OBAMA’S DOJ PREDICTED FAMILY MIGRATION EXPLOSION, DID NOTHING: Lawyers for the federal government told a federal judge in 2015 that failing to allow U.S. immigration officials some leeway in how they implement the infamous Flores settlement would prompt an explosion of immigrant families – real and otherwise – trying to enter the country.

The judge refused, Obama did nothing to prepare for the onslaught and here we are today having to dispatch 5,200 U.S. troops to back up the 2,000 National Guardsmen and thousands of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers already at the border preparing for the next caravan. LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby has the story.

AT LEAST UNTIL NEXT WEEK! Sen. Claire McCaskill says she’s 100 percent behind President Trump on stopping the migrant caravan.

HMM: Report: Israel sold $250m. of sophisticated spy systems to Saudi Arabia.

Some of the spy systems, which are the most sophisticated systems Israel has ever sold to any Arab country, have already been transferred to Saudi Arabia and put into use after a Saudi technical team received training in operating them, the report added.

The exclusive report also revealed that the two countries exchanged strategic military information in the meetings, which were conducted in Washington and London through a European mediator.

Such cooperation would not be the first of its kind between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The Israeli-Sunni Arab alliance is unwritten, but it is increasingly real.

MILITARY BOOK REVIEW: Dr. A. A. Nofi reviews Jeremy Black’s Combined Operations: A Global History of Amphibious and Airborne Warfare.

Excerpt:

Black does not limit himself to the Western experience. He looks at trends and events not only across the ages, but also almost literally in every corner of the world. So, for example, Black notes that the decline of northern Canada’s Paleo-Eskimo Dorset culture resulted from the use of superior watercraft by the invading Thule people from Alaska around 1,000 BC, while in more recent times non-state actors such as the Tamil Tigers, Al-Qaeda, and Laskar-e-Taiba have conducted successful operations from the sea, even as their opponents used the sea to support operations against them. In between he gives us looks at riverine warfare on the Niger, the protracted Christian-Moslem struggle for control of the Mediterranean, Mongol efforts to invade Japan, the unification of Hawaii, and much more. He examines the role of sea-borne forces in the Anglo-French contest for North America and the American Revolution, through operations from the sea during the Napoleonic Wars, amphibious operations in the civil wars in the U.S. and Spain, and, of course, covers the world wars in considerable detail.

The very big picture.

PAUL BEDARD: Trump weekly report card: President’s actions brighten bid to hold off Democrats.

WARTHOGS IN KOREA: Two USAF A-10 Thunderbolt IIs prepare to take off from Osan Air Base, South Korea.

JOURNALISM: Jake Tapper still cleaning up after Julia Ioffe and her ‘hyperbolic comparison’ of Trump to ISIS.

REPORT: Trump Targeting Birthright Citizenship With Executive Order. My first thought is that he can’t do this because of the 14th Amendment, but my second thought is that lots of constitutional rights that seem to me to be clearly established in the text have been interpreted away over the years. Hey, it’s a living Constitution, right? It must be informed by experience, and the needs of the day!

UPDATE: Am I kidding? Yes, and no. The Supreme Court precedent here doesn’t involve illegal immigrants and you can make a good argument that in adopting this rule the President is acting in a foreign affairs capacity — since he’s trying to discourage people abroad from coming here — and that gets a lot of judicial deference. Here’s some quick discussion of the law. I can certainly imagine a Supreme Court opinion holding that the core purpose of the birthright citizenry provision was to guarantee the citizenship of freed slaves, something not applicable here, and that the destabilizing effect of mass migration (see Europe), along with the foreign affairs component, demonstrates that the issue is best dealt with by the political branches.

CHINESE PEOPLES LIBERATION ARMY (PLA) RESEARCH SCIENTISTS IN UNIVERSITIES OUTSIDE CHINA: A disturbing report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. “Picking flowers in foreign lands to make honey in China.”

Since 2007, the PLA has sponsored more than 2,500 military scientists and engineers to study abroad and has developed relationships with researchers and institutions across the globe.1

This collaboration is highest in the Five Eyes countries, Germany and Singapore, and is often unintentionally supported by taxpayer funds.2 Australia has been engaged in the highest level of PLA collaboration among Five Eyes countries per capita, at six times the level in the US. Nearly all PLA scientists sent abroad are Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members who return to China on time.

Dozens of PLA scientists have obscured their military affiliations to travel to Five Eyes countries and the European Union, including at least 17 to Australia, where they work in areas such as hypersonic missiles and navigation technology. Those countries don’t count China as a security ally but rather treat it as one of their main intelligence adversaries.3

The activities discussed in this paper, described by the PLA as a process of ‘picking flowers in foreign lands to make honey in China’…

Long report but worth reading.

