"In the months before his deadly rampage, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock was a man 'descending into madness,' according to a person briefed on new findings in the investigation.

"More details are emerging, investigators say, that suggest Paddock's mental state was deteriorating in the weeks before he opened fire into a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas on Sunday -- significant weight loss, an increasingly slovenly physical appearance and an obsession with his girlfriend's ex-husband."

"The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has awarded a $7.25 million contract to Equifax (EFX) in exchange for its help preventing fraud at the government agency.

"The no-bid contract, first reported by Politico, appears to have been finalized last week -- at a time when Equifax is still reeling from a massive hack that compromised the personal information of more than 145 million Americans. According to the filing, Equifax will 'verify taxpayer identity' and assist in the 'ongoing identity verification and validations needs of the [IRS].'"

"There are generally two kinds of social media reactions to heart-wrenching events like yesterday's mass shooting in Las Vegas: one is to offer prayers and sympathy to the victims and their families, and the other is to reflexively lash out in anger at those who don't share your political agenda. Although emotionally satisfying, one of these responses makes it nearly impossible for the country to engage in any kind of useful discussion moving forward.

"No doubt, there is immense frustration after a mass shooting, and this looks to be the most deadly in American history. The unstated reality is that many of these murders probably can't be stopped. Attempting to preemptively discern which of our neighbors are ideologically driven or mentally capable of committing mass murder is no more feasible than trying to keep every one of the 350 million guns in the country away from them. Most often, even the relatives seem to be at a complete loss as to why it happens. 'We're lost. I don't understand this,' the Vegas shooter's brother told the media. They never do."

"In the first weeks of the new school year, campuses across the country are again in the thick of the war over free speech. As in recent years, a familiar pattern is emerging: Conservatives look to bring conservative speakers to campus. Some liberal faculty and students object, claiming that hateful and offensive voices cause great harm and should be prevented from speaking.

"This is a corrosive, illiberal cycle, and it must end. ...

"The stakes in all of this are enormous. This is about whether the country's longstanding commitment to freedom of speech, as expressed in the First Amendment, will continue to protect all views in the very places designed to foster a free flow of ideas."

"It's hard to admit you were wrong.

"Democrats are going to need some help with that. What's too often lost in the Sturm und Drang of recent Republican efforts to reform the insurance reforms enacted by Democrats in 2009 is this: The Affordable Care Act has not worked as advertised. That is the fundamental fact around which the debate should be organized. The ACA did not result in lower premiums but in the opposite; it did not result in more competitive insurance markets but in the opposite; it did not result in superior health-insurance plans but, at least in many cases, the opposite; it has not resulted in universal coverage. Among the major promises made on behalf of the ACA, only one of any significance has been delivered on: It is the case that more Americans have health insurance today than they did in 2009. But the ACA has underdelivered on that point, too: Only about 16.5 million people -- barely 5 percent of the population -- gained health coverage from the passage of the ACA through 2016, and the vast majority of those, 81 percent, were new Medicaid beneficiaries.

It does not work."

Read entire article here.

"The swelling population of illegal immigrants and their kids is costing American taxpayers $135 billion a year, the highest ever, driven by free medical care, education and a huge law enforcement bill, according to the the most authoritative report on the issue yet.

"And despite claims from pro-illegal immigration advocates that the aliens pay significant off-setting taxes back to federal, state and local treasuries, the Federation for American Immigration Reform report tallied just $19 billion, making the final hit to taxpayers about $116 billion.

"State and local governments are getting ravaged by the costs, at over $88 billion.The federal government, by comparison, is getting off easy at $45 billion in costs for illegals.

"President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and conservatives in Congress are moving aggressively to deal with illegals, especially those with long criminal records. But their effort is being fought by courts and some 300 so-called 'sanctuary communities' that refuse to work with federal law enforcement.

"The added burden on taxpayers and the unfairness to those who have applied to come into the United States through legal channels is also driving the administration's immigration crackdown."

