MORE ISLAMIC TERROR: Australia Foils Plot to ‘Bring Down’ Plane, Prime Minister Says. “Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said officers became aware people in Sydney were planning to commit a terrorist attack using an ‘improvised device.’ Colvin added that the plot was believed to be inspired by Islamic State.”

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: A succession of Republican failures on healthcare.

What happened early Friday morning, with the collapse of Republican efforts to pass Obamacare reform legislation in the Senate wasn’t mostly a story of Sen. John McCain, the maverick. Nor was it a failure of vote whipping or presidential rallying this summer. It was the climax of eight years of failed leadership by Republicans in Congress.

Yes, McCain was characteristically mercurial. Yes, President Trump was disengaged and did little to rev up public opinion. And yes, even the odd 2010 Alaska Senate election, won by Republican Lisa Murkowski, who voted against her party, was relevant. But blame for the Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace Obamacare lies mostly at the feet of House and Senate leaders.

The Affordable Care Act passed in March 2010. Republicans immediately promised to repeal it. But they didn’t act as though they meant it. The party’s leaders brought up many futile repeal bills, but they failed to lay the groundwork for repeal and replacement legislation that might actually pass once President Obama was out of the White House.

The basic task of writing a replacement plan and securing agreement on it was neglected. Many conservative and libertarian healthcare scholars drew up plans, with strengths and weaknesses. Leaders truly dedicated to getting rid of Obamacare would have adopted, debated, hammered out, or improved these plans, and adopted the passable resulting draft.

Well, yes. And hell, they could have just adopted Karl Denninger’s free-market healthcare plan. But that would have provided insufficient opportunities for graft.

GOODBYE COLLUSION: Hello Democrat congressional espionage ring and endless corruption and who knows what else.

ROGER SIMON: Proliferating Scandals Make Mueller Investigation Ludicrous. “Even if Mueller were even-handed and the exact right person for the job — an open question at the moment — no single special counsel could handle all this. It’s a game of whack-a-mole to beat all games of whack-a-mole. Let’s enumerate the scandals as of this moment, several or all of which are or could be connected.”

REBUKED IN COURT: The shrinking airline seat.

“This is the Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat,” Judge Patricia Ann Millett wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. “As many have no doubt noticed, aircraft seats and the spacing between them have been getting smaller and smaller, while American passengers have been growing in size.”

Stay tuned.

OF COURSE HE DID: Report: Biden Lobbied McCain On Healthcare Vote.

U.S. AND ALLIES PREPARED TO USE OVERWHELMING FORCE AGAINST NORTH KOREA: “Rapid, lethal and overwhelming force” is definitely an option — number 6 in this list.

RELATED: B-1B bombers escorted on exercise over South Korea.

LIVE BY THE WOMAN CARD, DIE BY THE WOMAN CARD, EXPLAIN YOUR DEFEAT WITH THE WOMAN CARD: Hillary Clinton’s Memoir Will Be an Unapologetic Roast of Patriarchal Politics.

The irony is, if she’d listened to her experienced white male husband, she’d be President now. “What’s funny is, Hillary’s probably the only Democrat who would have ignored pointed election advice from Bill.”

WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN CITIES SUCH CESSPITS OF RACIAL VIOLENCE AND DECLINE? How the riots of 50 years ago changed Detroit: The city’s decline began before 1967, but the violence then made it worse. “Sadly, by most measures black Detroiters are considerably worse off today than they were in 1967.” The rioters were presented as the vanguard of social justice, even though the consequences of their actions fell on the poorest and weakest.

Detroit’s last Republican mayor . . . well, you know the rest.

Related: Why First-World Countries Have Third-World Cities.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, ADMINISTRATIVE BLOAT EDITION: U. Michigan Hiring Bias Administrator for ‘Cultural Appropriation Prevention.’ The job “comes with a starting salary range of $46,000 – $57,000.”

HUH: NPR IDENTIFIES ‘MATTRESS GIRL’ EMMA SULKOWICZ AS A ‘SURVIVOR’ BECAUSE SHE CONSIDERS HERSELF ONE.

As Iowahawk tweets, “On the odd chance that NPR ever covers me, I consider myself Gloombar, exiled crown prince of the Moon People.”

OH, FUCK OFF: “@dunkirkmovie feels like an excuse for men to celebrate maleness—and don’t they get to do that enough already?”

THIS IS MY SHOCKED FACE: Media Ignore Carolla, Shapiro Defending Free Speech.

ROFL:  Diversity in Dunkirk.

KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN THEY TELL YOU THE CIA SECRETLY RULES THE WORLD:That time the CIA tried to train cats to be spies.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T OPEN THE ARC:$130 million of Nazi gold may be in a sunken cargo ship.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO YADA YADA YADA:Woman charged with posting revenge porn after break-up.

BUILD YOUR VOCABULARY:The Proper Names of 17 Bodily Functions.

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