IMAGINE THAT: "Instead of raising millions of dollars from nefarious sources to run mean, hateful, nasty ads against his opponents, Trump is taking his message to the people."

MINIMUM WAGE, MAXIMUM IGNORANCE: "... a perceptive reader offers the observation that the minimum wage should be better understood as a government ban on low-paying jobs."

SOLAR IMPULSE 2 completes global circumnavigation trip, demonstrates potential of clean energy aviation.

Solar Impulse 2 cruised at altitudes of up to 9,000 meters and at an average speed of between 45 and 90 km (12.5 and 25 miles) per hour.

The potential of 'clean energy aviation' eludes me....

FAILED TAKEOVER: Bernie Sanders leaves the Democrat party.

'GRILS': a new sexual gender preference for Democrats?

WORRIED ABOUT FOREIGN HACKING? Then you should support paper ballots, an idea whose time has come again.

It’s only three months until November....

EXACTLY: The Ego has landed.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Obama Talked More About Himself Than Hillary. I haven't checked the numbers myself, but as I've remarked in many prior posts over the last 7-1/2 years, every Obama speech is always a paean to himself.

RON FOURNIER: All hell breaks loose at the Democratic convention. As a journalist (items 1-20), Fournier is relatively decent; as a prognostigator (items 21-30), he's too invested in the status quo.

WHILE WE'VE BEEN WATCHING THE CONVENTIONS, Humana dropped out of most ObamaCare markets.

IT'S OFFICIAL: Hillary is the Democrat nominee.

DON'T MENTION THIS TO THE DEMOCRAT CONVENTION: Yes, the earth is cooling.

Tell John Kerry he can turn off his air conditioner.

FIRST COMMERCIAL DRONE DELIVERY: 7-11 slurpees.

What is this world coming to?

NEVER: When is President Obama going to admit ObamaCare is a colossal failure?

TRUMP: Tribune Of Poor White People. Long, so here's the key takeaway:

In the past few weeks, I’ve heard from so many of my elite friends some version of, “Trump is the racist leader all of these racist white people deserve.” These comments almost always come from white progressives who know literally zero culturally working class Americans. And I’m always left thinking: if this is the quality of thought of a Harvard Law graduate, then our society is truly doomed.

Donald Trump may not be the perfect candidate, but the know-it-all progressive ruling class described in the paragraph above is much, much worse for America.

HYPOCRISY ON DISPLAY: "The six union leaders who took the stage on Monday at the Democratic National Convention to condemn the richest one percent took home nearly $2.3 million in total compensation in 2015."

BECAUSE HE WON'T HAVE AIR FORCE ONE TO FLY AROUND ANY MORE: Obama to curb airplane emissions.

CLEARLY A PH.D. from this institution isn't worth the paper it's written on.

ARROGANCE AND CORRUPTION: The real story behind Deborah Wasserman Schultz’s resignation.

JEFF JACOBY: Failure of Turkey's coup was no victory for democracy.

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the United States of America should (1) declare war on the Islamic State in all its incarnations, and (2) quit supporting non-democratic governments.

AN EXCERPT from Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party.

Contrary to what we learn from progressives in education and the media, the history of the Democratic Party well into the twentieth century is a virtually uninterrupted history of thievery, corruption and bigotry. American history is the story of Democratic malefactors and Republican heroes. Yes, it’s true.

But you'll never hear it from the Democrats or their media.

SURPRISED?

HILLARY'S NEW RUNNING MATE: the generic Democrat politician.

Maybe Kaine and Hillary bonded over how lucrative life in elected office can be. While he was governor, Kaine received $186,899 in gifts and travel – Redskins tickets, cases of wine, etcetra. He didn’t get in legal trouble the way Bob McDonnell did because he disclosed all of the gifts on the proper forms.

She should have selected Bob McDonnell as her running mate....

RANDOM THOUGHT: Is it the Democrat National Convention or a black minstrel show?

