THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY OF JOHN MCCAIN: Far from a comprehensive account but it lays out the basic cases on all three points.

JOHN MCCAIN’S PASSING — A MORE BALANCED ASSESSMENT: More balanced than any of the mainstream media paeans I’ve seen thus far tonight, that is.

SURPRISE! FBI DIDN’T REVIEW ALL 700K CLINTON EMAILS ON HUMA’S LAPTOP: Former FBI Director James Comey told Congress and the world that agents reviewed all of the nearly 700,000 Clinton email messages found on the Huma Abedin/Anthony Weiner laptop just before the 2016 election.

But now Real Clear Investigations’ Paul Sperry reveals that Comey’s claim was an outright lie. The truth is, as outrageous as was the FBI whitewash in July 2016 of Clinton’s extensive misuse of classified information with her homebrew email between 2009 and 2015, it pales in blatant, outright falsification with the October Surprise.

I know, you aren’t surprised and neither am I, but Sperry uncovers all kinds of facts that show the corruption ran deep and wide at the highest levels of the FBI and the Department of Justice. As one famous guy might once have said, “no friggin’ wonder she got away with it!”

BET YOU’VE HEARD NOTHING TILL NOW ABOUT THESE ILLEGAL ALIEN CRIMES: Not all illegal immigrants coming into this country commit heinous crimes, to be sure, but every one of them that does represents a preventable tragedy. Mainstream media avoid reporting such crimes like the plague. If you lived near these five crime scenes, would you want to know about them?

WHAT’S THIS? DONALD TRUMP, FIRST AMENDMENT CHAMPION? It came near the end of the president’s long campaign rally Tuesday night in West Virginia, so hardly anybody noticed it. But LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby caught it.

Now, when will ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, etc. etc. put aside the fact Trump defending the First Amendment rights of even his most intellectually dishonest media critics totally undermines their “Tyrant Trump Is Destroying the First Amendment” meme and quote what he actually said? No, I’m not holding my breath, either.

HERE’S BETTING BRENNAN SHUTS UP ABOUT GOING TO COURT: When the president of the United States, who has, shall we say, a high level of previous experience with litigation, essentially responds to your threat to take him to court with a hearty “So sue me” … 

IF THIS DOESN’T MAKE YOU FEAR FOR OUR COUNTRY … Mark Perry, writing in American Conservative:

“Here’s the arithmetic: One in three potential recruits are disqualified from service because they’re overweight, one in four cannot meet minimal educational standards (a high school diploma or GED equivalent), and one in 10 have a criminal history.

“In plain terms, about 71 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds (the military’s target pool of potential recruits) are disqualified from the minute they enter a recruiting station: that’s 24 million out of 34 million Americans.”

Read it all here.

REAL CLEAR INVESTIGATIONS’ LEE SMITH IS THE GO-TO SOURCE: At least if you seek to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Russia Collusion scandal. It’s all gathered here in one place for you.

CAN YOU GUESS HOW MANY SPECIAL ELECTION LOSERS WIN SUBSEQUENT REMATCHES? The answer will surprise you because it’s somewhat counter-intuitive, but LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby checked the history and did the math. Hint: Ohio Democrat Danny O’Connor probably shouldn’t be making any plane reservations for D.C. just yet.

NO GOOD REASON TO BRING DOWN THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Matt Fitzgibbons wonders why anybody would not want to have a 24/7 orbiting science lab that conducts experiments that can’t be conducted anywhere on Earth. It’s a good question.

NEW MEXICO COMPOUND TERRORIST HERE DUE TO VISA PROBLEM U.S. HASN’T FIXED SINCE 9/11: LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby has the exclusive on why that Haitian woman arrested in the New Mexico Islamic terrorist compound was able to stay undetected in this country for decades. It’s a problem the 9/11 Commission highlighted.

FIVE NEW CASES OF APOPLECTIC INSTANT MELTDOWN (AIM) REPORTED! You already know about Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) but experts are now saying that if TDS is left untreated, its last stage before complete, irreversible political lunacy is AIM. LifeZette has five examples just from the reaction to John Brennan losing his security clearance.

CENSORSHIP BY LIBERALS IS OUT OF CONTROL: Now you can’t wear an NRA shirt to class. But not to worry because Babylon Bee assures us that utopia is just one or two more outrages away!

CAN THERE BE COMPROMISE BETWEEN EVANGELICALS AND THE GAY LOBBY? Not, according to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler Jr., if it requires giving up the understanding that the Bible is the inspired word of God and He means what He says about men, women, marriage and sexuality.

