The venue for Hillary Clinton's upcoming speech said her speech will be her interview, which hopefully means the world will soon witness the former secretary of state’s ventriloquist routine. Mike Pence wrote a warm welcome to LGBT visitors to his state, suggesting that he’s the kind of guy who invited ex-girlfriends he dumped to his wedding. And now that his wife is running for office, Chris Matthews intends to treat Kathleen Matthews like any other politician he might cover, so he'll be interrupting her a lot at dinner. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015
HILLARY'S SPEECH WILL 'BE HER INTERVIEW' - The former secretary of state sees your reports of media dissatisfaction with her availability and raises you… bupkis. A big steaming pile of bupkis. Hadas Gold: "Hillary Clinton, who has aggravated reporters with her limited press avails, will not take questions after her speech at Texas Southern University on Thursday, the school informed reporters Wednesday. The University's guidance: 'There will be NO opportunities to interview Hillary Clinton; her speech will be her interview."' While that guidance did not come from the Clinton campaign — spokesman Nick Merrill told Bloomberg the language was not approved by the campaign — the sheer absurdity of the statement was not necessarily a departure from the candidate's general attitude toward the press. Indeed, her campaign recently made a similar move when it tried to suggest that questions from voters were a substitute for questions from reporters." [Politico]
SENATE DEMOCRATS JAB JIMMY JOHN'S - From Dave Jamieson, who first exposed the phenomenon of fast food businesses making workers sign noncompete agreements: "Chiding companies such as Jimmy John's and Amazon.com, Senate Democrats introduced a bill Wednesday that would forbid employers from requiring low-wage workers to sign noncompete agreements, a practice they said locks workers into their jobs and depresses wages. The bill, called the Mobility and Opportunity for Vulnerable Employees Act, or MOVE ACT, would bar non-competes for workers earning less $15 per hour, and would require companies to inform job seekers ahead of time if they will be asked to sign such an agreement. The legislation was introduced by Sens. Chris Murphy (Ct.) and Al Franken (Minn.), who were joined by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) as co-sponsors. 'If workers can’t go to a competitor for a promised higher wage, then the market fluidity, the labor fluidity that creates upward pressure on wages, disappears,' Murphy said at a press conference."
House Republicans invited and then disinvited a big fan of David Duke to testify at a right-to-work hearing today. Oops.
The Tupac rule of polling: people like your stuff more when you're gone: "A new survey finds that more Americans view former President George W. Bush favorably than President Obama. The CNN/ORC poll reveals that 52 percent of Americans see Bush positively, while 43 percent do not. In contrast, U.S. voters are split on their views of Obama. The new poll finds that 49 percent view Obama favorably, while 49 percent do not. Those ratings for Obama are down from a similar poll in March. During that sampling, 52 percent of Americans viewed him positively, while another 46 percent did not." [The Hill's Mark Hensch]
Haircuts: Jeff Young (h/t Arthur), Arthur (h/t Arthur), Sam Knight (h/t Mike Elk: "Dude was a ten before the haircut and is a def 25 after the haircut.")
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER In an overview of the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Bipartisan Policy Center's Shai Akabas and Matt Graham note a couple of the policy's downsides: "The Internal Revenue Service estimates that one in five eligible people do not seek EITC benefits. In addition, many low-income people who claim the EITC are required to spend money on tax preparers in order to ensure that they have properly claimed the credit." Womp womp, as usual. [bipartisanpolicy.org]
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WATT KNEW OF HASTERT ALLEGATIONS, URGED RESTRAINT DURING FOLEY SCANDAL - Hot damn: Jeb's back, we're talking about Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley is being mentioned this really has been a 2000s throwback couple of weeks. Anyone want to check in with the D.C. Madame? Sam Stein: "In early October 2006, the floor was crumbling beneath House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). News broke that he had long known about inappropriate emails Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) sent to a 16-year-old page, and did little to act on it...The conservative-leaning Washington Times called for Hastert's resignation. Fellow lawmakers cancelled campaign events where he was supposed to appear. But not everyone rushed to pile on. Rep. Mel Watt, a Democratic congressman from North Carolina and an unlikely source of sympathy, urged voters to reserve judgment on Hastert until more facts about the Foley scandal were known…But Watt's comments are even odder in light of the fact that while he was cautioning against jumping to conclusions about Hastert, the congressman was aware of sordid rumors about Hastert's own history with minors." [HuffPost]
HOUSE VOTES TO REASSIGN DEA FUNDS TO MORE PROGRESSIVE INITIATIVES - Though Bunny Coleman's "Which Way Is North?" program was once again snubbed. Matt Ferner: "In a significant blow to the United States' decadeslong war on drugs, House lawmakers voted Tuesday to strip $23 million from the embattled Drug Enforcement Administration's budget, diverting the funds toward community outreach programs, fighting police abuse and ending the DEA's controversial bulk data collection programs. With simple voice votes, lawmakers approved four amendments offered to the fiscal year 2016 Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill that would cut into the DEA's budget. One amendment offered by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) would move $10 million from the agency's salaries and expenses to the Department of Justice's body camera program...An amendment from Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) would move $4 million from the DEA budget to increase funding for rape testing kits. On the House floor, Cohen said trauma inflicted on victims of rape can be 'compounded when they know that they're assailants roam free and critical evidence remains untested.'" [HuffPost]
