I BLAME THE “CLIMATE OF HATE” CREATED BY NET NEUTRALITY ACTIVISTS: Feds Arrest Man Who Threatened FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s Children.

I believe it was in Bruce Sterling’s Holy Fire that the preferred mode of assassination was to get Internet crazies agitated against somebody. Seems like we’re nearly there. Once again, science fiction becomes reality. I’d rather have had a Mars colony, though.

REX MURPHY: Hatred of The Donald is the ultimate pass to be as vicious and crude as anyone could wish and still have a guaranteed place in heaven.

It may now join the propositions of Euclid, as impregnable to rebuttal, that Donald Trump or any news that alludes to him, unhinges the minds of those who oppose him. Trump, in this respect, is like global warming. He is the universal key to every phenomenon. Any statement about Trump, so long as it is in any way condemnatory, dismissive, insulting or condescending, requires neither proof, consistency, logic or (and especially) decency.

Just as enlisting in the grand cause of global warming invests the recruit with the immeasurable gifts of infallibility, moral superiority and boundless righteousness, so too does opposition, even to hatred, of Trump free the mind from all obligation to moderation, custom, or articulate argument. It is the ultimate pass to be as nasty and crude as anyone could wish, and — with rarely noted irony — even to be more nasty and crude than the great boorish Trump himself. How odd: to oppose Trump is to become a more clangorous version of him.

One of the things that anti-Trumpers hate most is that voters don’t see much difference between them and Trump — and then they proceed to prove the voters right.

SPOILER: HE WAS APPOINTED BY OBAMA. US ambassador to Estonia resigns ‘over Trump comments.’ They don’t mention that part until the very end.

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN IS ABOUT THIS, AND TAKES THEIR IDEA A STEP FARTHER OUT: Liberal Law Professors Want To Pack The Supreme Court After Trump Replaces Kennedy.

First, some legal scholars, are calling on Democrats to commit to “pack the Court” by adding new seats to the Court as soon as Democrats recapture the presidency and Congress—and filling those seats with extra Democratic-appointed justices. These calls preceded Kennedys’ retirement (they began shortly after President Trump was inaugurated, as Josh Blackman observed at the time). But they seem to be taking on new urgency now: Fordham’s Jed Shugerman, for example, announced on Twitter that if President Trump succeeds in appointing a replacement for Kennedy, then the next Democratic president and Congress should add six(!) new seats to the Supreme Court in 2021. (And abolish the filibuster for legislation, if it’s necessary to get the six bonus seats.) Ian Samuel, a Harvard Law fellow, staked out a similar position immediately upon Kennedy’s retirement.

It’s hard to think of a better way to galvanize Trump-skeptical Republicans for the 2020 vote than to preemptively announce a Democratic court-packing agenda for 2021. If law professors hadn’t started vowing that the next Democratic president would “pack the court,” then a pro-MAGA Super PAC would have made it up.

All they have to do is not be crazy. And they can’t even do that.

EMERALD ROBINSON: The Collapse Of The NeverTrump Conservatives. “Many people mistook their policy positions for principles, and Trump has made them look foolish. What do they stand for now? What does it mean to be conservative if you’re not clear about what you’re conserving? Credit David Brooks, of all people, with waving the white flag first this April, and with some humility when he admitted that ‘Part of the problem is that anti-Trumpism has a tendency to be insufferably condescending.’ Brooks then basically summarized the great failure of the Never Trumpers as ‘an epic attempt to offend 40 percent of our fellow citizens by reducing them to psychological inferiors.'”

It’s difficult to argue that we’d be better off with a Hillary economy, a Hillary foreign policy, or a second Hillary Supreme Court Justice. But that’s what you’re arguing, if you’re NeverTrump.

BAKE THAT CAKE: Yelp reviewers give Canadian restaurant one-star reviews after it kicks out Trump supporter.

SALENA ZITO: Let’s raise a pint to putting our political differences aside.

