TURKISH RESET: Turkey’s president heads to Russia amid improving ties.

Tuesday’s visit to St. Petersburg for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be Erdogan’s first foreign trip since the abortive July 15 putsch, in which a group of renegade Turkish military officers attempted to seize power using fighter jets, helicopters and tanks in a night of violence that left more than 270 people dead.

Both Turkey and Russia, which once described themselves as strategic partners, have been hurt by their roughly seven-month rupture in relations: Russia’s ban on the sale of package tours to Turkey and an agricultural import embargo dealt a painful blow to the Mediterranean country, while Moscow also paid a price as the spat shelved a much-touted Russian natural gas pipeline to Turkey and other lucrative projects.

So both Erdogan and Putin are interested in mending the rift and reviving economic and trade ties, a process that began in June following Ankara’s apology for shooting down the Russian plane, which had been running bombing sorties in neighboring Syria.

I’m still paranoid enough to wonder if Putin’s fingerprints aren’t somewhere on the failed “coup,” or that perhaps Moscow has been useful in providing intel and advice for Erdogan’s successful post-coup purge.

RESET: Ukraine on alert awaiting start of Russian army offensive.

“We’re expecting it at any time,” Lysenko said, answering a question about the possible aggravation of the conflict. Officials have noted the repositioning of equipment and the rotation of the military along the entire contact line from the enemy’s side, along with border crossings at uncontrolled sections.

“In the north of Crimea, Russian troops are also carrying out their maneuvers, and for a while the movement at checkpoints was suspended on the initiative of the Russian side. This means the occupiers are conducting their maneuvers, and we need to be aware that at any moment, at any hour, they can start a large or small-scale offensive,” Lysenko said.

Moscow’s window of opportunity likely closes on January 20, 2017.

CHANGE: Spooked by obesity trends, the U.S. military is redefining its basic fitness standards.

Pentagon officials intend to publish a new policy later this year, a document expected to have sweeping effects on how the military defines and measures health and fitness. The review comes amid rising concern about obesity. Among civilians, it is shrinking the pool of qualified prospective recruits. And in the active-duty force, a rising number of overweight troops poses risks to readiness and health care costs.

“You can look around and see all the soldiers that are pushing that belly,” said Dr. David Levitsky, a professor of nutritional science and human ecology at Cornell University who has studied military nutrition and obesity. “They have to do something about it.”

There’s worry that the current standards “are at the core of long-simmering controversies that pit questions of fairness against those of military readiness.”

Do we really want a military that’s interested in anything fair?

DON’T GIVE THEM ANY IDEAS: Electric Vehicles Don’t Have A Chance Unless Oil Prices Increase 1,000 Percent.

The batteries for electric vehicles cost, on average, about $325 per kWh, which means the price of oil would need to pitch upward by nearly 1,000 percent before Tesla’s auto fleet and the Nissan Leaf would be cheaper than gas-powered vehicles, researchers at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute noted in February.

The number are not likely to change much over the next few years, as oil traded at an average of $49 per barrel during 2015 and is currently trading at a paltry $39.51 a barrel.

“While alternative sources of energy and energy storage technologies have vastly improved, lowering costs, they still have a long way to go before they are cost competitive with fossil fuels,” Chris Knittel, co-author of the study and director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, said in a press statement announcing the study’s findings in February.

Battery improvements are always welcome, but they only store energy which still must be produced elsewhere.

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EASTASIA: NBC caught editing segment about Bill Clinton rape accuser.

The segment originally aired in May and was reported by Andrea Mitchell. The edit was noticed Tuesday by the conservative Washington Free Beacon website.

During the segment, Mitchell referred to Republican nominee Donald Trump bringing up old allegations against the former president by Juanita Broaddrick, who for decades has insisted she was raped by Clinton.

“During an interview last night with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, bringing up a discredited and long-denied accusation against former president Bill Clinton dating back to 1978 when he was Arkansas attorney general,” Mitchell said in the original segment.

The edited portion removes the words “a discredited and long-denied.”

