NSA
NSA
The Overview
The story of Congress' legalization of the NSA programs. "To understand the current controversy, one has to return to the origin of the government's post-9/11 expansion of intelligence gathering, an effort that set off a vicious internal debate. For critics of the recently revealed NSA programs, the bitter irony is that they are now in all likelihood fully legal. This is the story of how Congress made them lawful." Marc Ambinder at Foreign Policy.
Correcting errors and misconceptions in media coverage of the NSA revelations. Kurt Eichenwald at Vanity Fair.
No, the NSA cannot wiretap calls without a warrant. "It appears that the story was not accurate and the NSA cannotwiretap Americans' calls without a warrant. The FBI said Nadler misunderstood the information provided in the closed-door briefing; Nadler walked back his assessment, and by this morning, CNET had effectively given up on defending its original report." Steve Benen at Maddowblog.
No, the NSA cannot wiretap calls without a warrant. "It appears that the story was not accurate and the NSA cannotwiretap Americans' calls without a warrant. The FBI said Nadler misunderstood the information provided in the closed-door briefing; Nadler walked back his assessment, and by this morning, CNET had effectively given up on defending its original report." Steve Benen at Maddowblog.
Lots of smoke, but no fire. "No evidence suggests that the worst fears of ... Snowden have ever been realized ... Snowden warned that the NSA’s accumulation of personal data 'increases ... to where it’s getting to the point where you don’t have to have done anything wrong. You simply have to ... fall under suspicion...' In a state with no checks and balances, that is a possibility. But even the American Civil Liberties Union ... admits it knows of no cases where anything even remotely Orwellian has happened. Nor can any opponent of NSA surveillance ... Several civil-liberties advocates, asked to cite a single case of abuse of information, all paused for long seconds and could not cite any." Michael Hirsch and Sara Sorcher at the National Journal.
Hey America, here's your elected oversight at work. "Less than half the Senate managed to show up for a classified briefing on the NSA’s surveillance programs ... showing the lack of enthusiasm in Congress for learning about classified security programs. Many senators elected to leave Washington ... instead of attending a briefing with James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, Keith Alexander, the head of the National Security Agency (NSA), and other officials ... Many lawmakers were eager to take advantage of the short day and head back to their home states for Father’s Day weekend. Only 47 of 100 senators attended the 2:30 briefing." Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.
But they might at least do something about contractors. "Among the questions: Why did Booz Allen assign a 29-year-old with scant experience to a sensitive N.S.A. site in Hawaii, where he was left loosely supervised as he downloaded highly classified documents ... The results could be disastrous for a company that ... had ... more than half its $5.8 billion in annual revenue coming from the military and the intelligence agencies. Last week ... Dianne Feinstein ... suggested for the first time that companies like Booz Allen should lose their broad access to the most sensitive intelligence secrets." David Sanger and Nicole Perlroth at the New York Times.
Why we're so fascinated with the NSA scandal. "Why are we so fascinated with this case? Why are some Americans outraged at the government while others are outraged at the leaker? Why do so many of us have such firm and passionate views about all of this? At one level, the answer is simple: Intelligence is a sexy subject, particularly in the post-9/11 era. And the surveillance program was a secret, so who wouldn't be interested? But this controversy taps into deeper cultural strains that go to the very heart of the intelligence community's role in America, and perhaps our maturation as a nation. The bottom line is that intelligence, as a profession, still does not sit comfortably in our polity." John McLaughlin at Foreign Policy.
Questions that the NSA chief should answer. John Reed at Killer Apps.
Edward Snowden
Snowden's leaks on NSA spying are a distraction from the real conversation. "The problem with all of these revelations is ... that rather than exposing potential harm, they are now instead bringing to light clandestine activities the NSA is tasked under law to do. Spying on other countries may be morally questionable to some ... But these actions are neither illegal nor counter to the Constitution. It’s entirely within the mission of the National Security Agency to do these things, and revealing them actually takes away from the focus on the agency’s more questionable practices." Hayes Brown at Think Progress.