If Stephanie Rawlings-Blake losing the gavel to open the convention is any indication, it's going to be a three-ring clown circus.

The invocation: is it a prayer, or a campaign speech?

Update: "We have the most diverse party ever." Yes, I've seen a few token whites.

Update 2: They seem to be following Roberts Rules of (dis)Order pretty well....

HEH: DNC 2016.

Linked from here. Pass the popcorn; it's starting.

"THE DEALERS of Absolute Moral Authority play with a loaded deck."

OOPS: "Since U.S. violent crime has been cut in half since the 1990s while the number of guns in the hands of private citizens has doubled, claiming gun control would help anything is disingenuous at best, and an intentional lie at worst."

SCREAMING CAMPUS GARBAGE BABY ALERT: Crybullies at School of Mines say arena's 'Mine Shaft' nickname promotes rape.

Send them to the children's table and tell them to shut up.

TURNING SHIPPING CONTAINERS into a housing development. When I was in Iraq, we called these housing developments Camp Victory, Camp Liberty, etc.

THE ANSWER TO D.C. STATEHOOD: split Texas 5 ways. I have a better suggestion: split California into two states along Interstate 5. Call them California and Left West California.

The obvious answer, though, is simply to return that part of Washington D.C. east of the Potomac river to Maryland just as the part west of the Potomac was returned to Virginia.

IT CAN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS: Obama endorses Trump. Since it's Barack's half-brother, is that a half-victory for Trump?

LIBERALS ARE STILL NUTS: Air conditioners are as big a threat as ISIS. I wonder if he'd still feel that way if, as was suggested over at Instapundit, the air conditioning was turned off at Foggy Bottom.

HEH: Apollo 11's source code.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ: Obama's America.

THE DEMOCRAT PARTY PLATFORM: making income inequality worse.

JUDGE RULES that punching a white woman after yelling 'I hate white people' is not a hate crime. In Canada, but coming soon to a U.S. city near you.

THE CLINTON RULES: for you, not for her. I expect more to come next week....

AMMO GRRRLL ON GUN LIES: "It is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on … a book."

Let's try again, Barack:

“How ’bout ‘it’s easier for a teenager to find a gun than a condom?”
“No, they give condoms out at school.”

“OK, OK, how ’bout easier to find a gun than arugula?”
“No, Michelle made sure arugula is part of every discarded school lunch.”

Read the rest of her takedown.

SOCIALISM: Zero plus zero still equals zero.

IS IT IGNORANCE OR IS IT BIAS? Media botches charter school reporting twice in one week.

I'd suggest that laziness is a contributing factor as well.

AREN'T LIBERALS WONDERFUL? Gay and black conservatives confront lily-white far left mob outside Gays for Trump party.

THE DUMBEST IDEA: "If there were a contest for the most stupid idea in politics, my choice would be the assumption that people would be evenly or randomly distributed in incomes, institutions, occupations or awards, in the absence of somebody doing somebody wrong."

SONIC BOOMS are back!

CLARENCE THOMAS on freedom and obligation. A reminder.

A REMINDER for 'Black Lives Matter':

WHO DO YOU FEAR MOST: Barack or Hillary? A very tough question indeed.

WHY CAN'T IT BE BOTH? When It Comes to Islam, Western Leaders Are Liars or Idiots.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, Trumpnado Edition. My favorite:

Go see the rest.

ALLITERATION ABUSE: this week's academic absurdity. Every time I conclude that social justice 'academia' has hit rock bottom, they get out the dynamite and keep blasting. It seems there's no depth they won't plumb.

If it weren't for welfare, these morons would starve.

POWERLINE: It’s Kaine. Plus this observation: "There have been elections in which voters have lamented that both parties offer better candidates in the VP slot than at the top of the ticket. I doubt this has ever been more true than in 2016."

MOCK THEM: No one visited Case Western Reserve University's "safe space" during the Republican National Convention. Maybe at the Democrat's convention....

