The Commentariat -- July 9, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "The massive hack last year of the Office of Personnel Management's system containing security clearance information affected 21.5 million people, including current and former employees, contractors and their families and friends, officials said Thursday. That is in addition to a separate hack -- also last year -- of OPM's personnel database that affected 4.2 million people."

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Thursday that the United States and its negotiating partners 'will not rush, and we will not be rushed' into finalizing a nuclear deal with Iran, but warned they will abandon talks soon if Iran doesn't make the 'tough decisions' needed for an agreement. 'This is not open-ended,' he said after walking on crutches to a podium outside the Coburg Palace hotel here where the talks are being held."

Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Russia's aggressive behavior and its nuclear arsenal make it the single greatest national security threat faced by the United States, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. said Thursday at a Senate hearing on his nomination as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Dunford, the Marine commandant, appeared far more confident that the military could step in if necessary if negotiations on a nuclear deal with Tehran fail. Asked whether the military has the ability to destroy Iran's nuclear program, General Dunford was unequivocal. 'My understanding is that we do, Senator,' he said."

Human Error. Rupert Neate of the Guardian: "The more than three-and-a-half hour New York stock exchange shutdown on Wednesday was caused by engineers loading the wrong software on to the system, the NYSE admitted on Thursday. The NYSE said the shutdown, which sent some traders into panic about a possible cyber terrorist attack, was sparked by its systems being 'not loaded with the proper configuration compatible' with new a software upgrade."

Amanda Hopuch & Oliver Laughland of the Guardian: "The battle flag of the former American Confederacy will stop flying at South Carolina's statehouse on Friday..., 150 years after the south lost a civil war fought largely over slavery, and for which the flag's endurance has remained a lasting symbol of racism. Governor Nikki Haley was prepared to sign legislation on Thursday that would require the flag to be removed from government grounds within 24 hours. Her office said it would be taken down from a flagpole near the capitol at 10am the next day, after flying there for nearly 54 years."

Linda Greenhouse finds more ways of demonstrating that the Roberts Court is not a liberal court. Expect it to look more like the "Alito court" next year.

*****

Pam Belluck of the New York Times: "Medicare, the federal program that insures 55 million older and disabled Americans, announced plans on Wednesday to reimburse doctors for conversations with patients about whether and how they would want to be kept alive if they became too sick to speak for themselves. The proposal would settle a debate that raged before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, when Sarah Palin labeled a similar plan as tantamount to setting up 'death panels' that could cut off care for the sick. The new plan is expected to be approved and to take effect in January, although it will be open to public comment for 60 days." ...

... CW: When my husband was dying in 2013, doctors & other staff had a number of consultations with him and me regarding end-of-life care. I don't know how the hospital characterized these meetings in their billing reports, but Medicare paid for them. The "new rule" just seems to be formalizing what is already routinely happening.

Julian Hattem of the Hill: "Democrats and the White House are hammering Senate Republicans for failing to act on a nominee who is charged with snipping the purse strings of Islamic extremists. Adam Szubin was nominated to be the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes nearly three months ago but has yet to receive a hearing from the Senate Banking Committee responsible for vetting him. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) chastised Republicans for the delay, arguing that 'it is threatening our nation's ability to combat terrorism' and groups such as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS)."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate approved its first circuit judge nomination of the year on Tuesday. Senators voted 95-0 on Kara Stoll's nomination to be a U.S. circuit court judge for the federal circuit, making her the first Hispanic woman to be approved for the court. Speaking ahead of the Senate's vote, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) called Stoll 'superbly qualified.'" CW: Hey, it's only mid-July.

Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal: "For Republicans, [ObamaCare] has been the political gift that keeps on giving. Yet even though public opinion remains unfavorable towards the law, Democrats remain in denial about its political standing.... The law will likely remain a pivotal element of the GOP's argument against Hillary Clinton in 2016 -- and for Republicans in the battleground congressional contests."

Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg: "The 2016 Republican nominee for president will almost certainly not make a fuss about deportation policy, regardless of past positions. In all likelihood, facing a difficult road with Hispanic and Asian voters, he will support legalization of long-settled undocumented immigrants. Citizenship remains an unsettled question. But the era of deportation is coming to an end." Wilkinson explains how we got here. CW: Wilkinson likely doesn't think Walker or Trump will be that nominee. ...

... John Boehner's European Vacation Congressional Mission. Al Kamen of the Washington Post: "The rule is never to make news on these government-paid vacations trips, but, in a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, Boehner" said he would overcome his party's resistance to immigration reform, something Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny has urged him to do. The speech created went over well at Breitbart: "Boehner goes overseas, vows immigration reform, amnesty..." the headline read. Also in Ireland, a person mistook Boehner for Bill Clinton. ...

... Good luck with immigration reform, Orange Man ...

... Jake Sherman & Anna Palmer of Politico: "... [Congressional] Republicans are clashing in private -- and, at times, openly -- over their entire agenda. The broad disagreement on so many fronts lately is striking. Congress is almost certain, again, to fail to come to a timely agreement on a long-term highway bill. Republican leaders had to abruptly pull the emergency brake on a sweeping reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, amid a tiff about privatizing air traffic controllers. As if all that wasn't enough, a showdown over government funding is fast approaching."

Megan Chuchmach & Brian Ross of ABC News: "Former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former First Lady Laura Bush collected $50,000 to appear a year earlier.... The former President was also provided with a private jet to travel to Houston at a cost of $20,000.... One of the wounded vets who served on the charity's board told ABC News he was outraged that his former commander in chief would charge any fee to speak on behalf of men and women he ordered into harm's way.... A spokesperson for former President Bill Clinton said he 'has never received' a speaking fee for addressing a veterans' group. A spokesperson for ... George Herbert Walker Bush, said ... that he did not recall a fee being requested for charity events.... According to the charity's yearly reports to the IRS, it raised about $2,450,000, after expenses, from the 2012 gala where President [George W.] Bush spoke." ...

... CW: You may recall that a few weeks ago, I linked to a Wash Po story that included this graf: "'I'm comfortable in my life,' [George W.] Bush told the crowd. 'There is one thing I miss, looking in the eyes of the people who serve this country and saluting them.' And so, he said he decided to 'dedicate the rest of his life' to helping veterans." But only if he can make it pay. Words fail me.

Sarah Wheaton & Burgess Everett of Politico: "President Barack Obama pegged the chances of a nuclear agreement with Iran at 'less than 50-50,' even as he worked to reassure Senate Democrats that he won't accept a bad deal, according to a U.S. senator who attended a gathering at the White House. During something of a working cocktail party Tuesday night, the president sounded a fresh note of pessimism as the nuclear talks in Vienna missed yet another self-imposed deadline -- and as his administration has sought to refute accusations that it is desperate for a deal."

Anthony Faiola & Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "Facing a midnight deadline from European creditors, Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras huddled with government and political leaders Thursday to finalize details of the debt-laden country's last-ditch request for a fresh bailout. The proposal filed Wednesday asked for a three-year loan package, with vague promises to 'strengthen and modernize' Greece's economy and implement reforms of its patchwork tax system and generous pensions as soon as next week. But the one-page document was short on specifics, and it was unclear how big of a bailout package Athens would need." ...

