RESET, PART II: Russia Bombed Base in Syria Used by U.S.

U.S. and British special forces based in Jordan cross the border into Syria on missions, helping maintain an unofficial buffer zone on Syrian soil to protect Jordan from Islamic State, U.S. officials said. The special forces would rendezvous with their rebel allies at the garrison, initially used by the CIA. For security reasons, the forces wouldn’t spend the night.

A contingent of about 20 British special forces pulled out of the facility less than 24 hours before the U.S. tracked Russian aircraft on June 16 flying across Syria to the garrison, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials briefed on the strike. The aircraft dropped cluster munitions on the target, according to U.S. officials and rebel commanders.

After that first Russian strike, officers with the U.S. military’s Central Command air operations center in Qatar called their counterparts in Russia’s air campaign headquarters in Latakia, Syria, U.S. officials said. The American officers told the Russians that the garrison was part of the U.S. campaign against Islamic State and shouldn’t be attacked.

Roughly 90 minutes after the U.S. warning was delivered, U.S. aircraft circling nearby watched as the Russians launched a second wave of strikes against the garrison.

A U.S. military surveillance aircraft overhead tried to hail the Russian pilots directly using the frequencies which the U.S. and Russian governments had agreed to use in emergencies.

The Russian pilots didn’t respond.

The airstrike happened before John Kerry reached a deal with Moscow on joining forces against terrorist elements in the Syrian Civil War, which should leave you with no doubt about which side held the upper hand in the negotiations.

MICHAEL BARONE: George Orwell, Call Your Office.

RESET: The Russian Air Force Is Back.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, DARTMOUTH EDITION: “I hate to say this, but many younger colleagues express regret at having agonized over their lesson plans and expended so much effort on honing their skills as classroom instructors, when a talent for teaching simply does not factor into tenure decisions.”

BECAUSE THEY’RE A DISHONEST, POLITICIZED AGENCY THAT HAS A LOT TO HIDE: Why Doesn’t the IRS Comply with the Congressional Review Act?

ACT WHILE YOU CAN: One last chance for wild speculation about Hillary Clinton’s VP pick.

Hillary Clinton will likely announce her vice presidential pick on Friday. The decision could come earlier, or her pick could be leaked, so let’s go ahead and speculate (somewhat wildly, although the list is getting narrowed) about whom her running mate might be.

Maxim Lott and John Stossel’s betting odds website gives Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine a nearly 70 percent chance of getting the pick. The website accurately predicted Indiana Gov. Mike Pence would be Republican nominee Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, so there’s a fair chance they’ll be right this time as well.

Kaine makes sense on multiple levels. He’s a safe choice for Clinton, since he’s not bombastic but still very liberal (the media are trying to claim he’s a moderate, but no, there are no moderates left in the Democratic Party, only fewer attention-grabbers). He’s also the senator from a critical state — Virginia — which could help ensure Clinton wins the Old Dominion State.

Kaine also speaks fluent Spanish and as a lawyer, he focused on housing discrimination. He is also the former governor of Virginia (so he has executive experience) and former chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Here’s something else that could keep the odds in Kaine’s favor — his replacement. If he’s tapped to be Clinton’s running mate and they win, he’d obviously have to leave the Senate.

If this happens, Clinton crony Gov. Terry McAuliffe would be able to appoint a replacement, and could choose someone connected to the Clintons. McAuliffe is also term-limited, so he could always try to run for the seat himself if Clinton and Kaine win.

Nah, the deal’s been cut. He’ll appoint Chelsea to fill the seat.

THIRSTY WORK: Officials detect THC, marijuana’s active ingredient, in Colorado town’s public water supply.

On Thursday afternoon, authorities notified the town of about 800 people that the water should not be drunk, used to cook with or even to bathe. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment later downgraded the warning — it was safe to shower, brush teeth and do laundry with the tap water. Ingestion remained inadvisable.

There have not been reports of health issues linked to Hugo’s water, according to an AP report. Nor did every Colorado local seem terribly distraught by the idea of a cool glass of THC.

“I might have to go drink some water,” Patsie Smith, the former mayor of Hugo, quipped to the Denver Post.

I’m reminded of the story, perhaps even true, of a Salvation Army fundraiser who had been accused of allowing his local organization to accept “tainted” money. “The only thing tainted about it,” he was supposed to have said, “is that there taint enough of it.”

