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We members of the media probably sound a little self-serving when we complain about constant attacks on press freedom.

Press freedom is a sacred democratic value, enshrined right there in the Constitution!we huff to whoever will listen.

Needless to say, lots of Americans remain unconvinced.

As Inotedlast week, a recent NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found that 4in 10 Republicans believe the United States has too greatly expanded freedom of the press. Since then, an American Press Institutesurveyfound that 6in 10 Republicans believe news organizations primarily just prevent political leaders from doing their jobs.

Fed a steady diet of media vilification (served up by both left and right), Americans are apparently unmoved by citations of political texts that feel far removed from their daily lives. Maybe, they think, efforts to open up our libel laws, dismissals of the lamestream media as fake news and even threats of violence against journalists could do the country some good.

To those indifferent to abstract political ideals, let me offer a more practical reason to be alarmed by assaults on media freedom: the fact that the government can, and inevitably will, screw up.

Events over recent weeks suggest that Republicans war on the media should not be viewed in isolation. Its part of a broader strategy to discredit and disempower any independent voice trying, however imperfectly, to hold politicians to account.

Take, for example, the relentless attacks on the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency created in 1974 precisely so that Congress and the public could rely on technical expertise from independent analysts with no dog in the fight.

The CBO issues dozens of bill scores and reports each year, and no score has higher stakes right now than the assessment of Republicans Obamacare repeal plan. Sensing that the news will be bad, though, Republicans have done everything they can to smear the character, motives and competence of the agency.

In March, asked about a CBO score forecasting that the GOP health-care bill would cause tens of millions of Americans to lose their insurance, former House speaker and Trump surrogate Newt Gingrich called the federal agency corrupt and dishonest.

White House officialsramped up their own attacksover subsequentmonths. This past week the White House criticized the accuracy of the CBO in avideothat misspelled the word inaccurately. (You cant make this stuff up.)

The last straw came in anop-edpublished by The Post over the weekend, when two Trump officials preemptively declared thatwhateverthe nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reports in its latest assessment of the Senate Republicans health-care bill, the CBOs estimates will be little more than fake news.

That is, now the CBO is being slurred with the nastiest comparison of all: to the media.

The nations independent federal statistical agencies have lately found themselves in similar crosshairs. They have been praised when their numbers reflect favorably upon Republicans but mercilessly attacked when their data show otherwise.

The nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics, the internal watchdog tasked with helping executive-branch officials avoid conflicts of interest, has also been repeatedly and unfairly accused of partisanship under this administration. The neutering of this agency has made it much harder to ensure that federal officials are making decisions in the best interests of the country an embarrassment at home and abroad.

I think we are pretty close to a laughingstock at this point, Walter M.Shaub Jr., the departing head of the agency,toldthe New York Times over the weekend.

And then theres the Trump administrations unrelenting attacks on an independent federal judiciary, the last best hope against government excess and impropriety.

The common message from Trump officials and co-partisans on Capitol Hill through all these actions: Trust us, and us alone. Anyone who contradicts us is spouting #fakenews.

Maybe this plan will buy Republicans some time, but they cant outrun bad news forever. At some point, presumably, members of the public will notice if they, oh, lose their health insurance. Just because President Trump declares a Russia story or the unemployment rate fake doesnt make it so.

Go here to see the original:
The practical reason to be alarmed by Republican cries of 'fake news' - Washington Post

We profiled two others at that meeting: Rinat Akhmetshin, who has shown himself to be skilled in the muscular Russian version of what in American politics is known as opposition research, and Aras Agalarov, a property developer known as a fixer for the Kremlins toughest jobs.

Our reporters also investigated a $17 million payment to Paul Manafort, Mr. Trumps former campaign chairman, from a Kremlin-linked political party in Ukraine.

Skidding off the rails.

Before Cosmo DiNardo confessed to killing four young men in Bucks County, Pa., there were signs of a volatile, bullying personality getting worse over time.

Iran sentences U.S. student to 10 years.

Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton, was sentenced on spying charges, an action bound to aggravate relations between the two countries.

Qatars open doors sow resentment.

The small country with a welcome-all attitude has become the freewheeling hub of the Middle East. But thats precisely what has plunged the region into one of its most dramatic showdowns.

The Daily, your audio news report.

Today we discuss Kris Kobachs quest to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the U.S.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

Big pharma has been spending on share buybacks and dividends, but research and development? Not so much.

After the death of a Silicon Valley lawyer, his ex-wife found a web of drug abuse in his profession.

In urban China, cash is rapidly becoming obsolete.

The Dow and the S.&P. 500 closed at record highs on Friday. Heres a snapshot of global markets.

Items under $50 that might improve your life, and more, in our weekly newsletter.

Saving for college? Heres what you need to know.

A quick dinner need not lack flavor. Try shrimp in yellow curry.

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marched to commemorate the anniversary of last years failed coup.

Columbia University settled with a student who was cast as a rapist in a performance art piece involving a mattress.

Game of Thrones is back. Read our review of the season premiere, and sign up here for exclusive interviews and explainers.

Separately, Doctor Who is breaking the mold with a female lead.

War for the Planet of the Apes was No. 1 at the North American box office, taking in $56.5 million.

Taking flight in Peru.

Take a ride in 360 degrees with the paraglider Ricardo Mares, who is a regular over Limas cliffs.

In todays 360 video, soar with a paraglider over Limas cliffs.

A hefty toll.

