CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Following Colorado, Oklahoma and Utah may lift ban on full-strength beer sold in grocery stores.

ASSIMILATION: Shocking Polls Show What U.S. Muslims Think of U.S. Laws.

HMM: More Upheaval on Donald Trump’s Team as Two Staff Members Resign.

Kevin Kellems, who was hired on June 20 to oversee the campaign’s surrogate division — supporters on the team who defend Mr. Trump and promote his message publicly — resigned on Thursday, and Erica Freeman, who similarly dealt with surrogates, also quit.

In his resignation letter, which was shared with some staff members, Mr. Kellems acknowledged just how short his stint with the campaign had been.

“While brief, it has been an interesting experience, and am proud of the contributions made through our early-phase project endeavors,” wrote Mr. Kellems, who advised former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during his 2012 presidential campaign and also served as the communications director for former Vice President Dick Cheney.

He added: “Also have enjoyed meeting some fine and dedicated individuals throughout the organization. Look forward to running across several of you going forward.”

Mr. Kellems was said to have been frustrated with the dysfunction of the campaign’s senior leadership.

We’re less than three weeks out from the convention.

TROLL LEVEL: GRAND KUNTZMAN. “Major League Baseball must permanently retire ‘God Bless America,’ a song that offends everyone.”

KILL THE WHITE PEOPLE: Whittle, Ott, and Green on al Qaeda’s new politically correct terrorism.

Full disclosure: I’m Green.

21ST CENTURY POLITICKING: Donald Trump’s Reddit Fan Club Faces Crackdown, Infighting.

The subreddit, managed by a handful of mostly anonymous fans, is a breakout success. But it’s also plagued by constant infighting among its leaders, infiltration by white supremacists and clashes with the site’s administrators over complaints that its users game the system to make their content more visible.

Reddit’s content is promoted on a competitive basis: The more users “upvote” an individual post, the higher it appears on r/all, a homepage that encompasses the whole site, with certain exceptions. The popularity of r/the_donald meant ordinary users who visited Reddit in recent months faced a regular bombardment of Trump posts, including some that critics found grotesque, racist or just plain obnoxious.

These complaints reached a crescendo in June when Reddit’s founder and CEO Steve Huffman announced that he was changing the algorithm for r/all to ensure more “diverse” posts and prevent users from colluding to force their content to the front page.

The Trump subreddit is the most obvious example, but even blog comments have seen infestations by trolls, bots, and sockpuppets on behalf of various candidates. The signal-to-noise ratio of this election cycle is often indecipherably low.

BREAKING: Under fire after secret meeting, Lynch to step back from Clinton probe.

“Determinations as to whether to charge any individual, as well as the findings of the investigation, will be made by career prosecutors and investigators who have been handling this matter since its inception,” a Justice Department official told Fox News.

The source said Lynch will accept the determinations and findings of non-political appointees as well as FBI investigators and FBI Director James Comey. It is up to the FBI to recommend to proecutors whether to bring charges, but no timetable has been announced. Despite the approach of the Democratic National Convention, Comey has said the priority is to be thorough and fair.

Either that or we’ve just witnessed theater so well orchestrated that it makes Kabuki look like The Groundlings.

CHANGE: China is dictating terms to Hollywood.

HOW DO YOU SAY “DO OVER” IN AUSTRIAN? Austrian court overturns presidential election result.

The results of run-off were contested by the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), whose candidate, Norbert Hofer, lost by a margin of just over 30,000 votes to former Green Party chief Alexander Van der Bellen.

“We are not poor losers. Rather, it is about the pillars of democracy, which must be secured,” FPOe chief Hanz-Christian Strache told reporters when the challenge was launched last month. He said he felt “obliged to challenge the results.”

Hofer was leading after polls closed on May 22 but the fate of the election was decided when more than 700,000 postal ballots were counted on May 24.

FPOe claimed the ballots were handled illegally in 94 out of 117 electoral districts, with more than 570,000 ballots affected. Irregularities cited include ballots being counted by unauthorized personnel or without observers present. FPOe also alleged that under-16s and foreigners were allowed to vote.

It all appears perfectly Democratic to me.

I’LL KEEP TAKING MY CHANCES: D’oh! Raw Cookie Dough No Good To Eat, FDA Says.

THIRSTY FOR KNOWLEDGE: Barnes & Noble to start selling alcohol, hopes it will be more popular than books.

I wish them every success in this new endeavor.

