GREAT MOMENTS IN OBJECTIVE, DISPASSIONATE JOURNALISM: NBC’s Chuck Todd: A “Functional Washington” Would Be Looking For Ways To Draw Up Articles of Impeachment Papers On Trump.

TIRED: Dumb, obsolete men are less-educated than smart, up-and-coming women.

WIRED: Student Debt Is Worse for Women: They borrow more than men do, and then earn less, making it harder for them to repay their loans.

If only someone had warned them not to do that.

DAVID HARSANYI: There Is Nothing ‘Illegitimate’ About The Brett Kavanaugh Nomination. “Democrats keep creating a make-believe constitutional order.”

But much like their ideal Supreme Court, Democrats have set about fabricating brand new extra-constitutional standards that happen to always align with their partisan aims. Their latest concocted stipulation states that anyone nominated by a present under suspicion of criminality becomes “illegitimate.”

Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono and Ed Markey canceled meetings this week with prospective Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Markey said the nominee was “illegitimate” because the president was “all but named as a co-conspirator.” A similar sentiment was repeated by many Democrats and liberal pundits. The Supreme Court itself, contends The New York Times’ Paul Krugman, would become “fundamentally illegitimate.”

Much of this, of course, is typical Trump-era hyperbole. None of these senators were going to vote for Kavanaugh anyway, and none of these pundits are going accept the validity of the Supreme Court that adheres to the Constitution as written. Yet, it’s still worth noting the vacuosness of their arguments.

Turns out there’s a lot of vacuity worth noting, so you’ll want to read the whole thing.

#TIMESUP: Asia Argento’s Time Is Up.

MENTIONED HERE, BUT NOT IN SOME OTHER ACCOUNTS I SAW: HE WAS APPOINTED BY OBAMA. Former CDC director Tom Frieden arrested on sexual misconduct charges.

BREAKING: John McCain is Discontinuing Medical Treatment.

DISPATCHES FROM THE MEMORY HOLE: Anti-School Choice Arizona Dem. David Garcia Hides the Fact His Daughter Goes to a Charter School.

Related: Garcia Staffer Tweeted ‘F**k You Arizona,’ Called USA a ‘Sh*thole Country’ in Old Tweets.

NO, THEY’RE NOT GOING TO ABDUCT YOUR CHILD: Fear of Strangers is Fatal. The “World’s Worst Mom,” Lenore Skenazy, on the deadly consequences of scaring parents.

HEH: Horrified Progressive Suddenly Realizes Mike Pence Next In Line For Presidency.

It’s the Babylon Bee so it’s supposed to be satire, but there do seem to be an awful lot of people who think that they’ll get President Hillary if Trump is removed from office.

PETA 0 BALTIMORE 1: PETA put up a billboard in Baltimore urging Charm City residents not to eat crab. It didn’t go down too well.

My favorite reaction: “You evolved a shell and claws to protect your meat. I have hands and a mallet. LET’S DO THIS.” 

REPOSTED FROM YESTERDAY: I’m not surprised that my friends in MSM have not said a word about this. Maybe because it’s indefensible?

The [Post’s] lawsuit drops this stunning little nugget into their complaint: “[T]here is no evidence of a newspaper or other website being unwittingly manipulated by illegitimate foreign political advertising.”

They might want to talk to their editors, who have been publishing reams of stories about how web manipulation robbed them of their preferred candidate’s rightful place.

IT’S A SHORT PATH FROM “PUNCH A NAZI” TO THIS: L.A. Antifa Group Calls For ‘Revolutionary Violence Against the Enemies of the People.’

QTWTAIN: Manhattan Contrarian asks, “Can the New York Attorney General’s office be rescued?“

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO LIE ABOUT RAPE: Victims of student who falsely accused them of rape speak out at her sentencing.

“I went from being a college student to sitting at home being expelled with no way to clear my name,” St. Hilaire told the judge, as Yovino smirked just a few feet away. [The reporter also observed her “rolling her eyes” as he delivered his victim-impact statement.] “I just hope she knows what she has done to me, my life will never be the same. I did nothing wrong, but everything has been altered because of this.”

