THAT MEANS IT’S WORKING:

Just two days ago, Wellmark announced it was pulling out of Iowa’s ObamaCare exchange.

Anyway, today’s news comes via Sarah Kliff’s Twitter feed. She’s saying “Yikes” today, but she’s long been Vox’s go-to explainer for how well ObamaCare is working.

TAXPROF: The IRS Scandal, Day 1428: Fifteen Ways & Means Committee Republicans Urge Trump To Fire Commissioner Koskinen.

ROGER SIMON ON RAND PAUL’S DAY IN THE SUN:

As events continue to evolve in the Susan Rice “unmasking” scandal, my hat’s off to Rand.  He’s my new hero, out there demanding Rice testify and wondering why the former national security adviser was doing investigating that normally would have been done by the FBI.

Read the whole thing.

HOT MIC: Introducing PJ Media’s new daily liveblog.

BREAKING: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes Steps Aside From Russia Probe.

In a short statement issued on Thursday, Mr. Nunes, a California Republican, said he would step aside from the investigation. It will instead be run by Rep. Mike Conaway (R., Texas), with assistance from Reps. Trey Gowdy (R, S.C.) and Tom Rooney (R., Fla.).

The three will “temporarily take charge of the Committee’s Russia investigation” while the Office of Congressional Ethics looks into what Mr. Nunes described as “entirely false and politically motivated” accusations lodged against him.

“I will continue to fulfill all my other responsibilities as Committee Chairman, and I am requesting to speak to the Ethics Committee at the earliest possible opportunity in order to expedite the dismissal of these false claims,” Mr. Nunes said in a statement.

Give them an inch…

HAVE YOU HUGGED A FRACKER TODAY? Shale Transforms The Global Gas Market.

Or perhaps more accurately, American shale gas is helping to create a global gas market. For years, natural gas needed pipelines to make its way from seller to buyer, and owing to that, most natural gas contracts were long-term and often linked to the price of oil.

But thanks to liquified natural gas, suppliers can now superchill gas and put it on cargo ships to send halfway around the world, making the gas market more like that of its kindred hydrocarbon, oil. As a result, the differences between regional LNG prices has begun to narrow—the so-called “Asian premium,” more than 50 years old, is starting to evaporate. American shale gas is ready to expedite this transition to a more fungible, global gas market. . . .

U.S. shale is also helping to get rid of destination requirements for LNG cargoes, which will allow intermediaries to buy and then re-sell LNG to the highest bidder. That will help make the market more liquid, and will reduce regional price variation as well.

And it’s reducing carbon emissions much more than the preening of European nations.

SO VERY HARD TO GO: The Long-Goodbye to Afghanistan – Should It Get Longer?

But what could ultimately bring peace to Afghanistan is an agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Any such effort requires Pakistani assistance, particularly since the Taliban continues to regroup, train, plan, and launch attacks from safe havens on the Pakistani side of the border.

Rampant corruption in Afghanistan and the county’s dire economic state are two other pitfalls that have hampered efforts to stabilize the country. In a February interview with The Cipher Brief, John Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, called Afghanistan “one of the most corrupt countries in the world” and said that “In Afghanistan corruption is endemic, it’s institutionalized.” Ridding the country of its rampant corruption and ensuring proper oversight on reconstruction projects would go a long way to putting Afghanistan on sustained economic footing.

The unemployment rate in Afghanistan has steadily risen in recent years, reaching a staggering 40 percent in 2015. The World Bank ranked Afghanistan as 183rd out of 190 with regard to the ease of doing business, indicating that the regulatory environment for starting or operating a business in Afghanistan is extremely difficult. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) categorized Afghanistan’s economic activity as “weak” and concluded that the economic outlook for 2016 and beyond “remains very difficult.”

The problem with trying to induce the benefits of nationhood onto Afghanistan is that there’s no nation there. Afghanistan is a more of a blank spot on the map where neighboring nations aren’t.

DUCK AND COVER: An asteroid twice as close as most satellites slips by Earth.

Asteroid 2017 GM was discovered late Monday by the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona and then made its closest pass a few hours later at a distance of around 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers or 0.04 of the distance to the moon). For reference, most of our communications satellites orbit at an altitude of more than 20,000 miles.

“It is among the 10 known asteroids making the closest approach ever,” Italian astrophysicist Gianluca Masi wrote in a blog post Tuesday. Masi co-founded the Virtual Telescope Project, which helped to determine the asteroid’s orbit.

This one was only the size of a car, so it wasn’t exactly a planet-killer.

VIDEO: On Anderson Cooper, Lewis Calls Out CNN Over Trump, Russia And Susan Rice Coverage.

THE HILL: Jeff Sessions Is Right To Roll Back Justice Department Consent Decrees.

AT AMAZON, Hot New Releases Freshly Updated Each Hour.

Plus, Save Big on Amazon Bestsellers by Category.

And don’t miss Big Savings in the Kindle Daily Deals.

Also, fresh savings on Today’s Digital Deals.

CINCINNATI UPDATE: Ex-Cincinnati Law Dean Challenges Her Removal: Faculty Unwilling To Put Student Needs Ahead Of Their Own Is Not Adequate Ground. If the provost in fact removed her simply because faculty complained about the budget cuts she was hired to implement, then that was a stupid move. I still kinda doubt that’s all there is to this story, though, because, well, that would be a stupid move. And while provosts make stupid moves all the time, they don’t usually make this kind of stupid move.

THAT DOES SEEM TO BE THEIR M.O.: Did Team Obama Abuse Intelligence Collection During the Lead-up to the Iran Deal, Too?

