THOMAS LIFSON: Why AG Sessions declined to appoint a special counsel.

First of all, while the IG cannot convene a grand jury and subpoena witnesses outside the DOJ’s employees, Huber can. And the IG can and does make criminal referrals. There is tremendous inside expertise on the DOJ resident in the IG’s organization, meaning that there is no start-up delay and no learning curve in getting to work on abuses. So, with the IG digging up information, and referring it to Huber, further steps, including subpoenas to former DOJ and FBI employees, such as Andrew McCabe and James Comey, can be taken before a grand jury in Utah. An indictments issued by that grand jury presumably could be tried before a federal jury in Utah, whereas a special counsel would most likely work with courts in the District of Columbia, Virginia, or Maryland, beltway strongholds. Which jury pool would you prefer? The District of Columbia or Utah?

Even more importantly, there is reason to believe that a lot of work already is underway by Huber and his staff.

Well, stay tuned.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: New Texts from Strzok & Page, Shulkin Down and Much, Much More.

Tyler O’Neil is filling in for Liz today.

ONLY FOUR? Congressman: FBI Report Says Andrew McCabe ‘Lied Four Times’ About Media Leaks.

FASTER, PLEASE: Huge Breakthrough: Prosthetics to Help Memory Loss in Alzheimers.

SINGLE-SLAYER MEDICINE: Doctors in violent Venezuela work under threat of death if patients die.

WHICH IS A DAMN SHAME: Michael Barone: America’s two-party system isn’t going anywhere.

In special elections Republican candidates fail to win percentages above Trump’s approval ratings, which nationally is at 42 percent. That makes Republicans fear and Democrats hope that Democrats will capture the House of Representatives in November.

Away from the limelight, Democrats have their schisms, too. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., followers bristle as Washington campaign committees tilt against outspoken anti-Trump primary candidates. Economic-redistributionist Democrats are complaining that identity politics Democrats are hurting the parties’ chances.

But the talk of the parties going away or being replaced is overstated. And not just because of institutional factors — the Electoral College, single-member congressional and legislative districts — tend to boil down voters’ choices to two parties.

Something more fundamental is at work here. Consider the fact that our two American parties are the oldest and third oldest in the world. The Democratic party was formed in 1832 to secure President Andrew Jackson’s renomination and re-election, the Republican party in 1854 to prevent the spread of slavery into the territories.

They’ve existed for 186 and 164 years. Not counting churches, that’s longer than almost any other nongovernment institution. Longer than most businesses, volunteer organizations, and most local governments.

Vampires live a long time too.

SMART: Trump Pentagon pick literally wrote the book on missile defense.

TO MODERN FEMINISTS, EVERYTHING IS DISCRIMINATON AGAINST WOMEN EXCEPT REAL AND UNDENIABLE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN. For reasons I can’t entirely explain, left-leaning feminists don’t seem to care that many colleges demand higher GPAs and SAT scores from female applicants than they do from male applicants. The schools are practicing affirmative action for men.

Conservatives have sometimes been weirdly inconsistent on this issue too. Some of same people who argue against race-preferential admissions policies use precisely the same arguments they reject in connection with race to argue in favor of preferential treatment for men.   What gives?

SO A FEMALE POLITICIAN MAY NOT SHOW YOU HER PENIS, but she might cover up sexual abuse by her chief of staff. “Too bad for the young woman, Anna Kain, whom Baker harassed, punched her in the back, harangued, and threatened her repeatedly via text and voicemails.”

HOPEY-CHANGEY: Team Obama’s smear machine-in-exile mobilizes to destroy Iran-deal critics.

BUT OF COURSE: Facebook — even as it apologizes for scandal — funds campaign to block a California data-privacy measure.

The social media giant’s donation matched others from Google, AT&T, Comcast and Verizon—a million-dollar sign that the issue of how companies collect and share personal information is likely to grow into an expensive fight as election season unfolds in California.

The businesses are fighting an initiative proposed by San Francisco real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart, who’s already spent $1.7 million on a measure that would allow Californians to prohibit companies from selling or sharing their personal data. His campaign is gathering signatures with the goal of landing the California Consumer Privacy Act on the November ballot.

