on the pipeline. She said that would not be the 'right thing to do' because the government's review of the project started during her tenure at the State Department." ...

... Alexa Corse & Shane Harris of the Daily Beast: "There is a two-month gap in Hillary Clinton's emails that coincides with violence in Libya and the employment status of a top Clinton aide, Huma Abedin.... 'There are gaps of months and months and months,' Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Select Committee on Benghazi, said in a March 8 interview.... In a statement to reporters, Clinton spokesperson Nick Merrill noted, 'More emails are slated to be released by the State Department next week, and we hope that release is as inclusive as possible.'"

Jim Newell of Salon plays “If I Were A Conservative Voter." Turns out I would love Ted Cruz who always tells me that the Bible & the Constitution justify my righteous anger at Washington RINO sellouts, & I would not be fond of elitist snob Jeb! who hangs with CEOs & regards me as a hapless rube who needs civilizing.

Mike Allen of Politico: "Fox News is opening its 5 p.m. debate to all the announced Republican candidates who fail to make the cut for the Aug. 6 prime-time event, removing a requirement that participants reach at least 1 percent in polling. The change amounts to an insurance policy for candidates who were in danger of being disqualified from the vital first debate ... -- Carly Fiorina, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).... The 9 p.m. debate will include the 10 candidates with the highest average in national polls, as determined by Fox News. The 5 p.m. forum will now include all the rest." ...

... CW: If I had to vote in the GOP primary, I'd vote for Lindsey Graham, & not just because he represents my last chance to be FLOTUS. Knowing as I do that Lindsey would love to lead us into World War III, I still think he's the best-qualified GOP presidential candidate & the only one who meets the minimum IQ threshold (as it appears in Article II of the Constitution:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years and who shall not have attained an Intelligence Quotient of at least One hundred, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.)

Erik Wemple updates Donald Trump's media strategy in the wake of his consigliere's threats against a Daily Beast reporter. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... almost immediately, (a) Ivana Trump came to her ex-husband's defense, hinting that she might have exaggerated..., and saying he'd be a great president, blah blah blah; and (b) some Trump spox disclaims any association with [gangster lawyer Michael] Cohen's comments to the Beastly duo. For dessert, somebody discovered an old tweet with Cohen posing between two 'great Americans,' Hillary Clinton and Patrick Kennedy, and [Donald] Trump fans are beginning to speculate that he tried to sabotage Trump on Hillary's behalf! So ... it gets turned into a story ... about one a them gold-digging women who make up rape allegations they later abandon, and the lyin' liberal loser journalists -- perhaps in league with Hillary! -- who use that to smear The Donald." ...

... ** McKay Coppins of BuzzFeed: "Was this really the best goon money could buy? Cohen's outburst was, in fact, emblematic of the loyalists who have long populated The Donald's inner circle. Trump's key lieutenants tend to fit the same consumer profile as his discount luxury-brand targets: They are men with middle- and working-class roots; lacking in elite credentials; mesmerized by made-for-TV displays of lavish wealth." CW: Entertaining reading that incidentally backs up my assessment [offered a few days back] of the source of Trump's popularity. ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker is sticking with his earlier prediction: "Sooner or later, Trump's act will start to seem old, even to G.O.P. voters."

Rebecca Berg in Real Clear Politics: "Scott Walker has insisted he will be able to 'compete anywhere in the country' ... but, at a private event in St. Louis on Sunday, Walker said he does not plan to compete in Florida, contradicting his own public assertions that he would not skip that primary." Via Paul Waldman.

Alex Isenstadt of Politico autopsies Rand Paul's campaign. CW: Don't worry, Li'l Randy. I'm sure you'll pick up a lot of votes with your effort to defund Planned Parenthood. BTW, there's a reason your supporters are overwhelmingly male. What's up next? A move to repeal of the 19th Amendment?

Terrence Dopp of Bloomberg: "Residents in U.S. states that have legalized marijuana should toke up while they still can, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said. 'If you're getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it,' Christie, a Republican campaigning for the 2016 presidential nomination, said Tuesday during a town-hall meeting at the Salt Hill Pub in Newport, New Hampshire. 'As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws.'" ...

... EXCEPT, digby points out, Christie now is also a states' rights guy. Also a God guy. CW: I'm a little confused about whether or not Christie thinks God backs the Second Amendment. I could look it up, but I don't care much about Chris Christie's theological musings. ...

... CW BTW: I found out the other day that some confederates -- like the chair of Oklahoma's Republican party -- object to the pledge of allegiance because of the "one nation, indivisible" part. I supposed the "United" part of "United States" rankles these patriots, too. Confederates are also Pre-Constitutionalists.

Mika Brzezinski is often pretty silly & shallow. Not this time:

... ** Unsurprisingly, Israelis are offended, too. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Reuters: "Los Angeles city council has voted unanimously to ban the possession of large-capacity gun magazines, following San Francisco to become the second major city in California to take that step. The law prohibits Los Angeles residents from possessing a handgun or rifle magazine that fits more than 10 rounds."

