Required reading from around the web of the best, most interesting, or most though provoking things we’ve read:
Wu: Trump awards the Medal of Honor to David Bellavia, the first living Iraq War recipient
“Tuesday, President Donald Trump presented the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for valor, to David Bellavia, who served as an Army staff sergeant. Bellavia is the first living Iraq War veteran to receive the award. He received it for his “conspicuous gallantry” during the Second Battle of Fallujah, the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War. In a ceremony Tuesday afternoon attended by members of Congress, administration officials and military leaders, Trump praised Bellavia for his heroism. Thirty-two service members who fought alongside Bellavia in Iraq and 12 who fought with him during the Second Battle of Fallujah were also in attendance. […] During the Second Battle of Fallujah, Bellavia’s platoon was ordered to clear out a block of 12 buildings when it became pinned down by enemy fire. Rather than put one of his own men at risk, Bellavia grabbed an M249 light machine gun and provided covering fire for his fellow soldiers to escape. When they came under fire again from a house full of insurgents, Bellavia ran in with an M16 and killed four insurgents inside. Bellavia entered a room full of propane tanks and plastic explosives. To prevent an explosion, . . . ”
Brufke: House passes $4.5B border funding bill
“The House passed a $4.5 billion border funding bill in a 230-195 vote on Tuesday after last-minute changes were made to the legislation to sway progressive and Latino lawmakers who previously weren’t on board. The Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act, which aims to provide humanitarian aid and address the flow of migrants, faces a veto threat from the White House and an uphill battle in the upper chamber, which is slated to bring up its own border bill as soon as Tuesday.[…] Republicans in the House blasted Democratic leadership, accusing them of politicizing an issue in a time of crisis by bringing a bill to the floor that the president won’t sign.”
Chaitin: Third Mueller scope memo proof Rosenstein was ‘scared to death’ of McCabe, Joe DiGenova says
“Last week, the Washington Examiner’s Byron York revealed the existence of a third scope memo, which remains shrouded in secrecy but indicates the instructions Rosenstein gave to Mueller for his Russia investigation were more extensive than previously known. Reacting to the report on Fox Business, DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said it contributes to the notion that the Russia investigation was set up on ‘illegitimate’ grounds and stems back to Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel. ‘When history of this scandal is written, one person will be blamed and should be blamed for the entire wasting of two years of President Trump’s presidency. Rod Rosenstein was a coward,’ DiGenova told host Lou Dobbs. DiGenova claimed . . .”