Good morning! Today marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day. The Allied landings in Normandy, France, remain the largest seaborne invasion in history. Casualties were high on both sides, but would have been higher if not for the success of the “Ghost Army” — a unit that had sowed confusion about the Allies’ target using inflatable tanks and trucks, fake radio messages, and recordings of huge troop movements broadcast over loudspeakers.
Hailed a hero –> There was another deadly shooting yesterday at a college campus in Seattle, but Lindsay Bever reports for WaPo that it could have been much worse if not for the courage of a student who pepper-sprayed and then subdued the shooter when he stopped to reload.
Catastrophic ideology –> The Texas GOP’s new platform urges “government at all levels to ignore” global warming, according to Ari Phillips at ThinkProgress.
Astroturf –> Lee Fang reports for Vice that “cable company-created front groups and other industry-funded organizations” are trying to create the appearance of widespread public support for the FCC’s plan to create a two-tiered Internet.
“Policing for Profit” –> At Forbes, Nick Sibilla looks at Texas law enforcement agencies’ widespread use of civil forfeiture — confiscating cash and property from people even if they’re not charged with a crime. The practice creates a “perverse incentive” and “skews law enforcement priorities.”
Dangerous secrets –> The federal government has ordered that details of “volatile crude oil shipments” be disclosed by railroads to states through which their tank cars pass. Matthew Brown reports for the AP that the railroads are asking the states to sign nondisclosure agreements, but some are “balking” at the request, arguing that the public needs to be informed.
Mississippi courthouse caper –> Supporters of State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who challenged incumbent US Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) in a GOP primary say they got locked inside a courthouse with Tuesday’s ballots after law enforcement officers let them inside. The local sheriff’s office disputed their account but has closed its investigation, saying, “There is no reason to believe that the three individuals engaged in any criminal activity nor do we believe any laws were broken.”
“One percent’s twisted new heist” –> Salon’s Elias Isquith speaks to In the Public Interest’s Shar Habibi about how privatization is helping to shrink the middle class “as those at the very top reap more and more of the fruits of our economy.”
Dems want Tancredo –> Democrats in Colorado may be running ads designed to tip a hotly contested GOP gubernatorial primary toward former Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo, whose extremism they think might weigh down the entire ticket. Eli Stokols reports for Denver’s Fox News affiliate.
BERGDAHLZI! –> Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt report for the NYT that Bowe Bergdahl had a history of walking off of assignments, and then returning, dating back to a training camp in California. ALSO: At Media Matters, Eric Boehlert writes that the conservative media’s demonization of Bergdahl’s family is not only ugly, but also totally unprecedented. AND: Steve Benen writes at MSNBC that conservative claims that the Obama administration negotiated Bergdahl’s release to distract the public from problems at the VA is emblematic of the right’s “uncontrollable conspiracy-theory reflex” toward this administration.
It gets worse –> Danny Vinik writes at TNR that as hard as the millennials were hit in the Great Recession, it’s going to get worse when they hit retirement age without an adequate cushion.
Hold the celebration –> In March, we told you about a Harvard research team’s discovery of gravitational waves, which was billed as a breakthrough in physics that proved Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Now Ian Sample reports for The Guardian that other scientists are claiming that the researchers made serious errors and were just looking at space dust. Stay tuned.
“There wasn’t anybody shooting at me today” –> That was 93-year-old Army vet “Pee Wee” Martin’s response when asked what it was like to parachute into Normandy — again! — 70 years after he did it on D-Day. Via: CNN.