Since the 2016 election, Americans are more politically divided than ever. The conversation has become so polarized and turned up to a decibel level so high, the dial has broken. An August 2017 survey by the American Psychological Association reported that 63 percent of Americans said they feel stressed about the future of our nation — more than they feel stressed about money (62 percent) or work (61 percent). Amazingly, every generation said they feel that “this is the lowest point in our nation’s history that they can remember,” with 59 percent of millennials, 61 percent of Gen Xers, 57 percent of Boomers and 56 percent of older adults agreeing with that sentiment.

“It used to be you could have a civil conversation about politics, but since the presidential election, politics has been beaten over our heads in everything we do — from entertainment to sports to the things you buy,” says Oppman, from Hermitage, Pa. “Everyone from employers to corporations has picked a side and it’s just everywhere. It’s just nice to enjoy people as people, not as someone who holds a particular political position.”

Well, unless politics is your religion, and you feel commanded to persecute heretics.

OPEN THREAD: Get a little action in.

IF THIS IS TRUE AND IT SPREADS, THIS IS BIG: “Brave protesters in #Khorramshahr just started defending themselves by shooting at the terrorist #Basij militia & #IRGC Special Unit of #Iran’s Islamic Regime Police. They have armed themselves by AK-103 assault rifles captured from security forces.”

SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Israel’s a Colonialist State Brutalizing Gaza. I just saw this, but I’m glad to see that he lost his runoff. Still, a disgrace.

OKAY, BUT I WANT MY SPACE MARINES, DAMMIT: Army troops could be headed to the Space Force.

QUESTION ASKED: Will They Really #WalkAway From The Democrat Party?

As Ace of Spades asks about the new hashtag, “Is this something?”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Viral ‘Walk Away’ Videos Highlight Growing Movement of Democrats Leaving the Party. I don’t know how many Democrats are switching to favor Trump, but I feel pretty confident that it exceeds the number of Trump supporters going the other way.

ALL THE BEST SOCIALISTS ARE RICH: Fact Check: ‘Girl from the Bronx’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Grew Up in One of Richest U.S. Counties.

IT’S A STUPID LAW WHOSE EFFECTS WILL BE THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WAS PROMISED: The EFF, the Internet Archive, and human rights groups have sued to stop FOSTA. It’s also unconstitutional.

THIS WILL END WELL, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER: It’s the Ocasio-Cortez party now. Pelosi & Schumer just don’t know it yet — With Ocasio-Cortez’s rise, Dems now own their loony far-left flank.

Related: New York City Democratic Socialists call to abolish ICE (and borders, and prisons, and profit, and…).

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HUGE GAP HERE BETWEEN MAJORITY AND ELITE OPINION: Harvard/Harris Poll: “A majority of voters want immigration reform (73%) and secure borders (76%). Voters also want stricter enforcement of immigration laws (70%). Voters support prosecuting immigrants who cross the border illegally (53%) and sending these immigrants home (64%). A majority (55%) also stand against so-called ‘catch and release’ policies.”

IT’S COME TO THIS: Hot New Lefty Idea: Let’s Pack The Court With Liberals As Soon As Democrats Are Back In Power.

JOHN HAWKINS: The Only Thing Liberals Understand: ‘It Could Happen to Me, Too!’

The left is going to hate living under the new rules they created.

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UNEXPECTEDLY: Obama’s Disappearance is a Myth.

Obama is doing far more to shape the political landscape than is visible. In fact, for an ex-prez, he’s taking an unusually active role in politics, including helping radical protest groups fight Trump and his policies and devising a scheme to flip the GOP majority in the House and permanently turn red seats blue.

From his sprawling DC office not far from the White House, where he oversees a full-time staff of 20, Obama has held regular meetings with Democratic lawmakers, as well as DNC chief Tom Perez, whom he personally helped install to run the Democratic Party. Obama has also met with his attorney general, Eric Holder, to craft a strategy to redraw congressional district maps in Democrats’ favor, according to Politico. Holder now runs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which Obama helped his old friend launch.

Read the whole thing.

BARRY MANILOW TERRORIZES VAGRANTS IN FRONT OF CALIFORNIA RITE-AIDS: Yes, you read that right. The aging pop singer is perhaps best known for the hit “Copacabana,” but I doubt seriously that he ever expected the song to be weaponized. Find out more here.

MICHAEL WALSH: Can Muslims in the West Ever Really Be De-Radicalized?