Lot of stuff going on for a Friday morning. Not here in Columbia — here it’s just raining. But we have these things of national and global significance happening more or less as I type:

1. Pope speaks to U.N. — OK, this just ended before I could finish the post. That’s OK, you might have had trouble following the feed; during the part I caught he was speaking Spanish (with an unusual accent to my ear; I guess I haven’t heard that many Argentines). He’s talked so far about saving the planet, has endorsed the Iran deal and has said nations need to remove barriers to the education of girls.
2. John Boehner resigns — My first reaction was, “Was it something the Pope said?” After all, Boehner invited him, much to the chagrin of some of the crazies in his party. But I think it’s just the accumulated stress of trying to lead said crazies. Why would he want to quit? Well, just for instance, when his resignation was announced at the “Values Voters Summit,” the news got a standing ovation.
3. Chinese leader visits Obama — Technically, this hasn’t happened yet, but the White House is poised to roll out “pomp-filled arrival ceremony,” then a state dinner tonight. These guys should have a lot to talk about. Mr. President, can you say, “Stop the hacking?” Not to mention the weight Xi has been throwing around in the East and South China Sea.

And… dang it, there was something else. What am I forgetting?

A few things to chew on…

1. In D.C., pope weighs in on climate, poverty, immigration — He also gave POTUS a bit of a homily on respecting religious liberty, so it wasn’t all hugs and kisses.
2. Volkswagen CEO Resigns, Saying He’s ‘Shocked’ By Emissions Scandal — He was also distressed to learn that there was gambling going on at Rick’s.
3. Carly Fiorina in Columbia — There’s video at The State’s site.
4. Yankees Catcher With a Wit All His Own — Yogi Berra’s dead! Oh, say it ain’t so…

These aren’t great talkers, not that I look back over the list. Maybe y’all have some better ideas…

Click on the image to view this and more Ariail cartoons at thestate.com.

Another busy day with a scarcity of posts, but here are some things that caught my eye:

1. Feds name Dylann Roof friend as target — After reading that piece in the Post, I have to wonder what the charge could be. There must be something that we don’t know — which would not be surprising, I suppose.
2. Hungarian Riot Police Clash With Migrants at Border Gate — Hungary seems determined to make every other country in Europe seem warm, generous and welcoming by contrast.
3. Obamacare Enrollment Triggers Drop In The Uninsured Rate — Which is what it was supposed to do, but it’s nice to know it’s working.
4. Budweiser Owner Woos Miller in Push to Create Beer Giant — Honestly, I don’t care if Bud buys Miller. I just liked the mental image of “Beer Giant.” Reminds me of the scene in “Strange Brew” when Bob McKenzie is trapped in the beer vat and has to drink it all to keep from drowning. Oh, you think that’s stupid? Take off, eh? You hoser…
5. The GOP debate tonight — I’ll probably be commenting in real time on Twitter, assuming there are no technical difficulties and real life doesn’t distract me too much. I’m not going to watch the JV one.

This has nothing to do with anything in the news. I just liked this shot I took down by the river Sunday.

Determined to get something up before the day was out, here are some possible topics:

1. SC ranks No. 1 for deadly violence against women — Probably the most shameful ranking that our state has. Our rate is more than twice the national average. And of course, most murdered women knew their killer.
2. N. Korea says it has restarted its nuclear facilities, threatens U.S. — According to Kim Jong “Psycho” Un, we just made the list, buddy…
3. Support of Trump Steady as Clinton’s Slips, Poll Finds — So on the one hand we have bad news for Hillary, on the other, terrible news for the country. In just two months, Hillary’s support has plunged from 71 percent to 42 percent among Democratic women. Yeah, really…
4. YouTube ‘dancing baby’ case prompts ruling affirming Fair Use — Sounds to me like good news for bloggers. I think. Not sure…

North to Alaska: POTUS checks out some fjords.

It’s been a busy day for me, but here are some topics to discuss amongst yourselves:

1. Obama secures votes to clinch Iran victory in Congress — We’ve seen this coming for a couple of days, but before that, it would have surprised me. How did we get here? It seemed like all Republicans and some Democrats were against it, so… what happened? ‘Splain the math to me…
2. Chinese Navy Ships Operating in Bering Sea Off Alaska Coast — Fascinating development. I heard a story on the radio yesterday about how the Russians are using their icebreaker fleet to open shipping routes to Europe through the Arctic (the Northwest Passage!), and now this. All this as Obama becomes first sitting president to travel north of the Arctic Circle. It’s “Ice Station Zebra” time.
3. U.S. Stocks Regain Footing — Now that’s more like. This is the kind of story I want to read, if forced to read financial news. Don’t give me any more of that junk like yesterday. Got that?
4. Draft Biden super PAC hires SC staff — Meanwhile, Inez Tenenbaum and Gerald Malloy will be state co-chairs of the effort.
5. Trump: Jeb Bush Should Be ‘Speaking English’ — Because he hadn’t said anything truly outrageous all week, so he was due.

