Security expert: Questions on Iran Ransom

Claudia Rosett has uncovered some intriguing clues to how the United States paid Iran $1.3 billion in interest on top of the $400 million cash accompanying the release of American hostages. In the New York Sun, she reports evidence of “13 large, identical sums that Treasury paid to the State Department” from its controversial “Judgment Fund” — which disperses money that isn’t legally appropriated. The payments were all for exactly one penny less than $100 million. Moreover, they were all made the same day in January — just two days after the announcement that the captives were being released. Unfortunately, this all raises more questions than it answers — but could provide a rich trove for congressional investigators.

Clean-gov’t alert: Hillary and Lobbyists

Lobbyists “are part of Clinton’s deep network of Washington contacts [and] have raised millions of dollars for her campaign,” notes Catherine Ho at The Washington Post. Her “campaign chairman, John Podesta, co-founded . . . one of Washington’s top lobby firms with his brother, prominent Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta — a top Clinton bundler.” So it’s not unreasonable to suspect that she “may be more open to appointing lobbyists to positions in her administration” — despite President Obama’s executive order “largely barring lobbyists from working in the executive branch.” But she can simply issue her own order overriding Obama’s policy.

Ex-ed sec: What a Hillary SCOTUS Would Mean

America can survive even the unpredictable Donald Trump in the White House, writes former Education Secretary William Bennett at Real Clear Politics. “But it cannot survive losing the Supreme Court to liberals and allowing them to wreck our sacred republic.” That, he says “would reshape the country for decades.” Give Hillary Clinton “a liberal majority on the Supreme Court and surely she would restart” President Obama’s executive immigration order “or create one similar and the Court would uphold it.” Says Bennett: “Too many of our rights, liberties and securities already hang by a one-vote thread. A Clinton Supreme Court would surely do away with them.”

Libertarian: Flood’s Lesson: Don’t Wait for Help

With Obama having finally visited flood-stricken Louisiana after 11 days, writes Glenn Harlan Reynolds in USA Today, two important points are worth noting: “One is that you can rely on politicians — and the press — to act political. The other is that when trouble comes, you and our neighbors had better be ready, because the government doesn’t have your back.” In Louisiana, “a collection of boat-owning volunteers called the ‘Cajun Navy’ has been rescuing people and transporting supplies, using Facebook to coordinate their efforts.”

Worried mom: US Schools’ War on Recess

Parents in some school districts have won a small but important victory — getting more recess time for their kids, writes Abby Schachter at Fox News: “The chance for kids to play, frolic and just have fun with other kids at school is under extreme pressure from education bureaucrats who think that risk avoidance and regimentation are the things children most need to learn about life.” Some schools, she writes, “argue they can’t give up class time because they need every minute for test prep,” while others actually claim “more recess would increase more playground bullying,” And even when it’s allowed, “restrictions include banning games like tag and dodgeball because someone might get hurt.” The good news, she says: parent “pushback seems to be working.”

— compiled by Eric Fettmann