Jesse McKinley of the New York Times on how & why prison worker Joyce Mitchell helped two murderers escape from an upstate New York prison.

News Ledes

Guardian: "The Federal Reserve on Wednesday continued to pave the way for an increase in interest rates as early as September. The US central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at near zero -- where it has been since the 2008 financial crisis -- but once again signalled that rates will rise later this year. While the Fed chair, Janet Yellen, has left little doubt that rates will rise this year, the Fed left itself wiggle room as it has set no timetable and said rates would only be raised if the economy continues to improve and unemployment continues to fall." ...

... The Fed's statement is here.

New York Times: "A large object that appeared to be an airplane part washed up Wednesday on the shore of Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean, prompting speculation that it might be debris from Flight 370, the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that disappeared in March 2014." ...

     ... AP UPDATE: "Air safety investigators have a 'high degree of confidence' that aircraft debris found in the Indian Ocean is of a wing component unique to the Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year, a U.S. official said Wednesday."

New York Times: "After months of speculation, Afghan officials announced Wednesday that they were now certain that the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, died in Pakistan in 2013."

Guardian: "Binyamin Netanyahu ... has approved the immediate construction of hundreds of settlement units in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in an effort to stave off a growing threat posed by pro-settler parties in his rightwing coalition government. The issue was brought to a head on Wednesday by a supreme court ruling that two buildings in the West Bank settlement of Beit El -- built on private Palestinian land without permits -- should be destroyed, despite Netanyahu's opposition."

Washington Post: "An Albuquerque 911 dispatcher has resigned after audio was released of him hanging up on a 17-year-old as she tended to a friend who was shot at the party. The victim, 17-year-old Jaydon Chavez-Silver, later died.... Emergency responders had already been dispatched to the house before [the dispatcher] hung up." Includes 911 audio.

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "A big-game hunter from the Twin Cities found himself at the center of an international firestorm Tuesday over the death of a beloved lion in Zimbabwe, but said he regrets killing the animal and believed his guides were leading him on a legal hunt.... Earlier Tuesday, the Telegraph newspaper of London identified [dentist Walter] Palmer as the hunter who shot Cecil and reported that he paid $54,000 for the hunt. The Telegraph said the lion was illegally lured out of Hwange National Park, where it had protected status, and onto a neighboring game farm, where Palmer was on safari." ...

... Salon: Yelp contributors are whacking Palmer.

The Commentariat -- July 28, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Jonathan J. Pollard, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 for passing classified documents to the Israeli government, will be released on parole in November after 30 years in prison, a government panel decided on Tuesday. Mr. Pollard's lawyers announced the decision of the United States Parole Commission on Tuesday afternoon, and officials at the Department of Justice confirmed that Mr. Pollard had been granted parole."

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry on Tuesday defended the Iran nuclear agreement as a 'strong deal' before skeptical members of Congress who expressed concern that it will eventually give Iran the freedom to build nuclear weapons and finance mayhem in the region. Appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Kerry told lawmakers that it is a 'fantasy' to think that sanctions can prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons should it choose to do is."

Erik Wemple updates Donald Trump's media strategy in the wake of his consigliere's threats against a Daily Beast reporter.

A Marine Corps lieutenant colonel is relieved of her commend, & the Marine Corps Gazette subsequently decides not to publish her essay criticizing the Corps' treatment of female Marines. C. J. Chivers of the New York Times has the backstory, & publishes the essay.

Mika Brzezinski is often pretty silly & shallow. Not this time:

... ** Unsurprisingly, Israelis are offended, too.

*****

BBC News: "US President Barack Obama has warned that Africa could not advance if its leaders refused to step down when their terms ended. He also called for an end to the 'cancer of corruption', saying it took money away from development. Mr Obama made the comments in the first ever address by a US leader to the 54-member AU at its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa." Here's a clip:

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Now, with a push from President Obama, and perhaps even more significantly a nod from Speaker John A. Boehner, Congress seems poised to revise four decades of federal policy that greatly expanded the number of Americans -- to roughly 750 per 100,000 -- now incarcerated, by far the highest of any Western nation. Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has long resisted changes to federal sentencing laws, said he expected to have a bipartisan bill ready before the August recess."

Scott Wong & Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday said his chamber will not vote on the Senate's six-year highway bill. McCarthy's declaration that the House will not be 'taking up the Senate bill' means a short-term extension is the only way to prevent a lapse in federal infrastructure funding at the end of the week. It also means the Export-Import Bank, linked to the highway bill in the Senate, will not be renewed until September at the earliest." CW: One more reminder -- as if you needed one -- that Republicans in Congress are incapable of running their arm of the government. ...

