HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Grad School Loan Binge Fans Debt Worries.

FROM LOS ANGELES TO SEATTLE in a BMW i8. A bit overwritten.

GOVERNMENT IS JUST A WORD FOR THE THINGS WE CHOOSE TO DO TOGETHER: Los Angeles VA was caught shredding veterans benefits claims without processing.

HEH: The GOP establishment’s nightmare: What if the race comes down to Trump versus Ted Cruz?

GOOD LUCK, AND I HOPE IT WORKS: Helion Energy raised $10.9 million and has filed to raise $21 million which would be enough to build a breakeven scale fusion machine in 2016-2017.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: “Anti-Drone” Shotgun Shells. Spoiler: Not so great.

YEP. America Needs Better, Classier Immigration Reformers. “Once the politicians, commentators, and activists that profess to care so much about immigrants have thrown a few more punches at the terrible Trump and his evil immigration plan, they should go on to beat up those really to blame for this plan: themselves. The current potency of the ‘stop immigration at all costs’ sentiment is the direct result of thirty years of immigration policy failure. And if something isn’t done to change that soon, the American public may demand truly decisive action to shut off immigration. It’s happened before.”

GAMERGATE VS. THE SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIORS. Ashe Schow: Disrupting a false media narrative — what next?

SYNTHETIC LIFE: A startup company says it is expanding the language of DNA to create new tools for drug discovery.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Man vs. Drone vs. The Law.

COMET IMPACTS: Source not only of extinctions, but of life?

SECRET JURISDICTION: Irina Manta and Cassandra Burke Robertson on “No Fly” lists.

QUINNIPIAC POLL: CLINTON FALLING FAST VS. ALL GOP CANDIDATES IN FL, OH& PA: The poll was taken Aug. 7-18 and polled likely voters.

In Florida: Bush, Rubio and Trump all lead Clinton now:  Rubio +12; Bush +11; and Trump +2.

In Ohio: Clinton is still holding on to a slim lead over Bush and Trump (+2 and +5, respectively), but now trailing Rubio (who is +2 over her).

In Pennsylvania: Bush and Rubio lead Clinton (+3 and +7, respectively), but Trump trails her by 5 points.

RELATED:  The same poll showed that among likely GOP voters in the Republican presidential primary, the present frontrunner is Trump in Florida (at 21%, which is +4 over the next closest candidate, Ben Carson); Kasich in Ohio (at 27%, which is +6 over the next closest candidate, Donald Trump); and Trump in Pennsylvania (at 24%, which is +11 over the next closest candidate, Ben Carson).

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: With the Iran deal in the works, it’s time to revisit “Duck and Cover.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 833.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: If traditional colleges think this won’t affect them, they’re crazy. Obama administration plans to overhaul rules on student debt forgiveness.

The Obama administration said Wednesday it will overhaul the loan forgiveness process for students who believe they have been defrauded by their colleges, in light of the collapse of controversial for-profit Corinthian Colleges.

Students can apply to have their federal loans discharged if they can prove a school used illegal or deceptive tactics in violation of state law to persuade them to borrow money for college. But critics say the process, known as a “defense to repayment claim,” is complicated and difficult to navigate. And the demise of Corinthian, with thousands of former students muddling their way through the claims process, has shown that the system needs fixing.

Starting next month, the Education Department will begin holding field hearings and convene an advisory panel to develop regulations to streamline the loan forgiveness process. The department also wants to strengthen provisions to hold colleges accountable for the discharged loans, limiting the cost to taxpayers.

All is proceeding as I have foreseen.

IT’S SLUSH FUNDS FOR CRONIES ALL THE WAY DOWN: Obamacare Co-Ops Looking Like Solyndra?

Last winter, CoOpportunity Health, one of the 23 health care co-ops created by the ACA, went under after it could no longer afford to pay for the care of its customers, who turned out to be sicker than the co-op expected them to be. The co-op was one of the only insurers offering ACA plans in Iowa, and its collapse was a victory for big insurers. In the wake of its demise, it remains uncertain whether the company will be able to pay back federal loans of $147 million.

It now appears that CoOpportunity Health is not alone in the predicament it found itself. In case you missed it, the New York Times recently picked up on an audit released last month of the 23 co-ops created under the law. The story does not paint a pretty picture: 22 out of 23 co-ops lost money last year, and many could find it hard to repay the 2.4 billion that the federal government spent overall on the co-ops. . . .

In the case of CoOpportunity Health, the failed company may be able to use other federal money due to it through the risk corridor program to discharge some of its liabilities. But if it will take big premium hikes to enable some of the co-ops to repay their federal loans, that’s the kind of cure that is worse than the disease.

Train wreck.

CHARLES LANE: Europe’s sinister expansion of euthanasia. “What’s noteworthy about euthanasia in Europe, though, has been its tendency to expand, once the taboo against physician-aided death was breached in favor of more malleable concepts such as “’patient autonomy.'” Plus: “What is presented at first as a right is going to become a kind of obligation.”

KYLE WINGFIELD: Whatever You Think About Trump, It’s Time To Take Trumpism Seriously.

STEPHEN GREEN: Your Thursday Clinton Email Scandal Roundup.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: 15,000 government emails revealed in Ashley Madison leak. “Buried in the list are emails that could be tied to multiple administration agencies, including the State Department and Department of Homeland Security, as well as several tied to both the House and Senate.” How do we know that they’re genuine, though?

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: With the Iran deal in the works, it’s time to revisit “Duck and Cover.”

YES: Stop Universities From Hoarding Money By Requiring Them To Spend 8% Of Endowment Each Year.

Who do you think received more cash from Yale’s endowment last year: Yale students, or the private equity fund managers hired to invest the university’s money?

It’s not even close.

Last year, Yale paid about $480 million to private equity fund managers as compensation — about $137 million in annual management fees, and another $343 million in performance fees, also known as carried interest — to manage about $8 billion, one-third of Yale’s endowment.

In contrast, of the $1 billion the endowment contributed to the university’s operating budget, only $170 million was earmarked for tuition assistance, fellowships and prizes. Private equity fund managers also received more than students at four other endowments I researched: Harvard, the University of Texas, Stanford and Princeton.

Fight the greedy 1% of academia.