I’ve given up trying to keep track of NBC’s ever-changing pravda.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Former CIA Op Evan McMullin to Launch Independent Presidential Bid.

IF YOU DON’T GIVE MORE MONEY, WE’LL SHOOT THIS DOG: Trump fundraising sets off Clinton camp alarms.

In an internal memo, first obtained by POLITICO, that will be circulated to high-level donors on Monday morning, campaign manager Robby Mook specifically writes that the Republican nominee’s July haul overshot the campaign’s expectations, necessitating a new wave of action.

“Donald Trump also had his best fundraising month of the campaign, raising $80 million,” explains Mook in the roughly 750-word missive — titled “Wake Up Call” — after trumpeting Clinton’s own $90 million haul between the campaign and other Democratic committees. “This was far more than anyone expected — and should be a wake-up call to all Hillary supporters. We must redouble our efforts in the coming weeks.”

Meh. All fundraising appeals are alarmist.

ROAD RAGE: Bill would ban motorists from drinking coffee and driving.

New Jersey already draws ire for not letting drivers pump their own gas. But the state might ban them from having a cup of coffee behind the wheel too.

A bill under consideration in the state Legislature calls to prohibit “any activity unrelated to the actual operation of a motor vehicle in a manner that interferes with the safe operation of the vehicle on a public road or highway.” That means no cup of coffee for those sitting in traffic, no munching on that breakfast burrito, no time to groom. (No, the law does not target coffee verbatim.)

Soon in the New Jersey workers’ paradise, everything not compulsory will be forbidden.

JOHN FUND: Democrats Dismiss Voter-Fraud Worries, but Reality Intrudes.

Three federal courts have thrown out voter-ID laws in North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin in recent days. Left-wing judges accepted spurious evidence that such laws were racially discriminatory, and they also insisted there is little voter fraud to worry about. Last April, United States District Judge Lynn Adelman of Wisconsin claimed that “virtually no voter impersonation occurs” in Wisconsin and that “no evidence suggests that voter-impersonation fraud will become a problem at any time in the foreseeable future.”

Despite such sweeping statements, polls show that the general public is worried about fraud and bureaucratic incompetence in voting. According to a Pew Research Center survey, only 31 percent of Americans were confident that “the votes across the country were accurately counted” in the 2012 election. Small wonder. A separate Pew survey in 2012 found that one out of eight voter registrations is inaccurate, out-of-date, or a duplicate. Some 2.8 million people are registered in two or more states, and 1.8 million registered voters are dead.

Read the whole thing.

FRACK YOU, TOO: Trump Boosts Anti-Fracking Measure, Upends Swing State Energy Fight.

In Colorado this week, the Republican nominee for president backed the language of an anti-fracking ballot measure under consideration, catching activists on both sides of the energy fight by surprise.

When reporter Brandon Rittiman asked Trump about the measures during his recent swing through Colorado Springs, Trump’s characteristically off-the-cuff answer put him on the side of environmental activists funded by prominent liberals Jared Polis and billionaire Tom Steyer who want to change the state constitution to allow municipalities to ban oil and gas exploration.

“Well, I’m in favor of fracking, but I think that voters should have a big say in it,” Trump told Rittiman. “I mean, there’s some areas, maybe, they don’t want to have fracking. And I think if the voters are voting for it, that’s up to them… If a municipality or a state wants to ban fracking, I can understand that.”

Between this and the “single payer” initiative, Colorado voters have a rare chance this November to destroy the economy of a great state in one fell swoop.

DOPE FIENDS: Russia’s Entire Paralympic Team Banned From Games for Doping.

Is there anything at which the Russians won’t cheat?

CHANGE: On big things and small, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seem more alike each day.

BREAKING?

BREAKING FIRST ON @Morning_Joe: Multiple sources say an independent conservative candidate will announce his candidacy for president today.

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) August 8, 2016

I’ll believe it when I see it.

UPDATE: Word is it’s Evan Mcmullen, Chief Policy Director for the House Republican Conference.

More to come.

