We may not be seeing one of THESE waving at the Olympics…

I’d make it a VFP, but I don’t see a good lede out there. And since I no longer have to publish a front page everyday regardless of whether there is real news, I won’t…

1. Brief chaos as anti-Trump delegates are rebuffed — Or, as The Fix put it, The GOP just had a nightmare moment on the convention floor. Here’s the problem with that — the Post and other media keep documenting these things that would sink any other candidate in the history of the country, and it fazes Trump not one wit, because his supporters neither know nor care how things are supposed to go.
2. McMaster to give nominating speech for Trump at RNC — Oh, Henry! Whatever did we do, for you to shame us so…
3. Baton Rouge Officers Were ‘Definitely Ambushed’ — Do these outrages cease to be news at some point?
4. ‘Many hurt by axeman’ on German train — But none killed because, you see, he didn’t have a gun. Hint, hint.
5. Russia may be banned from Rio Olympics over state-sponsored doping — Seriously, Putin’s Russia just doesn’t care about rules. Maybe that’s what Trump admires about him.

A few items worth discussing:

1. Black Lives Matter protest causes road closures, police activity — I didn’t even realize it was going on until this morning. You? And what do you think? Think these things accomplish anything? I’m in one of my jaded-about-demonstrations moods. Probably a separate post.
2. Theresa May Poised to Be Britain’s Next Prime Minister — And she doesn’t want the UK out of the EU any more than I do, or Cameron did. But it doesn’t look like we’re going to get what we want. My question is, will we ever get what we need?
3. In bashing Trump, Ginsburg may have just crossed an important line — Wow. That was not cool, was it?
4. Pope appoints ex-Fox News correspondent as Vatican spokesman — Whoa! This is so wrong! Nobody in the Vatican even told me there was an opening. If the fix is gonna be in, why not just hire Father Guido? That would actually be kind of cool…

Fr. Guido Sarducci

The president talking about Afghanistan.

Here’s what we have at this hour:

1. Obama alters Afghanistan exit plan, will leave 8,400 troops — I appreciate that the president is bowing to reality, rather than trying artificially to pull out before he leaves office. I don’t expect that he’ll catch too much flak for it, do you? You can watch his video announcement here.
2. 7 Years In The Making, Report Finds British Rushed Into Iraq War — NPR — Interesting juxtaposition. It took this group seven years to conclude that the Brits “rushed” into war? And the highlights (sorry, I have no plans to read a 6,000 page, 2.6 million-word document, especially if the headlines are no more surprising than these) are things that Blair’s critics were already saying before this process started. OK, I’ve got it: Thirteen years after Tony had to make a decision, you’ve decided he was wrong…
3. Corbyn apologises for war on behalf of Labour — The Guardian — Thanks, Jeremy, but didn’t pretty much the entire leadership of the Labour Party tell you last week that it’s time for you to go? So when, exactly, are you leaving? Meanwhile, The Guardian calls Tony Blair “unrepentant.”
4. Outrage after video captures white Baton Rouge officer fatally shooting a black man — WashPost — This one’s a little hard to follow, but it looks pretty horrific.
5. About Moe Baddourah’s CDV charge — The State — Yeah, I know this is old news, but we haven’t had a discussion about it yet, and I suppose we should. Also, we don’t have anything newer that’s local.
6. Belgian Neanderthals ‘were eating each other 40,000 years ago’ — The Guardian — Presumably, English Neanderthals were not. Which is why the Brits just had to get out of the E.U. Or something.

Canadian PM Trudeau last night Tweeted out this selfie, which POTUS reTweeted. Anyone besides me think our modern leaders are lacking gravitas?

Well, we have one rather startling story to lead off with:

1. Coastal Carolina wins College World Series — Wow. Not sure how this even happens. This seems to be one of those Milan, Indiana-type moments.
2. Boris Johnson, ‘Brexit’ Leader, Won’t Run for Prime Minister — Another shocker. Makes me envy the Brits. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, right on the verge of getting his party’s nomination, Donald Trump said, “Never mind”?
3. Who is Michael Gove? Britain’s real-life Frank Underwood — Actually, I think in the original British version, his name was Francis Urquhart.
4. Connor Shaw released by Cleveland — How about that? Two sports stories in one day! Are y’all pumped or what?
5. Pentagon lifts ban on transgender troops in military — Initial reports I saw on my phone said transgender folk will be allowed to serve “openly.” Made me wonder how they’d keep it a secret. Maybe they don’t have short-arm inspections in the Army any more…

