THIS DEAL KEEPS GETTING WORSE ALL THE TIME: There’s Still a Lot We Don’t Know About the Iran Deal.

GOOD FENCES: UK to build ‘big new wall’ in Calais to stop migrants.

The four-meter (13 foot) high wall is part of a £17 million ($23 million) deal struck between Britain and France earlier this year to try to block migrants from crossing the English Channel.

“We’ve done the fence. Now we’re doing a wall,” British Immigration Minister Robert Goodwill announced at a government hearing on Tuesday.

It is the latest attempt to enhance border security in Calais, home to a controversial makeshift camp known as “The Jungle,” where thousands of displaced people live in squalid conditions.

The camp is notorious for being a major transit point for migrants, who often hop onto the back of UK-bound cargo trucks in the hopes of entering the country illegally. Many in “The Jungle” are reluctant to register as refugees in France because their preferred destination is Britain.

When the Chunnel was under construction, I was only half-kidding when I asked Brits how many explosives they had rigged on their side of it.

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: Donald Trump’s Adviser Explains His Real Economic Plan.

For starters, [Trump senior economic advisor Stephen] Moore said, major cabinet-level agencies should be eliminated. Walton asked him specifically about eliminating the departments of Commerce, Education and Energy. Together, these agencies employ an estimated 150,000 people, and they oversee things ranging from nuclear security to federal student loans to the U.S. patent system.

“I’m going to press as hard as possible to [eliminate the agencies],” Moore said. “We’re putting a budget together right now that is going to not only pay for the tax cut, but balance the budget in six or seven years. And to do that, you’ve got to make very significant cuts in those kinds of programs.

“I mean, my God, why do we need an Energy Department?” Moore asked, semi-exasperated. “All the Energy Department has done in the last 25 years is make energy prices more expensive!”

“Get the hell out of my way!” as another reformer once said.

SIGN “O” THE TIMES: World stocks hit one-year highs as Fed hike prospects fade.

I’m so old I remember when stocks rose on strong economic news.

THAT’S GONNA LEAVE A MARK: Texas jury slams SEIU with $5M in damages.

How often do you see a labor union get taken to court over their shady, strong-arm tactics and actually be held to task? If your answer was never then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was dragged before a jury in Houston this summer and accused of waging a smear campaign designed to “kill” a cleaning company because they wouldn’t let them organize their workers based on a secret ballot. The decision is now in and the SEIU has been ordered to pay damages in excess of five million dollars.

Don’t mess with Texas, but do read the whole thing.

GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Even Worse Than Hillary Clinton’s Emails — The civil service was missing in action.

The most disturbing aspect about the FBI dump may not be fresh evidence of another Clinton lie. The most disturbing thing about Mrs. Clinton’s continuing email drama may be where she’s telling the truth.

Or at least a half-truth. Mrs. Clinton told the FBI it was “common knowledge” at State that she used private email. Agents further quote her as saying she “could not recall anyone raising concerns with her regarding the sensitivity of the information she received at her email address.”

However unseemly the cashing in of the Clinton family, whatever the trampling of the ethics accord the Clinton Foundation had signed with the White House, even apart from the walking conflicts-of-interests that were Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, the much larger stink here is this: Mrs. Clinton was allowed to spend her four years as secretary of state off the grid.

Clinton’s sense of entitlement comes from her virtual entitlement.

SEMI-RETIRED PRESIDENT TALKS ABOUT HIS RETIREMENT: Obama Hints at Post-Presidency Plans During Laos Visit.

Continuing his historic trip to Laos, where he’s the first American president to visit, Obama shed new light on his agenda after he leaves office, discussing some of the goals of his presidential center, as well as future work for first lady Michelle Obama.

“In my own work as an ex-president I’m hoping to continue working with young people through my presidential center,” Obama said during a Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative town hall meeting at Souphanouvong University in Luang Prabang, Laos. “And so one of the components I’ve discussed with my team is how I can continue to interact with the YSEALI alumni and we can share ideas and I can continue to meet with you and we can work on projects together.”

You can be sure that no matter what the Obamas decide to do after they leave the White House, it will prove highly lucrative.

ELAN KRIEGEL, HILLARY CLINTON’S INVISIBLE GUIDING HAND: Meet the little-known, highly paid statistician masterminding the Democratic candidate’s campaign strategy.

When Clinton operatives talk about their “data-based” campaign, it’s invariably Kriegel’s data, and perhaps more importantly his models interpreting that data, they are talking about. It was an algorithm from Kriegel’s shop — unreported until now — that determined, after the opening states, where almost every dollar of Clinton’s more than $60 million in television ads was spent during the primary.

