REASON RETURNS TO THE LAND OF LINCOLN: Illinois Legislature Passes Asset Forfeiture Reform.

The vote came on the heels of an investigative report from Reason earlier this month showing lower-income neighborhoods of Chicago were hit hardest by asset forfeiture.

Reason’s report, analyzing more than 23,000 property seizures over the last five years, was cited by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in a letter to the Chicago Tribune Saturday urging Republican Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign the bill into law. Foxx wrote that civil asset forfeiture’s disproportionate impact on poor and minority communities was an “injustice.”

The bill, approved unanimously in the state senate and with only one dissenting vote in the house, would raise the standard of evidence for forfeitures from probable cause to a preponderance of evidence and bar seizures under $500 in many drug cases.

It would also abolish a requirement of residents challenging seizures that they pay a 10 percent bond on the estimated value of their property to file a petition, and expedite hearings for owners claiming innocence.

Kudos to the Illinois legislature and to Reason’s C.J. Ciaramella.

SQUANDERED CAPITAL: What happens when news organizations become entertainment divisions.

OMINOUS PARALLELS? Why Germany Is Once Again a Threat to the West.

Nikolaas de Jong:

It is important to point out that the popular image both of Angela Merkel and of modern Germany is deeply flawed. Because far from representing a negation — or a misguided attempt at negation — of past German policies and attitudes, the modern German mentality is in many ways a mutation or an update of the same mentality that has guided Germany since the eighteenth century, and especially since the unification of the country in 1870.

Let us begin with the more obvious parallel: German support for further European integration. Despite all the German talk about subordinating narrow national interests to the European project, careful observers must have noticed the coincidence that the Germans always see themselves as the leaders of this disinterested project, and that the measures deemed to be necessary for further European cooperation always seem to be German-made.

Are the Germans really such idealistic supporters of the European project? It is more probable that in reality they see the European Union as an ideal instrument to control the rest of Europe. Indeed, in 1997 the British author John Laughland wrote a book about this subject, The Tainted Source: the Undemocratic Origins of the European Idea, which is still worth reading for anyone who wants understand what kind of organization the EU actually is.

Intersting piece — read the whole thing.

FASTER, PLEASE: Solar Costs Are Hitting Jaw-Dropping Lows in Every Region of the World.

How low can you go? Mind-blowingly low 65-cents-per-watt solar system pricing emerges in India.

This may sound a little repetitive, but it’s impossible to ignore: The decline in solar costs is not slowing down.

GTM Research expects a 27 percent drop in average global project prices by 2022, or about 4.4 percent each year. Those improvements are not limited to the U.S. They are occurring globally, and in some cases resulting in even sharper price declines than those America is experiencing.

Perhaps no commercial good adds more to human wealth, health, and happiness than cheap and abundant energy.

Well, except in California.

REPEAL REPLACE RESTORE: Club for Growth Attacks Senate Health Care Bill: ‘It Restores Obamacare’

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Dissident officer steals helicopter, fires shots and throws grenades on Venezuelan government buildings.

The chopper pilot was identified as Oscar Perez, an official with CICPC, Venezuela’s equivalent of the FBI. The helicopter belonged to the CICPC and was stolen from La Carlota air base in eastern Caracas.

Perez also flew a banner from the aircraft that read “350 Liberty,” a reference to a Venezuelan constitutional clause that gives citizens the right to ignore the commands of oppressive governments, a reference to the Maduro administration. The flyover was perhaps the most dramatic demonstration of discontent in a once prosperous nation racked by protests against a government opponents denounce and inept and corrupt.

After the incident, Maduro spoke to a group of journalists at Miraflores, the Venezuelan equivalent of the White House, saying the four grenades thrown from the helicopter could have caused dozens of injuries but apparently harmed no one. The government said 15 rounds were fired from the helicopter as well.

A futile gesture, but perhaps he will inspire others.

RIP: Michael Nyqvist, ‘Dragon Tattoo’ Star, Dies at 56.

What a shame. He was quite good.

