The U.S. Declared War On Veteran Homelessness — And It Actually Could Win by Quil Lawrence for NPR’s Morning Edition on August 4 is an excellent story about how private-public partnerships can work, even in a city as beaten down as New Orleans. (When you read or listen to the story, look for the Katrina element.) Lots of people thrive on governmental failures, so successes deserve notice, especially in those instances where service to our nation plays a big role in creating the problem.

No one wants dirty air, or warmer temperatures, I expect, but plenty of people don’t like the notion that government might play a role in forcing cleaner air on us. David Graham has written The Politics

Big news, lost among lots of chatter about a rich jerk who’s running for something. Adam Chandler for The Atlantic has A Cuban Flag Rises in the District of Columbia, from Monday, July 20.

For Slate Jamelle Bouie offers up Trump’s Not Done Yet, moderately conventional, post-McCain criticism thinking about the Donald and the campaign. For smarter thinking the Associated Press has Trump’s Self-Paid Presidential Run Means He’s Not Going Away by Julie Bykowicz. Ms. Bykowicz quotes GOP pollster and smart guy Frank Luntz, who says:

Nobody leaves a race because they get tired, or because they think they do not have the votes. They leave the race because they run out of money. Donald Trump will

Robin Wright—no, not that one—is as a sharp a Middle East reporter as there is. An Iran Deal, at Last, written yesterday for the New Yorker, is worth reading if you want to know what’s what. (I’ll have more links and thoughts about the Iran deal Thursday afternoon/evening.)

I read a reasoned and reasonable rant—can there be such a thing—by Temple Trueblood, a highly regarded Alabama employment attorney. Ms. Trueblood’s words are part of Alabama Civil Rights lawyer’s epic rant: Media targeted Confederate flag because Charleston didn’t riot by Elizabeth Beshears, posted at Yellowhammer News on June 29. Ms. Trueblood’s words relate to Charleston, but what she’s really asking—no, begging—for is less group-speak/think, and more thinking.

The Atlantic, on July 6, posted The Real Story of Obamacare’s Birth by Norm Ornstein. Mr. Ornstein works for the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative entity, and is a highly regarded Congress-watcher who is fed up with Congress and does not think “both sides do it” explains the problem. Mr. Ornstein’s piece demonstrates with facts that the Obama Administration and Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee in 2009, tried mightily to engage with stalling Republican senators for months, before they pushed forward with the Affordable Care Act. And, for clarity about the fact that the ACA situation was not a one-off event, read The Party of No: New Details on the GOP Plot to Obstruct

Here, courtesy of the Washington Post, is the transcript of President Barack Obama’s eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, murdered on June 17, 2015. It’s President Obama at his finest!

A Former Israeli Ambassador Takes Aim at Obama—and American Jewry by Jeffrey Goldberg for The Atlantic is yet another piece about Ambassador Michael Oren’s op-eds and his new book, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide. Mr. Goldberg is a very astute and balanced observer on Middle East issues and Israeli politics. What gave me reason to circle back to the Oren Issue are both Mr. Goldberg’s analysis and the transcript of his interview with the Ambassador. They are old friends and colleagues, and it’s a most interesting conversation.

From the

In this political season my thoughts return often to my Congressman from 1961 until 1991, Morris K. Udall. Congressman Udall aka Mo was the best, bar none. (I worked my tail off for him in the Wisconsin primary election in 1976, where he ran second to James Earl Carter, Jr.) I thought of him today because he liked to tell a joke on himself—truth be told, he told jokes on himself constantly—about introducing himself to two New Hampshire codgers as “Mo Udall, running for president,” to which one of them responded, “we were just laughing about that.” The joke came to mind because we had a real reason to laugh today, as self-aggrandizing, selfish, spoiled, and stupid Donald Trump

For The Atlantic Adam Chandler wrote “Jerusalem, Blank” on June 9, the day after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Zivotofsky v. Kerry. In just 10 paragraphs Mr. Chandler captures very well the tragic nature of the interminable Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Sometimes a book review gives me a reason to read the book. In The Hillary in Our Future Michael Tomasky reviews Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich by Peter Schweizer for the new issue of the New York Review of Books. I will not be reading Clinton Cash, but I very much enjoyed Mr. Tomasky’s analysis—concerning the book

Joseph R. Biden III (Beau) died on Saturday. Mr. Biden was the former Attorney General of Delaware and an Iraq War vet. He was also the eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden. Here’s the New York Times obituary and Beau Biden’s Life of Service by Matt Ford for The Atlantic. RIP!

Eric Segall wrote How an Inaccurate Soundbite Might Take Down Obamacare for The Atlantic on May 29. It’s a detailed and thorough analysis of King v. Burwell, the Obamacare challenge which will be decided this month.

Longform.org packaged three essays about FIFA/soccer, under the title The Longform Guide to Soccer Corruption. So what? The essays were written in April 2015, June 2014, and August 2011. So,