THE RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE OF THE LEFT: Lutheran Pastor Sets Off Storm with Article About Texas Massacre

FROM THOMAS A. FARMER:   Inn Between Worlds.

J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: “Gillespie ran a Jeb campaign in a Trump world. In fact, he avoided the President, and the President’s supporters noticed…Gillespie’s Virginia Loss: Messages from 2004, Tactics from 1996.”

SO TRUE:

SO HE’S GOT CONFLICTS GOING BOTH WAYS: David Boies May Have Violated Attorney-Client Privilege to Dish on Harvey Weinstein.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Sweden’s Sexual Assault Crisis Presents a Feminist Paradox.

THERE SEEM TO HAVE BEEN A LOT OF INSTITUTIONAL FAILURES: Texas church gunman escaped mental health facility in 2012 after threatening military superiors.

DEMOCRAT NORTHAM PROJECTED TO WIN VIRGINIA GOVERNOR’S RACE, Dems doing well downballot.

MY JURY TRIAL WITH ANDRE: Senator Menendez Juror Asks Trial Judge: ‘What Is a Senator?’

On their first full day of jury deliberations at the bribery trial of Senator Robert Menendez, a juror asked the judge a basic question: What is a senator?

U.S. District Judge William Walls declined to answer the question, and he refused that juror’s request for a transcript of Monday’s closing argument by Menendez’s attorney, Abbe Lowell.

It’s probably for the best that the judge refused to answer, because, really, can we ever truly know? Or as Wallace Shawn said to fellow actor Andre Gregory in Louis Malle’s 1981 film, My Dinner with Andre:

Tell me, why do we require a trip to Mount Everest in order to be able to perceive one moment of reality? I mean… I mean, is Mount Everest more “real” than New York? I mean, isn’t New York “real”? I mean, you see, I think if you could become fully aware of what existed in the cigar store next door to this restaurant, I think it would just blow your brains out! I mean… I mean, isn’t there just as much “reality” to be perceived in the cigar store as there is on Mount Everest?

Or on jury pools these days, apparently.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Why I’ve Started to Fear My Fellow Social Justice Activists.

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WELL, IT IS THE 21ST CENTURY YOU KNOW: Space War: How the Air Force Plans to Defend the Final Frontier.

VIDEO MONTAGE: Media and Dems Mocking the Power of Prayer After TX Shooting.

REVIEW: 2017 Chevrolet Camaro.

BLACK REPUBLICAN: ‘Very Hard for a White Person to Defend Themselves’ Against Racist Label.

Perhaps, but the charge has lost some of its sting after years of overuse.

HE’S LOVIN’ IT: Trump Bodyguard Went On McDonald’s Runs for POTUS Because WH Chefs Couldn’t Replicate Quarter Pounders.

I’M ALL RIGHT, JACK: In August, Montgomery County, Maryland, received an official report that concluded that the county would lose 47,000 jobs by 2022 if it raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

They just passed that increase unanimously.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Kellyanne Conway Says Trump Team Keeps Talking About Hillary Clinton Because She ‘Won’t Go Away.’

Really, she should have taken the hint last November.

SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Sleep deprivation can lead to mental lapses, study says.

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AT HOT MIC: Sutherland Springs, Wil Wheaton, and Hannibal Lecter.

IT’S NOT JUST TRUMP WHO’S TANKING IN THE POLLS: Poll: Views of Democratic Party hit lowest mark in 25 years. Well, as I keep saying, we have the worst political class ever.

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, PART DEUX: You can draw all the cartoons of Trump as an orange baboon you want, and the worst you’ll face is an angry or incoherent Tweet. Try that stuff in India, brave Social Justice Keyboard Warriors:

G Balakrishnan, 36, a freelancer associated with an online news portal, was held in Tamil Nadu’s state capital Chennai on Sunday for the caricature that blamed Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and top officials for not acting against loan sharks active in the state. He was charged with publishing defamatory and obscene material under the Indian Penal Code as well as the Information Technology Act, crimes punishable with three years in jail, police officer Anita Arokyamery said. (Emphasis added).

BONUS GAME: Try this in China or Saudi Arabia and see how long you last.

UNEXPECTEDLY! The California Marijuana Tax Problem: Why Prices Could Increase 70% in 2018.

California will include a 15% levy on all cannabis sales in the state, including medical pot products, starting in January. Meanwhile, local governments are also adding taxes for sellers and growers that could result in a 70% increase in the price of a small bag of good quality marijuana in parts of the state.

Between state and local taxes, some buyers will see an effective tax as high as 45% on adult-use cannabis in California. Proponents of legalization have long pointed to the collection of state and local taxes on marijuana sales as a big benefit.

The new cannabis industry in the state has a projected value of $7 billion with the potential to collect $1 billion per year in tax revenue. But industry leaders in California claim that the high taxes give illicit vendors the upper hand.

“High tax rates raise prices in legal markets, reinforcing the price advantage of black markets,” the global credit ratings firm Fitch Ratings said in a report. “California’s black markets for cannabis were well established long before its voters legalized cannabis in November 2016 and are expected to dominate post-legalization production.”

Only California could legalize pot and still make black markets more attractive than ever.