memeorandum: IDF soldier feared kidnapped (Yaakov Lappin/Jerusalem Post)

10:10 AM ET, August 1, 2014

Top Items:

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is a rising Republican power in House, as well as a whip — The beginning of the collapse of House Speaker John A. Boehner's border bill came Wednesday evening, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gathered more than a dozen House Republicans at his office in the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill.

Discussion: Prairie Weather

Politico:
House GOP in disarray: Border fight delays recess

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Daily Kos, The Texas Observer, The Hill, OnPolitics, Guardian and Weekly Standard

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:
Senate sends highway bill to Obama

Discussion: Booman Tribune and Daily Kos

New York Times:
Rebellion Inside G.O.P. Scuttles Vote on Border Bill

Discussion: Guardian, Hinterland Gazette, The Daily Caller, Speaker.gov and Outside the Beltway

Sarah Smith / Politico:
Rep. Chris Van Hollen: ‘Speaker Cruz’

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Washington Post:
House GOP leaders spike border bill rather than see it defeated

Discussion: Hot Air, Townhall.com and RedState

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
House GOP Abandons Border Crisis Bill Amid Conservative Opposition

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Daily Kos and Washington Monthly

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:
House cancels border vote

Discussion: Politico, Roll Call, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog and Trail Blazers Blog

Bureau of Labor Statistics:

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — JULY 2014 — Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 209,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail trade, and construction.

Discussion: National Review, Outside the Beltway, Campaign for America's Future, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo and Wall Street Journal

Lucia Mutikani / Reuters:

U.S. job growth cools, unemployment rate rises to 6.2 percent — (Reuters) - U.S. job growth slowed more than expected in July and an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate pointed to some slack in the labor market that could give the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Derek Thompson / The Atlantic Online:

For Jobs, 2014 Has Been the Best Year of the Recovery—By Far — Here's a graph to make you feel better about the direction of the economy — Today's jobs report fits my Boring Economy theory that month-to-month gyrations have obscured a safely cruising, slow-and-steady recovery.

Discussion: New York Times and Wall Street Journal

Mark Sherman / Associated Press:

Ginsburg: High Court Won't ‘Duck’ Gay Marriage — The Supreme Court won't duck the issue of same-sex marriage the next time a case comes to the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says. — The 81-year-old Ginsburg said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that she expects …

Discussion: Shakesville, Washington Post and Joe. My. God.

kff.org:

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: July 2014 — Liz Hamel and Jamie Firth and Mollyann Brodie … Unfavorable Views Of ACA Increase In July — After remaining steady for several months, the share of the public expressing an unfavorable view of the health care law rose to 53 percent in July …

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, Washington Post, BuzzFeed and Weekly Standard

New York Times:

The C.I.A.'s Reckless Breach of Trust — In March, John Brennan, the C.I.A. director, was indignant when Senator Dianne Feinstein charged that the agency had broken into computers used by staff investigators from the Senate Intelligence Committee, which she leads.

Discussion: The Hill, VICE, Outside the Beltway, Little Green Footballs, Prairie Weather, The Daily Caller and The Dish

Greg Miller / Washington Post:
CIA director John Brennan apologizes for search of Senate committee's computers

Discussion: BBC, The Week, Informed Comment, Hullabaloo, NO QUARTER USA NET, National Review and Booman Tribune

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
CIA improperly accessed Senate computers, agency finds

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Guardian, The Week, Mediaite, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, Daily Kos, Techdirt, Engadget, Firedoglake, emptywheel, Balloon Juice, Hit & Run, New York Times, The Verge, The Hill and Boing Boing

Celeste Katz / NY Daily News:

Vice President Biden loves to skinny dip, says tell-all book — Naked from head to Joe? In ‘The First Family Detail,’ author Robert Kessler quotes unnamed Secret Service agents dishing about the private lives of Presidents and those they protect. — It's the Joe Biden you didn't know — and might not want to see.

Discussion: Fox News, Mediaite and CBS DC

New York Times:

Gaza Cease-Fire Collapses; Israeli Soldier Is Captured — JERUSALEM — A newly agreed cease-fire in the Gaza conflict collapsed hours after it came into effect on Friday with the Israeli military announcing that a soldier appeared to have been captured by Palestinian militants who emerged …

Discussion: Hot Air, Gawker and National Review

CNN:
Gaza cease-fire unravels; Israeli soldier possibly kidnapped

Discussion: Power Line, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Times of Israel, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, National Review and New York Times

Fox News:
Gaza crisis: 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire begins

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Patterico's Pontifications

Yaakov Lappin / Jerusalem Post:

IDF soldier feared kidnapped — Second Lt. Hadar Goldin named as captured officer; terrorists emerged from a tunnel shaft, and a suicide bomber detonated near soldiers prior to the suspected kidnapping. — A Hamas attack on IDF soldiers in southern Gaza, which occurred an hour and a half …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Elder Of Ziyon, The Jawa Report, Israel Matzav and The PJ Tatler

Charles Krauthammer / Washington Post:

Clueless in Gaza — alestinian Hamas supporters shout slogans against Israel during a protest to support Hamas and against the Israeli attack to Gaza strip in the west bank city of Nablus, 31 July 2014. Two weeks after starting its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, Israel has mobilized 16,000 more reserve troops.

Discussion: Israel Matzav, National Review, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air and Prairie Weather

Jonathan Topaz / Politico:

Eric Cantor quitting Congress Aug. 18 — Cantor previously said he would serve his full term. Getty

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

David Nather / Politico:

The secret George W. Bush book project — George W. Bush worked on the book in secret for two years, without a book deal, without dribbling a word out to Bush alums or other Republicans who would have leaked it in a second. As far as the outside world knew, he was just spending all of that time working on his paintings.

Discussion: The Crown Publishing Group and Balloon Juice

Sean Davis / The Federalist:

Halbig Shows How Leftist Wonks Just Aren't Very Good At Their Jobs — Another day, another liberal wonkblogger contradicting the government's position in the Halbig case. First we had Jonathan Gruber demonstrating that the plaintiff's case in Halbig was quite plausible.

Discussion: Hit & Run

Jonathan Topaz / Politico:

Don Young sorry for grabbing aide's arm — Rep. Don Young has apologized for grabbing the arm of a congressional staffer at the Capitol. — His response came after a photo and video surfaced of the Alaska Republican forcefully holding the arm of a congressional aide on Thursday.

Discussion: OnPolitics, Mediaite and Roll Call

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Bill Clinton's alleged talk of bin Laden — on 9/10/01 — The day before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, former President Bill Clinton purportedly spoke frankly about having passed on a chance to kill Osama bin Laden, according to a recording offered up by a former Australian lawmaker.

Discussion: ABC News, Capitol Report, Fox News, Mediaite and CNN