INTERNET OF THINGS: The end of Works With Nest could be trouble for smart homes.

Google’s integration of the Nest brand may have some downsides for smart home enthusiasts. The company has revealed that it’s phasing out its Works With Nest program in the summer in favor of a Works With Google Assistant framework. The new program will allow data sharing between connected devices and apps, but only for a handful of tightly screened partners, Google’s Rishi Chandra told Variety. While that’s potentially helpful for security and privacy, it’s also likely to break a number of smart home tie-ins — including some you may miss.

The change “will break IFTTT,” Chandra said. You couldn’t use the automation service to automatically turn up your Nest thermostat when you get home, for instance. Google Assistant’s routines are intended to fill the gaps, but this won’t help if you have a device or functionality that routines won’t address.

These kinds of changes aren’t always avoidable, and might be important when smart home privacy is becoming an important issue.

If privacy is a primary concern, you probably aren’t using Google IOT products, anyway — but the company is getting a nasty reputation for leaving users of its products in the lurch.

KAMALA HARRIS: ‘I’m Not Going to Tell’ Democrats Why They Should Support Me Over Biden.

Running for Veep?

OBAMA’S DELUSIONS AFFECTED MOST: Iran Threatens to Stop Complying With Parts of Nuclear Deal it Repeatedly Violated.

SEX & SOFT DRINKS & ROCK’N’ROLL: A former Netflix creative director just got $1.6 million from big names in tech for Liquid Death, which is water in a tallboy can. “Cessario’s background playing in punk and heavy-metal bands influenced Liquid Death’s branding, which speaks to the ‘extreme’ straight-edge punk crowd that abstains from alcohol and drugs.”

Although these days I wouldn’t be too sure about the sex part.

I’LL TAKE TWO: Navy’s New Drone Boat Features Machine Gun & Hellfire Missiles.

KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND, JOSEPH P. KENNEDY II AND MAEVE KENNEDY MCKEAN: RFK Jr. Is Our Brother and Uncle. He’s Tragically Wrong About Vaccines.

JOHN STOSSEL: I’m Glad Citizen Journalists Are Out There, Giving Us More Choice.

LIZ MAIR: Who Speaks for the Mountain West?

The Mountain West, long a second (or third) thought to the favorite-son, vote-rich Rust Belt states, is stepping, however lightly, into the limelight. Several Mountain West Democrats have jumped into the presidential race (from Colorado, former Gov. John Hickenlooper and Senator Michael Bennet) or are readying themselves to do so (Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, and perhaps others). The Democratic Party has hopes that Arizona, which as John McCain used to observe is about the only state where mothers cannot in good faith tell their kids they can grow up to be president, will move into the Democratic column next year.

Not ceding any ground, President Trump’s re-election campaign has decreed that a trio of Mountain West blue states — Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico — are “flippable” in 2020.

It’s happy news for the region, which has become tired of being an afterthought for presidential campaigns thanks to its lower population levels and voters who seem to have a natural aversion to the way the rest of the country thinks. But it’s not clear that either party is naturally well placed to appeal to voters in the area, even if it’s nice that they purport to care.

I moved here a quarter century ago out of a love for the Front Range and the desire to be left alone. That seems to be a common attitude, but one which doesn’t play nice with national politics — or with our new neighbors formerly of California.

OH: Rep. Ilhan Omar Supports Group That Produced Child Beheading Skit. “Why has Omar openly supported an organization with a long reported record of supporting terrorism and violence, as exhibited most recently by a shocking children’s pageant in Philadelphia last month?”

UNEXPECTED HEADLINES: Kim Kardashian West has helped free 17 inmates in 90 days.

“Kim has been funding this project and (has been) a very important supporter of our 90 Days of Freedom campaign as part of the First Step Act, which President Trump signed into law last year,” Cody said. “We’ve been going around the country in courtrooms and asking judges to release these inmates.”

Barnett added that without Kardashian West footing the bill, this would not have been possible. “(Kim) has provided financial support to cover legal fees so that we can travel the country. Our relationships with our clients don’t end when they are freed. (Kim) is truly dedicated to the issue. I work personally with her, we are really grateful.”

But she’s not just paying legal fees.

“When people get out of prison, they might be incarcerated hundreds of miles from their families and they might need help getting home. Really important, critical things that people might not realize — and those are things Kim is helping with as well,” Cody added.

Last year, Kardashian West visited President Trump at the White House to discuss the case of Alice Marie Johnson, a first-time non-violent drug offender who had already served 21 years of a life sentence. A week later, the President commuted Johnson’s sentence and she was released.

