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FLORIDA WOMAN: Democrats fear Shalala campaign is in ‘sleep mode’ while challenger surges.

The congressional seat was supposed to be the easiest of Democratic pickups. Hillary Clinton carried the Miami-based 27th District by nearly 20 percentage points just two years ago. Donna Shalala, the Democratic nominee, was a well-known, former Cabinet secretary with a talent for raising money.

But now local Democrats are dismayed as Shalala is struggling to put away her Republican rival, a popular former Spanish-language television newswoman named Maria Elvira Salazar.

According to internal polls from both campaigns obtained by POLITICO, Salazar is either ahead — or just narrowly trailing — Shalala.

Salazar leads the former Clinton Foundation head by 7 percentage points in a poll conducted for the Republican’s campaign that was completed Thursday. In a poll from Shalala’s campaign, completed Sept. 1, the Democrat leads Salazar by 4 percentage points.

I’ve wondered what her game is since she entered the primary earlier this year — Congress seems like a big step down for someone with Shalala’s resume.

BLAKE SCHOLL: Why I Find Flying So Moving.

GOOD: Japanese Destroyer Just Shot Down a Simulated Ballistic Missile.

TO BE FAIR, SHE DOES WORK FOR THE NETWORK THAT EMPLOYS GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Joy Behar Claims “White Men” Aren’t Protecting Women from People Like “Probably Guilty” Kavanaugh. “What makes it even worse is that there is still no media uproar about the victims of Rep. Keith Ellison, and they are actually presenting proof of his abuse. So we can also add hypocrites to the growing pile of vices leftists like Behar gleefully engage in.”

A FINE EXAMPLE OF MAKING THEM PLAY BY ALINSKY’S RULES: The Circus Around The Kavanaugh Accusations Expose The Extraordinary Sexism Of The Left.

THOSE 3:30 AM “AMBER ALERT” BUZZERS DON’T HELP EITHER: Parents blame smartphones, tablets for teens’ sleep troubles.

MICHAEL WALSH: The Playbook, the Press, the Plan, and the Patsies. “This week will be crucial to putting the Democrats back in their boxes. Let’s see if the GOP will take it.”

Our two-party system can only work if both sides are of good will, in common agreement on fundamental principles, and profess fidelity to the country as founded. In their lust for power and the “fundamental transformation” of the Republic into a leftist tyranny, the Democrats can no longer function within such a framework—just as they couldn’t in 1860-61, declaring war first on Lincoln and then on the United States of America itself. It took four long and bloody years for Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman to show them the error of their ways. And even then, a Democrat murdered the president.

Today’s Republicans are, in the main, made of lesser stuff. More patsies than potentates, they roll over at the first hint of trouble; indeed, the late John McCain (R-Ariz.) made a fetish of what he called “comity,” which in his definition meant surrendering to the Left and poking his finger in the eye of the Right. His love children, Senators Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), would dearly love to inherit his mantle, but alas for the both of them, they’re self-retired short timers, and nobody cares what they think.

But Democrat memories, while long—they stretch back to Aaron Burr, Jefferson’s vice president, who shot Alexander Hamilton and founded Tammany Hall—are selective. They, like Iago, see themselves as victims, frustrated by the evil Federalists/Whigs/Republicans/conservatives from realizing their political program: free pie (in the sky) for all, but all power to themselves. It never occurs to them that, like Michael Douglas in “Falling Down,” they’re the bad guys.

Needless to say, read the whole thing.

THE 21st CENTURY IS NOT WORKING OUT AS I EXPECTED: ‘Bert’ Creator On Bert And Ernie: No, They’re Not Gay. Leftists: You Bigot!

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Colombia Struggles to Control Border Overrun by Desperate Venezuelans. “Police commander admits stopping refugees is futile: ‘How are you going to control people when the issue is that they are hungry?’”

One of the migrants, 58-year-old Hernan Rodriguez, said the trip, his first outside Venezuela, hadn’t been very dignified. To keep his clothes dry crossing the river, he had stripped to his underwear and carried his small suitcase above his head. His business had gone belly up, he explained, and he was seeking a new life in the Colombian capital.

“I would be finished if I had stayed,” he said, describing how the comfortable life back home had unraveled. “People beg, they eat garbage. You see it all and say, ‘This isn’t Venezuela.’ ”

With a handful of U.S. dollars, he was able to buy a bus ticket to Bogotá.

But the highway leading away from this border region is crowded with Venezuelans who have no bus money. They walk, carrying luggage, bottles of waters, babies, hoofing it sometimes hundreds of miles and at altitudes topping 11,000 feet.

Carlos Eduardo Alvarado, 38, made the illegal crossing into Colombia and, on a recent day, was walking with a small group of friends. They all had come from Barquisimeto, some 350 miles in Venezuela’s interior. They had 360 miles ahead of them before arriving in Medellín, where they hoped to find work.

For Mr. Alvarado, it was imperative—he has four children to feed back home.

But if you’re opposed to socialism, it’s because you’re an uncaring monster.

