ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (IN THE IMPERATIVE SENSE): My colleague Angela Logomasini tells the story of New York businessman Eli Amsel.

Despite the growing economy, Amsel says his business is down by 20 percent because New York’s regulatory environment is crushing him. In particular, during the past several years, the regulatory state has delivered a triple whammy: an insanely high minimum wage hike, bag taxes, and now a possible ban on his key product—plastic bags.

Goodbye American dream; hello regulatory nightmare.

This is all too typical of the problems faced by small businessmen these days.

AN ARMED CITIZENRY, SHORTENING CRIMINAL CAREERS: Armed robber shot, killed by two civilians at convenience store.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN: I find myself in agreement with Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Scholars claim Asian Americans used to perpetuate racism in STEM. Scholars. Scholars claim that.

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LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Omarosa’s Media Tour, Election Results, and Much, Much More. “#metoo candidate Keith Ellison won his race. ‘Somali-born hijab-wearing refugee’ Ilhan Omar won the MN-5 democrat primary and in Vermont, Christine Hallquist, a transgender candidate, won the democrat nomination for governor. Also notable, Tim Pawlenty lost his primary to a more Trump-friendly candidate.”

JOURNALISM: Chris Cuomo’s Very Bad, Very Dumb, Very Dangerous Defense of Violent Thuggery.

IT’S QUIET… TOO QUIET: DNC Suuuure Seems Quiet On Deputy Chair’s Domestic-Violence Allegations.

FLORIDA: Sen. Bill Nelson goes silent amid charges of fabricating Russian hacking claim.

WORK WITH US OR DIE: Facebook Threatens Media.

Seems like another argument for antitrust regulation.

YEMEN’S LITTLE WARS AND OPPORTUNISTIC ARRANGEMENTS.

RISE AND FALL AND RISE AND FALL: A move in crude oil to $50 could come as quickly as a surge above $100, says veteran oil investor.

I’ve been thinking prices are due for for a sharp fall, based on growing US inventories of crude and the coming end of peak summer demand for gasoline. But with a strong economy, and Venezuela’s and Iran’s troubles, you never know.

CHANGE: Report: Regulations being cut at record pace, savings double.

Federal agencies, led by Labor and Health and Human Services, are cutting Obama-era regulations and saving money faster than demanded by President Trump, according to a new report.

And as a result, the administration is expected to easily meet the president’s order to cut at least two old regulations for every new one issued and cut the costs of regulations.

“With less than two months remaining in FY 2018, the Trump administration is well on its way to surpassing its regulatory budget goals,” said the new report from American Action Forum, which charts federal regulations.

“Collectively, executive agencies subject to a regulatory budget remain on pace to double the administration’s overall savings goal. On an individual basis, 12 of 22 agencies have already met or surpassed their savings target,” added the report written by Dan Bosch, the director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum.

Trump is the most conservative, and the most libertarian, president of my lifetime. Granted that’s setting the bar pretty low, but I certainly didn’t expect that.

OH, GROW UP: Researchers identify 31 types of anti-atheist microaggressions.

Examples of microaggressions the MANIRS assesses include: “Others have assumed that I am religious,” “Others have acted surprised that I do not believe in God,” and “Others have included a blessing or prayer in a public social gathering.”

Microaggressions are also said to occur if “Others have teased me because of my non-religious identity,” “Others have assumed I have no morals,” or “Others have suggested I am too sensitive about discrimination to against non-religious people.”

“Having this microaggression scale can empower non-religious individuals to talk about their experience with prejudice,” the researchers assert, suggesting that it could help clinicians to “better understand the types of prejudices that their non-religious client experience in their everyday lives” while also making clients feel more comfortable “discussing these subtle experiences of bias with their therapists.”

Some of the most macro-aggressive people I’ve encountered were militant atheists — including me, back in the day.

ANNALS OF POLITICAL HYPOCRISY: Dem Candidate Cisneros Invested in Oil Sector Despite Campaigning Against It.

FASTER? PLEASE! Air Force Doubles Down on Hypersonic Weapons Development with 2nd Contract.

“We are going to go fast and leverage the best technology available to get hypersonic capability to the warfighter as soon as possible,” said Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson.

Leaders from the Defense Department, Missile Defense Agency, Air Force, Navy and Army signed a memorandum June 28 to cooperate and help develop “hypersonic boost glide” technology, the release said.

“The joint team requires the right mix of agile capabilities to compete, deter and win across the spectrum of competition and conflict,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein. “We must push the boundaries of technology and own the high ground in this era of great power competition and beyond.”

It’s pretty clear that hypersonic weapons are going to create a new MAD situation, provided of course both sides get them around the same time.

DEMOCRATS’ DREAM: For Former Felons, Voting Rights Could Be a Click Away. Like the Trump presidency itself, this was foreshadowed by The Simpsons.

NOW THAT’S REAL SOCIALISM: UN says an estimated 2.3 million people have fled Venezuela.

Severe shortages of basic medicines and medical supplies in Venezuela “have led to a sharp deterioration of the quality of hospitals.”

U.N. officials say more than 100,000 HIV patients are at risk due to lack of access to necessary medication, the U.N. spokesman said. Formerly eradicated diseases including measles, malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria “are present and on the rise,” he added.

As a result of the dire economic and health care situation, rising numbers of Venezuelans are joining in an exodus that has set off alarms across Latin America.

According to a report cited by the International Organization for Migration in April, population outflows from Venezuela “considerably increased” in recent years, with an estimated 1.6 million Venezuelans abroad in 2017 compared with 700,000 in 2015.

Of the 1.6 million, it said approximately 885,000 were in South America, 308,000 in North America, 78,000 in Central America, 21,000 in the Caribbean and the rest scattered elsewhere.

The exodus has been more dramatic this year.

Things may get a whole lot worse before suddenly falling apart.

CHELSEA CLINTON: Legalized Abortion Has Added $3.5 Trillion to the Economy.

INCENTIVES MATTER: Peter Strzok cheated on his wife, got fired, and liberals gave him $250,000 anyway.

SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS:  Norway’s Favorite Anti-Semitic Cartoonist Strikes Again.

THEY’RE DERANGED WITH HATRED:  In Peter Strzok, Trump-haters have picked a truly repulsive martyr to their cause.

DON’T GET COCKY:  So much for the ‘blue wave’ in Florida.

AND THEN THERE’S THIS:  The Rotten Apple Didn’t Fall Far From the Tree-The Obnoxious Art of Lena Dunham’s Father (Sort of NSFW).