Some possible topics:

1. Did you go vote? — I ask because I actually forgot this morning, and had to run back out to my part of town after lunch. Got ‘er done, though. How did it go? I think I was No. 134 to vote at about 1:30 p.m.
2. Benghazi report finds no new evidence of wrongdoing by Clinton — This morning, I was stupid enough to click on an “EXCLUSIVE” from Fox News that said “Clinton’s admin pushed video explanation for Benghazi despite eyewitness accounts, House GOP report says.” Not noticing the “admin,” I thought it was saying they caught her doing something misleading. But it was the same old stuff — Susan Rice made a fool of herself on the Sunday shows. If you’d like to know where Gowdy’s report did fault Clinton, read this.
3. NASA Awaits a 3-Second Beep From Jupiter — A cool space story… I like space stuff. But I miss the manned missions. Remember, we were supposed to have sent men to Jupiter 15 years ago…
4. Attack On Istanbul’s International Airport Kills At Least 10 People — Oh, wait: We don’t care in the West since it happened in a Muslim country, right?
5. Labour MPs prepare for leadership contest after Corbyn loses confidence vote — After a huge loss in the confidence vote, he said he won’t quit. I guess this is his Bernie Sanders impersonation. But I expect they’ll sort him out soon enough.
6. Brexit vote: Bitter exchanges in EU parliament debate — There were good bits, though, as when “A central figure in the Leave campaign, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage, was booed, called a liar and accused of using ‘Nazi propaganda’.”

That’s it for now. I have to run go give platelets. Y’all should be going with me…

PM Cameron spoke out today against the huge upswing in xenophobic incidents since the Brexit vote.

Kind of a slow news day, but let’s see what we can drum up:

1. Don’t forget to vote tomorrow — If there are any primary runoffs in your precinct. I’ve got the solicitor runoff between Rick Hubbard and Candice Lively, and the contest between Micah Caskey and Tem Miles for Kenny Bingham’s House seat. If you want to see what’s on your local ballot, go here and enter your county, name and birth date.
2. Inmate killed, another injured at Lee Correctional during incident — Sounds like more than an “incident” if an inmate was killed. I look forward to learning more. I’m also curious to know more about the dead man himself. His name was named Ae Kingratsaiphon. How did a guy with a name like that ending up doing a life sentence for murder in South Carolina?
3. Justices throw out Texas abortion law — Kennedy joined the liberals to hand the “pro” side their biggest court win since 1992, in a 5-3 decision. NYT’s making a pretty huge deal about it.
4. Graft Conviction Is Vacated for Former Virginia Governor — From what I’ve read in recent months, that sounds like it’s probably a good call.
5. EU leaders reject informal talks with UK — I think this makes more sense than that petulant-sounding message we got the other day from E.U. leaders saying they wanted Britain to hurry up about it. This is a situation that benefits from a bit of a slowdown, I would think. But then, what do I know from European politics? Meanwhile, Britain’s credit rating has been downgraded. Nice going there, leavers.
6. Labour MPs to hold no-confidence vote in Jeremy Corbyn — So there are some silver linings in this cloud. That’s encouraging, I think — if he’s replaced by someone a little less crazy. Yeah, it’s too much to hope for another Tony Blair, but a guy can dream, can’t he?

As we wait for the votes to come in across the pond:

1. EU referendum vote – long queues and bad weather — Apparently, we won’t learn what happened until sometime overnight. But you’ll be excited to know that I made up my mind that were I eligible to vote, I’d vote to remain. How did I decide? I Googled to see what my main man Tony Blair would do. So, that’s settled.
2. Democrats end sit-in after chaotic 26 hours in House — Meanwhile the GOP got ticked off and went home. What was accomplished? Well, nothing, really, except for energizing the Democratic base, which eats up this sort of thing.
3. Deadlocked justices block Obama on immigration — Notice how, while the Congress dithers and engages in symbolic actions, the judiciary actually goes out and does stuff? Not sure this is what the Framers had in mind, but this is how it works.
4. Four more S.C. residents contract Zika virus — All were travel-related, but this is still just getting too close to home.
5. Baltimore Officer Who Drove Freddie Gray Is Acquitted — As with Ferguson, we have another case in which what thousands of protesters just knew to be the case could not be demonstrated satisfactorily in the criminal justice system. Some dissidents will no doubt think this proves the system is rigged. To me, it demonstrates that people frequently take to the streets based on insufficient evidence.