Leaks
Snowden is far from the only leak that the intelligence community is investigating. "Government investigators are reviewing 375 cases of 'unauthorized disclosures' by members of the various intelligence agencies, according to a top secret report by the Office of the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community ... The inspector general's office also had nine separate investigations outside the leaks inquiries, according to ICIG chief Charles McCullough. The leaks of sensitive or classified information go back to November 2011. The investigations predate the recent disclosures of sensitive domestic intelligence programs run by the National Security Agency." Carlo Munoz at the Hill.
Middle East
Egypt
Egypt is beginning to get tired of the Muslim Brotherhood. "If you believe the polls, we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of Islamist dominance in Egypt. Two new surveys suggest Egyptians are losing patience with the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsy." David Kenner at Foreign Policy.
But turning to the military is one of the worst ideas out there. "As Egypt struggles to cope ... citizens are increasingly seeking alternatives to the current Muslim Brotherhood government ... Some opponents of the current Egyptian government are now looking to the military for help ... These pleas sound remarkably similar to those used by Brazilians, Chileans, Argentines, Paraguayans, and Uruguayans ... in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Their tortured histories provide powerful reminders of what can happen when people turn to the military as a country's savior ... Far from 'saving' their societies, these military regimes relied on political repression, torture, and state-sponsored terrorism." Colin Snider at Foreign Policy.
Iran
Iran's post-election report. "Last Friday, Iranians voted a surprising 'No' to the exclusionist policies of the unelected elite and chose Hassan Rouhani ... as their next President ... Rouhani won just enough votes ... barely above the fifty percent needed to avoid a precarious run-off in the second round. The election increasingly became a referendum on the current foreign and domestic policies ... The repercussions of this outcome are major, at least in two distinct directions: first, the Iranian nuclear negotiations with P5+1, as well as the ongoing power game between the Rafsanjani and Khamenei camps which can define the future of the Islamic Republic past Khamenei." Navid Hassanpour at the Monkey Cage.
Why Rouhani won - and why Khamenei let him. "Rouhani had a number of things going for him. First, his campaign was sharper than many gave it credit for ... Rouhani also benefitted from an unprecedented alliance between Iran’s embattled reform movement and the center-right faction ... Of course, Rouhani’s most powerful advantage was the bitter unhappiness of the Iranian people ... All this might explain the massive turnout on election day and Rouhani’s overwhelming popular victory. It does not explain, though, why Khamenei avoided the chicanery that plagued the 2009 vote and why he let the result stand." Suzanne Maloney at Foreign Affairs.
The implications of the Iranian election. "At the geopolitical level it is likely to harden dividing lines in the short-term because it will make it easier for the likes of Russia and China to support this ‘acceptable’ face of the Islamic Revolution ... At the regional-strategic level there will be little short-term shift in Iranian foreign policy ... However, over the medium to long-term there may be reasons to believe a carrot and stick policy towards Iran will yield fruit." Julian Lindley-French at the New Atlanticist.
How Rouhani views Iran's nuclear program. "The big question on every Iran-watcher's mind now is whether Rowhani may abandon his predecessor's hardline stance in nuclear negotiations. Though Rowhani's plans for the program remain largely a mystery, a fascinating speech he delivered ... offers some insight ... On the one hand, Rowhani argues that Iran should engage more directly with the West through diplomatic channels. On the other hand, he observes that Iran's strategy of slow-playing the West through negotiations while covertly developing its nuclear program has largely served the country well." Elias Groll at Foreign Policy.
Jordan
The continuous flow of refugees from Syria is taking its toll on Jordan's water supplies. "A perennial problem of water scarcity is turning into a crisis. Already ranked as one of the most water-poor countries in the world, Jordan now is forced to share its meager supply with an estimated 500,000 Syrian refugees, a human tide that has increased Jordan’s population by 10 percent in less than two years." Joby Warrick at the Washington Post.
Turkey
Despite Erdogan's concession, protests are still going in Turkey. "Protesters occupying Gezi Park in Istanbul have vowed to continue their two-week-old sit-in ... In the capital, Ankara, police were involved in violent clashes after protesters reportedly attempted to set up barricades close to the Turkish parliament ... On Friday Erdoğan met representatives of Taksim Solidarity and agreed to suspend plans to demolish the city centre park ... But his hope that the concession would end the protests, which have left five dead and 5,000 injured as they have spread far beyond the original focus of the park, appear to have been dashed by the protesters' decision to stay put." Peter Beaumont at the Guardian.
