PUBLIC SAFETY: NC motorists who hit protesters blocking roadways will be legally protected under proposed bill.

PATRICK POOLE EXCLUSIVE: Visiting the Site of the December Coptic Church Suicide Bombing in Cairo.

MAJOR DRAW: Tim Tebow Is Destroying Minor League Attendance Records.

ROGER SIMON HAS A SHOCKING CONFESSION: I was a Friend of a Russian Spy.

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t Barbara Bach, alas.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: How Bad Is the Democratic Senate Map for 2018?

The real question is what happens in the House. The historic average is that the President’s party loses 26 seats in the midterms, and the GOP majority is several seats smaller than that.

WELL, THIS IS THE 23RD 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: These ER Docs Invented a Real Star Trek Tricorder.

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: The Cruelty of Blue:

Years of false promises, years of “compassionate government”, years of ignoring arithmetic, comes to this: Puerto Rico in the grip of a massive, man-made disaster. . . .

This could have been avoided by sensible and timely cuts, by turning a deaf ear to public sector union demands for wages and salaries, by a series of small but definite steps away from the blue model, welfare state governance. But the press, certainly including the NYT which is now reporting the disaster, would have attacked any politicians taking these steps as “harsh”, or “cruel to the poor”.

Now Puerto Rico is in a deeper hole, with much more suffering than any of the moderate cuts would have imposed.

Unfortunately, a number of cities and states on the mainland are walking down the Puerto Rican highway toward bankruptcy and disruptive adjustment. There, the liberal press is still hailing the politicians who are willing to plunge their cities and states into chaos for the sake of popularity: the press often calls them bold, innovative and visionary. They have a lot of ideas about the things they want to do with other peoples’ money, while people who insist that budgets must be cut, and that pension obligations be met, are still being attacked for everything from racism to sadism.

It’s as if the press is just a bunch of Democratic operatives with bylines, who care nothing for truth or the greater good of society if it threatens Democratic priorities.

ATTRACTED TO MONEY AND POWER LIKE A MOTH TO A FLAME: Silicon Valley is ‘officially a retirement community for D.C. political vets’

Veterans of high-profile political campaigns and White House administrations such as LaBolt — who in years past would have turned their public-service resumes and connections into jobs as lobbyists on K Street, advisers at Fortune 500 firms or leaders of nonprofits — are increasingly heading west, attracted by the opportunities to put their political skills to use in the technology industry. It can lead to strange bedfellows: Democrats and Republicans who fought each other while working on opposing campaigns find themselves working on shared goals and trying to effect change outside the nation’s gridlocked capital.

It’s a new gold rush — to social media companies, tech start-ups, incubators and key players in the sharing economy.

“Mall shoes. White cars. Buffet specials. Come and get it, this town is now officially a retirement community for D.C. political vets,” said Matt McKenna, who worked for Clinton for nearly a decade of his post-presidency before joining the ride-sharing company Uber and then launching a crisis-communications firm in Sausalito.

Beyond healthy six-figure salaries and better weather than Washington, D.C., the moves make sense — skills developed in politics are in critical demand in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley.

Isn’t it time that the wealthy and well-connected technorati give something back via Glenn’s revolving-door surtax?

OH NO: We are heartbroken this morning at the loss of Bob Owens, editor-in-chief of our sister publication Bearing Arms.

More here, from Jenn Jacques at Bearing Arms.

I only knew Bob through his work, but it was good and important work. Thoughts and prayers for him and his family.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): There’s a GoFundMe page for his family. I donated.

IT’S AS IF MANY ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHERS ARE HORRIBLE PEOPLE OR SOMETHING: Jaw-dropping. Philosophers were writing Tuvel privately to express support while attacking her publicly.

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Duck And Cover, All Over Again? Our failed Iran and North Korea policies mean it’s probably time.

LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS: Fake Statistics Created ‘Rape Anxiety’ Among Female Students.

Keep them scared and they’ll demand protection, instead of maturing into strong, responsible, and independent young women.

REST IN PEACE: Remembering Bob Owens: Family and college fund set up for Bob’s wife, two daughters. I donated.

UPDATE: Here’s the direct link.

DEADLY DUO: The U.S. Air Force is Trying to Link Together Stealth F-22s and F-15s.

The new pod—which can connect via Link 16, Common Data Link and Wideband Global SATCOM satellites—allows the fourth-generation jets to plug into the fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter and to ground stations using the fifth-generation jets’ own network. While the Raptor has its own proprietary Intra-Flight Data Link (IFDL), the F-22 does not have the ability to transmit on the standard Link-16 network—though it can receive data. The Talon HATE allows the F-15 to connect with the Raptor’s IFDL network.