... Anthony Faiola & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Greece asked European partners Wednesday for a new three-year bailout, pledging to make reforms but leaving blank how far it was willing to go to meet cost-cutting demands as the country flirts with bankruptcy. In a one-page letter, obtained by The Washington Post, Greece proposed to take steps on key issues such as taxes and pension payouts as early as next week. It also pledged to take unspecified 'additional actions' to 'strengthen and modernize' its economy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AFP: "Charges against five bloggers and journalists held in Ethiopia for more than a year have been dropped, weeks before Barack Obama's planned visit to the country. Five others also arrested in April 2014 remain in jail, accused of planning terrorist attacks and collaborating with the US-based opposition group Ginbot 7, labelled a terrorist organisation by Ethiopia."

Reuters: "Russia is the biggest threat to US national security and America must boost its military presence throughout Europe even as Nato allies face budget challenges and scale back spending, the US air force secretary, Deborah James, said on Wednesday."

American "Justice," Ctd. Dana Liebelson of the Huffington Post: "How A Teenage Girl Who Gave An 'Intimidating Look' Was Sentenced To Up To 5 Years In Prison."

Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "The Washington Redskins lost their biggest legal and public relations battle yet in the war over their name after a federal judge in Northern Virginia on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the NFL team's federal trademark registrations, which have been opposed for decades by many Native Americans who feel the moniker disparages their race. The cancellation doesn't go into effect until the Redskins have exhausted the appeals process in the federal court system." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Guardian: "The disgraced former Fifa executive Chuck Blazer has been handed a life ban from all football-related activity by Fifa's ethics committee for bribery and other corruption."

Presidential Race

Brent Budowsky of the Hill: "The surge in support for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2016 is the latest evidence of a progressive populist wave growing across America that has the potential to create a new political majority in the tradition of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy.... The miracle of Occupy Wall Street is that this movement of idealists and patriots that was reviled by the right and ridiculed by insider pundits was victorious in the first great battle of ideas of the 21st century on behalf of the 99 percent.... The prospect of this new era of new thinking from a new populism of a new left, following the Gilded Age corruptions of the last financial crash and the revolving door corruptions of Washington, is driving the surprise surge for Sanders and posing the dramatic test for Clinton." ..

... Nate Silver: "Sanders could win Iowa. He's up to 30 percent of the vote there, according to Huffington Post Pollster's estimate. What's more, Sanders could also win New Hampshire, where he's at 32 percent of the vote. Nationally, by contrast, Sanders has just 15 percent of the vote and has been gaining ground on Clinton only slowly.... Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa and Democratic primary voters in New Hampshire are really liberal and really white, and that's the core of Sanders's support.... Sanders has so far made very little traction with non-white Democrats.... It just so happens that the idiosyncrasies of the first two states match Sanders's strengths and Clinton's relative weaknesses.... Just as was the case throughout the 2008 campaign, the media will misconstrue voting patterns that occur because of demographics and attribute them to 'momentum' instead." ...

... NEW. Patrick Healy & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Nearly 20 years after President Bill Clinton declared that 'the era of big government is over,' Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing muscular federal policies that would require hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending and markedly expand Washington's influence in a host of areas, from universal prekindergarten to Alzheimer's disease research."

... CW: I watched only the clip I posted yesterday, but according to Steve M., the consensus is that Hillary Clinton's CNN interview was a dud. In the clip, she seemed fine to me. (Of course, that might be because Hillary speaks almost exactly as I do, to a point that kind of creeps me out.) I think Hillary's real speaking problem -- and nobody talks about this -- is that she doesn't have a man's voice. I know it's 2015 & we should all be so over the males-only rule, but Americans still think a man's voice conveys authority & a woman's does not. Ask yourself this: who is the greatest female orator you can think of? Ah, you probably can't think of anyone. If you're old enough, you might pick the late Barbara Jordan, who had a very deep, nearly masculine voice. She spoke with authority. ...

... Charles Pierce: "We now have an entire generation of political reporters whose formative experience in American politics was the Great Penis Chase of the 1990s. This is something that the HRC is going to have to live with, but it's something all of us can safely dismiss. There are reasons not to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton; for me, so far, her blithe dismissal of the populist energy within her party is reason enough to give her a pass in the primaries."

Candace Smith of ABC News: "During an interview that was live-streamed on the app Periscope, [Jeb] Bush told New Hampshire's The Union Leader that to grow the economy, 'people should work longer hours.'... In a statement, a Bush aide clarified that he was referring to the underemployed and part-time workers.... US workers work more hours than workers in any other large, industrialized country, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development." CW: Jeb! may be able to string together words better than the Dumber Brother, but he is just as gaffe-prone. ...

... Greg Sargent: Whatever Jeb! meant to say, "what's really important here is Bush's apparent overall economic diagnosis: the grand answer is lowering taxes -- including at the top -- which will trigger runaway growth that will solve those problems, including the gap between productivity and wages."

Dana Milbank: "It has been amusing to watch the brands ... flee Donald Trump after his xenophobic remarks. But there is one entity that can't dump Trump, no matter how hard it tries: the GOP. The Republican Party can't dump Trump because Trump is the Republican Party.... His views show that, far from being an outlier, he is hitting all the erogenous zones of the GOP electorate.... Anti-immigrant? Against Common Core education standards? For repealing Obamacare? Against same-sex marriage? Antiabortion? Anti-tax? Anti-China? Virulent in questioning President Obama's legitimacy? Check, check, check, check, check, check, check and check." ...

Not So Fast, Milbank, Comes Now Reince Priebus to the Rescue. Karen Tumulty, et al., of the Washington Post: Reince Priebus, "The head of the Republican National Committee, responding to demands from increasingly worried party leaders, spent nearly an hour Wednesday on the phone with Donald Trump, urging the presidential candidate to tone down his inflammatory comments about immigration that have infuriated a key election constituency.... Priebus told Trump that making inroads with Hispanics is one of his central missions as chairman. He told Trump that tone matters greatly and that Trump's comments are more offensive than he might imagine with that bloc." ...

... Emily Heil of the Washington Post: "Jose Andres, the D.C.-based super-chef with a growing national brand, is backing out of a deal to open the flagship restaurant in Donald Trump's forthcoming Washington hotel -- the latest on a growing list of high-profile partners to sever ties with the presidential candidate over his anti-immigrant comments. ...

     ... CW Aside: Don't you worry, Donnie Boy. I'm sure Paula Deen will be happy to cook up some of her famous fried mac & cheese for your upscale clientele. ...

     ... Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Paula Deen, the Southern celebrity chef who faced a public scandal in 2013 after she admitted using racist language, is facing new criticism after an image was posted to her Twitter account that showed her son in skin-darkening makeup. The image, which was from a 2011 Halloween-themed episode of one of Ms. Deen's cooking shows, was posted on Tuesday. Ms. Deen is dressed as Lucille Ball from 'I Love Lucy,' and her son Bobby is dressed as Ms. Ball's TV husband, Ricky Ricardo, who was played by the Cuban-born actor Desi Arnaz. The image was quickly removed...." Deen fired her social media manager for posting the picture. ...

