KURT SCHLICHTER ON THE SHUTDOWN/WALL DEAL: Gee, I Guess Now I’m Going To Have To Be Happy With Only 90% Of The Stuff I Wanted Trump To Do. “What happened Friday doesn’t matter. Not at all. Well, that’s not quite accurate. It could matter, if you decide to keep doing exactly what Nancy Pelosi wants you to do, freaking out. That’s why she employed her brilliant stratagem of just saying ‘No’ – since you’re upset, let me point out that this is sarcasm. It wasn’t brilliant – it was obvious. She was counting on you to set up as a do-or-die test for Trump over something where she and Chuck Schumer held a veto.”

IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT, STATING THE TRUTH IS A SUBVERSIVE ACT: Yes, Venezuela Is a Socialist Catastrophe.

ACCOUNTABILITY: Daily Telegraph to pay Melania Trump “substantial” damages for article.

YOU FIRST, BUDDY: This professor argued human extinction might be ‘a good thing.’ Now he doesn’t want to talk about it.

Remember, when taxpayers tire of subsidizing this sort of thing, we’ll be told it’s because of “anti-intellectualism.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, ANTISEMITISM EDITION: Marc Lamont Hill: I had tons of support. When it comes to anti-Israel faculty, he’s not wrong.

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THE LEFT’S CULTURE OF HATE: The Level of Violent Imagery Directed Against Covington High Boys Is Dangerous and Wrong. This culture didn’t develop by accident. It was carefully fostered.

SHADOW WAR WITH RUSSIA IN VENEZUELA?: The Kremlin loves shadow wars. (bumped)

Private military contractors who do secret missions for Russia flew into Venezuela in the past few days to beef up security for President Nicolas Maduro in the face of U.S.-backed opposition protests, according to two people close to them.

A third source close to the Russian contractors also told Reuters there was a contingent of them in Venezuela, but could not say when they arrived or what their role was.

Russia, which has backed Maduro’s socialist government to the tune of billions of dollars, this week promised to stand by him after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself president with Washington’s endorsement.

The article says the contractors first flew to Cuba then took commercial flights to Venezuela.

Looks like a KGB colonel’s chess move. Except this is life and death, not chess.

RELATED: My latest Creators Syndicate column which discusses the Venezuelan opposition’s noticeably improved ability to coordinate political actions. Did the CIA/State Department help facilitate the improvement? Far too rash a thought.

ALSO RELATED: For the deep background on KGB chess in the 21st century, purchase Cocktails from Hell and read Chapter 4, 21st Century Russian Imperial Warfare.

PASSIONS OF THE MOB: Jarrett Stepman: The Covington Fiasco Is a Perfect Example of Why the Founders Distrusted Democracy.

PAUL BEDARD: 2020 GOP poll: Trump 64 percent, Romney 9 percent, Flake 1 percent, primary challenge unlikely.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Nathan Phillips Is A Liar, Not A Victim.

CHANGE:

WELL, SURE. ANTISEMITES ARE A CORE CONSTITUENCY FOR THEM NOW. Democrats Ducking Vote on Rejecting Anti-Semitism.

Democratic leaders are remaining quiet about a new congressional measure that rejects anti-Semitism and chides a new class of Democratic congressional members for the open embrace of notorious anti-Semites and anti-Israel causes, according to the leading Republican author of that new measure.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), one of just two Jewish Republicans in Congress, has introduced a new congressional resolution in the House that categorically rejects anti-Semitism in all its forms and calls out some newly elected Democratic members who have ridden a popular wave into Congress on the backs of anti-Semitic leaders and causes, Zeldin told the Washington Free Beacon in a wide-ranging interview.

While a similar House resolution condemning white supremacy sailed to a nearly unanimous vote several weeks ago, Zeldin’s amendment, focused directly on anti-Semitism, has put Democratic leaders in a precarious position as they are forced to reject the views of popular new freshman colleagues.

“It’s up to the Democrats to decide whether or not they are actually going to confront this head on,” Zeldin told the Free Beacon. “I’m wiling to work with any Democratic colleague on any idea he or she has to crush anti-Semitism in any form. But I can’t do that for them.” . . .

While Democratic leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) have been vocal in the past about their opposition to BDS and similar anti-Semitic movements, they are now dealing with a new cast of young Democrats such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), and Ilhan Omar (Minn.), all of whom have embraced at one point or another anti-Semitic leaders and their causes.

Weirdly like what happened to Labour in Britain after it made immigration a core component of its strategy.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON: The Kulaks Must Be Liquidated As A Class.

And, so, here we are again: The kulaks must be liquidated as a class. But who is a kulak?