BLUE STATE BLUES: What A Deal! San Jose To Pay Homeless To Clean Up Their Mess.

Granted, a 25 person workforce isn’t all that large in terms of getting the homeless off the streets, but this phase of the project is only a pilot program and it could be expanded later. A couple of challenges the plan faces come to mind immediately, however. First of all, how are you going to pay them? In cash? Most of the homeless probably don’t have bank accounts or the ability to cash a check without going to one of those short-term loan outfits and being charged outrageous fees. Will they have taxes withheld?

Beyond that, there’s the basic question of motivation. As the Gate article notes, the places they want to pay the homeless to pick up trash are the same spots where the homeless congregate and create the trash problem to begin with. Once word gets around that the city is handing out cash to clean up trash, well… isn’t that sort of like paying someone to pick up dead birds in the park and waiting to see if they don’t start shooting a bunch of birds? It just seems like you’re going to create an incentive for people to create more garbage.

It’s like paying vandals to tape up broken windows. And as I’ve been saying here lately, the only thing subsidies get you less of is money.

MAKING THE RUBBLE BOUNCE: Trump Wants $342,000 in Attorneys’ Fees From Stormy Daniels. I do admire how the new GOP no longer allows Dem operatives to slink off unscathed once their work is done.

JOURNALISM: The Washington Post’s Max Boot Blames Right-Wing Media For Domestic Terrorism.

GOOD TO KNOW: No, Trump Has Not Started a Nuclear Arms Race With INF Pullout.

CHANGE: Trump to terminate birthright citizenship.

President Trump plans to sign an executive order that would remove the right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born on U.S. soil, he said yesterday in an exclusive interview for “Axios on HBO,” a new four-part documentary news series debuting on HBO this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT.

Why it matters: This would be the most dramatic move yet in Trump’s hardline immigration campaign, this time targeting “anchor babies” and “chain migration.” And it will set off another stand-off with the courts, as Trump’s power to do this through executive action is debatable to say the least.

He certainly isn’t afraid of a fight.

CULTURE OF HATE: GQ columnist apologizes for claim Trump radicalized ‘more people than ISIS ever did.’

COLD WAR II: ‘Prepare for war’, Xi Jinping tells military region that monitors South China Sea, Taiwan.

One of the primary missions of the Southern Theatre Command is overseeing the South China Sea, an area where tensions and military activity involving China, the US and other powers have been growing steadily.

Earlier this month, a Chinese destroyer almost collided with a US warship in the disputed waters after making what the Americans described as an “unsafe and unprofessional” manoeuvre in an attempt to warn it to leave the area.

Related: The Navy We Need.

China continues to build one warship every two months, ranging from new aircraft carriers to guided-missile frigates that can visit a broad range of ports in the region. Soon the Chinese navy will surpass the U.S. Navy in size, and it is approaching capabilities parity as well. It is also stepping up its challenges to the U.S. Navy, as evidenced by its recent near-collision with a U.S. destroyer in the South China Sea.

These state actors are challenging the United States on the high seas because they perceive in the U.S. Navy’s shrinking numbers an opportunity to surpass a superpower. In other words, they are challenging the U.S. because the U.S., with its small and unbalanced fleet, has invited them to do so.

What do you call a 355-ship Navy? A good start.

MICHAEL WALSH: Angela Merkel: Down, and Soon Out. “She has no one to blame but herself. Now it’s time for the Germans to undo the damage.”

While there’s still a Germany left.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION AND BIGOTRY: DNC Chair Used Private Jet of Donor Accused of Discriminating Against Latinos: Tom Perez flew with Albert Dwoskin, who is involved in court battle with undocumented immigrants.

FASTER PLEASE:  Potentially wonderful news for type 2 diabetics.

THEY’VE BEEN TELEGRAPHING IT FOR A LONG WHILE NOW:  After the 2nd they come for the 1st.

LIES, DAMN LIES, STATISTICS AND…  Moving The Goalposts: IPCC Secretly Redefines what ‘Climate’ means.

SHOCKED, SHOCKED:  Trump-Bashing ‘Oath’ Collapses by 92 Percent.

AND ABOUT TIME FOR TIME:  To Jews on the Liberal Side of Issues, a friendly warning.

THIS REMINDS ME A LOT OF SOME OF THE WORST TIMES IN PORTUGAL IN THE SEVENTIES:  ‘They’re Democrats’: Shots Fired At Volusia GOP HQ; UPDATE: Here Are All The Local GOP HQs That Have Been Attacked Across The Country.  Yes, I do know that’s a personal problem.  I’m counting on how different the countries are.  But I didn’t realize how on edge I was till I was discussing this with a friend and realized the similarities.