And so is the crackdown. "The Turkish authorities widened their crackdown on the antigovernment protest movement on Sunday, taking aim not just at the demonstrators themselves, but also at the medics who treat their injuries, the business owners who shelter them and the foreign news media flocking here to cover a growing political crisis threatening to paralyze the government of Prıme Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... The escalating tensions have raised the risk of an extended period of civil unrest that could undermine Turkey’s image as a rising global power and a model of Islamic democracy, which Mr. Erdogan has cultivated over a decade in power." Tim Arango, Sebnem Arsu, and Ceylan Yeginsu at the New York Times.
Politics
Abortion
GOP goes after abortion in the House and the states. "House Republicans plan to bring to the floor a measure that would prohibit the procedure after 22 weeks of pregnancy ... Beyond Washington ... the chance to limit abortion in the near future is very real. Republican-dominated state legislatures in South Carolina and Wisconsin are weighing bans ... which would impose the 22-week limit based on the scientifically disputed theory that fetuses at that stage of development can feel pain ... In Texas ... Gov. Rick Perry added abortion restrictions to the Legislature’s agenda ... Arkansas and North Dakota have passed even more restrictive bans in attempts to directly challenge Supreme Court precedent." Jeremy Peters at the New York Times.
Congress
Polarization is tanking Congress' popularity. "There’s a structural reason Congress is so much less popular than any other major institution in American life: It’s divided against itself. People often like their own representatives, and they even like the members of Congress from their party. But if you’re a Republican ... you’re angry because the Democrats control the Senate. If you’re a Democrat ... you’re angry because of the House Republicans. Periods of divided government give everyone a reason to be angry ... As party polarization begins to take off in the 1980s and then accelerate in the decades thereafter, the public’s confidence in Congress plummets." Ezra Klein at Wonkblog.
The Economy
Translating the latest IMF report on the US economy. Jared Bernstein at Economix.
Education
The education story in America is really two stories - with inequality in the middle. "Averages can be misleading ... The truth is that there are two very different education stories in America. The children of the wealthiest 10 percent or so do receive some of the best education in the world, and the quality keeps getting better. For most everyone else, this is not the case. America’s average standing in global education rankings has tumbled ... because of the country’s deep, still-widening achievement gap between socioeconomic groups. And while America does spend plenty on education, it funnels a disproportionate share into educating wealthier students, worsening that gap." Rebecca Strauss at the New York Times.
Elections
Markey leading Gomez in Massachusetts. "It doesn’t look like Gabriel Gomez will be pulling off a Scott Brown-like victory in Massachusetts: Democrat Edward J. Markey holds a solid lead over his Republican rival, Gabriel E. Gomez, as the two enter the final week of the special US Senate campaign ... This being a Special Election, it’s of course possible that Gomez could pull off a surprise on June 25th, but there’s no sign of that possibility showing up in the polls yet. At a comparable point in the Brown-Coakley race in 2010, Brown had pulled within one point of Coakley in the polls. That’s not happening at this point, and it seems that Gomez is running out of time to pull off a surprise." Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.
And the odds of a comeback are quite low. "It is difficult but not impossible for a Republican to win a Senate seat in Massachusetts in a normal political environment. And it is difficult but not impossible for a candidate to overcome a nine-point deficit in the polls at this point in the campaign. For a candidate to do both things – when the fundamentals and the polls both point against him — is more unlikely still ... Mr. Gomez’s odds of prevailing are remote — probably no more than 10 percent even under optimistic assumptions for his campaign." Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.
Gridlock is pushing top contenders away from 2014 Senate runs. "Both political parties are encountering a surprising problem as they prepare for next year's battle to control the U.S. Senate: Some of their top choices are turning down invitations to run for seats in a body with a reputation that has been tarnished by bickering and gridlock ... Recruiting disappointments complicate the 2014 battle ... Democrats have 52 seats plus two allied independents, while Republicans control 46 seats, meaning the GOP will need to pick up at least five to win a majority. In many of the states that are considered likely to be competitive, one party or the other has yet to see a serious candidate step onto the field." Janet Hook at the Wall Street Journal.