Let’s kick this week off, shall we?

1. Trump to campaign manager: ‘You’re fired!’ — All those Trump fans are getting the reality TV show they voted for. There’s something backward about this, though: If the Trump campaign wanted to get rid of its greatest liability, The Donald himself would be the first to go. Meanwhile, the NYT has apparently read the WashPost‘s story about Roy Cohn’s influence on Trump, and done their own version of the story, with additional details.
2. Cavaliers win NBA championship — For those of you who complain that we don’t have enough sports here. As Kent Babb, former sportswriter at The State (now with The Washington Post) Tweeted, “Royals … Cavs … Cubs? Ain’t nothing impossible anymore.” He neglected to mention this year’s greatest sports miracle: Leicester City winning the Premier League, with a bit of encouragement from Richard III.
3. High Court Turns Away Challenge to Semiautomatic Gun Law — This counts as a victory for gun-control advocates, as at least this is one battle they didn’t lose. Meanwhile, Here Are The 4 Gun Proposals The Senate Is Voting On (Again).
4. Coroner: 3-year-old dies a day after twin brother — I could hardly stand to look at this story. It’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen. Forgive me for sharing it, but it just cast a pall on my morning. Twins are such a blessing, as I’ve been privileged to learn. Such a loss staggers the soul. My thoughts and prayers go out to this family.
5. The Guardian view on the EU referendum: keep connected and inclusive, not angry and isolated — Somehow, they fail to persuade. But this is fairly typical, for me, of their “leaders.” Still don’t know how I’d vote…

This just in! I’ve learned that Capt. Jack Aubrey, late of Her Majesty’s Navy, has come out for Brexit, and has given his jolly tars a pep talk urging them to vote the same:

Capt. Jack Aubrey: England is under threat of invasion [evidently a hyperbolic reference to increased immigration from EU countries], and though we be on the far side of the world, this ship is our home. This ship, is England. So it’s every hand to his rope or gun, quick’s the word and sharp’s the action. After all… Surprise is on our side.
Crew: Huzzah, huzzah!
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Do you want to see a guillotine in Piccadilly?
Crew: No!
Capt. Jack Aubrey: Want to call that raggedy-ass Napoleon your king?
Crew: No!
Capt. Jack Aubrey: You want your children to sing the “La Marseillaise?”
Crew: NO!

OK, so he’s distorting things a bit. But don’t stop him; he’s on a roll…

Watching the Brexit campaign closely, but still undecided…

This being Friday afternoon, practically no one will read this, but you who do can count yourselves as special:

South Carolinians observe anniversary of Emanuel AME killings — You’ve probably been hearing about it all day. Any thoughts?

1. Russian Track and Field Team Barred From Rio Olympics — Both the NYT and WSJ are leading with this right now, so it’s a really slow news day. With the Russians, isn’t this kind of a dog-bites-man thing? Or am I thinking of the East Germans?
2. Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push to halt Donald Trump — Very een-ter-resting. Also interesting is that the WashPost’s top three stories are about Trump, so getting barred from his campaign hasn’t cramped their style at all. The lede is about his business ties to Russia, which casts a new light on his cozying up to Putin. The third is about Trump’s long-standing relationship with the late Roy Cohn, who the story says “showed Trump how to exploit power and instill fear through a simple formula: attack, counterattack and never apologize.”
3. 

   Jo Cox

   Jo Cox killing: suspect’s far-right links a ‘priority line of inquiry’ — Everything, including politics, stands still when one person gets shot in Britain. Because unlike in certain countries we know and love, it seldom happens there. Guess why? Of course, she was an MP, so there’s that.

4. Suspect who allegedly shot at car with five victims inside turns himself into police — So how did he do that? Was it magic — did he actually become a police, or did he merely put on a cop costume so that everyone thought he had turned himself into police? I like the Baltimore-style use of “police” to refer to an individual, like on “The Wire.” You know, like when McNulty or somebody said, “You’re a good police.”

