DON’T EVER CHANGE, GRAY LADY:

Shot: “But several reliable, well-informed sources confirmed the idea that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was not so genuine or violent as it sounded, and that he was merely using anti-Semitic propaganda as a bait to catch masses of followers and keep them aroused, enthusiastic and in line for the time when his organization is perfected and sufficiently powerful to be employed effectively for political purposes.”

—The New York Times’ first profile of Hitler, headlined “New Popular Idol Rises in Bavaria,” which ran November 21st, 1922.

Chaser: NYT Columnist Nicholas Kristof Says the Holocaust is America’s Fault.

—Joe Cunningham, Red State.com, today. Read the whole thing.

I KNOW HOW THEY FEEL: New Poll Shows Clinton Disliked by Record Number of Americans.

MANY ENEMIES, MUCH HONOR:

Shot:

It gradually dawned on Darwin that the attacks by Leifchild in the Athenaeum and Owen in the Edinburgh Review had been godsends. As Sigmund Freud would put it thirty-five years later in similar circumstances, “Many enemies, much honor.” Darwin’s critics had turned him into a controversial figure, and a very famous one. For years his friends had been fond of him in a good-old-Charlie fashion. But their demeanor and the very expressions on their faces had changed. Suddenly good old Charlie had become a celebrity. No matter what side of the controversy people came down on, no matter how well they knew him, their involuntary smiles in his presence radiated a certain… mousy awe. And oh, yes, Celebrated Old Charlie picked that up every time. Not even his longtime friendly mentor, elder, protector, and superior when it came to social and intellectual status and public recognition, namely, Lyell— not even Lyell could hold back a certain deference. Without a word, both were aware that their rankings had reversed on every score. Darwin was famous.

—Tom Wolfe, The Kingdom of Speech, which hit the streets this past Tuesday.

Chaser: CBS Chides Tom Wolfe’s ‘Very Dangerous’ Attack on Evolution, Liberal Writer.

—NewsBusters, Wednesday.

It’s a fascinating book, an utterly absorbing read, and a reminder that even at age 85, Wolfe isn’t afraid to hunt the biggest of prey — Chomsky and Darwin — and make the biggest of enemies. Watch for a lengthy review in the not too distant future.

IS THE AGE OF THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER coming to an end?

Maybe it’s time for a big fleet of small ships.

BUH-BYE: Dilma Rousseff Ousted in Historic Brazil Impeachment Vote.

Brazil’s Senate voted 61-20 to convict Ms. Rousseff on charges that she used illegal bookkeeping maneuvers to hide a growing budget deficit, deemed an impeachable crime in a nation with a history of hyperinflation and fiscal mismanagement. Two-thirds of Brazil’s 81 senators, or 54 votes, were needed to remove Ms. Rousseff from power.

The outcome was widely expected, though only partly because of the legal evidence marshaled against her. Well before the trial’s final phase opened last week, Ms. Rousseff’s administration had been upended by a brutal recession and a massive corruption scandal at the state oil company that splintered her political base and devastated her popular support. Her departure marks a humiliating end for Brazil’s first female president, and closes 13 years of rule by her leftist Workers’ Party.

Must be nice, holding one of these SOBs accountable.

A MILE-MARKER ON THE ROAD TO NOVEMBER? McCain Continues Incumbents’ Winning Streak Against Pro-Trump Primary Challengers.

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN… Turkey’s deputy PM encourages Apple to move in wake of EU tax ruling.

If Apple thinks the EU acted lawlessly by unilaterally overriding Irish law to retroactively coerce $14 billion out of Cupertino, wait until they try Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey.

JUSTICE: The most absurd Internet privacy class-action settlement ever.

In 2013, Yahoo announced that it would begin scanning its users’ e-mail for targeted advertising purposes—just as Google does. As is par for the course, class-action lawsuits were filed. The Silicon Valley media giant, according to one of the lawsuits, was violating the “personal liberties” of non-Yahoo Mail users. That’s because non-Yahoo Mail users, who have sent mail to Yahoo mail users, were having their e-mail scanned without their permission.
…
The suit, which was one of six that were co-mingled as a single class action, demanded that a judge halt the scanning and award each victim “$5,000 or three times actual damages” in addition to “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.”