ELIMINATING WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE: GOP lawmakers call on Obama Administration to deny California request for ObamaCare subsidies for illegal aliens.

I’m so old, I remember when Congress controlled the pursestrings.

WHITTLE, OTT, GREEN, AND CLARENCE THOMAS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Texas vs the Supreme Court.

Full disclosure: I’m Green.

FIFTY SHADES OF DESERT ONE: Failure at every level for US ships captured by Iran.

SKYNET SMILES: Terrorists ‘actively seeking’ to build deadly army of intelligent killer robots, UN warns.

What’s to stop us from building a deadly army of intelligent killer robots first?

HMM: Clinton reshuffles the swing state deck.

By announcing Wednesday that the rescheduled event will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, rather than Green Bay, Wisconsin — the original plan several weeks ago — the presumptive Democratic nominee’s campaign telegraphed that it sees newfound promise in a battleground state that narrowly rejected Obama in 2012.

Earlier this month, the major pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action signaled the same, announcing it would expand its swing state ad barrage beyond its original list to North Carolina.

North Carolina and Indiana are the only two states Barack Obama won in 2008, but then lost in 2012.

On the flip side, Rasmussen says Trump has surged this week and now leads Clinton nationally 43%-39%.

BREAKING: Active Shooter Reported During Active-Shooter Drill at Andrews AFB.

The base is no longer in lockdown.

PROTEST: A wall will be built for Donald Trump in Colorado, and liberals will pay for it.

I’m unconvinced that the result won’t be the opposite of what the protestors intend.

SHOT: Worries grow about security at GOP convention.

CHASER: Judge scraps Cleveland’s protest rules for GOP convention.

HANGOVER: Cleveland approves $50 million in ‘protest insurance’ for GOP convention.

EQUIVALENCE: Corbyn compares Israel to Islamic State at launch of anti-Semitism report.

“Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel than our Muslim friends are for the self-styled Islamic State,” Corbyn told reporters at the event.

“Nor should Muslims be regarded as sexist, antisemitic or otherwise suspect, as has become an ugly Islamophobic norm. We judge people on their individual values and actions, not en masse,” he continues.

When asked if he just compared Israel to the Islamic state, Corbyn quickly denied having made any such connection, only to repeat his previous statement.

Why are leftwing institutions such hotbeds of Jew hatred?

ON THE RUN: Taliban attack on Afghanistan police cadets near Kabul kills dozens.

Plus, this reminder that the Taliban controls more territory than at any time since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in October 2001.

CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW: FEC deadlocked 3-3 on “punishing” Fox News for holding a second GOP debate.

At issue was the Aug. 6, 2015 Fox presidential debate. Initially, the network planned to host one debate featuring 10 candidates. But as the date got close and the nearly two dozen GOP presidential candidates were close in the polls, Fox added a second debate that included seven other candidates.

One of the candidates left out filed a complaint to the FEC, charging that Fox was essentially making a contribution to the 17 candidates by letting them have a voice in the debate.

Which candidate?

21ST CENTURY SHOPPING: Walmart Is Offering a Free Trial for Its Amazon Prime ‘Killer’

The world’s largest retailer, looking to rev up online sales growth that has sagged in recent quarters, said on Tuesday it was as of Friday offering a free 30-day trial of ShippingPass. That annual subscription service, like Prime, offers members unlimited free two-day shipping (that was three days until recently for Walmart) and no order minimums. The program’s cost is $49 a year, compared to $99 for Amazon Prime.

It would take a lot to wean me off of Amazon Prime.

However, the VodkaWife recently switched from King Sooper’s $10 grocery delivery service to Walmart’s free grocery pickup service. She said that the selection was good-if-not-great, but that the food prices were generally lower — and on some items much lower.

MARKETS, HOW DO THEY WORK? Three Amigos “call for action to address excess global steel supply.”

In statements released as the summit began, the three countries announced the Nafta rule-of-origin changes will affect pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, rubber, metals, industrial and electrical machinery, precision instruments and natural gas.

On steel, the countries “agree on the need for governments of all major steel-producing countries to make strong and immediate commitments to address the problem of global excess steelmaking capacity,” a statement from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said.

I suppose prices could be allowed to fall until inefficient producers are forced out, but that would eliminate channels for cronyism and graft.

PRIORITIES: Michelle Obama Pledges $100M of U.S. Tax Dollars to Educate Girls… in Morocco.

That’s about how much Barack Obama spent trying to improve Chicago’s schools through the Annenberg Project to no measurable result.