Sig Sauer MCX

A few potential topics:

1. Medal of Honor recipient cleared of hit-and-run charge — This has to be a relief to the solicitor’s office. Who would want to prosecute this one?
2. Gun used by shooter was not an AR-15 — It was a Sig Sauer MCX, for those who care.
3. Orlando massacre brings together Christians and gay community — We’ve read a lot in the last couple of day about how the massacre has divided us, so this is nice. Also, did you see that Chick-Fil-A in Orlando opened on Sunday — not to the public to make money, but just to feed people giving blood in the aftermath.
4. Primary battle not over for two long-time GOP SC Senate leaders — Mike Fair and Larry Martin face runoffs, something I didn’t mention in the roundup earlier today.
5. Bernice Scott beaten in attempt to regain seat — Another one I overlooked. Wow. This is sort of historic for Richland County. The former longtime councilman was unable to step in and take back the seat abandoned by her son-in-law Kelvin Washington.

Slow news day, with most outlets’ lede story being a funeral. But here are some interesting topics, if anyone cares on a Friday afternoon:

1. Thousands Gather in Tribute to Ali — The aforementioned funeral, in case you have further thoughts to share re “The Greatest.”
2. Witches perform impotence hex on Stanford man convicted of sexual assault — Oh yeah, sure, that should sort him out. And you know, they probably announced this with a straight face. This is a terrible case that didn’t need unintentional humor injected into it.
3. Gawker, Reeling From Hogan Suit, Files for Bankruptcy — And all the newspapers moved over to make room on the bench, saying “Welcome to the club…”
4. NHL legend Gordie Howe dies at 88 — There goes one of the only two hockey players I would be able to name. The other is Bobby Orr, whose surname is so popular on crosswords. (Wait, does Happy Gilmore count?) Anyway, even I knew he was one of the greats, which is an achievement in itself.
5. Special Operations Command wants U.S. companies to start making AK-47s — That’s the smartest idea I’ve heard in awhile. This is the greatest infantry weapon ever made. Every enemy we’ve face since Vietnam has had these, and it’s time our soldiers could match them.
6. Egg producers pledge to stop grinding newborn male chickens to death — Hey, anybody up for a nice chicken salad? Listen, you can do away with the whole industry as far as I’m concerned. I don’t eat the creatures — or their eggs, either.

Fred Sheheen, whose funeral was today.

Here’s what I’m seeing. Step up if you can do better:

1. Obama Endorses Hillary Clinton for President — No shock there, but everybody’s leading with it. Hillary is thrilled. And The Fix has a nice piece on why POTUS was so eager to do this even while “Sanders’s body, politically speaking, was still warm.” More interesting is that, while he’s softening, Bernie Sanders has not quite quit yet. It’s weird. He says he’ll work with her to help defeat Trump. But Bern, there’s only one way to do that…
2. No constitutional right to concealed guns: US appeals court — If he’s not already in the house, somebody run get Bryan. Of course, this was the 9th Circuit, so consider the source, he might say…
3. ‘He loved every minute’: Sheheen eulogized as family man, public servant — Vincent delivered the fond, funny eulogy for his Dad.
4. Haley vetoes study to move military museum, Confederate flag — I hope this also means she’d veto actual proposals to waste money on the flag itself.
5. Europe to America: Your love of air-conditioning is stupid — This is weird. Both The State and the Miami Herald are running this like it’s new, but according to The Washington Post, it was initially posted on July 22, 2015. Whatever. I’m just sharing it to say to Europe: Interesting. Come see us next month and we’ll talk about it — say, in lawn chairs in the middle of Gervais Street at 3 p.m.

Very quickly — I need to run to a meeting…

1. Paul Ryan backs Trump, ending a month-long holdout — OK, that’s that — we can remove Paul Ryan’s name from our list of Men of Respect in the Republican Party.
2. John Crangle’s ‘Operation Lost Trust’ book explores dark chapter in SC Legislature — I may have to make a point of reading that. Although, you know, I lived it. That was an extremely intense time in my life as a newspaper editor.
3. Haley supports removing Confederate flag from Citadel — Good for her. Not as big a deal as the State House one, but it has no business at a state institution.
4. Clinton: Trump’s Foreign Policy ‘Incoherent’ — Duh.
5. Prince died of opioid overdose, autopsy results show — Not terribly surprising, at this point.

Grown-up Harry Potter, son Albus, wife Ginny.