     ... CW: By coincidence, Trump himself will appear next week on Deen's show. In the pre-taped episode -- titled "Hail to the Chief" -- both Trump & Deen wear brown makeup & stereotypical Native American buckskin. Trump sports a full eaglefeather war bonnet while Deen teaches him to make Tomahawk-Chop Tomato Salsa & Deep-Fried Redskin Potatoes. As they banter, Trump reminds viewers that Indian casinos do not pay taxes. He says that even though they compete unfairly with his own businesses, "I have a great relationship with the Indians." Deen has not decided whom to fire for this episode, but she plans to get Trump's advice on this. ...

... CW: So after making up that stuff, I read this actual news story. Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "In an interview with NBC News, Trump ... cited a hotel construction site in Washington featured recently in The Washington Post as an example of how he has 'a great relationship with the Mexican people.'... 'And I'll tell you something, if I get the nomination, I'll win the Latino vote,' Trump added." CW: The man is impossible to parody. If only he'd worn a sombrero for the interview. ...

... This too is real. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump's momentum just keeps on building. He's the top choice of Republican primary voters in the state, getting 16% to 12% for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker...." Via Greg Sargent.

Trump Trap. Ed Kilgore: Although Trump insists his "sole focus" is to run as a Republican, he won't rule out running as a third-party candidate should he lose the GOP nomination. "... Trump has the four ingredients necessary for converting an unsuccessful primary campaign into an indie general election bid: (1) a huge ego; (2) a gigantic personal fortune; (3) total disdain for his GOP presidential rivals; and (4) a rationale for candidacy: namely, the fact that he holds views outside the mainstream of the ... two-party system.... The possibility that he might will force Republicans to be a lot nicer to the man than would normally be the case, and that, too, could be damaging to the 'brand.'" ...

... CW: If Trump makes it a three-way, Democrats could win with a Nadir-Chomsky ticket. Whoever.

Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said Wednesday he would oppose a constitutional amendment allowing states to ban same-sex marriage after the Supreme legalized it nationwide, even though he disagrees with the landmark 5-4 decision. 'I don't support a constitutional amendment. I don't believe the federal government should be in the marriage regulation business,' the Florida senator told reporters after a speech the Cedar Rapids Country Club in Iowa."

Beyond the Beltway

Alan Blinder & Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "The Confederate battle flag that has flown at the South Carolina State House for more than 50 years will soon be gone after lawmakers capped a tension-filled session early on Thursday and voted to remove it from the grounds of the State Capitol.The final vote in the State House of Representatives, 94 to 20...." ...

... Michael Miller of the Washington Post: The pivotal moment in the House debate came when Jenny Horne (R), a descendant of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, spoke:

... Jeffrey Collins of the AP: "The South Carolina House opened debate over the future of the Confederate flag Wednesday, deliberating a proposal that could remove the banner from the Capitol grounds, possibly before the end of the week." (Yesterday afternoon.)

Yvonne Wenger of the Baltimore Sun: Baltimore "Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Wednesday that she has replaced Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts, citing 'utmost urgency' to stop a recent surge in violence.... Rawlings-Blake named Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Davis interim commissioner, effective immediately. Rawlings-Blake's decision came hours after she lashed out at the city's police union for its highly critical report of the Police Department leadership during last month's rioting. She did not respond to a call for Batts' resignation from faith coalition Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development. She said the Fraternal Order of Police report did not play a role in her decision...."

"Chaos in Maine." Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The office of Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) and the clerk in the Maine House are in disagreement over the fate of 19 bills that the governor apparently did not veto in time to prevent them from becoming law. One of the bills grants welfare benefits to some immigrants, which LePage vehemently campaigned against in 2014.... LePage appeared to be attempting to use the parliamentary procedure known as the pocket veto.... But the pocket veto only works if the legislature has adjourned after the end of the second regular session.... The clerk of the Maine House told TPM Wednesday morning that the legislature, which is nearing the end of the first regular session, has not adjourned. By not vetoing the bills within the required 10-day period, LePage allowed the bills he opposed -- some ferociously -- to become law."

Go Down, Moses. Nullification, Oklahoma-Style. Jack Jenkins of Think Progress: Despite a 7-2 decision by the state's supreme court ordering that a Ten Commandments statue be removed from statehouse grounds the because its presence violated the Oklahoma constitution, Gov. Mary Fallin (R) refuses to have the religious monument removed. Because the court is wrong. ...

... CW: So now what? As constitutional scholar Tom DeLay has pointed out (never mind that he thinks the U.S. Supreme Court has ten justices), courts don't have armies to enforce their decisions. They rely on, um, the executive branch to do that where action is required. Maybe the state supremes could hold Fallin in contempt & throw her in jail. I have no idea.

Amanda Covarrubias & Matt Hamilton of the Los Angeles Times: The Calleguas, California Municipal Water District filed a complaint against actor Tom Selleck for stealing "huge amounts of water from a public hydrant" & having the water "delivered to his sprawling Hidden Valley ranch, according to court documents.... The ... complaint ... [charged] that on more than a dozen occasions since 2013, a white truck filled up at a Thousand Oaks hydrant and hauled the water to Selleck's 60-acre ranch in Westlake Village."

Kevin Maillard of the Atlantic: A young father fights for his paternal rights after his partner gives up their newborn for adoption. A compelling story. Moral: (1) Know your rights. (1) Keep evidence. ...

... Amanda Marcotte comments in Slate.

The Commentariat -- July 8, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "The New York Stock Exchange unexpectedly shut down trading in all of its listed stocks late Wednesday morning.... A trader on the floor of the exchange in lower Manhattan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that after the suspension began, traders were told that the problem was related to updated software that was rolled out before markets opened on Wednesday."

Anthony Faiola & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "Greece asked European partners Wednesday for a new three-year bailout, pledging to make reforms but leaving blank how far it was willing to go to meet cost-cutting demands as the country flirts with bankruptcy. In a one-page letter, obtained by The Washington Post, Greece proposed to take steps on key issues such as taxes and pension payouts as early as next week. It also pledged to take unspecified 'additional actions' to 'strengthen and modernize' its economy."

Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "The Washington Redskins lost their biggest legal and public relations battle yet in the war over their name after a federal judge in Northern Virginia on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the NFL team's federal trademark registrations, which have been opposed for decades by many Native Americans who feel the moniker disparages their race. The cancellation doesn't go into effect until the Redskins have exhausted the appeals process in the federal court system."

Jeffrey Collins of the AP: "The South Carolina House opened debate over the future of the Confederate flag Wednesday, deliberating a proposal that could remove the banner from the Capitol grounds, possibly before the end of the week."

*****

West German representative Hermann Josef Abs signs an international agreement effectively halving West Germany's post-World War II debt. AP Photo, 1953. Niki Kitsantonis & James Kanter of the New York Times: "In a defiant speech before the European Parliament, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras of Greece said on Wednesday that his government was determined to reach a 'viable agreement' with the country's creditors. But he also insisted that any deal should include debt relief, and emphasized that the Greek crisis was essentially a European problem." ...

... (Andrew Higgins &) James Kanter of the New York Times: "Greece's newly installed finance minister arrived [in Brussels] at a crucial meeting of his eurozone peers on Tuesday without the new bailout proposal the group had expected to receive." CW: Not sure why the balance of Europe depends on a guy who's been on the job for half a day. Couldn't the other ministers come up with a less draconian plan & present that? ...

