The Commentariat -- June 29, 2013

Declan Walsh, et al., of the New York Times: " President Obama arrived in South Africa on Friday evening, saying he was bearing a message of 'profound gratitude' to Nelson Mandela, the stricken former leader, and that he would defer to Mr. Mandela's family on whether to visit him. After an eight-hour flight, Air Force One landed at Waterkloof Air Base, just a few miles from the Pretoria hospital where Mr. Mandela has been under intensive care with a serious lung infection for nearly three weeks, as concerns about his health have intensified in recent days despite government assurances that Mr. Mandela's condition had stabilized." ...

     ... Update: "President Obama will meet privately with members of Nelson Mandela's family Saturday afternoon.... [Obama] still plans to salute Mr. Mandela's life with a visit on Sunday to Robben Island, the prison where the iconic South African leader spent 18 years in a tiny cell."

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: "The best television coverage of President Obama's climate speech Tuesday wasn't on Fox, CNN, or even MSNBC. It was on the Weather Channel, the only network to carry the address live and to treat it as the major development that it was. Before Obama spoke, the network carried a special, 'The Science Behind Climate Change.' After the speech, the network ran more analysis, including a discussion of ways to reduce carbon emissions." This was all lost on Republicans. ...

... Jeff Goodell in Rolling Stone: "By century's end, rising sea levels will turn [Miami,] the nation's urban fantasyland, into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin."

(Camille Dodero of Gawker has the backstory on the New Yorker cover.)

Ah, Love. Maura Dolan, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "Same-sex marriages in California resumed Friday when a federal appeals court lifted a hold on a 2010 injunction, sparking jubilation among gays and cries of lawlessness from the supporters of Proposition 8. In a surprise action, a federal appeals court cleared the way, bypassing a normal waiting period and lifting a hold on a trial judge's order that declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional. The news came in a single, legalistic sentence Friday afternoon from the appeals court. 'The stay in the above matter is dissolved immediately,' the three-judge panel wrote. Gov. Jerry Brown told county clerks that they could begin marrying same-sex couples immediately...." ...

... Lisa Leff of the AP: "The lead plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned California's same-sex marriage ban tied the knot at San Francisco City Hall on Friday, about an hour after a federal appeals court freed gay couples to obtain marriage licenses for the first time in 4 1/2 years. State Attorney General Kamala Harris presided at the wedding of Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, of Berkeley, as hundreds of supporters looked on and cheered." ...

... Dorothy Wickenden of the New Yorker speaks with Jeff Toobin & Ariel Levy about this week's Supreme Court decisions. Justice Anthony Kennedy is "actually rather extreme in his views; he just has eccentric enthusiasms. Fortunately for the world, I think, one of his enthusiasms is gay rights," Toobin says:

Rick Hertzberg explains what treason is. He gets too het up about Kerry's use of the word "traitor," which I find appropriate. Webster defines traitor as "one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty," which is exactly what Snowden did. Webster's second definition is "one who commits treason." But that aside, it's good to remember what "treason" is as others foolishly throw the term around. ...

... Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "A bipartisan group of 26 US senators has written to intelligence chiefs to complain that the administration is relying on a 'secret body of law' to collect massive amounts of data on US citizens. The senators accuse officials of making misleading statements and demand that the director of national intelligence James Clapper answer a series of specific questions on the scale of domestic surveillance as well as the legal justification for it." A facsimile of the letter is here. Good luck reading the names of some of the signers. Looks as if Tom Hanks has become a U.S. Senator.

GOP Intimidates NFL. Sandhya Somashekhar & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "Earlier this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius disclosed that the Obama administration was in talks with the [NFL] to help promote [ObamaCare], which enters a new phase as advocates prepare to begin enrolling millions of Americans in health insurance this fall. On Friday, Republican leaders in the Senate issued a stern warning to sports organizations not to partner with the White House on an issue marked by such 'divisiveness and persistent unpopularity.' ... NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said [in an e-mail], 'We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about [the health-care law's] implementation.'"

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "No one will ever be able to say John Kerry didn't try hard enough. Whether he brings the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table or ultimately fails where so many have failed before him, Kerry seems a man obsessed. Currently on his fifth trip to the region since becoming secretary of state in February, he met Friday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, just 15 hours after the two had ended marathon talks that extended well past midnight."

