BYRON YORK: What’s next in the investigation of those missing FBI texts.

My take: This is another colossal embarrassment for the FBI. If they’re willing to take this blow for the coverup, then what they’re covering up must be much, much worse. And no, I don’t for a minute believe that this was an accident or a technical glitch. There should be criminal investigations and lots of firings. But there won’t be, because while lying to the FBI is a crime, for the FBI to lie to us is, apparently, par for the course.

Flashback: “Hypothesis: The spying-on-Trump thing is worse than we even imagine, and once it was clear Hillary had lost and it would inevitably come out, the Trump/Russia collusion talking point was created as a distraction.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “This is a torch and pitchfork deal if the FBI doesn’t come clean. It’s a game-changer. I think you are taking it too casually. When the cops are the criminals, it’s over.”

Oh, I don’t think I’m taking it casually at all.

HERE’S WHY TRANS-NATIONAL “CHARITIES” LIKE THE CLINTON FOUNDATION are all-but-perfect tools for using influence-peddling by corrupt politicos to make themselves wealthy while appearing to be humanitarians. Charles Ortel lays it out this morning in LifeZette.

WAPO: Democrats just got rolled. They can blame Barack Obama. “If he had wanted to act, he could have. Obama’s party controlled the House, and Democrats had a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority. If Obama really wanted to pass either the Dream Act or comprehensive immigration reform, Republicans were powerless to stop him. But he didn’t do it.”

He didn’t do it because it was highly unpopular and would have seriously damaged the Democrats’ position. Dem strategy has always been to sucker the Republicans into taking this highly unpopular move, after which Democrats would happily reap the benefits of imported voters.

GOOD LORD: German nurse charged with 97 more murders at hospitals.

The new indictment against Niels Hoegel was expected after officials said in November that he may have killed more than 100 patients in total. He worked at a clinic in Oldenburg from 1999 to 2002 and in nearby Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.

Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst and was given a life sentence.

During his trial, Hoegel had said he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in about 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them. He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg.

Those statements prompted investigators to carry out toxicological examinations on dozens of other patients who died at the hospitals, leading to the new charges.

It wasn’t immediately clear when a new trial at the state court in Oldenburg might start. Additional convictions could affect Hoegel’s possibility of parole, but there are no consecutive sentences in Germany. In general, people serving life sentences are considered for parole after 15 years.

There’s probably something to be said against Europe’s soft-on-crime attitude, but I’m not certain there’s any deterring a killer like Hoegel.

BLUE ON BLUE: Left Says Dems Caved On Shutdown.

SOURCE: FBI Must Now Prove ‘Missing Texts’ Claim Is Not Bureau Wrongdoing.

SHOULD’VE HAPPENED DECADES AGO, BUT THIS IS REAL PROGRESS: Puerto Rico to privatize its power system.

CHANGE: Mattis Visits Vietnam Seeking to Expand Security Relationship.

The former enemies have gradually set aside their wartime differences, in part out of shared concern about China’s growing military power and more assertive position in the South China Sea. The Trump administration sees Vietnam as a partner in opposing China’s assertion of territorial claims in the South China Sea, including the Spratlys, an island chain where Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei also have claims.

Mattis said he didn’t expect the war to come up in his talks in Vietnam.

“That largely has been made a matter of the past,” he said aboard his flight to Asia.

Vietnam is also a very young country, demographically speaking. Only about 15% of the population is old enough to have any adult memories of the war, and nearly 40% is under the age of 25 — and look just like blue-jean wearing kids anywhere.

JAZZ SHAW: Senate Bid Could Land Chelsea Manning Back In Prison.

My sentiments about the idea of casting a vote for someone who was convicted on that many counts of betraying his nation (and was technically never even pardoned, only having had his sentence commuted) haven’t changed. But there was one other wrinkle in this story which hadn’t even crossed my mind and could make it an even worse idea for Manning. Due to a rather obscure and rarely enforced rule, technically it would be illegal for Manning to run and it could even land him back in prison.

The Daily Caller dug up some information on this subject and reminds us that there’s a rule barring active duty military personnel from engaging in any overt political activity. Running for office would certainly qualify.