     ... New Lede: "European leaders, angered after Greece's new finance minister showed up for an emergency meeting in Brussels without a new proposal to resolve the nation's huge debt crisis, late Tuesday gave the Athens government until Sunday to reach an agreement to save its battered economy from a meltdown." CW: So, no, apparently these "European leaders" cannot behave like adults. They were angry???? ...

... The Times has live updates of events here. ...

... Eduardo Porter of the New York Times: "Major debt overhangs are only solved after deep write-downs of the debt's face value. The longer it takes for the debt to be cut, the bigger the necessary write-down will turn out to be. Nobody should understand this better than the Germans. It's not just that they benefited from the deal in 1953, which underpinned Germany's postwar economic miracle. Twenty years earlier, Germany defaulted on its debts from World War I, after undergoing a bout of hyperinflation and economic depression that helped usher Hitler to power."

Peter Müller & René Pfister of Der Speigel: "The Greek crisis required leadership and a plan, but Merkel was unwilling to provide either. Although she likes power, when push comes to shove, she doesn't know what to do with it. And now she faces the wreckage of her European policy." Thanks to Unwashed for the link. ...

... Scott Kaufman of Salon: "A group of prominent economists -- Thomas Piketty, Heiner Flassbeck, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Dani Rodrik, and Simon Wren-Lewis -- published a scorching open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, warning her that if she doesn't 'provide the bold and generous steps towards Greece that will serve Europe for generations to come,' there could be 'far-reaching economic consequences across the world.'..." The letter, republished by the Nation (in English), is here. According to the Nation, "Global campaign group Avaaz organized this open letter to Angela Merkel on the back of a petition, signed by over half a million Europeans, demanding an end to the failed austerity program in Greece."

... Paul Krugman: "However things play out from here -- I find it hard to see a path other than Grexit -- the troika's program for Greece represents one of history's epic policy failures." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "From environmental and work force regulations to health care and contraception, congressional Republicans are using spending bills to try to dismantle President Obama's policies, setting up a fiscal feud this fall that could lead to a government shutdown. Even Pope Francis' planned visit to Congress in late September ... has added to the intrigue.... The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are churning out annual spending bills, dropping the bipartisanship that has long characterized the committees. The bills adhere to strict overall spending limits imposed in 2011 that Mr. Obama has already said he will not accept."

Emily Badger of the Washington Post: "... on Wednesday, the Obama administration will announce long-awaited rules designed to repair the [Fair Housing Act]'s unfulfilled promise and promote the kind of racially integrated neighborhoods that have long eluded deeply segregated cities like Chicago and Baltimore. The new rules, a top demand of civil-rights groups, will require cities and towns all over the country to scrutinize their housing patterns for racial bias and to publicly report, every three to five years, the results. Communities will also have to set goals, which will be tracked over time, for how they will further reduce segregation."

Dan Utech of the White House: "... [Tuesday], senior Administration officials were joined [link fixed] by Congressman [Elijah] Cummings [D-Md.] and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in Baltimore to announce a new initiative to increase access to solar for all Americans, including low- and moderate- income communities, and expand opportunities join the solar workforce."

Let Them Eat Cake. Lydia Wheeler of the Hill: "First lady Michelle Obama's signature school lunch regulations are coming under fresh fire from GOP lawmakers, who view impending reauthorization legislation as their best chance yet to dial back the controversial nutrition standards. Republicans are convening a series of hearings to highlight criticism of the regulations, a pillar of the first lady's initiative to curb childhood obesity in the United States. School officials say students are turning their noses up to the meals that cap calories and limit sodium. Republicans also assail the standards as executive overreach."

Robert Chalmers of Newsweek: Thomas Buergenthal, "the most distinguished living specialist in international human rights law, [who] served as a judge at the International Court of Justice for 10 years..., and [is now] Professor of Law at George Washington University: '... some of us have long thought that [Dick] Cheney, and a number of CIA agents who did what they did in those so-called black holes [overseas torture centres] should appear before the ICC. We [in the USA] could have tried them ourselves. I voted for Obama but I think he made a great mistake when he decided not to instigate legal proceedings against some of these people. I think -- yes -- that it will happen.'"

Campbell Robertson of the New York Times profiles Caddo Parish acting DA Dale Cox, who has come to believe "that capital punishment is primarily and rightly about revenge and that the state needs to 'kill more people.'... From 2010 to 2014, more people were sentenced to death per capita [in Caddo Parish] than in any other county in the United States, among counties with four or more death sentences in that time period." For more on how Cox exercises his philosophy of killing more people, see this New Yorker story by Rachel Aviv, which I linked a week or so ago.

Glass Houses. Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: "Bill Cosby etched his legacy in stone with a speech in 2004 that took black parents to task. It became famous as the 'Pound Cake' speech.... The Pound Cake speech ... was cited by a U.S. district judge as a legal justification for unsealing a deposition that was deeply damaging to Cosby.... Judge Eduardo C. Robreno said the speech, and Cosby's general posture as a 'public moralist,' made the deposition a legitimate subject of public interest.... 'The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter as to which the AP -- and by extension the public -- has a significant interest,' the judge wrote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Sandra Peticini of the Orlando Sentinel: "A Bill Cosby statue is being removed from Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park, a Walt Disney World spokeswoman said Tuesday evening. The statue was to come down Tuesday night after the park closed. Disney did not have further comment."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. In Salon, digby pulls together some journalists' recent observations to show how reporters feed off GOP oppo research & baseless accusations to paint Hillary Clinton as the devil incarnate.

Presidential Race

Nial Stanage & Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump for his comments on Mexican immigrants in the first national interview of her presidential campaign. 'I'm very disappointed in those comments, and I feel very bad and very disappointed with him and with the Republican Party for not responding immediately and saying, "Enough, stop," Clinton said in the interview with CNN's Brianna Keilar.... Clinton sought to link Trump, a GOP White House hopeful, to the Republican Party as a whole on immigration, saying 'They are all in the same general area on immigration.'" ...

... "Just Thinkin' about Tomorrow." Singing Backup -- Barack Obama. Brian Beutler of the New Republic: President "Obama is using his first-mover advantage not just to shore up his own legacy, but to set the terms of the coming presidential campaign favorably for the Democratic nominee.... Across the board, Republican candidates are committed to adjusting the status quo backward. They oppose the Iran negotiations, the normalization of relations with Cuba, and the very notion of an international agreement to curb global warming; they oppose administrative policies, like deferred action and overtime pay rules, that improve the lives of minorities and workers; and they oppose social legislation like the Affordable Care Act. Of the leading GOP presidential candidates, [Scott] Walker holds the most extreme view that the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage should be reversed and returned to the states. But all of these candidates oppose same-sex marriage... Taken as a whole, these issue positions will make it difficult for Republicans to cast themselves as forward-looking candidates." ...

... Hundreds of Ordinary Americans Join the Chorus. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Presidential campaigns have for decades fed talking points to surrogates who appear on national television or introduce candidates on the stump. But the [Clinton campaign's] effort to script and train local supporters is unusually ambitious and illustrates the extent to which the Clinton campaign and its web of sanctioned, allied super PACs are leaving nothing to chance.... But asking local supporters to use talking points could undermine the organic nature of grass-roots political interactions." ...

... Peter Beinart of the Atlantic does a good job of explaining Hillary's Bernie problem: she's tacking left this campaign & can't afford to alienate Sanders' liberal supporters, on whom she's counting to win in the general election. It's a quandary.