TOLERANCE DOESN’T MEAN WHAT YOU AND I THINK IT DOES. AT LEAST NOT AT UVA: For one thing, it is absolutely verboten to be connected in any form or fashion with the Trump administration. LifeZette’s Elizabeth M. Economou has the details of what happened at the Miller Center at Thomas Jefferson’s school when it hired former Trump congressional liason Marc Short. I guess we can say this incident adds a new chapter to the history of virulent academic McCarthyism.

THREE QUESTIONS CNN’S JIM ACOSTA WON’T DARE ASK ROBERT MUELLER: This trio of seemingly obvious questions should have been asked and answered a long time ago and if they had been the Mueller probe likely would not still be active.

But to be honest, I’m not holding my breath waiting for Acosta to start acting like a real journalist for a change. If I seem a tad angry about this, I am because people like Acosta have taken a profession I treasure and honor and turned it into a tool for ideological grandstanding.

WHAT’S THIS? A LIBERAL FEMINIST LAWYER FOR KAVANAUGH? It’s true, Attorney Lisa Blatt has argued 35 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court while working for the Solicitor General’s office. Her remarkably kind words for and about Kavanaugh demonstrate that there are still some sane minds on the Left. Elizabeth Economou has some surprising details in LifeZette.

BILL HOBBS GETS WHY DONALD TRUMP GETS HIS CRITICS: Most presidents possess an abundance of political skills that largely account for their success in gaining the Oval Office, but one in particular that most distinguishes them. For JFK, it was his ability to project energy and courage. For Reagan, it was his vision of America as “the shining city on the hill.”

For Donald Trump, it’s an amazing talent for recognizing and then pouncing on … go here and trust me, it’s worth the read.

HERE’S WHY BUREAUCRATS SEE A LETHAL THREAT IN THE ‘PLATFORM ECONOMY:’ The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has a great new video out explaining why the Platform Economy — Uber, AirBnB, Amazon, etc. — is such a gift to the cause of individual liberty. And why politicians and bureaucrats are determined to regulate it out of existence.

IF YOU’RE A CONSERVATIVE TWEETER, YOU MAY BE ON TWITTER’S ‘BAD ACTORS’ LIST: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devon Nunes is making waves with his Sunday oh-by-the-way about bringing legal action against Twitter for censoring him and three other conservative Republican members of the House. (Gaetz, Jordan and Meadows).

Twitter has been trying to finesse the censorship issue for months but it appears to this observer that the effort is failing because of the opacity of the company’s explanations for what it’s doing to deal with “bad actors,”  combat “uncivil discourse” and police “echo chambers.” Based on my analysis here, I’m not optimistic that Twitter will be a more friendly place for the First Amendment in six months, and frankly, it could be a good bit more hostile.

THE DIRECT LINE FROM OBAMA, HOLDER, RICE, LERNER & CLINTON TO FBI SCANDALS: Each of four huge scandals from the Obama era — Fast & Furious, Benghazi, IRS Targeting and Hillarymail — had distinguishing characteristics, all of which came together in the FBI’s combined Clinton email/Russia Collusion debasement. It’s amazing how clear the present becomes when viewed through the lenses of the recent past.

Here’s a taste:

“Just as Obama, Rice, Powers and Clinton lied about Benghazi, so did Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (appointed by Trump), former FBI Director James Comey (appointed by Obama), and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe (promoted by Comey) — when they signed the FISA applications and thereby certified the credibility of the material included in the documents.”

Check it out here.

EVER HEAR OF A “SELF-LICKING ICE-CREAM CONE?” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton knows exactly what it is and he told LifeZette today.

IF THIS IS THE BEST THAT MUELLER CAN COME UP WITH … Department of Justice officials purposely or otherwise may have revealed a key part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s expected collusion case against President Donald Trump. For some odd reason, I am reminded of Cap’n Dan way up on that shrimp boat’s mast venting his fury against God in “Forrest Gump.”

10 FACTS THAT PROVE TRUMP’S HELSINKI CRITICS ARE IN AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY: Actually the post is about 10 facts that demonstrate how President Donald Trump has restored muscle to U.S. policies and defenses against Russia. One might also title the post “10 Facts That Prove Much of the MSM is Off Its Rocker.” Or how about this? “10 Facts To Make Putin Think Twice About Messing With Trump.” Take your pick.

KENTUCKY REP. BLASTS ‘PAY-TO-PLAY’ CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES: Ask Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) about Congress and the first thing he’s likely to talk about is his anger about how a representative’s committee assignments are determined by how much money he or she can raise for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) or the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

LifeZette’s Connor Wolf got that and more from Massie in a great interview about how to drain the swamp. Connor is doing a series of such interviews with Members of Congress. Go here, here and here for previous installments.