CONNECTICUT GOVERNOR DANNEL MALLOY is more important than all of you peasants.

Not mentioned is the fact that Malloy is a Democrat....

PEGGY NOONAN: Cruz, what a jerk! My thought too. [To read the full article, go to Google, type the headline into the search box and then click on the WSJ link.]

MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL redefines “assault rifle” with predictable results - lines out the door at gun stores.

IT'S ALWAYS DARKEST before the dawn.

WELL, he isn't gonna go by 'Michelle Obama'.

THE FEDERALIST: Donald Trump's acceptance speech.

HARD TO ARGUE WITH THIS:

This is one of the best explanations of the Muslim terrorist situation I have ever read. References to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to understand, and well worth the read.

The author of this email is Dr. Emanuel Tanya, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist. A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

Very few people were true Nazis, but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come.' My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is a religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.

Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.

It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt. Yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our Enemy if they don't speak up. Like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

Now Islamic prayers have been introduced in Toronto and other public schools in Ontario, and, yes, in Ottawa, too, while the Lord's Prayer was removed (due to being so offensive? The Islamic way may be peaceful for the time being in our country until the fanatics move in.

In Australia, and indeed in many countries around the world, many of the most commonly consumed food items have the halal emblem on them. Just look at the back of some of the most popular chocolate bars, and at other food items in your local supermarket. Food on aircraft have the halal emblem just to appease the privileged minority who are now rapidly expanding within the nation's shores.

In the U.K, the Muslim communities refuse to integrate and there are now dozens of "no-go" zones within major cities across the country that the police force dare not intrude upon. Sharia law prevails there, because the Muslim community in those areas refuse to acknowledge British law.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts - the fanatics who threaten our way of life.'

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
- Martin Luther King

From my email.

MICHAEL MOORE: 'Trump is going to win'.

It must really chap his ass to say that....

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Ten reasons why Trump could will win.

HEH: Obama too incompetent to pull off a coup.

Hint: don't piss off deer hunters with 30-06's.

WELL, there is a certain amount of logic there.

LIBERAL HEADS EXPLODE: a supermodel with superpowers.

TWEET OF THE YEAR FROM MSNBC: Not as deadly as the plane crash of 9/11.

OH DEAR, MY CAT IS RACIST. What should I do?

SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP! Three easy ways Obama could stop doing harm.

NEVER TRUMP LEADER: We might stage a walkout in Cleveland.

Don't let the door hit you in the ass as you leave.

SUNRISE, SUNSET: The Left will always fail because it lives in a 'virtual reality' world.

THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: Washington restaurant sorry for asking cops not to dine.

Apology not accepted. I don't know whether the Left is emboldened in their progressivism or simply having temper tantrums at being ignored by Americans, but either way I'm happy that it's being made to sit at the kids' table and told to sit down and shut up.

SHORT ANSWER, NO: Can we ever trust the Democrats?

ONCE A MARINE, ALWAYS A MARINE: “You won’t shoot me,” intruder says before being shot.

MOVE OVER, TATOOINE: Planet discovered orbiting three suns.

IDIOTS DEMOCRATS: Let's ban anyone under the age of 16 from firing AR-15 rifles. My now almost-16 granddaughter was firing my Henry .22 rifle when she was barely 13. My AR-15 makes a much louder 'bang' but the kick is about the same.

FOLLOWING THE ATTACK IN NICE, President Obama should immediately resign, allowing President Biden to begin to prosecute the war on ISIS until President Trump can request from Congress a Declaration of War against the Islamic State in all its instantiations everwhere it exists throughout the world.

It's time.

OBAMA: Tear down this wall.

Not what you might think....

JEFF JACOBY: Making college 'free' will only make it worse.