Dana Milbank. This guy "is full of [sh]it." Milbank runs down Darrell's fanciful efforts to bring down President Obama & members of his administration with a series of fake "scandals." Definitely worth a read.

Julia Moskin of the New York Times: "Paula Deen's ... new cookbook hit No. 1 on the best-seller list at Amazon.com, as thousands of fans ... ordered the book months before its October release. But on Friday, its publisher, Random House, said it would not publish the cookbook, and would cancel a five-book contract it signed with Ms. Deen last year.... Its cancellation came on a day when Sears, Kmart and J. C. Penney announced that they would stop selling products, including cookbooks, branded with her name. Since last week, the Food Network, Smithfield Foods, Walmart, Target, Caesars Entertainment, QVC and the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk have decided to suspend or sever ties with Ms. Deen after her admission in a legal deposition that she had used racist language in the past and allowed racist, sexist, homophobic and anti-Semitic jokes in one of her restaurants."

Gail Collins: Texas Gov. Rick "Perry claimed that, in fighting for abortion rights, [State Senator Wendy] Davis, the daughter of a single mother and herself a single mother at 19 who got herself through college and Harvard Law, 'hasn't learned from her own example.' You will not be stunned to hear that Davis takes a different lesson from her story. 'The Planned Parenthood clinic on Henderson Street in Fort Worth was my sole source of health care for four to five years when I was a young adult,' she said. 'Consider a 19-year-old single mom who wants to be smarter about her family planning so she can go to school and move forward with her career. Had I not had those services available to me, I would not be standing where I am today.'" Collins illuminates what usually get short shrift in this story -- the bill was not just about curtailing abortions; it would have (or will) shut down most of the state's women's health clinics.

Local News

Kevin Murphy of Reuters: "A Kansas judge on Friday issued a temporary injunction on two parts of the state's new anti-abortion law, while upholding the majority of far-reaching measure that goes into effect Monday. Shawnee County District Judge Rebecca Crotty struck down a part of the law that forbids a waiver of the required 24-hour waiting period to be granted based on the woman's mental health. Crotty also struck down a part of the law requiring abortion providers on their websites to vouch for the accuracy and independence of the state's health department material on abortions." ...

... CW: not much of a victory for women and their healthcare providers. Pause, if you will, to think about the Kansas law. The mullahs of Brownbackistan scream freeeedom! for themselves, but they have no compunction about denying free speech rights to medical personnel. They don't want to just probe lady parts; they want to muzzle the professionals who do so honorably as part of their jobs. No matter how charitable you may try to be, it is simply impossible not to see these petty despots as dangerous, sick fucks.

News Ledes

New York Times: " Secretary of State John Kerry extended his trip to Israel a day on Saturday amid speculation that he was closing in on a deal to revive the dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks."

AP: Hasan Rouhani, "Iran's president-elect, called his win in national elections this month a vote for change and vowed Saturday to remain committed to his campaign promises of moderation and constructive interaction with the outside world."

The Commentariat -- June 28, 2013

Name This Shady Character & Get a Free Car Alarm (okay, just kidding about the free alarm). No Photoshopping has harmed this likeness:

NEW. How Stupid Is This? Spencer Ackerman & Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "The US army has admitted to blocking access to parts of the Guardian website for thousands of defence personnel across the country. A spokesman said the military was filtering out reports and content relating to government surveillance programs to preserve 'network hygiene' and prevent any classified material appearing on unclassified parts of its computer systems."

Declan Walsh & Rick Lyman of the New York Times: " South Africans awaited fresh word on Friday about the fate of Nelson Mandela as a heady blend of rumor and official reports deepened concerns over his health despite an assurance from the president's office on Thursday that Mr. Mandela's condition had stabilized. The worries spread as South African leaders prepared to welcome President Obama on Friday evening on the second leg of his African tour after a visit to Dakar, Senegal."

CW: Tim Egan pulls a MoDo & runs down a laundry list of President Obama's failings, real & perceived (by Egan). I guess you have to be in the mood for it; I wasn't convinced, and I usually appreciate Egan's takes on his subjects. For example, he contrasts an off-the-cuff remark by Obama with a prepared speech by Dubya. And he writes that Obama's climate-change speech "seemed more dutiful than alarmed.... To say the obvious: the speech will not join the words of Thoreau or Leopold in Earth Day tributes." By contrast, Krugman describes "a terrific speech" and "a very big deal." Let me know what you think. ...

