HuffPost:
First, [Tom Cotton] ditched the softer rhetoric of the deal's other critics, who said they supported the talks between the U.S., five fellow world powers and Iran but simply didn't trust that the agreement would be strong enough. Cotton made it clear that he wanted to increase sanctions -- taking a step that the Obama administration warned would shatter nuclear diplomacy -- precisely so that he could put the U.S. on a path to causing regime change in Tehran. The end of peaceful negotiations was "a feature, not a bug" of the sanctions proposal, he told an audience at the Heritage Foundation in January.
Then, he decided that his goal was so important he would temporarily shelve his distaste for Iran's rulers so he could directly encourage them to undercut the nuclear talks. Cotton and 46 other Republican senators warned Iran in a March 9 letter that President Barack Obama's successor could undo any agreement he signed on to. (Iran's U.S.-educated foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, promptly explained why such a move would upend precedents that ensure the functioning of the international system and that protect American interests, such as troops based abroad.)
Cotton, a Harvard grad, gets an A for effort. But his campaign ultimately failed: the world powers and Iran reached a deal on July 14, and the nuclear agreement is nearly certain to survive a congressional review period that will end next week.
TPM:
In a speech slamming President Obama's Iran deal -- which Congress is debating this week -- former Vice President Dick Cheney suggested that only the threat of military action could prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program.
"As soon as President Obama went on Israeli TV and effectively ruled out the option of force, the Iranians knew that they had won," Cheney said, speaking Tuesday at the American Enterprise Institute.
Instead, Cheney said, the U.S. should have insisted that Iran halt its enrichment processes, halt its ballistics program, agree to anytime-anywhere inspections, and provide an accounting of its nuclear program.
"If Iran chooses not to do so, they must understand the U.S. stands ready to take military action to ensure they do not acquire a nuclear weapon," Cheney said, receiving applause from the audience. He went on to outline previous circumstances when the U.S. and its allies used force to attack a country's nuclear weapons program.
More politics and policy below the fold.
NY Times:
Four Democratic senators announced on Tuesday that they would back President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, apparently securing enough votes so that Mr. Obama will not be forced to veto a Republican resolution disapproving of the accord.
The White House, which had worked aggressively with Congressional Democrats to build support for the agreement, had been hoping to avoid the diplomatic embarrassment of Mr. Obama being forced to use his veto to defeat a disapproval resolution.
And as critics in Congress prepared to begin a historic debate on the Iran agreement, the support of the four senators — Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Gary Peters of Michigan and Ron Wyden of Oregon — meant that the Republicans would not have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster of the resolution. Forty-two Democrats now back the agreement.
Demos:
Executive action on paid sick days for employees of federal contractors would be in keeping with Obama’s steps to raise workplace standards for contract employees as he would like to see them raised for all American workers. This strategy uses the federal government’s over 1.3 trillion dollars in federal purchasing to place tens of millions Americans on a pathway to the middle class.
And so, over the last two years, President Obama has used his executive authority to raise wages for federal contract workers; ban contractors from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity; ensure that contract employees who discuss their compensation are not retaliated against; and strengthen the screening process to ensure that companies that chronically violate federal workplace laws are no longer rewarded with federal contracts.
NorthJersey.com:
The top executive of United Airlines and two other executives have stepped down in response to an internal investigation into whether the carrier set up a non-stop flight route to curry favor with the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
NY Times:
When Senator Cruz exited the jail a throng of journalists beckoned him toward their microphones, but an aide to Mr. Huckabee blocked the path of Mr. Cruz, who appeared incredulous.
Moments later, Mr. Huckabee appeared, joined by Ms. Davis. He stuck close to her side as she approached the reporters, and again when she took the stage, and cast her fight as a choice of tyranny or religious freedom.
“If you have to put someone in jail, let me go.” Mr. Huckabee said to a cheering crowd.
Huck share the stage with Cruz? Get in line, rookie.
CNN:
It is, of course, not surprising for candidates in the party out of the White House to paint a picture using the colors of impending doom.
"It is certainly the case that one of the effects of a presidential campaign is that one side will be raising criticism of the incumbent administration and the job it is doing," says Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll. "So it is not unreasonable to think that when voters hear messages from their candidate we would expect them to become more negative about the state of the country."
And as Republican candidates, especially Trump, keep up a constant drumbeat on how terrible things are, their loyalists' moods followed suit. Indeed the biggest slump in the country's mood occurred in Republicans. In March, 33% of Republicans told CNN that things were going "very" or "pretty well" in the country. By August that figure had dropped to 21%. Notably, the biggest falloff is seen in men, people making less than $50,000 a year and those who have not attended college -- the core of Trump's support.
Could it be that candidates like Trump are not just tapping into the voters' anger, but also fomenting it?
HuffPost:
An attorney for Kim Davis, who was jailed Thursday after being found in contempt of court for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky, compared the clerk's situation to the one Jews were faced with in Nazi Germany.
Mathew Staver, who is currently serving as head legal counsel for Davis, made the comparison on the "Crosstalk" radio show Wednesday, RightWingWatch.com reported.
"[Davis is] there to do a duty, a job and the job duty was changed," Staver argued. "Does that mean that if you’re Christian, don’t apply here? ... What happened in Nazi Germany, what happened there first, they removed the Jews from government public employment, then they stopped patronizing them in their private businesses, then they continued to stigmatize them, then they were the ‘problems,’ then they killed them."
Godwin's Law invoked.
WaPo:
Lack of communication among emergency room staff, poor configuration of information on the patient's electronic health record and diminished focus on patient safety were three of the main deficiencies of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas where a man infected with the Ebola virus was misdiagnosed last year and died, according to an independent report released by the hospital Friday.
Lest we not forget, lessons to be learned: hospitals all over the US are better prepared for Ebola than a year ago.