Good morning! On this date in 1935, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, Sir Malcolm Campbell became the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. In his day, Campbell was a world-famous speed-freak — he first set a land speed record in 1924. He also set the water speed record four times. Unlike many of the celebrated speed demons of that era, he died of natural causes.
Heinous –> The Islamic State released a video purporting to show the execution of Steven Sotloff, a US journalist who has been held hostage by the militants since disappearing in Syria last year. Frank Gardner reports for the BBC. ALSO: Obama has authorized the DoD to send 350 more troops to Iraq. Politico’s Philip Ewing reports that they won’t be serving in a combat role.
Russia tries to buy some influence –> Alexander Cohen at the Center for Public Integrity reports that “a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions.” Gazprombank thinks former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and former Sen. John Breaux (D-LA) can sway their former colleagues to go easy on Russia, but given the chilly climate in US-Russian relations, that may be a tall order.
Irony of a warming planet –> Brad Plumer at Vox: “One big obstacle to fracking worldwide? Water shortages.” ALSO: At CJR, Robert Eshelman argues that the cost of global warming is so great, it should be covered in the business section.
Not big fans of democracy –> During a Moral Monday protest in North Carolina, a young African-American politician was grabbed, arrested and handcuffed for distributing literature encouraging voter registration. The crowd was not pleased by the arrest.
Clueless plutocrats –> Countrywide Financial — and Bank of America, which picked up the pieces after Countrywide went belly up — racked up more than $70 billion in fines for its subprime lending. But Bloomberg’s Max Abelson reports that former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo is “baffled” by the public’s outrage. “No, no, no, we didn’t do anything wrong,” he insisted.
Sold out too low? –> TNR’s Alec MacGillis thinks Eric Cantor, who took a cushy job at a Wall Street investment house this week, could have held out for a higher bidder given that no one “has made more of an effort over the years to endear himself to big financial employers than has Eric Cantor.”
Pay-to-play? –> Erskine Bowles, the former White House chief of staff and Social Security-slasher beloved by Beltway pundits, and his wife, who is a director at JPMorgan Chase, have been accused by a North Carolina public sector union of violating pay-for-play rules in the awarding of a contract for a big state pension fund. The couple deny any wrongdoing. David Sirota has the details at IBT.
Hardline –> The Israeli government will lobby Washington to take a tough stance during nuclear negotiations with Iran, according to The Times of Israel. Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said that unless there is a “dramatic development” in talks with Iran, Israel won’t accept the outcome.
Blame Reagan –> Devin Fergus, a professor at the Ohio State University, says his students’ sky-high tuition — and debt loads — can be traced back to devastating cuts to student aid funding in the 1980s.
A brief respite from the Summer of News Hell –> It’s come to our attention that a minor league baseball team in New Jersey, the Trenton Thunder, has the good sense to employ two bat dogs. Meet Derby and Rookie:
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