... Paul Krugman: "... unlike earlier efforts to address climate change, [President Obama's plan] can bypass the anti-environmentalists who control the House of Representatives.... Right now [Republicans] don't seem eager to attack climate science, maybe because that would make them sound unreasonable (which they are). Instead, they're going for the economic angle, denouncing the Obama administration for waging a 'war on coal' that will destroy jobs." Krugman discusses the likely job shifts & concludes, "We really can invest in new energy sources, divest from old sources, and actually make the economy stronger."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Senators approved sweeping legislation Thursday to remake the nation's immigration system for the first time in a generation by spending tens of billions of dollars to bolster security along the U.S. southern border and offering a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. By a vote of 68 to 32, senators concluded a nearly month-long debate of the 1,200-page measure. Fourteen Republicans voted with every member of the Senate Democratic caucus to approve the bill.To note the significance, Vice President Biden presided over the vote and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) made the unusual request that senators sit at their assigned desks and stand to vote when called." ...

... The New York Times story, by Ashley Parker, is here. ....

... Dan Berman of Politico lists the Republican Senators who voted for the bill. All 52 Democrats & the two Independents voted "aye." ...

No. -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), when asked if the GOP could recover in 2016 if immigration reform dies

... Marco Rubio will be a formidable presidential candidate:

     ... Weaving a personal story into a string of patriotic platitudes works.

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that any immigration legislation will have to have the support of a majority of House Republicans in order to come to a vote."

Claudio Sanchez of NPR: "The interest rate on government-backed student loans is going to jump from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent Monday. Republicans, Democrats and the Obama administration could not agree on a plan to keep it from happening. Lawmakers say a deal is still possible after the July 4 recess. But if they don't agree on a plan soon, 7 million students expected to take out new Stafford loans could be stuck with a much bigger bill when they start paying the money back."

Chris Christie is running for president on the Grand Old Straight White Men Party ticket. Noah Rothman of Mediaite: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie scoffed at the Supreme Court's decision on Wednesday to declare the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. During his regular 'Ask the Governor' appearance on New Jersey 101.5 on Wednesday, Christie blasted what he characterized as the Court exercising 'judicial supremacy' in overriding an act of Congress. Christie said he opposes gay marriage.... Christie vetoed a bill passed by the state legislature that would have made same-sex marriage legal in the Garden State, but insisted he would not object to a referendum being put to the state's voters." ...

... AND, like every elected GOSWMP candidate, Christie is clueless in more ways than one. According to Christie, the DOMA ruling "... was a bad decision, but it has no effect on New Jersey at all...." Actually, that's wrong. Zack Ford of Think Progress:"Wednesday's DOMA decision probably has a bigger impact on New Jersey than on any other state. In the 2006 case Lewis v. Harris, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the state's constitution guarantees 'every statutory right and benefit conferred to heterosexual couples through civil marriage.' The Court left it up to the legislature to determine how those rights are conferred, and lawmakers ... passed a civil unions bill. An investigation that concluded in 2008 found that these 'separate but equal' unions ... did not meet the Supreme Court's expectations, and a lawsuit is already pending to challenge their unequal status.... A state judge has already scheduled a hearing .. to fast-track Lambda Legal's lawsuit in light of [the DOMA ruling].... Full marriage equality is now the only way to fulfill New Jersey's constitutional guarantee of equality for same-sex couples." ...

... The "New" GOP. Awwwkward! Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: "Crusading against gay marriage, a timeworn Republican strategy to rally social conservatives, is out of step with polls that show increasing support for gay marriage, particularly among young voters. The court also put congressional Republicans on the spot by demanding a rewrite of the landmark law protecting minority voting rights, setting up potentially awkward battles with African-American and Hispanic leaders that would reprise the rallying cry in those communities last year over voter ID laws."

This is unprecedented, Congressman .... During the Nixon Administration, there were attempts to use the Internal Revenue Service in manners that might be comparable in terms of misusing it. I'm not saying that ... the actions that were taken are comparable, but I'm just saying, you know, that the misuse of the -- causing a distrust of the system occurred some time ago. But this is unprecedented. -- IRS Inspector General Russell George, during Congressional testimony earlier this month ...

