HEADLINES: With rare humility, Trump concedes he could come up short.

Well, of course it’s on this issue that the Washington Post shows Trump some kindness.

THEY’LL TURN US ALL INTO BEGGARS BECAUSE THEY’RE EASIER TO PLEASE: How Venezuela’s Repressive Government Controls the Nation Through Hunger.

The Venezuelan government has become one of the world’s cruelest teasers. It has created unspeakable hardships for the populace and, at the same time, is taking advantage of those hardships to introduce new forms of political control.

The proliferation of food lines is a perfect example of this teasing. Lines to buy groceries have become longer and more widespread. In a country with plenty of irritants, these food lines, hardly seen before 2010, have become Venezuela’s most aggravating political problem today.

You would think that food lines would prompt riots. And some rioting is occurring. But we are not seeing anything like a Venezuelan Spring in which protests envelop the country and lead to governmental change. Why? Because food lines have paradoxically given the government new mechanisms for keeping protests at bay.

Socialism is about caring.

JEFFREY SINGER: ObamaCare Gave Rise To The Healthcare Mergers Its Advocates Oppose.

“Irony is wasted on the stupid.” This quote, attributed to Oscar Wilde, seems fitting in light of the Obama administration’s new campaign to block two blockbuster mergers between the health insurers Aetna and Humana and Anthem and Cigna. (It is also fighting hospital consolidation in many states.) The administration is rightly worried that this will lead to higher health care costs through reduced competition, yet it ignores the fact that its signature law, the Affordable Care Act, was specifically designed to foment such consolidation.

The central planners behind the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – were convinced that consolidation in health care would lead to decreased health care spending by eliminating duplication, standardizing treatment protocols and incentivizing better utilization. As three of Obamacare’s primary authors wrote in The Annals of Internal Medicine in 2010, the law was designed to “unleash forces that favor integration across the continuum of care.” No part of health care was supposed to be spared – doctors, hospitals, insurers, pharmaceutical companies and others were given regulatory and financial incentives to merge.

This prediction panned out. In the six years since Obamacare’s passage, there has been a surge in health care consolidation.

All together now: Unexpectedly!

POLITICO: Clinton’s press problem.

First the Clinton press conferences and gaggles became rare. Now, the Trump campaign’s foot-dragging in allowing a basic press pool – a group of reporters that share travel duty to cover public events and minimize the logistics burden on the campaign – has given Clinton cover to not institute a protective pool, which would cover the candidate’s every move and ride on the campaign plane in the same way the White House press pool does and which typically begins when the candidates becomes the party’s official nominee.

One reporter covering the campaign said Clinton campaign officials directly cited Trump’s lack of a formal pool operation as part of the reason they have yet to set up a protective pool. Other reporters covering the Democratic nominee describe the situation as frustrating and “unlike anything in the past.”

“It’s a false equivalency,” said the Washington Post’s Anne Gearan, who is part of a team chairing the Clinton press pool for the remainder of the election but noted she did not know why the Clinton campaign hadn’t allowed a protective pool yet. “We’re advocating for access for the Clinton press pool. Whatever Trump does is immaterial as far as we’re concerned.”

Gearan could try asking Clinton about the protective pool, if only she were taking any questions.

JUST NBC THE DEBACLE: NBC criticized for ‘worst ever’ Olympic coverage in America.

IT’S ALWAYS NICE TO make Twitchy.

THAT DEPENDS ON HOW LOW YOU SET THE BAR: The Olympics Don’t Have To Be A Disaster.

AT AMAZON, save on Cleaning Supplies. I have to say, I’m still a big fan of Bar Keeper’s Friend. Also of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I think it was at BlogNashville where I mentioned the Magic Eraser and it got a round of applause. . .

Plus, deals on Small Appliances.

(UN)COVERING THE IMPORTANT STORIES. Revealed: The six month process of designing, sponsoring and fittings that led to Team USA’s beach volleyball’s customized bikinis.

IOWAHAWK CLAIMS TO HAVE ALIBI. Police: Train Car Derails in Iowa, Hits Bar Called DeRailed.

(Via the Bard of Des Moines himself.)

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Mother-of-four, 43, admits to kissing and groping a Filipino teen she looked to adopt and called ‘her son.’

HILLARY CLINTON WAGED WAR ON HONESTY.

THAT’S FUNNY, BECAUSE I’M A LOT STRONGER THAN I WAS 30 YEARS AGO: A New Study Finds That Men Are Weaker Today Than They Were 30 Years Ago.

