National Journal:
Memo to Anthony Weiner: Stand down.
Sure, Republican Mark Sanford’s election to Congress on Tuesday despite an ignominious affair suggests a certain tolerance among voters for sex scandal, possibly raising the hopes of the potential New York City mayoral candidate who resigned from Congress after dispatching a lewd photo online.
But before Weiner and other disgraced politicians start seeking electoral redemption, they should consider that in South Carolina’s heavily conservative First Congressional District, just about anyone -- including an ethically challenged adulterer who misled the state about his whereabouts while governor -- is preferable to a union-backing Nancy Pelosi clone.
Kudos to the voters of South Carolina for recognizing that 99% of what you need to know about a House candidate is party affiliation.
— @mattyglesias via Tweetbot for iOS
Helen Branswell:
The numbers of new cases of H7N9 bird flu are still rising, but these days the daily increase is more a trickle than the gush of a few weeks ago.
That apparent slowing of what had been an explosive growth of infections with the new flu may lead people to hope this virus is being brought under control. Some minds may see a week or two of fewer new cases as a crisis averted.
But experts warn it's far too soon to gauge what H7N9 has in store for humankind. And while the virus initially seemed as if it might be another 2009 H1N1 — new virus, lightning-fast global spread — at this point H7N9 does not appear to be in a sprint to the pandemic declaration line.
It's a bad virus, one that makes people severely ill. And it perplexes authorities trying to find it because it doesn't sicken chickens. That latter fact means China is having a hard time getting a handle on where and how widely dispersed the virus is. Without that knowledge, eradicating it or even bringing it under control is not a likely scenario.
And check out this comment:
"It does become challenging because if we have to continue to track the virus and try to understand if it might be changing over a long period of time, some people lose interest," says Nancy Cox, who heads the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
"We won't lose interest, but some people lose interest."
Not me. I'm always interested, partly because I think it's important to plan for pandemics.
For example:
As of 5/3, 45 U.S. states had received CDC-developed test kits to detect #H7N9.
http://t.co/...
— @CDCFlu via web
That's what your public health department does.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Greg Sargent:
There’s no question that the defeat of Manchin-Toomey was a crushing one. But it needs to be restated that the gun control forces actually moved the ball significantly this year. There is now a bill — negotiated by “pro gun” Senators in both parties — that can be activated at a moment’s notice, one that has already won the support of a majority of the Senate. That is not nothing. And indeed, talks are currently underway among senators over how to tweak the legislation to win over holdouts that are still thought to be gettable.
All of that said, some caution is in order. If there is going to be any chance at eventual victory, it may well require a very long struggle, which will require gun reformers to show that they can sustain organization and energy for a protracted period. We’re seeing signs — in the form of groups launched by Mike Bloomberg and Gabrielle Giffords — that the gun reform side is genuinely in the process of building an infrastructure to match the NRA. But we don’t know what kind of staying power it will have or whether it will be able to exert pressure that actually matters to red state Dems (or for that matter bluish state Republicans such as Kelly Ayotte, who may be immune to pressure, because she is not playing to type as a New England moderate).
She may be immune, but the pressure will make her a one term senator.
Pacific Standard:
How Social Groups Influence Parents’ Decision to Vaccinate
It’s not just the family physician offering advice on whether to vaccinate or not. Parents are also turning to friends, family, books, pamphlets, and the Internet for guidance.
Michael Todd:
Politicians from former presidential contenders to D.C. legislators to local sheriffs all insist that the border needs to be fixed before we can talk about legalizing existing illegal immigrants or making other changes to immigration policy. This week, Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the “gang of eight” working on drafting an immigration bill, repeated the mantra that there will be no bill without better border security. In Mexico today, President Obama reportedly will be stressing the need to secure the border (which to Mexicans might involve preventing U.S. guns from heading south). NPR quoted Obama security adviser Ben Rhodes: “With Mexico, first and foremost, they are critical to our ability to secure the border. All the immigration plans that have been contemplated put a focus on securing the border as an essential priority and starting point for immigration reform.”
But if that is a precondition, then bring on reform—that plumbing has been solidly repaired for some time.
WaPo describes the current landscape in Washington:
After four years of trillion-dollar deficits, the red ink is receding rapidly in Washington, easing pressure on policymakers but shattering hopes for a summertime budget deal.
Federal tax revenue is up and spending is down thanks to an improving economy, tax increases enacted in January and the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester....
In the meantime, Republicans face a listless summer, with little appetite for compromise but no leverage to shape an agreement. Without that leverage, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday, there is no point in opening formal budget negotiations between the House and the Senate, because Democrats have no reason to consider the kind of far-reaching changes to Medicare and the U.S. tax code that Republicans see as fundamental building blocks of a deal.
Good. So what? And other adjectives that convey a sense that the author doesn't realize it doesn't matter that republicans can't get their way. In fact, way more often than not, it's a wonderful thing when that happens.