TAKE MY SUBSIDIZED POWER — PLEASE! California invested heavily in solar power. Now there’s so much that other states are sometimes paid to take it.

On 14 days during March, Arizona utilities got a gift from California: free solar power.

Well, actually better than free. California produced so much solar power on those days that it paid Arizona to take excess electricity its residents weren’t using to avoid overloading its own power lines.

It happened on eight days in January and nine in February as well. All told, those transactions helped save Arizona electricity customers millions of dollars this year, though grid operators declined to say exactly how much. And California also has paid other states to take power.

And this next bit is especially rich:

No single entity is in charge of energy policy in California. This has led to a two-track approach that has created an ever-increasing glut of power and is proving costly for electricity users. Rates have risen faster here than in the rest of the U.S., and Californians now pay about 50% more than the national average.

California has so much energy that no one can afford it, except for neighboring states who sometimes get paid to take it.

Free markets tend to self-correct problems like this — if they ever crop up in the first place. But California’s lunacy is mandated by law.

YOU CAN’T HOLD A PRESS CONFERENCE IN HERE, GENTLEMEN — THIS IS THE WAR ROOM! Liz Sheld has the latest from the White House — and much more — in today’s morning brief.

A BILLION HERE AND A BILLION THERE AND PRETTY SOON YOU’RE TALKING REAL MONEY: How Bad Is the Crisis in Illinois? It Has $14.6 Billion in Unpaid Bills.

Hospitals, doctors and dentists don’t get paid for hundreds of millions of dollars of patient care. Social-service agencies help fewer people. Public universities and the towns that surround them suffer. The state’s bond rating falls to near junk status. People move out.

A standoff in Illinois between Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic Speaker of the House Michael Madigan over spending and term limits has left Illinois without a budget for two years. State workers and some others are still getting paid because of court orders and other stopgap measures, but bills for many others are piling up.

The unpaid backlog is now $14.6 billion and growing. Illinois is even late paying its utilities bills to Springfield, its own capital city.

Bills that can’t be paid, won’t be.

DURANTY LIVES! The New York Times Shills for Communism — Again.

The scorpion stings the frog, every time.

FLEXIBILITY: Obama Choked on Russia Long Before the 2016 Election. “It’s no wonder Putin thought he could meddle in the U.S. He had gotten away with everything else he tried.”

Eli Lake:

Rather than asking why Obama didn’t do more to stop Russian meddling, the better question is why President Vladimir Putin thought he could get away with this interference in the first place. In every respect, the U.S. is more powerful than Russia. It has a much larger economy. Its military is superior. Its cyber capabilities are greater. Its diplomatic position is stronger. So why did Putin believe he could treat America like it was Estonia?

The answer is that Obama spent the first six years of his presidency turning a blind eye to Russian aggression. In his first term, Obama pursued a policy of “reset” with Moscow, even though he took office only five months after Russia had occupied two Georgian provinces in the summer of 2008. In the 2012 election, Obama mocked his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, for saying Russia posed a significant threat to U.S. interests. Throughout his presidency, Obama’s administration failed to respond to Russian cheating on arms-control agreements. His diplomacy to reach an agreement to temporarily suspend progress on Iran’s nuclear program made the U.S. reliant on Russian cooperation for Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement.

In the shadows, Russian spies targeted Americans abroad. As I reported in 2011 for the Washington Times, Russia’s intelligence services had stepped up this campaign of harassment during the reset.

Putin took the measure of Obama long before the “flexibility” of his second term, and found him wanting.

DOCTORS, LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE: Pediatricians, Experts Issue Hysterical Warnings Against Summertime Play.

BUT OF COURSE: Democratic Mayors Only Want Terrorists, Criminals to Conceal and Carry.

Dependency doesn’t just come in the form of money.

VIDEO: John McEnroe Doubles Down on His Anti-PC Comment About Serena Williams.

“Apologize for what?” the wise man once asked.

SERVICE LIFE: The U.S. Air Force’s Stealth F-22 Raptor Will Fly Until 2060.