DONALD TRUMP ON HUGH HEWITT’S RADIO SHOW: Good interview and worth reading. Note the exchange about Trump’s choice of words. Trump said that Obama founded ISIS and Hillary was the co-founder. Hewitt said he understood Trump’s point but Obama and Hillary “lost the peace” and created power vacuums which ISIS filled. They “didn’t create ISIS.” Hewitt encouraged Trump to use other language.

DT: But they wouldn’t talk about your language, and they do talk about my language, right?
HH: Well, good point. Good point…

Trump’s battling Media Privilege.

FLASHBACK: Gallup Had Dukakis Up by 17 at This Point in 1988.

WATCH TONIGHT’S Perseid Meteor Shower.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Transgender model Gigi Gorgeous tried to enter Dubai and she’s the only one shocked by what happened next.

Will Smith, hardest hit.

DON’T IMMANENTIZE THE ESCHATON! Trump: Winning the Election is the Only Way I’m Getting into Heaven.

(Classical reference in headline.)

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Drip drip drip. There were calls within DOJ for a corruption probe into the Clinton Foundation. But they were overruled…

Top Justice Department officials pushed for a public corruption probe of the Clinton Foundation earlier this year, but were overruled by their colleagues after a bank alerted the FBI to the “suspicious activity” of a foreign donor to the charity.

Three Justice Department field offices agreed that the agency should pursue the investigation at the behest of the FBI, CNN reported Thursday.

During a previously unreported meeting earlier this year, high-ranking Justice Department officials clashed over the possibility of pursuing a public corruption investigation. According to CNN, the agency had already looked into the Clinton Foundation in 2015 following the publication of a book, Clinton Cash, that detailed allegations of influence peddling.

THE STORY BEHIND THE NEW DOCUMENTARY ‘CAN WE TAKE A JOKE?’ –  I know I’ve posted a lot on here about the new, FIRE-supported documentary Can We Take a Joke?, but I wanted to share this new piece I wrote about the movie for two reasons. First, it describes the backstory of the film and how it came about, which was a very interesting process, and second, it provides useful links to a variety of online platforms where you can watch the film (per Instapundit commenters’ requests).

WELL, IF BY “PEOPLE” YOU MEAN CLUELESS NEWSCASTERS: People Still Don’t Get That Adoptive Parents Are ‘Real’ Parents.

DAN RATHER, HERE’S WHY NO ONE CARES WHEN YOU SAY ‘HISTORY IS WATCHING.’

(At the Website that earned its name in the fallout of Captain Dan the Newsman’s legendary self-immolation.)

AT AMAZON, savings in Grills & Outdoor Cooking.

Plus, save on Cellphones & Accessories.

WAIT, I THOUGHT TALKING ABOUT THIS STUFF WAS IRRESPONSIBLE FEARMONGERING: These States Are At the Greatest Risk of Having Their Voting Process Hacked.

But anyway, I have a solution.

TRUMP’S CONTRIBUTION TO SOUND MONEY: A fine, informative essay by a fine economist. The essay’s behind the paywall so try this flanking maneuver if you can’t reach it. In Fall 1989 I had the privilege of hearing Judy Shelton presciently discuss the Soviet Union’s decrepit economy. If I recall correctly, the Office of Net Assessments (SecDef’s think tank) put the panel together.

Excerpts:

…by insisting that the U.S. Treasury label China a “currency manipulator” and by promoting trade that is both free and “fair,” Mr. Trump may be laying the groundwork for a significant breakthrough in international monetary relations—one that could ultimately validate the rationale for an open global marketplace and restore genuine free trade as a vital component of economic growth…Mr. Trump’s emphasis on currency manipulation brings into focus the shortcomings of our present international monetary system—volatility, persistent imbalances, currency mismatches—which testify to its dysfunction. Indeed, today’s hodgepodge of exchange-rate mechanisms is routinely described as a “non-system.” Or, as former International Monetary Fund chief Jacques de Larosière termed it at a Vienna conference in February 2014, an “anti-system.”

This too:

To brand trade skeptics as sore losers is to malign them unfairly. To resent being victimized by currency movements is not the same as being opposed to free trade, nor does it signal an eagerness to engage in protectionist retaliation. It’s simply an honest response to incongruity: We need to reconcile global monetary arrangements with global trade aspirations.

Ms. Shelton wants to stabilize exchange rates.

Read the whole thing.