MONEY: U.S. chipmakers may give clues on China hazard.

Upcoming quarterly scorecards from Intel, Texas Instruments (TXN.O) and other chipmakers, as well as Ford Motor (F.N), will shed light on whether Apple made a convenient excuse for its own troubles or revealed a strengthening headwind faced by global companies that rely on China for a big chunk of their sales.

“They should give us a good gauge of what is happening in China beyond smartphones because Texas Instruments is mostly industrials and autos, and Intel is PCs and servers, and they’re not being driven by the Apple smartphone situation,” said Daniel Morgan, a portfolio manager at Synovus Trust Company in Atlanta.

Underscoring Wall Street’s sensitivity to China trade, stocks surged on Friday after a report that China has offered to go on a six-year buying spree to ramp up U.S. imports in order to reconfigure the relation between the two countries.

Interesting times.

SPACE: “Star Wars” Light? We Explain Trump’s Missile Defense Strategy.

HEH: Lackluster 2020 Dems: From 7 Dwarfs to 20 Smurfs.

Nah, the Smurfs were friendly and likable.

CLAUDIA ROSETT ON THE UN’S ATTEMPT TO CONTROL GLOBAL IMMIGRATION POLICY:

The spearhead of this U.N. campaign is an international agreement with the high-minded name of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. That’s not remotely what this document boils down to. While proclaiming a utopian “unity of purpose” among the 193 highly diverse member states, this Global Compact would have the U.N.’s largely unaccountable, self-aggrandizing and often opaque bureaucracy, operating in service of its despot-infested collective of governments, set the terms for all.

The lengthy text reads like a template for setting up the world’s most politically correct welfare state, with a colossal menu of entitlements and central planning for migrants; never mind the cost to the pockets, rights and freedoms of the existing citizens. This “compact” does not restrict itself to refugees. It anoints the U.N. as arbiter of how to handle cross-border human mobility worldwide, meaning migrants, permanent or temporary, whatever their reasons for wanting to move. In this scheme of the universe, the U.N. proposes to become the overarching authority “addressing migration in all its dimensions.”

She adds that the compact was adopted without a vote. Read the entire essay.

JOHN FUND:  Pelosi’s election “reform.”

SHOW ME THE MAN AND I’LL FIND YOU THE CRIME: Bruce Ohr Warned DOJ & FBI Of Dossier Bias BEFORE Its Use For FISA Warrant.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: The New Property Qualifications and Your Right to Vote.

FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: US Navy chief refuses to rule out sending carrier through Taiwan Strait despite China’s growing military capabilities.

I’M ENJOYING THIS: The unexpected alliance of Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch.

“GEORGIA MAN:” Georgia man planned to attack the White House with a rocket launcher. “Wednesday, the FBI arrested 21-year-old Hasher Jallal Taheb in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia on the grounds that he was planning an attack on the White House. . . . Last week Taheb told undercover FBI agents he was ready to attack the White House and wanted to exchange his car for weapons. Wednesday he met with the agents who offered him a cache of weapons including a rocket launcher which is apparently what he planned to use to shoot a hole into the White House. Unbeknownst to Taheb, all of the weapons had been rendered non-functional. When he accepted the weapons he was arrested. The FBI busted up a similar plan for a terror attack by a lone radical last summer. Abdur Raheem Rahfeeq wanted to attack the city of Cleveland and possibly also Philadelphia. He made the mistake of talking about his plans on Facebook which is how the FBI got involved in that case.”

SENATOR TIM SCOTT: Racial ‘Overtones’ from Some GOPs Obscuring Party’s Message.

TYLER O’NEIL: Exposing the SPLC’s False ‘Anti-Muslim’ Smears Against the Trump Administration.

YOU MIGHT NOT BE INTERESTED IN THE GLEICHSCHALTUNG, BUT THE GLEICHSCHALTUNG IS INTERESTED IN YOU: Anti-Gun Democrat’s Purchase Of ‘Meateater’ Could Pose Big Problems For Hunter-Focused Company.

Meatater, a popular hunter-focused entertainment company started by outdoorsman and writer Steven Rinella, was purchased by a rabidly anti-gun Democrat financier late last year in a move that has raised alarms among hunters and gun-rights activists. The Chernin Group, a California-based investment fund run by wealthy Democratic activist and Hollywood producer Peter Chernin, purchased a controlling stake in Rinella’s Meateater in 2018.

The left-wing, anti-gun political activism of Meateater’s largest investor, as well as political commentary and activity from some of its key partners and sponsors, complicates the company’s expansion plans given that such a large percentage of hunters in the United States — who comprise Meateater’s core audience — staunchly support both gun rights and Republican political candidates. Chernin’s company announced the investment in Meateater and its hiring of a new CEO for the company via a press release last October.

Chernin, who has donated nearly $500,000 to Democratic candidates and causes since 2015, has repeatedly attacked gun rights and Second Amendment activists over the last year. He retweeted comedian Michael Ian Black’s attack on the National Rifle Association as a “terrorist organization” and a separate Hollywood personality’s attempt to force FedEx and Visa to sever their ties with the NRA.

Much more at the link.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Harvard violates Title IX by adopting guidelines that call ‘traditional masculinity’ harmful, complaint says.

HEH: Protesters Have Damaged or Destroyed a Majority of France’s Speed Cameras.

MAX EDEN: “Restorative Justice Isn’t Working, But That’s Not What the Media Is Reporting.”

For more on the failure of the Obama Administration’s school discipline policy (which the Trump Administration recently withdrew), read, The Department of Education’s Obama-Era Initiative on Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Wrong for Students and Teachers, Wrong on the Law.

OH: Journalist who exposed corrupt FIFA official is shot dead.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, NPC EDITION: VIDEO: Students hate ‘toxic masculinity’…but don’t know what it is.

Related: Least Masculine Society In Human History Decides Masculinity Is A Growing Threat.

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ESCALATION: Yellow Vest protestor shot in the back of the head by French police.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: The Letter Heard ‘Round the World and Much, Much More. “Pelosi and the Democrats figured they could just blame Trump for the shut down, but it’s Pelosi and the Democrats who won’t come to the table. Pelosi took off during Christmas for a luxury Hawaiian vacation, her party went on a party trip to Puerto Rico and now she and her harpies were hitting the road for a week on an international trip. Does it sound like the she wants to find an agreeable compromise to open the government up?”

DEMOCRATS ARE FINALLY WAKING UP TO THE WOMEN’S MARCH’S BIGOTRY: Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Why I refuse to walk with the Washington Women’s March.

IF YOU PROSECUTED EVERYONE WHO VIOLATES THE FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT, YOU’D DEPOPULATE WASHINGTON DC: Washington’s Foreign-Influence Racket: A Clear and Present Muddle. I know, I know, I’m trying to think of a downside, too.