On the day of Michael Brown’s funeral, Jelani Cobb wonders in the New Yorker whether bullets will lead to ballots, as they did in the 1960s protests. The city of Ferguson is 67 percent black, but it has never had a black mayor, five of its six city councilmen are white and, as everyone knows by now, 50 of its 53 policeman. Christopher Caldwell, meanwhile, writes in the Weekly Standard that by choosing sides in a situation that remains unclear, the Obama administration risks leaving Ferguson, and the country, deeply disappointed.
The problem with bombing ISIS in Syria: We’d know who we’re fighting against, but who would we be fighting for? Via the Atlantic.
Roger Cohen writes that the war the West has failed to win and, in many cases, even decided to fight – the jihadist ideology. Via the New York Times.
Why Scott Walker’s campaign to keep his job as governor of Wisconsin may be the most important race in the country. Via the New Republic.
The blue state diaspora is helping Democrats win elections, like all those Californians who moved to Colorado. Via the New York Times.
The House decides on a maximum wage: $350,000 for a lawyer to sue Obama. Via the National Journal.
Larry Sabato and his friends at Crystal Ball keep looking for the Republican wave in the U.S. Senate race and they still don’t quite see one. No more than two Democratic incumbents have lost in one cycle since 1980. Via Politico
[Photo via St. Louis County Board of Elections.]
