Morning Reads

Good morning! On this date in 1945, the US let an awful genie out of the bottle when it tested the world’s first atomic bomb. And in 1969, Apollo 11 was launched — three days and 240,000 miles later, it would land human beings on the surface of the moon for the first time.

780,000… and still counting –> WaPo’s Brian Fung reports that the FCC “is so swamped with net neutrality comments, it’s extending the deadline” through Friday.

Day nine –> The Israeli military “instructed 100,000 Palestinians to leave their homes and move south ahead of planned aerial strikes Wednesday, as its military offensive that has killed more than 200 Gazans enters its ninth day.” Batsheva Sobelman reports for the LAT. ALSO: Hamas and Islamic Jihad are offering Israel a 10-year truce if it agrees to a number of conditions that would ease the lives of Gazans. The Ma’an News Agency has the details.

Twenty-three criminal charges –> Two former Utah attorneys general, both Republicans, were arrested on a slew of serious corruption charges on Tuesday. Pat Reavy and Dennis Romboy report for The Deseret News.

Assange –> Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for two years, but according to The Guardian’s David Crouch, he soon may be able to leave. A Swedish court is considering lifting its arrest warrant.

Police state –> Todd Miller writes in TomDispatch that two-thirds of Americans now live in our heavily militarized “border” zones, where the Constitution doesn’t seem to apply.

Conscientious objector –> A Navy nurse is refusing to force-feed hunger strikers at Gitmo, according to Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald.

Hot, hot, hot –> Joe Romm at ThinkProgress: “Hottest March-June On Record Globally.”

Yahoos –> The AP reports that in Arizona, “protesters carrying ‘Return to Sender’ and ‘Go home non-Yankees’ signs faced off with immigrant rights activists Tuesday in a small Arizona town after a sheriff said a bus filled with Central American children was on its way.” AND: Brahm Resnik reports for Arizona Central that one local politician trying to get in on the action confronted a bus full of children whom he described as looking “terrified.” Reporters then informed him that it had been a bus full of YMCA campers laughing at him.

Call it like it is –> Amanda Marcotte writes at The Raw Story that the media “need to treat gun lobbyists for what they are: Representatives of the gun industry, not customers.”

Pretty little heads –> Dave Weigel reports for Slate that a panel discussion hosted by the Republican Study Committee featured “North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers, a leadership favorite who’s often put forward when the party wants a female messenger on health care or jobs,” who helpfully “explained that men failed to bring policy ‘down to a woman’s level’ and thus lost votes.”

High profile –> At MoJo, Jenna McLaughlin offers eight reasons why undocumented journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who was briefly detained by ICE, won’t be deported.

Straight to the point –> Jon Stewart told Hillary Clinton that “no one cares” about her book and demanded to know if she was going to run for the White House in 2016:

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