JOHN KASS: Chicago gangs no longer know or fear the police, and bodies pile up.

As a political man, Daley was happy to have real data to calm nervous white neighborhoods. He’d been the law and order candidate, offering stability to business leaders.

But parts of the black South and West sides were a different story.

“The shooter was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23,” O’Connor said. “And the victim was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23. So what’s changed since the ’90s? Not much, the same social pathology, and the police are expected to clean it up.”

Some call it “gun violence,” a definition greatly appreciated by Democratic politicians like those at City Hall. They can point to guns and take that voter anger over homicide numbers and channel it into a safe space.

But there are plenty of guns in the suburbs, and suburbanites aren’t slaughtering each other.

It’s the gang wars.

Politicians know that the gangs are reason for the deaths. Calling it “gun violence” is much safer, especially in wards where gangs often provide political muscle.

“Have you ever heard a Chicago alderman call out a street gang by name?” O’Connor asked. “No? Me neither.”

Flashback: Chicago Politicians Are In Bed With The Gangs. Needless to say, they’re all Democrats.

RUSSELL SIMMONS: ‘PROGRESSIVE’ HOLLYWOOD ‘INCREDIBLY SEGREGATED.’

Why are Democrat-monopoly industries such cesspits of racism and segregation? And why should they enjoy their own proprietary tax cuts?

JOHN KERRY: MEDIA WOULD ‘DO US ALL A SERVICE’ IF THEY DIDN’T COVER TERRORISM AS MUCH.

Funny, he didn’t have that stance when he was making his bones ginning up protests over Vietnam for network news consumption.

But it’s a nice echo of his equally feckless boss’s callous remarks that America can always “absorb” another terrorist attack and that “Even during the period in 2014 when Isis was executing its American captives in Syria, [Obama’s] emotions were in check. Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s closest adviser, told him people were worried that the group would soon take its beheading campaign to the U.S. ‘They’re not coming here to chop our heads off,’ he reassured her. Obama frequently reminds his staff that terrorism takes far fewer lives in America than handguns, car accidents, and falls in bathtubs do.”

Besides, Kerry knows where the real front lines of terror are.

KIM JONG-UN SHUFFLES CABINET: North Korea Has Executed a Deputy Premier, Seoul Reports

Jeong Joon-hee, a spokesman for the South’s Unification Ministry, said at a news briefing that the South Korean government had used various means to confirm the execution of Kim Yong-jin, the deputy premier, and the purge of Kim Yong-chol, the head of the United Front Department of the ruling Workers’ Party, which handles relations with, as well as spying operations against, South Korea. Choe Hui, a deputy chief of the party’s Propaganda and Agitation Department, was also banished for re-education, Mr. Jeong said.

Mr. Jeong provided no further details, including when the reported punishments were believed to have taken place or how South Korea had learned of them. But in a later briefing, a senior Unification Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said that Kim Jong-un had found fault with the 63-year-old deputy premier’s “disrespectful posture” during a meeting that Mr. Kim oversaw in late June.

Disrespectful posture?

Kim Yong-jin was reportedly executed by firing squad back in July, which may or may not be a step up from execution by anti-aircraft gun.

UPDATE: It seems as though Kim did indeed go with execution-by-anti-aircraft-gun yet again.

THE HILL: Foundation Headaches Mount For Clintons.

Hillary Clinton is under growing pressure over her family’s foundation, which has raised serious questions about conflicts of interest for the presidential candidate.

Foundation donors on more than one occasion also had business at the State Department when Clinton served as secretary, raising “pay-to-play” allegations from Donald Trump and other Republicans.

The controversy deepened after an Associated Press report highlighted the number of Clinton Foundation donors who received meetings with then-Secretary Clinton.

The Democratic presidential nominee and her campaign have gone on defense in response to the controversy, highlighting the foundation’s good works and noting there is no proof to Trump’s charges.

The foundation has also announced steps it did not take when Clinton became secretary of State.

If Clinton becomes president, it will not take donations from foreign governments, corporations or citizens or from U.S. corporations and corporate foundations.