Scott Walker, 2016? "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker polls near the bottom of would-be presidential contenders ... But he's a conservative Republican who won election in a blue state, survived a brutal recall campaign, and now posts approval ratings over 50 percent. A budget-slashing chief executive and son of a Baptist minister who straddles the fiscal and social conservative camps. A proven fundraiser who has put his thumb in the eye of President Obama and Big Labor. He's poised to be the sleeper Republican presidential candidate of 2016." Beth Reinhard at the National Journal.
The Donald Trump/Romney campaign video you almost saw. "Real-estate mogul Donald Trump said Friday night that Mitt Romney's team asked him to appear in a 'commercial' for the campaign last year–but it never saw the light of day. The video, he said, was supposed to run during the Republican National Convention and featured Trump sitting in his office with an actor who looked like President Obama. After telling the faux president 'what a lousy job' he's done, Trump said, he delivered his famous line to the actor: 'You're fired!'" Ashley Killough at CNN.
Filibuster Fights
Do Dems still have the votes for the nuclear option? "It’s being privately discussed at the highest levels of the Democratic Party: The passing of Senator Frank Lautenberg has cast doubt on the ability of Senate Democrats to exercise the so-called 'nuclear option' and change the Senate rules via a simple majority. Here’s what this means: A very plausible scenario being mulled by top Dems is that the prospects for changing the rules may rest on a tie-breaking Senate vote from Vice President (and Senate president) Joe Biden." Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.
Fiscal Fights
The sequester storm is here. "Sequestration was overhyped and the deluge never came. But it may begin to pour this summer. The across-the-board reductions may gain more visibility this summer largely as big defense cuts go into effect. Starting in early July, the Defense Department will begin 11-day furloughs for hundreds of thousands of its civilian employees nationwide ... Some federal furloughs have already begun, but the onslaught of Defense Department furloughs—roughly 680,000 civilian employees in total—will take a more noticeable toll." Niraj Chokshi at the National Journal.
Florida
Foreign Policy
In defense of Syrian intervention. "Is it our responsibility to do anything about it? It is so easy to say no ... For the past five years Barack Obama has articulated a theory of what it takes to be a great power in the world ... 'With power comes responsibility,' meaning that a nation that wants to be a player on the global stage must exercise its share of responsibility to uphold the norms of world order ... If a great nation has the power to stop what is happening in Syria ... it must exercise that power ... The US has the power to decimate Assad’s airforce and heavy weapons and establish no kill zones on the Turkish and Jordanian borders that will provide millions of Syrians safe haven within their own country." Anne-Marie Slaughter at the Financial Times.
We're doing a terrible job distributing aid to the Syrians. "Lost in last week's news that the Obama administration would begin to provide direct military aid to the Syrian opposition was the fact that about half of the non-lethal aid promised months ago has still not arrived. That's raised some question as to how long it will take any new military aid to reach the fractured country. Administration officials acknowledge that only some of the aid promised the Syrian opposition this spring has arrived in the country. They cite Congressional notifications, the need to vet recipients on the other end, and the more mundane necessity to obtain and then ship the supplies they plan to send as the hold up." Gordon Lubold at the Cable.
Administration officials are planning a new round of nuclear talks with Iran. "President Obama’s top foreign policy aides said Sunday that they planned to press Iran’s newly elected president to resume the negotiations over his country’s nuclear program that derailed in the spring. But while the election of the new president, Hassan Rowhani, a former nuclear negotiator who is considered a moderate compared with the other candidates, was greeted by some administration officials as the best of all likely outcomes, they said it did not change the fact that only the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would make the final decision about any concessions to the West." David Sanger at the New York Times.
US-EU trade talks to begin in July. "A top European Union official says talks on a sweeping new free trade agreement between the EU and the US will begin next month ... Negotiations would focus on lowering tariffs and rules that hinder the trade of goods and services and is seen as a way of promoting new growth and jobs amid an uncertain global recovery." Associated Press.
