BYRON YORK: Time for Trump to hit campaign trail.

At the moment Trump is in what might be called the executive-action phase of his presidency. Beyond fighting for his Cabinet appointments on Capitol Hill, everything Trump has done has relied solely on his executive power as president. At some point he’ll have to move into a legislative phase, with the introduction of bills dealing with health care, taxes, immigration, and more.

But for now, Trump has a number of executive actions to point to: orders to 1) reduce the regulatory burdens of Obamacare; 2) freeze federal hiring; 3) pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership; 4) approve the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines; 5) strengthen enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws; 6) authorize planning for a U.S.-Mexico border wall; 7) tighten White House ethics rules; 8) reduce the number of federal regulations; 9) weaken Dodd-Frank financial regulations; and 10) temporarily suspend immigration from some terrorism-plagued nations.

It’s a pretty solid list. The last, called a “Muslim ban” by detractors, has attracted the most attention — and litigation. But each item on Trump’s list would be worth a White House rollout and promotion campaign.

Instead, Trump threw them out in a firehose of appearances, tweets, and controversy. And Trump regularly distracted from his own message by doing something to set off what might be called the Daily Agitation — the frenzy of media and opposition politicians reacting to whatever the president has said most recently.

The “frenzy” had the advantage of keeping his opponents one step behind, at least initially. But opposition has been solidifying, particularly the town hall protests against ObamaCare repeal. Yes, they’re largely astroturf, but Congress does appear to be going all wobbly.

A counter-“resistance” will be most effective if it includes a grassroots, Tea Party-type element to stand in contrast to Soros-funded street thugs. But the counter-resistance can’t be effective at all without Trump making good use of the bully pulpit, too. That’s going to require the White House to run more smoothly than we’ve seen so far, and for Trump to adopt more consistent messaging, but it’s also the fun part of being president — and would take good advantage of Trump’s campaign-trail flair.

Trump won in large part because he was the fun candidate, opposed to Hillary Clinton’s dour sense of entitlement. He can still use the Fun Element to his advantage now that he’s the President.

BLOWBACK: Geraldo Rivera Quits Position at Yale University Over School’s Politically Correct Name Change.

OUT LIKE FLYNN: The Political Assassination of Michael Flynn.

Eli Lake:

Representative Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told me Monday that he saw the leaks about Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak as part of a pattern. “There does appear to be a well orchestrated effort to attack Flynn and others in the administration,” he said. “From the leaking of phone calls between the president and foreign leaders to what appears to be high-level FISA Court information, to the leaking of American citizens being denied security clearances, it looks like a pattern.”

Nunes said he was going to bring this up with the FBI, and ask the agency to investigate the leak and find out whether Flynn himself is a target of a law enforcement investigation. The Washington Post reported last month that Flynn was not the target of an FBI probe.

The background here is important. Three people once affiliated with Trump’s presidential campaign — Carter Page, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone — are being investigated by the FBI and the intelligence community for their contacts with the Russian government. This is part of a wider inquiry into Russia’s role in hacking and distributing emails of leading Democrats before the election.

Flynn himself traveled in 2015 to Russia to attend a conference put on by the country’s propaganda network, RT. He has acknowledged he was paid through his speaker’s bureau for his appearance. That doesn’t look good, but it’s also not illegal in and of itself. All of this is to say there are many unanswered questions about Trump’s and his administration’s ties to Russia.

But that’s all these allegations are at this point: unanswered questions. It’s possible that Flynn has more ties to Russia that he had kept from the public and his colleagues. It’s also possible that a group of national security bureaucrats and former Obama officials are selectively leaking highly sensitive law enforcement information to undermine the elected government.

The chatter against Flynn — and it has come from Democrats, Republicans, and the intelligence community — has been longstanding, intense, and in the end, effective. The motives for it also seem to come from across the spectrum: Partisanship, #NeverTrump, and for those concerned about his Russian ties, honest patriotism. It would also be too kind to say that Flynn is unloved by the I.C. following his troubled tenure as head of D.I.A.

But what really happened? It’s impossible to say, but if the intelligence community is still at war with the Trump Administration even after collecting Flynn’s scalp, then we we’ll know at least part of the answer.

ALSO:

Russia isn’t the only busy intersection between the White House and Congress, either.

THEY TOLD ME THAT IF I VOTED FOR TRUMP, PERSECUTED ETHNICITIES WOULD BE FORCED TO WEAR HUMILIATING COLORED BADGES ON THEIR CLOTHING — AND THEY WERE RIGHT!