Yet the story has shown no signs of withering away, and if anything calls for the Clintons to separate themselves from the foundation have increased.

While Clinton remains the favorite to win the White House, polls also have tightened in the last week — just as scrutiny of the foundation peaked.

This suggests stories about the foundation are likely to continue — including during Clinton’s presidency if she is elected.

That’s because it’s an obvious influence peddling/money laundry operation.

WELL, GOOD: California Legislature Adopts Bill That Would Make It Tougher for Government to Take Your Stuff.

California’s state forfeiture laws are already more protective of property owners than those of most other states. Under current state law, the evidentiary standard in most civil forfeiture cases is “beyond a reasonable doubt” and a conviction is required; only in drug cases dealing with seized cash of more than $25,000 is that standard lowered to clear and convincing evidence.

Unlike many states and the federal government, in innocent owner cases, California law establishes that the state bears the burden—as it should—of proving that a property owner “consented to the use of the property with knowledge that it would be or was used for a purpose for which forfeiture is permitted.”

But California law is not perfect. Law enforcement agencies that engage in property seizures, as well as the prosecutors who handle forfeiture cases, are able to receive a combined total of 66.25 percent of any resulting proceeds. This direct financial interest in the outcomes of cases not only creates a conflict of interest, it has the potential to warp the priorities of law enforcement officials.

Civil asset forfeiture is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Governor Jerry Brown should sign this bill into law.

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IT’S ON: Trump announces surprise meeting with Mexican President.

“I have accepted the invitation of President Enrique Pena Nieto, of Mexico, and look very much forward to meeting him tomorrow,” Trump tweeted as reports swirled that Trump was mulling a last-minute trip to Mexico.

Hillary Clinton is also invited to meet Nieto, but so far has chosen to “blast Trump’s Mexico visit.”

EXPOSING THE MYTH of Nordic Socialism.

OOPS: Minnesota Gun Buyback Program Misfires.

A Minnesota program to buy up guns in exchange for Visa gift cards has been less successful than anticipated. The guns collected were mostly homemade, unused or antiquated firearms rather than the street guns authorities had hoped to remove from the street.

There were two locations “buying back” the guns but both had to close down early when officials ran out of $25,000 in gift cards.

Apparently people participating in the buyback program were smarter than the officials running it.

That’s no surprise. Considering that a decent handgun starts at a few hundred dollars, how many firearms did they think they were going to get “off the streets” for $25,000?

SHE CAN’T ADMIT FAILURE NOW: Merkel defends immigration decision on one-year anniversary of ‘wir schaffen das.’

BECAUSE WE GET THE SAME STUFF EVERY ELECTION YEAR, A FLASHBACK: The Myth Of The Southern Strategy:

Everyone knows that race has long played a decisive role in Southern electoral politics. From the end of Reconstruction until the beginning of the civil rights era, the story goes, the national Democratic Party made room for segregationist members — and as a result dominated the South. But in the 50s and 60s, Democrats embraced the civil rights movement, costing them the white Southern vote. Meanwhile, the Republican Party successfully wooed disaffected white racists with a “Southern strategy” that championed “states’ rights.”

It’s an easy story to believe, but this year two political scientists called it into question. In their book “The End of Southern Exceptionalism,” Richard Johnston of the University of Pennsylvania and Byron Shafer of the University of Wisconsin argue that the shift in the South from Democratic to Republican was overwhelmingly a question not of race but of economic growth. In the postwar era, they note, the South transformed itself from a backward region to an engine of the national economy, giving rise to a sizable new wealthy suburban class. This class, not surprisingly, began to vote for the party that best represented its economic interests: the G.O.P. Working-class whites, however — and here’s the surprise — even those in areas with large black populations, stayed loyal to the Democrats. (This was true until the 90s, when the nation as a whole turned rightward in Congressional voting.)

The two scholars support their claim with an extensive survey of election returns and voter surveys.

Just a reminder.