Not much remorse there from the perpetrator.

HMM: China’s Charm Offensive in the South China Sea.

Since the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling in favour of the Philippines, China has actively engaged in a campaign to restore its image among ASEAN countries by affecting a more cooperative stance on the issue. In April 2017, China reopened the Scarborough Shoal to Philippine fishing vessels, which had been barred from the area following a tense two-month standoff in 2012. Economic initiatives for Southeast Asia were liberally poured out through the Belt and Road Initiative.

China also agreed to restart negotiations for the code of conduct, which had been stalled since the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea in 2002. Earlier this month, the table-top phase of the inaugural ASEAN–China maritime exercise was held in Singapore. These olive branches from Beijing were generally well received in the various ASEAN capitals, and China is keen to maintain the goodwill it has generated over the past year.

At the same time, many ASEAN countries have begun to question the U.S. commitment to the region.

Years of Obama’s empty “pivot to Asia” promises will have that effect.

HEALTH: Explosive case of poop-packed “megacolon” prompts warning from doctors.

Silly headline, frighteningly serious condition.

LONG MARCH: The Young Democratic Socialists of America are encouraging socialists to become teachers in order to exploit the “political, economic, and social potential the industry holds.”

We need to be working to reverse the Gramscian Damage.

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LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: A Safe Full of Trump Secrets and Much, Much More.

ROGER KIMBALL: Crime And Punishment: After somehow managing to get elected, Donald Trump’s greatest crime has been fighting back against his enemies.

BILL GERTZ: China Set for North Korea Invasion.

According to the report, China fears North Korea’s provocative nuclear and missile tests will set off a regional conflict. Beijing wants stability, a denuclearized peninsula and no U.S. forces near its borders.

“China’s priority is maintaining stability on the Korean peninsula, which includes preventing a [North Korean] collapse and preventing a military conflict on the peninsula,” the report said.

China’s government has issued strident statements regarding North Korea, including suggestions the PLA will be used to respond to a Korean crisis.

The response could include options ranging from “securing the China-North Korea border to prevent the flow of refugees, to a military intervention into North Korea.”

I’ve been arguing for years at VodkaPundit that the best politically viable solution to North Korea — if still highly unlikely — would be for Chinese paratroopers to show up in Pyongyang and decapitate the Kim Regime.

Maybe now it’s slightly more likely.

SO AT WHAT POINT DOES THIS BECOME AN UNREPORTED CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION? Facebook Temporarily Censors Tennessee Star Articles Critical of Phil Bredesen.

Related: Salena Zito: Facebook censored my column — and I still can’t find out why.

Also: “They censored an AP news source on me today, re-listed it much later.”

FASTER, PLEASE: ‘Project Spartacus’ aims to save electric grid from nuclear, solar attack.

After years of shrugs over concerns about the potential calamity an attack on the nation’s electric grid would cause, government and business leaders are joining to map a path to protect and maintain the system that powers everything from cellular phones to nuclear missile bases.

At a potentially game-changing three-day summit, government and business leaders gathered just outside Washington’s I-495 beltway this week to come up with quick fixes to protect the grid and address the larger issue of the impact a long shutdown would have.

“This is one of the conversations of our age,” said Lt. Gen. Steven L. Kwast, who heads the Air Education and Training Command and Air University, which sponsored the summit.

“As we move into the digital world, the digital network world, the 21st century, as we are held to be accountable to defend our economy, our government, our sovereign soil and our people, this dependency becomes part of our conversation,” he said in an interview.

Kwast has created “Project Spartacus” to address an electromagnetic pulse type attack of the grid, either from an enemy or terrorist group or solar storm. At his summit, 40 national organizations and 150 governmental officials met in the largest official EMP meeting of its kind.

The mostly classified summit wasn’t called due to any new threat from four likely users of an EMP weapon — Russia, China, North Korea and Iran — but because there is greater attention to the issue as Americans, business and government becomes more and more dependent on electricity to power even their social connections.

I don’t want to live in a Bill Quick or William Forstchen novel.