Had to retype that after writing “Monday.” Such days are confusing. Some possible topics:

1. Haley to endorse opponents of Senate veterans Leatherman and Rankin — This one’s kind of old news, but I needed something local for the mix. I don’t know about you, but even odious lawmakers can get my sympathy when governors decide to go into bully mode against them (just ask Katrina Shealy). And I don’t think of either Leatherman or Rankin as particularly odious. I’d have to do more research on Rankin, but generally when Leatherman disagrees with Nikki, I disagree with her, too.
2. Saudi Arabia’s Bid to Ease Off Oil Stirs Cultural Shift — The Saudi rulers are trying to wean their people off of oil-financed handouts. Which raises the question of whether the Saudi people might opt instead to wean themselves off the House of Saud.
3. The middle-aged Harry Potter — Photos from the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” were released today. That’s grown-up Harry, with son Albus and wife Ginny (nee Weasley), above. As Hagrid might say, it’s not every day your young man turns 41!
4. Poll: Nearly 1 In 4 Americans Reports Having Had A Concussion — This surprised me, because hasn’t everyone — or practically everyone — had a concussion at some point? I’m pretty sure I did that time I broke the bed with my head and got seven stitches. I have no memory of the incident, and I was spacey for a couple of days after. But I’m right as rain now, right? Right?
5. It’s time for Jane Bond: I spy seven potential 007 actors perfect for the role — They meant actresses, not actors, but that’s probably The Guardian making some gender-neutral, ideologically correct point. Kind of ridiculous, under the circumstances, since the POINT being made is that they would be women, not men. If ever a context called for a gender-specific noun, this one did. Anyway, bottom line, the whole topic’s rather silly — although James Bond himself would probably vote to see more of these particular women. You know why? Because James Bond is a total pig, an early-’60s bigger-pig-than-Don-Draper pig — that’s who the character is, so it’s ridiculous to speak of changing him to make a feminist point. I’m almost to where I can go for Idris Elba, if they can come up with a good-enough back story for him (after all, we managed to adjust to a blonde Bond, which was itself quite a departure). He certainly has the poise for the role. But not this.

From Gillian Anderson’s Twitter feed.

A few items — WAY more local than usual, all from my old colleagues at The State:

1. Haley’s veto overridden; farmers to get $40 million in state aid — I’m a little surprised the paper isn’t leading with this, even though it was not a shock that they overrode her.
2. SC proposal to register refugees stalls — Here’s hoping it does more than that and dies a miserable death; this legislation is unconscionable. With legislation like this, Donald Trump is superfluous (he’d like that; it has “super” in it).
3. Man busted with cocaine, ecstasy and guns on Harbison Boulevard — Didn’t Warren Zevon sing about that? I don’t know what happened — I went home with the waitress, the way I always do… How was I do know she was with the Russians, too? Officials say they “found cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, two pistols and $1,170 in cash in his car.” Excitable Boy, sounds like.
4. Ethics officials say they have more questions about Treasurer Loftis — I’d forgotten this was out there. You?

And elsewhere in the world:

1. Trump releases list of 11 potential Supreme Court nominees — Very interesting. Not something I recall seeing before, but for once, we have some specifics beyond that wall Mexico’s not going to pay for.
2. Kidnapped schoolgirl found in Nigeria — She’s the first of the famous 219 taken by Boko Haram to be found and rescued.
3. U.S. Enlarges Its Military Footprint In Eastern Europe, To Mixed Reviews — Trump’s buddy Putin is not happy about it.

What does it mean to be “presidential?” Here, POTUS shares the bully pulpit with a rapper — albeit a very nicely dressed one.

Where is everybody today? This some kind of holiday nobody told me about? Oh well… I might as well toss out some topics for those few of you who are paying attention today…

1. House overrides Gov. Haley’s $40 million farm-aid veto, 112-2 — Now it’s the Senate’s turn. I know how one senator, Tom Davis, is likely to vote on it. He’s with the governor. Interestingly, he’s also with her in supporting the expenditure of $40 million on beach renourishment to help out the tourism industry…
2. On anniversary of Brown v. Board, new evidence shows U.S. schools are resegregating — Which is not terribly shocking to those who have paid attention, although it should be.
3. 31 Olympians could face ban after doping retest, officials say — Just because y’all complain we don’t talk enough about sports.
4. West Columbia man stole $68 steak to pay child support, he told police — He must have thought it was legal tender… Yeah… I used this just so I could say that. But folks, if I’ve learned nothing else from working with the SC Center for Fathers and Families, the practice of holding jail over men’s heads to get them to pay support — thereby inspiring them to acts of desperation — is no laughing matter. (Seriously, think for a second: how much support can a man provide when he’s in jail?)
5. ‘Presidential’? It’s in the Eye of the Voter, Trump Shows — All about the rapid decline of standards among the electorate — or at least, the portion that will consider voting for Trump. And to go with that, we have…
6. Former Mafia-linked figure describes association with Donald Trump — If you can’t be presidential, hang with a Man of Respect.