The U.S. spent more than $1 trillion and lost about 4,500 service members in Iraq. Today, Irans influence there is paramount, our correspondent writes.

Turning the corner.

As the U.S. prison population drops and the number of parolees increases, a Connecticut man learns that getting out of jail isnt the same as being free.

Eight and counting.

Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic to win an eighth Wimbledon singles title, a record in the mens tournament.

Garbie Muguruza took the womens title, crushing the hopes of Venus Williams.

In memoriam.

Maryam Mirzakhani, the only woman and only Iranian to win a Fields Medal, the most prestigious honor in mathematics, died of breast cancer at 40.

Martin Landau, who appeared in the 1960s TV show Mission: Impossible and won an Oscar for Ed Wood, died at 89.

Quiz time!

Did you keep up with last weeks news from around the world? Test your knowledge.

Quotation of the day.

That thumb I have left helps me a lot. I thank God for it.

Razak Iyal, a Ghanaian who lost every finger and his left thumb to frostbite when he and a fellow refugee walked across the U.S.-Canada border in December.

Sixty-two years ago, the first Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif., on what had once been an orange grove. Walt Disney himself greeted the very first of that days estimated 15,000 guests.

The opening was covered on television on a par with the dedication of a national shrine, The Times wrote, and later explained the appeal: Children see their old friends from nursery songs and fairy tales impersonated by local characters.

Perhaps the best-known of those childhood friends, Mickey Mouse, turns 90 next year.

The Mickey phenomenon first swept across the world during the Great Depression. Some reacted with skepticism, some countries banned it, but most found solace in the story of an irreverent mouse.

Perhaps it is the bitterness of the struggle to earn a living in Europe this year that has brought Mickey Mouse such tremendous success Mickey who is forever gay, Mickey who is only made of ink and cannot possibly be hungry, cold or weary, read a report from Germany in 1931.

And the characters popularity endures. When the latest major Disney theme park opened last year in Shanghai, mouse ears were one of the biggest sellers.

Patrick Boehler contributed reporting.

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Continued here:
Republican Party, Wimbledon, 'Game of Thrones': Your Monday Briefing - New York Times

Republicans racing to pass a bill that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare) certainly understand that their efforts arent polling well. In survey after survey, a majority of respondents view their legislative proposals unfavorably. At the same time, survey after survey shows Obamacare as more popular than not.

In the new Washington Post-ABC News poll releasedSunday, we decided to ask the question directly: Which do you prefer, Obamacare or the Republican replacement plan?

By a 2-to-1 margin 50 percent to 24 percent Americans said they preferred Obamacare.

Theres a split by party, as you might expect, with Democrats broadly favoring the existing law and Republicans the latter. But that split wasnt even, with 77 percent of Democrats favoring the legislation passed in 2010 by their party and only 59 percent of Republicans favoring their partys solution. Independents in this case came down on the side of the Democrats, with 49 percent favoring the existing law vs. 20 percent backing the GOP alternative.

Whats more, roughly 6 in 10 Democrats and a third of independents strongly prefer Obamacare. Only 43 percent of Republicans strongly prefer their partys proposal.

Some respondents, unprompted, said they preferred some other proposal, or neither. One in 10 Democrats offered one of those responses, while about 2 in 10 Republicans and independents did.

More worrisome for Republicans hoping to pass a new bill is how the support broke out by demographic. Only among Republicans, conservatives, white evangelicals and white men without college degrees did more Americans support the GOP bill than Obamacare. In every other group analyzed, including older respondents and white women without college degrees an important part of President Trumps voting base in 2016 backed the existing law by some margin.

Even among whites without college degrees, views were about split, once margins of error are taken into account.

These results arent surprising, as such, given the surfeit of polling showing how unpopular the Republican bill is. But its surprising when seen through the lens of the 2016 election, when Obamacare was unpopular and the GOP was pushing hard for its replacement. When Republicans gained control of the Capitol and White House, that replacement became a real possibility and, suddenly, the idea became much more unpopular.

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By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans prefer Obamacare to Republican replacements - Washington Post

Sen. Susan CollinsSusan CollinsCBO won't have Monday score for Senate healthcare bill Cyndi Lauper praises Collins: 'And she's a Republican!' After delay, Senate Republicans struggle not to let healthcare stall MORE (R-Maine) joined singer Cyndi Lauper on stage at a concert Friday night, the Portland Press Herald reported.

"This woman is a hero, and she's my hero," Lauper told the audience, after inviting the moderate Republican to come on stage.

"And she's a Republican," Lauper said to loud cheers from the audience. The singer praised Collins for her work "with LGBT homeless youth."

"And all the homeless kids. I was blessed to testify before her committee, which was bipartisan," Lauper said, regarding an April 2015 meeting of the Transportation, Housing and Urban development subcommittee.

"We're just glad you're here," said Collins. The senator later tweeted to Lauper, saying "I will back you up anytime- on stage or off."

Lauper also tweeted a photo of herself with Collins and Rod Stewart. Stewart also played at the Bangor, Maine venue.

What a great night Bangor, Maine with @rodstewart & @SenatorCollins.Rod is a "Sir" now. pic.twitter.com/CPbsOMKgsQ

Lauper is best known for her 1984 hit "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

See the original post:
Cyndi Lauper praises Collins: 'And she's a Republican!' - The Hill (blog)

A meeting was held Thursday, June 8 for the purpose of beginning a new Republican women's club.

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Republican women form additional chapter - Harrison Daily (subscription)