Two loud sounds, a plume of smoke and then Abe collapsed.  —  The former prime minister of Japan was assassinated on Friday in the city of Nara.  He served in the office longer than anyone before stepping down in 2020.  —  A 41-year-old man is in custody, accused of shooting Mr. Abe.

The rarity of the Abe assassination, in two charts  —  Listen  —  Gift Article  —  The last time an American president was shot was 1981.  Ronald Reagan, barely two months into office, was struck by a bullet that ricocheted off of his limousine, part of a volley of shots fired by would-be assassin John Hinckley.

Morton's condemns abortion rights protesters for disrupting Kavanaugh's freedom to ‘eat dinner’  —  Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of the conservative justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last month, was forced to exit through a back door of Morton's Steakhouse in downtown Washington …

Lis Smith Loves Politics (If Not All Politicians)  —  There's nobody more fun to get spun by than Lis Smith.  A hard-rockin', quick-draw political operative who, in her own telling, loves “some good trench warfare” and “to roll around in the mud,” she became famous for making Mayor Pete semi-plausible as a presidential candidate.