Reporter: Houston Is Another of Uncle Sams Disasters

Storms are natural events, but floods are usually man-made disasters, writes Michael Grunwald at Politico. And in Houston, part of that man-made disaster can be traced to the ostensibly good intentions of the government, which has aided residential sprawl into vulnerable low-lying areas near water with its relatively cheap and easily gamed federal flood insurance. And while climate change might play a role, experts say the main culprit is the explosive growth of low-lying riverine and coastal development, which has had the double effect of increasing floods (by replacing prairies and other natural sponges that hold water with pavement that deflects water) while moving more property into the path of those floods. But, ironically, Congress is unlikely to limit the subsidies in the wake of a storm like Harvey.

Libertarian: Nanny-Staters Engage in Parental Abuse

When rats ate enough of a poor Bronx familys food to make the children under-nourished, the city stepped in to take the children away, citing bad parenting. This is an all-too-common story, says Lenore Skenazy at Reason: Because we default to the notion of bad parents, that becomes the primary problem we address. Its like treating all car accidents as the fault of the driver, even on streets with malfunctioning stop lights. This is especially damaging to those mired in poverty, since theres a problem the government could be addressing instead that now goes untreated. The government tars people with parental neglect. Quips Skenazy: Maybe parental abuse is a term we need to start using to cover government intervention in cases where parents are trying to do the best they can, but they just cant be perfect.

From the right: Muslim Reformer Takes on Left-Wingers

The Southern Poverty Law Center has in recent years taken to labeling an array of legitimate Christian and other organizations as hate groups. These targets now have an unlikely ally in anti-Islamist British politician Maajid Nawaz. He has been added to groups hate lists and is suing for defamation, reports Tyler ONeil at PJ Media. Indeed, given the way Nawaz angers Muslim extremists and the way the SPLC riles up left-wing nuts (a man who shot up the Family Research Council, a Christian group, in 2012 said he did so because he was following the SPLCs hate map), its an issue of personal safety as well: From the murder of Theo van Gogh, to the Scalise shooting, to the terror committed against the FRC, it is no hyperbole for Nawaz to say that the SPLCs list is putting his very life in danger.

Law prof: Americans Wont Elect Big Brother President

Mark Zuckerberg might once have been able to run for president as a stainless nerd-knight, argues Glenn Reynolds in USA Today. But now the Facebook founder has, like many in Silicon Valley, become a censorship-happy left-wing culture warrior, and thatll give the public pause: An industry that once seemed to be about personal liberation and empowerment as illustrated in that famous 1984-themed Apple commercial now seems to be creepy and controlling, and has signed up as enforcers in the culture wars that many Americans fear. And Facebooks reputation for violating users privacy to amass personal data isnt exactly an argument in favor of putting Zuckerberg in charge of the federal government: President Big Brother? Call me crazy, but I dont think itll sell.

Security beat: What Antifa & Neo-Nazis Have in Common

Antifa and the right-wing Tiki-torch Nazis have more in common than they realize, says Eli Lake at Bloomberg. This isnt to equate them, exactly. Indeed, the cause of anti-fascism is noble, whereas the racists marching in Charlottesville are telling journalists like me I should be sent to the ovens. The problem is antifa isnt what its cracked up to be: Originally it confronted neo-Nazis at punk concerts and the like. Today though, antifa has become the violent vanguard of the censorious progressive safe space movement, in which ideas and speakers deemed offensive are equated with physical violence. So this rivalry isnt a fight for the soul of America: Neither the Tiki-torch Nazis nor the masked anarchists represent a viable American future.

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