Read entire article here.

"When the White House and Congress release their new tax reform guidelines on Wednesday, they will likely talk a lot about middle-class tax cuts, business tax relief, and a simpler, fairer tax code. These are all popular and useful goals. But the media will not be talking about these goals when the tax reform plan is unveiled.

"Instead, the media pundits will focus almost exclusively on the winners and losers of tax reform, with special attention paid to those whose deductions and exemptions are capped or repealed to pay for lower rates for everyone. Stories about the negative impact of tax reform on this sector or that industry will far outnumber stories about the potential overall benefits of reform.

"Reagan and Kennedy proposed the last two major tax reform plans enacted into law -- Reagan 31 years ago in 1986, and Kennedy 22 years before that in 1964. Both presidents campaigned on restoring economic growth, and sold their plans as a way to get the economy moving again. Both of their plans worked, leading to two of the longest and largest economic expansions in our history. ...

"Tax reform is hard, which is why it has happened only twice in the last half century. But Presidents Kennedy and Reagan showed that focusing on increasing economic growth for everyone, not arguing about winners and losers, is the best way to sell and pass tax reform. And history has shown that a Reagan-Kennedy-style tax reform plan can produce years of 3 percent or higher economic growth."

"The NFL Will Lose Most From This Nonsense. They Deserve To. The NFL will be destroyed by this. Thousands of Americans were already tuning out due to concussion coverage and domestic abuse issues. Now that will accelerate. That's due in large measure to the NFL's utterly inconsistent stance with regard to political posturing. When St. Louis Rams players engaged in 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot' protests in 2014, the league did nothing; when Dallas Cowboys players wanted to wear Dallas police decals to honor the department after a massacre of officers by a black radical, the NFL turned them down flat. When Kaepernick knelt for the Anthem, and other players followed, the NFL did nothing; when some players wanted to wear cleats on September 11, 2016 honoring the fallen, the NFL threatened fines. Is it any wonder that fans feel like the NFL took a side here?

"Here's the bottom line: this conflict isn't good for the country. We need our shared symbols, and we need our shared spaces. Both of those elements are being destroyed for political and ratings gain. If that doesn't stop, we're not going to have anything at all in common anymore."

Read entire article here.

"The number is so large that it explodes everything we were led to believe about how tightly-controlled our government's surveillance programs are.

"The number is 260, and that's how many times Samantha Power, the ambassador to the United Nations under President Obama, reportedly requested the names of American citizens who were included in intelligence reports covering foreign officials.

"The story, by respected Fox News' journalists Bret Baier and Catherine Herridge, said Power made the requests to 'unmask' the 260 names in one year alone, including the period between the presidential election and the inauguration. ...

"It is not a minor point that the names of some people who were involved in President Trump's campaign or his administration were unmasked and then leaked to the anti-Trump media, which breathlessly reported them as evidence of collusion with Russia and even treason. It is not a stretch to wonder if Power was behind any of those leaks."

Read entire article here.

"The United Nations is mostly about noise, hot air and fatuous nonsense, and American presidents usually say nice, harmless things they don't actually believe, to be diplomatic, gracious and polite, rarely rebuking with plain speech the lies and hypocrisy that find such a comfortable home at the United Nations.

"Mr. Trump didn't disappoint the delegates who came to see for themselves if the new American was really the president they had heard so much about. He proved that yes indeed, he is, but he said the necessarily harsh things with the cool demeanor he usually keeps to himself.

"In all, his speech was a good day's work, proving again that when he wants to the Donald can rise to a presidential occasion with grit and panache. The alliances of decent men and women had 'tilted the world toward freedom since World War II,' he told them, and invited them to join the United States and 'fight together, sacrifice together for peace, for freedom, for justice.'

"But these must not be mere words. That was the message for the delegates to take home, because he's a president who sounds like he means it."