"A federal judge ruled Tuesday that California's ban on handgun advertising is unconstitutional.

"Judge Troy Nunley of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, an Obama appointee, ruled California could no longer enforce Section 26820 of the California Penal Code, which dates back to 1923. That law banned gun stores from displaying signs promoting the sale of handguns. California argued the ban was necessary to prevent suicides and murders but Judge Nunley said it violates constitutional protections on free speech.

"'California may not accomplish its goals by violating the First Amendment,' Nunley wrote in his ruling. 'Accordingly, [the law] is unconstitutional on its face.'"

"Democrats are convinced that the 'blue wave' they've been counting on to set the stage for President Donald Trump's impeachment in a House of Representatives they control is out there and building. They continue to enjoy a four to six point 'generic' advantage in the polls, and there is evidence that their voters are more anxious to turn out and vote than their Republican counterparts -- two indicators that combine with the media's continuing effort to demonize Mr. Trump to give them more than a fighting chance to take the House. ...

"Victory is far from guaranteed, however, because many of today's Democratic leaders are staking out positions so extreme that they are risking driving away some of the voters they can usually count on. Republicans faced a similar problem when purely ideological candidates who split rather than united Republican voters allowed Democrats to hold onto seats they might otherwise have lost in 2014.

"Rhetorical over-reach can be a real problem in a campaign and that is exactly what we're witnessing today as Democratic candidates and their fellow-travelling pundits tout 'socialism,' declare their desire to impeach a president, raise taxes and continue to attack not the candidates with whom they disagree, but the voters who support them."

"Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children."

"With Hillary Clinton already part of the midterm scrum, Barack Obama's entry last Friday shows the old band is getting back together again. So far, the music is uninspiring.

"Clinton, as usual, is all about the money. Her latest slush fund, Operation Together, sent an e-mail offering donors a 'Resist' sticker if they send her $5. I was able to resist the offer.

"Obama, meanwhile, gave his first campaign speech since leaving the White House and his media handmaidens instantly swooned like giddy teenagers. ...

"Trump claimed he fell asleep during Obama's speech, but now that Obama and Clinton are active again, the president better wake up to seize advantage of the ripe target they present.

"If so, he will finally start releasing the files that chronicle the effort by the Obama White House, FBI, Justice Department, State Department and the CIA to help Clinton and stop him in 2016. The already-revealed misconduct at the top levels of the FBI amounts to a scandal of historic proportions -- and it is almost certainly the tip of the iceberg."

"There is one issue that unites America like no other: the pursuit of genuine energy independence. Our national security demands it. Our national economy demands it. It is technically possible, legally feasible, and necessary to protect hardworking taxpayers. ...

"In the quarter-century I have polled American priorities and policies, never have I encountered an issue that has such universal support. Fully 92 percent of the country supports a specific effort and priority to: 'Make America energy dominant by using more American-made energy, including American natural gas and biofuels like ethanol, and purchasing less foreign oil.'

"This isn't my language. This is President Trump's language and President Trump's policy -- and it has greater support than any other issue he has raised or supported since his election. As we approach the 2018 midterm congressional elections, the data teach us a powerful lesson: fully 99 percent of Republicans, 90 percent of independents and 87 percent of Democrats support an energy dominance policy that promotes American energy resources and reduces our purchasing of foreign oil. No other issue or proposal comes close."

"Self-described 'liberal, feminist lawyer' Lisa Blatt, who voted for Hillary Clinton and is an advocate of Roe v. Wade, sat before the Senate Judiciary Tuesday and gave a more powerful and full-throated endorsement of Brett Kavanaugh than anyone else the entire day.

"Lisa Blatt -- an attorney and Supreme Court veteran who has argued cases before the court more than any other woman, winning 32 of 35 cases -- fully endorsed the Trump nominee, even though she has filed cases against the Trump administration.

"In her surprising remarks, Blatt introduced herself as 'a liberal Democrat and an unapologetic defender of a woman's right to choose' and called liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg her 'hero,' and said she voted for Hillary and Obama.

"'I'm here today to introduce Judge Kavanaugh and urge the Senate to confirm him as a next associate justice of the Supreme Court,' Blatt said after the previewing of her liberal credentials, saying she received hate from her own party for supporting Trump's pick. 'Judge Kavanaugh is clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.'"

Read entire article here.

"A definition of totalitarianism might be the saturation of every facet of daily life by political agendas and social-justice messaging.

"At the present rate, America will soon resemble the dystopias of novels such as 1984 and Brave New World in which all aspects of life are warped by an all-encompassing ideology of coerced sameness. Or rather, the prevailing orthodoxy in America is the omnipresent attempt of an elite -- exempt from the consequences of its own ideology thanks to its supposed superior virtue and intelligence -- to mandate an equality of result. ...

"This new politicized borg ferrets out every aspect of our lives. Nothing is safe, nothing sacred. Dead or alive, the relentless social-justice messaging continues. Like some sort of time machine, we go back in time to alter history as if a few corrections and adjustments will change and thus improve the entire present.

"Progressive politics seeks to connect and energize us as millions of shared malignant cells inside a metastasizing tumor -- or to destroy us in the attempt."

Read entire article here.

"Test your knowledge of current events by answering this question: Which organization remains stuck in deep cover-up mode?

A) The FBI
B) The Roman Catholic Church
C) Both of the above
D) Neither of the above

"If you get your news only from The New York Times, you believe the correct answer is D, neither of the above. Other people know the correct answer is C because they see the leaders of both organizations acting as if the public can't handle the truth.

"It is not my intent to suggest the FBI and the Vatican are in all ways comparable. Far from it.

"Yet they are in similar straits because each faces a crisis of public confidence. Those crises are severe because of internal decisions to parse, obscure and withhold important facts.

"While a desire to protect historically valuable institutions from external harm is understandable, the goal cannot come at the expense of honesty and truth. When it does, the damage grows."

"A hundred times every day, I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving."

"With their busy schedules and tight state budgets, Democratic attorneys general have little in the way of time and resources to advance climate-change policies, which is where billionaire Michael Bloomberg comes in.

"The former New York City mayor's fortune has bankrolled a year-long effort to place privately funded lawyers as 'special assistant attorneys general' in at least six states with specific instructions to work on 'clean energy, climate change, and environmental interests.'

"The program, run through the New York University School of Law, comes as the most disturbing example of the 'billion-dollar per year climate industry' gaining access to law-enforcement authority in pursuit of a political agenda, according to a report released Wednesday by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

"'The scheme raises serious questions about special interests setting states' policy and law enforcement agendas, without accountability to the taxpayers and voters whom these law enforcement officials supposedly serve,' said CEI senior fellow Chris Horner, who authored the report, 'Law Enforcement for Rent: How Special Interests Fund Climate Policy Through State Attorneys General.'"