PROTESTERS SHOULD HAVE A CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR SUCH ARRESTS, AND IT SHOULD INVOLVE KILLING MID-LEVEL SECURITY OFFICIALS AND THEIR FAMILIES: Venezuela Prepares for Massive Protests By Arresting Activists.

YEAH, BUT TRUMP TWEETED SOMETHING MEAN: Newly Revealed Benghazi Emails Bring Hillary Clinton’s Server Scandal Full Circle: At least 30 of Hillary Clinton’s supposedly non-work-related emails discussed Benghazi attack. It’s a good time to revisit her decision to attack Libya, too.

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RUBIO TROUNCES PRIMARY CHALLENGER BERUFF, WHO CHIDES SENATOR FOR MAKING ‘A LIFE MISTAKE.’

YEAH, I DON’T TRUST THEM: Homeland Security eyes special declaration to take charge of elections. Jeh Johnson considers this a bug: “There’s no one federal election system. There are some 9,000 jurisdictions involved in the election process.”

Given how federal cyber-security has gone, I consider it a feature. We really need to strengthen electoral security, but giving it over to the feds creates a single point of failure, a major source of distrust, and a temptation to misbehavior. If you want to make Trump’s claim that the election is being rigged seem prophetic instead of crazy, just go ahead with this.

I’M NOT READY TO TRY IT YET, BUT THE EVIDENCE KEEPS MOUNTING: Brief rapamycin therapy in middle-aged mice extends lives. And, of course, the real benefit is probably the insights this can provide into fundamental mechanisms of aging, which can lead to much better treatments. But faster, please. I’m not getting any younger here. And neither are the rest of you!

TRUMP MAY MEET WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT PENA: Donald Trump and President Enrique Pena Nieto may be able to do one another a favor. We’ll have to see if this actually pans out and then mull the photo ops and soundbites. However, this could be an example of the kind of rabbit-out-of-the-hat electioneering magic Democrats fear Donald Trump can pull. So, here’s the background to this wild scenario. Pena is currently under a heckuva lot of political pressure. The Iguala Massacre (September 2014) marked a political sea change in Mexico. StrategyPage.com has been covering Pena’s political slide ever since. (This update summarizes the cumulative effects. But other updates in the Mexico section back it up with sad details.) The Iguala Massacre became “a national example of ‘impunity’ — which means the government and political elites ability to escape responsibility and punishment for crimes, corruption, criminal neglect of duty and gross mismanagement.” If this sounds like Hillary Clinton escaping punishment for her criminal mishandling of classified information, well, I report, you decide. Pena’s own ethical failures haunt him. Oh, he doesn’t think he has ethical failures, but a lot of Mexican citizens certainly do. The Bottom Political Line For This Still Hypothetical Political Encounter That May Or May Not Come Off: Meeting Donald Trump gives President Pena the opportunity to look like he’s standing up for Mexico and going man to man with a mouthy Yankee tough guy. As for Mr. Trump — he gets to make the case he isn’t anti-anyone. He’s for legal immigration. He’ll talk and deal with anyone, straight up. Art of the Deal, y’know. As for HIllary? Hillary can stuff the KKK and all the standard issue Democrat racism accusations up her Benghazi.

SHUT UP JOHN KERRY SAID: Here’s Sec State John Kerry’s quote from Bangladesh: “…perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it (terrorism) quite as much.” Will lib media do his bidding? This career Democrat mediocrity really thinks Media Privilege is his due.

SO WHAT DOES THIS SAY ABOUT WHAT THEY DO TO KIDS THE REST OF THE TIME? Docs Say iPads Work Like Sedatives for Kids Pre-Surgery.

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PRAGER UNIVERSITY: The Speech Every High School Principal Should Give.

WELL, THEY’RE DEMOCRATIC DONORS: Treasury Publishes White Paper Defending Brazen Tax Avoidance By Apple, Other U.S. Multinational Corporations.

YES, I THINK THAT PRETTY MUCH COVERS IT: Women Drink Because of Sexism—or Not.

Related: No, ladies, it’s not men ‘making’ us drink.