ALLIES: Marines Considering Flying U.S. F-35Bs Off of Japan’s Largest Warships.

They’re considering it because Tokyo asked them to.

WATCH THE SENATE: Donors Driving Big Money to Colo. Dem Primary.

John Walsh, a former federal attorney, has touted his grassroots support in his bid to unseat Republican senator Cory Gardner, but 70 percent of his campaign funds have come from big-money donors, FEC filings show. More than $540,000 of Walsh’s $776,999.12 raised to date came from donors contributing at least $1,000. More than $330,000—43 percent of his cash to date—came from $2,800 contributions, the maximum allowed under federal law.

Walsh’s reliance on big-money donors has not softened his rhetoric against money’s influence in politics.

In a July video thanking his “grassroots supporters,” Walsh called fundraising an “unfortunate” political necessity. He expressed disdain for campaigns that focus on “the most wealthy Americans.”

While most everyone is distracted by the presidential race, the Democrats are moving big names and big money into various Senate races.

THERE IS NO HOCKEY STICK: The Iconic Image of the Global Warming Movement Is a Fraud.

NOPE: Climate Crazies Now Want You To Feel Guilty About Your Vacation.

IT ISN’T A PURCHASE IF THE SELLER DOESN’T AGREE TO IT: Among Democrats, ‘Mandatory Gun Buyback’ Plan Gains Traction.

“Mandatory buy-back” is newspeak for “confiscation with a little sweetener.”

MAYBE GETTING ALL BUDDY-BUDDY WITH PUTIN WAS A MISTAKE: Erdogan and Putin may be heading for a Syria showdown.

Turkish media criticized Russia for not doing enough to prevent the Syrian air force from attacking the convoy. In fact, Moscow not only failed to halt the attack, it also actively supported it. Russian President Vladimir Putin observed: “Before the Sochi agreement on Idlib was signed, about 50 percent of that territory was under terrorist control, and now that number is 90 percent. There were also numerous attempts to attack our air base in Khmeimim from the Idlib zone, so we support the Syrian army’s efforts to carry out local operations to neutralize these terrorist threats.”

Russia’s discontent with Turkey’s attitude is hardly concealed in this statement.

Turkey was disillusioned by this, because its perception of the Sochi agreement’s ultimate objective was probably different from that of Russia.

Seems like Turkey’s position might be stronger if they had fewer Russian-made antiaircraft missiles and more F-35 stealth fighters.

NAH. HE KNEW WHAT THE BOSS WANTED. April Ryan Says Bodyguard ‘Overreacted’ In Alleged Assault On Local Reporter.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: You’re a Mao, I’m a Mao, Everyone’s a Mao Mao! “Shortly after Bri-Bri was implicitly agreeing that that current President of the United States was, in fact, one of history’s greatest mass murderers, The New York Times ran an article expressing its horror that a few Trump supporters are going to hold the paper accountable for the hateful bias it and other MSM outlets regurgitate into the universe every day.”

NICE: US Shale Natural Gas: Lowering Global Prices and CO2 Emissions.

Indeed, natural gas this year will supply nearly 40% of U.S. power, about double what it provided before the shale revolution. Gas is also the backup fuel to compensate for the natural intermittency of wind and solar power: gas is needed for when “the wind is blowing” and “the sun isn’t shining.” The U.S. is now reducing its CO2 emissions faster than any country on Earth: “Thanks to Natural Gas, US CO2 Emissions Lowest Since 1985.”

Looking forward, a rapidly expanding U.S. natural gas export business (via LNG) will offer more affordable, more flexible, more reliable, and cleaner natural gas to a too slowly developing world that requires all the modern energy that it can get. Today, some 85% of the world’s population lives in still developing nations, only dreaming of the access to energy and high living standards that we Americans have enjoyed for many decades.

American capitalists are doing the planet-saving work environmentalists can’t do — and they’re saving us money and expanding human activity, rather than costing huge sums and imposing new restrictions.

ANY STAGE SOCIALISM: ‘You can’t fight the state’: How Cuba taught Venezuela to crack down on its own military.

DISPATCHES FROM AIRSTRIP ONE: UK Parliament Committee Wants to Ban All Private Cars and Trucks by 2050.

The committee report says that, starting in 2035, the government should start banning the sale of all conventionally powered cars and trucks, including hybrids, “at the latest.” That, however, won’t be enough. The committee adds, “The Government should not aim to achieve emissions reductions simply by replacing existing vehicles with lower-emissions versions.”

That means that even pure battery powered EVs have got to go.

It’s quite simple, at least in the eyes of the select committee. You see, the manufacture of even zero-emission vehicles itself produces “substantial” carbon emissions as well engaging in other environmentally harmful practices. The only way to eliminate carbon emissions associated with the manufacture of private automobiles is to eliminate the manufacture, sale, and ownership of those private vehicles.

