BLUE WAVE? Republicans Are More Eager to Vote This Year Than Democrats.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 70% of Likely Republican Voters say they are more likely to vote this year than they have been in past election years. That compares to 64% of Democrats and 51% of voters not affiliated with either major political party.

Among all Likely Voters, 62% say they are more likely to vote this year. Only six percent (6%) say they are less likely to do so, while 30% say they are just as likely to vote this November as in any other year. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

By comparison, in July 2014, 57% said they were more likely to vote that November compared to past elections. Enthusiasm was higher two years ago during the presidential campaign, with 67% who said they were more likely to vote.

As Glenn has suggested, if you want to make a difference spend less time on the internet and more time volunteering for a local candidate.

BLUE ON BLUE: House Dems seethe over superdelegates plan.

But the members’ angst may not help them since it appears that the DNC is ready to rein in the status of superdelegates, also known as “unpledged” delegates, no matter what lawmakers say or do.

Superdelegates include members of Congress, governors, party elders such as former presidents and vice presidents, DNC members and other assorted “distinguished party leaders.” They made up roughly 15 percent of the delegates during the 2016 convention. Unlike other delegates, they are free to vote for any candidate they want.

The logic is that party leaders immersed in the candidates and issues of the day can provide a guardrail against selecting an “unelectable” nominee for the general election. But the party base loathes this elite class of delegates, saying it stacks the primary process against the wishes of regular voters.

This development was probably inevitable once Tom Perez and Keith Ellison got control of the DNC. In any case, they’re clearing the deck for Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, or some other hard-progressive candidate.

UNEXPECTEDLY. Huffington Post’s Luke O’Brien: “No Remorse” For Doxxing Counter-Jihadi.

DAVID FRENCH: It’s Time for an Iran-Deal Reckoning.

In other words, the Obama administration tried to do Iran an immense financial favor, one not required by the deal itself, to uphold the mythical “spirit” of the agreement (yes, that’s their off-the-record excuse). Iran had reportedly complained that it “wasn’t reaping the benefits it envisioned,” and the Obama administration attempted to help — even though it had publicly assured Americans that “Iran will be denied access to the world’s most important market and unable to deal in the world’s most important currency.”

Keep in mind, this attempted favor happened even as the Obama administration’s pie-in-the-sky hopes for the deal were crumbling before the world’s eyes. It was the administration’s hope that lifting sanctions, bringing Iran back into international markets, and providing it with immense sums of cold, hard cash would somehow make the jihadist regime want to “fully rejoin the community of nations.” Commerce and forbearance would work their magic, Iran would moderate, and we’d have peace in our time.

Instead, it was already clear that Iran wasn’t moderating one inch.

I know you’re never suppose to attribute something to malice which can be attributed to stupidity, but there’s no way anything this stupid could be due to anything but malice.

Or as I wrote the other day, “It might be time to start saying: ‘Just think of them as Iranian intelligence officers with American security credentials, and it all makes sense’.”

IT’S THE DEMOGRAPHY, STUPID. Baby bust: Bay Area housing prices go up, births go down. Are high housing prices preventing Bay Area couples from having kids?

(Classical reference in headline.)

GET WOKE, GO BROKE: Over Two Thirds of TBS Advertisers Absent Week After Samantha Bee’s Ivanka ‘Cu*t’ Slur.

IN CALIFORNIA, THE “JUNGLE” IS PREDICTABLE:

Yet as they consolidate control, California Democrats must face some profound contradictions, as the Marxists would say. The gentry—tech oligarchs, real estate speculators, and venture capitalists—stand comfortably with the left on symbolic race, gender, and environmental issues. But these party bankrollers could be hard-pressed if they face the prospect of higher taxes to pay for a state single-payer health-care system, massive housing subsidies, and Governor Brown’s choo-choo, not to mention the state’s ever-soaring pension costs. As Amazon is learning in Seattle, progressive politicos have figured out where to find the biggest piles of cash. Aggressive taxation of tech companies is already becoming a trend in Silicon Valley.

