MATTHEW CONTINETTI: The Legacies of William F. Buckley Jr.

NEWS YOU CAN ABUSE: A Primer in “Ventriloquist Journalism.”

PETER WOOD & DAVID RANDALL: Common ownership scare shows flaws in economic research.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: When it Comes to Diversity Statements, Only Liberals Allowed to Apply.

SUCCINCT, AND SADLY ACCURATE:

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Former Nevada Democratic Lt. Gov. Nominee Accuses Joe Biden of Inappropriate Touching.

Related: Shouldn’t the story on the Dem woman nuking Joe Biden for ‘smelling my hair’ mention her work with Bernie Sanders?

“The Cut piece includes a link to a piece I wrote about this in 2015: http://time.com/3713264/joe-biden-stephanie-carter-shoulder-rub/ … Anyone going after Biden for this now will have to explain why they were quiet about it when he was VP,” Karol Markowicz tweets.

BRING THAT NUMBER UP A FEW MORE PERCENT AND DEMOCRATS WILL BUILD THE WALL THEMSELVES: Poll: 50% of Hispanic voters approve of Trump, GOP regains ballot lead. “As President Trump doubles down on his pledge to build a southern border wall, Hispanics are showing broad support for him, according to a new survey. Some 50 percent of Hispanics approve of the president’s job, according to the latest McLaughlin & Associates poll of likely general election voters. What’s more, the Republican Party has regained its edge over Democrats in the generic congressional ballot.”

MARY KATHARINE HAM SHOCKS CNN PANEL: Shouldn’t we be treating it as good news for America that Trump didn’t collude with Russia?

STILL NOT TIRED OF WINNING: The High-Stakes Game of Turnabout Playing Out in the Aftermath of the Mueller Investigation.

IT’S GOING TO TURN OUT THAT THEY WERE STORING IMPORTANT FILES FOR THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER, ISN’T IT? Building at Highlander Center Burns, Destroying Archives.

OPEN THREAD: It’s been a wild week.

AT AMAZON, save on Bestselling Jewelry.

Plus, deals on Power and Hand Tools.

NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE THE 21ST CENTURY I WAS HOPING FOR: Meet SpaceX’s Starship Hopper.

I HOPE IT WON’T HAVE CHINESE CARCINOGENS IN IT: Beetroot may reduce high blood pressure.

A NICE COMMENT ON THE NBC/YASHAR ALI AFFAIR:

GREAT AGAIN: Consumer Sentiment Jumps as Americans Report Best Income Gains Since 1966.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Breaking! Federal Court Finds California Magazine Ban Violates the Second Amendment. “Judge Benitez rendered his opinion late Friday afternoon and handed Second Amendment supporters a sweeping victory by completely invalidating California’s 10-round limit on magazine capacity. ‘Individual liberty and freedom are not outmoded concepts,’ he declared.”

The opinion is here.

CREEPY UNCLE JOE: Democrat Makes #MeToo Claim Against Joe Biden: He Smelled Me and Kissed My Head. “Flores said that pictures of Biden touching other women inappropriately made it more difficult to keep silent, referring to Biden nuzzling the neck of Secretary of Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s wife, kissing Sen. Chuck Grassley’s wife on the lips, whispering in women’s ears, and snuggling women on the campaign trail.”

Flashback: It’s time to talk about former Vice President Joe Biden, the open sexual predator.

Biden Swims Naked, Upsetting Female Secret Service Agents:

“Agents say that, whether at the vice president’s residence or at his home in Delaware, Biden has a habit of swimming in his pool nude,” Kessler writes in the book – due for release Aug. 5.

“Female Secret Service agents find that offensive,” he writes.

“Biden likes to be revered as everyday Joe,” an unnamed agent told Kessler. “But the reality is no agents want to go on his detail because Biden makes agents’ lives so tough.”

Plus: Washington Post: What Are We Going To Do About Creepy Uncle Joe Biden?

And: ‘Creepy Veep’ Joe Biden ‘nuzzles’ wife of colleague and claims he is friends with lots of Somali cab drivers.

Also: Joe Biden’s Woman-Touching Habit.

Related: Talking Points Memo: Why Does Creepy Uncle Joe Biden Get A Pass From Liberals?

Plus:

WHO’S BANKROLLING THE NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE MOVEMENT.

ROGER SIMON: Trump Was Not Just Spied Upon But Entrapped.

FASTER, PLEASE: Trump signs permit to jump-start delayed construction of Keystone XL pipeline.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: “It’s Like Fighting Mr. Invisible”: I Fought Against a Stealth F-22 (And Lost).

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: “You think the 2016 Democratic primary fight between the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders got rough? The 2020 primary is going to look like Mad Max’s ‘Fury Road.’ The great irony is that this long process may eventually undermine the power of identity politics, as the surviving Democratic nominee will probably have been accused of racism, sexism, etcetera in the process of winning the primary.”

Sadly, the Democrats’ 2020 primary “may eventually undermine the power of identity politics” in much the same way that Obama’s election in 2008 brought the nation so much well-deserved racial healing, to paraphrase Jon Gabriel’s Tweet of the Decade.

Flashback: Can the Left Escape the Identity Politics Trap?

QUESTION ASKED AND PARTIALLY ANSWERED: Why The Left Can’t Understand The Alt-Right. To conservatives it is obvious that Ben Shapiro is not a member of the alt-right. Why is that so hard for many on the left to understand?

David Marcus’ take on why the Economist smeared (and then later sorta kinda apologized) for smearing Shapiro yesterday is well worth reading in its entirety. But another answer to his query is that in many ways, their racism and xenophobia is a mirror of (and reaction to) today’s institutional left.

JUST NBC THE BIAS: Reporter: The head of NBC News’s political coverage tried to bully me out of a scoop — on behalf of the DNC.

It must be noted up front that there’s no evidence that the DNC put her up to doing this. It may be that Dafna Linzer, former WaPo reporter and current managing editor of politics for NBC and MSNBC, simply took it upon herself to do the DNC a solid.

But even if so, that’s news too. Since when does the head of an allegedly independent news organization do a favor for a political party?

Early and often — just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense. NBC’s PR flack is apparently going with “no comment” at the moment, as NBC coordinates damage control. I wonder if Linzer’s fellow former and current Democratic Party operative Chuck Todd, who famously compared old media to sports referees in 2015, will be asked to spin his way out of this one?

Perhaps he meant pro wrestling refs, which would explain the surprise political success in 2016 by a former host of WrestleMania events who knows how to work them properly?