The Cheat Sheet

Frontpage: Wednesday, July 11th

1. Spain Unleashes New Austerity Measures: The Spanish government is celebrating being granted a big bank bailout by the U.N. with a brand-new plan for austerity. Spain plans to tighten its belt even further through a new hike in sales tax on such things as cigarettes, cars, clothing, and telephone services, as well as public transportation, processed foods, and hotel and bar services. They’re also adding several more spending cuts in the hope of taking $79.85 billion off its total budget over the next two and a half years.
2. Parliament: Diamond Misled Us: Bob Diamond may have resigned and agreed to testify in front of British Parliament when an interest-rate-fixing scandal within Barclays Bank, of which he was CEO, came to light. But now British lawmakers think Diamond misled Parliament during its inquiry into the Barclays scandal. 
3. GOP: Stop Health Care Law, Stop Tax: House Republicans are on a mission to repeal President Obama’s health-care overhaul, and they’re latching onto the wording of the Supreme Court’s recent decision two weeks ago. The House of Representatives has voted at least 30 times to get rid of Obamacare in some way and will do so yet again on Wednesday, this time making the argument that by doing so, they’d be saving about 20 million Americans from paying an unnecessary tax. 
4. Hillary Clinton Visits Laos: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a stop in Laos Wednesday while traveling through Asia, and was faced with several reminders of the Vietnam War. Her visit was the first by an American secretary of state in 57 years.
5. Holder: Texas ID Law a Poll Tax: Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at the NAACP’s annual convention on Tuesday just after federal judges in Washington began hearing a lawsuit over Texas’s voter-identification law. “We will not allow political pretext to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right,” Holder declared before the crowd of 600 in Houston. The U.S. Justice Department, led by Holder, has opposed Texas’s photo-ID requirement for voters, finding it more harmful to minorities than helpful.

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Photo via picturedept:

Photo of The Day: July 10, 2012

Housecall
President Barack Obama discusses middle class tax cuts with Jason and Ali McLaughlin at their home in Iowa.

PHOTO OF THE DAY ARCHIVE

Hey Tumblr! We’ve got a simple infographic on the costs of Obamacare with a section just for you! 

Want to tackle the actual ruling from the Supreme Court on Obamacare but daunted by its 193 pages of legalese? Have no fear! We had a number of legal experts make helpful annotations explaining the most important paragraphs. 

newsweek:

How our readers reacted to the health-care ruling. We asked them to tell us one word. Just one.

How do you feel? 

Catch the end of our live panel as we try to figure this all out. 

shortformblog:

In case you haven’t heard, CNN sorta screwed this up. The law was mostly upheld. (ht @BuzzfeedAndrew)

Oops. (It’s not there first time.) 

Bill Clinton Warns About Supreme Court Ruling Against Obamacare

“[The Republicans] refused to back the president in his support for state and local government, and that has allowed 670,000 teachers, police officers, firefighters, and others to be laid off…If they had supported the president, the unemployment rate would be 7.3 percent instead of the current 8-plus percent.”