HOUSE OF WAR: Why Europe Can’t Find The Jihadis In Its Midst. Mitch Prothero reports how “A small, well-organized ISIS cell has been at work in the heart of Europe for years, recruiting criminals, exploiting freedom of movement, and evading counterterrorism efforts.”

More:

Since 2010, the Belgian and French authorities have been faced with a jihadist problem both more entrenched at home and more deeply interconnected to the international scene than had been previously understood. After last November’s attack on Paris, in which 130 people were killed, the full extent of the problem — not just for Belgium and France, but for the European Union — become tragically clear: An international network has exploited inherent security weaknesses of the EU’s open borders and brought French-speaking militants from Europe into the forefront of international terrorism. Between 2011 and the end of 2015, an estimated 12,000 people from 81 countries joined ISIS in Syria and Iraq, including 1,700 French and almost 500 Belgian residents, according to a comprehensive study of foreign fighters by the Soufan Group. The French S list — a database of suspected extremists and security threats — has grown to nearly 10,000 people, and those are only the people who have been identified.

ISIS militants threaten Europe with a wave of violence not seen since the heyday of 1970s political terrorism, and it appears to have the potential to be far more deadly. Previous terror campaigns led by Ireland’s IRA, Spain’s ETA, and Italy’s Red Brigades tended to have national aspirations and couldn’t exploit total freedom of movement between European countries.

Read the whole thing.

PIVOT: Why Louisiana governor says Trump’s visit was ‘helpful’

The visit, and the accompanying press coverage, were beneficial in drawing attention to the situation in Louisiana, Gov. Edwards said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, also noting his appreciation for a “good phone call” with vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, whom Edwards described as “sincere and genuine.”

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has faced criticism from some for not yet visiting Louisiana, instead finishing out a family vacation to Martha’s Vineyard. (Governor Edwards has defended the president, saying that the White House offered to visit but the state told them to hold off until the immediate response phase was finished.) The president is scheduled to visit Louisiana next week.

Next week?

RESET: Battles rage in East Ukraine.

Anxious Ukrainian soldiers watched a burning building where vehicles have been destroyed. The footage released by Ukraine’s Defence Ministry claimed to show the aftermath of recent shelling by Russian-backed separatists. Since Friday at least two soldiers were reportedly killed, and eight wounded.

Additionally, several civilians were injured. Yet, the shelling here on the outskirts of rebel controlled Donetsk has made it more difficult to treat and rescue injured people suggested a soldier. “Sadly, they hit directly a Ukrainian medical battalion car,” he said while watching the burning building under cover of darkness.

“The fire and the flames spread to our car given to us by volunteers to help the guys. Now I have no idea how we will move around.”

Fighting is also reported at Shyrokyne, along the road to Maripol, which controls land access between Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea.

SURGE: GOP winning registration race in key states.

Trump’s poll numbers remain dire, but he can point to at least one ray of hope for a turnaround: Republicans have continued gaining ground in recent months in voter registration in Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Iowa, while the late surge in Democratic registrations relative to Republican registrations that occurred in battleground states the final months of the 2012 election had not materialized in numbers released in early August.

“The atmospherics of voter registration trends in those states do not point to a strong Democratic year, so that’s one negative the Trump campaign does not have to deal with at this point,” said Louisiana pollster John Couvillon, who added that spikes in registration can add a point or two to a candidate’s vote share in a close race. “The voter registration data I’m seeing does not support the idea of a surge in Democratic voter enthusiasm.”

Hillary Clinton didn’t generate much enthusiasm outside of her core supporters in 2008, and that was before her self-inflicted email wounds.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: What happens if you drop dry ice into slime?

WATER? I NEVER TOUCH THE STUFF. Baker Brothers Switch From Bottling Water To Bottling Bourbon.

Vodka and gin, too.

EUBILLICANT: A Bad Lip Reading of the Democratic National Convention.

BURNING UP THE QUARTER MILE: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes.

SHARPER, PLEASE: New telescopes poised to unlock the universe.

For the Giant Magellan Telescope Organisation, a remote site in Chile, far from the ambient light of human habitation, will be home to the first of a new generation of extremely large telescopes. These optical telescopes will be far larger than anything we’ve seen to date.

With a diameter of 24.5 metres (80 feet) and a collecting area of 368 square metres (3,961 square feet), the GMT will open a new era of optical astronomy, able to capture images 10 times sharper than those of the Hubble Space Telescope. It’s the culmination of decades, if not centuries, of astronomical technology.

GMT is just one of three amazing new telescopes — optical, radio, and orbital — about to see “first light.”

Read the whole thing.

WALMART DIET: Man drops 300 pounds by walking mile to buy food.

An Arizona man dropped more than 300 pounds — by walking a mile to Walmart to buy his food every time he got hungry.

“You walk to Walmart three times a day and you end up walking six miles,” said 31-year-old Pasquale “Pat” Brocco, who three years ago, weighed a gargantuan 605 pounds. “It’s amazing because I never walked six miles in my life and I was doing it every day.”

He also threw out “junk food and dairy in favor of vegetables, brown rice, quinoa, steel cut oatmeal and lean meats.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Bill Plagiarizes Hill’s Cookie Recipe In ‘First Lady’ Cookie Contest.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: This Week in Clinton Corruption for August 19, 2016.

You’re gonna need a bigger week.

THAT’S NOT FUNNY: Comedian Fined $42,000 by Human Rights Tribunal for Telling a Joke.