The Washington Post unveiled a spiffy new browser interface today. Not sure I like it — I think I could see more headlines on the screen with the old one.

A few things to talk about:

1. U.S. Stocks Close Sharply Higher in Global Rally — That’s the good news. Figured you could use some.
2. Austria Finds Up to 50 Bodies in Truck Left on Side of Road — And all those Trump supporters think we have an immigration problem in this country. Take a look at this map showing all the ways people are flowing into Europe.
3. Possible Biden run puts Obama fundraising network on high alert — Here’s the really fascinating fact in this report: Of the 770 fund-raisers who helped Obama’s 2012 campaign, only 52 are working for Hillary. Did you realize how much of the Democratic establishment wasn’t on board with Ms. Inevitable? Neither did I. So James Smith was right in what he told me. And Chris Cillizza kind of has egg on his face for having reported that “It’s too late” for Biden because “virtually every major fundraiser in the party — including many who were once Biden people — is now on Clinton’s team.” Assuming this report is the one that’s right. Very intriguing.
4. Trump speaks to ‘silent majority’ in SC campaign stop — So now he’s Nixon? Did he bring Checkers with him? From what I’ve read of this report, what he had to say was all the usual stuff.
5. Virginia shooting sparks renewed calls for gun control but old obstacles remain — In yet another example of how people in other countries just marvel over our tolerance for gun violence, this is leading The Guardian while U.S. media outlets have moved on.

Biden at the Galivants Ferry Stump Meeting, way back in 2006.

Some things to chat about if you’re so inclined:

1. Markets down sharply after chaotic day — What does it all mean, Mr. Natural? I like this advice from the WSJ: Advice After Stock Market Drop: Take Some Deep Breaths, and Don’t Do a Thing
2. Joe Biden Is Leaning Toward a 2016 Run — He keeps leaning a little more, and a little more… I hope he doesn’t fall over. And how about that meeting with Elizabeth Warren — who was courting whom, and what was being proposed? Don’t know about you, but I’d like to see him run. POTUS may not be too averse to the idea, either.
3. U.S. train heroes get highest French honor for ‘lesson in courage’ — Enjoying this story. Very proud of these guys. Hollande gave them the Legion d’honneur.
4. Abuse reports, cases spike at DSS — But the agency is still short-handed.

Or… whatever y’all would like to talk about…

If some of these items look old, it’s because I started collecting them yesterday but ran out of time to post a thread. But I don’t want to hear any complaining; y’all should be grateful to get a rare Saturday Open Thread — especially since I’m supposed to be out doing yard work right now:

1. Pentagon assessing S.C. brig as an option for Guantanamo — Not a new idea, but it’s come back up. Sounds fine to me. We need to keep them somewhere.
2. Documents confirm Apple is building self-driving car — And exclusive from The Guardian. Cool, huh? But allow me a small complaint: This story says “sooner than expected,” but we were supposed to have self-flying cars by now. The writer must not have been around in the ’60s, when the future was so limitless.
3. US Marines who lowered embassy flag in 1961 back in Havana — I thought this was kind of a neat angle on the embassy-opening story.
4. Japan emperor ‘remorseful’ over WW2, as 70th anniversary marked — Going a bit farther than the P.M. did.

The Dog Days are definitely with us. I was looking at a relatively unfamiliar news site this morning and thinking These people have terrible news judgment! Where’s the real news? Then I looked at other respected outlets and saw there just wasn’t any.

No wonder it’s Trump all the time (yesterday, the first four items on my Washington Post app on my iPad were about The Donald). Nothing’s happening.

Anyway, here are some topics you may take an interest in. If you know of anything more interesting, please bring it to our attention:

1. China Devalues Its Currency Amid Economic Slowdown — See what I mean? This is at least serious news; it’s just excruciatingly dull. News to take a nap by. It’s the kind of thing that makes me want to run screaming in the opposite direction.
2. Demonstrations in Ferguson lead to arrests and potential flash points — So there was a police-involved shooting in Ferguson a couple of nights back — one in which pretty much no one is alleging that cops were at fault. But unlike police-involved shootings in the rest of the country, this one is getting coverage. You know why? Because media are there for the anniversary.
3. Jeb Bush wants to bring back the Bush doctrine — I’m just including this one to give Bud the heebie-jeebies.
4. 100,000 people have come to recent Bernie Sanders rallies. How does he do it? — My personal theory? Everyone in America who will consider voting for Sanders has been to at least one, and possibly several, of his rallies. Some may be traveling from city to city, like Deadheads.

Come on, y’all — please come up with something better.

