Cruz Control: In another display of divisions and disarray in the Republican Party, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was booed last night as he drew to the end of his speech to the Republican Convention without endorsing Donald Trump for president. The closest he came was congratulating Trump on winning the nomination. He dodged the question saying, “Don’t stay home in November. Stand and speak and vote your conscience.”

Donald Trump appeared in a VIP area of the arena giving a thumbs up and clearly showing his anger at Cruz, who was drowned out as he called for God’s blessing on the country and left the stage.

Many of the speeches have been more about how bad Hillary Clinton is than how great Donald Trump may be. Cruz said, “Hillary Clinton believes government should make virtually every choice in your life. Education, health care, marriage, speech — all dictated out of Washington.” Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said, “Hillary Clinton is the ultimate liberal Washington insider. If she were any more on the inside, she’d be in prison.” That prompted the delegates to chant once again, “Lock her up, lock her up.”

Crib Notes: Longtime Trump employee Meredith McIver has taken responsibility for inserting passages from a 2008 Michelle Obama speech into Melania’s Trump’s address at the Republican National Convention. McIver said in an explanation on the Trump website that Mrs. Trump likes Michelle Obama. She said, “Over the phone,” Ms. Trump “read me some passages from Mrs. Obama’s speech as examples. I wrote them down and later included some of the phrasing in the draft that ultimately became the final speech. I did not check Mrs. Obama’s speeches.”

McIver said the Trump organization declined her offer to resign. Never one to admit a mistake, Donald Trump tweeted, “Good news is Melania’s speech got more publicity than any in the history of politics especially if you believe that all press is good press!”

In the history of politics …..

Voting Rights: A federal appeals court in Texas ruled that the state’s voter ID law was designed to discriminate against minorities and suppress their votes. The court noted that the kinds of identification approved for voting such as military IDs and gun carry permits are more likely to be held by white people.

Russia Out: The Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the Russian track team’s banning from the Rio Olympics. With the confirmation of widespread doping among Russian athletes in many sports, there’s still a push to bar all the Russians from the summer games.

Politi-Salad: Trump told the NY Times in a lengthy interview that he would not necessarily jump to the defense of a NATO country if it was attacked. He said he would defend the countries under attack, only if they “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”

The basic agreement of NATO is mutual defense of member countries. Trump wound up the interview saying, “We are going to take care of this country first before we worry about everyone else in the world.”

>Indiana Gov. Mike Pence formally accepted the nomination for vice-president last night like a tree falling in the woods. No one cared whether he made a noise.

>Republican delegate Al Baldasaro of New Hampshire told a radio interviewer that Hillary Clinton should be put in front of a firing squad and executed. The Trump campaign said they disagreed with that, but did not specify what method of execution they would prefer.