There’s something new on the WaMo webpage that I’ll be posting about directly. Or you can go check it out first.

Here are some midday news/views treats:

* Second Circuit holds that NSA data base of U.S. phone calls exceeds the agency’s powers.

* Stephen Colbert, bless him, announces he’s funding $800,000 in project grants to public school teachers in his native state of South Carolina.

* At TNR Brian Beutler weighs and ultimately rejects Ross Douthat’s suggestion weaker police unions would reduce police misbehavior.

* WaPo’s Philip Bump assesses significance of Bernie Sanders’ first-day contribution haul after his announcement.

* Greg Sargent notes new letter from congressional Democrats support Iran nuke deal shows votes should be there to sustain an Obama veto of a bill disallowing the deal.

And in non-political news:

* It’s definitely tornado season, as twisters tear through Great Plains, killing one so far.

As we break for lunch, here’s Planxty again, performing “Raggle Taggle Gypsy O” at the Irish National Stadium in 1973.

YouTube video

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.