News From the Swamp

MUELLER SHAKEDOWN: “All eyes will be on special counsel Robert Mueller this week as he delivers his first public testimony since wrapping up his two-year investigation into 2016 Russian election meddling and the Trump campaign. Anticipation over Mueller’s Wednesday testimony comes as Congress is facing a jam-packed week as lawmakers wind down their work ahead of the August recess.” (The Hill)

THE STATUS QUO: “White House and congressional negotiators rushing to hammer out the final details of a sweeping budget and debt deal are unlikely to include many — if any — actual spending cuts, even as the debt limit is lifted for two years,” The Washington Post reports. Unsurprisingly, “Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) rejected a White House offer on Friday to cut $150 billion in federal spending over 10 years as a part of a possible deal to raise the debt ceiling,” according to Reason. Rush Limbaugh is rhetorically right: “Nobody is a fiscal conservative anymore. All this talk about concern for the deficit and the budget has been bogus for as long as it’s been around.”

SELF-DESTRUCTION: “Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders announced this weekend he will cut staffers’ hours so that they can effectively be paid a $15-an-hour minimum wage, prompting mockery from critics who say the move is more evidence that Sanders’ plan to raise the national minimum wage is hypocritical and would only lead to less work and more unemployment.” (Fox News)

ENFORCEMENT DELAY: “The Trump administration is giving taxpayer-funded family planning clinics more time to comply with its new rule that says they no longer can refer women for abortions. … A notice sent Saturday night to representatives of the clinics by the Department of Health and Human Services said the government ‘does not intend to bring enforcement actions’ against clinics that are making ‘good-faith efforts to comply.’ … The department had said last Monday that it would require immediate compliance.” (CBS News)

Culture & Heartland

AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON: “Given the radical, left-wing Antifa group’s well-documented history of violence, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) introduced a resolution on July 18 that condemns Antifa’s ‘violent acts’ and calls for the designation of the group as a ‘domestic terrorist organization.’” (CNSNews.com)

HATE HOAX: “Georgia State Rep. and Minority Leader Erica Thomas (D) took to Twitter on Saturday, saying a white man called her ‘a lazy SOB’ and that she needed to go back to where she came from because she had too many items in the express lane at the local Publix. … ‘Her words stating on Twitter and her Facebook video saying I told she needs to go back to where she came from are untrue,’ [Eric Sparkes] said. ‘I’m Cuban. I’m not white.’ But here’s where things get even more interesting. Sparkes said he’s a Democrat and the only reason Thomas is doing this is for political gains.” (Townhall)

PUERTO RICO UNREST: “Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced Sunday he will not seek re-election but refused to resign, as corruption allegations have sparked widespread protests in San Juan,” according to Fox News. Meanwhile, CBS News reports, “Up to a million protesters are expected in the streets of Puerto Rico Monday to protest … Rosselló.”

Other Notables

POLITICAL THEATER: “The Trump administration disputed a claim by Iran’s state media on Monday that authorities in the Middle East country arrested 17 secret agents recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on its nuclear and military sites. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said some of them have been sentenced to death. It was not clear if all the alleged spies were Iranian nationals.” (USA Today)

EQUIFAX SETTLES: “Equifax has agreed to pay as much as $700 million to settle a series of state and federal investigations into a massive 2017 data breach that left more than 147 million Americans’ Social Security numbers, credit-card details and other sensitive information exposed.” (The Washington Post)

NEW ZEALAND GUN CONTROL: “Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand on Monday announced plans for sweeping new restrictions on gun ownership, the second such wave of changes since a deadly shooting at two mosques in Christchurch earlier this year. The changes, which include a mandatory gun registry and a ban on gun purchases by foreign visitors, will ‘enshrine in law that owning a firearm is a privilege’ rather than a right, Ms. Ardern said.” (The New York Times)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Bernie Sanders just destroyed the case for a $15 minimum wage (Issues & Insights)

POLICY: Socialism 101: Myths and realities (The Daily Signal)

HUMOR: President Trump announces his support for reparations for socialism (IMAO)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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