Mentioned is Thomas Sowell's comment that "If college becomes 'free,' even more people can attend college without bothering to become educated and without acquiring any economically meaningful skills". Left unmentioned is the fact that the 'graduates' will likely be unable to find employment with sufficient earning capability to pay the tax bill that will inevitably follow.

QUICK ANSWER, NO: Will California ever thrive again?

On second thought, maybe after the next earthquake moves San Francisco and Los Angeles out into the Pacific ocean....

IT'S BEEN the Department of Just-Us for 7-1/2 long years.

HO-HUM: Just another ObamaCare insurer dropout. By the time January 21, 2017 arrives, there might not be anything left of ObamaCare to rip out.

In one respect, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was right: there's no constitutional barrier to stupidity.

HILLARY: Can you imagine electing a vindictive man who might … send the IRS after his critics? Haven't we already done that? Twice?

CLINTON STILL DOESN’T BELIEVE she sent or received classified information. Of course not; since she didn't classify them herself, they couldn't have been classified.

FROM MY EMAIL, WHY TRUMP? The folks speaking out against Trump are helping me make up my mind a little more every day.

Is he the perfect candidate whose thoughts mirror mine on all fronts? NOPE
Does he say everything the way I wish he would say it? NOPE
Am I absolutely sure that his motives are absolutely Pure? NOPE
Can I point to any other Democrat politician that I like better? NOPE
Is there any of the other RINO politicians I like better? NOPE
Am I going to sit home, refuse to vote, and let Hillary win; because he is not perfect? NOPE
Do I like what I have seen for the last 7-1/2 years with the Jerk that sleeps in my White House? NOPE
Do I like the "fundamental changes" that same Jerk has brought about in MY America? NOPE

OK, now it's your turn to decide what you are going to do in about 4 months. Here are Trump's presidential qualifications...

Obama is against Trump ... Check
The Media are against Trump ... Check
The establishment Democrats are against Trump ... Check
The establishment Republicans are against Trump ... Check
The Pope is against Trump ... Check
The UN is against Trump ... Check
The EU is against Trump ... Check
China is against Trump ... Check
Mexico is against Trump ... Check
Soros is against Trump ... Check
Black Lives Matter is against Trump ... Check
Move On is against Trump ... Check
The Koch brothers are against Trump ... Check
The Bushes are against Trump ... Check
Planned Parenthood is against Trump ... Check
Hillary & Bernie are both against Trump ... Check
Illegal aliens are against Trump ... Check
Islam is against Trump ... Check
Kasich is against Trump ... Check
George Will is against Trump ... Check
Hateful, racist, violent liberals are against Trump ... Check

THAT BEING SAID, it seems to me Trump must be the best qualified candidate we could have this time around if you have so many economic and political insiders all so scared to death that they all speak out against him at the same time!

PLUS

He's not a Lifetime Politician ... Check
He's not a Lawyer ... Check
He's not doing it for the money ... Check
He's a Natural Born American Citizen born in the USA from American parents .. Check

AND BONUS POINTS:

Whoopi says she will leave the country ...
Rosie says she will leave the country ...
Sharpton says he will leave the country ...
Cher says she will leave the country ...
Cyrus says she will leave the country ...
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights will prevail ...
Hillary will go to jail ...
The budget will be balanced in 8 years ...
Americans will have first choice at jobs ...
You will not be able to marry your pet ...
You will be able to keep your gun(s) ...
Only living, registered U.S. citizens can vote ...
Must show id to vote ...
You can have and keep your own doctor ...
You can say whatever you want without being called a racist, Islamophobic, xenophobic, etc. ...

HE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.

AN OPINION on President Obama’s speech at the memorial service for the murdered Dallas police officers.

Obama is so full of himself — so aware of himself performing — that the video is almost unwatchable. He cannot fake sincerity. He is a transparent phony.

Agreed.

AND NOW IT'S 15 DOWN: Another ObamaCare co-op collapses.

WAIT. Which one is the real lemon?

NEXT, let's ban assault forks.

