BIGGER THAN THE TRUMP/PUTIN MEETING: U.S. Energy Exports To Europe. If Trump were really in Putin’s pocket, he’d be putting the kibosh on this, probably citing bogus environmental concerns.

Related: Can Trump Use Fracking To Break Putin’s Stranglehold On Eastern Europe?

BUT FOR WHOM? Pentagon Says War Against North Korea Would Be ‘Catastrophic.’

Even a so-called surgical strike aimed at the North’s partially hidden nuclear and missile force is unlikely to destroy the arsenal or stop its leader, Kim Jong Un, from swiftly retaliating with long-range artillery that could kill stunning numbers in South Korea within minutes.

An all-out conflict could then ensue. And while Trump’s Pentagon chief, Jim Mattis, says the U.S. would prevail, he believes it would be “a catastrophic war.”

North Korea’s position has been allowed to evolve unimpeded over three decades and three Administrations. Pyongyang can use its nuclear capability — their own arsenal and the threat of sales to unsavory types — to blackmail the West into providing food and goods. Meanwhile, Pyongyang has its artillery just north of Seoul to hold South Korean civilians hostage against American action. They’ve got us by the …this… and by the …that.

That’s an outsized position for a small and impoverished nation ruled by an apparent sociopath.

And Beijing no doubt delights in having such an inexpensive ally creating such an expensive headache for their rivals here in the West.

There were never any easy outs with the Norks, and at this late stage there aren’t even any left which are merely ugly.

WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN INDUSTRIES SUCH CESSPITS OF RACISM? Dem rep blasts Hollywood after ‘Hawaii Five-0’ pay equality dispute. I think that President Trump should seize on this issue and make an example of them.

TRUMP PREPARES TO MEET PUTIN, THE TRAVEL BAN STAYS, AND THE SNUB THAT WASN’T: All that and more in Liz Sheld’s morning brief.

A PROMISE OR A THREAT? Republicans are starting to admit they may have to work with Democrats on healthcare.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday said during an event in Kentucky that if GOP senators fail to reach an agreement on a bill that can get 50 votes in the chamber, they would have to work with the other party on a way to stabilize the Obamacare insurance markets.

“If my side is unable to agree on an adequate replacement, then some kind of action with regard to the private health insurance market must occur,” McConnell said.

McConnell pointed to increasing premiums in the individual insurance marketplaces as the reason Republicans would have to reach across the aisle.

This sounds to me like making your E.R. doc take advice from the madman who slipped a mystery poison into your drink.

If you thought RyanMcConnellTrumpCare was just ObamaCare Lite, wait until you see RyanMcConnellTrumpSchumerCare.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: ‘Collusion’ as Farce: The Hunt for Hillary’s Hackers.

WELL, WELL: Congress joins Trump war on regs, cuts a year’s worth in one week.

Congressional lawmakers have gone all in on President Trump’s bid to slash Obama-era regulations, targeting $19 billion in rules and the elimination of enough red tape to free up 5,200 federal workers, according to a new analysis.

The cuts proposed by the House Appropriations Committee this week amount to a year’s worth of regulations under the Obama administration, said the report from American Action Forum.

Analyst Sam Batkins wrote, “The suite of appropriations bills released this week goes further, curtailing more than $19 billion in total regulatory costs and eliminating 10.4 million hours of paperwork, the equivalent of eliminating all regulations from 2006 and freeing 5,200 employees from paperwork compliance.”

His report, provided to Secrets in advance of its release today, said that the committee’s funding bills target regulations in the areas of financial services, agriculture and energy. The biggest ticket item: “Repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill’s Volcker rule, which originally estimated $4.3 billion in costs and 2.3 million new paperwork burden hours.”

Batkins, AAF’s director of regulatory policy, explained that Congress can be very slow in cutting regulations, but added that appropriators are moving with unusual speed at the same time Trump’s team is also targeting rules within federal agencies for elimination.

Faster, please. Related: Could Trump Really Be Draining The Swamp? The water appears to be receding at key Beltway bureaucracies.

The Senate still hasn’t voted on ObamaCare reform, U.S. workers are still waiting for tax cuts to drive economic growth and President of the United States Donald Trump is trading insults with the co-hosts of an MSNBC talk show. Yet Mr. Trump appears to be making progress in what might have seemed the most difficult task given to him by voters in 2016: reducing the power of Washington’s permanent bureaucracy.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wasn’t exactly dying to move to Washington to run a federal department, but he seems to have warmed to the task. Max Bergmann, a former Obama Administration official now at the leftist Center for American Progress, writes in Politico that the “deconstruction of the State Department is well underway.” Discounting for the usual Beltway hyperbole, this probably isn’t as good as it sounds.

