TOLERANCE: Malaysia scraps beer festival following Islamist party’s objections.

Though there are plenty of beer drinkers among the sizable Chinese and Indian minorities, protests against events deemed to be “western” and unIslamic – such as concerts and festivals involving alcohol – are common in Muslim-majority Malaysia and are usually led by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).

Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) said in a short statement on Monday that it has rejected the application for a permit by the organisers of the “Better Beer Festival 2017” to host the event, which would have entered its sixth year.

“If the organisers continue with the event without DBKL’s approval, action will be taken in accordance to existing laws,” city hall said.

Mybeer (M) Sdn Bhd, the company organising the event, said in a separate statement that they were informed by DBKL officials that the decision was made “due to the political sensitivity surrounding the event”.

So I guess there’s one thing beer can’t do, after all.

PATRICK POOLE: Media Continues Gaslighting Somali Refugee’s Stabbing Terror Attack at Minnesota Mall.

DON’T BE WEEVILS: Google is serving ads in YouTube Red – even though it promises not to.

CRUEL, BUT FAIR: How Rex Tillerson alienated every ally he needs.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Give Elvis Costello some credit. He waited until the encore at the premiere Hike to the Mic before lacing into President Donald Trump.

MORE AND MORE ACTIVISM BASED ON LESS AND LESS POPULAR CULTURE: Planned Parenthood Celebrates ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Emmy Success, Call for Activism.

COUNTER-PROTEST: St. Louis officers chant ‘whose streets, our streets’ while arresting protesters.

SOME PARTY: Party-loving Syrian refugee nightclub promoter ‘is second suspect arrested over Parsons Green Tube attack.’

SPECIAL ELECTION BLUES: Trump to Campaign for Senator Strange in Alabama.. “It’s Trump vs. Bannon as the president’s former aide is all in for Roy Moore.”

HE MAY BE ONTO SOMETHING: Trump Thinks TV More Accurately Reveals The Public’s Beliefs Than Polls Do.

Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson says President Trump told him that television programming is a more accurate reflection of the public’s beliefs than polling is.

“I know that he watches a lot of television. I know because I’ve talked to him about it at length, that he’s really interested in television, both the mechanics of it — he knows a lot about ratings and lighting, and producing and guest booking,” Carlson said on “The Jamie Weinstein Show.”

Trump was the executive producer and star of the highly rated reality show “The Apprentice,” and has tweeted about cable news throughout his campaign and presidency. However, Trump claimed in a July tweet, “I have very little time for watching T.V.”

Carlson told Weinstein that Trump “believes that television is a pretty clear window into what people care about.”

And keep in mind that Trump is (or at least was) a television producer.

I’D BUY THAT FOR A DOLLAR: The Publisher of Rolling Stone Magazine Could Be Putting It Up for Sale.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Ideology unbound.

Imprisoned by their own imperatives they arrive at policy positions — such as limits on free speech — which they regard as “settled” even though hundreds of millions may not even know what they are talking about. This insidious process of begging the question is typical of totalitarian propaganda which made abundant use of expressions like “undeniably”, “unquestionably” or as “everyone knows” or their more modern equivalents like as “all decent people agree …”, “the science is settled” or “this is not who we are” to assume what must otherwise be proved. But it nevertheless compels obedience like a herd driving itself along.

This has the effect of positing a consensus which in fact may not exist. The inevitable outcome of a “national conversation” is conflict declared upon a population that may never have heard of the casus belli before. But it does more than that. In many cases it also creates its own anti-universe. The paradox Ben Shapiro represents is that he as an entity should not exist but inexplicably does. Yet he exists because he must. Many of most of the monstrous figures that make progressives physically sick have their origin stories in the framing of the narrative itself.

One of the most unsettling effects of the Left’s inward journeys is how it can instantly redefine everyone else. A population, for example, can go to uneventful sleep and awaken the next day to find the papers proclaiming they’ve been afflicted with cisnormativity or some other disorder, in a process not unlike how Kafka’s Gregor Samsa became a giant cockroach. Overnight there are suddenly 71 genders.

Read the whole thing.

‘I DID THE BEST I COULD’: Chelsea Manning hits back at traitor accusations.

Accusations? Manning was found guilty and convicted of violating the Espionage Act, stealing government property, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, multiple counts of disobeying orders.

THE 21ST CENTURY IS NOT TURNING OUT THE WAY I HAD HOPED: ‘Mad Pooper’ wanted by Colorado Springs police.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Weird Food for Sale in Venezuela But Nothing That Anyone Wants.

