memeorandum: VA whistleblowers to detail retribution (Lauren French/Politico)

7:45 AM ET, July 8, 2014

Top Items:

House Benghazi panel may cost $3 million this year — WASHINGTON — House Republicans are planning to spend as much as $3.3 million for this year's operations of the special committee they created in May to investigate the September 2012 Benghazi attacks, a bigger budget than the House Veterans Affairs …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and The Huffington Post

Lauren French / Politico:

Benghazi panel ramps up — There are no Benghazi hearings on the House calendar but the silence doesn't mean the investigation is fading away. — Rep. Trey Gowdy is launching a special committee to wrangle a probe that's sprawled across the jurisdictions of multiple headline-hungry committee chairmen.

Rush Limbaugh:

Every Day is an All-Out Assault — RUSH: Where you been, Snerdley? Snerdley walks in here, brings me his Stack of show prep that he wanted me to see today, and he's outraged. Have you not been listening to this program? “More than half of privately insured women are getting free birth …

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and The Daily Caller

Barack Obama / Haaretz:

Peace is the only path to true security for Israel and the Palestinians — In an exclusive article for Haaretz's Israel Conference on Peace, Barack Obama says that the only solution is a democratic, Jewish state living side-by-side in peace and security with a viable, independent Palestinian state.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Fox News and Business Insider

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

Behind Harry Reid's war against the Koch brothers — At first, it seemed like just another example of Harry Reid being Harry Reid. — The Senate majority leader, whose unscripted attacks can veer into bellicosity and take liberties with facts, spoke on the Senate floor last October …

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Power Line

Richard Fausset / New York Times:

Mistrust in North Carolina Over Plan to Reduce Precincts — SHELBY, N.C. — When Alan Langley, a Republican member of the local elections board here, explains a new proposal to consolidate five voting precincts into two, it sounds procedural and well-meaning: He speaks of convenient parking …

Tim Molloy / The Wrap:

John Walsh Takes on NRA, Vows to Continue Piers Morgan's Gun-Control Campaign on CNN — “The Hunt” host says Vice President Joe Biden agreed with him that politicians are “scared s—less” of the NRA — Piers Morgan is gone from CNN, but new host John Walsh plans to continue his campaign for gun control.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and National Review

Dylan Byers / Politico:
John Walsh, CNN's new anti-NRA advocate

Discussion: Truth Revolt

Washington Post:

Sen. Robert Menendez seeks probe of alleged Cuban plot to smear him — Sen. Robert Menendez is asking the Justice Department to pursue evidence obtained by U.S. investigators that the Cuban government concocted an elaborate plot to smear him with allegations that he cavorted with underage prostitutes …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Business Insider

Yaakov Lappin / Jerusalem Post:

IDF strikes 50 targets across Gaza as operation gets underway — “We are entering into a long operation. This is only the start,” senior security source says of IDF's Operation Protective Edge. “We are preparing to increase ground forces on Gaza border.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Israel Matzav

Tova Dvorin / Arutz Sheva:
Thirty Rockets Fired into Israel in Ten Minutes

Discussion: Truth Revolt and Israel Matzav

Jordan Michael Smith / New York Times:

The Letters That Warren G. Harding's Family Didn't Want You to See — Warren G. Harding, right, perhaps the worst chief executive in U.S. history, and Carrie Fulton Phillips, his longtime mistress and sexy pen pal. — Left: the Calvin H. Topliff family. Right: the Ohio History Connection.

Discussion: Roger Ailes

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

Holly Fisher: Public Enemy Number 310,345,204 — This image — which features an American woman named Holly Fisher and an international terrorist named Sherafiyah Lewthwaite — has been doing the rounds on Lefty Twitter: — “Explain the difference”? With pleasure.

Discussion: Independent Journal Review

Lauren French / Politico:

VA whistleblowers to detail retribution — House lawmakers will hear testimony on Tuesday from whistleblowers who accuse the Department of Veterans Affairs of retaliating against them for exposing shoddy medical care. — The VA would often force whistleblowers into administrative leave …

Discussion: Truth Revolt and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Associated Press:

AP Sources: Border Policy Requests to Come Later — President Barack Obama is holding off for now on seeking new legal authority to send unaccompanied migrant kids back home faster from the Southern border, following criticism that the administration's planned changes were too harsh.

Discussion: Power Line

Chris Mooney / Mother Jones:

Forget Red State, Blue State: Is Your State “Tight” or “Loose”? — A new theory about the cultures of different regions could go a long way toward explaining why the United States is so polarized. — It is obvious to anyone who has traveled around the United States that cultural assumptions, behaviors, and norms vary widely.

Discussion: BillMoyers.com

Charles P. Pierce / Esquire:

THE STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN TEXAS IS NOW THE CRAZIEST IN AMERICA — It seems almost pointless to mention this but there is simply no state Democratic party in any of the 50 states that is so clearly, obviously demented. … Getty Images — If you want to see the clearest symptoms …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Hullabaloo, Booman Tribune, American Prospect and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Peter Nickeas / Chicago Tribune:

Fourth of July weekend toll: 82 shot, 14 of them fatally, in Chicago — For 10 minutes, it seemed like the shooting was everywhere in the South Chicago neighborhood. — It started when someone shot and wounded a couple, then two people fired at the shooter, then there was a chase …

Discussion: CNN, abc7chicago.com, Chicago Sun Times, Truth Revolt, Mashable, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Twitchy and Independent Journal Review

Christopher Dickey / The Daily Beast:

ISIS Is About to Destroy Biblical History in Iraq — Iraqi antiquities officials are calling on the Obama administration to save Nineveh and other sites around jihadist-occupied Mosul. But are drone strikes really the answer? — PARIS — More than two and a half millennia ago …

Discussion: The Shadowland Journal, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, American Spectator, Lawfare, Israel Matzav and Hot Air

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

No one is reading ‘Hard Choices,’ either. — By now, the poor sales of Hillary Clinton's new book “Hard Choices” are well-documented. (Relatively poor, we will add, given the complex topography of bookselling.) — But another metric came to our attention this weekend which allows us …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Independent Journal Review, The Daily Caller, Hot Air, National Review, Guardian and Politico

ThinkProgress:

Fox News Advises Women To Ditch Feminism, Offers Tips To ‘Keep Your Husband Happy’ — “When did it happen when men and husbands became doormats?” Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy asked a guest on Monday morning in a segment Fox News called, “Husband Appreciation: Sage Advice For Wives.”

Discussion: Daily Kos and addictinginfo.org

Politico:

Eric Cantor seeks financial help — Eric Cantor's stunning primary defeat is leaving his campaign in a financial bind. — The Virginia Republican's political operation has asked his House GOP colleagues to cut checks so he can wind down his once-powerful campaign committee …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Kimberly Hefling / ABC News:

NEA Wants Duncan's Resignation — The nation's largest teachers' union wants Education Secretary Arne Duncan to quit. — Delegates of the National Education Association adopted a business item July 4 at its annual convention in Denver that called for his resignation.

Discussion: CNN