PROFESSOR BUTTERFIELD, I PRESUME: “I’m Black. Does America Have a Plan for My Life?”, asks a an assistant professor of African-American studies and philosophy at Yale University in the New York Times.

You’re an adult man. What’s stopping you from making your own? And why does a nation need a plan for your life? This sounds like a question a Pravda journalist would be asking about the former Soviet Union.

Incidentally, note this correction at the end of the article:

An earlier version of this article incorrectly included Trayvon Martin on a list of black people killed by employees of the state. Mr. Martin was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer; he was not killed by a police officer.

Whew, good thing the Times has those vaunted layers and layers of fact checkers and editors to prevent such embarrassing mistakes.

Related Exit Question: Will Millennials Survive The Left? “Millennials aren’t imposing totalitarianism and censorship on the Left. They’re getting those ideas from the Left,” David Marcus notes at the Federalist.

(Classical reference in headline.)

JAVEE: Why the Offensive against ISIS in Mosul Could Be a Disaster.

The flash appeal noted that the UN needed the $284 million at least two and a half months before the initiation of the assault to enable them to set up the [refugee] camps. Yet according to recent reports U.S. military officials believe the Iraqi government could order the beginning of the attack before the end of next month. Even if the UNOCHA got all the funds tomorrow, it is virtually assured that they won’t be ready to care for the expected hundreds of thousands of refugees when the fighting begins in earnest.

It is understandable that the Iraqi government wants to wrest control of Mosul from the Islamic State, but it is important that they not be impatient. If the operations begin before UN and local authorities are ready to receive and care for that many displaced persons, Mr. Mustafa’s worries of a humanitarian catastrophe could be realized.

Mosul was largely at peace and part of a functional Iraqi state on January 20, 2009.

THE HILL GETS THE VAPORS: Top climate skeptic to lead Trump’s EPA transition team.

Man, apparently that Trump is skeptical there’s a climate or something!

Related: As Americans Tire of Eco-Panic, Hillary Quietly Drops ‘Climate Change’ Rhetoric.

At least until January, when Hillary hopes to resume Obama’s patented formula of trickle-down crony socialism and punitive overregulation.

CHANGE: More US babies born addicted to opiates like heroin.

The proportion of U.S. babies born suffering from withdrawal syndrome after exposure to heroin or prescription opiates in utero has more than doubled in less than a decade, a study suggests.

Researchers focused on what’s known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, a condition akin to withdrawal that develops when babies essentially become addicted to drugs their mothers use during pregnancy.

Nationally, the rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome involving mothers’ use of opiates – which includes heroin as well as prescription narcotics like codeine and Vicodin – surged from 2.8 cases for every 1,000 births in 2009 to 7.3 cases for every 1,000 births in 2013, the study found.

The story notes that people are turning to heroin because it’s become harder to get a hold of prescription drugs to abuse. I’m not sure that’s progress.

AND YET, THAT’S HOW SHE’S CAMPAIGNED: Roll Call: Clinton Has an Inherent Advantage, But It’s Not as a Woman.

HILLARY: EVERYONE IS A RACIST, NOT JUST THE POLICE.

Jon Gabriel, call your office.

THE HILL: Indiana Senate race tightens as Republicans take on Bayh.

Democrat Evan Bayh’s last-minute attempt at a political comeback made this year’s Senate race in Indiana look all but over for Republicans hoping to hold on to the open seat.

But with six weeks until the general election, polls are tightening and the contest is looking more like a toss-up as Senate control hangs in the balance.

The former Indiana senator has weathered attacks from both GOP Rep. Todd Young’s campaign and Republican outside groups who are trying to undercut the advantage Bayh has from being well-known in the state with attacks about his residency and ties to a lobbying group.

Bayh, who strategists say still has the upper hand, went from a double-digit lead in August to a 4-point edge, within the margin of error in a WTHR/Howey Politics poll, earlier this month.

“Anyone who thought this was going to be a cakewalk for [Bayh] I think was making a mistake,” said Andrew Downs, a political science professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. “He had not run a campaign in 12 years, and the nature of campaigning has changed.”

When Bayh announced his candidacy for retiring GOP Sen. Dan Coats’s seat in mid-July, some political observers argued that less than four months until the election wouldn’t be enough time for Young to strengthen his statewide name recognition, especially compared to Bayh, a household name in Indiana politics for more than 50 years. Bayh’s father, Birch, was a senator from 1963 to 1981, and Evan Bayh was also governor for eight years.

The once-safe Republican seat shifted to a toss-up, and even in some cases, Democratic-leaning, once Bayh entered the race.

But over the last two months, Young has slowly become known beyond his southern Indiana district, especially with the influx of outside money supporting his campaign.

Well, stay tuned. Funny that the Dems in Indiana didn’t have any existing talent that could make this a race, and had to bring Bayh out of retirement.

NO KINGS, NO QUEENS, NO LORDS, NO LADIES: We won’t be fooled again! Obama’s Conflict Tanked the Clinton E-mail Investigation — As Predicted.  If both are guilty, both should go down for it.  Stop with special considerations.

FROM KYLE ANDREWS: Freedom/Hate.

PLEASE. WHO’D WANT TO CATCH MICHELLE OBAMA? Pokémon GO vs Michelle Obama: The Fight Against Childhood Obesity.

FROM KAL SPRIGGS: The Sacred Stars.

THIS MUST STOP: Victimhood as Prestige. Before it kills civilization.

AND YET SMOD CONTINUES TO FAIL US: ‘Huge meteor’ crashes to earth as flash of light is spotted in sky and houses start to shake.

HECK OF A JOB BARRY! The real scandal of New York City’s Sandy recovery.

DIDN’T HE KNOW STARBUCKS IS A GUN FREE ZONE? Gunman kills Starbucks patron after credit card was rejected.  Surely you can’t mean those don’t work?

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SO I’D CALL IT A DRAW. Both Trump and Hillary left key points out. Neither looked awful, but neither looked great. And people I follow on social media seem equally divided.

PREDICTION: If Hillary is elected President, she’ll be the first since Truman to use nuclear weapons.

SHE’S NOT THE APPROVED OPPOSITION: Green Party nominee escorted off debate premises.

SO FAR, HILLARY IS DOING BETTER THAN I EXPECTED — NOT COUGHING ONCE — AND TRUMP IS DOING ABOUT AS I EXPECTED.

TRUMP HAMMERS HILLARY ON “SUPERPREDATORS.”

HILLARY SAYS TRUMP PAYS NO INCOME TAXES: Didn’t Harry Reid say that about Mitt Romney?

HILLARY: I made a mistake using a private email system. Trump: It was more than a mistake, when you have your staff taking the fifth, when you have the man who set up the server taking the fifth.

HILLARY PLUGGING HER BOOK. Well, I would too, with this audience.

THE BACK-AND-FORTH BETWEEN TRUMP AND HILLARY IS ACTUALLY INTERESTING.