Becca Aaronson's video of protests outside Texas House after tentatively approving HB2
MSNBC:
Texas lawmakers are one step closer to sending a controversial abortion bill to the desk of Governor Rick Perry.
The Texas House voted 98-49 to tentatively pass House Bill 2, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, require abortions be performed in ambulatory surgical centers, require doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at hospitals within 30 miles of the facility, and require doctors to administer abortion-inducing drugs in person—rather than allow a woman to take it at home.
WaPo on the travails of covering the Middle East:
Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arabic news channel, has always battled charges of bias, both from government officials in the Middle East and from those in Washington. But on Monday, the bias claims came from an unusual source: other Middle Eastern journalists.
In an unusual episode, al-Jazeera’s reporters were kicked out of a news briefing held by the Egyptian military in Cairo after the shooting of dozens of supporters of Mohammad Morsi, the nation’s ousted president. According to an Associated Press account, the al-Jazeera journalists left the meeting amid chants from the crowd of “Out! Out!”
More politics and policy after the fold.
Huffington Post:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled Tuesday that his Democratic caucus members are becoming so frustrated with Republicans blocking President Barack Obama's nominees that they will again consider whether to invoke the so-called nuclear option to change Senate rules.
"I'm going to have a full meeting with my caucus on Thursday. We're going to talk about nominations," Reid said. He did not hint what he would do, but suggested his deliberations were far enough along that the sessions with his members would be decisive.
"I think Thursday, by the time the day's out, you'll have a better idea of what we're going to try to do on this," Reid told reporters on Capitol Hill.
Jonathan Capehart:
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” goes the saying attributed to Albert Einstein. Nowhere is that more true than in Washington. And no action exemplifies it more than the 37 votes by House Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
First Read:
Here’s a thought exercise on this summer morning: Imagine that after the controversial Medicare prescription-drug legislation was passed into law in 2003, Democrats did everything they could to thwart one of George W. Bush’s top domestic achievements. They launched Senate filibusters to block essential HHS appointees from administering the law; they warned the sports and entertainment industries from participating in any public service announcements to help seniors understand how the law works; and, after taking control of the House of Representatives in 2007, they used the power of the purse to prohibit any more federal funds from being used to implement the law. As it turns out, none of that happened. And despite Democratic warnings that the law would be a bust — we remember the 2004 Dem presidential candidates campaigning against it — the Medicare prescription-drug law has been, for the most part, a pretty big success.
But that thought exercise has become a reality 10 years later as Republicans have worked to thwart/stymie/sabotage — pick your word — the implementation of President Obama’s health-care and financial-reform laws.
Greg Sargent adds:
This from MSNBC’s First Read crew is very well said. But I’d take it further; it goes well beyond Obamacare implementation and the relentless blockading of Obama nominees for the explicit purpose of preventing democratically-created agencies from functioning. We’ve slowly crossed over into something a bit different. It’s now become accepted as normal that Republicans will threaten explicitly to allow harm to the country to get what they want, and will allow untold numbers of Americans to be hurt rather than even enter into negotiations over the sort of compromises that lie at the heart of basic governing.
Case in point:
William Kristol and Rich Lowry:
There’s no rush to act on immigration. The Democrats didn’t do anything when they controlled all of the elected branches in 2009 and 2010. The Gang of Eight tells us constantly that we have a de facto amnesty for illegal immigrants now. Fine. What’s the urgent need to act immediately, then?
The Republicans eager to back the bill are doing so out of political panic. “I think Republicans realize the implications for the future of the Republican party in America if we don’t get this issue behind us,” John McCain says. This is silly. Are we supposed to believe that Republican Senate candidates running in states such as Arkansas, North Carolina, Iowa, Virginia, and Montana will be hurt if the party doesn’t embrace Chuck Schumer’s immigration bill?
Hey, stop worrying about your Twinkies! They'll be fine!