MORE ON THE PARLIAMENT ATTACK: Bridget Johnson has a video tweet from Westminster Bridge.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FALL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: Gender-neutral Pronoun Disclaimers.

LIFE SUPPORT: AFP Key Voting Against GOP Healthcare Plan.

Today Americans for Prosperity, the nation’s largest and most aggressive advocate for healthcare freedom, reaffirmed the organization’s deep concerns with core elements of the GOP healthcare bill. The group said that as currently written, it was unable to support the legislation, and would key vote against it unless significant changes were made.

Chief Government Affairs Officer Brent Gardner had this to say:

“Republicans in Congress promised a full repeal of Obamacare, but the current plan falls far short. It leaves intact some of the most harmful aspects of the law, including burdensome regulations that send insurance costs spiking and federal subsidies rebranded as tax credits. We simply cannot support this bill, and commit to standing with champions in the House who also oppose the continuation of Obamacare.”

That’s a solid no, and here’s another one from Mike Lee:

Lee doesn’t seem like the kind of senator who could have his vote budged by a tweet, and Rand Paul says there are at least 35 GOP “No!” votes just in the House.

BREAKING: Terror Attack at U.K. Parliament.

About a dozen injured, two dead, after being “mowed down” by a car on Westminster Bridge. Assailant stabbed cop, then was shot to death.

More to come.

EXPLAINER: 5 Myths About Originalism, Neil Gorsuch’s Judicial Philosophy.

IT SURE LOOKS THAT WAY TO ME: Did Neil Gorsuch roll his eyes at Al Franken?

As my friend and colleague Scott Ott said during yesterday’s Right Angle taping, “Franken used to be a comedian but now he’s just someone people laugh at.”

THIS IS CNN, ALL RIGHT:

MEGAN MCARDLE: Better Health Care for Less Money? It’s Not Easy.

“America spends more on health care than other rich nations, but has lower life expectancy.” If I had a nickel for every time I have been informed this by an email, seen it in a headline, heard it in conversation, or watched it scroll across my social media feed, I would be able to personally fund a single-payer health-care system.

As with many political memes, its usefulness to policy wonks is inversely proportional to the weight that its casual proponents place on it. As stated, this meme is true enough: America does have higher health-care costs than anywhere else, and we do indeed have shorter life expectancies than some nations. But of course people are not introducing these facts as a fun bit of trivia, like “Babe Ruth used to wear a cabbage leaf under his baseball cap to keep cool.” What they are actually interested in communicating is the implication that America could switch to a single-payer health-care system and thereby enjoy longer life expectancies at lower cost. And that implication is considerably more dubious.

Some of the disparity may indeed be attributable to the fragmented nature of our health-care system. But most of it probably isn’t — which means it can’t be fixed by changing the form of our health care system, either.

Start with mortality. A recent survey concluded that “regardless of cross-national differences in access to quality medical care, the fact remains that the overwhelming contributors to the incidence of disease (e.g. poor health behaviors) operate largely outside the influence of medical care.” Americans seem to be sicker than people in other countries, and while people often attribute this to lack of preventive care, on some metrics that ought to improve our life-expectancy — such as screening tests — America actually does more than other places. Other contributing conditions, such as obesity, have shown little response to the things that primary care physicians can do, such as tell you that you should lose weight.

We’re also at greater risk for fatal injuries than people in other countries. We have a higher homicide rate, in part because Americans seem to be more violent and in part because we have greater access to guns. And we drive more, so more of us die in auto accidents. No matter what you think of America’s car-driven development policy, or its gun-control regime, you can’t think that altering our health-care system is going to keep Americans from driving to their suburban homes, or shooting each other.

Skeptical? Let’s look at what happened when the U.S. greatly expanded the government’s funding of health care: Between 2014 and 2015, age-adjusted mortality rose for the first time in decades.

Making it better and cheaper is hard. Making it worse and more expensive is as close as your nearest politician.