Some readers might be shaking their heads at this point and noting that Manning is described pretty much everywhere as a “former Army private.” But that’s not technically true. Manning remains an active duty soldier while his convictions are on appeal, though he is on excess leave and in “a non-pay status.” He still has a military ID card and remains eligible for many military benefits, including medical care.

Does that mean he’ll be prosecuted?

Interesting. And the evidence against Manning in this case is clearly more than just “he said, she said.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Gowdy: Strzok And Page Need To Explain Anti-Trump “Secret Society” Texts. “Reps. Trey Gowdy and John Ratcliffe join FNC’s Martha McCallum to talk about another newly released text message between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. This time, Strzok implies a ‘secret society’ of federal agents worked to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.”

LIVE BY THE PEN AND PHONE, DIE BY THE PEN AND PHONE: Obama Mocked Trump’s Political Ambitions. Trump Spent His First Year Dismantling Obama’s Legacy.

Trump has overseen the dismantling of several of Obamacare’s most controversial aspects. The tax cuts package Trump signed last month included a provision repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate. Trump also rolled back the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, which forced religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide birth control for all employees, regardless of conscientious objections.

Trump’s Department of Education rolled back several measures that conservatives had decried as federal overreach. The Trump administration repealed the Obama-era mandate that required all public schools to implement transgender bathroom policies and speech codes. The Trump administration also revoked a legally dubious Title IX guidance that regulated sexual assault proceedings on college campuses.

In July, Trump announced the United States would be pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, which Trump blasted as a threat to American sovereignty. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled back the Obama administration’s Waters of the US rule, which drastically increased federal regulations of streams, and repealed the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which increased environmental regulations on coal-fired plants. Trump approved both the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines that Obama had rejected.

Last month, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled back the Obama-era Net Neutrality policy that increased federal regulation of the Internet.

The difference a year can make is remarkable. Or, “Get the hell out of my way!” as the wise man once said.

WATCH FOR SENTIMENT TO SHIFT THIS WAY: The Case For Breaking Up Big Tech.

IT’S LIKE THERE’S A BIG DISCONNECT BETWEEN ELITES AND CITIZENS: “The Harvard-Harris Poll, taken in the run-up to the government shutdown, even found huge support for cutting the level of legal immigration, which stands at more than 1 million a year, to less than half that.”

CHANGE: Socratic Artificial Intelligence Is Changing The Face Of Legal Knowledge.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Advice to Young Ladies in This Very, Very Stupid Era.

Claim: Page and Strzok Referenced FBI ‘Secret Society’ that Met the Day After the Election.

IT’S COME TO THIS: If Meghan McCain Questions Your Commitment To The GOP, You’re Hopeless.

“Why’d [Ana] Navarro lose her mind on national TV?”, Sean Davis tweeted in response to Meghan McCain’s query about her ideology on The View. “Because if she can’t pretend to be a Republican on TV, she has no career.”

HONESTLY, THEY SHOULD BRING IN PEOPLE FROM OUTSIDE DOJ: Sessions announces DOJ probe of missing FBI text messages.

WHAT IS BEST IN LIFE, DONALD? “To pass a tax bill, to stop a shutdown, to see the Schumers driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.”

TONIGHT’S OPEN THREAD: Share the glory that is the InstaPundit community.

BILL COSBY COMES OUT OF SECLUSION TO PERFORM IN PUBLIC: “The crowd applauded and laughed along with Cosby’s jokes.”

NEW POLL SAYS ITS LINDSEY GRAHAM, NOT STEPHEN MILLER, OUT OF TOUCH: The results of new Harvard CAP/Harris Poll are likely to shock South Carolina’s often-mirthful Lindsey Graham, but not to anybody who actually listens to Heartland America, somebody like the Trump White House senior aide. That’s the lead for LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby but he’s got much more that is guaranteed to give the Washington Establishment serious heartburn.

DUMBLEDORE’S ARMY? Gowdy: Strzok And Page Need To Explain Anti-Trump “Secret Society” Texts. “Reps. Trey Gowdy and John Ratcliffe join FNC’s Martha McCallum to talk about another newly released text message between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. This time, Strzok implies a ‘secret society’ of federal agents worked to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president.”