I HAD BEEN ASSURED THAT TRUMP’S ABANDONMENT OF THE IRAN DEAL WOULD LEAVE US ISOLATED AND FRIENDLESS IN THE MIDDLE EAST: U.S. Arranges Secret Talks Between Israel, U.A.E. Over Iran. “Washington prods longtime adversaries on intelligence sharing, military cooperation against a common threat.”

The meetings were convened by Brian Hook, the State Department’s top official for Iran, and are the latest sign of a steady thaw between Israel and Gulf Arab nations, largely brought about by their shared antipathy toward Tehran and its attempts to spread its regional influence.

A first meeting took place this spring and a second was held more recently, a U.S. official said. The exact dates and locations of the unpublicized meetings couldn’t be learned. Their existence was known to only a handful of people within the U.S. government, officials said.

Israel has diplomatic ties among Arab states only with Egypt and Jordan. Historic disagreements remain with those two as well as other Arab nations, particularly over the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

But covert, and occasionally overt, contacts between Israel and Gulf Arab nations have increased rapidly in recent years as concerns grew about Iran’s nuclear program and its role in conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Smart Diplomacy™.

FASTER, PLEASE: It’s Really Hard to Predict an Earthquake, but Scientists Are Getting Closer.

THE LEFT’S CLIMATE OF HATE: Man planned to stab Florida students because of elementary school’s ‘obnoxious pride in America.’

BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS: Rashida Tlaib And Ilhan Omar’s Botched Israel Trip Was Sponsored By Terror-Linked Organization.

AT-4 LIVE FIRE IN KUWAIT: The lance corporal’s photo captures the moment — missile trail and back blast.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: Hillary Ruins The Plan. “Plan A was to exonerate her and get her elected. Plan B, the failsafe, was an ‘insurance policy’ meant to destroy Trump.”

WELL, IT IS PARASITE CENTRAL: A New Species of Leech Is Discovered Near Washington, D.C.

21ST CENTURY PROBLEMS: A federal judge in D.C. hit ‘reply all,’ and now there’s a formal question about his decorum. I think reminding a federal judge who’s yammering about climate change that “the jurisdiction assigned to you does not include saving the planet” is entirely appropriate, and the bullshit response is just more evidence that “civility” codes are mostly about silencing people.

And why is Chief Justice John Roberts approving judicial training on climate change? That really isn’t within their jurisdiction. And if doubting climate change brings your impartiality into doubt, doesn’t promoting it do the same thing?

A SOLID WIN FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM: New School prof charged with racial harassment for using the “n-word” in class while discussing author James Baldwin has charges dropped just days after FIRE took the case public. This business of treating certain words as though their mere utterance, regardless of context, has some kind of mysterious and unstoppable power, is not reasonable. It’s purely magical thinking, and has no place at a university.

‘SILENCED STAGES’ ON CAMPUS: It’s not just your imagination. George Leef reports on a new book out from Prof. George LaNoue: “Based on his study of 97 colleges and 28 law schools during the 2014-2015 academic year… [f]or most students in American higher education, the opportunity to hear on-campus debates about important public policy issues does not exist.”

DISPATCHES FROM THE DEEP STATE: IRS staffer pleads guilty to giving Michael Cohen’s confidential info to Avenatti.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Florida Man Steals Friday, Starts Weekend with High-Speed Chase.

FLASHBACK: Presidential Hopeful Marianne Williamson Promoted Anti-Vaxer Conspiracies on Her Radio Show.

WHILE ILHAN OMAR IS BUSY RUNNING HER OWN MIDEAST FOREIGN POLICY: Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District Listed As Worst District For Black Americans To Live.

Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, represented by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, was listed this week as the worst congressional district in the country for black Americans.

The financial website 24/7 Wall Street compiled a list of the 30 worst districts for black Americans by using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Specifically, the list-makers honed in on metrics like median-household income, homeownership, unemployment, poverty, and educational achievement.

The numbers produce a stark picture of the 5th Congressional District, which encompasses Minneapolis and several surrounding suburbs.

“Black area residents are about four times more likely to live below the poverty line than white residents and three times more likely to be unemployed,” the list-makers noted, citing a legacy of historic racism as a source of the disparities. “Minneapolis is one of several Midwestern cities that enacted restrictive housing covenants and exclusionary zoning policies in the early 20th century. These policies impact residential patterns to this day.”

But if you can’t indulge your Jew-hatred, what’s the fun of being a Congresswoman?

A VOTING RIGHTS VICTORY: Federal judge rules against Maryland as Judicial Watch wins big to uncover obvious vote fraud potential.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: North Carolina State vice chancellor’s tweets call Republicans neo-Nazis, rednecks.

This sort of thing is nonstop, and people wonder why taxpayer support for higher ed is falling.

GIVE ME YOUR VOTE, HATERS: Ocasio-Cortez: ‘Core Part’ of Trump Coalition Racists.

RETALIATION? Retaliation? Google Whistleblower Claims FBI, SWAT, Bomb Squad Appeared at His Home.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuela, China, Russia – Oh My.

Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil in the world, and in 1950 had the fourth largest Gross Domestic Product in the world and second highest GDP per capita. Venezuela’s economy was six times the size of China, and as late as 1982, they were still the largest GDP in South America. However, by 2017 Venezuela’s per capita GDP had shrunk back to levels last seen at the turn of the century, and they continue to shrink in spite of its impressive oil reserves.

“Bad luck.”

But: “With their eye on both Venezuela’s oil riches and the ability to project short-and medium range missile threats to the United States from the Caribbean country, China and Russia have been sending billions of dollars to prop up the Maduro madness.”

What nasty regimes, all three of them.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Squad Goals: Israel Tells Omar and Tlaib What To Do With Their B(D)S. “At this point it is fairly safe to say that “The Squad” — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley –aren’t nearly as interested in representing their constituents as they are in getting publicity for themselves. Because the Left lusts to make the U.S. a dystopian hellhole as quickly as they can, their media mouthpieces are willing to give the Squad girls as many news cycles as they need to feel pretty and popular.”

Journalisming.

UT-AUSTIN NEEDS ADULT SUPERVISION: ‘That’s threatening’: Campus Reform’s Lawrence Jones, Kassy Dillon react to disturbing realities for UT-Austin conservatives.

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IT IS UNWISE TO ASK DIFFICULT QUESTIONS, COMRADE: Why Is Trump Responsible for White Supremacist Attacks and AOC Not to Blame for Attacks on ICE?

#JOURNALISM: