No. 1: John Boehner, former Speaker of the House, calling Ted Cruz, current presidential candidate, the devil.

PROF. DAVID KENNEDY: “How about Ted Cruz? (audience laughs)”

BOEHNER: “Lucifer in the flesh. ((EDIT)) In Washington I have as many Democrat friends as I have Republican friends.  I get along with almost everybody but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch. (EDIT) Over my dead body will he be president.”

Now Mr. Boehner does not like Cruz because of the senator's unwillingness to compromise over the budget and other issues.

The problem here is this: Boehner is a sniper.  We invited the Speaker on the program.  He turned us down, as he always does.

If you are going to smear someone, at least submit yourself to questioning in order to provide some perspective.

Talking Points does not respect backstabbing.  You have a beef, state it, back it up.

Boehner was wrong, not in saying what he said -- he's entitled to his opinion.

But in the sneaky way he did it.

Second thing on my mind: Will Ferrell, a very successful actor-comedian, was apparently about to do a satire that includes mocking Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's condition.

Front page in the New York Post today and Variety is reporting that Ferrell agreed to produce and star in a movie called "Reagan," which deals with the president's dementia.

Recently there was a reading of the script and there was a lot of denigration of the late president.

The movie is thus far unsold, and I believe it will remain so because now Will Ferrell has pulled out of the project after getting hammered in the court of public opinion.

Now I know a lot about this because I am an executive producer of the upcoming movie Killing Reagan based on my book.

We are currently in pre-production, the film set to air on the National Geographic Channel this coming October.

I am very involved with the script, making sure that Ronald Reagan is treated with respect and fairness.

That's how he's treated in my book and that's how he'll be treated in the movie, even though we tell the truth about the president.

As for Ferrell, if he had gone ahead with the dopey film, he would have put his career on the line.

While satirizing political people is a good thing in a vibrant democracy, cruelty is not.

Will Ferrell is an uber-liberal.  Again, not a problem unless his zealotry crosses the lines of decency.

Dementia is not something you treat lightly, nor is the legacy of a president many consider to be a patriot.

No. 3: The continuing chaos outside political rallies that Donald Trump is holding.

Last night in Costa Mesa, California outside of Los Angeles, 17 people were arrested for a variety of offenses while protesting Mr. Trump:

JONATHAN HUNT: “It started with a passionate but peaceful exchange of views outside the Trump campaign event.  But as the sun went down and the tension rose, hundreds of protestors moved from the parking lot of the Pacific Amphitheater, where Trump was speaking, to the streets of Costa Mesa -- blocking a major intersection, making their distaste for Trump loud and clear with one particular unbroadcastable anti-Trump slogan repeated again and again, among other shouts and chants.

“But what had been a protest in the First Amendment tradition morphed into something much darker, police donning riot gear, protestors becoming more threatening.

“A bottle was thrown at police lines, rocks hurled, a patrol car's rear window smashed, the vehicle then stomped.

“The crowds had stopped traffic on several streets.  Among the vehicles trapped, one driven by a Trump supporter who got out of his car, and then emerged from the crowd with a bloody face.

“The police ordered the crowd to disperse.  They didn't, many of them seemingly more intent on taking selfies than taking part in political protests.”

“Arrests began to be made.  And eventually the police and sheriff's deputies began pushing back the crowd.

“In all there were more than a dozen arrests, as the police appeared to focus on containment rather than confrontation.  But what was perhaps most remarkable here was that this all happened at a presidential campaign rally, a measure of the passions of this extraordinary political season.  But a sign, too, of how easily those passions can and might damage rather than dignify democracy.

“In Costa Mesa, California, Jonathan Hunt, Fox News.”

I want to thank Jonathan Hunt for that excellent report.

The continuing anti-Trump shenanigans actually help the candidate.

When Americans see people destroying police cars and generally behaving in an untoward way, they don't like those people.

Their actions are undemocratic and actually provide sympathy for the person they dislike, Donald Trump.

Many of these protesters are so stupid they cannot understand that, but it is the truth.

Once a movement that is considered harmful is established, anyone opposed to that movement gets a positive shine.

Best example: Richard Nixon versus George McGovern in 1972.

The violent demonstrations against Nixon propelled him to a landslide victory, even though the man himself was generally not loved.

So you pinheads wrecking cop cars and spraying your political opponents with chemicals might want to consider that.

And that's the memo.