... Tamara Keith of NPR: "Changing its story. Walking it back. Clarifying. Whatever you call it, the IRS inspector general now has a different account of what investigators knew about the ideologies of the groups that underwent extra scrutiny as they sought tax-exempt status." Get this: "On Tuesday the spokeswoman said the treatment of progressive groups was outside the scope of the audit requested by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif." Now, in a series of walkbacks, the IG & his spokesperson are saying that the instructions on the "Be on the Lookout" (BOLO) pages were different for "progressive" & "tea party." [Yeah, the "progressive" & "blue" designations were labeled "overtly political."] And, um, the IG didn't notice the "progressive" pages. And other bullshit. ...

     ... CW: Read the story. If you have trouble following it, that could be because IG Russell George keeps changing his story. Did I mention that George was a Bush II appointee? Did I mention that an IG is supposed to be non-fucking-partisan? S/he's supposed to be the person who guarantees the integrity of an agency or department & protects Americans from its politicalization. Instead, George politicized an investigation of IRS employees who had no political motives. This whole "scandal" was a Republican production from start to finish. And it is finished, except for some Democratic pushback. Back to Benghaaaaaazi!! ...

... Steve Benen has more details. Thanks to Haley S. for the link. ...

... Greg Sargent: "Congressional Democrats have sent a letter to House Republicans formally demanding that they call the author of the now-infamous audit on IRS targeting of conservative groups to come back to the Hill and testify under oath -- where he'll be pressed to explain why the audit failed to detail that progressive groups had also been targeted." Sargent also points out more of George's "misstatements" and "clarifications." ...

... Now This Is an IRS Scandal. Jim McElhatton of the Military Times: "Braulio Castillo broke his foot* in a prep school injury nearly three decades ago at the U.S. Military Preparatory School, which he attended for nine months before playing football in college. He owns a technology business certified as a service-disabled, veteran-owned company eligible for government set aside contracts.... [The hearing excerpted in the video below was part of] a months-long House probe into whether Castillo's company won IRS contracts thanks, in part, to help from a top contracting official and friend inside the IRS named Greg Roseman, who pleaded the Fifth Amendment when called to testify." ...

     ... *CW: According to Rep. Duckworth & other reports, Castillo actually twisted his ankle rather than broke his foot. His firm won IRS contracts, based on his "disability," worth as much as $500 million. Thanks to James S. for the lead:

Martin Finucane & John Ellement of the Boston Globe: "Boston Marathon bombings suspect Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev faces a 30-count indictment by a federal grand jury that charges him with using weapons of mass destruction and killing four people. The indictment alleges that Tsarnaev, who had been inspired by Al Qaeda publications, left a confession in the boat where he was captured in a Watertown back yard, saying, 'I don't like killing innocent people' but it was justified because of US government actions abroad." ...

... Michael Scherer of Time: "... embedded within the indictment are new details about Tsarnaev's alleged motivations, actions and the planning involved in the attack." Scherer runs down the details.

Michael Isikoff of NBC News: "... the former second ranking officer in the U.S. military is now the target of a Justice Department investigation into a politically sensitive leak of classified information about a covert U.S. cyber attack on Iran's nuclear program. Retired Marine Gen. James 'Hoss' Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has received a target letter informing him that he's under investigation for allegedly leaking information about a massive attack using a computer virus named Stuxnet on Iran's nuclear facilities.... Last year, the New York Times reported that Cartwright ... conceived and ran the cyber operation, called Olympic Games, under Presidents Bush and Obama. According to the front-page story by chief Washington correspondent David Sanger, President Obama ordered the cyber attacks sped up, and in 2010 an attack using the Stuxnet worm temporarily disabled 1,000 centrifuges that the Iranians were using to enrich uranium." With video.

Chris Hayes wonders why government officials are not declaiming against CNN reporter Barbara Starr who reported information of interest to Al Qaeda -- leaked by government officials. Starr's print report is here:

Eun Kyung Kim of NBC News: "The father of Edward Snowden acknowledged Friday that his son broke U.S. law, but maintained that he is not a traitor for releasing classified information about the government's previously secret surveillance programs. Snowden said he has told Attorney General Eric Holder through his lawyer that his son will probably return home if the Justice Department promises not to detain him before a trial nor subject him to a gag order. He also wants his son to select where a trial would take place." With video. ...