Damn, Republican House, would you like a CSA membership to go with your newfound progressivism? : "The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to reauthorize an amendment that would protect medical marijuana operations from federal interference in states where the drug is legal, siding with a majority of Americans who say that medical marijuana is an issue best left to the states. The amendment, offered by Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Sam Farr (D-Calif.) to the fiscal year 2016 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies appropriations bill, passed 242 to 186. It blocks the Justice Department, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, from using funds to undermine state-legal medical marijuana programs." [HuffPost's Matt Ferner]
MIKE PENCE IS ALL, 'HI GAYS!' - Now we're waiting for Jan Brewer's "Arizona is muy bueno!" apology campaign. Amanda Terkel: "Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) has issued a letter welcoming visitors to Indianapolis for its upcoming Pride Festival, an attempt to assure the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community that no, the state doesn't really hate them, despite the recent 'religious freedom' controversy. 'On behalf of the people of Indiana, welcome to Indianapolis,' Pence wrote in the letter released this week. 'I am confident that those of you who traveled from out of state will come to know our famous Hoosier Hospitality.' The pride festival, taking place June 6-13, bills itself as 'by far the largest gathering of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community in the State.'" [HuffPost]
General Election Scott Walker really REALLY wishes he could have a talk with Early Primary Scott Walker: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said this week that he would sign a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy that does not contain exceptions for rape and incest victims, if the bill reaches his desk. The measure also contains a less-discussed provision that would allow the father to sue the doctor for 'emotional and psychological distress' if he disagrees with the abortion, regardless of his relationship with the woman having the procedure. Wisconsin Assembly Bill 237 would ban abortions after 20 weeks 'postfertilization,' which doctors would measure as 22 weeks of pregnancy since pregnancies are usually measured from the woman's last menstrual period. If the bill becomes law, doctors who perform an abortion after this time could be charged with a felony and fined up to $10,000, or face up to three and a half years in prison." [HuffPost's Laura Bassett]
KATHLEEN MATTHEWS ENTERS RACE FOR VAN HOLLEN'S SEAT - As far as local TV personalities go, we're crossing our fingers that Jim Vance will make a run for Eleanor Holmes Norton's seat. #WeLoveYouJim. Bridget Bowman: "The race to succeed Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen in Maryland’s 8th District became even more crowded Wednesday, when former Marriott executive and television anchor Kathleen Matthews announced her candidacy… Matthews greeted commuters on the misty gray morning here before her announcement, shaking hands and letting them know she’s running for Congress. She plans to spend her first day on the campaign trail visiting a senior center and a local market in Rockville, and hosting a fundraiser. The 61-year-old was a veteran anchor for ABC News affiliate WJLA before joining Marriott, where she worked as an executive vice president and chief of global communications and public affairs. Matthews is the fifth Democratic candidate in the race, joining several state lawmakers and one former White House aide...In addition to the name recognition from her time as a local news anchor, she also has a high-profile husband: MSNBC television personality Chris Matthews, a former high-level aide for the late Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, D-Mass., who has flirted with runs for national office himself at times." [Roll Call]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a cat… and a giant whoopee cushion.
WHAT YOUR JOB SAYS ABOUT YOUR POLITICAL AFFILIATION - Interestingly though, staffers at the RNC and DNC are 7 percent more likely to be nihilists than Republican or Democrat. Andrew Lord: "A new analysis from app maker Verdant Labs calculated the likelihood of various occupations to identify as either Democrat or Republican….Mark Edmond, founder of Verdant Labs, told The Huffington Post he is surprised no one had performed the analysis before...Edmond said he was struck by how polarized some professions seem to be. For him, this raised questions. Why is an air traffic controller more likely to be a Democrat than a pilot? Why is nearly the entire entertainment industry Democratic, while the majority of surgeons are Republican? Some other interesting findings: Truck drivers are 12 times more likely to be Republicans than taxi drivers, prosecutors are 17 times more likely to be Republicans than public defenders, and economics professors are 7 times more likely to be Republicans than English professors." [HuffPost]
COMFORT FOOD
- Bill O'Reillyfights with Shia LaBeouf
- The origin of the Nokia ring, at ten seconds.
- A comparative look at England's giant vegitables.
TWITTERAMA
@SimonMaloy: "No state and no city is an island," says Martin O'Malley
FACT CHECK: Hawaii
#impeach
@emmaroller: *closeup of the Entourage boys in a jacuzzi*
“ayyy, it’s too lit!"
*camera pulls back*
the jacuzzi is filled with their own blood
@toddzwillich: Nixon was extremely candid and responsive in the famous Checkers interview, though.
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