ED MORRISSEY: Susan Rice and the Media That Will Only Investigate Republicans.

CHANGE: Trump’s View of Syria and Assad Altered After ‘Unacceptable’ Chemical Attack.

Mr. Trump said the images of death inside Syria in the aftermath of the chemical attacks “crosses many lines, beyond a red line, many many lines.” And he said that the death of “innocent children, innocent babies, little babies” has made him reassess the situation and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

“It’s very, very possible, and I will tell you it has already happened, that my attitude toward Syria and Assad, has changed very much,” Mr. Trump said as he stood next to King Abdullah of Jordan in the Rose Garden for a news conference with reporters.

Before the chemical attack, Mr. Trump’s administration had repeatedly said it did not intend to pursue the ouster of Mr. Assad. As recently as Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s spokesman said doing so would be “silly” in the face of the political realities in the country.

But Mr. Trump on Wednesday appeared to hint at a shift in that policy, though he offered only vague assertions that the aftermath of the chemical attack is “unacceptable” to him. Pressed on what his policy will be, Mr. Trump said it would be unwise to reveal any plans his administration might have.

Is a real change of policy coming, or is this another red line drawn in disappearing ink?

THE JOBS PRESIDENT? U.S. Jobless Claims Decline to a Five-Week Low of 234,000. “Claims are hovering near the lowest level since the early 1970s. . . . The claims data come a day before the monthly payrolls report that is projected to show the addition of 180,000 workers in March following a 235,000 advance the prior month.” Well, it’s good news, anyway.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, SELF-DESTRUCTION EDITION: Mizzou Enrollment Plunge Continues: Three More Dorms Shutting Down Next Year. Wreck your university to please a few dozen angry students and faculty who will never actually be happy? Smart move.

WAIT, I THOUGHT IT WAS THE RUSSIAN BERNIE BROS THAT ACCOUNTED FOR HILLARY’S LOSS? Sheldon Whitehouse: ‘Wall Street money’ backed Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.

I guess it’s just too painful to acknowledge that she was a terrible candidate, following up on a failed administration of the same party, and that’s why she lost. So any other excuse will do, if it means not having to confront that reality.

WHY DOES THE WASHINGTON POST HATE BLACK PEOPLE? The Washington Post picked the wrong day to look as if it might be appropriating “Black Lives Matter.”

QUESTION ASKED: Can USAF Afford To Retire F-15 C/D Eagle?

The U.S. Air Force has invested years of work and hundreds of millions of dollars in keeping Boeing’s F-15C fleet flying well into the 2040s. But Lt. Gen. Scott Rice, director of the Air National Guard (ANG), recently shocked the aerospace community when he revealed the service is now thinking seriously about sunsetting the iconic Eagle two decades early.

Faced with tight budgets, the Air Force is desperately looking for ways to cut costs in order to invest in new capabilities. To keep the 1970s-era Eagle flying beyond the late 2020s, the service would likely need to spend $30-40 million per aircraft—an investment that may not be worth the price, officials say.

The Air Force probably cannot afford to repair the F-15 fleet while simultaneously bringing online new fifth- and sixth-generation aircraft such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), B-21 stealth bomber and new Penetrating Counterair (PCA) fighter, the head of Air Combat Command, Gen. Mike Holmes, tells Aviation Week. But at a time when Russia and China are pumping out large numbers of highly capable fourth-generation fighters, can the Air Force really afford to retire over 200 Eagles?

We’ve enjoyed air supremacy long enough that we take it for granted.

NICK KRISTOF? My Most Unpopular Idea: Be Nice to Trump Voters.

“I absolutely despise these people,” one woman tweeted at me after I interviewed Trump voters. “Truly the worst of humanity. To hell with every one of them.”

Maybe we all need a little more empathy?

I wrote my last column from Oklahoma, highlighting voters who had supported Trump and now find that he wants to cut programs that had helped them. One woman had recovered from a rape with the help of a women’s center that stands to lose funding, another said that she would sit home and die without a job program facing cutbacks, and so on. Yet every one of them was still behind Trump — and that infuriated my readers.

“I’m just going to say it,” tweeted Bridgette. “I hate these people. They are stupid and selfish. Screw them. Lose your jobs, sit home and die.”

Another: “ALL Trump voters are racist and deplorable. They’ll never vote Democratic. We should never pander to the Trumpites. We’re not a party for racists.”

The torrent of venom was, to me, as misplaced as the support for Trump from struggling Oklahomans. I’m afraid that Trump’s craziness is proving infectious, making Democrats crazy with rage that actually impedes a progressive agenda.

They’re just taking their cue from Hillary “Basket of Deplorables” Clinton.

CHANGE: Republicans considering broader change to Senate rules.

Republicans are discussing making an additional change to the Senate’s rules to more quickly confirm President Trump’s nominees.

The change is separate from an expected vote Thursday that would prevent Democrats from using a filibuster to block Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch.

The additional change under consideration would affect hundreds of Trump nominations.

The floated change would reduce debate time after a nominee clears an initial procedural hurdle from 30 hours to eight hours, greatly reducing the amount of time the Senate would need to confirm Trump nominees.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) — the Senate’s No. 2 Republican — said the talks were aimed at finding ways to speed up the consideration of Trump’s non-Cabinet positions.

“Basically, there’s been some discussion on whether or not we ought to reinstitute the standing order that limited post-cloture time,” he said. “Basically, the idea is to expedite sub-Cabinet nominees.”

Make it move. But I think we should end the filibuster completely. I seem to remember reading a few years ago in the New York Times that it’s outdated, undemocratic, and even racist.

THE LEFT’S NEW PECKING ORDER: Muslims Over Gays.