Walk into a Caracas bakery these days and you’ll find a wide variety of freshly-made breads on shelves that were barren a year ago. You can buy a fat, dense loaf called the gallego, or a soft sobado, or a campesino for sandwiches, even a sweet andino lined with guava jam or corn or fruit.

What you won’t find, though, is the one that Venezuelans actually want: the canilla, a soft, buttery take on the baguette that’s been the beloved bread of choice in this South American country for decades.

Why no canillas? Because its price, unlike for all those other loaves, is controlled by the government. And it is set at such a low level — 1,500 bolivars versus the 4,500 to 7,500 a gallego commands — that bakers complain it doesn’t come close to covering their costs. So they use new-found supplies of wheat in the country to bake every other kind of bread imaginable.

“Let them eat cake,” indeed.

THIRD NIGHT OF VIOLENT PROTESTS: St. Louis County Police Officers Get Sprayed with Unknown Chemical.

BAILOUT NATION: Senators near deal to stabilize ObamaCare markets.

BETSY MACCAUGHEY: How BernieCare slams working people.

If Sanders has his way, 180 million Americans who currently have private coverage would have it ripped away and be automatically enrolled in public insurance.

Kids would be enrolled at birth.

Medicare for All doesn’t just offer government health insurance to the needy. It makes private coverage illegal, including the health coverage you get at your job. Employers are prohibited from covering workers, retirees and their families.

Sanders’ bill raises a critical question: If you’re seriously ill, will you be able to get the care you need?

BernieCare guarantees you hospital care, doctors’ visits, dental and vision care, mental health and even long-term care, all courtesy of Uncle Sam. Amazing, right? But read the fine print. You’ll get care only if it’s “medically necessary” and “appropriate.” Government bureaucrats will decide, and they’ll be under pressure to cut spending.

“Single payer,” as I never tire of reminding people, is code for “single decider.”

BUT OF COURSE: Father of the Constitution Blacklisted in Dallas on Eve of Constitution Day.

TRUCK DRIVER: ‘Overregulation’ Means Government Literally Deciding When I Work, Eat, And Sleep.

Unless you own a business, when you hear pundits and politicians drone on about “overregulation,” the notion probably goes in one ear and out the other. But being a truck driver is similar to owning your own business. So next time you hear your Senator or your favorite radio show host decry government regulation and oversight, let me give you an idea of what “overregulation” looks like on the ground.

For starters, let’s talk “logs” and “hours of service.” While you’re only fighting one clock on your morning commute, a truck driver is fighting five clocks. Like you, he’s fighting real time. You have to be at work by 9:00 a.m., and he has a 9 o’clock appointment at the local distribution center. It’s 8:45 and I-40 is a parking lot. In addition to this, he has four other clocks to worry about: the “eight-hour break” clock, his “14-hour on-duty, not driving” clock, the “11-hour on-duty, driving” clock, and the “70-hour weekly on-duty” clock. For simplicity, I will call each of these the “eight,” the “14,” the “11,” and the “70.”

Now I’ll explain what’s known in the transportation industry as the “Hours of Service” regulations. The Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCA) requires drivers to log everything they do, where they did it, the duration of the task, and when the specific tasks were done. The biggest principle to keep in mind is that when any one of the “clocks” runs out, you can no longer drive legally. Once you start the clock by going on-duty, you have eight hours before you must stop driving and take a 30-minute break.

Also, once you start your clock, you have now started a nonstop 14-hour window in which you must get all the driving done you need to for that day. If you get stuck at a shipper for three hours, you now have only 10 hours to drive. Which brings us to your “11”: In any given 14-hour on-duty period, you are only allowed to drive legally for 11 hours within that 14-hour period. In addition, in any eight-day period, you are only allowed to be on-duty (not driving and driving) for a total of 70 hours. Hence, your “70.” (This week, I made it back home with only one hour on my 70… I was cutting it close.)

Read the whole thing — and keep it in mind the next time somebody bemoans or brags about Jimmy Carter deregulating the trucking industry.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Is the EU Anywhere Near Getting Its Own Army?

In truth, EU member states and especially the so-called “big three” – France, Germany and the UK – would have to be fully committed to the project politically. They would also have to strategically reconfigure everything from defence budgets to capabilities to chains of commands to align with the goal of an EU army. There are absolutely no signs of this transpiring in the near future – and not just because the UK has been the traditional foot-dragger.

It is no secret that the UK has been a reluctant champion of the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) for some time. Yet for different reasons and in different ways, France and Germany have also been less than willing to invest much more than rhetoric to the D in CSDP of late too, never mind to a full-blown EU army.