RETAIL BLUES: Sears warns of ‘going concern’ doubts.

“Our historical operating results indicate substantial doubt exists related to the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Sears said in the annual report for the fiscal year ended Jan. 28. (bit.ly/2mRUcce)

The company said an inability to generate additional liquidity might limit its access to new merchandise or its ability to procure services. Continued operating losses also could restrict access to new funds under its domestic credit agreement, according to the filing.

The warning comes less than six weeks after the company announced what it called the “next phase of its strategic transformation,” in which it hoped this year to reduce costs by $1 billion and cut its debt and pension obligations by at least $1.5 billion. Sears also is considering selling some of its businesses, such as the Kenmore appliances and DieHard car battery brands.

Sears has already sold off its most precious crown jewel, the Craftsman brand.

SARRAH LE MARQUAND: It should be illegal to be a stay-at-home mum.

Yes, the role played by parents in the early months and years following the birth of a child is vital and irreplaceable. It also stands to reason that for many (but certainly not all) families, it is the mother who opts to take time off work during this period to solely focus on caring for her baby.

Once again, there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, that time at home should be a privilege afforded to more new mums, which is why a few years back I was a lone voice in supporting Tony Abbott’s grossly misunderstood and thus ill-fated paid parental leave scheme, which proposed all female employees receive their normal salary for six months.

So it’s not as simple as suggesting that the OECD’s rallying call to utilise the potential of stay-at-home mums is an insult to mothers — on the contrary, it is the desperately needed voice of reason that Australians cannot afford to ignore.

Rather than wail about the supposed liberation in a woman’s right to choose to shun paid employment, we should make it a legal requirement that all parents of children of school-age or older are gainfully employed.

Feminism has gone from pursuing legal equality to encouraging forced labor in just three generations.

IT’S A TOUGH YEAR FOR DEANS: Dean Of ‘Beleaguered’ Charlotte Law School Steps Down; Interim Dean Named.

A DUMB ARGUMENT THAT SHOULD BE IGNORED: Chuck ‘The Obstructor’ Schumer’s Latest: Delay Gorsuch Vote Till After FBI Russia Probe.

IT AIN’T ME, IT AIN’T ME. I AIN’T NO PRESIDENT’S DAUGHTER. Chelsea Clinton Gets Lifetime Achievement Award for Doing Nothing.

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MORE UPROAR: Cincinnati Law School Dean Says Small Cabal Of Tenured Faculty Seeking Her Ouster Is Upset At Budget Cuts. Hmm. 9 out of 36 isn’t a “small cabal,” it’s a fourth of the faculty. And the provost is involved, which I doubt would happen if it were just faculty in a snit over travel paperwork.

If a quarter of the faculty is unhappy enough to go public with unhappiness about a dean, it’s usually something pretty serious, but I have no idea what’s going on here from these accounts.

DEMOGRAPHICS IS DESTINY: ISIS Shows French Jihadist Raising 9 Young Kids in Terror Group.

GOOD RIDDANCE: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work.

“We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin Government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success,” Manafort wrote in the 2005 memo to Deripaska. The effort, Manafort wrote, “will be offering a great service that can re-focus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government.”

Manafort’s plans were laid out in documents obtained by the AP that included strategy memoranda and records showing international wire transfers for millions of dollars. How much work Manafort performed under the contract was unclear.

Getting rid of Manafort may have been Trump’s smartest “You’re fired!” moment ever.

Meanwhile, the Clintons and John Podesta and his Russian “investors” seem to be as close as ever.

“SUPER-PRECEDENT” DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THE LIST? 4 Worst Moments For The Democrats From The Gorsuch Hearing.

“HACKED”: Podesta Was Board Member Of Firm Linked To Russian ‘Investors’

Podesta — best known as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman and former President Bill Clinton’s White House chief of staff — first made contact with the Russian firm in 2011, when he joined the boards and executive committees of three related entities: Boston-based Joule Unlimited; Rotterdam-based Joule Global Holdings; Joule Global Stichting, the company’s controlling interest. All are high-tech renewable energy enterprises.