I hate to give y’all two Open Threads back-to-back, but it’s just one of those kinds of days:

1. Federal grand jury indicts ex-North Charleston cop in shooting of Walter Scott — Not terribly surprising, but an important step in an important case.
2. Islamic State Bombings Kill Dozens in Baghdad — Making the success of this administration’s ISIL strategy just look farther and farther away. As James Clapper indicated in the latest Ignatius column, this problem will await the next president.
3. Spurning Unity, Trump Claims ‘Mandate’ to Be Provocative — So apparently, the internal campaign memo says, “Let Trump Be Trump.” As if he would or could be anything else. Meanwhile, it’s being said on the eve of Trump’s meeting with Speaker Ryan that “Trump and GOP leaders might never be on the same page.”
4. Google Announces It Will Stop Allowing Ads For Payday Lenders — This is some good news. Google gets a conscience…
5. Queen filmed calling Chinese officials ‘very rude’ — And she was not amused. See above. The remarkable thing about this is that Her Majesty wasn’t “caught” on some stranger’s phone video. This was released by the Palace. So, all together now: Harrumph!

I guarantee you Fritz Hollings could squeeze all the political correctness out of ANY visit to Hiroshima.

I gave you a break yesterday, but I won’t promise to make this one Trump-free, too:

1. Obama to be first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima — No doubt the president will receive a lot of criticism from those who regard this as another stop on his supposed Apology Tour. You know how he could put a stop to that? Take Fritz Hollings along with him. Or not…
2. China scrambles fighter jets as a U.S. destroyer steams past disputed island — Just so you know that’s going on out there. Showing the flag. Standing up for freedom of the seas. Brinksmanship. Stuff that’s more important than calling a beer “America.”
3. Secretary admits to using $97,000 of church funds to buy drugs — Which apparently was against the rules. Not a huge story, but I needed something local for the mix, and this sort of stuck out. I don’t know what kind of drugs this involved, but I’m going to hazard a guess it was a prescription opioid, which can cause seemingly normal people to do horrific things. Of course, I could be totally wrong on that. I’ll read followup stories with interest, if there are any…
4. Islamic State ‘Kill Lists’ Target Ordinary Americans — If true, this is definitely a new and disturbing wrinkle. One wonders why they didn’t think of it before, if they truly mean to be terrorists.
5. Is Donald Trump Playing The ‘Man Card’? — See? I told you I couldn’t promise anything.

We’re stuck with you-know-who for months to come, so I hope you appreciate this special gift from me to you:

1. North Carolina sues U.S. over ‘bathroom law’ — All right, I’m now convinced of it: North Carolina is engaged in a deep, dark plot to make us in South Carolina look like a buncha dang’ liberals. Oh, and The Wall Street Journal is actually leading its site at this hour with this story about the issue of who goes to what bathroom. Have we hit bottom yet?
2. Sanders favored in West Virginia primary — Is this thing never going to end?
3. Philippines Votes For President; ‘The Punisher’ Leads The Pack — Wow. It seems other electorates are going nuts as well. A generation ago, I remember the uplifting campaign of Cory Aquino. Now this…
4. Panama Papers include dozens of Americans tied to financial fraud — This is about money and offshore accounts and… (yawn). For those of you immune to the soporific effect, this database is now searchable. If you find that I have a vast fortune hidden away somewhere abroad, please let me know, so that I can go to there.
5. The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign-Policy Guru — This is kind of a scary story, about the kid (still in school, albeit graduate school, when 9/11 happened) who is “according to the consensus of the two dozen current and former White House insiders I talked to, the single most influential voice shaping American foreign policy aside from Potus himself.” Not John Kerry, or Hillary Clinton or Robert Gates before him, but Ben Rhodes…