HOW DARE YOU BE SO SUCCESSFUL, WITHOUT CUTTING US IN ON THE ACTION: Roger Kimball: The EU vs. Apple.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 508.

THAT SEEMS TO BE MOST OF THE TIME, ACTUALLY: When Green Dreams Beget Brown Nightmares.

Germany’s energy revolution—its energiewende—was supposed to blaze a trail, and show off a new way countries could meet their energy needs without wrecking their environment or the climate. It was an audacious experiment, but it’s hard to read much success out of it these days.

Yes, renewable energy is booming in Germany, after guaranteed long-term above-market rates called feed-in tariffs were offered to wind and solar power producers, but the costs of those subsidies have been passed along to consumers in the form of green surcharges. For businesses, that affects bottom lines, and many German firms are looking to site production abroad, where energy is cheaper (in the shale gas-rich United States, for instance). For households, that’s been a kind of pernicious regressive tax, as the poor are more likely to notice their ever-rising electricity bills.

But accompanying the growth of renewables in Germany’s energy mix has been a renaissance for a decidedly brown energy source: coal. In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, Germany began phasing out its nuclear reactors. Berlin took from that crisis that it ought to eliminate nuclear, an effectively zero-carbon energy source, from its energy mix, despite the fact that Germany is situated far away from the fault lines that threaten Japan’s reactors. Solar panels and wind turbines can’t replace nuclear energy; they supply two distinct kinds of energy. Nuclear can be relied on to supply grids consistently, 24/7, 365, while solar and wind can only contribute when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. To meet its baseload energy needs, Germany turned to its domestic deposits of lignite, an especially dirty form of coal. As the Wall Street Journal reports, that’s how the supposedly green-minded energiewende has rejuvenated German coal use.

One thing you can count on: The Greens will never accept the blame. But if you’re seriously concerned about the environment and carbon emissions, you’ve got to support nuclear power. If you don’t, you aren’t serious about the environment, you’re just lying to advance another agenda.

ED MORRISSEY: Politico: Iowa’s got a woman problem, and only Hillary can cure it. Politico conveniently ignores the fact that a woman — Joni Ernst — looks likely to win a statewide race this year. But then, we know two things: (1) Politico, and here reporter Dave Price is no exception, is totally in the tank for Hillary; and (2) Republican women don’t count as, well, you know, women. Because equality!

THE ECONOMIC CASE for Paternity Leave. Problem is, men who take paternity leave take a big hit to their careers.

Well, except in France, where, as Mark Steyn noted: “What gives you a better grasp of the realities of Europe today? The front-page reports on the G8 and the U.S.-EU summit? The in-depth profile of Jacques Chirac or Dominique de Villepin? Or the small space-filler about a French police lieutenant promoted to captain despite spending 12 of the last 18 years on ‘paternity leave,’ in the course of which he wrote three books about the Beatles. As a summation of contemporary Europe that could hardly be improved.” So, is there a lesson here?

HEH.

pic.twitter.com/IVTIudcyH0

— Klown 2.0 (@realmyiq2xu2) September 29, 2014

AT AMAZON, Fall Deals on Gardening Products.

Plus, End-of-Summer Deals on Outdoor Cooking and Grilling Products.

RICH BAEHR: Republicans are scrambling to save a seat that they thought was in the bag. As with Mississippi, they should have encouraged their doddering incumbent to retire, and encouraged someone strong to run. Instead, they defended a lousy incumbent and alienated a lot of their base.

JAMES O’KEEFE BUSTS THEM AGAIN: Dem Group Caught On Video Admitting To Violating Election Laws.

WHEN EXCUSES DON’T WASH: On “60 Minutes,” the president faulted his spies for failing to predict the rise of ISIS. There’s one problem with that statement: The intelligence analysts did warn about the group. Says one former Intel officer: “Either the president doesn’t read the intelligence he’s getting or he’s bullshitting.” Or both.

NEW YORK OBSERVER: Eric Holder Runs from a Ticking Time Bomb: IRS Deadline Approaches Fast, Federal Judges are Furious—and Where’s Andrew Selka?

ROLL CALL: Congressional ‘Perks’ Under Siege in Midterm Ads (Video).