Sen. Corker blocks Afghanistan war funding over 'ghost money' probe. "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is blocking millions in State Department funds for Afghanistan, until President Obama discloses details abut the CIA's decade-long effort to funnel cash to Afghan leaders, including President Hamid Karzai. The ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations panel has put a hold on $75 million in government aid to Kabul 'until such time as I receive sufficient information' on the CIA program, Corker said Monday." Carlo Munoz at the Hill.
GOP
The GOP effort to win Latinos isn't going well. "Amidst an effort to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill meant to help the Republican Party appeal to Hispanic voters, Republicans are ... demanding that legalized immigrants can’t get Obamacare, and in some cases can’t even get emergency care. They’re also considering a crushingly punitive version of the individual mandate, in which undocumented immigrants need to purchase private health care ... without subsidies, or they can’t even become legal residents. And they’re refusing to agree to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion in ... states where it would do Hispanics the most good. This is, to say the least, a mixed message." Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas at Wonkblog.
The crazy is still here. "Another Republican is accusing President Obama of secretly being a Kenyan man who forged his birth certificate in order to get elected President of the United States. This time the theorist is Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), chairman of the House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee ... At this point, the birther conspiracy is so thoroughly debunked that Republicans could accuse Obama of secretly being a Snorlax and it would be no less credible than accusing him of being a modern-day Manchurian candidate." Scott Keyes at Think Progress.
So is Rick 'Oops' Perry. "When it comes to geography, Texas Gov. Rick Perry may want to buy a world map. The former presidential candidate had a slip of the tongue while speaking about Benghazi at the Faith and Freedom Coalition ... On Saturday, the Texas governor voiced his concerns about the Obama administration and how they handled the attack at the American embassy, but he referenced the wrong country. While the attack occurred in Libya, the governor mistakenly said Lebanon." Lexi Smith at the Houston Chronicle.
Guns
Bloomberg is causing a struggle within the Democratic party. "Ever since the failed Senate vote on a background check compromise two months ago, Michael Bloomberg's anti-gun violence group has spent millions eviscerating Republican senators including Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Jeff Flake of Arizona for voting against it. But in recent weeks, the wealthy New York mayor has signaled a greater willingness to expand the attacks across the aisle by taking on the Senate Democrats who also rejected the bi-partisan deal. Although his tactics are increasingly drawing criticism from senior Democrats, Bloomberg has shown no signs of backing down." Michael Falone and Arlette Saenz at ABC.
Health
GOP: We're not answering questions about the ACA. "Republican lawmakers say they anticipate a flood of questions in the coming months from constituents on the implementation of ObamaCare ... Yet, Republicans believe healthcare reform spells doom ... They're also enormously frustrated that the law has persevered through two elections and a Supreme Court challenge and believe a botched implementation could help build momentum for the repeal movement. Some Republicans indicated ... they will not assist constituents in navigating the law and obtaining benefits. Others said they would tell people to call the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)." Elise Viebeck at the Hill.
But they will have to answer this one. "How much do congressional Republicans hate Obamacare? How determined are they to see it fail? ... For the first time, a constituency group to whom the GOP normally pays close attention—religious institutions—is asking for a legislative 'fix' of the Affordable Care Act ... If the recent past is any indication, conservatives will resist any such effort on grounds that Obamacare must be repealed root and branch ... Months of outreach ... by religious leaders have yielded no official GOP support to an appeal from a broad coalition of religious denominations to ensure that church-sponsored health plans can participate in the ACA’s health insurance exchanges." Anne Kim and Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly.
The post-policymaking party. "When policymakers wrote the Affordable Care Act, they couldn't prepare for every contingency ... Church health plans were not included as part of the eligibility for ACA exchanges ... Ordinarily, this ... would be approved by unanimous consent. After all, who wants to fight to ensure that church health plans aren't included in exchanges? It's a no-brainer ... All Congress has to do is alter the eligibility language in the law. Plenty of politically conservative religious groups, ... support the fix. And yet, it may not happen. Republicans want to destroy health care reform, not improve it, and have vowed to oppose any and all fixes to the Affordable Care Act." Steve Benen at Maddowblog.