We might glean some insight into that from the progressives’ thinking in the recent free-speech debates, which goes something like this: “We’re all in favor of free speech, but Nazis should be chased from the public square, by violence if necessary, and we should harass their employers in order to ruin them financially. Also, everybody who disagrees with me is a Nazi, including children wearing hats that I don’t like.”

You may not feel like a kulak. You may take comfort in hearing that only the “tippy-top” wealthiest people are to be expropriated in the name of social justice. Those children at Covington Catholic probably didn’t think they were Nazis a week ago, either.

The obvious lesson of Williamson’s point is that the actual kulaks, who vastly outnumbered the Communist party cadre, would have been well-served to start massacring the party cadre early on. So far, this is (mostly) a metaphor, but Williamson is surprisingly tough for someone from NRO. Maybe the past week has hardened them.

NEWSEUM AS METAPHOR FOR THE INDUSTRY: Self-Indulgent Journalistic Shrine to Close After Hemorrhaging Money.

SORRY, SISTER, IT’S NOT THE “MISIDENTIFICATION” THAT’S THE PROBLEM HERE: ASU lecturer apologizes after misidentifying Covington student: ‘I am horrified.’

An Arizona State University lecturer apologized Wednesday after she incorrectly identified one of the Covington Catholic students on social media and encouraged people to contact the college he planned to attend.

Lillian “Marie” Wallace, who works in ASU’s Leadership and Interdisciplinary Studies department, wrote on Facebook: “The name of the kid in front is [redacted]. They had a post about him on [Covington’s] FB page, saying he wants to be a chef and plans to go to Cincinnati State next year,” according to a screenshot captured by Campus Reform.

Ms. Wallace was actually talking about Nick Sandmann, the Kentucky student from Covington Catholic High School who was at the center of the standoff with Native American elder Nathan Phillips at the March for Life in Washington over the weekend.

Ms. Wallace and others urged people to call Cincinnati State’s admissions office and persuade them not to accept the student. The family of the student, who does attend Covington Catholic but wasn’t in Washington at the time of the rally, said the widespread misinformation resulted in violent threats and harassment.

Ms. Wallace has since deleted her original comment and apologized, writing, “I am now guilty of behaviors I normally disdain,” according to a screenshot captured by Campus Reform.

“I was outraged when I read this and I reposted a post that was NOT correct that had the wrong child’s name in it,” she wrote, Campus Reform reported. “I am horrified at my own behavior as there is a child out there trying to live his life and was wrongly identified. I am now a party [sic] of the cause of his fear and misery. I am so SO so sorry to this young man, [redacted]. I hope somehow I can get a message to him and let him know. I want to publicly apologize to this young man.”

It’s not clear if she realizes this or not, but her behavior would have been just as wrong if she’d been trying to ruin the future of the actual kid she was mad at over false reports that she saw on the Internet.

BEST ANSWER YET:  Not Waiting For The Asteroid.

YEAH.  THIS TOO WILL END WELL:  She’s Nuts on Venezuela, Too.

NO. HE’S RED ALL THROUGH:  Is Bernie Sanders the Dems’ great white hope?

THERE IS NO GOOD FAITH WITH THE LEFT. I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE NEGOTIATE WITH SOCIALISTS OR COMMUNISTS AND GET ANYTHING BUT DESTROYED. AH WELL. I WAS AFRAID OF THIS WHEN THEY TOOK THE HOUSE:  Trump Backs A Continuing Resolution, Temporarily Opens Government.

Now the only likely outcomes are bad.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SEE HERE. GASLIGHT MEDIA, MAKING PRAVDA SEEM INDEPENDENT AND ABOVE BOARD IS NOW A FULLY INTEGRATED PART OF THE PROGRESSIVE MACHINERY:  CNN Just Happens To Be On Scene For Roger Stone’s Arrest, Who Tipped Them Off?

BEYOND ALL THE OTHER CRAZY BITS, LET ME JUST SAY THE ONLY NATIONS WHO SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE HAVE BOOTS ON ALL THE DISSIDENTS’ THROATS:  Dreamer Cesar Vargas: Change the Pledge of Allegiance.

And if Cesar Vargas hasn’t found a way to regularize his situation while ATTENDING LAW SCHOOL, it’s because he doesn’t want to.  He should go back home to the homeland of his heart. And I wish them joy of him.

SURE. FOR SOME OF US WEIGHT IS A CONSTANT BATTLE AND WE CAN NEVER RELAX. I ONCE WENT WITH A VERY SLIM FRIEND TO A WORKSHOP AND WE REALIZED I ATE ABOUT A TENTH WHAT SHE DID. SHE COULDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW I COULD GET THROUGH AN HOUR LECTURE WITHOUT A SNACK. UP TILL THEN, SHE’D BEEN SURE I ATE MUCH MORE THAN SHE DID. I DON’T KNOW HOW I’D FIND THE TIME TO:  Secret to staying slim is in your genes, says study.