FIVE YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT:

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN WE’D SEE WHISTLEBLOWERS PURSUED WITH A VENGEANCE. And they were right! “When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he championed the cause of government transparency, and spoke admiringly of whistle-blowers, whom he described as ‘often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.’ But the Obama Administration has pursued leak prosecutions with a surprising relentlessness. Including the Drake case, it has been using the Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national-security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous Administrations combined.”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT:

DYMPHNA:

Remember the 1930’s when so many of Europe’s intelligentsia came to America to escape Fascism? Albert Einstein was one; Karen Horney was another. Our intellectual ranks and our universities were enriched as Europe’s totalitarian rumblings caused the educated ranks to flee to safer shores.

It seems to be happening again. In addition to Hirsi Ali’s imminent departure from the Netherlands, there is a growing feeling that Europe is not safe for those who dissent even a little from the received wisdom of the bureaucratic state, or dare to confront the Muslim taqiyya so prevalent there.

Poor Europe needs all the smarts it can get; it would be much better off if it could keep those people.

FIVE YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT:

JESSICA WAKEMAN: Why I Don’t Feel Too Bad For Maria Shriver. “Rumors of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infidelity and sexual harassment have been going on for years. Arnold’s wandering penis (and hands) pre-dates his governorship of California, a role that staunch Democrat and Kennedy scion Maria Shriver helped him win. So, while this situation undeniably sucks, I’m not boo-hoo-hooing for her. I believe Maria Shriver was either willfully ignorant of or willing-to-put-up-with, Hillary Clinton-style, her husband’s cheating and sexual harassment. How could she not be aware of it, in some way? . . . I expect better from my smart, feminist political ladies (and yes, that includes you, Hillary Clinton, as much as I love you). But addressing the cheating/sexual harassment/abuse publicly was apparently not on the table for Shriver, which strikes me as hypocritical.” Politics trumped principle, until he was out of office. Then politics didn’t matter.

Related: When cheating scandals become beauty contests. I think Arnold’s the loser here.

A SUIT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS CONSPIRACY WOULD BE BETTER, BUT THIS IS GOOD: CEI Runs “Abuse of Power” Ad In New York Times.

FLASHBACK: An opinion by Mr. Justice Reynolds. As close as we’re ever likely to get . . . .

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MICKEY KAUS: What Could Hurt Trump. “In a campaign of normal length, Trump would probably win the fight. (He seems to be winning now.) The trouble is, at this rate we’ll have run through a normal campaign’s worth of thrusts and parries by the middle of next month– and there’ll still be five months still to go. That will force voters to learn what is like to live with each of the candidates, and weigh their flaws and virtues with special thoroughness. Hell, by September it will seem as if Trump’s already been president for a year. That means attacking him over last fall’s insults may not work — after all, they will have been a looong time ago, and now we’ll know the guy. If voters turn out to like living with their Daily Trump, he could easily be ten points ahead by Labor Day. But we might also tire of his personality the way … married couples do the way voters typically tire of a President about halfway through his first term.”

STEPHEN GREEN: To all the PCs I’ve loved before.

ALWAYS NICE TO MAKE THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Being a Boy Doesn’t Equal Being a Rapist.

DAVID BOAZ: Capitalism, Not Socialism, Led to Gay Rights: What system better allows people the freedom to live how they choose? “Some historians like to claim socialist ideas helped bring about gay rights in the modern era. But they’re mistaking academic theory for reality. . . . Capitalism is more than an idea, of course. It’s a set of social institutions, which Downs correctly notes came under scathing attack from gay socialists. But as D’Emilio recognized, it was capitalism that in fact allowed individuals to live autonomously and to flourish. Capitalism freed people from feudalism and from the family farm. It allowed them to construct their own lives in a market society with space for separate personal and professional lives. It gave them the freedom and affluence to live on their own. Capitalism led to industrialization, which led to urbanization, which offered the anonymity of the city to anyone who chafed under the strictures of the family and the village, as well as the chance to find people who shared one’s interests. The writer Eric Marcus produced a book of interviews with gay activists called Making History. What his subjects illustrated—even when they didn’t realize it themselves—was that it was the freedom to leave home and the affluence that allowed people to do so that enabled them to move and to choose lifestyles they wanted.”

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Terrifying Report: TSA’s Cybersecurity May Be Worse Than Its Customer Service.

WHY ARE LEFTY INSTITUTIONS SUCH CESSPITS OF SEXUAL EXPLOITATION? Yale Ethics Expert Charged With Sexual Harassment.

When Thomas Pogge travels around the world, he finds eager young fans waiting for him in every lecture hall. The 62-year-old German-born professor, a protégé of the philosopher John Rawls, is bespectacled and slight of stature. But he’s a giant in the field of global ethics, and one of only a small handful of philosophers who have managed to translate prominence within the academy to an influential place in debates about policy.

A self-identified “thought leader,” Pogge directs international health and anti-poverty initiatives, publishes papers in leading journals, and gives TED Talks. His provocative argument that wealthy countries, and their citizens, are morally responsible for correcting the global economic order that keeps other countries poor revolutionized debates about global justice. He’s also a dedicated professor and mentor, at Yale University — where he founded and directs the Global Justice Program, a policy and public health research group — as well as at other prestigious institutions worldwide. By Pogge’s own count, he’s taught 34 graduate seminars, given 1,218 lectures in 46 countries, and supervised 66 doctoral dissertations.