Immigration
The one true question of immigration reform. "The prospects for immigration reform may turn on a key question: Are Republicans prepared to accept a path to citizenship that is not pre-conditioned on the meeting of hard border security metrics as 'triggers' for citizenship to proceed? There is no papering over this question. The answer is either Yes, or No ... In a new interview ... Marco Rubio — who is key, since many Republicans are taking their cues from him – tacitly admits this to be the case ... Ultimately what all of this comes down to is that Republicans don’t trust Democrats to make good on border security, while Democrats don’t trust Republicans to make good on citizenship." Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.
Immigration reform, meet Obamacare. "After spending years unsuccessfully trying to overturn 'Obamacare,' Republicans are now attempting to use President Obama’s landmark health-care law to derail his top second-term initiative — a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. Conservatives in both chambers of Congress are insisting on measures that would expand the denial of public health benefits to the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants beyond limits set in a comprehensive bill pending in the Senate." David Nakamura and Sandhya Somashekhar at the Washington Post.
GOP lawmakers in the House disagree that the Hastert Rule will be in effect on immigration reform. "'It's a classic challenge when the best interests of the party are at odds with the best interests of the majority of the members individually,' said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. He is close to Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders who want a major immigration bill to pass ... Some lawmakers say Boehner might allow a far-reaching immigration bill to pass the House even if most Republicans oppose it, with Democrats providing most of the votes. Boehner has chosen that 'minority of the majority' route on some less consequential issues." Charles Babington at the Associated Press.
Without Dems, Boehner probably won't have the votes to pass anything. "Is there a GOP-only majority? I really doubt it. There are 234 Republicans ... so if they lose more than 16 they will need help from the Democrats. It's possible that the whole GOP conference can be rallied ... but ... there are at least 20 Republicans who would only support immigration-bashing ... and also at least 20 ... who are pro-immigration ... The reason I've been saying that Boehner would eventually have to decide whether to move bill with mostly Democratic votes is because I don't really think he has another option. Not just for something that could become law, but for anything to get through the House at all." Jonathan Bernstein at A Plain Blog About Politics.
Dumbest talking point ever. "When opponents of a bill are reduced to talking about the literal, physical size of the legislation, they've completely given up on the pretense that public policy matters. If opponents of immigration reform want to debate the merits of the proposal, great. But focusing on pages and pounds is the absolute worst form of debate." Steve Benen at Maddowblog.
LGBT Rights
Sen. Carper signs on as the 51st sponsor of the ENDA. "The Employment Non-Discrimination Act now has majority support in the Senate. On Monday, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) signed on as the bill's 51st cosponsor. The legislation would outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity." Amanda Terkel at the Huffington Post.
President Obama
NSA is hurting Obama's approval ratings. "President Barack Obama's approval rating dropped eight percentage points over the past month, to 45%, the president's lowest rating in more than a year and a half ... For the first time in Obama’s presidency, half of the public says they don't believe he is honest and trustworthy ... It's the first time in CNN polling since November 2011 that a majority of Americans have had a negative view of the president ... 'The drop in Obama's support is fueled by a dramatic 17-point decline over the past month among people under 30 ... What's behind the drop? 'It is clear that revelations about NSA surveillance programs have damaged Obama's standing with the public." CNN.
And the Democratic attacks on the President may be exacerbating the decline. "When some Democratic partisans begin to criticize the president, that same voter may notice that something unusual has happened, and conclude that the president must have done something objectionable ... What our low-information voter might witness is a vigorous debate among Democrats about the N.S.A.’s programs and how they reflect upon Mr. Obama, while Republicans are largely staying quiet on the issue. This may reflect more negatively on Mr. Obama than if the representatives of the two parties were arguing with one another as usual." Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.
Prisons
Throwing children in prison turns out to be a horrible idea. "The United States still puts more children and teenagers in juvenile detention than any other developed nations in the world, with about 70,000 detained on any given day in 2010. And as it turns out, this is very likely a bad idea ... Juvenile detention is a really counterproductive strategy for many youths under the age of 19. Not only does throwing a kid in detention often reduce the chance that he or she will graduate high school, but it also raises the chance that the youth will commit more crimes later on in life." Brad Plumer at Wonkblog.
