WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON with Holder’s civil-rights crusade against police departments.

Civil-rights investigations in Ferguson and Staten Island? No, what denizens of St. Louis and New York City ought to be worried about right now is ... the crime wave overtaking Seattle.

If you don’t understand why, then you probably thought Obamacare was about covering the uninsured. Like its health-care “reform” campaign, the Obama Left’s civil-rights crusade is about control — central control of state law enforcement by Washington.

With Democrats, it's always about control. Read the rest.

OBVIOUSLY TRENT LOTT didn't get the message.

COULDN'T HAPPEN TO A NICER GUY: Steyer fundraising goal falls $40 million short.

REMEMBER EZEKIEL EMANUEL'S 'Why I Hope to Die at 75' article in the Atlantic magazine last month? It generated significant backlash, especially from PJ Media's Ron Radosh, who was positively scathing.

Instapundit is kinder, merely suggesting that Emmanuel's committment to 'die early' may be the result of the "feeble, ineffectual, and even pathetic" liberals he associates with.

I'm actually somewhat sympathetic to Emmanuel's argument, as I suspect that there comes a time in most lives (who die of 'natural causes') when individuals, having lived their lives fully, become ready for death and don't wish it prolonged unnecessarily.

Where I have problems is that Emmanuel is one of the chief architects of ObamaCare, and his personal philosophy has become infused into a 'healthcare system' -- death panels, anyone? -- I can no longer control.

ED GILLESPIE: An Obamacare Do-Over. He should have been Virginia's new senator, but the 'cemetery voters' were overwhelming.

NOT FOR AT LEAST TWO MORE YEARS: Is there any hope for our civilization?

Hinderaker summarizes: "Our best hope seems to be that everyone realizes that academia is hopeless, and should just be ignored."

Not just academia; progressivism in general.

NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: FAA can regulate small drones. What concerns me is the "careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another" rule. It's judgmental and an open invitation for abuse.

More here: Your backyard is national airspace.

SO THEY'RE TRUE: White House officials will neither confirm nor deny reports of rumored sanctions against Israel.

WHITE HOUSE urges body cameras for police after Ferguson. I suspect they're hoping body cameras will show more police malfeasance; I also suspect that their hope will backfire.

But $75M to purchase 50,000 cameras? That's $1500 each; the government's overhead rate is phenomenal.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: War Clouds. This is one of the few times I hope he's wrong in his prediction.

WHAT'S NEXT: helicarriers?

NEW YORK TIMES: With robots, are humans necessary? We already have robots; they're called progressives....

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: The moral case for fossil fuels.

Are doomsayers immoral? No, but they don't lack for hubris.

ECONOMICS PROFESSORS: Ninety percent income tax rate would help the rich.

[A] rate “between 85 and 90 percent” makes everybody better off, including people in the 1 percent. “High marginal tax rates provide social insurance against not [Huh? -ed.] making it into the 1 percent.” ... [T]hey would primarily fall upon “celebrities, sports stars, and entrepreneurs — people with innate talents that are hugely rewarding, but only for a short period of time.”

Uh, right. So what happens to those 'hugely rewarding for a short period of time' earners for the rest of their lives?

If marginal rates are ratcheted sky-high for top earners and low for everyone else, then there is a better than average chance that a typical American will pay very low tax rates.

Yes, there's a better-than-average chance that a typical American will remain poor.

POLICING AS A numbers-driven shakedown scheme.

PEARL HARBOR SURVIVORS reunite in Hawaii to mark 73rd anniversary of attack.

The survivors on Tuesday also watched a live-feed of a dive along the Arizona's sunken hull, which still holds the bodies of more than 900 of about 1,177 men who died on the battleship.

Ashes of 38 survivors are interred there.

National Park Service Historian Daniel Martinez, moderating Tuesday's discussion, seemed overcome with emotion when he announced that Arizona survivor Lauren Bruner, 94, of La Mirada, Calif., last year signed paperwork for his intentions to be interred there. Conter plans to do the same, he said.

Rest in peace, all who are interred there.

JEB BUSH navigates the Common Core tripwire ahead of 2016. He'll fail.

Actually I'm somewhat sympathetic to a national common core curriculum, properly done. This travesty failed because the progressives took control of the implementation and attempted to turn it into a 'progressive propaganda' curriculum.

SHOULD REPUBLICANS embrace the Obama non-enforcement doctrine? Maybe, but I'd rather Americans enforce an Obama regulation non-compliance doctrine.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: Staffers linked to 'alleged serious misconduct'.

I'd suggest that 'staffers' could be removed from the headline and it would still remain accurate.

ERIC GARNER PROTESTERS 'shut down capitalism' because ... capitalism! They're not protesting Eric Garner's death, or police 'brutality'; they're protesting because they can.