HILLARY CLINTON: Too connected to jail.

LIKE THE IRS AND THE SECRET SERVICE, more and more of the federal government is no longer trustworthy or competent.

YET ANOTHER WORKPLACE HAZARD: the dangers of cake.

Upside: it doesn't cause global warming/change/cooling. Yet.

NASA HAS EXTENDED the New Horizons mission and repositioned the spacecraft on a course to 2014 MU69, a recently discovered object in the Kuiper belt at the edge of our solar system.

HILLARY: it's only classified if it's marked. [Even then she still failed.]

GADGETS: A wearable band for motion sickness.

HEH: A field guide to encountering a Social Justice Warrior. Luckily for me, they'e not typically found in the wild. Their normal habitat is the nooks and crannies around college campuses.

WHEN I GROW UP, I want to be like him.

Put the words in either mouth; it rings true either way.

ADVANCED GIBBERISH: Is this even remotely intelligible? In any known language?

CONCEALED CARRIER takes down shooter at South Carolina nightclub.

Beyond the novelty of a published 'good guy with a gun' article, there's an interesting pair of comments between 'Eric Embervine' and 'Billca' that gets at what is, to me, the core of the gun control debate -- the presumption on the part of non-owners of some sort of 'cowboy mentality' on the part of the CC permit holder. I don't carry because I'm a wannabe vigilante; I carry because I recognize that there is a very small, but very real, risk in today's world, and I want to be prepared to defend myself/my family should that ever become necessary.

NOT LIKELY IN PROGRESSIVE-STAN: May free speech reign and scientific inquiry prevail.

THERE ARE EASIER WAYS TO COMMIT SUICIDE: Ohio Professor Calls For Shooting Up NRA Headquarters, Ensuring “No Survivors”...

HE NEEDS TO 'ELECT' A BETTER CLASS OF VIRTUE SIGNALERS NEIGHBORS: How vegetarians, gluten-frees, grain-frees and other L.A. food tribes ruined my BBQ tradition.

SNOWFLAKES BEWARE: Your professors are beginning to punch back. And they can pack quite a wallop.

INSTAPUNDIT: "Apparently, the GOP values donations more than votes." And the party isn't getting one thin dime from me until I see action on behalf of the middle class (e.g., me). Specific candidates, yes; party, no.

RACISTS self-identify.

MICHAEL GRAHAM: What would George Washington do?

Graham seems not to recognize that George Washington and Donald Trump are the same man, separated in time by 240 years.

JUNO: I'm finally here.

POWERLINE'S MID-WEEK IN PICTURES, Clinton edition. My favorite:

There are more.

LIFE IN THE OBAMA/CLINTON ERA: When lying is the “patriotic thing to do.” Even about fireworks.

POWERLINE: Restraining our way to lawlessness and unrestrained government.

FOURTEEN DOWN, 9 TO GO: Connecticut ObamaCare co-op placed under state supervision, to close next year.

PROGRESSIVES' FIREWORKS: five dozen (that's 60, for you liberals who can't count) people shot over the 4th of July weekend in Chicago.

OBAMA: No man or woman has ever been more qualified for presidency than Hillary Clinton.

Analysis: True, if crooked is the criteria.

TROUBLE IN LA-LA LAND: Black Lives Matter shuts down LGBT Pride parade. Progressives 'R' tolerant....

IT’S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A RACKET: UC Berkeley’s income inequality critic’s faculty salary puts him in the top 1%.

Starting? And note it's 'him', not 'her'....

THE STATE of Election 2016.

YOU OWE THEM NOTHING.

Not respect, not loyalty, not obedience.

HEY, AMERICA:

Just in case you hadn't noticed.

OUR ENEMY, the state.

THAT'S A BAD THING? America has 4.4 percent of the world’s population but nearly half of its civilian-owned guns.

GLOBAL WARMING leads to ... climate change leads to ... global cooling?