SCOTUSwatch
The Supreme Court ruled against big pharma. "The court is allowing the Federal Trade Commission to keep pursuing pharmaceutical companies for 'pay to delay' arrangements, wherein the companies pay generic manufacturers to keep cheap versions of drugs off the market. The case is FTC v. Actavis." Dylan Matthews at Wonkblog.
And in favor of voting rights. "In a surprise decision, the Supreme Court today ruled that an Arizona state law may not require documentary proof of citizenship from voters. In tossing out this requirement, SCOTUS concluded that this is at odds with federal law ... that allows voters to register by swearing on a federal form under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. This could have sweeping ramifications for the battle over voting rights that is underway in other states ... The decision 'strongly reaffirmed Congress’ power to regulate federal elections. And that’s critical.'" Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.
Lawyers cannot find clients by using DMV records. "In Maracich et al. v. Spears, a group of lawyers tried to use a state Freedom of Information Act request to get DMV records in order to find potential plaintiffs for a class action lawsuit against a number of car dealerships. The DMV acquiesced, the lawyers mass-mailed their potential clients, and the potential clients sued them, arguing this invaded their privacy. The court agreed with the drivers who were spammed." Dylan Matthews at Wonkblog.
Virginia
War on Terror
Wildfires
The most destructive wildfire in Colorado's history. "The deadly wildfire that continues to ravage Colorado Springs has destroyed 473 homes and damaged 17 – making it the most destructive fire in Colorado's history ... More than 34,000 homes have been evacuated and the blaze has burned 15,500 acres ." Gillian Spear at NBC.
It's just one piece of a growing trend. "Are wildfires in the Western United States getting bigger and more severe? There’s a fair bit of evidence that yes, they have been. And, ecologists and fire experts say, that’s not a fluke. Thanks to both climate change and shifting forestry practices, humans may bear some responsibility here." Brad Plumer at Wonkblog.
Government policies encourage people to build homes in fire zones. "There are all sorts of government policies currently on the books that subtly encourage people to live in wildfire-prone zones ... Certain policies appear to provide perverse incentives for building in these zones. State and local governments are mostly in charge of deciding whether to develop this land. Yet the federal government picks up the biggest piece of the tab for fire suppression and protection — now spending about $3 billion per year. In essence, homeowners have been building in fire zones and counting on taxpayers to protect them." Brad Plumer at Wonkblog.
International
Africa
Conflict brings measles back to the Central African Republic. "When fighting broke out late last year in the Central African Republic late last year, one of the poorest countries on the planet became even worse off ... One glaring example of the deleterious health-conflict nexus has been an outbreak of measles in Bangui. The national vaccination program broke down. So measles broke out." Mark Goldberg at UN Dispatch.
Asia
The great uprooting. "China is pushing ahead with a sweeping plan to move 250 million rural residents into newly constructed towns and cities over the next dozen years — a transformative event that could set off a new wave of growth or saddle the country with problems for generations to come." Ian Johnson at the New York Times.
South America
Protests in Brazil escalate. "Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a growing protest that is tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption ... The harsh police reaction to last week's protests touched a nerve in Brazil, which endured two decades of political repression under a military dictatorship that ended in 1985. It has also added to doubts about whether Brazil's police forces would be ready for next year's World Cup." Todd Benson and Asher Levine at Reuters.
Venezuela is an absolute mess. "Every day, Venezuelans wake up to find many basic staples missing from store shelves. The scarcity of toilet paper ... made headlines worldwide ... The scarcity crisis is profound. It's not just toilet paper that is missing. Soap, tooth paste, mouth wash, wheat flour, corn flour, sugar, rice, canned tuna, milk, margarine, chicken, certain medicines, and even the wine used in Roman Catholic Masses have all been absent from the shelves ... The government has concocted a system where despite fairly stable access to oil revenues ... they don't have enough foreign currency to purchase basic staples. For a country that produces hardly anything itself, this is highly problematic." Juan Nagel at the Democracy Lab.
