Reporter: Dems’ Civil War Flares Up Again

Politico’s Heather Caygle notes that Democratic centrists and lefties are battling in the wake of Conor Lamb’s apparent win in a pro-Trump Pennsylvania district. Does the party need more nominees like him — pro-gun, anti-Nancy Pelosi, skeptical on abortion and the $15 minimum wage? “Some liberals are doing what they can to tamp down the victory lap moderates are taking post-Pennsylvania,” Caygle notes. The two sides face off Tuesday in an Illinois primary, where Rep. Dan Lipinski, “one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress,” faces a progressive challenger.

Neocon: Will Open-Primary Law Burn Democrats?

California ended partisan primaries in 2010; now candidates of all parties run in a single primary, with the top two vote-getters then facing off in November. But, observes Noah Rothman at Commentary, this means that a pack of candidates can split up the vote on one end of the spectrum so that the finalists are both from the other side. For example, eight Democrats are running in hopes of unseating Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in a district that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. But Rothman notes the incumbent “might have received a reprieve in the form of an unexpected challenge from within his own party by Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh — a popular, connected and well-known figure.” If that happens, “expect a change of heart from Democrats. Suddenly, there might be a new virtue in the wisdom of a closed nominating process or, for that matter, in the old smoke-filled rooms.”

Prosecutor: Mueller Probe Flaunts Justice Dept. Rules

National Review’s Andy McCarthy continues to be puzzled by special counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation. For instance, Mueller’s recent deal allowed Richard Gates, earlier charged with crimes that could mean decades in prison, to plead to just two small offenses, “each carrying a sentence of zero to five years.” But Justice Department rules require “that a defendant plead guilty to ‘the most serious readily provable charge consistent with the nature and extent of his/her conduct’ ” — not “to sell out the case for a song to induce cooperation.” This plea bargain, he warns, could even undermine the case against Gates’ old partner, Paul Manafort.

From the right: Labor’s #MeToo Problem

Why, asks Jacob Reyes at Economics21, “is the media not taking the United Auto Workers, the SEIU and the AFL-CIO to task for sexual harassment?” The UAW is named along with Ford Motor Co. in a suit by more than 50 women alleging “decades of harassment” at two plants. Several say the union “is directly responsible for helping protect the harassers, including” retaliation against those who lodged “complaints against male union members.” And the nation’s largest unions, the SEIU and AFL-CIO, have both recently faced sex-assault problems in their top ranks. Reyes concludes, “As the #MeToo movement continues to expose the failures of numerous institutions to create an equal and safe working environment, there must be renewed efforts to hold all organizations involved responsible, including unions.”

Libertarian: We Broke the Climate and We Can Fix It

Reason’s Ronald Bailey says it’s time to “start devising an emergency backup planetary cooling system” in case global warming turns out to be worse than scientists now project. Options include “carbon dioxide removal and solar reflection” — the first meaning plants to remove CO2 from the air, the second involving artificial or enhanced clouds to reflect more sunlight. For example, “The 1991 eruption of the Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines” created “global haze” that “reflected enough sunlight to lower the average temperature of the planet by nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit for two years.” Warns Bailey, “The time to explore the risks and benefits is now.”