But a recent federal civil rights complaint describes a distinction unlikely to appear on any curriculum vitae: It claims Pogge uses his fame and influence to manipulate much younger women in his field into sexual relationships. One former student said she was punished professionally after resisting his advances.

To read the description of his work, he’s been running a scam for years. It wouldn’t be a shock if his morals were weak in other areas. Or, perhaps, he’s falsely accused — by aspiring ethicists. Either way it doesn’t look great for the profession.

Related: Are professional ethicists good people? According to our research, not especially. So what is the point of learning ethics?

As Peter Morgan and I wrote in The Appearance of Impropriety, there’s not much evidence that talking about ethics makes anyone more ethical.

I’VE BEEN MEANING TO DO THIS: You Should Get TSA Pre-Check. Here’s How.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Lipsticks shaped like penises are a thing and we don’t know how to feel.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: The real reason that so many women have to spend so much time getting ready.

ANN ALTHOUSE POSES THE QUESTION OF THE AGE: “Did Donald Trump make that happen or did he just sit back coolly and let it happen or — if such a thing is possible — is this not even about Donald Trump?”

CONTEMPT FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Labour MP Pat Glass apologises after calling voter ‘a horrible racist.’

I FEEL THAT THIS STORY LACKS IMPORTANT DETAILS ABOUT THE VICTIM AND THE MOB: San Francisco: Man seriously injured in mob attack.

RIDE THE ROLLING STONE RECURSION!

● The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot – and it’s only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.

● I am surprised and embarrassed to be a part of the first American generation to leave the country in far worse shape than it was when we first came into it.

● Nixon represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character almost every other country in the world has learned to fear and despise.

● By disgracing and degrading the presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream.

● America… just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.

—Hunter S. Thompson, one of Rolling Stone’s favorite writers, on America.

● [Rolling Stone’s] Matt Taibbi: Conservative Republicans ‘Destroyed the American Character…No Hell Is Hot Enough For Them.’

—Headline at NewsBusters on Thursday.

(Besides, why would Republicans want to go where the muse for Obama and Hillary’s mentor resides?)

NEW OBAMA/HOLDER DECEPTIONS EXPOSED: Turns out the Department of Justice under former Attorney General Eric Holder used the power of government to force settlements on Bank of America, Citicorps and other financial industry titans that required them to make millions of dollars in contributions to “community groups,” including many that are political favorites of President Obama and advocates for more government regulation.

Richard Pollock of the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group reports on a briefing Friday by the Cause of Action Institute and Rep. Sean Duffy, the Wisconsin Republican who is chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on oversight and investigations. It’s bad enough that these big banks routinely collude with the government on regulation; here they are found submitting themselves and their abundant resources to serve the liberal political agenda.

“Among the political activist groups favored favored by the settlements is La Raza, the nation’s largest Hispanic activist organization that routinely supports Democratic candidates and causes. Cecilia Munoz, a La Raza senior vice president, was appointed by Obama in 2012 to head the White House Domestic Policy Council.

“La Raza is flush with money, reporting in 2013 to the IRS assets of $55 million. Janet Murguia, the group’s president and CEO was paid $417,000 that year, according to the group’s IRS tax return. Even so, La Raza is slated to receive at least $1 million from the Bank of America settlement and $500,000 from the Citigroup settlement,” according to Pollock.

There is more here to this story, much, much more, and all of it is worth reading. Just be careful to keep some nitro pills handy in case you have a weak heart because this stuff will make your blood boil. This is a story of liberal politicians using the power of government to divert millions of dollars slated for folks suffering in 2008’s housing meltdown to political groups, all to advance their personal and political agendas.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1108.

A RIDDLE, WRAPPED IN A MYSTERY, INSIDE AN ENIGMA: Hezbollah Operations Chief Killed in Syria—But Who Did It?

RICHARD BENEDETTO: How Obama Gets Away With It: It is amazing that the president’s dismal record is largely absent from the 2016 campaign—until you consider his PR machine.

Usually when an incumbent president is leaving office and a slew of candidates are battling for his job, that departing chief executive’s record is a major campaign issue.

But not this year, even though two of three Americans say the country is on the wrong track, job creation is sluggish, income inequality continues to rise and Mr. Obama’s job approval barely tops 50%. Moreover, approval of his handling of the war on terror and Islamic State is underwater, and a majority of Americans—white and black—say race relations are getting worse, not better.

When Mr. Obama ran for office in 2008, a central part of his campaign strategy was to heap blame on George W. Bush. How has Mr. Obama dodged similar treatment? One reason: Donald Trump’s bombastic candidacy is a huge distraction and often blocks out or obliterates more-substantive issues. That was the case even when his now-vanquished rivals tried to address serious topics. When Mr. Trump does criticize the president, it gets far less news play than his attacks on his opponents and critics, Republican or Democrat. As for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, they both are angling for a third consecutive Democratic administration, so are not eager to criticize Mr. Obama.

But another reason—a big one—why Mr. Obama is able to avoid being a target is that he is a deft manipulator of the media, probably more skillful at it than any president ever. He heads a savvy public-relations machine that markets him like a Hollywood celebrity, a role he obligingly and successfully plays. One of the machine’s key tactics is to place Mr. Obama in as many positive news and photo situations as possible. Ronald Reagan’s advisers were considered masters of putting their man in the best possible light, but they look like amateurs compared with the Obama operation—which has the added advantage of a particularly obliging news media.

First, they’re Democratic operatives with bylines, and he’s a Democrat. Second, they refuse to let the first black President be remembered as a disaster — even if, as here, he is a disaster.