Charles Pierce: "... there is no institutional Republican party worth discussion anymore." Fox "News" is running the winger show in service of vanity candidates like Donald Trump & Ben Carson. ...

     ... CW: Pierce's view raises the question, does a political party's candidate have to be a professional politician? I don't think so (Dwight Eisenhower). No, I'm not comparing Donald to Ike. Pierce laments that two-term Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) won't make the cut for the first Fox "News" debate, & maybe that is terribly sad, but some of Kasich's sincerely-held beliefs (balanced budget amendment) are just as wackadoodle as Trump's incendiary & possibly fake ones (Mexican immigrants are criminals).

Claude Brodesser-Akner of NJ.com: "Democratic state lawmakers will soon introduce legislation that would force Gov. Chris Christie to resign from office because he is running for president.... State Sens. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), who are expected to co-sponsor the bill, said they are fed up with Christie's frequent absences from New Jersey this year in the run-up to last week's announcement that he's running for the White House. The bill would require Christie and any future governor to resign in order to run for president.... Christie has been out of state for more than a third of his second term and more than half of this year."

In a New York Times op-ed, Marco Rubio criticizes President Obama's normalizing relations with Cuba as a "Faustian bargain." CW: Marco doesn't outline what personal gains Obama was going for here; or he doesn't know what "Faustian bargain" means. ...

... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Tuesday pledged to bust the higher education 'cartel' in an economic speech laying out his vision for the country. Rubio promised to cut the corporate tax rate, shift the U.S. to a territorial tax system and curtail costly regulations that impair business. He vowed to enact immigration reform based on getting skilled workers into the country while protecting U.S. jobs and called for an overhaul to a higher education system controlled by 'a cartel of existing colleges and universities.'... The sum of Rubio's remarks were meant to cast him as a new voice in Washington, ready to challenge an old guard."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, speaking last week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said he believes a 50% tax rate leaves individuals 'half-slave, half-free.'... Paul said he believes that 'you have to give up some of your liberty to have government,' saying he was 'for some government.'" CW: So, not an anarchist. Excellent presidential qualification, Randy. ...

... ** Ed Kilgore explains why Paul's "philosophy" is so profoundly dumb: "Now obviously if you assume the very existence of a minimal government represents a grudging surrender of liberty, there's not a whole lot to 'debate' other than the point of which the 'slaves' are justified in revolting. What Paul is excluding by definition is the possibility that liberty requires government; that anarchy is not some ideal state of nature and that the untrammeled exercise of 'liberty' by some is in fact slavery for others. Thus Paul really does help us to understand the essence of 'constitutional conservatism.'...”

Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly: "Simpsons fans will find this turn of events nothing short of excellent: Seven weeks after tweeting that he was exiting the animated comedy, EW has learned that Harry Shearer -- the voice of Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Smithers and a flurry of other memorable characters -- has agreed to rejoin Fox's forever-running animated comedy." CW: Good news for Simpsons fans but bad news for the USA.

... Totally unrelated to Snierson's story:

... Brendan Prunty of the New York Times: "The P.G.A. Grand Slam of Golf -- a year-end exhibition among the winners of the four men's major championships -- was scheduled for October at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles. Instead, it will be moved to a yet-to-be-determined location." ...

What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc. -- Donald Trump, July 6

Trump's repeated statements about immigrants and crime underscore a common public perception that crime is correlated with immigration, especially illegal immigration. But that is a misperception; no solid data support it, and the data that do exist negate it. Trump can defend himself all he wants, but the facts just are not there. -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post

Beyond The Beltway

Bill Chappell of NPR: "In a required third vote, South Carolina's state senators voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from its prominent place flying on the Statehouse grounds. The final tally was 36-3. The House will now take up the issue, perhaps as early as Wednesday. In both the Senate and the House, a vote on removing the flag will require a two-thirds majority." ...

... Florida Crackers. News 13 Orlando: "Marion County[, Florida] commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to put the Confederate flag back up at the county's government complex. The flag was removed Thursday and temporarily replaced with a flag with the seal of Marion County.... Within minutes of Tuesday morning's vote, the Civil War-era flag was seen flying once again outside the government complex as one of the five national flags which have flown over Florida since European explorers first landed on its shores more than 500 years ago. The other four are Spanish, French, British and American flags.... Reaction by Marion County residents who spoke with us Tuesday was overwhelmingly against the decision to remove the flag in the first place." ...

... Iowa Crackers. Josh Hafner of the Des Moines Register: "Three Confederate flags flew from a truck pulling a Marion County[, Iowa,] Republicans' parade float in Independence Day parades in Pleasantville and Pella on Saturday, leading to harsh criticism from the party's state chairman and resignation of two Marion County central committee members who owned the truck." Worth a read. ...

... Gun-Rights Leader Blames "Liberals" for Massacre. Miranda Blue of Right Wing Watch: "Immediately after a white gunman killed nine worshippers at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, last month, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America started laying blame on the church's slain pastor, who was also a state senator, for supporting gun control and not allowing concealed weapons in his church. In an interview with Armed America Radio that was posted online last week, Pratt doubled down, claiming that the shooter, Dylann Roof, targeted a church 'populated by liberals' and pastored by 'Mr. Anti-Gun' because he knew his victims would be unarmed."

Bryan Lowry of the Wichita Eagle: Kansas "Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order Tuesday prohibiting state government from taking action against clergy members or religious organizations that deny services to couples based on religious beliefs. Among other things, the order is intended to protect religious organizations that provide adoption services for the state from having to place children with gay couples if that conflicts with their beliefs.... The order explicitly protects religious organizations that provide 'social services or charitable services,' meaning that it extends beyond the wedding ceremony." Via TPM.

Jack Healy of the New York Times: "At issue [in a case argued Tuesday before the Colorado Court of Appeals] was whether Jack Phillips, a Colorado bakery owner, had broken state antidiscrimination laws when he refused to make a cake for a gay couple's wedding reception, citing his religious beliefs. With same-sex marriage now legal everywhere nationally in the wake of the United States Supreme Court ruling in June, his case is being closely watched as a test of the boundary between personal religious objections and legal discrimination."

CBS/AP: "A federal grand jury has indicted a former Tennessee congressional candidate for allegedly soliciting others in a plan to burn down a mosque in Islamberg, a predominantly Muslim hamlet in Hancock, New York. Robert Doggart, 63, allegedly planned to burn a mosque, as well as a school and a cafeteria in the community. Investigators said he sought others to join the plan through Facebook posts and in telephone conversations.... According to court documents, Doggart is a member of several 'private militia groups.' He ran as an independent candidate for Congress in Tennessee's fourth congressional district in 2014. The Department of Justice pressed charges in Tennessee, where Doggart still lives." ...

... CW: You may remember this story about Doggart, linked here last week.

News Ledes

New York Times: Bonard Fowler, the Alabama policeman whose killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson provoked the hstoric march from Selma to Montgomery, died July 5 at age 81.

New York Times: "The New York Stock Exchange unexpectedly shut down trading in all of its listed stocks late Wednesday morning.... A trader on the floor of the exchange in lower Manhattan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that after the suspension began, traders were told that the problem was related to updated software that was rolled out before markets opened on Wednesday." ...

