Monday afternoon roundup

The Republican party is set to commit ritual suicide open its convention in Cleveland this evening. It will bestow supreme leadership to an ideologically unmoored, narcissistic charlatan with no political experience (as demonstrated by the constant, roiling chaos that characterizes his campaign organization), let alone interest in the Constitution and the principles and philosophical lineage underlying it.

Oh, and did I mention that he's still doing dismally poll-wise?

In key battleground states, Hillary is trouncing Trump:

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in four of the most diverse presidential battleground states, according to brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls.

Clinton is ahead of Trump by eight points among registered voters in Colorado, 43 percent to 35 percent; a combined 21 percent say neither, other or are undecided.

In Florida, which decided the 2000 presidential election, she's up seven points, 44 percent to 37 percent; the rest are undecided or prefer someone else.

In North Carolina, a state Obama won in 2008 but lost in 2012, Clinton leads by six points, 44 percent to 38 percent.

And in Virginia, Clinton's advantage is nine points, 44 percent to 35 percent.

You see the number that really jumps out? It's the one that starts with 3. Donald Trump is below 40 percent in each of these states. Granted, Hillary's unpopularity puts her below the 50 percent threshold but to be stuck in the 30's?

It's like a nightmare.

Of course, Breitbart is touting an Axiom Strategies poll that shows Squirrel-Hair leading Hillionaire in six battleground counties around the country.

Well, okay, the first link is about one poll, and the second looks at a handful of counties. What is the latest RCP average? Hillionaire 43.8, Squirrel-Hair 40.6.

Did you catch any of the 60 Minutes Leslie Stahl interview with S-H and Pence? I got a clear impression of discomfort, of a guy of solid principle and conviction, a man with a conservative's mind and a Christian's heart who was trying to make excuses for where he was. It was their first interview as a ticket, and already they are dealing with the obvious no-we-don't-agree-on-everything reality. And how long is Pence's go-to response on the matter - the "this-is-a-great-man" line - going to provide him any cover? I wager that it will ring hollow and even be widely mocked within a week.

Still, Laura Ingraham is trying to portray continued real conservative opposition to this fiasco as the whiney sore losers missing out on an electrifying week - and lots of fun parties! -  on the Erie shore due to their own obstinate pedantry.

There's been a fourth full acquittal in the set Freddie Gray-case show trials upon which prosecutor Marilyn Mosby insisted.

So will she give it a rest now?

Not likely.

Speaking of attempts to stoke a war on cops and perpetuate a notion that black post-Americans are en masse a class of victims, not to mention phony calls for harmony and peace, if you haven't availed yourself of the exchange between CNN's Don Lemon and Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, you really should:

Clarke began by scoffing when Lemon described the police's reaction to the shooting as being one of peace and unity. Clarke challenged Lemon: "You don't believe that, do you?"

He asked Lemon if there were any riots or protests over the death of the police officers in Baton Rouge or Dallas, but Lemon didn't know.

"I've been watching this for two years. I've predicted this," Clarke said. "This anti-police rhetoric sweeping the country has turned out some hateful things inside of people that are now playing themselves out on the American police officer."

Lemon warned Clarke, "Sheriff, let's just keep the vibe down here."

"This anti-cop sentiment from this hateful ideology called Black Lives Matter has fueled this rage against the American police officer," Clarke said.

Why wasn't this part of last year's "agreement" between the P5+1 powers and Iran made public?

 Key restrictions on Iran's nuclear program imposed under an internationally negotiated deal will ease in slightly more than a decade, cutting the time Tehran would need to build a bomb to six months from present estimates of a year, according to a document obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The document is the only part linked to last year's deal between Iran and six foreign powers that hasn't been made public. It was given to the AP by a diplomat whose work has focused on Iran's nuclear program for more than a decade, and its authenticity was confirmed by another diplomat who possesses the same document.

The diplomat who shared the document with the AP described it as an add-on agreement to the nuclear deal. But while formally separate from that accord, he said that it was in effect an integral part of the deal and had been approved both by Iran and the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, the six powers that negotiated the deal with Tehran.

Details published earlier outline most restraints on Iran's nuclear program meant to reduce the threat that Tehran will turn nuclear activities it says are peaceful to making weapons.

But while some of the constraints extend for 15 years, documents in the public domain are short on details of what happens with Iran's most proliferation-prone nuclear activity - its uranium enrichment - beyond the first 10 years of the agreement.

The document obtained by the AP fills in the gap. It says that as of January 2027 - 11 years after the deal was implemented - Iran can start replacing its mainstay centrifuges with thousands of advanced machines.

Centrifuges churn out uranium to levels that can range from use as reactor fuel and for medical and research purposes to much higher levels for the core of a nuclear warhead. From year 11 to 13, says the document, Iran can install centrifuges up to five times as efficient as the 5,060 machines it is now restricted to using.

Have a nice evening.