Although Kardashian West hasn’t been tweeting about each of these success stories to her over 60 million followers on Twitter, Barnett says it’s because they’ve all been “busy.”

I never thought I’d say this, but she’s doing good work.

FAKE NEWS: WaPo Backs Joe Biden in Accusing Trump of ‘Concocting a Phony Story’ on Charlottesville.

WOW: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules in Favor of Trump Admin. On Asylum Policy.

SMART: US lifts sanctions on Venezuela spy chief who defected as incentive for others still loyal to Maduro.

YOU DON’T SAY: Lower-Income Americans Less Likely to Own Technology.

I wonder if they’re also less likely to own cars or homes or many different pairs of shoes.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: DoJ Threatens Executive Privilege Smack Down. “What time is it? It’s privilege o’clock at the DoJ. The Justice Department says it will move to have sections of the Mueller Report protected by executive privilege if Rep. ‘Fat Jerry’ Nadler of the House Judiciary Committee doesn’t stop quacking about a contempt of congress charge.”

GOOD: Congress Approves Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids. “Clinical studies of 125 patients reviewed by the FDA indicated that on average the outcomes for the self-fitted OTC hearing aid were comparable to those for people who had the device fitted by a hearing professional.”

Requiring a prescription for a hearing aid always seemed to me like the silliest kind of rent-seeking. It doesn’t exactly require a medical professional to figure this stuff out: If it’s too small, get a bigger one; If it’s too big, try a size down; Too quiet, turn it up; Too loud, turn it down.

FATAL FLAW: Rogue Boeing 737 Max planes ‘with minds of their own.’

An excellent explainer courtesy of Instapundit reader Mike Perry.

BAN ALL THE THINGS! New Jersey Politician Wants To Ban All Bags — Paper or Plastic.

Working its way though the legislature right now is S2776. As written, the legislation would ban food service businesses and other retailers who have stores larger than 1,000 square feet from providing their customers with plastic bags. The bill would also naturally ban plastic straws.

Naturally.

Smith stands a good chance of getting his paper bag ban through. He claims to already have the support of Senate leadership. The state’s grocery store association is also on board with the policy.

Still, one wonders what the practical effects of Smith’s amendment, as well as the wider plastic bag ban, will be.

A recent study of plastic bag bans in California found that the policy—while still reducing plastic bag consumption overall—did lead to a 120 percent spike in the purchase of smaller garbage bags.

As it turns out, the single-use plastic bags people used at the grocery store were hardly single-use at all, but rather were reused to line waste baskets or clean up after pets. When the free option disappeared, people simply started purchasing unprohibited garbage bags.

New Jersey’s bag ban would seem to have a similar potential for this kind of substitution. While it bars stores from handing out thinner plastic bags, it still allows them to provide customers with plastic tote bags provided they’re thicker than 10 mils.

As written, stores could well end up ditching their current carry-out bags for another type of thicker plastic bag, which would seemingly increase overall plastic consumption.

More important however is the very real increase in official moral preening.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Excelsior? ‘Superhero’ AOC Pummels President Trump. “Pop culture’s fawning treatment of the freshman Representative doesn’t quite mesh with reality.”

It seems the freshman Congresswoman is baffled by this new technology called the “garbage disposal.”

It’s par for the course for the woman now known as AOC. Right-leaning folks routinely mock her on social media, assuming Twitter doesn’t ban them in the process.

They poke fun at her slippery grasp of economic facts, her painfully thin skin and, of course, the silliest proposal in modern times, the Green New Deal.

It makes up for the fact that 98.9 percent of comedians won’t go near her. The other 1.1 percent? They’re more comfortable turning her into an action heroine.

It’s embarrassing, or at least ought to be.

HAIL HYDRA: Twitter Bans One AOC Parody Account. Five More Take Its Place.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Baby Have an Accent?

DAVID SOLWAY: Ronald McDonalds at the Helm: Leftist Clown Justin Trudeau Follows in the Footsteps of Obama.

CHARMING: Gay State Rep Offers People $100 to Dox Teen Girls Praying for Babies at Planned Parenthood.

FLASHBACK: Pennsylvania’s First Openly Gay Representative Attacks Elderly Woman Praying in Front of Planned Parenthood.

Yes, it’s the same guy.

CHANGE: Denver is voting to become the first city to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms.

JOE BIDEN: “First thing I’d do is repeal those Trump tax cuts.”

I’m betting what he really means is he’d repeal Trump’s SALT-exemption limits which hit well-to-do lefties in high-tax blue states with higher tax bills.

In other words, Biden would give the rich — the right rich — a tax break and sock you with the bill.