     ... Update: "Trading resumed late Wednesday afternoon, almost four hours after the shutdown began, less than an hour before the 4 p.m. closing bell." ...

... Politico: "The Wall Street Journal's homepage experienced an outage on Wednesday amid similar troubles at the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines. The newspaper's homepage displayed a 504 outage, though other sections of the newspaper's website, such as its Markets page, continued to function. The outage came at a curious time, just hours after United Airlines grounded all their flights across the country due to computer problems, and mere minutes after trading was halted on the New York Stock Exchange. NBC News' Pete Williams reported that officials do not think the glitches at United and the NYSE are connected, and it's possible that with the NYSE news, The Wall Street Journal's homepage is crashing under intense traffic."

New York Times: "As diplomats [at the Iran nuclear talks] declared they were entering yet another overtime period on Tuesday -- the second since negotiators blew past the supposedly final June 30 deadline for concluding the accord -- they sidestepped any talk of a firm date for reaching one of the hardest but potentially most consequential accords in recent diplomatic history."

Palestinian Live Matter. Guardian: "A teenage Palestinian killed by a senior Israeli army officer last week was shot in the back and side while apparently fleeing, according to medical evidence and multiple Palestinian witness reports. Mohammed Kasbeh, 17, was among a group of stone-throwers near a major Ramallah checkpoint when they broke the windscreen of a passing brigade commander's car with a rock. He died after being shot several times in his upper body by the officer."

Japan Times: "Former Toyota Motor Corp. executive Julie Hamp will not be charged with illegally importing a controlled painkiller, investigative sources said Tuesday. Prosecutors decided not to indict the 55-year-old American after concluding that her action was not ill-intended and considering the fact that she has already resigned from her job."

AFP: "US President Barack Obama welcomed the leader of Vietnam's Communist Party on Tuesday to the White House for historic but 'candid' talks marking two decades of rapprochement between the former enemies. Nguyen Phu Trong is the first general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the United States and the White House, and was given the rare honor of an Oval Office meeting -- usually reserved for heads of state and government."

The Commentariat -- July 7, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

James Kanter of the New York Times: "Greece's newly installed finance minister arrived [in Brussels] at a crucial meeting of his eurozone peers on Tuesday without the new bailout proposal the group had expected to receive." CW: So the balance of Europe depends on a guy who's been on the job for half a day. Couldn't the other ministers come up with a less draconian plan & present that? ...

... Paul Krugman: "However things play out from here -- I find it hard to see a path other than Grexit -- the troika's program for Greece represents one of history's epic policy failures."

Glass Houses. Justin Moyer of the Washington Post: "Bill Cosby etched his legacy in stone with a speech in 2004 that took black parents to task. It became famous as the 'Pound Cake' speech.... The Pound Cake speech ... was cited by a U.S. district judge as a legal justification for unsealing a deposition that was deeply damaging to Cosby.... Judge Eduardo C. Robreno said the speech, and Cosby's general posture as a 'public moralist,' made the deposition a legitimate subject of public interest.... 'The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter as to which the AP -- and by extension the public -- has a significant interest,' the judge wrote."

*****

John Parkinson of ABC News: "[Monday], after meeting with his top military brass and senior administration officials in a rare visit to the Pentagon, the president outlined a strategy, step-by-step, that he believes will be a winning approach over time. The president did not call for more bombs or more troops, but instead announced a shifting focus to counter ISIL's public relations machine while training local forces to sustain progress made on the ground there":

... Michael Gordon & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Seven weeks after their frenetic retreat from Ramadi, Iraqi security forces are preparing to mount a counteroffensive in the coming weeks to try to reclaim the pivotal western Iraqi city from the Islamic State, American and Iraqi officials say.... At the Pentagon on Monday, President Obama said the fall of Ramadi was a setback that had 'galvanized' the Iraqi government and accelerated an American effort that had been 'moving too slowly' to better train and equip Iraqi forces, including Sunni fighters."

Jennifer Rankin of the Guardian: "In a coordinated press statement, the leaders of France and Germany called on Greece to come up with 'serious and credible proposals' at Tuesday's eurozone summit consistent with its wish to stay in the eurozone." ...

... Justin McCurry of the Guardian: "The US treasury secretary, Jack Lew, told Greece's prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, and its new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, that Washington 'looked forward' to a swift resolution to the crisis unfolding in Europe." CW: Quit worrying, people. A finance minister named Euclid is bound to get both the numbers & all the angles right.

... Here's the Guardian's liveblog. ...

... Liz Alderman & Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "Germany maintained a hard line with Athens on Monday after Greek voters rejected Europe's austerity policies in a referendum, intensifying pressure on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to restart bailout talks and opening a rift with European countries that appeared more inclined now to consider softening the push for austerity. As Mr. Tsipras changed his finance minister Monday and laid plans to restart bailout negotiations with creditors, however, it appeared the jubilation that followed the no vote in Greece could fade quickly as signs of financial collapse become more evident." This is an update of the story linked yesterday.

Edward Krudy of Reuters: "A U.S. supreme court [CW: actually, the First Circuit Appeals Court] affirmed a lower court decision to strike down Puerto Rican legislation aimed at granting local municipalities the right to enter bankruptcy, but said excluding the U.S. territory's public entities from federal bankruptcy law was unconstitutional.... 'Besides being irrational and arbitrary, the exclusion of Puerto Rico's power to authorize its municipalities to request federal bankruptcy relief should be re-examined in light of more recent rational-basis review case law,' the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said in the ruling late on Monday.... While the 75-page ruling ostensibly vindicates the bondholders' position, it also makes a forceful case that Puerto Rico should be given access to Chapter 9 of the U.S. bankruptcy code, which deals with municipal bankruptcies." ...

... Peter Schroeder of the Hill: "A looming debt crisis in Puerto Rico is setting off a fresh fight in Congress, where lawmakers are debating a statutory fix that could allow the island territory to declare bankruptcy.... A 1984 update to the nation's bankruptcy laws left Puerto Rico out of the picture, apparently by accident. Chapter 9 of the bankruptcy code gives states the power to allow agencies or municipalities to declare bankruptcy, as happened most recently in Detroit."

Ed Kilgore on why Republicans won't support universal pre-K, a Democratic priority. CW: Ed should add this: Republicans don't even support universal 1-12 public education; they favor privatization.

Washington Post Editors: "It is alarming that 150 years after the Civil War's end children are learning that slavery was, as one Texas board of education member put it in 2010, 'a side issue.' No serious scholar agrees.... By distorting history, Texas tells its students a dishonest and damaging story about the United States that prevents children from understanding the country today. Also troubling, Texas's standards look likely to affect more than just Texans: The state is the second-largest in the nation, which means books designed for its students may find their way into schools elsewhere, too."

Patrick Temple-West of Politico: "Elizabeth Warren and her liberal allies appear to be on the verge of another victory in their battle to stop the White House from choosing financial regulators with ties to Wall Street. President Barack Obama was planning to nominate corporate attorney Keir Gumbs to fill a Democratic seat on the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, according to four sources familiar with the matter. But now that's on hold at least until August after activist groups aligned with Warren raised an outcry over Gumbs' work, including his advice to companies on how to dodge scrutiny from shareholder activists."

