ECHOES OF KRISTALLNACHT: Anti-semitic mob vandalizes and loots Jewish businesses in Paris suburb.

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LAWFARE: Becket Fund law firm gaining a reputation as powerhouse after Hobby Lobby win.

JOEL KOTKIN: America Down, But Not Out:

America, seen either from here or from abroad, doesn’t look so good these days. The country that maintained world peace for decades now “leads by behind,” or not at all. You don’t have to have nostalgia for George W. Bush’s foreign policy to wish for someone in the White House who at least belongs in the same room with the likes of Vladimir Putin. Some wags now suggest that President Barack Obama has exceeded Jimmy Carter in foreign policy incompetence – Carter certainly was more effective in the Middle East.

What about space? Remember, we won the space race but now have to depend on Russian launch vehicles to do much of anything in orbit. President Obama thought we could rely on the Russians to provide us with cheap rides into orbit, but Putin squashed that notion after we objected to his actions in Ukraine. John Kennedy must be turning over in his grave.

And as for our domestic economy, the best you can say is “It could be worse,” particularly if you look at what’s happening in torpid Europe. It’s a sign of our utter lack of confidence that the current administration, and much of the punditry, still thinks we should follow the Continent’s economic and social policies.

Yet, despite all these challenges – and two presidencies the public ranks among the worst in history – it’s far too early to write off the United States. After all, no one else is doing very well.

We’ve had a worldwide epidemic of bad luck.

PRAGER UNIVERSITY: The War On Work.

TECHNOLOGY: Out in the Open: Ex-Googlers Building Cloud Software That’s Almost Impossible to Take Down.

THIS TIME, it’s Biblical.

UPDATE: Heh. Netanyahu calls for immediate U.S.-Al Qaeda ceasefire.

Here’s a transcript of Netanyahu’s remarks yesterday: “As I’ve said many times, the United States has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks from Al Qaeda. And as a result of its war in Afghanistan, and drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, the United States has already done significant damage to Al Qaeda’s infrastructure. I’ve also said, however, that we have serious concerns about the rising number civilian deaths from drone strikes and the potential loss of American lives from terrorism. And that is why it now has to be our focus and the focus of the international community to bring about a cease-fire that ends the fighting and that can stop the deaths of innocent civilians.”

Perhaps he’ll ban flights here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From the comments: “I hear that seven Hamas terrorists were killed yesterday by an IDF soldier armed only with a replica of Obama’s jawbone.”

JUSTICE: California Highway Patrol Seizes Medical Records Of Woman An Officer Was Caught On Tape Beating.

CHINA AND THE MYSTERY OF THE VANISHED RIVERS.

CLIMATE CHANGE SAME: Climate models that accidentally got El Niño right also show warming slowdown.

#GREENFAIL: Opel Dropping Amera, The European Chevy Volt, Because Of Weak Sales. “The car was a relative hit back in 2012, when it was named the European Car Of The Year and sales topped 5,200 units. Compared to 2012 numbers, which were good, Ampera sales dropped 40 percent to fewer than 3,200 in 2013 despite a massive price cut. They are down another 67 percent so far in 2014 and the car has sold just 332 units through the end of May.”

WELL, GOOD: Chinese Researchers Stop Wheat Disease With Gene Editing.

I WANT ONE: The Shkadov Thruster, or: How to Move an Entire Solar System.

PAUL RAHE: Jerusalem Diary: Why Gaza?

“JEWS BACK TO BIRKENAU:” Police protect Jewish students from Pro-Palestinian mob…in Boston. “The mere presence of a gay pro-Israel couple at the rally ‘set off a hailstorm’ of venom from Hamas supporters that would no doubt be national news by now if the epithets had been hurled by, say, Tea Partiers.”

Except, of course, that Tea Partiers don’t do that sort of thing, except in the fevered fantasies of people who side with the Hamas protesters.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 439.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The New Republic: Ivy League Schools Are Overrated. Send Your Kids Elsewhere. “Our system of elite education manufactures young people who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it. . . . At least the classes at elite schools are academically rigorous, demanding on their own terms, no? Not necessarily. In the sciences, usually; in other disciplines, not so much.”

Welcome to the party, TNR.

BAD NEWS FOR OBAMACARE: Halbig: D.C. Circuit strikes down tax credits in federal exchanges. Apparently, the regulation exceeded the authority granted in the statute. I didn’t know we still cared about stuff like that . . . .

RON FOURNIER: Is the White House Lying, or Just Bad at Crisis Communications? Ordering a cheeseburger with fries while a downed airline smolders may not have been a great decision.

The thing is, they’ve been both lying and bad at crisis communications since day one. The press has just covered for them. Now that Obama’s been re-elected, it’s safe to express a bit of the built-up resentment. But not in any way that would help the Republicans. Because the press knows its role with respect to this administration, having chosen it quite deliberately.

GEORGIA RAPPER ENDORSES REPUBLICAN. “The tweet irritated some of [the] artist’s 1.26 million followers on Twitter.”

THE MOTHER’S MILK OF POLITICS: Money Still Fuels The Political Machine.

In despair over money’s influence in politics, progressives have fitfully embraced plans for public financing of campaigns. Via Tyler Cowen, I see that a new paper from Andrew Hall explores the effects of these sorts of programs.

First, the good news: Public campaign funding would probably reduce the influence of “access-oriented interest groups,” which are made up of well-financed power players who use their campaign donations to get the ear of candidates. It would also reduce the bias toward incumbents, which I guess can be good or bad depending on how you feel about your local congressman.

Now, the bad news: That doesn’t necessarily lead to better political outcomes. When the money goes away, the candidates who are elected tend to be more partisan and divided. “Good government” may mean “more extreme government” — which, at least at the national level, may mean “government that can’t get anything done.”

This makes a certain amount of sense, when you think about it. Access-oriented groups care about getting things done. I may think that a lot of this stuff shouldn’t be done, and I’m sure you agree (though perhaps we are thinking of different stuff). But fundamentally, access-oriented groups are less interested in making emotive statements about free markets, sexual liberty, respect for immigrants or whatever you care to name than they are about getting actual laws passed. That gives them an incentive to favor candidates who will give them legislative results rather than the moral satisfaction of sticking to their principles.

The average voter — in particular, the average primary voter — cares a lot about moral purity and expressive politics. So if you disempower the money, you empower the ideological purists who want candidates first and foremost to demonstrate fidelity to shared principles.

Yeah, I think corruption will still find a way.

AMERICA IN THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE: New Surveillance Whistleblower: The NSA Violates the Constitution. “John Napier Tye is speaking out to warn Americans about illegal spying. The former State Department official, who served in the Obama administration from 2011 to 2014, declared Friday that ongoing NSA surveillance abuses are taking place under the auspices of Executive Order 12333, which came into being in 1981, before the era of digital communications, but is being used to collect them promiscuously. Nye alleges that the Obama administration has been violating the Constitution with scant oversight from Congress or the judiciary.” Well, that’s who they are, that’s what they do.

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CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS: Verizon’s Inspire Her Mind ad and the facts they didn’t tell you.