... ** In Which Mitch McConnell Play the Hero. NEW. David Dayen explains why House Republicans want a five-month extension of the highway bill: "Of particular interest should be the timing. This patch would last until December 18, the last day of Congress before the Christmas break, also known as the time when Congress slips things into law while everyone is off holiday shopping and trimming the tree. And there's a plan for what to do with a long-term highway bill too: fund it through a corporate tax amnesty, allowing multinationals to bring home their foreign earnings with a minimal tax hit, well below the normal 35 percent range. Future Democratic leader in the Senate Chuck Schumer and Republican Rob Portman have already teamed up on this, using the enticement of infrastructure funds to alter the way the corporate tax system works." ...

... Another GOP Zombie Plan. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Tucked into a dusty corner of the Senate's Highway Trust Fund bill ... is a zombie proposal to hire private debt-collection agencies to hound delinquent taxpayers on behalf of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has actually tried outsourcing tax collection activities to private debt collectors before, at Congress's behest. Twice, in fact, over the last two decades. Both times, the experiment was a disaster.... Both times the program was scrapped because it actually cost taxpayers money on net.... Yet for some reason -- perhaps amnesia, a blind devotion to privatization at all costs, a desire to line the pockets of friends in the debt-collection industry, or a conspiracy to make Americans hate the IRS even more than they already do -- this policy proposal just will not die.... The solution is to just adequately fund the IRS...."

Pete Williams of NBC News: "The governing body of the Boy Scouts of America voted Monday to end its decades-long ban on gay scout leaders. The organization's national executive board, meeting in Texas, concluded that the policy of excluding gay adults 'was no longer legally defensible.' The decision was approved by 79 percent of the board." ...

... Ben Lockhart of the Salt Lake City Deseret News: "The future relationship between the Boy Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now uncertain after the Scouting body voted Monday to rescind a nationwide ban on gay Scout leaders, prompting strong words of concern from the church and a promise to re-evaluate its century-long affiliation with the organization.... Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a prepared statement. '... the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.'" ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "The Christian Science Monitor notes that as a result of its ban on gay individuals, over the years BSA's membership has grown more conservative, with about 70 percent of troops now run by religious organizations. Following the 2013 decision, some conservatives left the Boy Scouts and created the group Trail Life USA. BSA enrollment had been declining for some time.... Southern Baptist Convention spokesman Roger Oldham said that, like the Mormons, Baptists may be ready to abandon the Boy Scouts altogether instead of being forced to eventually accept gay leaders."

Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "Planned Parenthood representatives say that hackers appear to be working to gain access to the abortion providers' employee information systems. The organization notified the FBI and Department of Justice of a possible data breach, a spokesperson said on Monday, one that representatives from the organization said 'if true' could threaten the 'privacy and safety of our staff members'."

Dana Milbank: Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kansas) returns to a Washington unlike the one he left. The art of the deal used to involve friendship & compromise.

Sally Kohn in a Washington Post op-ed: When will we start holding racism and misogyny accountable for the violence they rationalize and inspire?... John Russel Houser, who killed two women & injured many more people in a Louisiana movie theater "was steeped and stewing in right-wing xenophobic, homophobic, misogynist and racist hate.... Houser was crazy and held some beliefs that were variations of more mainstream conservative beliefs. The roots of some of Houser's political views are hard to distinguish from ideas espoused by many, if not most, of the candidates running for the Republican Party's presidential nomination.... When there's evidence that a mass shooting suspect who's Muslim espoused anti-American, pro-radical Islamicist views, we tie that suspect to the broader ideology.... Black Americans are presumed to bear blame as a group even when they're the victims of violence.... White privilege extends even to white mass murderers...."

Samuel Gibbs of the Guardian: "Over 1,000 high-profile artificial intelligence experts and leading researchers have signed an open letter warning of a 'military artificial intelligence arms race' and calling for a ban on 'offensive autonomous weapons'. The letter, presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was signed by Tesla's Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis and professor Stephen Hawking along with 1,000 AI and robotics researchers."

Hang your head, Ben.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

All Our Pulitzers Are Tarnished. But We Led the News Cycle! CW: The New York Times publishes an unsigned CYA "Editor's Note" explaining why Hillary Clinton is not behind bars yet despite their excellent "criminal investigation" bombshell story. For one thing, you can't trust the government: "That article was based on multiple high-level government sources." (Those sources likely being Trey Gowdy, Trey Gowdy's top staffer & the boyfriend of a DOJ clerk who once worked at Justice but now represents the RNC. And Trey Gowdy.) For another, Hillary's henchmen harassed a cub reporter the moment the story hit the Internets: "Shortly after the article was published online, however, aides to Mrs. Clinton contacted one reporter to dispute the account." BTW, we decided that before we tried to bury Clinton, we would not offer her the same courtesy we do other subjects: contacting her before publication. Yeah, I wouldn't sign this piece of crap either. But at least this excuse for a mea culpa is helpful to the folks Erik Wemple cites:

...CW: In Confederate America, there's a new meme. The New York Times changed its blockbuster story outing Hillary Clinton as a serial criminal BECAUSE HILLARY ASKED THEM TO. So that's another scandal on top of all her criminal misdeeds. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post has the details: "... the critique was leaving out something that once mattered in political dialogue: the truth." BTW, here's an unnamed Democratic spokesman to back up what I've been saying for days: "A Democratic spokesman for the House oversight committee, which is closely involved in Clinton e-mail stuff, told the Erik Wemple Blog: 'Unfortunately, the New York Times did not check with us before running its story, even though we have offered to help in the past and could have corrected these errors before they showed up on the front page. We do not know who the New York Times talked to, but we talked to the Inspectors General themselves.'" What a concept! ...