A stronger, motivated grass-roots Left could constitute the greatest immediate challenge to Governor Newsom. Many Californians, particularly millennials and minorities, face a lack of high-wage jobs, soaring rents, and essentially insurmountable barriers to homeownership. A majority of Californians, according to some surveys, express dissatisfaction with the state’s bifurcated economy. The disappearance of upward mobility makes these voters susceptible to embracing such things as rent control, higher minimum wages, free college, and free health care. They will support ever higher taxes on businesses and on generally white, affluent Californians. The call for new spending will become more problematic once the state comes back to earth from its Silicon Valley and real-estate inflation highs, which for now keep the operating budget in the black.

At some point, Newsom and the Democratic nomenklatura will have to deal with pervasive conditions of diminished opportunity, racial polarization, and fiscal weakness. When these realities eventually impinge, the state’s progressive rulers may find themselves on the defensive, and—if confronted with a plausible opposition—vulnerable, at long last.

Read the whole thing.

SHE’S JUST NOT A NICE PERSON: MSNBC’s Joy Reid Threatened Colleague With Violence, Ex-Bosses Say.

“It was a very unhealthy work environment because of her attitude,” Eggelletion told Fox News. “She attacked me on a constant basis while I was there. I was even once threatened with physical violence during a break with her.”

Lee Michaels, then-national program director for Syndication One, confirmed to Fox News that the incident happened, saying, “It absolutely happened — 100 percent.”

Michaels told Fox News that he had to work hard to convince Eggelletion to stay at the station and not quit over Reid’s attack.

Reid refused to cover a story that Eggelletion suggested to her, to which he replied, “There was a dispute over it and I told her, ‘Go ahead and call the manager.'”

Reid allegedly replied, “If you ever speak to me like that again I’m coming over there and it’s gonna be me and you.”

If the roles had been reversed — a male staffer threatening a female — his career would likely be over.

WE HAVEN’T HAD THAT SPIRIT HERE SINCE 2009: Law professor concerned about defending the law is introduced to Eric Holder, Obama administration.

DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE: Meet the New Weapon-Detecting Smartphone Case. “It also has facial recognition capabilities for that “extra creepy” technological edge.”

THE ‘SCANDAL-FREE’ OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SURE LIKED TO LIE A LOT: It’s Time for an Iran-Deal Reckoning.

CLEARLY MOST PEOPLE’S THOUGHTS ARE TAMER THAN MINE:  Quantum computers are weirder and more powerful than we thought.

GOES WAY DEEPER THAN SKIN DEEP:  True Difference.

COME AGAIN?  The LHC has found the Higgs works perfectly – which is a problem.

WE NEED THIS IN COLORADO. WE’RE ENJOYING SOME EXCEPTIONALLY BRISK ROAD CONSTRUCTION SEASON:  This sounds like a really useful invention.

WILL YOU TOLERATE THIS?  Registrar in Houston fighting to keep non-citizens eligible to vote.

A SWAMP? YOU WISH. IT’S A CESSPIT:  Revealed: Senate Intelligence Committee under pending DOJ investigation over leaks.

I’M SURE TRUMP WILL OBEY THAT:  Senate Dems Offer Some North Korean Summit Advice for President Trump.

WELL, LET’S GO OVER AND SEE WHAT ELSE IS THERE:  Mars rover finds 3-billion-year-old ‘building blocks of life’.

ALCOHOL, IS THERE SOMETHING IT CAN’T DO?  Sleep, exercise and alcohol could prevent Alzheimer’s.

SO PROFOUNDLY WRONG:  Woman with tattoo ‘addiction’ inks eyeballs blue.

I’VE HAD WORSE OFFERS:  University will pay you $3,500 to get the flu and stay at ‘hotel’.

ME TOO. AT THIS POINT THE B*STARD HAS MY SUPPORT:  ‘Never Trump’ and the Trump Trauma.