Joanne Kenen of Politico: "Advocates for better end-of-life care expect Medicare to soon announce that it will start paying physicians for having advanced-care planning conversations with patients -- reviving the widely misunderstood provision that gave rise to 'death panel' fears and nearly sank the Affordable Care Act." ...

... Norm Ornstein in the Atlantic: "One reason for the continued resistance to the Affordable Care Act is a badly distorted narrative of how it became law.... Thanks in part to the overheated rhetoric demonizing the plan, guerrilla efforts to undermine its implementation and disrupt the delivery of its services continue apace. Perhaps they will end as it becomes clear, in the aftermath of King v. Burwell, that the law in its fundamentals is not going away. It may help a bit if more Americans, including prominent commentators, stop repeating a false political narrative about the genesis of Obamacare.

White Men Rule. Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Sixty-six percent of states that elect prosecutors have no blacks in those offices, a new study has found, highlighting the lack of diversity in the ranks of those entrusted to bring criminal charges and negotiate prison sentences. About 95 percent of the 2,437 elected state and local prosecutors across the country in 2014 were white, and 79 percent were white men, according to the study, which was to be released on Tuesday by the San-Francisco-based Women Donors Network. By comparison, white men make up 31 percent of the population of the United States.... Prosecutors decide in most criminal cases whether to bring charges."

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News: "Former Attorney General Eric Holder said today that a 'possibility exists' for the Justice Department to cut a deal with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that would allow him to return to the United States from Moscow. In an interview with Yahoo News, Holder said 'we are in a different place as a result of the Snowden disclosures' and that 'his actions spurred a necessary debate' that prompted President Obama and Congress to change policies on the bulk collection of phone records of American citizens.... His remarks to Yahoo News go further than any current or former Obama administration official in suggesting that Snowden's disclosures had a positive impact and that the administration might be open to a negotiated plea that the self-described whistleblower could accept...."

Lindsay Dunsmuir of Reuters: "Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will return as a partner at the law firm he had left [-- Covington & Burling --] to become the nation's top law enforcement official, his new employer said in a statement." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maryclaire Dale of the AP: "Bill Cosby admitted in 2005 that he secured quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with and that he gave the sedative to at least one woman and 'other people,' according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press."

     ... Via Madison Johnson of the New Republic. (Link fixed.) Also via Johnson:

Marie's Sports Report

Men Rule. Judd Legun of Think Progress: "The U.S. women's soccer team defeated Japan on Sunday to win the World Cup. For their dominant performance, the team will collect $2 million from FIFA, the international body that runs the tournament. The championship prize for women pales in comparison to the $8 million in prize money awarded to men's teams who lose in the first round. Every men's team was awarded $1.5 million just for participating.... The U.S. women's team has won the World Cup three times. The U.S. men have never won the tournament." ...

... Jill Sergeant of Reuters: "A record 25.4 million TV viewers in the United States watched the United States beat Japan 5-2 in the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup, a new high for any soccer match televised in the country, according to Nielsen ratings data on Monday." Emphasis added. ...

... CW: I do hope the ladies don't embarrass our fair sex by complaining about inequality (the way they did about that little artificial turf thing -- see Legum). In the U.S., they're more popular than the men & they're being paid far less. Seventy cents on the dollar? Hah. They wish. Nonetheless, a proper sportswoman would play for the joy & honor of the game & would not concern herself with crass trivialities.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, today ripped the committee and Politico for printing inaccurate portrayals of e-mail traffic between then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in fall 2012...." Wemple goes on to show how Ken Vogel & Rachel Bade of Politico, Jonathan Karl of ABC News, & Bob Woodward all relied on Republicans to "abridge the correspondence" without seeing the e-mails themselves. Big surprise: these Republican sources deceptively elided e-mails to create false narratives, all in service of Benghaaazi! And the reporters, as Stephen Colbert famously joked, "just put 'em through a spell check and go home." ...

... Here's how it works: (1) Blumenthal to HRC: "Gaddafi was a monster." Blumenthal to HRC: "Love the blue pantsuit, Hil." HRC to Blumenthal: "de la Renta designed it. I just loved him. So sad he passed away." (2) Republican mashup, leak to Politico. (3) Politico report: "Exclusive! Secret Clinton E-Mails Revealed. Blumenthal to HRC: 'Gaddafi is a monster.' HRC to Blumenthal: 'I just loved him. So sad he passed away.'"

Presidential Race

Kevin Miller of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont made his populist presidential pitch to an energized crowd of more than 7,500 people in Portland on Monday night, pledging to fight for universal health care, free college tuition and a 'living wage,' and against what he sees as the corruptive influence of big money on American politics.... Although exact figures weren't available Monday night, staff at Portland's Cross Insurance Arena estimated that the crowd could have exceeded 8,000 in the roughly 9,000-capacity arena for an event originally planned as more of a town hall-style forum than a rally." ...

... Amy Chozick & Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "The ample crowds and unexpectedly strong showing by Senator Bernie Sanders are setting off worry among advisers and allies of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who believe the Vermont senator could overtake her in Iowa polls by the fall and even defeat her in the nation's first nominating contest there. The enthusiasm that Mr. Sanders has generated ... has called into question Mrs. Clinton's early strategy of focusing on a listening tour of small group gatherings and wooing big donors in private settings. In May, Mrs. Clinton led with 60 percent support to Mr. Sanders' 15 percent in a Quinnipiac poll. Last week the same poll showed Mrs. Clinton at 52 percent to Mr. Sanders's 33 percent." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... New York Times: "... this afternoon, [Hillary Clinton] will sit with the CNN reporter Brianna Keilar in Iowa. The interview comes as Mrs. Clinton has faced increasing criticism for avoiding questions on policy (the trade deal supported by President Obama but opposed by many Democrats) and on personal issues (her use of a private email account at the State Department and the fund-raising practices of her family's foundation)." ...

... Josh Voorhees of Slate: "Republicans have spent much of this year attacking Hillary Clinton where she appears weakest -- her trustworthiness and transparency -- without doing overwhelming damage. Starting this week, the GOP will shift its attention to where the Democratic frontrunner appears strongest in the eyes of voters: Her competency as a government executive. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Republican National Committee is launching what will be a sustained attack on Clinton's record as a manager at the State Department." ...

Desperately Seeking Debate Time. Steve Yaccino of Bloomberg: "A month from now, 10 Republican presidential candidates will walk out onto a primetime debate stage in Cleveland and confront each other face to face for the first time. If the debate were held today, Donald Trump would be one of them. Two sitting governors, a U.S. senator, the runner-up for the 2012 GOP nomination, and the first female CEO of a Fortune 50 company would all be excluded.... Campaigns who are in danger of not making the cut may try everything possible to improve their chances over the next four weeks -- taking extreme, news-making positions; dumping opposition research on opponents; inundating e-mail inboxes; and blitzing the Sunday television circuit, late-night talk shows, conservative radio airwaves, and cable news programs."

Paul Waldman: "... it sure looks like Trump's particular brand of vulgar straight talk has vaulted him to the top tier of Republican candidates, with recent polls showing him competing with Jeb Bush for first place.... This controversy has accelerated the pivot [other GOP presidential candidates] probably didn't think they've have to make for at least another six or eight months. So one after another, they've been asked about Trump and (with the exception of Ted Cruz) have condemned his remarks.... Trump's remarks were so vulgar that any candidate who wants to look like a reasonable person has little choice but to reject them. And if they all do it (or almost all), then at least for a while they've sidestepped what many of us expected to see during the primaries: a competition for who could talk the toughest on immigration." ...