These are Heinlein’s Crazy Years — we just live in them.

JOE SAUNDERS: 2 Of The Biggest Names In Media Just Spilled The Beans…Trump Was Absolutely Right.

There’s more than one way to rig an election.

With the pack-mentality newshounds in the American media baying for Donald Trump’s blood during the dog days of August, the sheer brazenness of the mainstream’s efforts to carry Hillary Clinton to victory in the November general election is passing all bounds.

And partisans passing themselves off as journalists are barely pretending anymore.

The column focuses on Chris Cuomo and Jorge Ramos, but if you think of most any of them as Democratic operatives with bylines, you won’t go wrong.

IT’S WORSE THAN YOU KNOW: Dehumanization and Murder in Assad’s Prisons.

KNOWN WOLF ALERT: Man Who Stabbed Rabbi In Strasbourg Shouting ‘Allahu Akhbar’ Involved in Prior Stabbing.

PIVOT: Manafort Out after Trump Campaign Shake-Up.

WELL, SHE SHOULD BE: Merkel under pressure over 43,000 Islamist lunatics on the loose.

SMALL WARS JOURNAL: Explaining the Obama Administration Overlooking Iran’s Cheating on the Nuke Deal.

There might be good reasons for the administration officials to overlook the facts. First, a public acknowledgement of Iran’s cheatings would unravel the agreement. Second, the unraveling of the agreement would result in Iran expelling the IAEA inspectors and expedite the nuclear weapons program. There is not enough time to utilize economic sanctions to stop the break out. Clearly, the Obama administration lacks credibility in making threats of military strikes after the administration’s refusal to enforce its red lines when Assad used chemical bombs against civilians. With the evaporation of Obama’s military deterrence, the actual use of military strikes is the only option left to stop Iran’s nuclear bomb, an option President Obama does not wish to use. Thus, by ignoring Iran’s violations, it is hoped that Iran would proceed slowly which would allow the Obama administration to postpone a forceful response to the next president. The next president’s threat of force might be the only option other than actual military strikes to convince Ayatollah Khamenei to stop going nuclear.

President Obama made a huge gamble. The evidence clearly shows that he lost the gamble.

I’ve been forced to conclude that a nuclear-armed Iran, welcomed back into the “community of nations,” may be exactly what Obama wanted all along.

CHANGE: Clinton Foundation to Limit Foreign Donations if Hillary Wins Presidency.

And a reminder from last year:

The Federalist looked at the Clinton Foundation’s IRS filings for the period between 2008 and 2012. According to its analysis, only 15 percent of the $500 million raised during that span when towards grants for other organizations.

Nearly $110 million was paid out in the form of salaries and benefits while $25 million went towards travel expenses. Almost 60 percent of the organization’s disclosed revenue — or $290 million — was listed under the category of “other expenses.”

That pattern continued into 2013, The Post notes. Of the $140 million in money the Clinton Foundation received in 2013, only $9 million was given out as charity to other groups.

In general, groups that monitor charities’ activities say a good charity spends at least 75 percent of its income on causes related to its core mission.

Limiting foreign donations won’t fix what’s wrong with the Clinton Foundation.

GLUT: Even Warning of Full-Out War in Ukraine Can’t Faze Gas Traders.

Cheap energy doesn’t just hit Putin right in the coffers, it also reduces his ability to economically blackmail western Europe.

WELCOME TO POST-KEMALIST TURKEY: Dozens of Turkey academics held in post-coup crackdown.

Turkish prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 84 academics nationwide, the private Dogan news agency reported, while the state-run Anadolu agency said Istanbul authorities were separately hunting 62 academics from the city’s main university.

A total of 74 scholars had been detained so far in both operations, media said.

A large majority of the suspects in the nationwide raids were from Selcuk University in Konya, central Anatolia — a conservative bastion of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) — including the university’s former rector, Professor Hakki Gokbel.

It wasn’t a failed coup; it’s a successful purge.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Crony Capitalism is a Feature (Not a Bug) of Obamacare.

A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study estimates that 664 counties will only feature one single insurer on Obamacare exchanges in 2017. In 2016, it was 225. Four entire states will have only one Obamacare insurer. In one Arizona county, there may be none. Since Obamacare, in effect, solidified in-state insurance cartels, the exchanges are starting to look very much the same. But opening markets up across state (and national) lines is a silly idea, I bet.

At first, Aetna denied that its move was connected to the Justice Department’s merger decision. Even in the most generous reading, this turns out not to be exactly true. At The Huffington Post, Jonathan Cohn and Jeffery Young have gotten their hands on a letter from Aetna’s CEO that critics seem to believe catches Aetna threatening the administration.

The correspondence has gotten Democrats very agitated, even though their policies are creating the problem.

“Free markets” will take the blame for ObamaCare’s failures, because the only Progressive cure for crony capitalism is fatter cronies.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER:

Trump runs first general election ad.

NEW: @realDonaldTrump's first general election ad. Hits Clinton on "rigged system," touts Trump on immigration –> pic.twitter.com/oJrKgQIH8o

— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) August 19, 2016

ANALYSIS: NOT EVEN CLOSE. Clinton: I followed Colin Powell’s advice on personal email.

Here’s how closely Clinton followed Powell’s example.

Clinton vs. Powell's use of email pic.twitter.com/KtRklq3KUm

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 19, 2016