I was in high school when the Air Force first challenged American aerospace firms to develop proposals for an “Advanced Tactical Fighter” to counter Soviet advances in aircraft and radar. I’ll be in my 90s when the last one is retired.

WINNING: Trump Claims Victory Over ‘Fake News CNN’ in Wake of Project Veritas Video. “What about the failing New York Times and the Washington Post?”

All in good time.

HMM: 2018 Defense Budget Defers Buildup for Austerity.

• President Trump’s defense budget would repair, not rebuild, the military. Worse, it lacks the investments necessary to allow a robust rebuilding effort to begin a year from now. The request represents a more muscular status quo at best.

• This budget continues a favored Washington tradition of investing in the immediate and long term while shortchanging the next three to 15 years. This “barbell” investment strategy emphasizes the conflicts of today and the wars of the distant future, while discounting the long bar of the medium term, wherein most strategic and military risk lies.

The entire report [PDF] is available here.

BUT THAT WAS THEN:

Sarah Palin was presented as a laughing stock for her talk about death panels. What will become of Bernie Sanders?

REPEAL APPEAL: Some GOPs Vow ‘No’ on Moving to Healthcare Vote After CBO Score Released.

A big difference between now and 2009-2010 is that Democrats were more than willing to suspend their disbelief for a CBO score obviously rigged by the leadership, but Republicans were apparently never that enthused about repeal.

DON’T BE EVIL: EU hammers Google with $2.7 billion antitrust fine for illegal search manipulation.

BE GRATEFUL FOR A PLEASANT TRIP: Man hit by bus as he crosses road – before dusting himself down and walking into pub.

UM… DON’T? Seattle’s Painful Lesson on the Road to a $15 Minimum Wage.

Megan McArdle:

Leading labor economist David Autor told the Washington Post that “This strikes me as a study that is likely to influence people,” saying the study is “very credible” and “sufficiently compelling in its design and statistical power that it can change minds.” In other words: if you thought it was settled science that raising the minimum wage is good for workers, be prepared to think again.

And particularly be prepared to rethink very high minimum wages, like those supported by the “Fight for $15” folks. For as the authors note, the first round of hikes had relatively small impacts, while the second round had huge ones, suggesting that the effects may be nonlinear. And that makes sense. Relatively few people in this country make the minimum wage, so a small increase doesn’t make that much difference to most workers, or most employers. But a large jump affects more people, and the wage increases are much bigger for the lowest-paid staffers. If you make $9 an hour, but generate $10.50 in revenue for your boss, a law that raises the wage to $10.45 may cause her to shrug and decide it’s easier to keep you on as long as she’s making something. But a wage that forces her to pay you far more than you bring in…. Continuing to employ you would just be bad business.

Bad luck, that.

TONI AIRAKSINEN: California University Hit With Lawsuit Alleging ‘Hostile Anti-Jewish Environment’

Why are progressive schools such cesspits of official antisemitism?

ROBERT POLLOCK: Let Consumers Repeal Obamacare.

What consumers need is the ability to shop for policies they can afford. Why not let young people, for example, buy inexpensive policies with high deductibles so that they are covered in case in case of accidents but pay out of pocket for routine care? And why should the 21st century health insurance system be broken up into 50 separate economies when efficiencies and convenience could be had by offering insurance options on a nationwide scale?

One easy way to make this happen is to create an Optional Federal Charter to regulate health insurance. Congress certainly has the power to do this under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. It could be placed under the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services, which would be tasked by Congress with writing simple rules that ensure the availability of low cost policies nationwide. There would be no coverage mandates and no rules governing the shape of policies such as limits on deductibles and co-pays. Insurers could still be required to cover those with pre-existing conditions and subsidies could still be offered to help those who need them.

The beauty of the Optional Federal Charter solution is that none of the existing rules governing state regulated insurance policies would have to change. Consumers would simply be offered a new choice: purchase a state regulated policy or a federally regulated policy.

States and insurance companies love having their little insurance fiefdoms, for the opportunities presented for corruption and graft.