MARY CHASTAIN: Refugee Haven Canada Ready to Send More North Korean Asylum Seekers Back Home.. “But reformed jihadists are okay!”

After “reformed jihadists” is not quite the proper place to insert a “Heh.”

WELL, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR SENSIBLE GUN POLICIES: Florida Senate Committee Taking Up Bill to Arm Teachers.

Related: 250 Teachers Sign Up for 50 Seats at Concealed Carry Training Session.

BUT TRUMP’S A WARMONGER OR SOMETHING: U.S. says ready to talk Mideast peace; Abbas calls for conference.

REASON: No, Trump Did Not Make It Easier for Mentally Ill People to Buy Guns: Shooting revives deliberately misleading talking points about a bad regulation both the NRA and the ACLU opposed.

In the wake of yesterday’s deadly school shooting in Florida, President Donald Trump tweeted that there were signs that alleged shooter Nikolas Cruz was “mentally disturbed.” Trump encouraged people to report bad behavior to authorities.

In response, a Twitter and media parade of people spouted misleading claims about an Obama-era regulation that Trump and Congress rolled back.

None of this is a remotely accurate description of what happened. A year ago, Congress and Trump eliminated a proposed rule that would have included in the federal government gun background database people who received disability payments from Social Security and received assistance to manage their benefits due to mental impairments.

This is a regulation that potentially deprived between 75,000 to 80,000 people of a right based not on what they had done but on the basis of being classified by the government in a certain way. The fact that these people may have these impairments did not inherently mean that they were dangerous to themselves or others and needed to be kept away from guns.

As I noted when the regulation was repealed last March, this rule violated not just the Second Amendment but the Fourth, because it deprived the affected people of a right without due process. The government does have the power to restrict and even deny gun ownership to people, but it has to show that these people have engaged in behavior that makes weapons dangerous in their hands.

That’s why the regulation was opposed not just by National Rifle Association (NRA) but by several mental health and disability groups and by the American Civil Liberties Union. Pundits largely ignored the latter groups’ opposition to the rule, preferring to play up the power of the NRA and their influence on Republicans to turn the issue into a partisan fight.

What’s funny is, when I posted this Reason article on Facebook, I got a Facebook-generated “fact checker.”

The thing is, the AP article just says that Trump signed the order — which nobody disputes — but doesn’t undercut the Reason piece at all. Even worse, I heard nothing from Facebook and only found out that this was what Facebook was doing from friends. If this is how their much-touted anti-fake-news program works, it’s pathetic.

AMERICA: West Point Posthumously Accepts Fallen Parkland JRTOC Student.

BABY STEPS: Saudi women to start own busines without male permission.

The policy change, announced by the Saudi government on Thursday, also marks a major step away from the strict guardianship system that has ruled the country for decades.

“Women can now launch their own businesses and benefit from (governmental) e-services without having to prove consent from a guardian,” the ministry of commerce and investment said on its website.

Under Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system, women are required to present proof of permission from a male “guardian” — normally the husband, father or brother — to do any government paperwork, travel or enrol in classes.

Long dependent on crude production for economic revenue, Saudi Arabia is pushing to expand the country’s private sector, including an expansion of female employment under a reform plan for a post-oil era.

All these baby steps are adding up — faster than I’d thought possible, and without (yet?) any major backlash.

THIS IS CNN: Trump’s Twitter Venting Against FBI Is Just What Russia Wants.

THE HILL: Judicial order in Flynn case prompts new round of scrutiny.

The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has ordered special counsel Robert Mueller’s team to turn over any “exculpatory evidence” to his defense team.

The development generated immediate attention in conservative circles, with some seizing on the order as a potential indication that Flynn’s guilty plea had been called into question.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan filed the order on Friday, directing federal prosecutors to produce to Flynn’s legal team “any evidence in its possession that is favorable to defendant and material either to defendant’s guilt or punishment” in a timely manner.

Sullivan’s order invoked the “Brady Rule,” which requires prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence in their possession to the defense — that is, evidence that could prove favorable to the defendant in negating his guilt, reducing his potential sentence or bolstering the credibility of a witness.

Could this be Ted Stevens all over again?

FROM BLAKE SMITH:  Test of Valor.

NO, THEY’RE NOT.  BUT KEEP TREATING THEM AS THOUGH THEY ARE AND THEY’LL BE:  Are American Boys Broken?

WHAT PART OF CRIMINALS DON’T OBEY LAWS DO THEY FAIL TO GET:  Florida House kills AWB bill. (Senate is still not decided).

REALISTIC:  Kids Come First: Columbine Survivor, Ohio Sheriff Work to End Gun Free Zones.

ABOUT TIME:  UN Ambassador Nikki Haley Puts Palestine’s Abbas On Notice: ‘I Will Not Shut Up’.

OH GREAT, CALIFORNIA GOT RUS:   Plague of giant, buck-toothed rodents invades California.

FINANCIAL BUBBLE MEETS EDUCATIONAL BUBBLE:  NYU student paid his tuition with bitcoin profits.

GERMANY, WE’VE GOT A PROBLEM:  Mercedes maker seen as using VW-like emissions tests.

ADMIT IT: YOU WANT TO ATTEND THE LEGO EXPO:  Huge Lego sculptures are taking over NYC.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: A Great Loss: Two Brilliant Italians, a Historian and a Politico, Pass Away.

Read the whole thing.

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