Students at Elizabethtown College this month are wearing white pins in the shape of puzzle pieces to remind them of their white privilege.

The campaign was launched over the weekend by the Elizabethtown College Democrats, who say it aims to make students at the small and private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania more introspective about issues of race, especially in their predominantly white region of Lancaster County.

“Discussions about race are often perceived as being only open to people of color, but I think it is just as important for white people to partake in conversations about race,” Aileen Ida, president of the College Democrats, told The College Fix via email.

Note to Elizabethtown College Democrats: Liberal Fascism was not written to be a how-to guide.

And as Rod Dreher recently noted, “I don’t believe the alt-right’s view of the world any more than I believe the [DNC-MSM-Hollywood-Academia] Cathedral’s. If the alt-right’s racist ideas are going to gain ground in American politics, they aren’t going to do it through my agency. But here’s what the Cathedral left needs to know: you aren’t going to be able to count on conservative people like me to help you oppose the alt-right, because you are their ‘respectable’ left-wing mirror image.”

Annual cost of attending Elizabethtown College: $56,200. Parents and students, choose where to spend your money wisely.

CLEANSING: More Coptic Christians Murdered the Past Two Months Than Admitted as Refugees During Obama’s Presidency.

I NEVER THOUGHT THIS: Think Asia Will Dominate the 21st Century? Think Again.

Chinese economic statistics, never fully reliable, continue to be adjusted downward. Wages have risen sharply over the past decade; indeed, for several years, the minimum wage was growing at double digits—as high as 18 percent. The Chinese banking system remains opaque, and bank balance sheets are unreliable, as they continue to overstate the value of their assets, notably state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Moreover, obtaining financing in China often requires connections in Beijing, further undermining the efficiency of the banking system. Finally, local and provincial regulations often impede business growth, while corruption, particularly at those levels, remains rampant, despite President Xi Jinping’s ongoing efforts to clean house. Lastly, Auslin rightly identifies yet another scourge that China—and other Asian economies—suffer from: Mafia-like intimidation, or worse, of foreign investors. Not surprisingly, companies that are contemplating investment in East Asia are looking more and more at Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia, or even the Philippines, rather than risk shrinking margins in China.

The SOEs are an albatross around China’s economic neck, yet even the increasingly powerful Xi, recently crowned China’s “core leader,” has been unable to shut most of them down. The management, ownership and finances of many private businesses also are opaque. Often, businesses that are nominally private are actually owned by the government through a complex chain of holding companies. This is particularly the case with respect to firms in the high-tech and aerospace sectors.

The era of untrammeled Chinese economic growth appears to be over—and that development naturally does not account for whatever actions a new Trump administration will take to even the playing field of Chinese-American trade.

Almost 30 years ago, I found Joel Kotkin and Yoriko Kishimoto’s The Third Century to be a powerful corrective against then-dominant fears of Japan, Inc taking over the world. And I’ve kept it in mind these last 20 years while watching China’s rise. What Dov S. Zakheim has written here for The National Interest is almost a 21st Century companion piece to that book, and well worth your time.

TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 1377: Republicans Still Want IRS Chief’s Head.

ARRIVING IN STYLE: B-21 Nuclear Bomber Recommended as New Air Force One by US Consulting Firm.

WWK said the arguments in favor of the B-21 include unsurpassed survivability because of the plane’s stealth, and protection against conventional and electronic attacks because of its advanced electronic systems.

The firm feels the B-21 can better deal with sophisticated surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) that might one day become available to radical Islamic terrorists. The bottom line is the survivability of Air Force One trumps all other considerations, including comfort.

Aviation experts say WWK’s recommendations won’t fly in the face of realities of the ground, the chief of which is the B-21 is optimized as a stealth bomber designed to destroy people and not transport people. Having the B-21 become a people carrier will require extensive refitting that will add enormously to the plane’s overall cost.

It’s difficult to imagine any White House, Congress, or Pentagon staff ever taking this proposal seriously. But there would be a certain appeal to seeing a 21st Century stealth bomber done up in presidential blue and arriving at certain foreign capitals.

“WE?” We Are Already Struggling to Keep Outrage Alive in the Age of Trump.

Yes, I’m aware that Barack Obama broke norms when he attacked the Supreme Court during his State of the Union speech in 2010. I thought then — and still do — that this was outrageous. But Trump’s remarks are worse. Suggesting that a judge who rules against the president lacks legitimacy in his judicial function profoundly undermines not only the Constitution, but the centuries of common-law tradition that preceded it. Anyone who wants to defend Trump by reference to Obama’s transgressions may imagine me saying, in your mother’s voice, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

No, but the different treatment of two wrongs reveals hypocrisy.