MORE:

Key players in GOP’s anti-Trump movement are preparing to launch an independent presidential campaign for Evan McMullin — a CIA veteran and the chief policy director of the House Republican conference — sources close to the effort told BuzzFeed News.

Veteran Republican strategist Rick Wilson, a Florida-based media consultant and outspoken Trump critic, is expected to be involved in McMullin’s campaign. Sources said Wilson was in Washington on Sunday meeting with members of McMullin’s prospective campaign — which includes some who were involved in a group called Better for America, which has been pushing an independent presidential bid.

McMullin did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BuzzFeed News.

AND A REMINDER:

As inane talk of a conservative run against @realDonaldTrump returns @stevechaggaris reminds: ballot access gone in 27 states, 35 by Friday

— Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) August 8, 2016

“Quixotic” doesn’t even begin to describe this effort, although I suspect the real goal is to protect the GOP brand from Trumpism.

THOSE DAMN EMAILS: Iran Executes Nuclear Scientist Who Was Convicted of Spying.

Shahram Amiri defected to the U.S. at the height of Western efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear program. When he returned in 2010, he was welcomed with flowers by government leaders and even went on the Iranian talk-show circuit. Then he mysteriously disappeared.

He was hanged the same week that Tehran executed a group of militants, a year after Iran agreed to a landmark accord to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Amiri first vanished in 2009 while on a religious pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia. A year later, he reappeared in a series of contradictory online videos filmed in the U.S. He then walked into the Iranian-interests section at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and demanded to be sent home.

In interviews, he described being kidnapped and held against his will by Saudi and American spies. U.S. officials said he was to receive millions of dollars for his help in understanding Iran’s nuclear program.

Then there’s this:

Hillary Clinton used her private email server to discuss details of the Iranian nuclear scientist who has executed for giving information to the CIA.

Shahram Amiri, who was hanged on Sunday for ‘revealing secrets to the enemy’, was in the US and allegedly informing on Tehran’s extensive nuclear program during the Democrat’s controversial reign as Secretary of State.

At the time she stressed researcher had been there of his ‘own free will’ and was described as ‘our friend’ in correspondences.

But he maintained he had been kidnapped by intelligence agents.

Emails sent by Clinton’s advisers point to the scandal involving Amiri – suggesting it was a ‘diplomatic, psychological issue’, but not a ‘legal one’.

One aide also warned he would lead to ‘problematic news stories’.

Indeed.

FLASHBACK: Loose Lips Sink Ships: Clinton’s Criminal Negligence Hurts More Than the Election.

SHOT: Massive crowd rallies for democracy in Turkey.

CHASER: Turkey’s ongoing media purge.

Freedom-lovers in Turkey might have been better off rallying for last month’s coup attempt.

PROGRESS: Hunger haunts Venezuela, especially its children.

Malnourished children who faint in class. Children who, in the worst cases, die from hunger, their bodies nothing but skin and bones, the outlines of their ribs visible.

Images like those have become common in Venezuela, where critical food shortages are pushing hundreds of thousands of children under a blanket of misery and hunger more often seen in the poorest countries in Africa.

“We are seeing cases not seen for 40 years,” said William Barrientos, a physician and part of the opposition bloc in the legislative National Assembly who produced and posted a video on YouTube to highlight the issue of malnutrition among Venezuelan children.

Socialism is about caring.

NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A 21ST CENTURY HEADLINE: Death Dive! Comet Plunges into the Sun at Mind-Blowing Speed.

Sadly, no lasers beams were involved.

MIDSIZE SEDAN DEATHWATCH: July Sales Tank.

Minivans crumbled as the three-row utility vehicle took over, leaving a handful of nameplates to each produce healthy volume. TTAC’s claim earlier this week? Midsize sedans are now following the same track, crumbling as the smaller two-row crossover takes over.

Already, America’s fleet of midsize sedans is decreasing in size. We expect to see a greater reduction in the number of midsize offerings soon.

I’m on my ninth car and not one of them has been a sedan of any size, but I have noticed fewer on the roads. People seem to like bigger vehicles with greater utility, and today’s powerful, fuel-sipping engines make them financially viable.