... MEANWHILE, "independent journalist" Ron Fournier of the National Journal wants to know what Hillary is hiding. Fournier never mentions his own fucked-up complaint of last week that Hillary was "blaming The New York Times, which is as pathetic as it is laughable" & that the DOJ should investigate her criminal activities. ...

... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "Twice in the last few months, a hot, breaking New York Times story on Hillary Clinton's use of a private email address while secretary of state has gone from 'wow, that looks terrible for Hillary Clinton' to 'wow, that looks terrible for the New York Times' in the day or so after its initial much-hyped publication.... The Times is making it clear that it isn't prepared to change the practices that led to serious mistakes in two bombshell-turned-bomb stories about Hillary Clinton's emails...."

Political scientist Henry Farrell explains why Tom Friedman never has to say he's sorry. CW: Here's another funny bit: I came to Farrell's piece via Paul Krugman, who is forbidden to say anything bad about the bozos & bobos who people the same op-ed page he does. True to his code, after a fashion, Krugman never mentions Friedman.

Presidential Race

Command Performance -- The Koch Presidency. Ken Vogel of Politico: "Four leading GOP presidential candidates -- Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker -- are traveling to a Southern California luxury hotel in coming days to make their cases directly to the Koch brothers and hundreds of other wealthy conservatives planning to spend close to $1 billion in the run-up to the 2016 election. The gathering -- which also will include former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, but notably not Sen. Rand Paul -- is hosted by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella group in the Kochs' increasingly influential network of political and public policy outfits. It represents a major opportunity for the candidates at a pivotal moment in the presidential primary." ...

... Dave Weigel & Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is turning down a coveted invite to a gathering of wealthy conservative donors this weekend, citing his plans to be on the campaign trail.... Paul told The Washington Post..., 'We've been invited -- it's just hard to make [these] decisions, because you can't be everywhere.'" CW: If Li'l Randy's purpose in giving up a chance to grovel at the feet of the Koch Brothers' Band of Billionaires by caucusing with the cornpones of Iowa was intended to make him seem like a man of the people, he might have announced his populist sacrifice without employing the royal "we."

Tim Mak & Brandy Zadrozny of the Daily Beast: "Donald Trump introduced his presidential campaign to the world with a slur against Mexican immigrants, accusing them of being 'rapists' and bringing crime into the country.... It was an unfortunate turn of phrase for Trump.... Not only does the current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination have a history of controversial remarks about sexual assault, but as it turns out, his ex-wife Ivana Trump once used 'rape' to describe an incident between them in 1989. She later said she felt 'violated' by the experience.... Ivana Trump's assertion of 'rape' came in a deposition -- part of the early '90s divorce case between the Trumps, and revealed in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump." Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen told the Daily Beast, "You cannot rape your spouse. And there's very clear case law." ...

I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we're in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don't have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know. So I'm warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I'm going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me? You write a story that has Mr. Trump's name in it, with the word 'rape,' and I'm going to mess your life up ... for as long as you're on this frickin' planet ... you're going to have judgments against you, so much money, you'll never know how to get out from underneath it. -- Michael Cohen, special counsel to the Trump Organization to Tim Mak of the Daily Beast

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Marital rape was made illegal in all US states in 1993. It was made illegal in New York state in 1984, five years before the alleged incident. Donald and Ivana Trump settled their divorce in 1992." ...

... Arturo Garcia of the Raw Story: "ABC News reported that the Trump campaign responded to the report by calling the rape allegation 'old news and [that] it never happened.'... The campaign also downplayed Cohen's role, saying, 'Nobody speaks for Mr. Trump, but Mr. Trump.'... The response came hours after Cohen appeared on CNN billed as a spokesperson for the candidate."

... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "Most of the polls [which came out this week & showed Donald Trump in the lead for the GOP nomination] were partly or entirely conducted before Mr. Trump's controversial comments [about John McCain].... For good measure, it is not at all clear that we should expect Mr. Trump to suffer discernible losses in the near future. Take Herman Cain, who faced reports that he was accused of sexual harassment in late October 2011. These reports were surely more problematic for his candidacy than Mr. Trump's comments about Mr. McCain, and yet the early polls conducted after the allegations did not show much evidence that they had any effect on his standing. One month later, Mr. Cain was out of the race." ...