The tool bypassed the expertise and instincts of her traditional media buyers by calculating the “cost per flippable delegate,” in the words of one senior Clinton official, and then spat out what states, television markets, networks and shows to buy. Obama veterans were wowed by its advancement; internally, some Clintonites saw it as their secret weapon in building an insurmountable delegate lead over Bernie Sanders.

Now, with Donald Trump investing virtually nothing in data analytics during the primary and little since, Kriegel’s work isn’t just powering Clinton’s campaign, it is providing her a crucial tactical advantage in the campaign’s final stretch. It’s one of the reasons her team is confident that, even if the race tightens as November approaches, they hold a distinctive edge. As millions of phone calls are made, doors knocked and ads aired in the next nine weeks, it is far likelier the Democratic voter contacts will reach the best and most receptive audiences than the Republican ones.

If Big Data can propel a weak candidate with an aversion to truthfulness like Hillary Clinton to victory, then it has already become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

BUT OF COURSE: Obama’s Pivot to Asia Fails to Deter China.

All of this is to say that despite the patient work the Obama administration has done in building Asian alliances, it has yet to turn this diplomacy into a policy that actually deters China. This point was driven home during the G20 summit, when Chinese boats were spotted at Scarborough Shoal, another waterway claimed by the Philippines where the U.S. has warned China not to stake out more artificial islands.

There are many reasons China has not been deterred, but one of them is likely that Xi took the measure of Obama when he shirked his own “red line” in Syria back in 2013 after evidence showed the Bashar al-Assad regime had gassed its own people.

Obama speaks loudly and carries no stick.

There’s more discussion of the President’s bogus journey at BillWhittle.com.

WELL, IT IS TEAM USA: Team USA Hockey Coach Will Bench Any Player Protesting the National Anthem.

WE’RE ALL TERROR-SPONSORING STATES NOW: U.S. Transferred $1.3 Billion More in Cash to Iran After Initial Payment.

The cash payments—made in Swiss francs, euros and other currencies—settled a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal dating back to 1979. U.S. officials have acknowledged the payment of the first $400 million coincided with Iran’s release of American prisoners and was used as leverage to ensure they were flown out of Tehran’s Mehrabad on the morning of Jan. 17.

The revelations come as Congress returns from a summer recess with Republicans vowing to pursue charges that the White House paid ransom to Tehran, a charge President Barack Obama has repeatedly rejected. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would bar such payments to Iran in the future and seeks to reclaim the $1.7 billion for victims of Iranian-backed terrorism.

The arms deal “failed” because the government we had signed it with ceased to exist, toppled by the Ayatollah Khomeini — whose supporters attacked the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: NRA endorses Democrat Koster, not Republican, for Missouri governor.

The NRA’s political action committee cited Koster’s record as a state senator and attorney general, including his support of a sweeping bill to expand gun rights that Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed this year. The gun rights group also highlighted that Koster supported a concealed guns law in 2003 when he was a state senator, as well as a more recent constitutional amendment aimed at making gun-control restrictions subject to strict legal scrutiny.

“Chris Koster has never wavered from his Second Amendment beliefs. For over 17 years, he has fought to preserve the constitutional rights of law-abiding Missourians,” PAC chairman Chris W. Cox said in an email.

But his Republican opponent:

[Eric] Greitens is a former Democrat and first-time GOP candidate who’s touted his military service and gun rights support. In one of his most attention-grabbing campaign ads, he shoots a big gun and causes a fiery explosion.

Missourians are fortunate that no matter who wins in November, their next governor will be much stronger on the 2nd Amendment than Jay Nixon.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Fox News ‘Has Not Felt Like Home … For Years’

IT’S PROBABLY NOTHING: ‘More will come’ ISIS warns HUNDREDS of jihadis have SNUCK into Schengen to attack Europe.

VOTER FRAUDSKI: More circumstantial evidence suggests Russian-backed actors targeted state election boards.

THANKS, FRACKERS! Oil Slips Toward $47 as Hopes for Producer Action Fade.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers such as Russia will hold informal talks in Algeria on Sept. 26-28. Others in the market are skeptical a deal will happen.

“The two nations’ cooperation is understandable,” said Kaname Gokon, a strategist with Okato Shoji Co Ltd.

“But when oil output is reduced, other producers would receive the benefit. There is still a question whether they can cut production for a sustainable period.”

Iran, which is raising exports after the lifting of Western sanctions in January, refused to participate in the earlier effort to freeze output. Saudi Arabia insisted all producers take part, prompting the collapse of the talks.

