HUFFPOST HILL - Romney Betrays Subway
By Eliot Nelson & Arthur Delaney
PURVEYOR OF HASTILY-CRAFTED SANDWICHES IS SUCCESSFUL, NO THANKS TO OBAMA! Sam Stein: "Mitt Romney's campaign put together a conference call Monday to attack President Barack Obama, once again, for being woefully out of touch with the needs of small business and the private sector in general. The call was pegged to Obama's comments, from a news conference Friday, that the 'private sector is doing fine.' And to demonstrate just how off that assessment was, Romney had Tim Wulf -- an owner of two Jimmy John's sandwich shops in the Reno area -- explain his frustrations with the current economy. 'We became defensive,' Wulf said of his business in the last few years. 'Entrepreneurs are planners. We need to know what the environment is going to be. We need to know what the rules are.' Wulf's story is an interesting case study in the obstacles facing the private sector under Obama. While he personally may be feeling economic uncertainty, the company for which he works isn't. Jimmy John's has been wildly successful during the Obama years." [HuffPost]
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON WAS AGAINST WOMEN BEFORE SHE WAS FOR THEM - Jen Bendery: "In a little noticed sequence of events last week, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) managed to generate praise for her work in empowering women right after rejecting a bill that would have ensured they receive equal pay for equal work. During a lavish Kennedy Center gala on Wednesday night, Hutchison stood on stage raving about the importance of helping women around the world to prosper economically, even receiving a round of applause for her work on the cause... But as Hutchison went on to present an economic empowerment award to a Samoan woman who launched a business in her impoverished community, what many people in the room didn't know was that, a day earlier, Hutchison helped to kill a bill that would have ensured U.S. women are paid the same as their male counterparts." [HuffPost]
NEW RULE PROHIBITS SMOKING NEAR SENATE - We guess Upper Chamber smokers will have to bail to John Boehner's office. Running tomorrow in Roll Call from Emma Dumain: "Senate smokers who like to take cover from the rain or heat under the covered carriage entrance and the East Portico leading into the Senate wing of the Capitol will now have to brave the elements to get their nicotine fix. That favored spot and others like it are verboten under new Senate regulations, approved by the Rules and Administration Committee just before the Memorial Day recess; smoking is now banned within 25 feet of all entrances to Senate office buildings and within all public indoor spaces under Senate jurisdiction. 'The new policy is in response to steady complaints from members of the Senate community (and visitors) about having to regularly contend with second-hand smoke when entering and exiting the Senate office buildings,' a Rules and Administration aide explained in an email."
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - A Texas-based cement company denied on Monday that it ordered a drug test before calling paramedics last year after a employee hurt himself in a fall. The worker, 67-year-old Benino Perez, later died from his injuries. In a lawsuit filed in Dallas County Court last week, Perez's family alleges that his employer, Texas Industries, sought to drug test Perez before trying to help him after he'd fallen from a height of several feet. Perez worked as a loader for the company. "While the Decedent lay unconscious on the ground, the Defendant ordered a drug test to be performed on the Decedent prior to making the 911 call," the complaint says, adding that paramedics didn't show up for two hours. Texas Industries spokesman David Perkins said the lawsuit, which seeks $15 million for Perez's family, is "absolutely inaccurate." [HuffPost]
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ISSA SCHEDULES HOLDER CONTEMPT VOTE - Does the White House ever not hold Congress in contempt? On those rare occasions that the two branches get along, wouldn't it be more appropriate for someone to introduce "H. Res 523: Thx!"? CBS News: "The House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It's the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member. This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents subpoenaed on October 12, 2011 in the Fast and Furious 'gunwalking' investigation. The Justice Department has maintained it has cooperated fully with the congressional investigation, turning over tens of thousands of documents and having Holder testify to Congress on the topic at least eight times. However, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., says the Justice Department has refused to turn over tens of thousands of pages of documents. Those include materials created after Feb. 4, 2011, when the Justice Department wrote a letter to Congress saying no gunwalking had occurred. The Justice Department later retracted the denial." [CBS News]