Someone tell the IPCC....

MELTING, I EXPECT: What's next for the college snowflakes?

HEH: I just moved out of the USSofA to the United Capitalist States. I have feet, and I voted.

DEMOCRAT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: Who's the baddest of them all?

Tough choices, all.

SPACE NEWS: Why DARPA is pursuing a reusable spaceplane.

A somewhat interesting article, if only for the ignorance displayed.

In the article, yes, DARPA is pursuing a quick turn-around spaceplane, but why? Not answered. XS-1 is not a new program; it's been around in one form or another for years. The (admittedly very tight) turnaround times are key to 'why?' for there has been a longstanding need to get intelligence assets to a crisis area in minutes, not hours or days. That capability has been essentially nonexistent since the SR-71 Blackbird was retired in the 1990's.

Equal ignorance of basic economics is displayed by a commenter (windbourne) on the indirect costs of business. Twice the (direct) employee's salary is actually a bit low. Typical in my experience as a DoD contractor, the indirect burden per employee is about 1-1/2 (for a total of 2.5 times salary); a little more or less depending largely on how much manufacturing the business does.

With respect to security clearances (again windbourne), indeed the shoe leather investigation used to be done by the FBI as late as the mid-80's, but the adjudication -- that is, granting the clearance -- has always been done by the government contracting agency (Army, Navy, Air Force, NSA, CIA, DIA, etc.). Only the government can grant a security clearance, and each agency jealously guards its prerogatives.

TEAM CLINTON TO LORETTA LYNCH: Maybe you can stay on as Attorney General.

Almost a certainty now....

FIRST, ISIS, NOW BREXIT: Caused by global warming, er, climate change, er, whatever.

GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Venezuela, here we come.

I knew we should have moved to Belize....

"CRITICAL SELF-AWARENESS is not one of [liberals'] strengths." Neither is plain old ordinary self-awareness....

IS THE F-35 THE BEST MULTI-ROLE FIGHTER IN THE WORLD? "An F-35 fighter pilot says he would be confident flying the Joint Strike Fighter against any enemy in the world, including Russian and Chinese 5th Generation stealth fighters."

AUSTRALIA TAKES NO PRISONERS: Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

I JUST BRIEFLY TUNED IN to the Washington DC and Boston MA 4th of July 'celebrations' and promptly turned off the television.

What a waste! Rather than fireworks with perhaps a bit of patriotic music (in the background), I got to watch a bunch of narcissistic governing-class elitist boneheads congratulating themselves on their complete failure to understand the history and meaning of Independence Day.

If I had been to either event, I would have walked out. As it was, all I could do was turn off the television and shake my head in utter disgust.

To paraphrase Bill O'Reilly, these 'patriots' are pinheads.

GOLDEN OLDIES FROM JAY LENO:

"I was going to start off tonight with an Obama joke, but I don't want to get audited by the IRS."

On NSA surveillance: "We wanted a president who listens to all Americans - now we have one."

On a new IRS commissioner: "He's called 'acting commissioner' because he has to act like the scandal doesn't involve the White House."

On closing the Guantanamo prison for terrorists: "If he really wants to close it, turn it into a government-funded solar power company. The doors will be shut in a month."

Concerning the Benghazi, Associated Press, and IRS scandals: "Remember in the old days when President Obama's biggest embarrassment was Joe Biden?"

On saying he didn't know about the IRS scandal : "He was too busy not knowing anything about Benghazi to not know anything about the IRS."

"The White House has a new slogan about Benghazi: "Hope and change the subject."

"It's casual Friday, which means that at the White House, they're casually going through everybody's phone calls and records. It is not looking good for President Obama. Today his teleprompter took the fifth."

"Fox News has changed its slogan from 'Fair and Balanced' to 'See, I told you so!'"

On Obama's commencement address: "He told the young graduates their future is bright unless, of course, they want jobs."