DONALD TRUMP’S MESSAGE: “I AM YOUR VOICE:”

The Manhattan mogul sold himself as the champion of a downtrodden working class — “America’s blue-collar billionaire” as one speaker had called him earlier in the evening — promising to restore “law and order” and casting himself as a change agent against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“I am your voice,” he boomed, pointing straight toward the television audience.

“Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change. Never ever,” Trump said. “My message is that things have to change and they have to change right now.”

Trump delivered a deeply negative speech that described a darkening America. He spoke of spiking crime, “third-world” airports, growing trade deficits, “chaos in our communities,” and terrorism on the home front. Abroad, he said the situation was “worse than it has ever been before.”*

“This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness,” he said.

The political jujitsu in the bolded passage is key — if Trump can paint Hillary as the voice of reaction and a continuation of an Obama administration that’s exhausted both domestically and (especially) abroad, not least of which, when it comes to fighting terrorism both home and abroad — he’s halfway home to being able to tell Hillary…

* Apparently from the Politco’s point of view, it’s time to cue Reagan’s “Morning In America” reelection ad to describe the current happy-go-lucky state of a fundamentally transformed country. That’s some powerful hallucinogenics they must consume there.

THE END OF SECULAR TURKEY: The state of emergency is over when the purge of the military is over.

Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the state of emergency could be extended beyond three months, primary to facilitate the purge of the armed forces. He said that “this state of emergency is not a curfew” and that people “will still be on the street minding their own business and getting on with daily life.”

The purge in question will be overseen by the new Supreme Military Council (YAS) structure due to come to life on August 1st. Erdogan told Reuters that a new coup attempt was possible and made clear that the main objective of the state of emergency was purging the army.

Latest estimates speak of 10,000 arrests and 60,000 suspensions or dismissals from the military and the public administration. Erdogan suggests the Gulen movement is “another separatist terrorist organization” drawing an analogy with PKK.

Erdogan admits that the fact that many members of the opposition did not vote for the state of emergency was “food for thought,” saying that he had not given up on the notion of constitutional reforms to allow for stronger executive power for the President.

“Opposition” is a dangerous place to be in Erdogan’s Turkey.

WELL, TRUMP’S RUNNING A 1970s RUST BELT DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN, SO THAT WOULDN’T BE A SHOCK: Michael Moore Thinks Donald Trump Will Win: Liberal documentarian thinks Trump will win over the Rust Belt states.

Unrelated question based on the photo: Is Michael Moore transitioning? Will he go by “Michelle Moore” soon?

VIDEO: WATCH THE REACTION AS CNN’S CHRIS CUOMO CLAIMS HILLARY CLINTON “DID NOTHING ILLEGAL.”

This is CNN.

LONE WOLF: Attacker in Nice plotted for months with ‘accomplices,’ prosecutor says.

[Paris prosecutor Francois] Molins said authorities are investigating five suspects who are in custody on terror charges related to the attack that Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel carried out on Bastille Day, France’s main national holiday.

One suspect allegedly sent Bouhlel a Facebook message saying, “Load the truck with tons of iron and cut the brakes. I’ll look brother.”

Bouhlel, 31, drove a 20-ton truck through hundreds who had gathered to watch the Bastille Day fireworks on the Mediterranean city’s waterfront.

An analysis of cell phone and computer content — including a photo of last year’s Bastille Day fireworks event focused on the crowd — showed Bouhlel had been planning the assault since at least 2015, Moins said.

We may never know what really motivated them.

REVOLT ON THE LEFT: Liberals press Clinton not to pick Kaine for VP.

Liberal Democrats are launching an eleventh-hour campaign against Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) joining Hillary Clinton’s presidential ticket.

The advocates say Kaine, a moderate who’s risen to the top of the VP shortlist, should be disregarded both for his positions on trade and for joining an effort this week to deregulate some of the nation’s largest banks.

“Let’s be really clear: It should be disqualifying for any potential Democratic vice presidential candidate to be part of a lobbyist-driven effort to help banks dodge consumer protection standards and regulations designed to prevent banks from destroying our economy,” Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, a liberal advocacy group, said Thursday in a statement.

“Our presidential ticket cannot beat the billionaire bigot by simply being not Donald Trump. To win in November, our ticket needs to have an unquestionably strong record in the fight against income inequality, one of the defining issues of the 2016 election.”