... Katherine Krueger of TPM: "In a lengthy written statement Monday, Donald Trump doubled down on his recent remarks about Mexican immigrants being 'rapists' and criminals, making the additional claim that 'tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border.' Accusing his critics of distorting his words, Trump's statement did nothing to appease them after a days-long mass exodus of business partners and fellow Republicans trying to distance themselves from his comments. In the three-page-long statement posted online, the billionaire reality TV star reprinted the text in question from his now-infamous presidential announcement speech, which he says 'is deliberately distorted by the media.'" ...

     ... More from Hunter Walker of Business Insider. Walker interviewed Trump shortly before Trump released the statement. ...

     ... Here's the Donald's statement, in full, via Lisa de Moraes of Deadline. AND Philip Bump's WashPo "annotated edition." "We are sensitive to the argument that parsing Trump's words is like writing a dissertation on a fourth-grade book report, but Trump is currently one of the leading Republican candidates for president." ...

... ESPN: "ESPN has moved the site of its upcoming ESPY Celebrity Golf Classic from Trump National Golf Club to Pelican Hill Golf Club in greater Los Angeles in response to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants." ...

... Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Donald Trump reportedly retweeted -- and then deleted -- a tweet suggesting that Jeb Bush 'has to like the Mexican Illegals' because he is married to a Mexican woman. On the evening of July 4, Trump's account retweeted a post by user @RobHeilbron, who wrote '#JebBush has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife.' That tweet appears to have been deleted from Trump's account on Sunday." ...

... ** "We're More American than Him." MEANWHILE, the construction workers building a Trump luxury hotel on the site of Washington, D.C., old Post Office Pavillion are not amused. Many of them are Central American immigrants, some without papers. Antonio Olivo of the Washington Post: "... some of the workers at the site said they are now worried about their jobs -- while others simply expressed disgust over the opinions of the man ultimately responsible for the creation of those jobs."

... Philip Bump on why Ted Cruz is backing Trump: Trump has "very quickly built up a vocal base of support on this issue — a base of support that will be looking for a home if and when Trump bails. And Cruz will greet them with arms wide open.... It doesn't take much imagination to envision a scene a few weeks from now in which Trump, for reasons ostensibly beyond his control, announces that he's not going to run after all. And shortly thereafter, throwing his arm around Cruz to offer some support. 'I respect Ted Cruz for the view he's got,' Trump said on CNN last week. 'He was really out there and strong on it.'" ...

... Rudy Giuliani says Trump is "an unbiased, unprejudiced man." Aliyah Frumin of MSNBC: "The ex-mayor argued that while Trump could have phrased his thoughts better, he's still tackling the important issue of border security." Yup, it's all about inartful phrasing.

Adam Raymond of New York: Scott "Walker’s two sons, Alex and Matt, are in favor of same-sex marriage and his wife Tonette is 'torn,' she recently told the Washington Post. She went on to mention a married gay cousin 'who I love dearly,' in what sounded like an attempt to distance herself from her husband's opposition." CW: I didn't bother to read the WashPo piece, which was prominently featured on the site all day Monday; I guess Raymond has the "news" part of it. However, don't be fooled by Tonette's tone. ...

... digby: "This was a method deployed successfully by Republicans for years when their wives would tell the press that they differed from their husbands on some thorny social issue thus allowing them to have it both ways. It's cheap." ...

... Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Gov. Scott Walker announced over the weekend that Republicans were abandoning their plan to create new exceptions to the state's open records law, but for months the all-but-certain presidential candidate has been operating as if one exemption already was in place. Two months ago, Walker declined to release records related to his proposal to rewrite the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement and erase the Wisconsin Idea from state law. He argued he didn't have to provide those records to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and others because they were part of his office's internal deliberations. The Progressive magazine and the liberal Center for Media and Democracy sued Walker over those denials." ...

... Wisconsin to Return to Feudal Society. Walker won't oppose Magna Carta provisions because rights apply only to barons; wife Tonette "torn":

... Alice Ollstein of Think Progress on the other provisions Scott Walker, et al., sneaked into the Wisconsin state budget this past week. "Governor Walker and his allies in the statehouse used the 4th of July holiday weekend to insert several more controversial provisions into the massive document, which local press called 'a grab bag of pet projects.'... The other additions remain, including provisions that censor information about police shootings, scrap factory workers' right to one day off per week, and completely eliminate the state's 100-year-old definition of a 'living wage,' which now says workers deserve pay that provides 'minimum comfort, decency, physical and moral well-being.'' Read the whole post. CW BTW: I can't see where most of these pet "budget items" have anything to do with the state's budget. ...

     ... Here's the State Journal story, dated July 4. ...

... Patrick Marley, et al., of the Journal Sentinel: "Republicans who control the state Senate plan to insert a provision into the state budget Tuesday that will repeal the prevailing wage law for local governments. The law sets the minimum salaries for construction workers when they build roads, schools and other publicly funded projects.... The changes are strongly opposed by unions and Democrats, who say it amounts to a pay cut for the working class. Republicans say they would save money for taxpayers."

Transgender Huckleberry. May 2010, via Andrew Kaczynski:

Senate Races

Steven Shepard of Politico: "Democrats can take back the Senate in 2016 after a stinging, nine-seat defeat last year -- but their path is narrow, and any gains could be fleeting. The party needs to capture four or five seats -- depending on the results of the presidential election -- next November. While the 2016 map is favorable, flipping control of the Senate would require winning most of the toss-up races and defeating several well-funded GOP incumbents in pricey swing states that will also be crucial in the race for the White House."

Beyond the Beltway

Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "A proposal to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina's statehouse grounds moved ahead Monday after state senators voted 37-to-3 to advance the bill. Final passage on the bipartisan measure, set for Tuesday, requires a two-thirds majority in the Republican-controlled body, the Post and Courier reported. The proposal would then go to the South Carolina House, which could happen as early as Wednesday." ...

... "The Devil Is Taking Control of This Land." David Edwards of the Raw Story: "South Carolina state Sen. Lee Bright (R) began debate about removing the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds on Monday with a passionate plea for lawmakers to focus on same-sex marriage instead":

... CW: A commenter on one of the news items I read Monday wondered what "Southern pride" was all about. What, exactly, does the South have to be particularly proud of? It's a good question.

News Ledes

TPM: "Federal authorities raided Subway spokesman Jared Fogle's home early Tuesday morning, reportedly in connection with a child pornography investigation.... Anonymous FBI sources told [TV] station [WXIN, Indianapolis] that authorities were serving warrants at Fogle's home in connection with a child pornography investigation.... The raid comes a little more than two months after the then-executive director of The Jared Foundation, his childhood obesity charity, was arrested on child pornography charges. Fogle dismissed Russell Taylor in April and told WXIN in a statement at the time that he was 'shocked' by the 'disturbing' allegations against Taylor."

Washington Post: "Iran nuclear talks will push past an extended deadline set for Tuesday, a senior European diplomat said, but negotiations will continue in possible last-ditch efforts to find ways to limit Tehran’s atomic program."