On a Chicago man who set a record for riding a Ferris wheel: "The only other way to go around and around in a circle that many times is to read the official report on Benghazi."

On White House claims of ignorance on the scandals: "They took 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' out of the Pentagon and moved it into the White House."

"These White House scandals are not going away anytime soon. It's gotten so bad that people in Kenya are now saying he's 100 percent American."

From my email.

THE FIRST PEOPLE TO LIVE IN SPACE may be gas station attendants.

UP MY GRILL: a 4th of July rap by Remy.

NO 'FERGUSON EFFECT'? NO 'WAR ON COPS'? Think again.

ARMY SHARPSHOOTER frees an eagle found hanging from a tree, caught in a piece of rope. With a .22 caliber rifle, no less.

TECHNOLOGY: Artificial Intelligence bests Air Force combat tactics experts in simulated dogfights. Somewhat surprising, but I expect that the superiority comes not from the AI, but from the speed at which the tactical decision can be made. It will be interesting to follow this story.

More here.

THERE'S NO FOURTH OF JULY in Boulder, Colorado.

AIRSHIPS should replace jets for moving freight.

They won't. Once the novelty of the concept fades and the technology proves adequate (which it will), Economics 101 will step in and kill it dead, as it did a few years back when I worked on a similar project.

The economics are simple: air freight is for cargo that needs to move quickly; airships aren't quick. Ships, railroads, and trucks are much more efficient for freight that needn't move quickly.

Case closed.

SO IT'S OUR TURN BUY MORE GUNS: Federal civilian agencies are amassing more firepower than the U.S. Marines.

RELATED: One can hope that (in California, at least) every weapon-carrying state and federal agent will personally have to pay California's new ammunition permit fee.

BUT JUST THE WORD: Hillary learns the word 'broadband'. Technology - and facts - are foreign to the (progressive) Left.

BUT IT'S FOR A HIGHER GOOD: Oakland blocks more jobs for its own citizens.

HAPPY 4TH: These vintage ads for capitalism will make you proud to be an American.

Here are those ads.

THE ETERNAL MEANING OF INDEPENDENCE DAY: Part One and Part Two.

‘SOCIALISM DOESN’T WORK’: Professor rejects Marxism after traveling the globe.

Experience isn't just the best teacher; sometimes it's the only teacher.

IF OBAMACARE IS REPEALED and no one notices, is it really repealed?

RELATED BUT UNRELATED [from the comments]:

“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing ... you may know that your society is doomed.”

The quotation isn't directly related to the post linked above, but to me it accurately describes the state of political America today. Guess where it's from....

NASA'S JUNO SPACECRAFT to enter Jupiter's orbit on Independence Day (today).

BREXIT is the second 'leave' campaign. We can hope that it proves as successful as the first.

A MESSAGE TO FLYOVER COUNTRY: Rules are only for the little people.

A TRUE PROGRESSIVE: "Obama’s foreign policy failures cannot be understood without reference to his incompetence and inability to understand the world as it is."

It's not just foreign policy....

IT'S THE FOURTH OF JULY:

Remember.

DO SOMETHING BOLD THIS INDEPENDENCE DAY: Read the Declaration of Independence.

Here it is.

LINDA CHAVEZ: Celebrating America on July Fourth.

SHOE on the state of the university (and progressive 'science').

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE between a medicare patient and a lab rat?

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS hijacks the honor of the U.S. armed forces for a little political crusade.

The Marine on the cover, who is U.S. Representative Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat, is in the photo holding what is, unless my eyes deceive me, an M-4 carbine, which would make sense inasmuch as that rifle is the weapon generally issued to Marines serving in Iraq. No civilian should own this gun? We could argue about that. What we cannot argue about is this: No civilian can own that rifle under current law. The sale of new fully automatic weapons has been generally prohibited for 30 years, meaning that the particular weapon Representative Moulton is holding, which was first produced in 1988, has literally never for a second been for sale to the civilian market in the United States.

