RUN, JOE, RUN: Biden 2020 Still Not Off The Table.

Jazz Shaw:

Frankly, this looks more like a tease on the part of NBC than any serious movement by Biden towards pitching a 2020 run. But some of his close associates are quoted as saying serious options are under discussion. For one thing, there’s the age factor. If Biden ran and won he would be 78 when he took office. Trump will be 74 by then so this is about the only choice out there that allows him to be the “youth candidate.” In response, Biden’s aides have once again mentioned a pledge to only serve one term and put forward an early proposal as to who his VP would be so they could be groomed for 2024.

I’ve maintained for some time now that Biden would be a dangerous opponent if he managed to secure the nomination. His resume has everything you’d want to see for a presidential bid and his history, while full of gaffes and uncomfortable moments, is essentially free of any real scandal. And people just seem to genuinely like Joe Biden. Heck, I find the guy likable. His reputation as “crazy Uncle Joe” is more of an asset than a detriment.

But could he actually land the nomination given the current mood in the Democratic Party?

Whatever his chances, you get the feeling Biden might want to try, just to stick it to Team Obama — and whoever Obama’s preferred candidate turns out to be — for shoving him aside for Hillary in 2016.

I DON’T THINK I REALIZED THAT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HAD A “MICROAGGRESSIONS RESEARCH LAB.” But George Korda is unimpressed.

REMEMBER TIANANMEN: It’s been 29 years since the ‘June 4’ Massacre. Still, these 5 truths aren’t widely known.

WASHINGTON SECRETS: Media blackout: Trump’s 60-point accomplishment list of ‘American Greatness.’

The White House Monday declared President Trump’s first 500 days a celebration of “American Greatness,” dishing a 60-point list of major accomplishments that tops those of most recent presidents.

But as in the past when they sought to blow their horn, the mainstream media remained focused on his legal issues including the administration’s claim — backed by Trump in a tweet today — that the president can pardon himself.

The list of wins covered Trump’s moves to improve the economy, cut illegal immigration, bolster U.S. troops, crackdown on bad trade deals, pack the courts with conservative judges, eliminate Obama-era regulations and make good on major foreign policy promises like snuffing out ISIS and moving the U.S embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Trump, his senior aides and supporters in Congress have regularly complained that the media isn’t covering the achievements of the administration. Below is the White House list.

Follow the link, it’s too long to reproduce here.

DON’T LET’S BE BEASTLY TO THE GERMANS: Should Germany expel American ambassador Richard Grenell?

(Classical reference in headline.)

SECDEF MATTIS: U.S. Troops on Korean Peninsula Non-Negotiable, ‘Not Going Anywhere.’ “Only way that would happen is ‘between a democracy called the Republic of Korea and a democracy called the United States of America’.”

POLL: Majority Believe Feds Broke Law to Stop Trump from Winning Presidency.

CHANGE: From Chaos To Calm: A Life Changed By Ketamine.

BIRTH OF THE MARSHALL PLAN: On June 5, 1947, Gen. George C. Marshall, then Secretary of State, gave a speech at Harvard University at which he called for what came to be called “the Marshall Plan.” Said he: “The truth of the matter is that Europe’s requirements for the next three or four years of foreign food and other essential products—principally from America—are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help or face economic, social, and political deterioration of a very grave character.”

It seems to have worked pretty well. One downside: Many later policymakers saw the Marshall Plan’s $13 billion lesson as throwing very large sums of money at a problem—no matter how different from postwar Europe—will solve that problem. No such luck.

IF YOU LIVED IN BOTSWANA, YOU COULD HAVE SEEN THE FIREBALL:  Six-foot asteroid–small enough to disintegrate in the Earth’s atmosphere–was spotted hours before impact.  Message to Outer Space:  Please don’t send us any bigger ones.

RIP: Dwight Clark, former 49ers receiver and playoff hero, dies at 61 after battle with ALS.

DOES THE MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP DECISION STRENGTHEN THE CASE AGAINST THE TRAVEL BAN?: Ilya Somin argues that it does.

TRUMP DISINVITES PHILADELPHIA EAGLES FROM THEIR SUPER BOWL CELEBRATION.

It’s a win-win of sorts, as both sides will now get to claim the moral high ground.

It’s also kind of ironic, considering the origins of the Eagles’ name, to see Aaron Rupar of “Think Progress” tweet, “This is fascism.”  If so, then the Eagles will have come full circle.

Update: Great moments in dispassionate objectivity, as “NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell leads cheers for Philadelphia Eagles after Trump’s disinvite.”

THE LONG WAIT FOR CHINA TO HONOR THE HEROES OF TIANANMEN, 1989.

From Claudia Rosett, who was there, covering the uprising for the Wall Street Journal.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS: Should Washington & Lee University Change Its Name?

OPEN THREAD: Pontificate at will.

FECAL TRANSPLANTS AS EFFECTIVE AS ANTIBIOTICS in treating c. difficile infections.

SARAH HOYT: Why the Left Needs Nazis.

Emmanuel Goldstein could not be reached for comment.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Sex could improve your memory when you’re older, according to a new study — further proof that it’s good for the brain.

AT AMAZON, save on Craft Supplies.

Plus, save on Air Conditioning and Air Quality.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: It’s too easy to form a mob today. Where are our protections from online mob ‘justice?’

THE PRISON-HOUSE OF POLITICAL LANGUAGE: A must read article in Quilette, about the various ways in which the political left uses the techniques of Newspeak in the real world, in Britain and in the USA, while projecting their own totalitarian motives onto their opponents. Nail on the head stuff right here:

“The US media, stocked with coastal elites who all seem to be on the same page politically (including on the issue of blacklisting those with dissenting opinion), has more or less devoted itself to daily preaching against Donald Trump for the past two years. Criticising or morally condemning Trump is hardly edgy or even a courageous act of sticking one’s head above the parapet; it is expected. Yet these people still call him a totalitarian. How can we account for this lack of self-awareness on their part?”

How dare they allow this to be published! Why, the country is just loaded with “deplorables”!

THE ONLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION IS RACISM: Black men with prostate cancer may live longer than white men.

FASTER, PLEASE: The answer on health care? “Get out of the way!”