BARR SAYS NO FAITH, NO LIBERTY: Candor and truth from the Attorney General’s recent address to the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast:

“That crucial link between religion and liberty, so well understood at the Founding, is all too often forgotten today. In American public discourse, perhaps no concept is more misunderstood than the notion of ‘separation of church and state.’

“Militant secularists have long seized on that slogan as a facile justification for attempting to drive religion from the public square and to exclude religious people from bringing a religious perspective to bear on conversations about the common good.”

Confession: When President Donald Trump appointed William Barr to replace Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, I worried that choosing a Bush I administration retread signaled a worrisome choice to reach an accommodation with the GOP Establishment. I was wrong about Trump and Barr.

IT’S 2004 ALL OVER AGAIN: It’s all about Ohio.

Ohio voters traditionally rewarded Republican and Democratic gubernatorial and US Senate candidates who appealed broadly across the state. A presidential candidate who could appeal beyond his party’s base also secured a majority of Ohioans. Trump is a great example of this reality.

Specifically, unlike most Republicans who ran in 2016, Trump took orthodox views on two key issues that broadened his appeal beyond the Republican base. First, he attacked free trade agreements beloved by the Republican establishment because he felt those agreements hurt blue-collar workers in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Next, he didn’t embrace right-to-work, which is viewed as anti-union by many blue-collar workers. Rank-and-file union workers in Ohio and the other blue-collar state voters felt increasingly uncomfortable with the growing progressive, anti-America sentiment in the Democratic party. They saw Trump as a Republican they finally could support.

The support from those unionized workers and their families helped Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Ohio by more than 8 percent. Trump also converted blue-collar voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, too, which enabled him to squeak out victories in the ‘blue wall’. Those states pushed him over the 270-Electoral Vote threshold he needed to win The White House.

There is little evidence those voters are going to abandon Trump in 2020.

Don’t get cocky.

ANGELO CODEVILLA: Revolution 2020. How did we get here—and how will it end?

CHINA REWRITES JESUS WITH WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY: Just wait till He hears about this!

STATE WITH NO ELECTRICITY ORDERS EVERYONE TO DRIVE CARS THAT RUN ON ELECTRICITY: How California’s Environmental Mandates Led to Blackouts. New video from Reason TV:

(Classical reference in headline.)

POTTY TRAINING AS NECESSARY PUBLIC POLICY: MTA board to formally ban pooping in subways and buses.

DEVELOPING: ‘Trump Was Right’: Explosive New FBI Texts Detail Internal Furor Over Handling Of ‘Crossfire Hurricane’ Investigation.

Related: Steele Dossier Primary Sub-Source Was Suspected Russian Agent and ‘Threat to National Security,’ According to FBI Documents.

More: John Durham Also Investigating Clinton Foundation in His Obamagate Probe.

THE PROBLEM WITH EXPEDIENCY IS THAT IT’S ALWAYS CHANGING: Democrats Are Making a U-Turn on Mail-In Voting.

TRUMP 2020 GET-OUT-THE-VOTE IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Breonna Taylor protesters threaten to ‘knock out’ diners at Florida restaurant.

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AND SO IT BEGINS: Military Ballots Found in the Trash in Pennsylvania, All Were Trump Votes.

WELL, THIS IS A SILLY IDEA, BUT IT PROVIDES ME WITH AN INSPIRATION: Using A Pigouvian Tax To Reduce Gun Violence. The problem with this idea is that gun ownership is a net positive for society, reducing violence by more than it produces violence. Properly understood, a “Pigouvian tax” on firearms ownership would in fact be a subsidy.

But I was inspired to think about a Pigouvian tax on a societal institution where that is clearly not the case: Higher Education. As we have been assured by all the leading authorities, 1 in 5 women who attend college is raped. We thus need to tax higher education institutions at a level sufficient to compensate the 20% of their female students who are victimized. Taxes laid on gross revenues would probably be passed on to students, so we’ll need to tax the real stakeholders in universities who — since there are no shareholders — are faculty and staff. Assume an average damage of $1 million for a rape — surely no one would dare suggest a lower figure — multiply that by 20% of the female student body size, and apply that tax to faculty and staff salaries. That may not generate enough revenue, but we could also tax gross sports revenues — where taxes can’t easily be passed on –to make up the difference.

OPEN THREAD: Outdo yourselves tonight.

WHY NOT? WE FIND MARS ROCKS ON EARTH. Earth life may have traveled to Venus aboard sky-skimming asteroid.

MORE ON METFORMIN: Study: Diabetes drug metformin may protect the aging brain.

WHY DOES NOBODY TRUST “PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS?” IT’S A MYSTERY: Health officials seek to block Trump rally in Virginia.

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HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Duke prof’s new computer science course will focus on diversity.

I WANT TO BE WELLINGTON, NOT NAPOLEON: Legal Education’s Waterloo.

THIS IS LAKE TRUMP AND IT IS IN KOSOVO:

It all started as an idea to relax negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia delegations, but the idea to name the Gazivoda/Ujman Lake “Lake Trump” as seen in the photo seems more serious than initially thought.

An idea that started as a joke for the Ujman Lake, which Serbs refer to as Gazivoda, to find a compromise name seems to be taking shape. During the negotiations at the White House, the US Presidential envoy for the dialogue, Richard Grenell, gave the idea to name the lake after Trump.

Initially everybody laughed with the idea. But not today. Gazeta Express has learned that  Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah  Hoti expressed his readiness to support Grenell’s idea at a meeting with him. The same idea was endorsed also by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at another meeting.

This has to be Mecca for all of the speedboats with Trump flags I’ve seen this summer.

BIGOTS: ABC Pushes Vile Fake Claim Barrett Christian Group Inspired Handmaid’s Tale.

Beyond the usual leftist wailing about abortion, [ABC’s Tom] Llamas went on to push a vile assertion that he knew was fake:

Also under the microscope, Barrett’s link to a small charismatic Christian community called People of Praise….According to its website, “many of its members choose to make a lifetime commitment to the community – a covenant.” Members are assigned a personal adviser. Men were called “heads” and women were called “handmaids.” But those titles since changed to “leaders,” amid speculation the group may have inspired the novel and Emmy-award winning drama The Handmaid’s Tale.

After hyping the made-up smear, he then admitted that it wasn’t true: “But author Margaret Atwood saying that’s not accurate, telling ABC News there were several inspirations.”

Related: Pence to ABC: Don’t repeat “intolerance” shown Barrett over her faith.

Why is the House of Stephanopoulos such a cesspit of anti-religious bigotry?

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: State With No Electricity Orders Everyone To Drive Cars That Run On Electricity.

TEN MORE YEARS OF THIS, HUH? Welcome to the Turbulent Twenties. “Our model is based on the fact that across history, what creates the risk of political instability is the behavior of elites, who all too often react to long-term increases in population by committing three cardinal sins.”

It doesn’t help that we have the worst political class in American history.

GOOD AND HARD: Seattle City Council Overrides Mayor’s Veto, Begins to Defund the Police.