BUT OF COURSE:

The first Olympic gold went to an American for shooting a rifle. https://t.co/Quqw9jUcgy

— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 6, 2016

MAX BOOT: Obama Will Never Give up on Iran.

Obama — or Jarrett?

CHANGE: Europeans Fear Wave of Refugees Will Mean More Terrorism, Fewer Jobs.

Racist proles and their petty fears.

GOOD NEWS: The robocalling scourge may not be unstoppable after all.

“We know that the majority of robocalls only come from 38 different infrastructures,” Aude Marzuoli, research scientist at a company called Pindrop Labs, told Ars. “It’s not as if there are thousands of people out there doing this. If you can catch this small number of bad actors we can “stop the problem.”

Pindrop researchers reached the conclusion by creating a security honeypot of phone numbers that received more than 1 million robocalls. The researchers transcribed about 10 percent of the calls and analyzed the semantics with machine-learning techniques to isolate identical scams. The researchers combined those results with analysis that tracked 150 different audio features of each call. By studying the codecs, packet loss, spectrum, and frequency inside the audio and combining the results with the machine learning, the researchers were able to obtain a fingerprint of each different call center.

I get up to a dozen of these things every day, and haven’t found a better solution than to simply never answer the phone.

HUH? The Battle Brewing to Become the Coors Light of Craft Beer.

Any worthy contender to be the Coors Light of Craft Beer (sorry if the phrase turns your stomach) must walk a fine line. It would have to taste good to keep craft drinkers happy, but couldn’t be so strong or full of flavor that it wouldn’t be “sessionable,” to use a popular craft beer phrase. It would also have to be made by an independent company rather than be yet another label owned by a Big Beer corporation, because the “little guy” factor is undeniably part of the attraction in craft beer circles.

It’s this concept that inspired House Beer, based in southern California and sold in simple cans that bear a little resemblance to old-school Miller Lite, to enter the market. Frustrated at having to “choose between beers that were great for drinking and beers that tasted great,” the company website says, House Beer’s founders wondered, “Why can’t you have your beer and drink it too?”

The goal for House Beer was to combine the quality of “craft beers with the drinkability of Coors Lite,” for a product that’s “brewed with taste and care you would find in most craft beers but one you can drink time and time again,” a company PR contact explained.

I get it, but it still seems like trying to become the Darth Vader of charitable giving.

COLUMNIST (AND OCCASIONAL COSPLAYER) EMILY ZANOTTI: Feminists Bemoan a ‘Sexualized’ Harley Quinn, but They Don’t Understand Her Character.

Harley has never been the “toy” of more powerful characters. She’s a villain in her own right—murdering, maiming and destroying with the best of what the Batman comics have to offer. Her position in the “Suicide Squad” is earned not by her association with the Joker, but because she’s a hell of a bad guy (or gal).

She’s also always been a character with more complex terms. Starting with her origin story—as a doctor treating the Joker in his prison cell at Arkham Asylum—she ultimately chooses her path of destruction; she’s psychotic but struggles with moments of clarity that interrupt her ability to fully integrate into a criminal persona.

Harley’s creator, Paul Dini, may have put it best. Harley is a feminist: “I think Harley’s entire character is based on the concept of choice,” he told CNN this week. “As long as she has that element of choice to either be like the Joker or to get away from him, that defines her life. She’s not a victim who just goes where she’s told to.”

There’s absolutely nothing real-world feminists can’t suck the fun out of.

SAD PUPPIES? That pricey dog food won’t extend Fido’s life.

Americans are crazy about their pets, so it’s natural we want to keep them alive as long as possible. That seems to be what Mars PetCare U.S. was depending on in marketing its pricey Eukanuba brand of dog food, which the company said could extend a canine’s life by several years.

But that claim is false, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday in announcing that Mars Petcare had settled charges of false advertising related to Eukanuba, which ranges in price from $13.99 to $57.99.

Our dogs are on prescription food for health and weight control, and as long as they’re healthy and happy we’re going to keep them on it.