"We need to deal with this very dangerous idea that says being pro-Jewish means you have to be pro-Israeli or being pro-Israeli means you're automatically pro-Jewish & you're immunized from the charge of anti-Semitsm. Lots of anti-Semites support Israel & Netanyahu."

But this was decidedly not the attitude Abbott had just one day before the shooting took place, when, according to the Texas Signal, he sent out a letter peppered with racist attacks on Hispanic immigrants — and a menacing, violent suggestion that Texans “take matters into our own hands.”

“Just three weeks in June, 45,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended crossing the Mexican border into Texas!” said the letter. “That amounts to the entire population of Galveston – every three weeks. In just six months, we’d add the population of Arlington!”

“If we’re going to DEFEND Texas, we’ll need to take matters into our own hands,” the letter continued. “The problems of illegal immigration never reach swanky limousine-liberal neighborhoods in New York and California!”

Unionist parties have not won a majority of votes cast in a Northern Ireland election since 2005. While there is likely still a majority for Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom, this is not the same thing as a “unionist majority”. Both unionism and nationalism are minorities now, with the balance being held by an unaligned, liberal middle.

Where there is a majority is for the backstop. Successive polls and the European election results indicate nearly 60% consistently voting in favour of special arrangements to accommodate Northern Ireland’s strangeness. We have come to quite the historical pass when a government in Dublin finds itself pointing out that the will of the majority of partitioned Northern Ireland should be respected. Wherever Éamon de Valera and Edward Carson are now, we can only hope they are able to enjoy the irony together.

And now for the day’s least surprising news:

Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is joining Fox News as a contributor, the network announced Thursday.

Sanders, who left the Trump administration roughly two months ago, will appear on various Fox platforms to provide political commentary. She will make her first appearance on “Fox & Friends” during its Sept. 6 broadcast.

Susan Sarandon dogsplaining racism to a black woman might be the most fucked up Bernie thing ever.

The world is edging towards a recession once again. The yield curve, which shows the return on US government debt, has inverted for the first time since 2007 – meaning short-term bonds pay out more than long-term bonds. An inverted yield curve has augured every major recession for the last half century.

The global economic indicators are not good. In the US, business investment is falling as the effect of its stimulus programme fades and concerns grow over the trade war with China. The eurozone is feeling the squeeze as demand from China and US slows. Germany has fallen into negative growth and the Bundesbank has said the country is probably heading for a recession. Uncertainty around Brexit is constraining business investment in the UK, while the overall growth of the economy has disappointed financial analysts for several quarters now.
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The ten years since the financial crisis have been a lost decade for wages, investment and productivity.

Many people are no better off today than they were in 2007, and they do not expect their lot to improve. If the political turmoil of the last decade has resulted from economic stagnation, there is no telling what chaos might be unleashed when stagnation turns into decline.