... Tom Hamburger & Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "Federal investigators have told lawmakers they have evidence that USIS, the contractor that screened Edward Snowden for his top-secret clearance, repeatedly misled the government about the thoroughness of its background checks.... The alleged transgressions are so serious that a federal watchdog indicated he plans to recommend that the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees most background checks, end ties with USIS unless it can show it is performing responsibly...." CW: now compare this to honest IRS employees trying to figure out if Tea Party groups were political under the terms of ambiguous Congressional law. Ain't corporatization great?

Ed Beeson of the New Jersey Star-Ledger: "A federal agency has sued former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine over his disastrous run as head of MF Global. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission walloped Corzine with charges that he violated his duties as chairman and chief executive officer to properly supervise the futures brokerage, which imploded and left in its wake the unprecedented disappearance of more than $1 billion in customer cash."

Ian Crouch of the New Yorker on accused murderer & (now former) Boston Patriots star Aaron Hernandez & the NFL's culture of violence. "...according to a recent report, twenty-eight N.F.L. players have been charged with crimes since the Super Bowl ended in February."

Local News

Man-splaining. Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) directly attacked state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) during a speech at the National Right To Life conference on Thursday, arguing that the state senator who filibustered for 13 hours to defeat an omnibus anti-abortion bill should have learned from her own life experiences as a single mother to value 'every life':

Rick Perry's statement is without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds. They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view. Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test. -- Wendy Davis

Rick Perry's remarks are incredibly condescending and insulting to women. This is exactly why the vast majority of Texans believe that politicians shouldn't be involved in a woman's personal health care decisions. Women are perfectly capable of deciding whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child, and they don't need Rick Perry's help making that decision. -- Planned Parenthood

It really takes some brass for this privileged jackass to not only tell women what they can do with their own bodies but also lecture them on the lessons they should take from their own life experience. -- Digby

... Gail Collins: "Texas is a state with one of the nation's highest teenage motherhood rates, where a majority of women who give birth are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid. So, naturally, its political leaders have declared war against the right of women to choose whether or not they want to be pregnant. Funding for family planning has been slashed. This month, Gov. Rick Perry tried to pass a new law that would have shut down almost all the abortion clinics in the state, under the guise of expanded health and safety requirements. Huge crowds showed up to protest! ...A few years back, Davis told me about an incident during a debate when she had asked a veteran Republican a question about a pending bill. Dodging her query, he said: 'I have trouble hearing women's voices.' I guess they can hear her now." ...

... Stephen Webster of Raw Story: "Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, said he hopes that Sen. Wendy Davis (D), who conducted a 10-hour filibuster against a bill that would close all but five abortion clinics in the state and ban all abortions after 20 weeks, will run for statewide office.... Hinojosa said she would likely win a bid for the governor's office thanks to her marathon filibuster." ...

... Markos Moulitsas: "Davis wants to run for governor, the only question is whether she'll be able to rally a big enough movement to propel her in what would undoubtedly be a tough battle."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A Yemeni detainee who was found dead last year at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, committed suicide by taking an overdose of psychiatric medication, according to a military report made public on Friday. The 79-page report found that the detainee, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, had hoarded medication prescribed for mental illness and died after ingesting two dozen capsules of a drug known as Invega, confirming a

Boston Globe: "Former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez, already facing charges in a murder last week in North Attleborough, is also being investigated in connection with a July 2012 double murder in Boston, according to two law enforcement officials.... The two officials ... said investigators now believe that Odin Lloyd, the man Hernandez is charged with killing in a North Attleborough industrial park June 17, may have had information about Hernandez's role in the slayings of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado."

Reuters: "A senior Vatican cleric suspected of trying to help rich friends bring millions of euros into Italy illegally was arrested on Friday as part of an investigation into the Vatican bank, police sources and his lawyer said. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, worked as a senior accountant in the Vatican's financial administration and is already involved in another investigation by magistrates in southern Italy.... Also arrested in the investigation were a member of Italy's secret services and a financial broker."

