FBI: Anarchists May Be Planning Violence At Political Conventions. A number were arrested in a bomb plot at the RNC in 2008.

But will the anarchists be coordinated by AFL-CIO reps again?

THIS DOES NOT BESPEAK CONFIDENCE: Team Obama breaks precedent to try to spoil Romney’s convention. “Bucking protocol, President Obama and the Democrats are planning a full-scale assault on Republicans next week during their convention.” Wait, “assault?” That sounds kinda violent. I thought the use of such language by politicians and their supporters was dangerously provocative. Of course, you can now assume that Obama operatives are presumptively to blame for any disturbances.

CHANGE: Chinese Steel Prices Plummet. “The latest sign that China’s economy is slowing dramatically? A plunge in the price of steel and iron ore. . . . Meanwhile, investors are taking money out of the country, exports have hit a six-month low and growth forecasts are down considerably.” Other than that, China is doing fine.

VITAMIN D UPDATE: Study: Vitamin D Supplements May Protect Against Colds. “Supplementing the diets of kids with low vitamin D levels is strongly associated with a decreased incidence of acute respiratory tract infections (colds). . . . The authors point out that while the study was conducted internationally in a unique environment, the children in this study could be considered analogous to other at-risk populations. A 2009 study in the Archive of Internal Medicine reported that nearly 3 out of 4 adolescents and adults in the United Staes have insufficient vitamin D levels. African American children living in northern states have the highest rates of deficiency. Breast-fed infants and the elderly also tend to suffer from vitamin D deficiencies.”

UGH: “We believe it is only a matter of time until gonorrhea develops resistance to this last remaining treatment option.”

The 21st Century isn’t turning out like I expected. . . .

INSOMNIA STRIKES, MINORITIES HARDEST HIT: Non-Hispanic whites get more and better-quality sleep than people of other races, studies repeatedly show. Blacks are the most likely to get shorter, more restless sleep. “The idea that race or ethnicity might help determine how well people sleep is relatively new among sleep researchers. But in the few short years that epidemiologists, demographers and psychologists have been studying the link, they have repeatedly come to the same conclusion: In the United States, at least, sleep is not colorblind.”

INSTAVISION: I talk with John Fund about his new book (written with Hans Von Spakovsky), Who’s Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: ‘If You’re Going to Be in a Disaster, the Best Place to Be is In a High-Trust Society.’

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): U.S. middle class set back over last decade-report.

I wonder how those Obama supporters who were expecting something very different are feeling.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Jobless Claims Up Again.

WELL, FAKERY HAS BEEN HER OVERARCHING APPROACH THROUGHOUT: Elizabeth Warren new campaign theme based on doctored video.

EPIC DEFICIT FAILURE: Investor’s Business Daily: Obama Failed To Cut The Deficit In Half, As Promised.

ED MORRISSEY: 4 Ways The GOP Convention Can Win It For Romney.

TODAY ENDS IN “Y,” so I guess it’s time to run that graphic again! You know, the one comparing the Obama Administration’s stimulus promises with what was actually delivered. . . .

But then, it’s always time to do that! And you can click on the image for a bigger version, suitable for sharing, posting by the water cooler at work, or whatever . . . .

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Child Porn, Coke Smuggling: Hundreds of DHS Employees Arrested Last Year. “Border Patrol agents smuggling weed and coke. Immigration agents forging documents and robbing drug dealers. TSA employees caught with child porn. Those are just a few of the crimes perpetrated by Department of Homeland Security employees in just the past year.” We should abolish the Department of Homeland Security, which has turned out to be just as big a disaster as I predicted back in 2002.

TIM CARNEY ON Rape and pregnancy.

CHARLES GASPARINO: What, Me Work? Outsourcing the Oval Office.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: GOP lawmakers rip ATF double dip.

Two key Republicans ripped the Obama administration on Wednesday for allowing an official involved in Operation Fast and Furious to draw a six-figure salary from JPMorgan even as he received a regular government paycheck.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said the ATF let the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official take a paid leave on the taxpayer’s dime even as he served as executive director of JPMorgan Chase’s Global Security and Investigations Group in the Philippines.

“ATF has essentially facilitated [William] McMahon’s early retirement and ability to double dip for nearly half a year by receiving two full-time paychecks — one from the taxpayer and one from the private sector,” Grassley and Issa wrote in a letter that requested an explanation from the ATF’s acting director.

“Moreover, ATF did not wait for the Office of Inspector General to complete its report on Fast and Furious before approving the arrangement,” the letter said.

I suspect they’re happy to have him out of the country.