ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES: TransCanada Receives Presidential Permit for Keystone XL.

MY LATEST NEW YORK OBSERVER COLUMN: Art of War meets art of the deal. Tillerson pulls a Trump card on North Korea. (bumped)

MILLENNIAL WOMEN RESPOND: ‘Tomi Lahren Doesn’t Speak for Us’

TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 1416: ‘Media Attention’ And IRS Abuse.

DON’T TREAD ON ME: At Least One Freedom Caucus Member Revolts After Trump Ultimatum.

This is what Rep. Thomas Massie tweeted moments ago: “If Exec branch tells Legislative branch “when 2 vote” “how 2 vote” & “what it will b allowed 2 work on if vote fails,” is that a republic?”

If Exec branch tells Legislative branch “when 2 vote” “how 2 vote” & “what it will b allowed 2 work on if vote fails,” is that a republic?
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 24, 2017

Should other members of the Caucus share Massie’s sentiment and feel compelled to join him, Trump’s last ditch gamble for a successful vote after the close on Friday, may yet backfire bigly.

Trump ran on keeping the popular parts of ObamaCare while getting rid of the unpopular parts which made it kinda-sorta-temporarily hold together. Ryan’s bill is an attempt to give Trump what he promised, even though the math doesn’t add up and it isn’t what his Republican caucus has been promising to do since 2010 — all in a way that might squeak through the Senate via reconciliation.

If the execution to date has been a hot mess, that’s because the plan was a hot mess from the concept stage.

GOOD: Saudis Are the Oil Market’s Biggest Losers.

The last few years have been difficult for anyone in the business of selling oil, as prices tumbled from over $110 per barrel to a nadir of just $27, before rebounding to the middle ground they reside in today, at roughly $50 per barrel. Bargain crude has forced state producers like Russia or OPEC’s members to cut budgets in an attempt to stop the bleeding, and it’s forced many private firms—especially those operating in relatively high areas like shale—out of business.

But no supplier has been harder hit by the collapse of oil prices than Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has had to dip into its sovereign wealth fund to help cover the budget deficit bargain crude has brought about, and it’s also had to do the heavy lifting for the production cut plan OPEC and 11 other petrostates agreed to adhere to during the first six months of this year. That combination—lower production and lower prices—has been nothing less than vicious to the Saudis. . . .

Perhaps it’s not surprising that Riyadh would be the one most unduly affected by cheap crude. After all, the Saudis are and will remain for the foreseeable future the world’s biggest oil power. But the kingdom’s decision to agree to production cuts—and to shoulder the heaviest burden of those cuts, as well—is having something of a self defeating effect. As prices rise, so too do the prospects of struggling shale producers, which means that the Saudis are effectively giving valuable market share to their American competitors.

I’m so old I remember when Barack Obama mocked Sarah Palin by saying that we couldn’t drill our way out of our energy problems.

Related: Canada’s Oil Sands Looking Like A Smart Bet.

CUE WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: Just like her mother, Chelsea Clinton never gets a break.

The studious interest in Chelsea’s next move is understandable coming from the right, which has always hated the Clintons and no doubt welcomes the distraction Chelsea offers from the president’s dismal approval ratings and damning intelligence hearings. Bill, Hillary and Chelsea have long been enthusiasm-boosters for the Republicans, and they’re reluctant to give them up.

But the laser-focused Chelsea vitriol is perplexing when it comes from the left. Shouldn’t such first-daughter hatred be reserved for Ivanka? Wouldn’t their attention be better spent on potential 2018 and 2020 candidates who have already declared their interest? Aren’t there bigger battles to fight — and aren’t they glad that such a prominent Democratic figure is registering her dissent with the current administration?

Tweeting pablum hardly rises to the level of “dissent.” And if the unaccomplished daughter of a President who left office almost two decades ago and of a two-time presidential loser, counts as “such a prominent Democratic figure,” then the Democrats have bigger worries than than who deserves the most “first-daughter hatred.”

OF COURSE IT WAS: Ukraine’s leader calls killing of Putin critic a Russian terror act.

A former Russian lawmaker and Kremlin critic who fled to Ukraine last year was shot dead Thursday in Kiev — a killing that Ukraine’s President called a “Russian state terrorist act.”

Denis Voronenkov, who’d been a Communist member of Russia’s lower legislative house before he left, was fatally shot outside a hotel in broad daylight, officials said.

Voronenkov becomes the latest in a string of Russian critics of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government who were killed or injured in mysterious circumstances.

Vladimir Lenin — the founder of the Soviet Union which taught Putin to be the “sword and shield” of the State — said, “The purpose of terrorism is to terrify.”

HOW CAN YOU TELL? Canada’s Diplomats Told to Stop Using Cardboard Cutouts of Justin Trudeau at Events.

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HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Everything You Think You Know About Campus Sexual Assault Is Wrong.

It’s a review of K.C. Johnson & Stuart Taylor, Jr.’s The Campus Rape Frenzy: The Attack on Due Process at America’s Universities, which is a must-read.

ART OF WAR MEETS ART OF THE DEAL: Tillerson pulls a Trump card on North Korea.

A BLOW FOR FREE SPEECH: Charles Murray speaks at Columbia, with support of nearly 150 faculty members.

GOOD LORD: Maryland Man Was on Mission to ‘Kill as Many Black Men’ as Possible in NYC, Prosecutor Says.

SO, IF BLOOMBERG’S CAROLINE WINTER WANTS TO INTERVIEW YOU, you should just say no.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Want To Buy A Law School (or Three) On The Cheap? InfiLaw May Have A Deal For You.

WINNING: Team Trump is already kicking butt at the United Nations.

According to the group UN Watch, in the decade since its inception, the council condemned Israel 68 times, compared to 67 condemnations of all other countries combined.

No wonder Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote recently to UN supporters that unless the council in Geneva ends its bias — and stops admitting serious human rights violators as members — the United States will walk.

And guess what: In other UN corners, such pressure is already showing results.

A UN agency called the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia recently issued a hefty report denouncing Israel’s “apartheid.”

It was written by Richard Falk, a 9/11 truther who in the past also accused America and Israel of responsibility for the Boston Marathon bombing.

Last week, Haley, who’s been outspoken about anti-Israel bias since arriving in New York, demanded that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres remove the agency’s report from the UN website.

He did. Then the director of that agency, Jordanian national Rima Khalaf, resigned.

And with that, a bit of Israel-bashing was gone.

But fighting the UN’s obsession with the Jewish state is just the start.

The UN is usually where mediocrities go to have their careers put on life support, but Haley has proven to be an inspired — and energetic — choice.