ARTIFICIAL TIMELINE: TROOPS FEAR OBAMA RUSHING MOSUL OFFENSIVE FOR POLITICAL REASONS. Oh come now. Would President Light Bringer Nobel Peace Prize do such a cynical, callous thing? The tide of war is receding — or so Obama said.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero said his contacts in Baghdad have relayed the concerns to him, fearing there is now an “artificial timeline” for what promises to be by far the toughest battle in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq. Iraqi Security Forces, which has made strides since the U.S.-led coalition began retraining its troops, may not be sufficiently prepared for a rushed operation. The troops face the monumental task of capturing a city of almost 2 million citizens and up to 10,000 Islamic State fighters and their booby traps. There is tremendous concern that Washington is going to press for a Mosul operation to commence before the November election,” Mr. Barbero told The Washington Times. “The concern is, will the conditions be set on the ground by then, and I don’t think so.”

IT’S COME TO THIS: The North Dakota Democratic Party Is Too Far Left Even for Heidi Heitkamp.

THE INSTA-WIFE ON Love And Family.

As I watched all the flurry and concern about Memaw, I thought how amazing it was that this big family loved her so much. The grandkids who were in their twenties it seemed sat by her bedside. When the whole group left to get food and drinks, they left a granddaughter in charge who sat by Memaw’s bed and cried softly telling Memaw she was “praying for her.” Memaw was either a saint to this family or just a lucky recipient of their care and concern. I hope she will be okay as the family really seemed to love her and wanted her to come home.

I reflected at the lack of big families now and the derision that many people have for tight-knit families in general. Our society is now a culture of drifters who move place to place who seek solace in their hipster lifestyle and sense of social justice. Their sense of outrage is often a substitute for family or religion or both. There is less sense of community and human compassion for individuals now.

I wonder where this lifestyle will lead when these same people get older and need someone to comfort them when they go to the hospital or get sick or need help. Maybe we’ll have robots by then that can look after people but somehow the treatment Memaw got from her kind, lovely family seemed to be a better bet.

A lot of people out there should be praying for the robots.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: With Menopause Reversal, Women May Be Forever Fertile: Scientists have rejuvenated post-menopausal ovaries to release fertile eggs.

FAMILY FEUD: Wikileaks: Debbie Wasserman Schultz Furious At MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski For Calling On Her To Resign.

PUSHING BACK AGAINST CORRUPTION: Bernie Sanders Backers March Against Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia.

EUROPE UNDER SIEGE: 1 dead, 11 injured after suspected suicide bombing at restaurant in #Ansbach, Germany. The lone casualty may have been the bomber.

OUCH:

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Here’s Why Most Moms Don’t Go to Sex Parties While Their Kids Are at Camp.

AT AMAZON, deals on bestsellers in Home & Garden.

Plus, pools, hot tubs, and supplies.

EDEN NOW A UNESCO PROTECTED SITE: Well, not quite, though Ur is in the neighborhood. UNESCO has designated Iraq’s southern marshes a World Heritage Site. The Mesopotamian marshes were probably a hotbed of revolutionary activity –in the early stages of the Agricultural Revolution.

REX MURPHY: What do Rob Ford, the Brexit and Donald Trump have in common? The Rulers Are Increasingly Out Of Touch With The Ruled.

Truth is that the anti-Ford brigade lived in a world where it was simply not thinkable that there could be differing opinions about him. They could not understand how this tormented and reckless man retained a special connection with the working class and was, in many cases, seen as a hero to many immigrant communities.

We have just witnessed a larger, more consequential example of the same break between elite suppositions and the real hopes, dreams and fears of the ordinary voter — the Brexit. Before the vote, every enlightened mind recoiled from the very thought. Was it not the case that only dark-minded xenophobes and Jeremy Clarkson fans would want to leave the Eden of Brussels and the European Union?

Ford was a signal of the disconnection, the great space between correct opinion in the higher altitudes and lived experience in the valley. Brexit was the first major demonstration of the consequences of that disconnect. The rulers and the ruled are increasingly out of touch with each other. The words of elite opinion have no resonance with the experience of those who they increasingly talk down to. Worse, the rain of snark and insult directed at the less enlightened only widened the gap, and added anger to their discontent. It’s never smart to be always talking down to people you refuse to listen to in the first place.

Or as Dana Loesch’s new book puts it, you can’t run a country you’ve never been to. At least, not well.

THE ROOTS OF OIKOPHOBIA:

My grandma (Mamaw) recognized this instinctively. She said that most people were probably prejudiced, but they had to be secretive about it. “We”–meaning hillbillies–“are the only group of people you don’t have to be ashamed to look down upon.” During my final year at Yale Law, I took a small class with a professor I really admired (and still do). I was the only veteran in the class, and when this came up somehow in conversation, a young woman looked at me and said, “I can’t believe you were in the Marines. You just seem so nice. I thought that people in the military had to act a certain way.” It was incredibly insulting, and it was my first real introduction to the idea that this institution that was so important among my neighbors was looked down upon in such a personal way. To this lady, to be in the military meant that you had to be some sort of barbarian. I bit my tongue, but it’s one of those comments I’ll never forget.

The “why” is really difficult, but I have a few thoughts. The first is that humans appear to have some need to look down on someone; there’s just a basic tribalistic impulse in all of us. And if you’re an elite white professional, working class whites are an easy target: you don’t have to feel guilty for being a racist or a xenophobe. By looking down on the hillbilly, you can get that high of self-righteousness and superiority without violating any of the moral norms of your own tribe. So your own prejudice is never revealed for what it is.

A lot of it is pure disconnect–many elites just don’t know a member of the white working class. A professor once told me that Yale Law shouldn’t accept students who attended state universities for their undergraduate studies. (A bit of background: Yale Law takes well over half of its student body from very elite private schools.) “We don’t do remedial education here,” he said. Keep in mind that this guy was very progressive and cared a lot about income inequality and opportunity. But he just didn’t realize that for a kid like me, Ohio State was my only chance–the one opportunity I had to do well in a good school. If you removed that path from my life, there was nothing else to give me a shot at Yale. When I explained that to him, he was actually really receptive. He may have even changed his mind.

What does it mean for our politics? To me, this condescension is a big part of Trump’s appeal.

Trump is a symptom of the political class’s toxicity. Naturally, they’d rather we think he’s the toxin.

NOW YOU CAN SEARCH THE WIKILEAKS DATABASE OF DNC EMAILS.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ OUT AS DNC LEADER AFTER CONVENTION.

“There’s simply no one better at taking the fight to the Republicans than Debbie,” Hillary spins in response to the debacle, claiming that DWS “has agreed to serve as honorary chair of my campaign’s 50-state program to gain ground and elect Democrats in every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states.”

A 21ST CENTURY MILESTONE: The First Slurpee Delivery By Drone.

HURRAY FOR FRACKING! Ohio Producing 1000% More Natural Gas Than 10 Years Ago.

THE DEMOCRATS’ EMAIL SCANDAL CLAIMS ITS FIRST VICTIM: Wasserman Schultz to resign amid email controversy.

TURNING SHIPPING CONTAINERS INTO A HOUSING DEVELOPMENT: The development’s in Houston, Texas.