IT WOULD BE PERFECTLY LEGAL. AND I WANT ONE. Could Elon Musk Actually Start Selling Flamethrowers? I mean, they’re a little unsafe for home defense in general, but they say “get off of my lawn” better than even a Garand.

EVER GET THE FEELING YOU’VE BEEN CHEATED? Dershowitz: I Wouldn’t Have Campaigned for Obama If I Knew About Farrakhan Pic.

(Classical reference in headline.)

BIG IMPROVEMENTS AT THE GRAND CAYMAN AIRPORT. I still miss the old Hungry Horse restaurant on the roof, pre-Ivan.

ANDREW KLAVAN: Three Reasons I Won’t Be Talking About The Oscars.

JIM TREACHER: Should Hollywood Creeps Be Erased from History?

Between Pervnado and all of the doubleplus ungood crimethink on display in the (ironically liberal) sitcoms of the 1970s and even the ’90s(!), I’d sell Fender stock short — Hollywood will be cutting up all sorts of product into a glut of new guitar picks.

STANDING UP FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: DOJ backs conservative students in lawsuit against Berkeley.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is stepping in to defend a group of conservative students who are suing the University of California, Berkeley for violating their First Amendment rights.

According to a Thursday press release, the DOJ has filed a statement of interest in the case of Young America’s Foundation and Berkeley College Republicans v. Janet Napolitano—the plaintiffs being a pair of conservative groups that repeatedly faced roadblocks when bringing speakers to campus, and the defendant being the president of the University of California System.

In their lawsuit, the conservative students claim that the university applied a double standard to conservative events on campus and used its “High-Profile Speaker Policy” to stymie their efforts, specifically in the case of a planned speech by Ann Coulter that was cancelled by administrators.

As the DOJ press release notes, the plaintiffs were required to jump through hurdles set up by the speaker policy while a former president of Mexico and a former White House adviser were hosted without being subjected to the “High-Profile Speaker Policy.”

The statement of interest itself agrees that the “plaintiffs adequately pleaded that the university’s high-profile speaker policy and major events policy violate the First Amendment.”

Good.

OKAY, YOU CAN’T PROVE A NEGATIVE, BUT THERE’S THIS: Strzok Hadn’t Seen Evidence Of Collusion After 10 Months On Russia Probe.

If all that comes out of this are some “process crimes” — False Statements Act, that sort of thing — then Trump should just pardon everyone involved. And the rule should really be that special prosecutors can’t prosecute process crimes themselves, but must refer them to the Justice Department for prosecution through regular channels. Special prosecutors should only have jurisdiction over the offenses originally charged. That would discourage “perjury traps.”

FRUITS OF HILLARY’S FAILED, UNAUTHORIZED, MILITARY INTERVENTION: Slavery in Libya: Life inside a container.

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Also, Kindle Daily Deals, and today’s Digital Deals.

MONICA SHOWALTER: Trump’s ‘go-yuuuuge’ ‘in-their-face’ DACA deal. “It makes sense because studies show that most Dreamers are underachievers, many of whom are just high school graduates, heavy welfare users, have petty crime backgrounds, and do not speak English. It’s almost a given that most won’t make it to the twelve-year finish line without getting into a bar fight, getting caught graffiti-spraying, or be picked up for drunk driving. The only ones who make it will be those with a work ethic and family values. Those actually are the ones who could become Republicans in the long run. Trump knows this. Democrats don’t. They believe their own propaganda about all DREAMers being valedictorians.”

THE DOGS BARK, BUT THE CARAVAN MOVES ON: Democrats flail and fail to stop another well-qualified Trump judicial nominee.

Wednesday, while the media continued to focus on the fallout over the impotency of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in leading the Democrat’s unnecessary government shutdown, Republican leaders in the Senate concentrated on the courts. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, moved forward with hearings on President Trump’s judicial nominees — including consideration of the president’s nominee to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Michael B. Brennan.

Trump nominated Brennan to fill the Wisconsin seat on the court of appeals in early August, but Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., held up Brennan’s appointment by refusing to signify her acquiescence to the president’s nominee by returning her “blue slip.” But because “blue slips,” as Grassley explained, do not serve as “single-senator vetoes,” Grassley moved forward with the hearing with hopes of finally filling the circuit court seat that has been vacant since January of 2010. . . .

