The Commentariat -- July 20, 2013

Mark Landler & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "On Friday, reading an unusually personal, handwritten statement, Mr. Obama summed up his views with a single line: 'Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.' That moment punctuated a turbulent week marked by dozens of phone calls to the White House from black leaders, angry protests that lit up the Internet and streets from Baltimore to Los Angeles, and anguished soul-searching by Mr. Obama. Aides say the president closely monitored the public reaction and talked repeatedly about the case with friends and family":

     ... The transcript is here.

... Charles Blow: "On Friday the president reached past one man and one boy and one case in one small Florida town, across centuries of slavery and oppression and discrimination and self-destructive behavior, and sought to place this charged case in a cultural context." ...

It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness -- an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. -- W. E. B. Du Bois

Substitute 'woman' for 'Negro.' Trust me, gentlemen; it works. -- Marie ...

Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog: David Brooks listened to the President's speech, & though he learned something he absolutely never ever thought of because, well, freeeeedom, he managed to mishear or misinterpret about everything else. ...

... By contrast with President Obama, we could have President Limbaugh. Thanks to Akhilleus for the link:

... Ta-Nehisi Coates in the New York Times: because President Obama has been repeatedly subjected to racial profiling, "it is hard to comprehend the thinking that compelled the president, in a week like this, to flirt with the possibility of inviting the New York City Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly, the proprietor of the largest local racial profiling operation in the country, into his cabinet. Kelly's name has been floated by New York politicians of both parties as the ideal replacement for Janet Napolitano, who resigned last week. The president responded by calling Kelly 'well-qualified' and an 'outstanding leader in New York.'" CW: racial profiling aside, the nicest thing I can say about him is that he's an A-No. 1 prick. No matter who you are, he's better than you are. Just ask him. ...

... Digby has more: Kelly's "dabbling in the neocon swamp completely disqualifies him for anything remotely associated with anti-terrorism policy. Remember: this is their credo: 'Anyone can go to Baghdad. Real men go to Tehran.' This person shouldn't be anywhere near a national police agency charged with monitoring terrorism. Who knows what his agenda is?"

Harriet Sherwood of the Guardian: "The US is to host talks with Israel and Palestinian negotiators in the next week following a breakthrough in the drive to revive the moribund Middle East peace process. John Kerry, US secretary of state, called the move a 'significant step forward'. The agreement, announced on Friday evening after four months of intensive diplomacy, fell short of a hoped for face-to-face meeting between leaders of the two sides."

Scott Shane of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Friday sharply and repeatedly challenged the Obama administration's claim that courts have no power over targeted drone killings of American citizens overseas. Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the United States District Court here was hearing the government's request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by relatives of three Americans killed in two drone strikes in Yemen in 2011: Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric who had joined Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; Mr. Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who had no involvement in terrorism; and Samir Khan, a 30-year-old North Carolina man who had become a propagandist for the same Qaeda branch. Judge Collyer said she was 'troubled' by the government's assertion that it could kill American citizens it designated as dangerous, with no role for courts to review the decision."

Matt Zapotosky & Justin Jouvenal of the Washington Post: "In a divided decision that will probably rile journalists across the country, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that reporter James Risen [of the New York Times] can be forced to testify at the trial of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who is charged with 10 felony counts in a federal leak case. The majority of judges ruled, effectively, that neither the First Amendment nor common law offer protection to journalists who promise anonymity to their sources from having to testify about them in criminal proceedings."

In case you missed Paul Krugman yesterday, he writes that "China is in big trouble." Economy-wise, that is.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Helen Thomas, a wire service correspondent and columnist whose sharp questions from the front row of the White House press room annoyed nine presidents but pried loose information about the workings of the federal government, died July 20 at her home in Washington. She was 92." The Post's slideshow is here. ...

... Thomas's New York Times obituary is here. The Times has a slideshow here.

AP: " Israel will release some 'hardcore' Palestinian prisoners as part of the new breakthrough by Secretary of State John Kerry in efforts to restart Mideast talks, a senior Israeli official said Saturday. The remarks by Yuval Steinitz were the first Israeli comment detailing the terms for the negotiations since Kerry on Friday night announced that the two sides will meet soon in Washington to formalize an agreement on relaunching peace talks that collapsed in 2008."

Guardian: "Venezuela said it was ending efforts to improve ties with Washington after the Obama administration's nominee for envoy to the United Nations vowed to oppose what she called a crackdown on civil society in the 'repressive' OPEC nation."

Reuters: "Trayvon Martin's parents joined celebrities and hundreds of protesters on Saturday in rallies across the country to express anger over the acquittal of the man who shot and killed the unarmed black teenager."

AP: "Five employees of an Italian cruise company were convicted Saturday of manslaughter in the Costa Concordia shipwreck that killed 32 people, receiving sentences of less than three years that lawyers for victims and survivors criticized as too lenient. The guilty verdicts for multiple manslaughter and negligence were the first reached in the sinking of the cruise liner carrying more than 4,000 crew and passengers near the Tuscan shore in January 2012."