THERE’S A LOT OF BUZZ: CBD oil products promise miracle cures. But does science support the hype?

Seen in Knoxville: A gas station with two things on the sign: WE HAVE CBD OIL and EBT CARDS ACCEPTED.

RAYMOND IBRAHIM: Judge Jeanine Pirro Is Right: The Hijab Reflects ‘Adherence to Sharia Law.’

HARSH BUT FAIR:

AT THE BEHEST OF THE CAR DEALERS’ LOBBY, the Texas legislature wants to stop Tesla from fixing its own cars.

ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING NEWS! Spring Break 2019 sees drunk students descend on beach to guzzle booze, twerk and pass out in outrageous parties. I think these reports are just an excuse to run bikini pics.

HITTING THE WEEK RUNNING: Wow: So Beto’s refusal to share his first-day fundraising numbers was a big fake-out.

HMM: Joint Chiefs chairman denies report that US is planning to keep 1K troops in Syria.

ANN ALTHOUSE ON THAT COLUMN ABOUT AMERICANS AND RACE THAT I LINKED EARLIER:

That’s how the column ends, with hope in American political elites. Aren’t they the ones stoking this ideological division? At least the masses of people aren’t organized by whatever race they happened to acquire by nature. I get that. But I think the elites are choosing to manipulate people with racial ideas, which are interesting and exciting and sure get us going. Why would they stop what’s been working for them? Why would they heal? Obama didn’t take his fantastic opportunity to heal. Now, there was some high level hope in the elite…

And this “Whiteshift” author dangles “the hope that American political elites can one day heal the country’s divisions”? The elites are thriving in the wounds.

When what’s good for elites is bad for the country, the country needs a different set of elites.

THE PROBLEM THAT WON’T GO AWAY: More blood pressure drugs recalled over potential cancer risk.

“DEMOCRATS RE-INTRODUCE EQUALITY ACT TO BAN LGBT DISCRIMINATION”:   Here is my take on an earlier version of the bill. I haven’t had a chance yet to see if the new version has any differences.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN WRITES that oral argument in the 4th Circuit Emoluments Clause cases brought by attorneys general for Maryland and DC is scheduled for oral argument tomorrow. Meanwhile, here’s his latest on the mystery of DC & Maryland v. Trump.

COLD WAR II: Xi’s South China Sea ‘fishermen’ risk hooking US into conflict.

Tensions are also rising to the west, around the Paracel Islands. Two days before Wang’s comments, a Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat near Discovery Reef in the Paracels, according to Hanoi. The Paracels are home to overlapping claims by Vietnam, China and Taiwan. The five fishermen on the Vietnamese boat were eventually rescued, Hanoi said.

In early March, Philippine media reported that China had effectively asserted control over sandbars near the Philippine-administered Thitu Island, in the Spratlys. The sandbars, which are adjacent to bountiful fish stocks, had previously been frequented by Philippine fishing boats, which are now being turned away by what are effectively Chinese paramilitary boats posing as fishing vessels.

Worries in the Philippines over the fate of Thitu are growing. The mayor of the town of Kalayaan, which is responsible for Thitu told local media he personally witnessed a Chinese helicopter fly over the island before returning to Subi Reef in late January. In 2012, China dislodged the Philippines from Subi Reef, just 24 km away, subsequently militarizing it and building a runway there.

Filipino defense officials “are naturally wary of the Chinese fishing vessels around Pag-asa Island,” said Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea in Manila. “The possibility that China might seize control of the island through unarmed militiamen has been on their minds.”

Those Chinese “fishing vessels” are engaging in acts of war, despite not flying navy colors, which fits the legal definition of terrorism.

ROGER SIMON: Kellyanne’s Husband Is Still Consumed with Jealousy.

They do seem to be acting like this decade’s version of Mary Matalin and James Carville.

WELL, THAT’S A VERY…INTERESTING…STRATEGY TO APPEAL TO NON-COASTAL ELITES: Kamala Harris Calls for Moratorium on the Death Penalty—Even for Treason Against the U.S.

YOUNG ADULT INFOTAINMENT SITE VOX: Why are millennials burned out? Capitalism.

I’ll take the Scourge of Plenty over the alternative any day.

Slightly more seriously, it’s sad — but not unexpected — to see young socialists sell out their peers to statism.

HAWAII’S 60^TH ANNIVERSARY: On this day in 1959, President Dwight David Eisenhower signed the bill making Hawaii our 50^th State (effective August 21). At the time, Hawaii’s exemplary record on matters of race and racial integration was considered to be part of the reason for bringing it into the Union.

That was then and this is now. In this Era of Identity Politics, the focus has been on creating a semi-sovereign tribal status for Hawaii’s “Native Hawaiian” population in order to preserve various affirmative action-style benefits. If such a proposal were to pass and all those claiming descent from pre-Western contact Hawaiians were to join, it would be by far the largest tribe in America. Read about those efforts and why such a status would be contrary to law here.

21st CENTURY HEADLINES: NASA issues space herpes warning as virus reactivates in astronauts.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF: The evil that men do.

Terrible news from Christchurch in New Zealand, with (at this moment) 49 Muslim worshipers at Friday prayers in two mosques gunned down in a well organised terrorist attack that was streamed live on social media. The shooter is a 28-year old fitness trainer from Grafton in Australia, a seemingly ordinary young man from small-town regional Australia who have become radicalised in the course of a seven-year trip around the world after his father’s death in 2010.

What makes a man apparently plan in cold blood for two years mass murder of his fellow human beings – in this case based on their religion and their status as immigrants in a Western country?

Clearly you are not a normal, well-balanced human being – there are no indications so far the shooter is mentally ill in any way – but it’s for psychologists to debate what parts of your humanity must be sufficiently broken, and why, to enable you to commit an atrocity like this.

But the mass shooting is also a political act, though politics, even extreme politics, turns only a small minority into killers and terrorists.

What are the politics here?

Read the whole thing.

JUST BOUGHT THIS, WHICH LOOKS INTERESTING: Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

REMEMBER, ONLY TRAINED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS CAN BE TRUSTED TO HANDLE GUNS SAFELY: “It’s sad for me to say this, but if you are ever asked to volunteer for any police training drill, you should adamantly refuse. Most of the cops who run these ‘scenarios’ don’t know enough to ensure your safety. Cops and citizens get shot in police training drills with alarming frequency. The only way to ensure you won’t be the next victim is to be as far as possible away from any police training exercises.”

What went wrong this time? “The officer mistook wadcutter .38 bullets for blanks.”

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Marriage is still the main way for women to get rich: study.

EXPECT ANOTHER ROUND OF “BAD LUCK”: New York City’s War on Entry-Level Jobs continues.

DOES BETO NOT KNOW HE’S BLEEDING? Remember some weeks back when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s daughter said mom cuts off your head without you even knowing you’re bleeding.

The Daily Caller’s Kerry Picket — who is easily one of the best reporters covering Congress, by the way —reminds us of a 2016 incident that may explain why Pelosi can’t remember anything O’Rourke accomplished in Congress.