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The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Freedom of speech—one of the key tenets of the Bill of Rights, a right that was so important to our founding fathers that it was put in the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is literally a part of the foundation of the laws that make up this country. Now, there are some caveats to this law: You cannot use your speech to endanger others, like yelling fire in a crowded room, and you cannot threaten harm to someone. But other than that the government cannot restrict your speech. That does not mean you have a right to go on my Facebook page or Twitter feed and call me nine kinds of an asshole—I can block you, and Twitter can delete your account, as can Facebook. And free speech is not without consequences. The government cannot censor you, but the public and public entities can and will make sure you know of their displeasure.

Which brings me to the Republican National Convention. If you watched, like I did, you heard some pretty awful things being said. And it’s a good thing they had the right to say them, as it brought the sheer ugliness and hate of the Republican Party out into the open.

There were some people in Cleveland who wholeheartedly disagreed with the Republican message. One of them decided to burn an American flag. (For whatever reason Fox News will not allow me to embed the video, but you can see it here). I am only aware that this video exists because a friend of mine posted it on Facebook. Let’s be clear here: I hate flag burning. As a veteran, I feel it is the most disrespectful form of protest there is. That being said, I would lay my life down to defend her First Amendment right to protest in the this manner. Why would I do this if I find this to be a disrespectful act?  

…

From him. Donald Trump is, right now, the greatest domestic threat to democracy our country has seen in our lifetimes. He lies about the crime rate in order to scare people into voting for a would-be Caesar who claims he will keep us safe. Trump not only appeals to the fears and racial anxieties of people afraid of demographic change, he exacerbates them. He paints a picture of an America in flames, and tells us that he, alone, can save us. With Trump, and only Trump, can we have law and order. Otherwise, we’ll have chaos. That’s the way a Mussolini talks, not a Lincoln or a Roosevelt. Certainly not someone who believes in constitutional democracy.

Trump says that our leadership is weak, and that he will bring strength. This dime store Nietzsche believes that when people are scared they will turn to a strongman to protect them. Trump does not offer a set of principles in which he believes, but instead a cult of personality. It really is all about him. Anyone who seeks power in such a way is a danger to democracy.

Trump says he’ll win where President Obama and Secretary Clinton have lost, he’ll make America great again, and respected again. He says he knows to get the best deal for us. However, one concrete thing the Republican Convention has shown us is that Trump is such a poor negotiator that he couldn’t even get Ted Cruz to endorse him in return for a primetime speaking slot. That’s not strength, in fact, it’s truly pathetic.

In addition to whatever else Hillary Clinton says in her acceptance speech, she must highlight the gravest threat our country, our democracy faces right now. That threat is Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, workers at the Philadelphia airport rallied ahead of a possible strike next week. The workers are trying to draw attention to their low wages—last year, they won $12 an hour and are now fighting to get to $15. And next week is a good time to get attention for their struggle, with the Democratic National Convention being held in Philadelphia.

On Tuesday, workers and supporters reiterated their intention to strike next week, promising to cause "as much disruption as possible." The union has authorized – by an overwhelming vote of 95 percent – a strike during the convention in Philadelphia. 

As much as it’s a chance for workers to shine a light on their struggle, it’s a chance for DNC delegates and speakers to show their support for these workers. It’s a moment to say that the workers’ fight is part of the Democratic Party’s fight to improve wage and working conditions.

Despite the tough talk at the Republican National Convention this week about “making America safe,” there was scarcely a word about gun violence or police slaying of unarmed black citizens. And certainly nothing about passing new laws to control who gets guns or what kind they can possess.

No surprise since the National Rifle Association has a firm grip on the majority of elected Republicans. Even most of those who don’t take NRA money have bought into its extremist ideology. That boils down to: The more Americans who appear on our streets armed—carrying their firearms concealed or in the open—the more peaceful life will be.

That was certainly the message delivered with an ample dose of Hillary hate at the convention on Wednesday by Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist and chairman of its political action arm, the NRA's Political Victory Fund.

The deep-fried hypocrisy of this view was on full display in Cleveland. On the streets outside the Quicken Loans Arena were many armed people, carrying pistols and rifles legally under Ohio’s open-carry law. Inside the arena, however, firearms were forbidden. Just as they were at the NRA’s annual convention in Kentucky in May. The progenitors of our weakened gun laws are unwilling to take the risks to themselves that the policies they back present to the rest of society.

Donald Trump's first press conference Friday morning, post-coronation would normally have been a dignified and grateful pivot to the general election, where he thanked all of the volunteers for his campaign and for the convention and cheered his unified party on to November. But it's Trump. So it was an unmitigated mess of free association, punctuated with a prolonged rehashing of every beef with Ted Cruz he had in the primary, even down to reiterating his conspiracy theory about Cruz's father and JFK's assassination.

"Again, I don't want his endorsement," he said. "If he gives it, I will not accept it. Just so you understand. If he gives it—I will not accept it."

The real estate mogul then circled back to old Cruz insults that have gotten him in trouble, from the conspiracy theory that Cruz's father was somehow involved with JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to a meme he retweeted mocking Heidi Cruz's appearance. Trump also said that the National Enquirer, which published the bizarre and totally unsubstantiated story about Rafael Cruz and Oswald, should win a Pulitzer Prize.