... Steve M. argues there's no comparison between Cain & the Ablest. ...

... CW: Yeah, and there's this. Greg Sargent: "A big majority of Republicans believes that the government's main focus on immigration should be not just on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, but also on deporting those already here." Do you suppose there was "a big majority of Republicans" who believed it was quite all right for (black) men to fondle (white) ladies without their consent? Possibly not. ...

... Dara Lind of Vox: "If a new CNN poll is correct, a majority of Republican voters are significantly to the right of pretty much every Republican elected official and every single Republican presidential candidate -- including Donald Trump -- on immigration."

... Stefanos Chen of the Wall Street Journal: "... Donald Trump has sold his penthouse in New York's Trump Park Avenue building for $21 million, according to real estate listing agent Michelle Griffith. With slide show. CW: All the rooms are white. He plans to purchase & extensively remodel another White House.

Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: "On the campaign trail, Jeb Bush has repeatedly emphasized his record overseeing Florida's boom economy as the state's governor.... But according to interviews with economists and a review of data, Florida owed a substantial portion of its growth under Bush not to any state policies but to a massive and unsustainable housing bubble -- one that ultimately benefited rich investors at the expense of middle-class families.... In the four years after Bush left office..., the typical Florida family's net worth fell 60 percent in that time, according to the Census Bureau.... Many of those families now pay rent to Wall Street firms."

CW: If you think the next administration & future federal courts should be made up on graduates of Livingston High School, New Jersey, & Seton Hall Law, you should definitely vote for Chris Christie. It will happen. Matt Arco of NJ.com reports. Nonetheless, I suppose David Wildstein won't become Transportation Secretary. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Beyond the Beltway

Jeff Mulvihill of the AP: "Three public workers' pension funds are suing New Jersey for billions in damages, claiming the state government breached contracts when it contributed less than planned. The filing Friday is the latest volley in a more than yearlong dispute over pension contributions. They stem from Gov. Chris Christie's decision last year amid a budget shortfall to veer from a pension funding plan he signed into law in 2011.... Spokesmen for Christie did not respond immediately to a request for comment." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "A conference protesting police violence against African Americans ended in police violence against African Americans on Sunday, when at least one officer deployed pepper spray against men and women protesting the arrest of a 14 year-old teenager."

Way Beyond

Nicholas Watt of the Guardian: "Lord Sewel has announced he is to resign from the House of Lords with immediate effect as he apologised for the 'pain and embarrassment' he has caused after the release of a film showing him allegedly taking cocaine with sex workers.... Sewel's decision will raise questions about whether Paul Kernaghan, the House of Lords commissioner for standards, will continue with his investigation into whether the peer broke the code of conduct for the upper house.... The peer's resignation will have no impact on the police investigation that was launched on Monday...."

News Ledes

Guardian: "Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, has been sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli. Saif, once seen as his father's heir apparent, was condemned to death along with eight other figures from the former dictatorship, including the former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and Gaddafi's last prime minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi."

Reuters: "FIFA boss Sepp Blatter deserves a Nobel Prize for his stewardship of soccer's governing body, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired by Swiss broadcaster RTS on Monday."

The Commentariat -- July 27, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Jeff Mulvihill of the AP: "Three public workers' pension funds are suing New Jersey for billions in damages, claiming the state government breached contracts when it contributed less than planned. The filing Friday is the latest volley in a more than yearlong dispute over pension contributions. They stem from Gov. Chris Christie's decision last year amid a budget shortfall to veer from a pension funding plan he signed into law in 2011.... Spokesmen for Christie did not respond immediately to a request for comment."

CW: If you think the next administration & future federal courts should be made up on graduates of Livingston High School, New Jersey, & Seton Hall Law, you should definitely vote for Chris Christie. It will happen. Matt Arco of NJ.com reports. Nonetheless, I suppose David Wildstein won't become Transportation Secretary.

*****

Peter Baker & Marc Santora of the New York Times: President "Obama, accompanied by [Susan] Rice, now his national security adviser, convened a meeting on Monday to try to forge a peace in South Sudan, in his most direct personal intervention since the violence broke out more than 18 months ago. During a visit [to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]..., he sat down with regional leaders to try to build a consensus behind a peace proposal, and to come up with a backup plan, in case that fails, involving increased sanctions and possibly an arms embargo."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama sharply criticized Republican 2016 presidential candidates Monday for engaging in 'inflammatory remarks' that were cheapening the nation's political discourse.... [Mike] Huckabee responded to the president's remarks in a statement Monday morning, doubling-down on his previous comments ... that the Iran deal was so flawed it will 'take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven'":

Anne Barnard, et al., of the New York Times: "Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say. The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents, which the Turks say could also be a 'safe zone' for displaced Syrians."

Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Barack Obama huddled with Ethiopia's leaders Monday for talks on counterterrorism, human rights and regional security issues, including the crisis in neighboring South Sudan. Obama's visit marks the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Ethiopia. He arrived at the National Palace in the capital of Addis Ababa for a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, followed by a joint news conference."

