memeorandum: Faith-Based Fanatics — He's had a busy summer. (Timothy Egan/New York Times)

11:20 AM ET, July 20, 2014

Top Items:

Katie Glueck / Politico:

What we learned from liberals at Netroots Nation — DETROIT — At a high-profile gathering of progressives this week, Hillary Clinton was tolerated, Barack Obama was pitied, and Elizabeth Warren was treated like a hero. — The annual liberal confab known as Netroots Nation brought together …

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

A Popular President — WASHINGTON — THE thing about him is, he just keeps going. — At 67, he continues to be, as Anna Quindlen once wrote, like one of those inflatable toys with sand weighting the bottom — you knock him over and he pops back up. — As Hillary stumbles and President Obama slumps …

Discussion: Informed Comment and Althouse

Kos / Daily Kos:
Netroots Nation is going to Arizona, Daily Kos is not

Discussion: Booman Tribune, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Corrente and Mediaite

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

Fox confronts Kerry with hot-mike comment on Israel: ‘Hell of a pinpoint operation’ — In an unusual moment during Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace presented Secretary of State John Kerry with video recorded before he came on air. — The segment begins shortly after the 11-minute mark in this video.

Discussion: Power Line and National Review

Byron Tau / Politico:

Kerry caught on open mic — Secretary of State John Kerry was caught on an open mic just before his interview with “Fox News Sunday” candidly speaking about the conflict in Gaza. — “It's a hell of a pinpoint operation, it's a hell of a pinpoint operation,” Kerry said to an aide on the phone, with some measure of frustration.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Mediaite

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Palin: 'I don't need lectures from Eric Holder' — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hit back at Attorney General Eric Holder on Saturday for criticizing her call to impeach President Obama over the border crisis. — “I don't need lectures from Eric Holder, a guy - get this …

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin

Washington Post:

Ukrainian officials accuse rebel militias of moving bodies, tampering with evidence — KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials on Saturday accused the rebel militias that they blame for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet of moving bodies and tampering with evidence, steps that could make determining …

Discussion: Malaysia Airlines, Business Insider, BBC, New York Times, Guardian, The Moderate Voice, protein wisdom, Mashable and kyivpost.com

Anne Applebaum / Slate:
The downing of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane has exposed the chaos in Ukraine as a real war.

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air and New York Times

Jazz Shaw / Hot Air:
Stonewall: Russia reportedly helping rebels destroy crash evidence

Discussion: Daily Mail, Conservatives4Palin, CNN and Power Line

Peter Smagorinsky / The Atlantic Online:

‘The Ideal Head’: Bizarre Racial Teachings From a 1906 Textbook — I recently opened an online order and discovered an unexpected bonus: As a buffer against damage, the seller had included a 1906 elementary school textbook called Frye's First Steps in Geography.

Paul Horwitz / PrawfsBlawg:

We Have Lost Our Beloved Friend, Dan Markel — We write this together, all of us, as a community. Our friend Dan Markel has been taken from us, suddenly and terribly. His law school, the Florida State University College of Law, will issue an announcement in due time.

Discussion: Washington Post, TaxProf Blog and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Herb Keinon / Jerusalem Post:

Netanyahu finally calls out Erdogan for anti-Semitic statements — Meretz's Gal-On calls Turkish leader's comments that he made at a campaign rally “despicable, vile and irresponsible.” — After years of publicly restraining himself regarding Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan …

Discussion: Israel Matzav and Algemeiner.com

Haaretz:

Anti-Israel protesters rally across France, defying ban imposed after synagogue clash — Thousands march through French cities in protest of Israeli operation in Gaza Strip; French president says will not allow violence to spill over into France. — REUTERS - Thousands of pro-Palestinian …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Algemeiner.com and The Gateway Pundit

Washington Post:

Obama aides were warned of brewing border crisis — Nearly a year before President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis on the border, a team of experts arrived at the Fort Brown patrol station in Brownsville, Tex., and discovered a makeshift transportation depot for a deluge of foreign children.

Discussion: Power Line and Associated Press

Timothy Egan / New York Times:

Faith-Based Fanatics — He's had a busy summer. As God only knows, he was summoned to slaughter in the Holy Land, asked to end the killings of Muslims by Buddhist monks in Myanmar, and played both sides again in the 1,400-year-old dispute over the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA and Vox Popoli

Evgeny Morozov / Guardian:

The rise of data and the death of politics — Tech pioneers in the US are advocating a new data-based approach to governance - ‘algorithmic regulation’. But if technology provides the answers to society's problems, what happens to governments? — On 24 August 1965 Gloria Placente …