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Oklahoma City beheading: Will jihad-style attack boost ‘bring gun to work’ laws? “Moore Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis told the Associated Press that Vaughan’s decision to carry a weapon to work made a big difference in the outcome of the attack. The situation ‘could have gotten a lot worse’ if Vaughan didn’t have this gun, said Sgt. Lewis. ‘This was not going to stop if [Vaughan] didn’t stop it.'”

Plus, some no-nonsense thoughts from Tam: “While a gun in the parking lot might be a few minutes closer than the gun in the holster of a responding cop, the fastest response is the gun you have on your person right then.”

BRIAN LEITER CONTINUES TO AMUSE: “That’s the way Brian Leiter rolls. People who disagree with him are ‘hacks.'” Thus has it ever been, thus shall it ever be.

WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING: Lines blur for US troops in fight against ISIS. “President Obama insists he will not have ‘boots on the ground’ in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but the line between a combat and advisory role is blurry.”

JOEL KOTKIN: The Sick Man Of Europe Is Europe. “The recent near breakup of the United Kingdom — something inconceivable just a decade ago — reflects a deep, pervasive problem of identity throughout the EU. The once vaunted European sense of common destiny is decomposing. Other separatist movements are on the march, most notably in Catalonia, Flanders and northern Italy. Throughout the continent, public support for a united Europe fell sharply last year. Opposition to greater integration has emerged, with anti-EU parties gaining support in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Greece, Germany and France. . . . These attitudes suggest that the EU could be devolving from a nascent super-state to something that increasingly resembles the Holy Roman Empire, a fragmented landscape of small, unimportant states wrapped in a unitary, but ephemeral crepe. This challenges the view of some Americans, particularly but not only on the left, who see Europe as a role model for the U.S.”

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: A rare Second Amendment exemption from federal ban on felons possessing guns.

I DIDN’T KNOW WE HAD ENOUGH SERVER SPACE FOR THIS PIECE: Victor Davis Hanson: The Moral Failures Of Eric Holder.

OUT: RUTH BADER GINSBURG, FEMINIST HERO.

In: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Being Told By Old White Men That It’s Time For Her To Go.

SHOCKER: Democratic CT State Rep. Christina Ayala Arrested On 19 Voting Fraud Charges. And yet, I keep hearing it’s a myth.

TERROR: Oklahoma beheading suspect’s Facebook posts hint at terror roots. “Co-workers described Nolen, who survived the shooting, as a recent convert to Islam. Writing under the name Jah’Keem Yisrael, Nolan also warned the Statue of Liberty is ‘going into flames,’ according to the Daily News.”

Related: Justice Department expected to ban profiling by federal law enforcement. “Counter-terror investigators would be barred from undercover operations in mosques or other religious institutions unless there is reason to believe criminal activity is going on there, under a new policy expected within weeks. The new rules would ban profiling based on religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation and includes no exemption for national security investigations.”

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Math teacher, 24, arrested at high school after she ‘had sex with a 15-year-old male student.’ “A female teacher is facing aggravated sodomy and child molestation charges over the alleged indecent assault of a 15-year-old boy. Victoria Tatum, 24, was arrested at Newton County High School in Georgia on Thursday on felony charges and booked into jail without bond. Tatum, from Decatur, has been charged with two counts of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and enticing a child.”

Remember, one reason there are so few male teachers is that people are afraid they’ll be sexual predators.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Obama Adviser: We Agree With Bush Belief Of Getting The Terrorists Before They Get Us.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: The “Khorosan Group” Does Not Exist — It’s Just A Cover Story For Obama’s Failure To Destroy Al Qaeda As Claimed.

The president has been telling us for years that he handled al-Qaeda by killing bin Laden. He has been telling us for weeks that the Islamic State — an al-Qaeda renegade that will soon reconcile with the mother ship for the greater good of unity in the anti-American jihad — is a regional nuisance that posed no threat to the United States. In recent days, however, reality intruded on this fiction. Suddenly, tens of thousands of terrorists, armed to the teeth, were demolishing American-trained armies, beheading American journalists, and threatening American targets.

Obama is not the manner of man who can say, “I was wrong: It turns out that al-Qaeda is actually on the rise, its Islamic State faction is overwhelming the region, and American interests — perhaps even American territory — are profoundly threatened.” So instead . . . you got “the Khorosan Group.”

Typical.