JAYVEE: Execution Leaflets Bring New ISIS Terror Fear to Pakistan.

The sheets feature the black flag of ISIS, alongside pictures of an execution and armed militants waving automatic rifles as they parade through streets, thought to be in Iraq or Syria.

It’s not clear who distributed the leaflets in the Kurram tribal area, and their origin cannot be independently verified by NBC News.

Pakistan’s government says ISIS has no real organizational presence in the country, and the papers may have been produced by lone sympathizers rather than the group’s more central elements.

However, American officials warned last year that ISIS is attempting to establish a foothold across the border with Afghanistan, and the group has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks.

The leaflets’ appearance has worried recipients that the influence of the militant group is spreading into new areas.

I’m old enough to remember when Presidents complained that “I inherited this mess” before leaving an even bigger one for the next guy.

HEH: Let’s Get Real About How Valentine’s Day Works When You Have Kids.

USA! USA! Trump Asserts American Dominance by ‘Manspreading’ During Photo Op with Canada’s Justin Trudeau.

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HMM: Brother Of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Assassinated In Malaysia.

Who is behind the murder? As BBG adds, Kim has carried out a series of executions since taking power in 2011, the most high profile of which was the 2013 killing of his uncle and one-time deputy Jang Song Thaek. If Kim Jong Nam was killed by a North Korean spy, it indicates that Kim Jong Un felt a sense of paranoia about his own future and wanted to remove any potential successors, according to Namkoong Young, who has been teaching inter-Korean politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies for more than 25 years.

“Jong Nam has been in exile for years away from North’s politics for a long time but he is still the eldest son of Kim Jong Il,” Namkoong said. “And if there was any move or plan by some elite there to have him replace Jong Un, he probably should be removed.”

Of course, it is just as likely that a certain spy agency could have staged the murder, making it seem like it was preemptive retaliation by Un. For now there are no further details.

Kim Jong-un brooks no… well, he brooks nothing, really.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: First Chinese Cargo Spacecraft Launch Planned For April.

Citing sources in the China Manned Space Agency, a Xinhua report said the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft arrived Monday at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province in south China. The first cargo vessel built independently by China, Tianzhou-1 consists of a capsule each for cargo and propellant, and can carry a payload of up to six tons.

Itself weighing about 13 tons at liftoff, it is designed to stay in space for up to three months at a stretch. It is also capable of docking with Tiangong-2, a space laboratory China launched mid-September 2015, which it can refuel as well.

It will be launched aboard a Long March 7-Y2 carrier rocket, which will arrive at the launch center some time in March, the space agency sources told Xinhua.

We could use the competition.

WELL, YES: Don’t expect the media to fact check any sketches painting President Trump in a bad light. Reporters are too busy cheering them on.

I’d forgotten that the media used to “fact-check” SNL skits making fun of Barack Obama.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: The Long-Abused Commerce Clause Will Now Bullet-Proof Concealed Carry Reciprocity.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: A Profession Built On Exploitation:

Yet to talk about adjuncts is to talk about the centerpiece of higher education. Tenured faculty represent only 17 percent of college instructors. Part-time adjuncts are now the majority of the professoriate and its fastest-growing segment. From 1975 to 2011, the number of part-time adjuncts quadrupled. And the so-called part-time designation is misleading because most of them are piecing together teaching jobs at multiple institutions simultaneously. A 2014 congressional report suggests that 89 percent of adjuncts work at more than one institution; 13 percent work at four or more. The need for several appointments becomes obvious when we realize how little any one of them pays. In 2013, The Chronicle began collecting data on salary and benefits from adjuncts across the country. An English-department adjunct at Berkeley, for example, received $6,500 to teach a full-semester course. It’s easy to lose sight of all the people struggling beneath the data points. $7,000 at Duke. $6,000 at Columbia. $5,950 at the University of Iowa.

These are the high numbers. According to the 2014 congressional report, adjuncts’ median pay per course is $2,700. An annual report by the American Association of University Professors indicated that last year “the average part-time faculty member earned $16,718” from a single employer. Other studies have similar findings. Thirty-one percent of part-time faculty members live near or below the poverty line. Twenty-five percent receive public assistance, like Medicaid or food stamps. One English-department adjunct who responded to the survey said that she sold her plasma on Tuesdays and Thursdays to pay for her daughter’s day care. Another woman stated that she taught four classes a year for less than $10,000. She wrote, “I am currently pregnant with my first child. … I will receive NO time off for the birth or recovery. It is necessary I continue until the end of the semester in May in order to get paid, something I drastically need. The only recourse I have is to revert to an online classroom […] and do work while in the hospital and upon my return home.” Sixty-one percent of adjunct faculty are women.