The Commentariat -- June 27, 2013

Glenn Greenwald & Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "The Obama administration for more than two years permitted the National Security Agency to continue collecting vast amounts of records detailing the email and internet usage of Americans, according to secret documents obtained by the Guardian. The documents indicate that under the program, launched in 2001, a federal judge sitting on the secret surveillance panel called the Fisa court would approve a bulk collection order for internet metadata 'every 90 days'. A senior administration official confirmed the program, stating that it ended in 2011."

Does it have to be humans? -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.), wondering if the Supreme Court ruling on DOMA will lead to legalizing bestiality

He's right. A court that has given corporations a right to vote and believes that life begins on the first date, is capable of anything. -- Dan Lowery, Reality Chex contributor ...

Edie Windsor, the plaintiff in the DOMA case, spoke to the press yesterday:

... Adam Serwer of NBC News: "Families headed by married same-sex couples will now be recognized by the federal government as families. Service members fighting for their country will not have to worry about their spouses being denied benefits. The same-sex spouses of Americans who are not U.S. citizens will not be denied green cards on the basis that their marriages don't count. Kennedy's opinion striking down DOMA applies to states where same-sex marriage is already legal. But Kennedy's reasoning, that same-sex marriage bans violate Americans' constitutional right to equal protection under the law, could easily be applied to state bans on same-sex marriage as well. That fact was not lost on the rest of the conservative bloc, which treated the decision as a tragedy of epic proportions." CW: not sure why we're delicately calling the opponents of marriage equality "conservatives"; after all, many conservatives favor same-sex marriage. Isn't "homophobes" or "bigots" more apt? ...

My personal belief, but I'm speaking as a president as opposed to a lawyer, is that if you've been married in Massachusetts and you move someplace else -- you're still married, and under federal law you should be able to obtain benefits. -- President Obama, today, on the DOMA ruling

... Richard Socarides of the New Yorker: Justice "Kennedy suggested that laws distinguishing people on the basis of sexual orientation needed to be subjected to 'careful consideration' when 'determining whether a law is motivated by an improper animus or purpose.' This is not quite the standard of 'heightened scrutiny' that some were hoping for, but in terms of gay-rights jurisprudence it is new and important." ...

... Emma Dumain of Roll Call: "House Democrats ripped GOP leadership Wednesday for spending millions defending the Defense of Marriage Act after the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that it violated the Constitution. House Democrats said the GOP spent $2.3 million on outside lawyers after Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the Justice Department would no longer defend DOMA in court. They also noted that the Congressional Budget Office has scored repealing DOMA as reducing the deficit by $450 million a year." CW: now, there's a scandal for you, Darrell. You should investigate. ...

... Boehner Backfire. Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon: "... by hiring the best Supreme Court lawyer money can buy [$900/hour], Boehner helped ensure that the court ruled squarely on the merits of the law, and thus reject DOMA, instead of getting bogged down in procedural questions and possibly even tossing the case out on standing grounds." ...

Marriage was created by the hand of God. No man, not even a Supreme Court, can undo what a holy God has instituted. -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (RTP-Minn), Bible-thumping expert, reacting to the DOMA decision

Jacob had two wives.... Esau, Jacob's older brother, had three wives. David had at least five wives and countless fecund concubines. The wise King Solomon had 'seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines.' Even Moses had a second, Cushite wife, and God had his back, punishing Moses's siblings, Miriam and Aaron, for speaking out against the marriage. In Deuteronomy, there is even a legal provision for how to split up the inheritance between sons born to two wives, rather than to a wife (isha, in Hebrew) and a handmaiden (pilegesh). -- Julia Joffe of The New Republic

... Jake Sherman & Ginger Gibson of Politico: "Congressional Republican leaders are speaking with resounding unity: the same-sex marriage fight is ending on Capitol Hill. While conservative rank-and-file want to continue the fight that has, in part, defined the Republican Party for much of the last few decades, leadership is eager to shift it to state capitals across the country."