COMMERCE SECRETARY INJURED - John Bryson should rest up. We're sure the president can find someone else to hand out novelty checks stamped with official seals and, uh... hold on we got this... uh... be given tours of superconductor factories while wearing protective eyewear? LA Times: "U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson suffered a seizure in connection with two hit-and-run crashes Saturday in the San Gabriel Valley, an agency spokeswoman said Monday. Department spokeswoman Jennifer Friedman confirmed the information to The Times on Monday morning... Bryson, 68, was cited for felony hit-and-run following the Saturday incidents but was not booked in jail because he was taken to an area hospital. Authorities said he was cooperative with detectives, and drugs or alcohol do not appear to have been a factor." [LA Times]
ROMNEY ANNOUNCES 'EVERY TOWN COUNTS' TOUR; YOUR TOWN PROBABLY NOT ON THE ITINERARY - Sam Stein: "The Republican presidential nominee announced on Monday that he would be embarking on a five-day, six-state bus tour, starting at the end of this week. Titled 'Every Town Counts,' the tour will wind through the industrial Midwest, with stops in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan coming on the heels of a swing through Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. The itinerary holds some clues into which states the Romney campaign believes are in play. Romney is looking to make Michigan competitive, given his roots in the state, and sees Wisconsin, where Gov. Scott Walker (R) just won a contentious recall election, as potentially fertile ground." [HuffPost]
Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum haven't chatted since Santorum offered his tepid, late-evening endorsement of the Republican nominee. The Hill: "Santorum, asked by conservative radio show host Laura Ingraham how many conversations he's had with Romney since his endorsement, said, 'None.' 'No,' he said, there have been no phone calls, tweets or other communication. But he added that his people are in touch with Romney's and that he is doing what he can to help his former rival's campaign." [The Hill]
JAY CARNEY TO MEDIA: SHADDUP - White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today urged journalists to "do your jobs" by giving more accurate accounts of President Obama's statement that the private sector "is doing fine." Carney, who previously reported for Time (you may know it from such famous covers as "Spleens: What You Don't Know" and "Benjamin Harrison's Secrets"), is fond of nitpicking the press' behavior. Jen Bendery: "White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Monday downplayed the idea that there is anything to talk about here, saying that reporters should know better than to miss the broader point Obama was making with his comment: that public sector job cuts are hurting the economy. 'You all ought to do your jobs and report on context,' Carney said during his daily briefing. 'We're for truthful, factual, accurate reporting done in context.'" [HuffPost]
Republican Hawaiian Senate candidate Linda Lingle has launched her own cable network. No word on whether it will, like any self-respecting television station, broadcast Hunt for Red October on Saturday afternoons. Roll Call: "LL2012 can be found on digital channel 110 for Oceanic Time Warner subscribers. According to the cable company, this is the first time a U.S. political candidate has used a dedicated cable channel, the campaign said. 'Because I care deeply about all the people of Hawaii and am running for the U.S. Senate to make life better for the people of our state, my campaign is committed to finding new ways to keep people connected,' Lingle said in a statement. 'By employing all accessible media platforms, we are putting 'people first' by meeting voters where they are.'" [Roll Call]
JEB BUSH: REPUBLICAN PARTY LOSING ITS WAY - Times: "Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said his father, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan would find themselves out of step with today's Republican Party because of its strict adherence to ideology and the intensity of modern partisan warfare. 'Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, similar to my dad, they would have had a hard time if you define the Republican Party -- and I don't -- as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement,' Mr. Bush said at question-and-answer session with reporters and editors held Monday morning in Manhattan by Bloomberg View." [NYT]