I DUNNO, THIS ALL SOUNDS HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC TO ME: Word “Problematic” Deemed Problematic By PC Culture.

UH-HUH: CNN Host Says Dems Have Been ‘Fairly Silent’ on Kavanaugh Accusation. “Let’s count Dems who have complained about Kavanaugh, shall we?”

AN INTERESTING ADMISSION IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: Trump Hit Iran With Oil Sanctions. So Far, They’re Working.

THE #METOO ANGLE ON KAVANAUGH NOT PLAYING WELL WITH INDEPENDENTS, or really anyone else except Democrats. Note that fewer women than men find the charges credible.

Full poll here.

UPDATE: Cokie Roberts praises White House, slams Dems over handling of Christine Blasey Ford. Cokie Roberts.

HEY, ALEXA, LOOK UP THE MEANING OF GROUPTHINK: Amazon Employees Donated 90 Percent to Dem PACS, 10 Percent to Republicans.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: University offers whites-only meetings to help staff, students ‘work toward white consciousness.’

THAT DOES SEEM EXCESSIVE: Why Does The U.S. Army Need Ten Years To Begin Fielding A New Recon Helicopter?

Having canceled three previous efforts to replace Kiowa, the Army has now launched a fourth attempt. It is called the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA). Considering how much the Army and its contractors have learned from the previous attempts, this should be a snap. After all, it’s just a scout helicopter. Yes, the requirements have changed over time — for instance it needs to be able to jam enemy radar now — but it is still basically a light, agile rotorcraft equipped with sensors and munitions for killing tactical targets.

But even implementing what the Army considers to be a fast development program, it will take ten years before the first FARA reaches the force. A request for design proposals will be issued sometime in the next few weeks, and, voila! — ten years later soldiers finally get their new scout helicopter. Maybe. Imagine all the things that might happen between now and then to the threat environment, to the federal budget, and to the priorities of Army leaders.

I did a little digging and the Army announced its need for the something like the Kiowa in 1960, and didn’t field the first one until 1969. So long lead times are nothing new — but that doesn’t make them right.

HMM: 3D-printed gun pioneer Cody Wilson charged with sexual assault.

A warrant was issued for Cody Wilson but he flew to Taiwan before he could be detained, police in Austin said.

A 16-year-old girl alleged she was paid $500 (£380) to have sex with Mr Wilson at an Austin hotel, they said.

Austin Police Commander Troy Officer told a press briefing that a counsellor who had spoken to the girl informed police on 22 August that “that a juvenile female under the age of 17 had reported having sexual contact with a 30-year-old male”.
The legal age of consent in Texas is 17.

Commander Officer said the girl met Mr Wilson through the sugardaddymeet.com website and had sex with him in a hotel on 15 August.

Police confirmed the girl’s story through “videotape and interviews”, he said.

More to come.

THEY HAVE DESCENDED TO THIS LEVEL: A friend who wishes to remain anonymous, but whom I trust, informs me that a reporter from Politico called her today seeking dirt on Brett Kavanaugh based on vague rumors from Kavanaugh’s days as an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis. Then there is the request below, which rather tellingly asks for information on Kavanaugh, and not on the protagonist who actually attended Holton-Arms. The Senate needs to put an end to this farce as quickly as possible.

SO THEY’RE CAPABLE OF LEARNING AT LEAST: VIDEO: Liberal students admit Trump is helping economy.

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LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Embattled Democrat bets against Kavanaugh. “Claire McCaskill broke the news last night that she’s not voting for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Yes, she’s a Democrat — but she’s running in a state that voted for Trump over Hillary by 18 points. This political move is remarkable, but McCaskill’s reasoning proved even more remarkable. You see, this embattled Democrat senator swears — she swears, mind you — that this decision has nothing — nothing — to do with the sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh.”

Tyler O’Neil is filling in for Liz this morning.

BILL GERTZ: Trump Leaning Against Extending Arms Treaty. “Moscow’s new weapons violate New START, INF treaties, undermine arms control.”

Among the options being considered are withdrawing from New START; re-negotiating inspection and verification provisions as part of treaty extension; or adopting a more limited and simple agreement similar to the 2002 Moscow Treaty that called for significant reductions in strategic offensive arms.

“Among issues to consider will be Russia’s decision to manufacture compliance issues regarding U.S. weapons, and the uncertainty of whether or not Russia’s recently announced strategic nuclear weapons will be held accountable under the treaty,” Thompson explained in her prepared testimony.

In response to U.S. questioning of Russian treaty violations, Moscow has responded with disinformation and false counter charges of U.S. noncompliance.

“Russia’s response to each of these situations is to employ its standard playbook of distraction, misinformation, and counter-accusations,” Thompson said.

David Trachtenberg, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, also said extension of New START is uncertain.

“Any decision on extending the treaty will, and should be, based on a realistic assessment of whether the New START treaty remains in our national security interests in light of overall Russian arms control behavior,” Trachtenberg testified.

New START had some good provisions, which by and large are the ones Moscow has stopped abiding.

CHANGE: Nearly half in top 5 U.S. cities don’t speak English at home, record 67 million.