** E. J. Dionne: "In the wake of this week's decision gutting the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, its actions must now be viewed through the prism of the conservative movement's five-decade-long quest for power.... On issues directly related to political and economic influence, the court's conservative majority is operating as a political faction, determined to shape a future in which progressives will find themselves at a disadvantage.... The marriage rulings ... should not distract from the arrogance of power displayed Tuesday in Shelby County v. Holder. Chief Justice John Roberts's opinion involved little constitutional analysis. He simply substituted the court's judgment for Congress’s.... And in other recent cases, the court has weakened the capacity of Americans to take on corporate power. The conservative majority seems determined to bring us back to the Gilded Age."

Ed Kilgore: "Many political observers from both sides of the partisan barricades are genuinely puzzled that so many congressional Republicans seem willing, even eager, to court 'demographic disaster' by opposing comprehensive immigration reform and thus reinforcing their party's unsavory image among Latinos and Asian-Americans.... [It is because] a lot of Republicans in and out of Congress don't buy the basic premise that improved performance among minority voters is the best and only path to majority status. And a lot of them are reading, or are being influenced indirectly by, Sean Trende's series of analytical columns at RealClearPolitics suggesting that the more obvious route to a Republican majority, at least over the next couple of decades, is to intensify the GOP's appeal to white voters...."

It's a pain to click through, but might be worth your while to review the National Memo's compilation of "Darrell Issa's 5 biggest lies about the IRS" fake scandal.

Fareed Zakaria, in Time: "The larger question Big Data raises is, Should any government be permitted to use computer analysis -- even if highly accurate -- to observe, inform on, quarantine or even arrest people simply because they are likely to do something bad? That seems like a scenario from a horrifying sci-fi thriller. Yet here we are, very close to a real-world version. Is that compatible with life in a free society?" ...

I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker. -- President Obama, today, confirming that he has not been personally involved in extradition proceedings against Ed Snowden ...

... The Evolution of Ed. Peter Finn & Julie Tate of the Washington Post: "When he was working in the intelligence community in 2009, Edward Snowden ... appears to have had nothing but disdain for those who leaked classified information, the newspapers that printed their revelations, and his current ally... WikiLeaks, according to [his] newly disclosed chat logs. Snowden, who used the online handle 'TheTrueHOOHA,' was particularly upset about a January 2009 New York Times article that reported on a covert program to subvert Iran's nuclear infrastructure, according to the logs, which were published Wednesday by Ars Technica, a technology news Web site. 'They're reporting classified [expletive],' Snowden wrote. 'You don’t put that [expletive] in the NEWSPAPER.' At the time of the posting, in January 2009, Snowden was 25 years old and stationed in Geneva by the CIA. 'Are they TRYING to start a war?' he asked of the New York Times. 'Jesus christ they're like wikileaks.' Snowden's libertarian and dogmatic online persona adds to the emerging portrait of a shape-shifting young man whose motivations and decision-making remain in flux."

Local News

Rick Perry Must Control Women. Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Wednesday called for a special legislative session to convene July 1, reviving GOP hopes of passing a controversial bill to tighten abortion restrictions just hours after it was stymied." ...

... Karen Tumulty & Morgan Smith of the Washington Post on Wendy Davis's epic filibuster. ...

... Nora Bricker of The New Republic: Wendy Davis didn't do it alone.

News Ledes

Orlando Sentinel: "Jurors this afternoon heard more testimony from a crucial state witness in the George Zimmerman murder trial: A young South Florida woman who was on the phone with 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in the moments before his shooting.... The key witness, 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel, gave a dramatic account of Trayvon's killing on Wednesday, followed by at-times-contentious cross examination by defense attorney Don West, which continued for several hours today."

ESPN: Former New England Patriot "Aaron Hernandez has been charged with murdering his friend after the two had a dispute during a trip to a nightclub. Hernandez was arrested Wednesday and charged with the first-degree murder of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, a semi-pro football player whose body was found in an industrial park about a mile from the former New England Patriots tight end's home." ...

... Boston Globe: "Police on Wednesday found .45-caliber bullets in a condo rented by former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and in a car linked to him, the same caliber ammunition Hernandez allegedly used to shoot and kill Odin L. Lloyd in a North Attleborough industrial park on June 17, a prosecutor said today."

Houston Chronicle: " As scores of death penalty protesters chanted, clapped and sang Wednesday, Dallas County convicted murderer Kimberly McCarthy became the 500th Texas inmate executed since the state re-activated the death penalty 31 years ago."