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "In a rare and fiery weekend session, the Senate voted on Sunday to resurrect the federal Export-Import Bank, handing the Republican Party's most conservative wing a major defeat and setting up a showdown this week with House leaders divided over the moribund export credit agency. The bipartisan vote -- 67 to 26 -- broke a filibuster and allowed supporters to attach a measure to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank to a three-year highway and infrastructure bill, which is expected to pass the Senate early this week. The agency's authorization expired June 30, halting all new loan guarantees and other assistance to foreign customers seeking to purchase American companies' products. A clear majority in the House also supports resurrecting the agency, but it will be up to House leaders to decide whether the body will get a vote...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate is fast-tracking a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of two controversial videos that sparked a political firestorm. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finished the process, known as 'Rule 14,' on Sunday, allowing the legislation to skip over the committee process and be placed directly on the Senate calendar for a floor vote." ...

... Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "The Senate on Sunday voted down a Republican effort to repeal Obamacare, the GOP's first attempt to get rid of the president's health law since the party took control of the chamber in January. The effort fell 49-43, exactly along party lines, with eight senators not voting in the rare weekend session. Third-fifths of the Senate would have had to vote to add Obamacare repeal to a highway funding bill. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is expected to ask the Senate -- likely Monday -- to reconsider the Obamacare amendment. He would propose a procedural motion to change Senate rules in order to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act with just 51 votes." ...

... Manu Raju & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Republican leaders, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), delivered what senators described as punishment for [Ted] Cruz's brazen floor tactics -- the Texas senator first accused McConnell of lying and later sought to change Senate procedures in order to push for an Iran-related amendment. So when Cruz came to the floor looking for 16 senators to agree to hold a roll-call vote, only three raised their hands. McConnell, sitting at his desk, turned around and peered at Cruz, who looked stunned at what had just happened. The Senate dispensed with his effort by a voice vote and quickly moved on, doing the same to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a Cruz ally who sought to use arcane procedures to force a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood.... Cruz later] accused McConnell of scheming with Democratic leader Harry Reid." ...

... Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) doubled-down Sunday in his attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).... 'I would note that it is entirely consistent with decorum and with the nature of this body traditionally as the world's greatest deliberative body, to speak the truth,' Cruz said. 'Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.' Asked if he want to far during his Friday speech, Cruz instead blasted the press for not writing about whether or not McConnell lied about a deal."

Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor, weighs in on the paper's hasty, erroneous reporting of the supposed two inspectors generals' request for a "criminal investigation" of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. CW: Sullivan faults the paper for the "mess," but it appears she gets some major items wrong. (And, BTW, if she had followed my advice & read Kurt Eichenwald's takedown, she would wound not have made those mistakes.) First, Sullivan asserts that "the fact remains that [Clinton's] secret email system hamstrung possible inquiries into her conduct while secretary of state both by the news media and the public under the Freedom of Information Act and by Congress." Not according to Eichenwald. Any documents -- including notes written on napkins -- that a public official creates in the course of her duties are subject to FOIA requests. Second, Sullivan implies that Schmidt's March 2015 scoop on Clinton's private server was a paragon of investigative journalism. Not according to Eichenwald:

The Times's public editor defended that piece, linking to a lengthy series of regulations that, in fact, proved the allegations contained in the article were false.... The reality remained that, when it came to this story, there was no there there.

     ... Finally, Sullivan lets NYT executive editor Dean Baquet get away with this whopper: "You had the government confirming that it was a criminal referral. I'm not sure what they could have done differently on that." Both Sullivan & Baquet are journalists. But let me explain to them, there was something else they could have done: they could have asked the IGs, as Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) did, if in fact they had sent criminal referrals of Clinton to the DOJ. The reporters & their checkers did not ask, so the IGs said publicly Friday that they had not sent out criminal referrals. It isn't as if that was top-secret info that the Times could not possibly have wrenched out of the IGs. You don't have to be a reporter or an editor to know that if you're going to write, "A did B," you have an obligation to at least ask A if he did B. You don't necessarily have to believe A's answer, if you have other, more credible sources that refute A, but you do have to ask A. Sullivan should have pointed out this major flaw in the "reporting." Instead, she just faults the Times reporters & editors for a method of "fact-checking" that involved re-asking their original sources if they had the story right. Considering the sources (almost certainly GOP House Benghaazi! committee members or their staffs), the Times should have been super-skeptical, especially on a highly-partisan issue that could have an impact on the presidential election.