The advocates are warning that a centrist like Kaine would send the wrong message to the liberals constituting the Democrats’ base — many of whom had supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the primary — and dampen turnout at the polls in November.

If Trump’s such a bigot, why was Hillary at his wedding? Oh, right, she was paid to, same reason she does everything else.

CALIFORNIANS ARE PUTTING THEIR MONEY DOWN ON A SURE BET: GUNS.

“TRUMP’S SPEECH IS GOOD. REALLY GOOD,” Rod Dreher writes. “You know I’m not a Trump guy, but having read this address in advance, I think, for the first time, that Donald Trump could win this thing.”

Read the whole thing.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why Hillary Clinton Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump. A lot of lefties really don’t like her.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: As A Legal Matter, MacArthur Was Right And Truman Was Wrong.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why Men Want to Marry Melanias and Raise Ivankas. Of course, it’s the New York Times, so don’t expect to actually be enlightened. Note, for example, this completely incoherent passage:

It can feel unfair to criticize political spouses, who are often dragged into the spotlight only because of whom they married. Mr. Trump, though, is running for office, making his treatment of women — personal and political — as relevant as his treatment of his employees or business partners.

So it’s unfair to criticize political spouses, but not Trump’s because, you know, he’s running for office. You know who else is running for office? Every other candidate who has a political spouse.

AMERICANS KEEP OUTPERFORMING THEIR ELITES’ EXPECTATIONS: We were promised a riot. In Cleveland, we got a block party instead.

Brittany Atterberry was walking down East 4th Street in her hometown when she encountered a visiting Trump supporter on his guitar. So she unsheathed her soprano sax, fixed a microphone on its bell, and jumped into the blues with him. Then Atterberry’s brother George Fossett, who was holding an END RACISM sign, started dancing with a bare-chested Biker for Trump.

It was a tableau of can’t-we-all-just-get-along, mere blocks from the site of the fractious Republican National Convention, where each night politicians have done their best to make Americans afraid of each other. . . .

Said Daryl Rembowski, the Biker for Trump: “The silent majority is showing you we can [get along]. We’ve seen it all week.”

Said Fossett, his dance partner and fellow Cleveland resident: “Stop all the white against black, black against white. It’s all about love. This is what Cleveland is about. This is what the world should be about.”

We’ll see how Philly goes, but this just keeps happening. Which must be upsetting for the elites, who keep telling us that we’d all be at each other’s throats if it weren’t for them.

THE MSNBC PEOPLE MUST HAVE BEEN AFRAID OF PETER THIEL BECAUSE THEY TALKED OVER HIM THE WHOLE TIME. I guess it might have confused some of their viewers unnecessarily. Which is to say, it was a good speech.

TALK TO THE HAND! Street vendor tears off Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’s head outside RNC in shock video.

FUNNY, BEING A TAXPAYER SHOWED ME THE EXACT OPPOSITE: Getting on Disability Showed Me Everyone Should Have Basic Income.

LOCK HER UP: New York Times Fact Checks Chris Christie Speech on Hillary as Essentially Correct.

EXCERPTS FROM DONALD TRUMP’S CONVENTION SPEECH. Key bit:

America is far less safe — and the world is far less stable — than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America’s foreign policy.

I am certain it is a decision he truly regrets. Her bad instincts and her bad judgment — something pointed out by Bernie Sanders — are what caused many of the disasters unfolding today. …

But Hillary Clinton’s legacy does not have to be America’s legacy. The problems we face now — poverty and violence at home, war and destruction abroad — will last only as long as we continue relying on the same politicians who created them.

More at the link.

UPDATE: Full text here. Another excerpt:

Again, I will tell you the plain facts that have been edited out of your nightly news and your morning newspaper: Nearly Four in 10 African-American children are living in poverty, while 58% of African American youth are not employed. 2 million more Latinos are in poverty today than when the President took his oath of office less than eight years ago. Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely.

Household incomes are down more than $4,000 since the year 2000. Our manufacturing trade deficit has reached an all-time high – nearly $800 billion in a single year. The budget is no better.

President Obama has doubled our national debt to more than $19 trillion, and growing. Yet, what do we have to show for it? Our roads and bridges are falling apart, our airports are in Third World condition, and forty-three million Americans are on food stamps.

Read the whole thing.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Why Millennials Are Going Braless. “For Victoria’s Secret, the trend presents challenges.”