Just a few things to talk over, if you’re so inclined:

1. Obama Unveils Limits on Power-Plant Emissions — Which is a first for this country.
2. Gulf Arab States Voice Support for Iran Nuclear Deal — An important diplomatic development for the Obama administration.
3.  GOP moves to defund Planned Parenthood — Democrats are of course livid, for as George Will wrote over the weekend (“Planned Parenthood and the barbarity of America“), “The nonnegotiable tenet in today’s Democratic Party catechism is not opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline or support for a $15 minimum wage. These are evanescent fevers. As the decades roll by, the single unshakable commitment is opposition to any restriction on the right to inflict violence on pre-born babies.”
4. Pay-by-phone parking app comes to Columbia — I don’t know about y’all, but I’m pretty excited about this. I’ve already downloaded the app. You?

That’s all I have for now. But perhaps y’all have some topics you’d like to bring up.

Some stuff for y’all to chew on while I’m doing a bunch of other stuff today:

1. $1 Million Bail for Officer Held in Killing of Black Driver — And the terrible trend continues.
2. Columbia’s summer one of hottest in decades — You may have noticed that already.
3. Slain senator’s widow sets up foundation to honor his causes — The Honorable Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney Foundation would support “religious, educational and charitable causes” that the senator supported. Presumably, that would include expanding Medicaid…
4. As world mourned Cecil the lion, 5 elephants were slain — Just in case animal lovers want something else to obsess over.
5. Anyone see James Taylor last night? — I’m just curious. How was he? I haven’t seen him since a concert in Memphis in the early ’80s.
6. MH370: aircraft debris in Réunion almost certainly from a Boeing 777 — Could it be that they’ve finally found it?

Not a lot going on locally today, but here are some potential topics:

1. Review: Clinton Emailed Classified Information — After this, I’ve got a feeling she’s not going to change her ways and start taking media questions on a regular basis any time soon.
2. China’s Global Desires, Loans and Strings Attached — This story makes this sound like something new, but I remember writing about this very phenomenon in an editorial in 1994. China has been taking the long view, carefully paving its way toward superpowerdom, for a long, long time. While we, messy democracy that we are, sort of stumble from one ad hoc foreign policy decision to the next.
3. Americans Are Finally Eating Less — Well, you can’t go by me. I totally broke the paleo rules this morning and had grits with my bacon, my sausage, my plate piled high with fruit. I had to try on three pairs of pants this morning before I found some I could fasten at the waist.
4. President Obama starts two-day Kenya visit — Any comment from Donald Trump yet?
5. Louisiana Movie Theater Gunman Hated Feminists, Liberals — So he went out and killed two lovely young women.

A special Sunday thread — not because there’s any special news going on, but just to provide y’all with something going into what looks like a busy Monday for me:

1. Trump Lashes Out At McCain: ‘I Like People Who Weren’t Captured’ — Meanwhile The Guardian, which finds Americans endlessly appalling, is leading with the fact that this yahoo is, going by polls, the GOP front-runner at the moment. Which prompts the musical question, “Whither the GOP?”
2. Bill Cosby in His Own Words: Sex, Drugs and Deception — Showing what a slow news day this is, the NYT is actually leading with this.
3. Tenn. gunman used drugs, struggled with clash of faith — To throw in some hard news, as leavening.
4. Should Tillman statue tell what he was really like? — Since no monuments are to be removed, should they — especially this one — be placed in historical context? By the way, the answer is “yes.”
5. KKK, other groups raise voices at State House — I had posted something about this earlier, then decided that what I had written was SO thin and based on unfounded speculation that I took it down, in keeping with the “when in doubt, leave it out” rule. But here you go, in case you’re interested in saying anything about it.
6. ‘As if!’ Clueless turns 20 — Just some pure fun. Thought we could use some. I’m Audi. Be seeing you — not sporadically, I hope.

Some possible topics, and yeah, they’re mostly related:

1. Governor issues record number of budget vetoes — Earlier, I wrote a post expressing my dismay that the governor was needlessly antagonizing lawmakers (“needlessly” in the sense of vetoing things she always gets overridden on) with the flag vote coming up. But you know what? I’m so concerned about not rocking the boat myself right now that I took it down, even though it was my only post today. THAT’S how hard I’m cheering for Nikki Haley right now. I didn’t want to create ANY negative waves, Moriarty.
2. Greece fails to make key debt payment to IMF — You know what? After we get this flag thing done, maybe Nikki could go over and try to inject some fiscal accountability in Athens. There’s a country that could really use a leader who’s handy with budget vetoes. (And no, I’m not trying to get rid of her. She’s my girl now. I’m just saying they could use some of her attitude over there.)
3. 462 people shot dead by police this year — Just to bring back up a subject that Clementa Pinckney cared a lot about. (If it seems like I can’t talk about anything right now without relating it to the Charleston massacre or issues related to it, well, I guess that’s the case.)
4. Tillman statue vandalized — Well, again, I’m not for illegal acts that are likely to inflame passions at this delicate time. But you know, it’s Ben Tillman. I’m probably not going to sit up nights worrying about his stupid statue.
5. KKK plans rally at State House — The KKK rally on July 18 gives lawmakers a nice, clear deadline by which to act on the flag. Present the Klan with a fait accompli…
6. Christie dismisses naysayers, launches long-shot 2016 bid — Don’t know where he stands on the flag, but I’ll let you know when I find out. Meanwhile… do y’all think he has a chance?