Nasty little things, facts. They keep interfering with the progressive deployment of emotion.

NOW YOU CAN GO TO COLLEGE TO BECOME an unemployed barista.

HOT AIR: Why I’m not bothered by Paul Ryan “caving” on gun control votes.

Yes, I'd like to have a clear indicator of who to vote AGAINST in the next election cycle.

ROACHES DON'T LIKE SUNLIGHT: Comcast took $1,775 from man, only gave it back after he contacted media.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES: Brexit of Champions Edition. My favorite Brexit cartoon:

But there are many, many more. Go there.

CREATING THEIR OWN 'SAFE ZONE': Colorado liberals build a wall for Trump.

JEFF JACOBY: Cigarettes are hazardous, but lawmakers are more so. "Or is free choice a value we cherish only when others make choices we approve of?"

MSNBC: the words 'golf' and 'Chicago' are racist. Well, then, shouldn't 'Obama' also be racist?

IT'S DIFFERENT WHEN IT'S YOUR ASS IN THE CROSSHAIRS: Journalist who called for murder of GOP suddenly concerned about rhetoric.

SPACE.COM: Sleeping Black Hole Awakens to Devour Doomed Star.

BAN: The liberal solution to nearly everything.

NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR IS ALMOST HERE: An AI dashcam app that wants to rate every driver in the world.

INTERESTING: Skygazers have already found the US Government's newest spy satellite.

WELL, WELL: Space-X is aiming to relaunch one of its four landed rockets this fall.

BREXIT BOOSTS Canada/Australia/New Zealand/UK ('CANZUK') replacement for the European Union.

Add the (former colony) U.S. to the mix and you have a (mostly) English-speaking economic powerhouse. That should truly piss off the multiculturalists.

ACADEMIC BROWNSHIRTS on the march again -- and getting punched back.

I think we're seeing the last gasp of progressivism.

FROM THIS Twitter stream.

Heh.

THOUGHTS on gated communities. Tweeted.

REP. MARTHA MCSALLY (R-AZ): We need an A-10 / F-35 fly-off.

U.S. GOVERNMENT close to approving private moon missions. More here.

I SMILE: Forced diversity training backfires. True, it's a Harvard study, but anyone who's attended (read as 'been forced to attend') such training knows it to be true.

DEAR JILLIAN JOHNSON: The most dangerous people are ignorant ones like you.

ELON MUSK: Space-X rockets carrying humans to Mars will launch in 2024 (but they won't return).

I'd still book a ticket....

NATIONAL REVIEW: the coming wellness authoritarianism. Barney & Clyde nail it.

MALLARD FILLMORE on what to expect leading to Election 2016.

THOMAS SOWELL: The [affirmative action] fraud goes on. And on, and on, and on....

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES traveling in convoys will run into this inevitable tradeoff: a much higher risk of a multi-car pile-up. Many, many years ago, I came across an Army research study showing that 45 mph was the 'optimum' speed for a military convoy to minimize travel time. It seems that study is about to be validated.

REVOLUTIONIZING AGRICULTURE: Indoor farms?

WHAT TO DO IN A MASS SHOOTING? Wait and Die? Or Fight Back?

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S GOAL: Taking the 'Curley Effect' nationwide. Somebody's gotta assure a political base for future graft and corruption....

HEH: One reason that you’d go to “a vacant private jet on the tarmac” is that they’re hard to bug.

JUST ASKING: If a Muslim terrorist doesn’t represent all Muslims why does he represent all gun owners?

COULD THE UNIVERSE'S DARK MATTER be made up of black holes?

Do we even know what 'dark matter' and 'black holes' are?

POWERLINE: A perfect storm of cluelessness.

WHAT!! Roseanne Barr endorsed Donald Trump? Yes, she did.

THE AR-15: Americans' best defense against terrorism, crime -- and progressives.



Just sayin'.