“This aerial network is a giant leap forward in tactical fighter capability with real-time connectivity and expanded information sharing,” said Paul Geery, vice president of Boeing’s Phantom Works Mission Solutions and the company’s Talon HATE program manager. “We are now demonstrating secure datalink connections between F-15Cs and F-22s in a way that integrates information for the pilot into a common operating picture.”

The key to the Talon HATE system is that it can share information between the F-22, F-15C and other platforms in real time. Right now, F-22 and F-15C pilots—who are the Air Force’s air superiority team—are forced to share data via voice communication over encrypted radio. The process, while effective, is inefficient. Real time machine-to-machine data transfers would allow the Air Force’s two key air dominance platforms to seamlessly share their data—and perhaps more importantly—share targeting information. Thus, a F-15C could use its AIM-120 AMRAAMs to engage a target that is being spotted far ahead by a stealthy F-22—without forcing the Raptor to use its expend its limited payload of missiles.

Networking is the ultimate force multiplier, and perhaps a good enough reason not to retire the F-15 just yet.

SCIENCE: Murder Isn’t A Nationwide Problem. Nope. It’s mostly a problem of a small number of neighborhoods and demographics.

SAD! Fights over Trump drive couples, especially millennials, to split up. “New data from Wakefield Research found that one in 10 couples, married and not, have ended their relationships in a battle over Trump. For younger millennials, it’s 22 percent.”

More support for the “cold civil war” theory.

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL? Here’s Why Black Harvard Students Are Holding Their Own Graduation Ceremony.

“This is an opportunity to celebrate Harvard’s Black excellence and Black brilliance,” Michael Huggins, a soon-to-become Masters graduate from Harvard’s Kennedy School, told The Root. “It’s an event where we can see each other and our parents and family can see us as a collective, whole group. A community.”

“This is not about segregation,” He added. “It’s about fellowship and building a community. This is a chance to reaffirm for each other that we enter the work world with a network of supporters standing with us. We are all partners.”

Just not fellowship or community with anyone of a different color.

HMM: Chinese Millennials — Already Big Homeowners — Use Apps to Snap Up Overseas Property.

About 70% of Chinese millennials, those born between 1981 and 1998, own a home, the highest share of respondents from nine countries and regions who were surveyed in a recent HSBC study. Chinese parents often register home purchases under their child’s name to prepare the child for marriage and raising a family, which likely boosts the percentage.

Still, a growing sliver of Chinese millennials are looking to buy property abroad. Kevin Lee, chief operating officer of Beijing-based consulting firm Youthology, put the percentage in the low single digits but said it would continue to increase.

The lure? A millennial’s desire to hedge against yuan depreciation and find affordable homes in cities with cleaner air for their children to live in when they study abroad. In the past year, home prices have soared to more than 30 times household income in major Chinese cities.

Chinese young adults are worried enough to hedge against their own country’s future, yet are still doing better financially than California’s young adults — and Bernie Sanders sees California as the model to “transform” the Democratic Party.

IT ISN’T JUST CALIFORNIA: California’s Geriatric Liberal Leadership.

Jerry Brown, the nation’s oldest governor (he turned 79 last month), is serving a record fourth and final term as California’s chief executive.

Dianne Feinstein, the nation’s oldest U.S. senator (she turns 84 in June), first ran for San Francisco supervisor in 1970 – the same year Gov. Brown launched the first of what adds up to a dozen citywide, statewide and nationwide campaigns. Whether she seeks another term next year is a popular guessing game here.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, age 77, traces her California political ancestry to a House special election held 30 years ago. She succeeded Sala Burton, who won the seat following the death of her husband, the legendary gerrymanderer Phil Burton.

About the Burtons: Phil’s brother John, who turned 84 last December, is stepping down this month after an eight-year run as chairman of the California Democratic Party. It marks the end of six decades of Burtonian influence on state and local politics dating back President Eisenhower’s re-election in 1956.

The purpose of reciting these resumes isn’t to disparage anyone’s age. Rather, it’s to highlight California’s struggle to find a place in a Democratic Party that, come 2020, stands to benefit from a fresh face with fresh ideas.

The fresh faces will rise up their own. Fresh ideas are more difficult, and if the last decade or two of Democratic politics are anything to go by, not really wanted.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Pepperdine Launches Online Masters Of Legal Studies (MLS) Program, Beginning August 2017.

ACTUALLY, I’D SAY CONTEMPT FOR TRUMP HAS HOBBLED A LOT OF CRITICS, INCLUDING PAINTER AND EISEN: Contempt for ethics hobbles Trump.

POLITICS: Barack Obama Almost Married a White Woman, But Ambition and Race Got in the Way.