All kidding aside, the State Department is one federal agency that was actually contemplated by America’s founders. Conducting foreign policy is an important and necessary task for our central government. But like so much of the Beltway bureaucracy State has been overfunded and undermanaged for years. Now, despite what you may have read about untouchable bureaucrats unaccountable to the public they are supposed to serve, Mr. Tillerson has found ways to clean house. . . .

The former Obama appointee is apparently so unnerved by the Trump-Tillerson era at State that he lets slip the fact that the career staff didn’t think much of the previous management either, and that the conservative critique of the department is at least partly true.

More, please.

ENERGY: Renewable energy surpasses nuclear power — for now.

Utility-scale wind and solar power have been on the rise in the U.S., and a wet year in the West has fueled spikes in hydroelectric power. All three sources of renewable power have broken generation records this year, according to the Energy Department.

Record rainfall and snowpack in California contributed to a 14 percent increase in hydro power. Between March 2016 and March 2017, wind power increased by 16 percent and solar power increased by 65 percent.

But dominance of renewable sources over nuclear is fickle, for the time being.

Nuclear power plants are often taken offline during the spring months for maintenance. The Energy Department expects that monthly nuclear generation will again surpass renewable resources this summer, and that nuclear power plants will generate more energy than renewables for the year.

All I’m asking for is a standardized design for small thorium reactors which can be mass-produced and installed wherever plentiful and safe zero-carbon energy is wanted.

ALL IS PROCEEDING AS I HAVE FORESEEN: Why one of the largest counties in Texas is going back to paper ballots. “Denton County is planning a complete return to paper ballots. The move is in part a response to voter distrust of electronic voting machines.”

Well, paper ballots aren’t immune to fraud, but they can’t be changed by some guy sitting in a basement halfway around the world.

INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE: Hamas-Linked Women’s March Organizer Calls for ‘Jihad’ Against Trump.

THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SHOULD INVESTIGATE THIS THOROUGHLY: House Dem IT Suspects Wanted Untraceable Payments — And Sure Enough, Millions Disappeared.

A Pakistani family under criminal investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police for abusing their access to the House of Representatives information technology (IT) system may have engaged in myriad other questionable schemes besides allegedly placing “ghost employees” on the congressional payroll.

Imran Awan, his wife Hina, and brothers Abid and Jamal collectively netted more than $4 million in salary as IT administrators for House Democrats between 2009 and 2017. Yet the absence of signs of wealth displayed among them raise questions such as was the money sent overseas or did something other than paychecks motivate their actions?

Capitol Police revoked the Awans’ access to the congressional IT system in February 2017 after a major data breach was detected. Their access had allowed them to read emails and files of dozens of members, including many serving on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

House Democrats have been nonchalant about the allegations, with some saying it was just a misunderstanding or the Capitol Police framed the Awans due to Islamophobia.

But official documents, court records and multiple interviews suggest the crew may have engaged in tax fraud, extortion, bankruptcy fraud and insurance fraud and the money could have been funneled overseas. Abid has hired high-profile attorney James Bacon who specializes in anti-money laundering litigation.

The Awans share modest homes, drive unremarkable cars and report little in the way of assets on congressional disclosures. The family owns significant amounts of Virginia rental properties, which are heavily financed, with second mortgages sometimes taken out. It’s unclear where the rental income goes because the Awans insist tenants pay in odd ways.

Weird that this is getting so little attention. Okay, not all that weird.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Has anyone made the connection between the DNC protecting the Pakistani IT staff that might have hacked their email and the sudden claims of Russia hacking? Plus if this was an inside hack wouldn’t that explain Seth Rich, Obama not “acting sooner” on the ‘Russia hack?’ And every other claim the left had made?” Something’s happening here, but what, exactly, isn’t clear.

BUT WHAT ABOUT NASA’S VITAL ROLE OF BOOSTING MUSLIM SELF-ESTEEM? BREAKING | President Trump reestablishes National Space Council.

IT’S BOTH REFRESHING AND SHOCKING (IN A REFRESHING WAY) THAT THEY’RE NOT JUST SCREAMING GLOBAL WARMING: Millions of ‘Sea Pickles’ Invade Northwest Waters.

BUT OUR PRESS REFUSES TO SEE IT: There’s real tyranny going on in Venezuela .

SURE QUACKS LIKE A DUCK:Obamacare’s “People Will Die” Canard.

ABOUT TIME SOMEONE DEFENDED WESTERN CIVILIZATION:President Trump’s Remarkable Warsaw Speech.

IN THE EMAIL FROM M. C. TUGGLE: The Genie Hunt.

REPORTS OF THEIR EXTINCTION WERE EXAGGERATED: Another pack of gray wolves spotted in California.