ARE YOU CONFINED TO A TINY CELL ON THE SOUTHEASTERNMOST PART OF CUBA? - Bad news, amigo: 'The Supreme Court on Monday denied review in the cases of several Guantanamo Bay detainees, likely closing off for good the prospect of continued oversight of the executive branch's handling of the prison camp that had been held out in a landmark decision four years ago. The cases came up from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, whose judges at times have been openly contemptuous of the Supreme Court's June 2008 ruling in Boumediene v. Bush. The D.C. Circuit judges have refused to order the release of a single detainee brought to Guantanamo in the months and years following al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, D.C... Indeed, since the detainee cases began reaching the D.C. Circuit in 2010, the Supreme Court has consistently refused review -- perhaps because Justice Elena Kagan's previous involvement in the cases as solicitor general required her recusal, leaving open the chance of a 4-4 deadlock over whether the detainees deserved better treatment than the D.C. Circuit had been willing to provide." [HuffPost's Mike Sacks]
The Texas GOP no longer wants to lock you up for owning Debbie Does Dallas. John Celock: "The Texas Republican Party adopted a new platform this past weekend reaffirming the party's opposition to same-sex marriage and pornography, while ending calls for criminalizing both practices. The party platform, adopted at a convention in Fort Worth, differs from the 2010 platform that would have made it a felony to issue a same-sex marriage license or perform a same-sex wedding. But the Texas GOP continues to oppose marriage equality. In addition, the party dialed back its 2010 call to criminalize pornography and strip clubs in the state." [HuffPost]
A guy locked himself in a cage outside of the White House in protest of
BARNEY FIFE WILL NOT BE RECEIVING A GRENADE LAUNCHER THIS YEAR - "You gotta nip it in the bud!" [click] [BOOM] Radley Balko: "The Pentagon has temporarily put the brakes on a popular program started in 1994 that transfers surplus military equipment to local police departments. Over the last 17 years, the '1033 Program' has sent millions of pieces of equipment designed for use on the battlefield to domestic police agencies across the country for use on the streets and in American neighborhoods.On Friday, The Associated Press reported that the Pentagon has asked all participating law enforcement agencies to provide a comprehensive account of each piece of equipment acquired from the program, and that it would halt further transfers until agencies complied. The audit comes after a series of reports of agencies alleged to have misused the program, including an Arizona Republic investigation, which found that the Pinal County Sheriff's Department had transferred some equipment to non-police agencies, and was planning to sell some other equipment at auction." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Forget dog parks. In Japan, they have dog playgrounds.
THE TIME TO SIT ON BLANKETS AND WATCH MOVIES IS AT HAND - HuffPost DC: "The schedule for Screen on the Green has been announced." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
By @bradjshannon!
- Here is Bill Murray sliding around on a tarp during a minor league baseball rain delay. [http://bit.ly/LiGHZ9]
- Cats mystified by Furby. Don't worry, cats. Nobody understands it.[http://bit.ly/LiHh9d]
- Annoy your friends with these bar tricks. [http://chzb.gr/LiGwgx]
- Dog owner is not very upset about pet on the counter, probably because it justifies (?) his security camera setup. [http://bit.ly/MDJLmh]
- We need to go deeper. And smaller, made of LEGO. [http://bit.ly/LiGFRd]
- This nature time-lapse was filmed in stupidly-high definition. [http://bit.ly/LiGiG1]
- Science tries to destroy new media jobs by analyzing successful tweets. [http://bit.ly/LiH31Y]
TWITTERAMA
@LOLGOP: Jeb Bush: Reagan would have been cyberbullied in today's GOP.
@daveweigel: Romney campaign statement reminds me that the president of Jimmy John's is on his team.... Jimmy John's offers day-old bread for $0.49. On this conference call, the Romney campaign is offering 4-day-old spin for free.
ON TAP
By @christinawilkie
TONIGHT
5:30pm: When Mitt Romney Came To Town, Part 2: In which broke, former candidate Newt Gingrich introduces Romney at a $50,000 a head fundraiser in Gingrich's hometown. [Atlanta, Ga.]
6:00pm - 7:00pm: Kalpen Modi draws on his devoted following of dope smoking college kids to pack the room at a totally free Obama campaign chit-chat-with-a-celeb in Arlington. [Cafe Asia, 1550 Wilson Blvd, Arlington Va.]
6:30pm - 8:00pm: Aww, look Mom, the NRSC is shaking down the booze industry at the cigarette industry's house! Can I go? can I can I? I[Altria, 101 Constitution Ave NW Suite 400 West]
TOMORROW
5:00pm - 6:30pm: Dairy Day on Capitol Hill means dozens of small groups of Upper Midwesterners will be wandering around lost, so resist the urge to mislead them and just point them towards the Dairy Celebration Reception in Hart. [902]
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