ASIA PIVOT: China’s President, Xi Jinping, Gains a New Title: Commander in Chief.

Although predecessors like President Hu Jintao delegated operational responsibilities to professional soldiers, the new title reflects Mr. Xi’s desire to have a more direct role, said You Ji, who oversees the department of government and public administration at the University of Macau.

“Quite simply, it’s a symbol of ultimate command and control of the armed forces,” Professor You said.

Mr. Xi was shown speaking to officers and seated at a central dais, with other members of the military commission flanking him.

“The current situation requires battle command to be highly strategic, coordinated, timely, professional and accurate,” he said, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. “All must be done with the ultimate goal of improving battle command capacities and measured by the standards of being able to fight and win wars.”.

It would be nice to know how Xi defines “the current situation.”

ROGER SIMON: Is Trump a reality-show version of Calvin Coolidge?

TRUMP: PUT AMERICA FIRST. OBAMA: AMERICAN SOVEREIGNTY IS OUTDATED. “I’m sorry, but what the hell would you expect an obviously Marxist collectivist to say?”

CATHY YOUNG: Feminism vs. Fauxminism – Campus Free Speech, bullying, and Tim Hunt.

THE REASON YOU SHOULDN’T BELIEVE EARTH DAY PREDICTIONS OF 2016: EARTH DAY PREDICTIONS OF 1970.

Related: As Kathy Shaidle sardonically observed a few years ago, “Maybe long-time Earth Day advocate Ira Einhorn took the whole ‘recycling’ thing a little too far when he ‘composted’ his girlfriend’s remains in a trunk in his closet…”

SAN FRANCISCO POT EVENT ATTENDEES LEAVE BEHIND 15,000 POUNDS OF TRASH (VIDEO).

A far cry from the Tea Party, who were famous for leaving grounds cleaner than they found them.

USMC’S FLYING CIRCUS: Marines Are Flying Only 60% of F-18 Hornets They Need.

“I pulled up our readiness data just yesterday,” Lt. Gen. Jon Davis told the seapower subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “We have 87 aircraft that were mission capable. Out of those 87 airplanes, I put 30 airplanes in the training squadron and 40 airplanes deployed forward. There’s not a lot left for the [remaining] units to train with.”

How many Hornets should the Marine Corps have ready to go? Under the current, shrunken force structure, 150: a training squadron of 30 and 12 combat squadrons of 10 aircraft each. Until 18 months ago, that figure was 174 — 30 training aircraft and 12 squadrons of 12 aircraft each — but the Marines decided to shrink each squadron to reflect the reality of insufficient aircraft.

Even the Marines have been fundamentally transformed.

I STILL DON’T GET THIS “WE MUST HAVE A WOMAN ON A BILL” WHICH SMACKS OF ‘NICE PRIZES FOR GOOD LITTLE GIRLS”, BUT AT LEAST SEEMS TO BE A GOOD CHOICE: What They Didn’t Teach You in School about Harriet Tubman.

INTERESTING HOW THE VIEWS ON KIPLING BY THOSE WHO HADN’T READ HIM ARE A LOT LIKE THE VIEWS ON HEINLEIN BY THOSE WHO HAVEN’T READ HIM: George Orwell: Rudyard Kipling

APPROPRIATE TODAY: 10 hit songs you didn’t know Prince wrote.

BEHIND THE PICTURE THE MEDIA PAINTS: Okay, let’s play identity politics: a Ted Cruz friendship that should be publicized .

REWRITING IS NOT THE WORD I’D USE: Texas Gov.: SCOTUS Will Be ‘Completely Rewriting’ Constitution by Favoring Obama in Immigration Lawsuit.

THE QUESTION IS, DOES HE KNOW HOW RIDICULOUS HE SOUNDS: Or is he so deeply indoctrinated he thinks this makes sense? Obama in Riyadh: Iran nuclear deal sign of ‘strength, not weakness’.

FOR THE SABERS THEY ARE A-RATTLING: China’s President, Xi Jinping, Gains a New Title: Commander in Chief

HEAVEN’S BUILDING QUITE A BAND THIS YEAR: RIP blues guitar great Lonnie Mack.

ABOUT SAD PUPPIES: A Miscellany.

HOW TO FAIL AT BEING A VICTIM: Cake Dick.

THE HORROR, THE HORROR: ‘Eligible’: A modern retelling of ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: The socialist utopias of Sanders’ dreams bear little resemblance to reality across the Atlantic.

JEWELRY, COOKWARE, AND MORE at the Amazon Made In Italy Sale.

Plus, fresh deals at the Spring Patio, Lawn & Garden Event.

OUT: MID-LIFE CRISIS. In: No-Life Crisis.

SHOT: That Time Al and Tipper Gore Teamed Up To Brand Prince a Public Menace: Prince’s “Darling Nikki” was number one on the censorious PMRC’s “Filthy Fifteen” list.

Chaser: Raunchy Prince was actually a conservative Christian who reportedly opposed gay marriage. “Raised a Seventh Day Adventist, Prince later became a Jehovah’s Witness, and the story of his conversion became public in a rather remarkable way. The Guardian wrote in 2004: ‘A newspaper in his hometown reported how a married couple had answered their door to find Prince proffering a copy of the Watchtower. Though they were orthodox Jews, and it was Yom Kippur, they were also Prince fans. They welcomed him into the house.'”

I SUSPECT THIS IS DEPRESSINGLY COMMON: Chaos in New York Polls: Brooklyn Poll Worker Caught Committing Probable Voter Fraud Felony.

THE DOWNSIDE OF USING “RECLAIMED WATER:” Prescription drugs end up in our crops thanks to our medicated pee, new study finds.

On the other hand, this is probably mostly a tribute to our ability to assay minute quantities of chemicals: “And the amount of drugs found in their system were low – four orders of magnitude lower then seen in those taking the full dose – so the potential health effects could be negligible.”

“THEY HAD SODA IN THE 1970S? WAIT, WHAT’S TAB?” Video: Children Try Bagged Lunches From Throughout The 20th Century.

(Via Kate of Small Dead Animals, who files this post under “Honey, I Finished The Internet.”)