memeorandum: The Senate's failed, irrelevant plan to throw $20 billion at Veterans Affairs problems (Byron York/Washington Examiner)

8:15 AM ET, June 2, 2014

Top Items:

Jake Tapper / CNN:

Fellow soldiers call Bowe Bergdahl a deserter, not a hero — (CNN) — The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him — veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose …

Discussion: Politico, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, New York Times, Washington Post, Althouse and The Reaction

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:

Bergdahl bumps VA from spotlight — The Taliban's release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl dominated the Sunday talk shows, pushing Friday's resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki from the headlines. — The Sunday shows were packed with Republicans launching into political attacks …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Christian Science Monitor, Guardian and New York Times

Nathan Bradley Bethea / The Daily Beast:

We Lost Soldiers in the Hunt for Bergdahl, a Guy Who Walked Off in the Dead of Night — For five years, soldiers have been forced to stay silent about the disappearance and search for Bergdahl. Now we can talk about what really happened. — It was June 30, 2009, and I was in the city of Sharana …

Discussion: Washington Post, Yahoo! News, Weekly Standard and The Gateway Pundit

Wesley Lowery / Washington Post:
Chuck Hagel, Susan Rice defend decision to trade terror suspects for Bergdahl

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Power Line, Liberaland and Hot Air

CNN:
Hagel: U.S. acted fast to save Bowe Bergdahl's life

Discussion: Washington Post, NBC News, Allen B. West, Mediaite and ThinkProgress

Ashley Killough / CNN:
Susan Rice responds to political debate over negotiations for soldier's release

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, Hinterland Gazette, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Politico, Lawfare and Althouse

Doug Powers / Twitchy:
‘Working to free all Guantanamo prisoners’ tweet from account of released soldier's father deleted

Discussion: Daily Mail, National Review, American Thinker, The Gateway Pundit, Ed Driscoll, Agence France-Presse, Washington Post and Guardian

Michael Gartland / New York Post:
The bizarre tale of America's last known POW

Discussion: Power Line, Balloon Juice, Joe For America and The Raw Story

New York Times:
Bowe Bergdahl, American Soldier, Freed by Taliban in Prisoner Trade

Discussion: The Long War Journal, PoliticusUSA, ABC News, Josh Blackman's Blog, JONATHAN TURLEY, TIME, defense.gov, Hot Air, Patterico's Pontifications and Taylor Marsh

Laura Barron-Lopez / The Hill:

Obama's new climate war opens — President Obama is opening a climate change war with Republicans on Monday with the Environmental Protection Agency's unveiling of sweeping new standards on carbon emissions from power plants. — The new rules are a central part of Obama's climate change agenda meant …

Amy Harder / Wall Street Journal:

EPA to Seek 30% Cut in Emissions at Power Plants — The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a plan for power plants that will seek a 30% cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

Discussion: CleanTechnica, Politico, KDVR.com, Talking Points Memo, Liberaland and ThinkProgress

Coral Davenport / New York Times:

Obama to Take Action to Slash Coal Pollution — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Monday will announce one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution …

Discussion: Legal Planet, Washington Monthly, Mashable, The BRAD BLOG and Marginal REVOLUTION

Catherine E. Shoichet / CNN:

Ann B. Davis, Alice on ‘Brady Bunch,’ dies — Everyone's favorite housekeeper, Alice Nelson, was played by Ann B. Davis on the sitcom. Davis died on Sunday, June 1, after suffering a subdural hematoma the day before. She never regained consciousness. Davis retired from show business in the late '70s, but popped up here and there.

Discussion: NBC News, Associated Press, Mashable, Scared Monkeys, TMZ.com, The Moderate Voice, Joe. My. God., Jezebel, Liberal Values and Hollywood Life

CNN:

Spain's King Juan Carlos I to abdicate — Madrid, Spain (CNN) — After nearly 40 years on the throne, King Juan Carlos I of Spain will be stepping down, the country's prime minister said Monday. — Crown Prince Felipe, 46, will succeed his father, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced in nationally televised address.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Barcepundit and The Agonist

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

The Senate's failed, irrelevant plan to throw $20 billion at Veterans Affairs problems — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL VETERANS AFFAIRS VETERANS BERNIE SANDERS — Last February, before the Veterans Affairs health care scandal broke, Sen. Bernard Sanders, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs …

Discussion: Betsy's Page

Bobby McMahon / Forbes:

How The 2022 World Cup Could Reach A Doomsday Scenario — The Sunday Times story of “Mohamed bin Hamman's secret campaign to bring the World Cup to the Gulf,” is another episode in a narrative that that will not die. — The series of articles published earlier today details the lengths that Bin Hamman …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler and BBC

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

On Inequality Denial — A while back I published an article titled “The Rich, the Right, and the Facts,” in which I described politically motivated efforts to deny the obvious — the sharp rise in U.S. inequality, especially at the very top of the income scale.

Discussion: UK Blog on The Huffington Post and Daily Kos

Politico:

THE OBAMA PARADOX — The ritual started in earnest last fall in the midst of the biggest humiliation of Barack Obama's presidency, the failure of the health care website. Anytime he heard a sliver of good news, the president reacted the same way: He knocked on the polished cherry wood table in the Roosevelt Room.

Discussion: Althouse