"This is shaping up to be the long summer of Democrats' discontent.

"Four special congressional elections; four Republican wins. Democrats took some solace that a few were closer than expected in traditional GOP territory, but you know that old chestnut about close only counting in horseshoes . . .

"Pelosi insisted in a letter to Democrats last week that her party still has a chance of regaining the House, which would require a switch of 24 seats in 2018.

"'The president's numbers are in the thirties and our base is energized,' she wrote. 'We must now put forth our message.'

"Oh, yes, that -- but first there needs to be one."

"Events are turning me into a radical skeptic. I no longer believe what I read, unless what I am reading is an empirically verifiable account of the past. I no longer have confidence in polls, because it has become impossible to separate the signal from the noise. What I have heard from the media and political class over the last several years has been so spectacularly proven wrong by events, again and again, that I sometimes wonder why I continue to read two newspapers a day before spending time following journalists on Twitter. Habit, I guess. A sense of professional obligation, I suppose. Maybe boredom.

"The fact is that almost the entirety of what one reads in the paper or on the web is speculation. The writer isn't telling you what happened, he is offering an interpretation of what happened, or offering a projection of the future. The best scenario is that these theories are novel, compelling, informed, and based on reporting and research. But that is rarely the case. More often the interpretations of current events, and prophesies of future ones, are merely the products of groupthink or dogma or emotions or wish-casting, memos to friends written by 27-year-olds who, in the words of Ben Rhodes, 'literally know nothing.' There was a time when newspapers printed astrology columns. They no longer need to. The pseudoscience is on the front page."

"By using fired FBI Director James Comey to attack the new Republican administration, Democrats have opened up a legal can of worms for the Obama administration.

"Under sworn questioning, Comey has veered off the topic of President Trump and Russia and revealed several damning incidents in which his predecessor's administration politically interfered in the Hillary Clinton email investigation. And now the Senate will investigate Team Obama for obstruction of justice.

"Specifically, the Senate Judiciary Committee announced last week it will hold hearings to 'examine then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch's involvement in the Clinton email server investigation.' ...

"That's a nightmare scenario for Democrats, who are betting the 2018 midterms on convincing voters of Trump graft. Much to their chagrin, Comey's testimony has given Republicans grounds to shift focus from the Russia probe back to Clinton-Obama corruption.

"Witch-hunting Democrats may soon learn that turnabout is fair play."

"Republicans can breathe easier tonight; Karen Handel will be a good Congresswoman, and the Democrats haven't proven yet that they can win in 2018. Handel's win will stem some of the panic in Republican ranks about the next cycle, and offer a caution to potential Democratic recruits. But the fight for the House isn't over yet. In a democracy, it never is."

"Even a divided Supreme Court can speak clearly, as in Monday's unanimous 8-0 ruling that the First Amendment protects offensive speech. ...

"It's 'a bedrock First Amendment principle,' wrote Justice Samuel Alito: 'Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend.'

"Justice Anthony Kennedy got to the same point: 'A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all. The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government's benevolence.'"

Read entire piece here.

"Never in the history of the republic have there been so many legislative and political simultaneous efforts to 1) sabotage the Electoral College, 2) sue to overturn the presidential vote in key swing states, 3) boycott the Inauguration, 4) systematically block presidential appointments, 5) surveille, unmask, and leak classified or privileged information about the elected president, 6) nullify federal law at the state and local level, 7) sue to remove the president by invoking the Emoluments Clause, 8) declare Trump unfit under the 25th Amendments, 9) demand recusals from his top aides, 10) cherry-pick sympathetic judges to block presidential executive orders, 11) have a prior administration's residual appointees subvert their successor, and 12) promise impending impeachment.

"And that is only the political effort to remove the president. ...

"Trump's future hinges on three propositions: 1) legislative momentum that shifts public attention to Trump's relatively successful nascent efforts to reform government and dismantle the progressive project; 2) a continued upswing in the economy that comes to fruition with 3 percent per annum economic growth; and 3) the creation of political deterrence, characterized by a shift from the defensive to offensive that will warn progressives to cease their efforts at delegitimizing the president."

Read entire article here.

"I think it has to change. In fact, one of the stories that would have been a really nice story in the media about four months ago was how the freshman class -- both Democrats and Republicans -- signed a letter of commitment to civility because we didn't like what we were seeing.

"We're new. We're freshmen. Never got any traction because it wasn't a big deal.

"Well, I guess I'll tell you what: It's a big deal. Everybody's got skin in the game now. If they don't realize it have them come and talk to some of us."

"An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us."

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

"It's time to take a brief break from President Trump. Whatever you think of him, there's no denying that he dominates the news cycle. We seem to assume that the nation's future depends on Trump's fate, for better or worse. The reality is otherwise: The nation's future also hangs on larger economic and social trends that no president can shape.

"A new report from the congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC) reminds us of this. The report examines the nation's 'social capital.' Now, social capital is an obscure academic term that, essentially, signifies the ability of people to work and play together -- to cooperate and connect with others. The stronger a society's social capital, the less isolated and powerless people feel. The news here is cautionary; our social capital is depleting. ...

"The institutions that provide social stability and personal contentment seem to be in retreat. The fact that one-third of children are raised by single parents cannot be good. Neither is the loss of confidence in major institutions. As private institutions weaken, pressure mounts on government to fill the void, but the effect is to place more demands of government than it can meet, contributing to its unpopularity.

"To some extent, the future of the United States depends on Trump. But it depends even more on how these social and economic trends evolve -- how we cope with them and whether we become a more cohesive society or a more contentious one. Trump is not destiny. For better or worse, we are."