Anything else, y’all?

I went over to the Statehouse grounds this evening, and got there a few minutes after the viewing of Sen. Clementa Pinckney’s body was supposed to end, and the line was still this long.

Beyond that, I invite y’all’s commentary on whatever you want to bring up.

“And then, Joe, the House Democrats told me to go do something to myself that, quite frankly, is anatomically impossible…”

Y’all seldom have much to say on a Friday afternoon, but here are some things to chew on just in case:

1. House derails trade deal in a blow to Obama — I’ve never known Democrats to be particularly sensible on trade in the past (unless they happen to be president, in which case they tend to have a broader outlook), so why should they start now?
2. Graham says he once dated a stewardess named Sylvia — Our senior senator lets some details of his private life out, in response to burning interest on the part of national media.
3. Why this NAACP official isn’t talking about her race — Because she is apparently white. At least the people who say they’re her parents are. This is causing a lot of buzz, but it’s weird that this is such a big deal, since whites had a big role in starting the organization. And even today, the organization says, “One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria.”

4. California Unveils Sharp Cuts in Water for Agriculture — This situation in our largest state is worrisome, and another reason to be glad we live on the East Coast, where all sensible people stayed…

Or whatever interest you…

A few suggestions on a relatively slow day:

1. Costco looking at Piney Grove again — No sign yet that they’re looking for millions in concessions this time. That’s what caused the deal to break down before.
2. DNA Deciphers Roots of Modern Europeans — Apparently, the message in the skeletons’ DNA, once decoded, said “welfare state.”
3. Fellow senator describes Graham as “bro with no ho” — Weird comment by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is just barely audible on recording… The WashPost treats it as an etymological puzzle.
4. How Do Companies Quietly Raise Prices? They Do This — The only reason I’m including this is that the story contains a new (to me) phrase that I’m adding to my list of possible band names, when I start a band: “Slack Fill.”
5. Iowa police officer kills unarmed man who ‘walked with purpose’ — So, if he had “trudged with diffidence,” would he have gotten off with a warning?

Or whatever else interests you.

The view from where we were having lunch today.

Back from the beach, and here are some possible topics:

1. VA building could become parking lot — Kathryn suggested this topic. I gather that this is one on which she may be in agreement with the mayor.
2. How Jeb Bush’s 2016 bid faltered before it began — Really? Isn’t it a bit early to be writing the political obit for the guy who is still probably going to end up with the nomination? Maybe that’s not what this is, but the headline has an eulogistical tone.
3. Al-Qaida ‘cut off and ripped apart by Isis’ — Yeah, the enemy of my enemy may be my friend, but somehow I can’t quite work up a lot of sympathy here for the has-been terror organization.

Or whatever y’all want to talk about…

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Schmoozing: POTUS and the other G7 leaders, wandering in a field in Bavaria. There’s a metaphor here somewhere…

For once, I have an SC-heavy list of suggestions:

1. Former police officer who shot Walter Scott indicted for murder — This SC story is leading newspaper sites as far away as London. This one’s from The Guardian. For the Charleston version, click here.
2. SC abortion numbers decline nearly 12 per cent in 5 years — Whichever side of the fence you’re on, that’s a good thing right?
3. Franklin Graham urges boycott of gay-friendly companies — You know what? In that picture, he looks older than I ever remember his Dad looking…
4. Innovista Greene Street project breaks ground this week — I’m glad to see this finally get under way — this was always supposed to be the centerpiece, sort of the Main Street of Innovista, a pedestrian friendly boulevard running from the center of the USC campus down to a riverfront park. Thanks to the penny tax, it’s now on track.
5. US strategy on Iraq ‘not yet complete’ – Obama — That’s what he said at the G-7 summit. You know why it’s G-7? ‘Cause we kicked out Russia. Meanwhile, that new guy seeking the Democratic nomination for president thinks we’ve been way too mean to the Russians over Ukraine. Really.

Some suggestions on this anniversary of D-Day minus 1 (in the original Overlord plan, before it was set back a day):

Five Points flooded again. Are you shocked? — When will we do something about the weather — or at least about its effects?

Basil sells Rosewood Market and Deli — To someone who at least may be familiar to some local folks.