Fast forward three years. The case is now closed. Days ago, a Silicon Valley federal judge signed off (PDF) on a settlement (PDF). The lawyers won, they were awarded $4 million (£3 million), and the public got nothing. What’s more, the settlement allows Yahoo to continue to scan e-mails without non-Yahoo users’ consent.

It’s almost as though class-action suits have become nothing more than shakedown operations for lawyers.

ANOTHER SUMMER RECOVERY BUST: Chicago PMI Slumps Suggesting “June’s Momentum Was Only A Temporary Revival”

JACK DUNPHY: Chicago’s Murder Rate Spirals Out of Control.

Reminder: Chicago’s last Republican mayor left town just around the time that sound was becoming popular at the movies.

HILLARY EMAILED CLASSIFIED INFO AFTER LEAVING STATE.

As Steve would say, you know you’re not supposed to do that, right?

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1209.

MARINES WITH FRICKIN LASERS ATTACHED TO THEIR PLANES: Marine General wants energy weapons on the F-35B.

GEE, IF ONLY SOMEONE HAD WARNED ABOUT THIS BEFORE IT WAS RAMMED THROUGH ON A BOGUS, PARTY-LINE, PROCEDURAL VOTE: Gray Lady Raises the White Flag on Obamacare.

Six years after a Democratic majority rammed the most complex piece of domestic legislation in decades through a party line vote, using a legislative technique that ensured the final bill would be a mess that nobody actually advocated, the law, shockingly, isn’t working very well. Enrollment is only half of what proponents expected, premiums are going up by double-digits, healthy people are shunning what they see as an over-priced and underperforming program, the ‘cooperatives’ that Democratic wonks gushed over are going belly-up, and insurance companies are fleeing the market in droves.

And even more amazingly, the New York Times has sorted through the chaos and come up with the conclusion that the Obamacare mess is serious, costly, damaging—and very, very hard to fix. . . . The signature domestic accomplishment of the Obama administration is, the Gray Lady appears to be conceding, a dysfunctional mess.

It’s a debacle, and Obama and the Democrats did it all themselves.

ALLIES: Turkey summons US envoy over remarks on Syria operation.

“It has been underlined that such statements are by no means acceptable and that they do not comply with the alliance relationship,” read a statement issued by Tanju Bilgiç, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, late on Aug. 30.

Bilgiç’s statement came after Ash Carter, the U.S. secretary of defense; Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy on the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL); and spokespersons from the Department of Defense and the White House each urged Turkey to stop clashing with the PYD.

Turkey’s concerns over such remarks were dispatched to Bass by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ferdiun Sinirlioğlu on Aug. 30.

“The objectives of the Euphrates Shield Operations are known,” Bilgiç said, adding that Turkey would continue until all “terror groups” are pushed away from the Turkish border so that they will not be able to “pose a threat to Turkish citizens.”

Translation: Turkey will continue using the ISIS threat as an excuse to pound Syria’s Kurdish fighters.

THANK GOODNESS WE PUT THE GROWNUPS BACK IN CHARGE: IRS doesn’t tell 1M taxpayers that illegals stole their Social Security numbers.

The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency’s inspector general said in a withering new report released Tuesday.

Investigators first alerted the IRS to the problem five years ago, but it’s still not fixed, the inspector general said, and a pilot program meant to test a solution was canceled — and fell woefully short anyway.

It’s only other people’s money.

WAR ON COLLEGE MEN: Schools, media ignore civil protections when it comes to campus sexual assault.

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CUE WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: Bill Clinton eyes exit from charity that has shaped legacy.

When Bill Clinton told the staff of his global charity he would have to step down if Hillary Clinton won the White House, he was vividly clear about how that felt: Worse than a root canal, he said.

For Clinton, the foundation that bears his name has shaped much of his post-White House legacy, helping transform him from a popular yet scandal-tainted former president into an international philanthropist and humanitarian.