The Hard Realities of Soft Corruption. Bill Curry in Salon: "That [Barack] Obama translated this public anger [against political corruption] into a message in 2008 -- but didn't follow up with policy in 2009 -- may reveal an underlying worldview. When Justice [Anthony] Kennedy pronounced the public unconcerned with systemic corruption he spoke not for the Tea Party but for a Washington establishment of which Obama, many political reporters, most political consultants and all lobbyists are members for life.... The flaw in [Hillary] Clinton's candidacy is the flaw in our politics. It is Kennedy's 'soft corruption.'" CW: Curry highlights the New York Times' fake stories, but I think he's right about his central point -- that Democrats don't care about political corruption. Whether you like her or not, Hillary Clinton personifies the entrenched Village SOP.

Steve M. points to & elaborates on a post by David Futrelle titled "Angry misogynist murders women at showing of film by feminist comedian; police worry 'we may not find a motive.'" CW: Steve & Futrelle seem to be on the right -- or at least a plausible -- track. In addition, I think it's easy to connect the dots between Houser's motives & columns like the one Ross Douthat wrote for today's Times, linked below. I don't mean to suggest that Douthat is directly responsible for the multiple murders of women, but his point that Planned Parenthood medical personnel -- a large percentage of whom are women, & whose clientele are mostly women -- "have spent their careers crushing, evacuating, and carving up for parts ... dead human beings," can lead some crazy men to "reason" that it's okay to kill young women who might have abortions & allow "dead human beings" to be carved up like meat. Houser may have figured that by killing young women, he was saving lives, i.e., the lives of Douthat's "dead human beings." Some readers will think I'm exaggerating. Probably I'm not. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "We don't know exactly why yet Houser shot up a theater that was showing a movie written by an unapologetic feminist, but this moment should still be a wake-up call about the problem of misogynist violence in our culture. If we're not going to talk about gun control, then let's talk about how to get fewer men to see guns as the solution to their inchoate rage at women." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Bobby's Aposty. Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana called for tougher gun laws in other states on Sunday.... On CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Mr. Jindal called for states to adopt laws similar to Louisiana's that feed information about mental illness into a federal background check system for potential gun buyers.... Officials have said Mr. Russell [sic., John Russell Houser], of Phenix City, Ala., legally bought the murder weapon there in 2014, although he had been denied a state-issued concealed weapons permit in 2006 because he was accused of domestic violence and soliciting arson." CW: Not a hoax, & in 2013 Jindal, believe it or not, did sign into law bills to cooperate with the federal database on purchases of weaponry, um, along with other bills that would expand gun rights. ...

... Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker (July 24): "During his Presidency, [Barack Obama has] gone from a kind of rote acknowledgment of the issue [of gun violence] to a deeply felt recognition of its centrality, if only because it represents not a problem that is insoluble in its nature but something stupidly simple and easy to fix. In any sane polity, gun killings would be a horror, not a habitual event. Seeing the President's metamorphosis suggests that, as another old song had it, a change is going to come."

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Rick Perry's voice softens when he talks about the joy he gets from looking at his iPad and seeing 'that 20-week picture of my first grandbaby.' Marco Rubio says ultrasounds of his sons and daughters reinforced how 'they were children -- and they were our children.' Rand Paul recalls watching fetuses suck their thumbs. And Chris Christie says the ultrasound of his first daughter changed his views on abortion. If they seem to be reading from the same script, they are. With help from a well-funded, well-researched and invigorated anti-abortion movement, Republican politicians have refined how they are talking about pregnancy and abortion rights, choosing their words in a way they hope puts Democrats on the defensive." ...

... CW: Surely this is the same script that Scott Walker flubbed last month when he "justified" Wisconsin's law requiring women seeking abortions to view ultrasound images of their fetuses by exclaiming the procedure was "just a cool thing out there."

** Noreen Malone & Amanda Demme in a New York cover story & photo essay: "There are now 46 women who have come forward publicly to accuse Cosby of rape or sexual assault; the 35 women here are the accusers who were willing to be photographed and interviewed by New York. The group, at present, ranges in age from early 20s to 80 and includes supermodels Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson alongside waitresses and Playboy bunnies and journalists and a host of women who formerly worked in show business. Many of the women say they know of others still out there who've chosen to remain silent." Story includes photos, videos & links to the full stories these women tell. ...

... David Ferguson of the Raw Story: "The New York magazine cover featuring 35 women who have accused Bill Cosby of rape featured one empty chair for any women who have not come forward because they are still too afraid to speak out. Within minutes of the cover's publication on Sunday evening, Twitter users had created a hashtag for #TheEmptyChair, dedicated to victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse who are too frightened to come forward due to shame, stigma or the possibility further abuse." ...

... Andrew Chow of the New York Times: "Spelman College has discontinued a professorship endowed by Bill Cosby, a university spokeswoman said. After suspending the professorship last year in the wake of mounting accusations of sexual assault against Mr. Cosby, the college terminated the program and returned the related funds to the Clara Elizabeth Jackson Carter Foundation, the spokeswoman, Audrey Arthur, said in a brief statement. The foundation was established by Mr. Cosby's wife, Camille. The Cosbys have had a long relationship with Spelman, a historically black women's college in Atlanta."