While Brennan’s stellar performance over the course of Wednesday’s two-hour hearing should cement his confirmation, critics had already instituted a preemptive strike on his nomination. Days before the hearing, the inaccurately named far-left organization People for the American Way in a piece headlined, “Moving Forward on Michael Brennan Nomination Would Mark Dangerous Surrender to Trump,” condemned Brennan’s nomination as violating “a longstanding bipartisan arrangement between Brennan’s home-state senators, Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin.”

Challenges to Brennan based on the lack of a blue slip from Baldwin aren’t likely to succeed, however, given Grassley’s previous success in moving forward David Stras’ nomination to serve on the Eighth Circuit Court, without the typical two-senator blue slips. At the time, Grassley countered critics’ claims that he was abolishing a 100-year tradition of deferring to home-state senators’ views on judicial nominations, and last week, the Judiciary Committee advanced Stras’ nomination to the full Senate on a 13-8 vote. Stras, a former Minnesota Supreme Court justice, is expected to be confirmed in the coming days.

I’m glad the Senate is moving faster, but why keep the blue-slip rule?

MARY KATHARINE HAM IS NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH:

NOBODY SHOULD EVER TRUST CHUCK SCHUMER. ASK MARCO RUBIO HOW THAT WORKS OUT. The Hill: After shutdown surrender, why should progressives ever trust Chuck Schumer again?

THE INSTAWIFE ON MEN WHO DO TOO MUCH.

NY DAILY NEWS EDITOR ACCUSED OF HARASSMENT FOSTERED A CULTURE OF SILENCE:

When people did complain about Moore’s behavior, he would publicly express his anger, said three staffers. Tabloid newsrooms are known for being crude and volatile places to work, particularly for young reporters ― another top editor at the paper is also currently under investigation ― but Moore’s brand of harassment could be “more cruel” than the tongue-lashings often delivered to young reporters, said a fourth former staffer.

“He always seemed like someone who revelled in having power and lording it over the people that he could,” said a fifth former staffer. A sixth added, “He had all the power there, and it wouldn’t be good to be on the receiving end of his fury.”

Earlier this week, the Daily News’ new corporate parent, Tronc, launched an investigation into Moore after NPR asked the company about a sexual harassment complaint lodged against him in December, soon after he reportedly interviewed to become the newspaper’s new editor-in-chief.

For many people who’ve worked with Moore, the surprise wasn’t that he had come under investigation, but that it had taken so long.

Oh sure, the Daily News’ work environment is toxic, but just think of the top quality product that it generates…

GET WOKE, GO BROKE:

The polarization is almost entirely the result of the fact that the NFL let players play politics on the field all season long with their National Anthem protests.

This, in turn, helps explain why NFL ratings took a nose-dive in 2017. NBC’s viewership, for example, was the lowest it’s been since 2008. In-game ad revenue dropped 1.2%, and attendance fell 3% to the lowest level since 2011.

Baseball, in contrast, appeals almost evenly to Democrats and Republicans, avoided political intrigue, and gets virtually identical (and very positive) promoter scores — with just a 4-point difference.

The NFL is a case study in the perils of playing politics to which other companies would do well to pay heed. No matter what side a company takes in a charged political debate, it’s guaranteed to upset a large chunk of its customer base. And for what?

Too many of our institutions — the vast majority, in fact — are run by people who are more concerned with their reputation among fellow elites than with the performance of the institutions they are responsible for.

MISANDRY EN PARADE:  Duke’s ‘Men’s Project’ Seeks to ‘Destabilize Masculine Privilege’.

NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE:  Scare-tistics.

IMPEACHMENT DREAMING:  Parallel media universes: the MSM is obsessed with Trump and Mueller .  And it’s blinding them.  Not that, you know, they hadn’t already carved their metaphorical eyes out with grapefruit spoons under Bush, then Obama, then…

THIS IS MY SHOCKED FACE:  It’s Official: Liberals Hate Constitutional Government.

THE DEVIL SHALL NOT BE MOCKED:  George Soros – Trump Will Disappear.

LET THEM EAT CRUMBS:  Shutdown Chow Down, Crumbs and Swiss Cheese.

IT WOULD EXPLAIN MUCH:  Could getting rid of dairy be making you dumb?