I NOTICE THAT AMERICAN MEDIA DON’T SEEM TO BE SHOWING PICTURES OR MENTIONING RACE: Three teens accused of murder of baseball player Chris Lane identified.

The Oklahoma teens who face first-degree murder charges have been named as Chancey Luna, James Edwards and Michael Jones.

But their parents yesterday protested their innocence.

Jennifer Luna, whose son is suspected of firing the fatal shot, claimed her son was at home saying: “My son is not that way. My son is a good kid.”

Earlier today, former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer has urged Australian tourists to boycott the US in the wake of the shooting murder of the Melbourne baseball star.

Mr Fischer said he was deeply angered by the latest tragedy and said turning our backs on America would help send a stern message about the need for tighter gun control.

Christopher Lane, 22, was randomly gunned down while jogging through the town of Duncan in Oklahoma on Friday afternoon local time.

But I notice that guns are being blamed.

Related: Police: Teens killed Australian East Central University baseball player Christopher Lane for fun. “We were bored and didn’t have anything to do, so we decided to kill somebody.”

STATES COMPETING TO BE the Silicon Valley of Drones. Better than the Shawal Valley of drones, anyway . . . .

WELL, HERE’S ANOTHER WAY FOR REPUBLICANS TO PICK UP SENATE SEATS: Rural Coloradans to vote on breaking away as 51st state, angered by liberal policies on guns, energy.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: The Butler Distorts Race Relations. Hey, what doesn’t these days? And if that inflames and divides Americans, well, that’s kind of the point.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 103.

SMART DIPLOMACY: Obama’s “Epic” Middle East Failures. “Barack Obama promised that if he were elected president he would ‘remake’ the world. He has; and America is paying a terrible price for it.”

JOURNALISM: Christians Murdered All Over Egypt, New Puppy at White House.

INDIA IN UPROAR over Rupee’s fall.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: India’s “Summer of Difficulties.”

India’s economic difficulties have dominated MSM headlines over the past couple of weeks, along with tragedies like a submarine explosion that likely killed more than a dozen navy men and the worst fighting along the border with Pakistan in decades. The New York Times calls it India’s “summer of difficulties.”

“India is now the sick man of Asia. They are in a crisis.” said one economist. “I think things will get much worse before they get better,” said another. “The government is between a rock and a hard place.” The Sensex, India’s stock index, fell precipitously last week. The rupee hit another record low today.

It wasn’t so long ago that many were writing about how India was destined to rival China as a global power. Various American officials, including President Obama, have endorsed India’s bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Has this “summer of difficulties” cast all this into doubt?

Probably not. Just as a summer of good news does not mean an economy will be soaring forever, a period of bad news does not mean it will always be flailing. As the chief economist of the World Bank said in a press conference yesterday, ”Growth may not have bottomed out. We have further to go (down), but the situation is not as bad as is being captured by the mood and captured in the headlines. India is nowhere near the 1991 crisis. The gloom is being overplayed.”

As a general rule, the MSM and the Davoisie overreact to trends. America was supposed to be invincible in the 1990s, and after 2008 the consensus voices pronounced that we had entered a terminal decline. Similarly the BRICs were unstoppable and taking over the world a couple of years ago; now they are supposedly roadkill on the economic highway.

Kind of excitable, aren’t they?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: NYU president will collect millions, then step down.

TENNESSEE: State Rep Joe Carr Will Challenge Lamar Alexander in TN GOP Senate Primary.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Why Shouldn’t Princeton Pay Taxes? Money-making ‘nonprofit’ universities don’t pay a fair share of the costs of local public services. The for-profit/non-profit distinction is pretty meaningless here. And, as I’ve been saying since the earliest days of InstaPundit, the entire nonprofit sector — not just higher education — needs more scrutiny and transparency.

AT AMAZON, Back-To-School Deals in Computers & Accessories.

Also, today only: South Shore Axess Collection Desk, $69.99.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN FOR TODAY IS UP: Scandals Costing Us American Exceptionalism. “Enough breaches of trust — and I haven’t even started to hit all the scandals out there, by a long shot — and ordinary people will start to assume that the whole system is corrupt. And if that happens, people will quit following the law because they think it’s the right thing to do, and only do so to the extent they’re afraid of getting caught. Plenty of countries operate on that principle. They’re just not as nice to live in as countries where the law has moral stature.”

ROGER SIMON: Obama’s Strange Love Affair With The Muslim Brotherhood. It’s not that strange. He grew up on already-outdated anticolonial twaddle.

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: USA Today: IRS assailed from all sides for lack of transparency. “After admitting it targeted Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny in May, the Internal Revenue Service has been called on to explain its formerly obscure process for policing political activity by tax-exempt groups. And, by almost all accounts, it’s not doing a very good job.”

FIRST, NO CANDY CROWLEYS OR GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOSES: Byron York: Republicans look to change structure of campaign debates.

STEVEN MALANGA: The Indebted States of America: States and localities owe far, far more than their citizens know.

JAMES TARANTO: The ObamaCare Prisoner’s Dilemma: Why it’s foolish to buy overpriced insurance. “What really sets medical insurance apart from other forms of insurance is that it covers routine expenses as well as catastrophic ones. Imagine if homeowner’s insurance covered not just major damage but every minor repair or upgrade, every visit from a plumber or electrician, every paint job (including the cost of paint). Medical insurance works like that, which is why even people who’ve never had a life-threatening or otherwise catastrophic illness or injury have typically filed many claims. By mandating coverage for even more routine expenses–contraceptives being the highest-profile example–ObamaCare makes health insurance even less like ‘insulation against the inevitable,’ in Klein’s description.”

EPA SCANDAL UPDATE: Vitter promises to go after Lisa Jackson on transparency dodges. “Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter promised to go after former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson for using private and alias email accounts to conduct business and correspond with environmental activists.”

HMM. SO YOU’VE GOT THIS: White House: We weren’t involved in detaining Greenwald’s partner.

But you’ve also got this: White House Had Advance Notice on Heathrow Detention.

UPDATE: Reader Paul Jackson writes: “How many partners of American journalists were detained by our allies during the Bush Admin?” None that I’m aware of.

THE HILL: As Benghazi anniversary nears, Boehner pressed for new probe.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other House Republicans are coming under increasing pressure to create a special investigative panel ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi terror attacks.

A group of special forces veterans has spent $5,800 for three giant billboards scheduled to go up in Boehner’s district this week. And another conservative group plans to hold a day-long commemoration at the steps of the Capitol on Sept. 11.

“If 4 Members of Congress were KILLED in Benghazi would we have a Watergate-style Select Committee today?” ask the billboards, which feature photos of Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “Demand Justice for Benghazi.”

The billboards, sponsored by Special Operations Speaks, call on lawmakers to sign a discharge petition forcing a vote on legislation from Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) that would create a select committee.

Read the whole thing. At least scapegoated filmmaker Nakoula is out of jail. Though there are still a lot of questions.

IF THE THE GOP ISN’T CONNECTING WITH VOTERS, why is it doing so well down-ballot? The GOP does well, or badly, as the influence of the national media is weak or strong. Draw your own lessons.

THE HILL: Regulation nation: Obama expands the regulatory state.