Good morning — and a happy 80th to Jane Goodall! In 2009, she spoke to Bill about her conservation efforts and her hopes for our planet.
Here are some of the stories we’re reading this morning…
The big one: McCutcheon.
- Rick Hasen explains the “subtle awfulness” of the decision at Slate.
- The NYT’s Nicholas Confessore on how McCutcheon “could fundamentally reshape the political terrain in the 2014 elections and beyond.”
- At ThinkProgress, Ian Millhiser writes that the decision opens the way for new political money laundering schemes.
- Sam Kleiner writes at TNR that Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision shows that he has no clue how money actually works in politics.
- That criticism was echoed in a blistering dissent penned by Justice Stephen Breyer. Read highlights from it here at BillMoyers.com.
- Jonathan Rauch argues in The Daily Beast that progressives need to consider the possibility that fewer limits on disclosed donations could help stem the flow of anonymous dark money.
- Kai Newkirk, an activist who co-founded 99Rise, writes in The Guardian about why he disrupted Supreme Court proceedings in February to protest money in politics, and what needs to be done next.
- At SCOTUSblog, Lyle Denniston says that the court may next move on to the ban of direct donations to federal candidates by corporations in a case called Iowa Right to Life Committee v. Tooker.
In other news…
Appearance of corruption –> Mitch McConnell’s campaign manager, Jesse Benton, may get caught up in a bribery investigation launched after an aide to Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann charged that Benton, while working on Ron Paul’s 2012 campaign, had been involved in buying an endorsement for Paul from an Iowa state senator. Patrick Caldwell has the story at MoJo.
Fort Hood and the costs of war –> In the aftermath of a mass shooting by a soldier reportedly suffering from PTSD, Juan Cole surveys the damage done to our troops by America’s “wars of choice.”
Time is of the essence –> The Nation’s Rick Hertzberg argues that we can only adapt to a changing climate without a huge amount of pain if we start right now.
And we thought you had to graduate from Congress –> George Washington University announced that it will offer a post-graduate degree in lobbying, reports Michelle Cottle in The Daily Beast.
Lawfare against teachers –> A major lawsuit backed by billionaire education “deformers” could have profound impacts on our public schools. Salon’s Josh Eidelson talks about Vergara v. California with Stanford University education scholar Linda Darling-Hammond.
Retaliation –> 250 UPS drivers who staged a 90-minute walkout to protest the firing of a co-worker were themselves fired. Anne-Rose Strasser has the story at ThinkProgress.
Bad news for America’s drug warriors –> Pew surveys “America’s new drug policy landscape,” and finds broad support for treating drug offenders instead of prosecuting them.
Plutocrat primary –> The Atlantic’s Molly Ball on the GOP’s sordid “Sheldon Adelson suck-up fest.”
Speaking of shady plutocrats –> At New Economic Perspectives, former banking regulator William K. Black offers ten lessons that we “must learn” from recently deceased Charles Keating and the scandals that surrounded him.
“I am a human shield” –> Katie Klabusich pens an open letter to lawmakers from an abortion clinic escort for Truthout.
Oblivious white people –> At AlterNet, Deborah Small looks at the ongoing dispute over economics and culture between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jonathan Chait and concludes that white America “is oblivious to the truth about black poverty.”
Maybe the squirrels are slower in the Buckeye State –> A small dog — a Chihuahua-Dachshund mix — burrowed his way out of a fenced-in yard in Killeen, Texas, only to be found three days later in Hamilton, Ohio. Only little Corbin knows how he made the trek, and he’s not talking. Via: AP.
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