GOVERNMENT MEDICINE: A Vietnam veteran was ‘feasted on’ by ants before his death at an Atlanta VA hospital, his daughter says.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Berkeley hosts ‘The Right to Be Lazy: Shifts in Marxist Thought’ class for credit.

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KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Fascist Fangs Come Out at Dem Debate.

I didn’t watch all of Round 3, I went back to my old ways and let Twitter and my PJ Media colleagues watch it for me. Doing that gives me a good way to assess which candidates are resonating and who’s getting the most favorable buzz.

I did, however, tune in every now and then, immediately regretting the decision each time.

Each time I did, I saw a different candidate explain why the federal government needed to intervene in my life in order to make it “better.” Suffice it to say that I was not moved by the sales pitch.

It reminded me very much of PJ O’Rourke’s quip about the title of one of those books Hillary Clinton allowed herself to be named author of: “Washington is the village, and you’re the child.”

TENACIOUS: The Republic of Singapore’s frigate RSS Tenacious steams in the Gulf of Thailand. Tenacious is participating in the first Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-U.S. Maritime Exercise (AUMX). The exercise is co-led by the U.S. and Royal Thai navies and includes maritime forces from the U.S. and all 10 ASEAN member states. Now, can you name the nation this exercise is designed to discourage and deter? Hint: The Communist Party running this nation is very upset about Hong Kong.

RELATED: From 2012, The Asian Pivot Towards China.

ENDORSED!

CONVENIENCE: Walmart rolls out grocery delivery subscription.

The service will charge an annual membership fee of $98 for subscribers to access same-day delivery, which will be offered in 1,400 stores in 200 markets. By year-end, it will extend to a total of 1,600 stores — or more than 50% of the country.

The move allows the nation’s largest grocer to further tap into time-starved shoppers looking for convenience at a time when Walmart is locked in an arms race with Amazon and others to expand fresh-food delivery — one of the fastest growing e-commerce sectors.

We’ve been using their grocery pickup service for a year or two, and have been happy with it. This would be nicer.

NICE SPECIAL ELECTION, KID. DON’T GET COCKY. Roll Call: Why the GOP victory in North Carolina spells disaster for Democrats in 2020. “House Republicans are now 3-0 in special elections this cycle and, in all three races, the GOP nominee outperformed the 2018 result. In Pennsylvania’s 12th and North Carolina’s 3rd districts, Republicans even outperformed President Donald Trump’s 2016 numbers.”

IT’S SATIRE, BUT IS IT REALLY? Six-Year-Old Saying, ‘Why Don’t We Just Give Everything Away For Free?’ Surges To Top Of Democratic Polls.

TRUMP’S TAKE SCORES AGAIN: Nation agrees ‘mental health’ is the top gun issue.

President Trump’s focus on mental health as he considers ways to curb gun violence is backed by most Americans and the issue has even prompted a California Democrat to call for a suicide warning label to be stamped on weapons.

While most Democratic presidential candidates are pushing for strong gun control measures and bans, Trump is focused on tweaking background check standards and keeping guns from mentally troubled people.

A new Gallup poll found strong support for that approach. In the survey, most, 83%, blamed the “failure of the mental health system to identify individuals who are a danger to others.”

Access to guns was third at 69%.

Surging into second in the survey, at 79%, was “the spread of extremist viewpoints on the internet.”

Trump should just announce that he’s red-flagging crazy people, starting with Antifa, and creating a new office to scrub extremists off the Internet, headed by Dinesh D’Souza. Sure, that would just be trolling, but who’s better at it?

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: “If McCabe is indicted…we are very close to saying that Trump is a man more sinned against than sinning.”

THE NETHERLANDS HITS THE BOTTOM OF THE SLIPPERY SLOPE: Dutch court clears doctor in landmark euthanasia trial.

A Dutch doctor was acquitted Wednesday in a landmark trial that prosecutors and physicians hope will help clarify how the country’s 2002 euthanasia law can be applied to people with severe dementia.

The doctor, who was not named in court, was cleared of any wrongdoing in carrying out euthanasia three years ago on a 74-year-old woman. The patient was given fatal doses of drugs despite some indications she might have changed her mind since declaring in writing that she wanted euthanasia.

The court ruled that in rare cases of euthanasia that were being performed on patients with severe dementia—and who had earlier made a written request for euthanasia—the doctor “did not have to verify the current desire to die.”

The doctor was accused of not acting with due care because, prosecutors alleged, she made insufficient efforts to find out whether the patient still wanted to die. To carry out the euthanasia, the physician drugged the patient’s coffee without her knowledge and then had family members restrain the woman while delivering the fatal injection.

Well, I suppose that’s clear enough.

YOU KNOW WHAT WASN’T A TOPIC AT LAST NIGHT’S DEMOCRATIC DEBATE? THE ECONOMY. Wonder why?

ANTI-SEMITES GONNA ANTI-SEMITE: Plame Falsely Accuses Jew of Leaking CIA Identity: Anti-Semitic candidate recycles debunked smears, wrongly accuses Scooter Libby.

WATCH THE SENATE: Dan Baer becomes third Democrat to exit U.S. Senate race after John Hickenlooper’s entrance.

BECAUSE HIS DECLARATION SUPPORTS A LEFTIST VICTIMHOOD NARRATIVE.

And their declarations do not.

AEI HAS SOME POLLING DATA ON SCHOOL DISCIPLINE:  E.g.: Only 28% of adults support a federal policy prohibiting school from disciplining students of color at higher rates than other races, while 49% oppose.  The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights didn’t get the message. Fortunately, Secretary DeVos did.

BLINK: China to exempt U.S. pork, soybeans from additional tariffs. They can’t afford to let pork prices rise any more for domestic political reasons.

UPDATE: From the comments:

This is a huge strategic win for Trump and I’m surprised it’s not getting more attention (considering our media, maybe I shouldn’t be).

This administration is slowly choking out our biggest geopolitical foe since the USSR, and it’s doing it without firing a shot. His weapons are soy, wheat, pigs, and most importantly, dollars. China, the nation that our intellectual elites have been telling us for years will overtake lazy, stupid America, is getting absolutely wrecked and it’s happening so fast that their heads are spinning.

It’s beautiful.

Plus:

The amazing thing here is that the pig blight problem in China was heavily due to sourcing por[k] alternatives from Russia without adequate safeguards against pathogens. They were in such a rush to stick it to the USA that they overlooked basic local safety.

This is the country that is supposed to be our most potent strategic threat today?

Well, most of China’s ascendancy was done with the — quite possibly corrupt — cooperation of the U.S. leadership. They were apparently unprepared to deal with Trump.

GIRL CAN’T HELP IT: Plame Falsely Accuses Jew of Leaking CIA Identity. “Anti-Semitic candidate recycles debunked smears, wrongly accuses Scooter Libby.”

UM:

IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE SATIRE, BUT . . . Buttigieg: ‘Life Begins When A Person Registers As A Democrat.’

BOLTON HAD TO GO, I’M NOT SURE THIS IS SUCH A GOOD THING: Departure of Bolton Clears a Path for Trump Diplomacy With Iran.

PUSHBACK: Fmr. ICE Acting Director Homan to AOC: I’ve Never Seen Such Hate Toward A Law Enforcement Agency In My Life.