"For the first time in nearly four decades, a sitting US senator goes on trial Wednesday on federal bribery charges in a case that could have profound political impact.

"Prosecutors have laid out a strong case against New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez in their indictment. But in the two years since it was unveiled, the Supreme Court has made it much harder to win a conviction.

"The senator is charged with taking nearly $1 million in personal gifts and campaign cash from a longtime friend, allegedly in return for political favors."

"The U.S. corporate income tax rate is comprised of a federal rate of 35 percent and an average of 5 percent for the states, giving an average 40 percent rate. The corporate tax has long been recognized by economists as one of the worst taxes. Despite all of the talk about 'greedy corporations,' corporations are merely a way of doing business. The corporation does not 'pay' the tax, only individuals pay taxes -- so the corporate tax is passed along to consumers in terms of higher prices, to the stockholders in terms of lower dividends and capital gains, and to the workers in terms of lower wages. Recent studies have shown that most of the corporate tax falls on the workers. Consumers resist higher prices and can often buy similar goods and services from foreign producers where the tax rate is lower. Investors have many options -- both in form and location, including the entire globe -- as to where to put their money. The worker has fewer options and hence suffers most from the corporate tax. ...

"Properly structured tax cuts do not 'pay' for themselves immediately, but they do over time. The Reagan tax cuts took about seven years to 'pay' for themselves, but in the meantime many millions obtained jobs at higher real wages, which would not have happened without the tax cut. Congress should learn from that experience and do it again."

"The University of California in Berkeley was again the scene of violence recently, as protesters claimed license to silence those with whom they disagree. Their fight against 'fascism' took the form of not just stopping a speech, but assaulting those who came to hear it.

"For those of us at universities and colleges, these counter-demonstrators, and in particular the masked antifa protesters, are a troubling and growing presence on our campuses. They have been assaulting people and blocking speeches for years with relatively little condemnation. They flourish in an environment where any criticism is denounced as being reflective of racist or fascist sentiments.

"However, as the latest violence in Berkeley vividly demonstrates, there is no distinction between these protesters and the fascists they claim to be resisting. They are all fascists in their use of fear and violence to silence others. What is particularly chilling is how some academics have given this anti-speech mob legitimacy through pseudo-philosophical rationalizations. ...

"These protesters believe that history shows the dangers of free speech and the need to deny it to those who would misuse it. It is a familiar sentiment that 'all the experience... accumulated through several decades teaches us... to deprive the reactionaries of the right to speak and let the people alone have that right.' Those were the words of another early anti-fascist, China's Communist Party leader Mao Zedong."

"In totalitarian societies, cities change their names regularly. Statues go up and are torn down. Words, as the historian Thucydides warned 2,400 years ago, habitually change their meanings to reflect passing political orthodoxy -- and thugs, commissars and brownshirts oversee the charade.

"For an antidote to these statue-smashers and name-changers, Americans seek just one honest public official who dares to say 'no more' -- and arrests rather than appeases those who destroy public property, or shames those who ruin people through guilt by association."

"WASHINGTON -- Arguably the most successful element of Donald Trump's presidency involves a campaign promise that hasn't been enacted or funded by Congress. The mere threat of a wall -- a 'big, beautiful' wall -- along the Mexican border has transformed the immigration equation, as fewer undocumented immigrants cross the border into the United States.

"The number of illegal border crossings was down 47 percent in July compared with the same period last year, and the number is down 22 percent for the 2017 fiscal year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, the number of total orders for voluntary departures or removal of undocumented immigrants between Feb. 1 and July 31 is up 31 percent.

"In other words, the policy is working even if no bill has made it to the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office favored by many presidents."

"Government, including the state and federal government, will properly play a large role in aiding with the flood disaster in Texas. Central government can bring in the most money, the biggest tankers, the most trucks. Federal agencies have also acquired expertise by handling hurricane flooding everywhere from Galveston to New England.

"But the federal role will always be anterior, in time and in moral importance, to the local, voluntary, individual efforts.

"That is, American Greatness is explicitly not a government program. It is the freest people on Earth giving their time and resources and risking their safety, to help neighbors, including neighbors from hundreds of miles away whom they have never met. May it ever be so."

"How do you satirize the left's general, ongoing hysteria? It's starting to affect me because I could swear that I saw Vladimir Putin in a Confederate uniform the other night sneaking into my yard to plant poison ivy."

"There's an infamous figure looming large in today's politics, a rogue of sorts, often unfairly maligned. Shunned by the national political establishment, it darts in and out of the shadows, haunting the dreams of D.C.'s professional class. 'One day,' it whispers, casually flipping a set of imaginary six-shooters, nonchalant like Doc Holliday, 'I shall come again.'

"I'm talking, of course, about a good old-fashioned government shutdown.

"As you may have heard, the specter of a federal shutdown returned to our nation's capital this week, reentering the public eye after four long years. The news swept through the halls of Congress like a cold desert wind. Somewhere, a lone coyote howled. A single set of maracas shook. Capitol staffers later swore they could hear that brief minor-key whistle that plays in old Western movies right before the camera zooms in on a rattlesnake or a slack-jawed desert skeleton or the saucy villain from The Three Amigos sauntering into a local saloon. ...

"As for the latest episode in the grand historic saga of government shutdowns, we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, take heart: Here in Texas, the legislature is shut down every other year -- and that's by design. Somehow, we all manage to survive."

"...[O]verall, tax reform is a winner, yielding on average 2.6% higher GDP over 10 years than without it. The U.S., with its subpar 2% growth right now, can't afford to pass up this chance to reboot the economy and return to a 3% or so growth rate.

"If that 2.6% growth estimate doesn't impress, consider this: Based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, U.S. GDP will total roughly $236.856 trillion over the next 10 years. So a mere 2.6% addition to growth would add about $5.4 trillion more in economic output over that time. Yes, it's a big difference.

"The point is, tax reform is a big winner. It will create stronger businesses, more jobs, higher incomes and a better standard of living for all. The Republican-led Congress in June whiffed on ObamaCare repeal and replace. After that, we feared that tax reform, too, was dead.

"Turns out that tax reform, once though defunct, has a zombielike second life. But it's a good zombie. If the GOP wants to remain in control after 2018, it had better pay attention to the zombie: Pass a fundamental tax reform, the sooner the better, and show you can keep a promise."

"I waited to write about this story because at first it seemed too insane to be true, but alas, it's come to this.

"ESPN pulled Asian-American sports announcer Robert Lee from this weekend's University of Virginia vs. William & Mary football game because they were afraid he might offend people. Why? His name is too similar to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. For the record, Robert E. Lee is white and has been dead for over 100 years. ...

"So, here we are."