The Clinton Foundation’s charitable works amounted to just “15% of its revenues while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, and just 6.4% in the first year after it.” In 2013 he Foundation spent as much on travel for its executives and staff as it did on charitable grants.

It’s easy to see why giving that up would be painful, but it isn’t as though being First Spouse doesn’t come with perks of its own.

HUFFINGTON POST CONTRIBUTOR SAYS HE WAS FIRED FOR POSTING ARTICLE ABOUT HILLARY’S HEALTH.

Oceanarianna has never been at war with Hillary – and her workaday Democratic primary voters.

WHAT KIND OF TRAGEDY WAS ANTHONY WEINER?, asks Dave Weigel of the Washington Post.

To be fair, not everybody can bounce back from their mistakes and public dissembling as effortlessly as Dave Weigel of the Washington Post.

Exit quote: “The second question is whether Weiner had a skill set that New York, or the country, missed out on when he fell. That’s harder to answer.” No it’s not.

WHY WON’T THE DEMOCRATS STOP THEIR FILIBUSTER? WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA? U.S. Funding for Fighting Zika Virus Is Nearly Spent, C.D.C. Says.

Flashback: The Hill: Senate Democrats block Zika agreement ahead of recess.

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a deal providing funding for the fight against the Zika virus, virtually guaranteeing that Congress won’t get legislation to President Obama’s desk this month.

In a 52-48 vote, the Senate fell eight votes short of moving past a procedural hurdle against the House-Senate conference report on a military and veterans spending bill, which includes $1.1 billion to fund the Zika virus research.

Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) broke with his party and backed moving forward with the deal. GOP Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted against the Zika deal. McConnell’s “no” vote allows him to bring the measure back up for another vote.

The vote leaves the current fight over the Zika virus at a standstill with days left before the July 4th recess.

The Dem line now is that the GOP is holding things up — by not doing what the Dem minority wants. It never goes that way when the parties are reversed. . . .

SJW’S ARE ALL ABOUT THE PROJECTION: When The “Harassed” Become The Harassers:

A group allegedly dedicated to stopping online harassment and abuse used the same tactics it claimed to abhor to harass those it disagreed with politically.

Crash Override Network, founded by Zoe Quinn after she became well known for being publicly shamed online by an ex-boyfriend, targeted people with whom it disagreed with – most notably, people who supported the Gamergate movement. . . .

Quinn used her new celebrity status to found Crash Override Network, which was supposed to stop online bullying. But internal chat logs from members who would eventually create the group, leaked by a member of the group, reveal that it used tactics such as doxxing (by which a person’s private contact information is published online in order to intimidate them) to harass people in the Gamergate movement or those who members of CON had a personal grudge against.

For example, the group discussed trying to contact the superior officer of a Purple Heart recipient who had expressed support of Gamergate to try to silence him. The group also discussed contacting Google in an attempt to get Justine Tunney fired after she also voiced support for Gamergate.

While responding to the logs, one of the people involved, Randi Harper, explained away the behavior as some kind of Stockholm Syndrome, writing on Twitter: “fact: when people are under abuse for an extended period of time, that trauma can modify their behavior and make them imitate their abusers.”

That doesn’t make it okay, especially if one is denouncing abuse while engaging in the same tactics.

Becoming abusers wasn’t an unintended result; it was the whole point.

RICHARD LAWSON: The Mad, Dark Genius of Gene Wilder.

Watching Wilder’s line delivery now, it seems strikingly modern, full of pathos and syncopated wit—not something you always associate with comedies that existed pre-, for lack of a better word, snark. But his performances also suggest something lost, a shading and seriousness that gave the comedy genre a little more shape—some true, genuine edge. Not many contemporary, leading comedic movie stars infuse their work with the danger that Wilder did, instead choosing to be affable and relatable. There always was an eerie relatability to Wilder’s characters, but he also showed you something new and offbeat, keeping the viewer nervous and on their toes, wanting more. His comedy managed to be subtle and completely out-there, a rare talent that we’re not likely to see matched again.

There’s a reason Wilder’s collaborations with Mel Brooks have held up better than any other Brooks movies, and that reason is Gene Wilder.

If you’re a fan, read the whole thing.