SHORT-CIRCUIT DAMAGE: Lies without accountability.

MY LATEST WAR ON HONESTY COLUMN FOR THE NEW YORK OBSERVER: Short-Circuit Damage to US Security: Hillary’s Lies and Amiri’s Execution

GHENT JAZZ FESTIVAL: DOWN BEAT has a review.

HILLARY’S HEALTH STATUS IS IFFY: Drudge is on it, too. Check out the photos and her difficult trip up the stairs. When will the media question Hillary’s health status? Hey, back off, man. She has Media Privilege. (And this is an example of it.)

THE NEW YORK TIMES GETS SOMETHING RIGHT: The Times notes Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been jealous of Kemal Ataturk for a long time. I’d say 25 years, at least. Here’s some documentation for my assertion. As for the July 15, 2016 coup? Erdogan’s smashed it. It appears Erdogan’s story of barely escaping assassination was a lie. Hmmm. Now he’s solidifying personal power.

MEDIA PRIVILEGE: It’s voter information fraud.

RED CHINA CENSORS THREATEN HONG KONG BOOKSELLERS: “Illegal book trading.” Didn’t they swear they wouldn’t?

VOICE OF AMERICA: “After years of undercover work, the U.S. is starting to pull back the veil on what appear to be loose-knit, perhaps deeply rooted networks of would-be terrorists who support each other even as many prepare to act alone.” Read the whole thing.

THE MAJOR SHIFT IN SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICS: Good background. Note the comment about “patronage and clientelism.” DA = Democratic Alliance (centrist, with strong center-left faction) EFF = Economic Freedom Fighters (radical socialist) Here’s another useful article.

BLACK LIVES MATTER CALLS ISRAEL AN APARTHEID STATE AND A RABBI REPLIES: A thoughtful reply by Rabbi Dan Dorsch of Atlanta, Georgia.

Excerpt:

“As someone who strongly supports civil rights, but who is also deeply concerned about attempts to delegitimize the State of Israel, I am deeply concerned by this frightening development within a movement that has catapulted onto the national stage as the voice of civil rights in recent months. The nature of this bizarre request within the context of serious discussions of racial inequality in America seems to be chutzpahdik, if not entirely out of bounds.”

Chutzpahdik: Brazen. Not showing due respect.

Look, no decent person ever said black lives don’t matter. The very name Black Lives Matter is meant to divide and incite. Rabbi Dorsch has noticed Black Lives Matter is a leftist group that has hijacked the civil rights movement. How long will this hijack last? My guess is at least for the duration of the 2016 election.

LEADER OF GERMAN FREE DEMOCRATS COMPARES TURKEY’S COUP REACTION TO 1933 NAZI REICHSTAG FIRE: Over the top? Read the article. A “coup d’etat from above.” Today Erdogan staged a mass rally in Istanbul to support his coup d’etat from above…uh…his authoritarian counter-coup.

12 STATES WITH SALES TAX FREE SHOPPING THIS WEEKEND: On back to school items. Varies from state to state.

US MARSHALS KILL SNIPER SUSPECT IN GEORGIA SHOOTOUT: Not quite a late 19th century headline from a western territory, but close. The federal officers were trying to arrest the man suspected of shooting at Atlanta police on July 28. The shootout occurred August 5. Note the suspect probably had mental problems. Was he influenced by the Dallas atrocity, the one in Baton Rouge? A fair question since he started shooting at police. But who knows? His grandmother said her grandson (the suspect) thought “something” was trying to kill him. Heart breaking. All Lives Matter.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Leftist college profs bewail insidious “white privilege.” You don’t hear’em complain about this insidious privilege.

WAR WITH FISHING BOATS AS PAWNS: China probes Japanese waters with coast guard ships and fishing boats. OK, 230 fishing boats around the Senkakus is an invasion. Yes, The Hague arbitration court’s South China Sea ruling in favor of the Philippines has embarrassed and angered Beijing, so attempting to intimidate Japan has a face-saving purpose. But this is a dangerous situation.

RADIO FREE EUROPE: “As numerous Kremlin-watchers have documented, the Putin system runs on murky deals, graft, fraud, and kickbacks. Corruption is the carrot and the stick that keeps everybody in line.” Remember, the Panama Papers revealed Hillary Clinton’s Kremlin connection.

TRUMP ENDORSES RYAN: Don Surber, author of Trump The Press, said Trump’s a rookie candidate and he’ll learn as the campaign goes forward. I included some of Don’s latest assessments in this week’s War On Honesty column for The New York Observer.

HILLARY NOW SAYS SHE “SHORT CIRCUITED” HER ANSWERS ABOUT EMAIL: No, she lied. Again. Comey didn’t exonerate her. She’s going to keep claiming she was exonerated and betting her Ultimate Media Privilege (mainstream media bias) will act as an echo chamber. We don’t know who got to her email traffic –Comey shucked and jived on that question– but her server was easy pickings. As Sec State she was a high value target so you know she got hacked and American adversaries obtained classified information. Providing enemies with classified information has consequences.

BLUE LIVES MATTER LEGISLATION IN NEW YORK STATE: It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Louisiana has similar legislation that went into effect August 1. I think the whole concept of hate crimes is phony. Crimes are crimes. However, the American Left managed to scream long enough to get hate crime legislation passed. So this legislation is short-term blow back with long-term roots. All lives matter — and no decent person ever said black lives don’t matter.

MYSTERIOUS PURPLE SEA ORB: “Confirming it’s a new species will take considerable months.”

ISIS CAPTURES 3,000 IRAQI CIVILIANS: The article uses the term “human shields.” That’s the hideous tactic ISIS is employing. I’ve written about it several times — here’s an essay from early June. This StrategyPage report from November 2015 includes a gruesome example where Islamic State fighters were

…putting hundreds of Shia (Arabs) into steel cages and moving them around by truck to where an air strike was anticipated. ISIL put pictures of these caged human shields and in general dared the United States to hit a target protected by caged Shia. In the past the American ROE and ISIL use of human shields meant that the most important ISIL facilities were untouched by the bombing campaign. It also meant that numerous trucks carrying material for ISIL (like oil for export) were untouched lest a civilian driver be killed…

ROE = Rules of Engagement. The StrategyPage post provides a clear, detailed explanation.

TURKEY’S COUP: Was it only three weeks ago? I wrote two weeks ago that President Erdogan had gone too far. Well, he’s gone even further.

FIGHTING ISIS IN LIBYA: US air support in battle for Sirte.

THE BIG DIFF BETWEEN HILLARY AND TRUMP: Her crimes damage US national security. Yes, Loose Lips Sink Ships. The Donald mouths off. Experts like Don Surber think Trump’ll learn. He’s a rookie candidate, Surber told me. Trump adapts. The Clinton Foundation? It sells off. It has sold off and sold out. And selling out America is dyed in its crooked wool.

WALKS LIKE A DUCK, QUACKS LIKE A DUCK: Yet Obama claims he doesn’t pay ransom.