Ecuador announces that its London embassy will continue to harbor Julian Assange. "Ecuador's foreign minister has said its embassy in London will continue to provide political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange ... Mr Assange has been staying inside the embassy for the past year to avoid extradition to Sweden. The Australian anti-secrecy campaigner is wanted there for questioning over allegations by two women of sexual offences ... Mr Assange, who arrived at the Ecuadorean embassy in the Knightsbridge area of London a year ago on 19 June, will be arrested if he leaves the building. Mr Patino said Mr Assange was prepared to stay inside the embassy for five years." BBC.
Economics
Legalizing prostitution increases human trafficking. "Legalizing prostitution has two contradictory effects: 'a substitution effect away from trafficking and a scale effect increasing trafficking' ... In countries where prostitution is legal, more domestic sex workers will enter the market since they no longer fear arrest or imprisonment, reducing the demand for trafficked sex workers. On the other hand, legalization is also likely to increase the overall demand for prostitution ... The question is, which effect is more significant? This paper suggests it's the latter. Using trafficking data from 150 countries, the authors find that 'countries where prostitution is legal experience a larger reported incidence of human trafficking inflows.'" Joshua Keating at War of Ideas.
Polisci
The Czech Republic: A case study in corruption. "Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas had a rough week. Last Monday, he announced that he and his wife were getting a divorce. In addition, floods continue to affect large parts of the Czech Republic ... Late on Wednesday evening one of his key advisers, Jana Nagyová, was arrested along with seven others in corruption investigations ... Most of those arrested have close ties to Nečas and his party ... The events, which have rocked the Czech political scene, are a fascinating case for political scientists studying corruption in East and Central Europe. Nečas has resigned his post in the wake of this scandal." Vincent Post at the Monkey Cage.
Science
Ancient Roman concrete is about to re-revolutionize architecture. "After 2,000 years ... Roman concrete—has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future ... Over the past decade, researchers from Italy and the U.S. have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) breakwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea. The most common blend of modern concrete ... a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can’t come close to matching that track record." Bernhard Warner at Bloomberg.
Symbiotic relationships are cool. "Example: the very awesome symbiotic relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes, and its “luminous symbiont” bacteria, Vibrio fischeri ... In addition to drawing you in with its charming (but deadly!) looks, E. scolopes literally sparkles. This squid species can bioluminesce courtesy of extracellular V. fischeri bacterial cells, which live in 'deep crypt spaces' in the squid’s light organ ... What’s even cooler: these symbiotic bacteria function as a bacterial alarm clock, helping to regulate the squid’s daily circadian rhythms." Holly Bik at Deep Sea News.
Awesome resonance experiment. "Based on work originally done by Robert Hooke and Ernst Chladni in the 17th and 18th centuries, the video demonstrates the modes of vibration in a metal plate atop a tone generator. When the frequency of the tone generator equals a resonant frequency of the metal plate, the sand covering the plate is forced into patterns along the nodal lines (areas of zero vibration) between regions of the plate that are vibrating in opposite directions ... As the frequency increases, smaller and smaller areas on the plate start vibrating opposite to each other, creating more and more complex patterns." Summer Ash + Video at Maddowblog.
A new form of matter? "Physicists may have stumbled upon ... a mysterious and exotic new form of matter ... Both teams were looking at a particle called Y(4260) ... By smashing together electrons and their antiparticle, positrons, the experiments produced large numbers of Y(4260), which lives for only 10 ^ -23 seconds ... The teams noticed that their data had a peculiar bump around 3.9 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) ... The teams have ... discovered something new, a putative particle named Z(3900). But the scientists are still not entirely sure what to make of it. One possibility is that Z(3900) represents a subatomic structure made of four quarks, something that has never been solidly seen before." Adam Mann at Wired.
The triumphant history of duct tape. Alan Boyle at NBC.
Miscellaneous
This strikes me as an awful plan. "A man was arrested Saturday for threatening to blow up an Albuquerque FBI field office. Brian DeMarco, 50, told authorities the explosives were folded into a burrito ... No bomb was found. DeMarco now faces charges of violating interstate communications and creating a hoax." WOAI News.
Whoa. "A Texas woman wasn't satisfied with merely fighting off a man who'd just carjacked her and two of her young children at knife point; she also ran the man over, so 'he didn't hurt anyone else,' she said." Taylor Berman at Gawker.
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