If Trump wants to troll academia hard, he should speak out and demand a “living wage” for adjunct instructors. For the sake of economic justice!

DEMS IN DISARRAY: Hispanics are split in DNC race.

Latino Democrats are splitting their vote for Democratic National Committee chair, with 10 days to go until the election.

While former Labor Secretary Tom Perez is a leading contender for the race, many liberal Latinos are backing his main rival, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).

“Obviously, as a Latina I’m interested in creating greater opportunities of representation for all people of color,” said Melissa Mark-Viverito, the New York City Council speaker who is backing Ellison.

“I do promote Latino candidates, but there should never be the assumption that one automatically supports a Latino candidate,” she added.

Perez has received top-level endorsements, including from former Vice President Joe Biden — an indication of support from former President Barack Obama.

But Ellison has attracted a large swath of the progressive wing of the party. And some major players are switching sides.

If you’re Hispanic, what does Ellison’s Black-Muslim-LGBTQ alliance have to offer you?

FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS: Older Judges and Vacant Seats Give Trump Huge Power to Shape American Courts.

There are 870 Article III federal court judgeships, the vast majority on district courts or appeals courts like the one that recently upheld a halt on Mr. Trump’s immigration ban. These judges are appointed by the president and serve a lifetime term. (A few federal judges are appointed for limited terms.)

After Jimmy Carter took office, Congress established 152 new federal judgeships, expanding the federal judiciary by nearly 30 percent and allowing Mr. Carter to stack the federal courts despite a presidency that lasted only one term.

Mr. Trump, through a combination of demography and a growing number of vacancies, stands to enjoy a similar windfall. Democrats have long accused Republican Senate leaders of obstruction in not allowing many of the previous administration’s judicial nominees to come to a vote. The most prominent example was the refusal to vote on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court, but the tactic extended to Mr. Obama’s lower court nominees as well.

“Right off the bat, Republicans refused to approve anyone,” said Nan Aron, president of the liberal group Alliance for Justice. “So you know how important this is to the Republican Party.” Currently, 112 of the 870 authorized judgeships with lifetime appointments remain vacant — 33 have been vacant for more than two years.

Damn right it’s important. And if the Gorsuch nomination is any indicator, the Constitution could be ripe for a big comeback.

YOU DON’T WANT AN UNGOVERNED AMERICA, LEFTIES. YOU WON’T LIKE AN UNGOVERNED AMERICA. There’s An Alt-Left, And It’s Trying To Make America Ungovernable.

SO? Flynn sets record with only 24 days as national security adviser. The average tenure is about 2.6 years.

I think Trump dodged a bullet with this one, even if he did originally fire it at himself. By most accounts, Flynn was a fine general, but was in over his head management-wise as Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Whatever Flynn’s relations with Moscow might have been — and I suspect they were overblown — the President just can’t afford a bad manager as his National Security Advisor. Better that Trump take his lumps quickly and appoint someone better qualified for the job.

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THE HILL: Right set to fight back on town hall protests.

For the past three weeks, Democratic protesters have swarmed Republican town hall events across the country, booing, shouting down and trying to embarrass GOP lawmakers seeking to gut ObamaCare.

In the coming weeks, grassroots conservatives will be fighting back.

FreedomWorks, the Tea Party-aligned outside group, beginning next month will be organizing rallies and urging its nearly 6 million activists to turn out at town hall events to ensure members of Congress are also getting an earful from ObamaCare detractors.

“There will be more grassroots hand-to-hand combat than we’ve seen in Washington for a long time,” FreedomWorks President and CEO Adam Brandon said Monday during an interview in his office near the Capitol.

“The conservative [lawmakers], they need to see us out there pushing. And if they see that, they’ll be bold,” he continued. “If they don’t see grassroots there on the ground, they’ll start slipping.”

FreedomWorks will stage an ObamaCare repeal rally on Capitol Hill on March 15 with speeches from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other top conservative allies.

From there, activists will descend upon congressional offices to press lawmakers to move quickly on ObamaCare. FreedomWorks officials are rallying behind a longshot replacement bill authored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) that would eliminate many central elements of President Obama’s healthcare law, including the mandate that every American has coverage.

The so-called “Day of Action” will be followed by a phone-call campaign to lawmakers’ offices, plus rallies in targeted congressional districts across the country.

Punch back twice as hard, as our Lightworker former president said.