“What we are proposing is some very basic rights: Let people find out what information companies are collecting, and let them have the ability to say, ‘Don’t sell my information,’” said Mactaggart, who was inspired to draft the initiative after chatting at a party with a Google engineer who told him that people would freak out if they knew how much companies track, compile and sell their personal information.

At the very least, give Facebook and Google users a cut of the action.

A PROFILE OF HISTORIAN JOYCE LEE MALCOLM: The ‘Nice Girl’ Who Saved the Second Amendment.

HANS FIENE ON THE PARKLAND KIDS: The problem with child preachers is they eventually grow up to discover the world is not so easily conquered, and the faithful crowds can in fact be rather fickle.

WAR ON TENURE, ARKANSAS EDITION: UA Board of Trustees approves update to tenure policy.

An update to a University of Arkansas System policy for the dismissal of tenured faculty was approved by trustees Thursday.

The revision lists 12 examples of reasons for dismissal or discipline. The previous policy listed four and stated that examples “include (but are not limited to) incompetence, neglect of duty, intellectual dishonesty, and moral turpitude.”

A section allowing for firing for uncollegial behavior has been changed to refer to “a pattern of conduct that is detrimental to the productive and efficient operation of the instructional or work environment.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. “The AR-15 … is used less times per year to kill people than hammers and fists are used to kill people.” -Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv.

PRIVACY: Under Armour Admits 150 Million Users Affected By Data Security Breach.

In what appears to be the first major data breach involving a health-and-fitness-tracking app, Under Armour disclosed to its customers just a half hour after markets closed Thursday for a long weekend that MyFitnessPal, a fitness app owned by Under Armour, had experienced a breach that potentially exposed the user data of 150 million people.

The breach reportedly occurred in Feb 2018, and Under Armor became aware of it on March 25 and has been informing users.

The affected information includes usernames, email addresses, and hashed password, but did not include social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, or any payment card data.

If you use MyFitenesPal, you might want to change your password.

THESE TEACHERS’ STRIKES ARE A REAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ONLINE EDUCATION: Oklahoma teachers dismiss proposed pay raise, plan to hold walkout.

SAM HARRIS: Ezra Klein: A Dishonest Editor-in-Chief.

I knew that having a friendly conversation with [Charles] Murray might draw some fire my way. But that was, in part, the point. Given the viciousness with which he continues to be scapegoated—and, indeed, my own careful avoidance of him up to that moment—I felt a moral imperative to provide him some cover.

In the aftermath of our conversation, many people have sought to paint me as a racist—but few have tried quite so hard as Ezra Klein, editor in chief of Vox. In response to my podcast, Klein published a disingenuous hit piece that pretended to represent the scientific consensus on human intelligence while vilifying me as, at best, Murray’s dupe. More likely, readers unfamiliar with my work came away believing that I’m a racist pseudoscientist in my own right.

After Klein published that article, and amplified its effects on social media, I reached out to him in the hope of appealing to his editorial conscience. I found none. The ethic that governs Klein’s brand of journalism appears to be: Accuse a person with a large platform of something terrible, and then monetize the resulting controversy. If he complains, invite him to respond in your magazine so that he will drive his audience your way and you can further profit from his doomed effort to undo the damage you’ve done to his reputation.

Since then, Klein has kept at it, and he delivered another volley today. I told him that if he continued in this way, I would publish our private email correspondence so that our readers could judge him for themselves. His latest effort has convinced me that I should make good on that promise.

Harris made good on his promise, which you can read in its entirety at the link.

DON’T TELL MY EMPLOYER ABOUT THESE “FAMILY CLOTH” WIPES:  Like many universities, it has fallen head over heels for “sustainability,” and its judgment has been a bit impaired lately.

VIRGINIA POSTREL: The Politics of ‘Roseanne’ Are Recognition and Empathy. Its radical premise: Recognizing diverse viewpoints can in fact showcase the things we share.

That is indeed a radical premise today.

ROBERT SPENCER: Why It’s Good News That McMaster Is Out and Bolton Is In.

WEIRD THAT THIS HASN’T GOTTEN MORE ATTENTION: New unemployment claims hit lowest number in 45 years.

SHOCKER: Polls substantially underestimated the number of white, working-class voters.

LET’S PLAY “GUESS THAT PARTY”! Today’s contestant, The Boston Globe: “Senator Rosenberg’s husband, Bryon Hefner, indicted on assault, lewdness charges.”