Three-Minute Briefing: The SecDef Dance, Government Funding, Iran Hits Back
Obama still under fire for his response to the Garner and Brown decisions, but the tide may be starting to turn.
People watch from above as protesters march in Washington, D.C., Thursday to demonstrate against the police shooting deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Good TGIF, the 339th day of the year, and the 12th day of national protests over two police-brutality deaths that shut down streets, bridges and intersections in cities from Boston to Los Angeles last night. With another police shooting of an unarmed black man -- this time in Phoenix -- the protests probably will continue for the foreseeable future, bringing more attention to the nation’s first black president abroad as well as at home. (More on that in a moment.) Here’s today’s Three-Minute Briefing, all the News You Can Use in 180 seconds or less:
Carter Blanche: For the fourth time in six years, President Barack Obama will formally nominate a defense secretary during a White House ceremony. Everyone thinks it’s going to be defense policy wonk Ashton Carter, and Politico reports the president may expect Carter to take a page from Clinton-era SecDef William Perry, one of Carter’s mentors.
[ALSO: Ashton Carter, Former Pentagon No. 2, Picked for Defense Secretary]
Done and Done?: Now that the anti-Obama protest bill has passed in the House, and with just six days until the federal checkbook runs dry, the White House and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle all think a government funding bill can pass next week, avoiding a government shutdown. Given that, what could possibly go wrong?
Black President’s Burden: Justifiably or not, the harsh scrutiny of Obama’s response to grand jury decisions in the Garner and Brown police brutality cases grinds on. Today it’s Bloomberg’s turn: Emily Greenhouse writes that at least two prominent African American critics of the nation’s first black president, including astute standup comic Chris Rock, have more thoughtfully taken the long view and aren’t that dissatisfied with Obama’s less-than-forceful reactions.
Well, This is Awkward: Reuters reports that United Nations Human Rights experts, more accustomed to reckoning with regime-sponsored death squads than law enforcement in Jeffersonian-style democracies like ours, are calling for the U.S. to end police racial profiling and launch a thorough review of police use of deadly force.
Tweet This: Nuclear diplomacy notwithstanding, the U.S. hasn’t been shy about verbally smacking Iran over its jailing of journalists and its aggressive suppression of dissent. Now, the shoe’s on the other oppressor: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (or maybe his intern) is hitting the U.S., hard, on Twitter over police brutality, racism and anti-government protests in the Land of the Free.
[READ: After Garner Decision, #CrimingWhileWhite Meets #AliveWhileBlack on Twitter]
Cartoon of the Morning:
Run to Daylight: Ohio Gov. John Kasich isn’t a name you’ll hear a lot when discussing Republican 2016 presidential contenders. But U.S. News’ David Catanese reports that the two-term governor and former House member is quietly positioning himself for a run as a moderate (read: electable) alternative for the right.
Gotcha: Bloomberg reports that The Colbert Report has scored a great get for its final week of shows in the nation’s capital. President Obama will join America’s favorite faux conservative Monday for a one-on-one sit-down when the show comes to the District for its farewell.
Stat of the Day: Average cost for a Canadian family to adopt a white U.S. child through the Shepherd Care agency in Florida : $41,000. To adopt a black U.S. child : $32,000 (courtesy Harper’s Index).
Duly Noted: On this day in 1791, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna, while in 1848, President James K. Polk pretty much populated California by confirming there was gold in them thar’ hills, sparking the Gold Rush of '49. In 1932, Albert Einstein got a visa to travel from Germany to the U.S.; it’s probably a coincidence, but Prohibition ended the next year, when Utah voted to repeal the 18th Amendment. Last year, anti-apartheid and human-rights icon Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, died at age 95. Birthdays: Rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Little Richard (82), authors Joan Didion (80) and Calvin Trillin (79), NFL legends Jim Plunkett (67) and Art Monk (57), comedian Margaret Cho (46), actor Frankie Muniz (39), actor Ross Bagley (26).