Trump did have praise for one member of the Cruz clan, however: his wife Heidi Cruz. He brought up that controversial meme he retweeted, comparing his wife Melania Trump’s looks to Heidi Cruz's. In lieu of an apology Trump offered a compliment, calling Heidi Cruz “the best thing” the Texas senator has going for him.

You can see the whole Cruz riff below, if you can stomach more Trump. It's almost worth it, just to see how far Cruz has wormed his way under Trump's skin. It also makes it clear that if Cruz is really serious about defeating Trumpism, he has one job. Keep it up, because Trump just can't resist the distraction.

While Con Man Don Trump is an agile ideological chameleon, able to change his views on a dime and deny they were ever any different in the same breath, his vice presidential pick Mike Pence is just a good ole-fashioned ignoramus when it comes to science:

Right around the time Pence declared global warming a myth, he insisted smoking wasn’t harmful, according to this quote ThinkProgress dug up from his 2000 campaign website:

“Time for a quick reality check. Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill. In fact, 2 out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking related illness and 9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer.”

In the same linked article, Pence states he does “believe in” evolution, the theistic version anyway, which is fine by most science educators and biologists. What he actually said was a bit more ambiguous and clearly intended to evade: “I believe with all my heart that God created the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that’s in them. How he did that I’ll ask him about some day.”

But holy hot sauce! How about that fine—nay, impressive—mastery of statistics there regarding smoking?

Using this same reasoning, there’s no need to ever worry about terrorist attacks again. Because thousands of Bastille Day revelers survived the Nice attack completely unscathed! And since way more than two out of three people working in the World Trade Center survived 9/11 without a scratch? Well then according to Pence, we can’t really say that al-Qaida kills.

lowkell at Blue Virginia writes—My Article in The Hill: “Why Kaine is the right choice for Clinton”:

I wrote this piece (“Why Kaine is the right choice for Clinton“) earlier today for The Hill and they just posted it. Here’s an excerpt:

The selection of Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) as presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton‘s running mate has dismayed some liberals…who were hoping for a more progressive choice such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Labor Secretary Tom Perez, Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Sen. Al Franken (Minn.)…And it’s true; Kaine is not as progressive as any of those great people I just mentioned. However, having covered Kaine since early 2005, when I started the grassroots blog Raising Kaine to help elect him governor of Virginia, I can definitely make a strong case for Kaine as Clinton’s VP […]

desmoinesdem at Bleeding Heartland of Iowa writes—Breaking Iowa Democratic hearts, Hillary Clinton picks Tim Kaine for VP:

I suspect that the Bernie Sanders endorsement last week, combined with the mostly disastrous Republican National Convention, gave Clinton confidence to make a "safe" choice, rather than someone who would excite our party’s base, like Senator Elizabeth Warren or even Senator Cory Booker. Too bad Ohio has a Republican governor, otherwise Senator Sherrod Brown would have been an ideal running mate. Some pundits are calling Kaine a "governing pick," someone Clinton feels comfortable working with for the next four or eight years, as opposed to the person who can do the most to boost her campaign over the next four months.

Of all the people Clinton was considering, Kaine arouses the most antipathy from the Sanders wing for various reasons. His vocal support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is just one of the problems. Kaine’s defenders point to his perfect voting record in the Senate on reproductive rights and LGBT equality, his near-perfect record on labor issues, his background as a civil rights attorney, and numerous accomplishments as governor. He is not outside the Democratic Party’s mainstream. On the other hand, the Progressive Punch database ranks Kaine the 40th most progressive among the 46 current senators who caucus with Democrats.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack was repeatedly named in news reports and commentaries about Clinton’s short list. He’s got an inspiring personal story and developed a tremendous grasp of public policy over his long career in local, state and federal government. By all accounts, he and Clinton get along very well, having been acquainted since Clinton became friends with Christie Vilsack’s brother Tom Bell during the 1970s. Like Kaine, he has a reputation for making few mistakes. I regret that Clinton didn’t choose Vilsack, though I would have been equally happy with Labor Secretary Tom Perez.

Hillary Clinton and her new running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, held their first rally as a ticket in Miami on Saturday:

 Another highlight:

Anytime an opinion piece is titled “Obama is too incompetent to pull off a coup,” you know it’s going to be full of delicious crazy. Dare we take a closer look?

Turkey’s failed coup, combined with the disastrous disunity and polarization in the United States thanks to Barack Obama, have gotten people talking about whether it could happen here.

People! Are talking! People like … Glenn Reynolds, who used to be a thing in the early days of blogging. 

So what if next January Obama and his barely post-puberty band of juice box screw-ups in the West Wing decide they don’t want to leave? 

Hmm. What if? I mean, some people are talking! What more evidence do you need of a deep, deep, secular liberal plot to usurp the Constitution by coup? 

Quarterly fundraising reports for federal candidates, covering the period from April 1 to June 30, were due at the Federal Elections Commission on Friday night. Below is our list of fundraising numbers for House candidates in all the key 2016 races. That includes, among others:

• Races we expect to be competitive in this year's general elections
• Open seats in otherwise safe districts with contested primaries
• Under-the-radar contests where a candidate raised an unexpectedly high sum
• Incumbents who might face a credible primary challenge