Mostly I think this is about reducing traffic congestion for the convenience of the wealthy and powerful, who would no doubt continue to enjoy some kind of private transportation.

VIDEO: Smart lamppost toppled to ground by Hong Kong demonstrators over Chinese surveillance fears.

SOCIALISM MAKES A LOT OF THINGS (AND PEOPLE) DISAPPEAR: ‘Monopoly: Socialism’ Game Disappears From Target’s Website.

SURPRISING NO ONE PAYING ATTENTION: Vietnam says that China is mislabeling products as Vietnamese to avoid U.S. tariffs.

“Dozens” of products have been identified, Hoang Thi Thuy, a Vietnamese Customs Department official, told state-run media, and goods like textiles, fishery products, agricultural products, steel, aluminum, and processed wooden products were most vulnerable to the fraud.

Vietnamese state media noted that in 2017, the Customs Department exposed a company called INTERWYSE for trying to rebrand 600 Chinese-made speakers and phone chargers with a “Made in Vietnam” label.

“It will sabotage Vietnamese brands and products and it will also affect consumers. We could even get tariff retribution from other countries, and if that happens, it will hurt our economy,” Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told the Vietnamese National Assembly last week.

Vietnam does not have any legal requirements for certification of the “Made in Vietnam” label. The country’s current regulations require that goods be produced partly or completely in Vietnam, but does not provide a mechanism for determining the veracity of the label.

This would be a great area for the US and Vietnam to work together, and strengthen ties against a common competitor.

IT’S COOL; HE SLOWED THE RISE OF THE OCEANS ALREADY: Obamas Accused of Hypocrisy on Climate Change for Buying Waterfront Property in Martha’s Vineyard.

BECAUSE OF COURSE THEY DO: Fake Conservative Website The Bulwark Gives Joe Biden Campaign Advice.

DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS: Stickup ends when cowboy store clerk lassos robber.

PHILIP MULIVOR: Why Red-Flag Laws Are Worse Than You Think.

TWITTER IS A CESSPIT, EXHIBIT #1,000,006: On Twitter, Some Liberals Are Celebrating the Death of David Koch.

YOU CAN’T TOUCH THIS: Apple’s New Credit Card Stained by Leather, Denim, More. “Somebody at Apple — I’m looking at you, soon-to-be-departing Jony Ive — signed off on giving the physical card a specialty coating which stains when it comes into contact with the two most common materials for pants and wallets.”

SKYNET SAYS DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT: How Do We Stop Driverless Cars And Autonomous Delivery Drones From Becoming Weapons?

GREEN NEW DEAL, THE HOME GAME: Kevin McCloud’s eco homes to lose people up to 97% of the cash they put in.

FASTER, PLEASE: Phone Companies Ink Deal With All 50 States And D.C. To Combat Robocalls.

VIDEO: Overstock Founder Claims He Got ‘Fishy’ Orders from Peter Strozk, Set Top Obama Officials Up for Felony Charges.

MICHAEL BARONE: The End of America’s 30-Year Engagement With China?

The hope through these years was that a more prosperous China would also become more democratic and tolerant at home, and less aggressive abroad. But as foreign affairs journalist James Mann pointed out in his 2007 book, “The China Fantasy,” and as longtime Kissingerian Michael Pillsbury wrote in his 2015 book, “The Hundred-Year Marathon,” China’s leaders weren’t interested in following this script.

On the contrary, Pillsbury argued that they had their own scenario, in which China would embark quietly but steadily on a long-term race to world supremacy by 2049, the 100th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s victory over Chiang Kai-shek.

China would use strategy and tactics laid out by Sun Tzu 2,500 years ago and restore the state to the primacy it enjoyed before the civil wars and invasions that started with the Taiping rebellion in 1849 and ended with Mao’s death in 1976, costing millions of Chinese lives. Before this strife, China had 40 percent of the world’s population and economic production, and an emperor reigning 60 years, who reportedly told the British envoy Lord Macartney in 1793, “Our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance” and has “no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians.”

Xi Jinping, as he disapprovingly watches peaceful marchers in Hong Kong week after week, perhaps feels similarly. His attempted crackdown on the independent judiciary Hong Kong was promised until 2047, and abolition of his 10-year term limit amounts to jumping the gun on Pillsbury’s 100-year-marathon finish line of 2049.

Presumably, Xi has the power to squelch the Hong Kong demonstrators as his predecessors squelched Tiananmen protesters 30 years ago. But not without significant economic cost, which he may be willing to pay. The economic ties symbolized by “Chimerica” are already unraveling. They could be completely split if the Red Army ravages Hong Kong.

Read the whole thing.