Louis Menand of the New Yorker: Most criminals are recidivists. "For [Richard] Matt and [David] Sweat, being on the outside essentially boiled down to coming up with ways to get back inside. Inside, they were masters of their environment.... Away from that environment, though, they were lost.... Once he was free from prison, the only place David Sweat could possibly have ended up, short of dead, was back in prison."

Presidential Race

Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton called for harnessing the power of the sun to generate enough renewable energy to run every home in the country within the next decade, as part of a climate change initiative announced Sunday." ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Clinton's numbers are down in crucial states because when she's running for office, she has a high unfavorability rate among white voters.

The Rhetorical Question of the Day. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... if [Donald] Trump weren't around would the other Republicans behave that much more responsibly?" ...

... The Great Unknown. Tim Noah in Politico: "Over the past two decades [Donald Trump] was a Republican, then an independent, then a Democrat, then a Republican. Now, registered as an independent, he leads the Republican 2016 presidential field. But what does Donald Trump really believe on policy? It's hard to tell -- his campaign will identify no policy director, he has no 'issues' tab on his campaign website and he hasn't given any substantive policy speeches on the campaign trail." CW: Let's face it: Trump serves a special-interest constituency of one -- Donald Trump. Trump is a Republican now out of a profound belief that the GOP base is crazier than the Democratic base. ...

... Adam Sneed of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump charged on Sunday that Hillary Clinton's private email practices as secretary of state were 'criminal.' 'What she did is far worse than what Gen. [David] Petraeus did, and he's gone down in disgrace,' Trump said on in a telephone interview on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'What she did is criminal.'... Trump refused to elaborate when pressed by CNN host Jake Tapper, who noted that federal inspectors general had cited security rather than criminal concerns." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jennifer Agiesta of CNN: "In the first national telephone poll since Donald Trump earned rebukes from Republican leaders over his comments about Senator John McCain's military service, the real estate mogul has increased his support among GOP voters and now stands atop the race for the party's nomination. The new CNN/ORC Poll finds Trump at 18% support among Republicans, with ... Jeb Bush just behind at 15%, within the poll's margin of error." ...

... Steven Shepard of Politico: "Donald Trump has surged to the lead in the New Hampshire GOP presidential primary and virtually erased Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's advantage in the Iowa caucuses, according to new NBC News/Marist polls released Sunday."

How stupid is the Doofus Plan to Phase Out Medicare? Paul Krugman counts the ways. "In this, as in other spheres, [Jeb!] Bush often seems like a Rip Van Winkle who slept through everything that has happened since he left the governor's office -- after all, he's still boasting about Florida’s housing-bubble boom.... Medicare at 50 still looks very good. It needs to keep working on costs, it will need some additional resources, but it looks eminently sustainable. The only real threat it faces is that of attack by right-wing zombies."

Marco Rubio, Senator No-Show. Manu Raju of Politico: "... Rubio has been absent more often than other senators seeking the White House." Lindsey Graham & Ted Cruz are other frequent absentees. Bernie "Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, missed just seven votes since mid-April, which is more in line with the average attendance rate of all senators, who cast 97 percent to 98 percent of roll calls on the floor."

Worst Argumentum ad Hilterum Ever. This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. Mike Huckabee, in a Breitbart interview. MAG contributed the link (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

I may run with links to some reactions to Huckabee's remark. Other than that, from now on, Huck gets the Sarah Palin treatment here: no coverage unless highly newsworthy. -- Constant Weader

Daniel Politi of Slate: "The National Jewish Democratic Council ... called on other Republican presidential candidates to denounce Huckabee's remarks. 'Far, far too often, this organization has found itself forced to denounce politicians for invoking the Holocaust in inappropriate and offensive ways,' the NJDC said in a statement. 'These comments by Gov. Mike Huckabee, however, may be the most inexcusable we've encountered in recent memory.'" ...

... Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "The reference to the Holocaust -- in which Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers and their bodies cremated in ovens -- created a backlash Sunday on Twitter, with numerous users condemning Huckabee's remarks. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called on the former Arkansas governor to 'apologize to the Jewish community and to the American people for this grossly irresponsible statement.'... Spokesmen for the leading GOP presidential candidates -- including [Donald] Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- did not respond Sunday to questions about the remarks."

News Ledes

Boston Globe: "Boston's Olympic bid is dead. In a joint statement, United States Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun and Steve Pagliuca, chairman of bidding group Boston 2024, characterized the decision to pull the plug as a mutual one."

New York Times: "Peg Lynch, who wrote and starred in 'Ethel and Albert,' one of television's earliest situation comedies, died on Friday at her home in Becket, Mass. She was 98.... Ms. Lynch, who wrote nearly 11,000 scripts for radio and television without the benefit of a writer's room committee (or even a co-writer), was a pioneering woman in broadcast entertainment. As a creator of original characters and a performer of her own written work -- every bit of it live! -- she might be said to have created the mold that decades later produced the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Schumer."