France – historically the traditional advocate of European defence – has lost confidence in her EU partners due to their reluctance to commit to EU operations. And although a general promoter of multilateralism, Germany still sidesteps the issue of how and when to use force in response to the threats it identifies.

Let’s assume for a moment that all these issues were settled advantageously, and that an EU army was indeed created. But then try to imagine how effective that force would actually be, micromanaged on virtually everything by bureaucrats in Brussels.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: St. Louis Riots, McMaster Chats, Another O-Care Repeal Attempt and Much, Much More.

HMM: Facebook Gave Special Counsel Robert Mueller More Details on Russian Ad Buys Than Congress.

Facebook Inc. FB 0.40% has handed over to special counsel Robert Mueller detailed records about the Russian ad purchases on its platform that go beyond what the company shared with Congress last week, according to people familiar with the matter.

The information Facebook shared with Mr. Mueller included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used, the people familiar with the matter said. Facebook policy dictates it would only turn over “the stored contents of any account,” including messages and location information, in response to a search warrant, some of them said.

A search warrant from Mr. Mueller would mean the special counsel now has a powerful tool to probe the details of how social media was used as part of a campaign of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Russia has denied any interference in the election.

That story is behind the WSJ paywall, but Natasha Bertrand’s analysis for Business Insider isn’t:

Legal experts say the revelation has enormous implications for the trajectory of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election interference, and whether Moscow had any help from President Donald Trump’s campaign team.

“This is big news — and potentially bad news for the Russian election interference ‘deniers,'” said Asha Rangappa, a former FBI counterintelligence agent.

Rangappa, now an associate dean at Yale Law School, explained that to obtain a search warrant a prosecutor needs to prove to a judge that there is reason to believe a crime has been committed. The prosecutor then has to show that the information being sought will provide evidence of that crime.

Mueller would not have sought a warrant targeting Facebook as a company, Rangappa noted. Rather, he would have been interested in learning more about specific accounts.

“The key here, though, is that Mueller clearly already has enough information on these accounts — and their link to a potential crime to justify forcing [Facebook] to give up the info,” she said. “That means that he has uncovered a great deal of evidence through other avenues of Russian election interference.”

It also means that Mueller is no longer looking at Russia’s election interference from a strict counterintelligence standpoint — rather, he now believes he may be able to obtain enough evidence to charge specific foreign entities with a crime.

If foreigners are buying political ads, we need to know about it. It would also be useful to know just how much foreign money Barack Obama illegally accepted in 2008 and 2012, and what protections we can take in the future against such meddling.

SCENES FROM ACADEMIA: A Campus Conservative’s Year Facing Anger, Doxing and Intimidation.

The University of Minnesota did call for a “Campus Climate” conversation about the recent controversial events, but this, too, devolved into chaos. About 15 minutes into the event, more than 200 protesters came into the room chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, racism has got to go,” surrounding those students who had come to the event to engage in a civil conversation.

The protesters took over the stage as the student body president stood at the front of the room with her fist in the air, leading the chants. Students took turns lamenting how their feelings were hurt, how writing “Build the Wall” amounts to hate speech, and how they want to be included in conversations on campus. At the end of the event, one of the protesters stood on stage and asked the crowd if any College Republicans had attended. Madison stood up and raised her hand.

When the “event” ended, she was swarmed by the mob. “They were completely surrounding me; I was unable to leave the event. They were screaming in my face calling me racist, xenophobic, and other unmentionable names. They were aggressive, and I just wanted to get out safely,” said Madison. “One girl was holding another girl back saying, ‘She’s not worth it. Don’t hit her.’”
Later in the year, the radical left struck her again. Madison runs the University of Minnesota’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a nonpartisan group that promotes fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government. Members of the loosely organized far-left militant group Antifa targeted her for promoting capitalism on campus, posting online her address, phone number, parent’s address, parent’s phone number, a photo of her, and a reference to her as an alt-right Nazi.

“I endured a lot of violent threats throughout the year, but Antifa’s attack was the scariest.”

“Shut up, they explained” has gone from humorous Instapundit literary reference to the current condition of free speech on campus.

CLINTON-ERA CIA CHIEF: Regime Change Through ‘Decapitation’ Would be Wrong North Korea Strategy. “Each UN Security Council resolution levied against North Korea is an incremental improvement in weakening Kim, expert tells House.”

What would we do without the experts who spent 20 years getting us into this mess?