There’s really nothing quite so satisfying as watching Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia fight over a shrinking pie.

SCENES FROM RAHM EMANUEL’S CHICAGO: 31 shot, 9 fatally, over 21 hour period Monday into Tuesday.

Good lord.

WELL, GOOD: Pentagon is worrying about ‘Terminator’ coming true.

“We have to be very careful that we don’t design [autonomous] systems in a way that we can create a situation where those systems actually absolve humans of the decision” about whether or not to use force, General Selva said. “We could get dangerously close to that line, and we owe it to ourselves and to the people we serve to keep that a very bright line.”

At the same time, “The notion of a completely robotic system that can make a decision about whether or not to inflict harm on an adversary is here,” he added in remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Monday. “It’s not terribly refined, not terribly good. But it’s here.”

This leaves top Pentagon officials to confront what they call the “Terminator conundrum,” and how to handle it.

Soon we’ll have robots building robots for destroying robots.

COUGH, COUGH: Ethics wall between State, Clinton Foundation didn’t extend to staff.

While Clinton had signed an ethics agreement to largely remove herself from issues involving her family’s foundation after she became the nation’s top diplomat in 2009, the document did not apply to her aides at the State Department.

“I’m . . . scratching my head about why people inside the State Department didn’t think it was a good idea to insulate senior officials and their staff from any Clinton Foundation activities,” said Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight. “Restrictions applied to Hillary, but those restrictions should have applied to other officials too.”

That’s a real head-scratcher, all right.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Amid Growing Debate About Homework, One School Bans It.

MASSIVE, 50-STATE PRESIDENTIAL POLL OF 74,000 REGISTERED VOTERS: Redrawing the electoral map.

Libertarian candiate Gary Johnson scores unprecedented double digits in 42 states.

COUGH, COUGH: Bill Shouldn’t Step Down From Foundation Until After I Win.

The Democratic nominee for president said “I don’t think there are conflicts of interest” with having her spouse, former President Bill Clinton, run a foundation which takes money from wealthy individuals and organizations from around the world even as she runs for the highest office in the land.

“I know that that’s what has been alleged and never proven,” she said. “But nevertheless, I take it seriously.”

What voters may be tiring of most is that whenever Clinton is speaking about anything substantive, she sounds like a defense attorney for the mob.

WELL, GOOD: Turkey Ejects Islamic State Forces From Segment of Syrian Border.

The breakthrough victory deprives Islamic State of direct access to the areas that had been vital to its ability to resupply itself with foreign fighters and bomb-making materials. Losing access to that stretch of the border will likely make it harder for the group to preserve its self-declared caliphate and export terrorism around the world.

But:

Turkey and the U.S. have accused Syrian Kurdish fighters of breaking promises not to seize more land along the border area. Turkey views those Kurdish militias as an offshoot of its own Kurdish insurgent group—the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK—and fears the Syrian Kurds want to create an autonomous Kurdish state in the border region.

Syria remains a multinational powderkeg.

SHOT:

CHASER: “Who Is He To Confront Me?” – Philippines President Unloads On “Son Of A Bitch” Barack Obama.

HANGOVER: Xi Jinping outplays US as Barack Obama makes last official tour of Asia.

But the G20 meeting in Hangzhou also demonstrates how much the balance of power has turned in China’s direction during the nearly eight years of an Obama presidency. The supposed US “pivot” to Asia has not altered that national momentum. Nor will the lengthy communiqués that came out of this meeting.

For all his talk of peace, President Xi Jinping shows no signs of stepping back in any way from his determination to take aggressive action to expand China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. The US under Obama shows no sign of being able to restrain that no matter how many freedom-of-navigation exercises it carries out or stern statements it issues.

Instead China’s militarisation of the various atolls and rocks and islands will inevitably continue, as will its push to extend its influence via investment and trade initiatives like “One Belt, One Road” and the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank.

Obama’s successor is going to inherit quite a mess.

ASIA PIVOT: North Korea fires three ballistic missiles; China opposes THAAD.

The missiles were fired from areas around Hwangju county, in North Hwanghae province, towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s military said in a statement.

Officials said the launch was believed to be of mid-range Rodong missiles, and flew about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) “without giving any prior navigational warning.”

It comes just under two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

That missile entered Japan’s air defense identification zone, the first time that has happened. Monday’s launch also fired missiles into the Japanese defense zone, again without warning.

THAAD is the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile missile, designed to shoot down missiles like North Korea’s, and which Japan and South Korea have expressed interest in hosting on their territories. Beijing says THAAD deployment would harm “China’s legitimate national security interests,” even though it is a strictly defensive system.