Three months after Podesta’s arrival, Joule Unlimited accepted a 1 billion ruble investment from Rusnano, amounting to $35 million in U.S. currency. The firm also awarded a Joule board seat in February 2012 to Anatoly Chubais, Rusnano’s CEO, who has been depicted as a corrupt figure.

Podesta has attempted to downplay his relationship with Joule and Rusnano, but it could come to haunt him.

One potential legal problem for him relates to the time he joined former President Barack Obama’s White House staff in 2014 as a senior counselor and failed to reveal his 2011 Joule stock vesting agreement in his government financial disclosure form.

Further, he failed to disclose 75,000 common shares of Joule stock he received, as disclosed in a WikiLeaks email.

After Podesta began working at the White House, his lawyer indicated in a Jan. 6, 2014 email that he had not yet finished the legal work on the private transfer of the stock to a family-owned entity called Leonido Holdings, LLC.

Read the whole thing.

NOT REALLY A SURPRISE: The Best And Worst States For Business: 90% Of The Top 10 Voted For Trump; 80% Of The Bottom 10 Voted For Clinton.

ANOTHER FAKE HATE CRIME: Police: Man spray-painted swastikas on his own home.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Teacher accused of sexual contact with student smiles pretty for her mugshot. “Fowlkes turned herself in to police in Lockhart, Texas, about 35 miles from Austin, where authorities charged her with having an improper relationship with a student at Lockhart High, a second-degree felony.”

PROCUREMENT: Navy Builds Ramjet Missile with Model Rocket Engines and a Credit Card.

U.S. Navy engineers at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division recently designed and flew a prototype ramjet missile in just six months. The engineers not only met their deadline, they flew the missile using off-the-shelf equipment, items so inexpensive they were paid for with a credit card. The result is a missile that could join the fleet in 3-4 years.

The United States military is currently in the midst of a major strategic shift. The post 9/11 era has seen the armed services concentrate on fighting insurgencies and anti-terrorism operations. While American involvement in such conflicts will persist for the foreseeable future like it or not, the U.S. must also contend with an increasingly aggressive Russia and China. Deterring conflict with such “near peer” competitors will require smart, fast, highly responsive weapons capable of striking targets at great distances.

Well done.

ROLL CALL: Are Trump and McConnell Preparing the Next SCOTUS Pick?

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing is still underway, but President Donald Trump may have laid the groundwork for his next Supreme Court pick Monday night in the Bluegrass State.

As Trump was on stage for a campaign-style rally at Freedom Hall, members of the Kentucky press corps were reporting that the president intends to nominate Judge Amul Thapar to fill an appellate seat for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The White House made it official on Tuesday.

Thapar is currently a federal district judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky, based in Lexington, and is a favorite of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Confirmed toward the end of the George W. Bush administration, he was the first district judge of South Asian descent.

“Throughout his already impressive career of public service, Amul has shown an incredible intellect and an unshakable dedication to the law. He has earned the respect of his colleagues, and I know that he will bring to the 6th Circuit the same wisdom, fairness, and ability that he has shown on the District Court,” McConnell said in a statement. “President Trump made an outstanding choice and I look forward to the Senate’s confirmation of Judge Thapar.”

The 47-year-old Thapar is a former federal prosecutor who served in D.C., Ohio and Kentucky. He was the U.S. attorney for Kentucky’s Eastern District before becoming a federal judge there.

A nomination to a higher court would be no surprise. He appeared on the short list of 21 judges that the Trump campaign finalized in September as potential replacements for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump ultimately selected Gorsuch, who also appeared on the list.

Thapar was identified by the National Law Journal as a potential Trump Supreme Court choice who could bring greater diversity to the high court.

Why would the Democrats oppose the first Asian Supreme Court Justice? Do they hate Asian-Americans that much?