IF YOU LIKED IBD’S EDITORIALS, YOU’LL LOVE ISSUES & INSIGHTS: The editorials that appeared for years in Investors Business Daily were rigorously researched and thoughtfully written.

Now, thanks to several members of the intrepid band that did much of that great work, they are back, doing the same high level of commentary, such as this one by John Merline on the MSM congratulating themselves for lying to America about Trump’s tax cuts. Let’s hope Issues & Insights is around a long time to come.

DOES BEZOS READ HIS OWN NEWSPAPER? One wonders why, if he does, he lets stuff be published like the “News Analysis” piece on Monday that said the Sri Lanka Muslim terrorist bombings of Christian churches and costly hotels “fueled Far Right anger in the West.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Peter Hasson notes the response of multiple Post critics and points out that this isn’t the first tragedy the Bezos paper’s editors portrayed promarily in terms of something to do with the “Far Right.” Surely they don’t mean to suggest that only the “Far Right” is angered when “rivers of blood” from innocent people flows in the aftermath of Muslim terrorism.

CAPTAIN AMERICA WILL DIE IN ‘ENDGAME:’ If you are under 25 years of age, or you are a Boomer who recognizes the Marvel Comics-based series of 22 movies in the past 10 years, then you know instantly what this is about. And you are eagerly awaiting “Endgame.”

I’m neither under 25 nor a Boomer who read comics as a kid — I was instead reading boring stuff like Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative,” at least after giving up on ever becoming the Yankees’ shortstop — but today I pay close attention to what our culture is doing. And trust me, these movies are significant, culturally, socially and politically.

Dr. Sean McDowell, the Biola University professor of apologetics, has followed the Marvel series movies closely and he makes a highly persuasive case today that Captain America will be the sacrificial hero in “Endgame.” He doesn’t say it in this video but I have a sneaking suspicion McDowell will eventually also point out a spiritual element.

HOW THE MEDIA REPORTED THE FIRST EASTER: Here’s an interesting thought experiment – how would you have reacted had you been in Jerusalem on the Sunday after the crucifixion of Jesus on Friday?

Odds are, unless you were a Roman political official or soldier in the occupying army, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin or perhaps a merchant with a table in the Temple, you would likely only know what you heard from neighbors and the rumors in the streets.

Being a journalist and lover of history, I sat down and wrote three “news” stories as I might have done as a local reporter in Jerusalem on the first Easter. You can see the outlines of the debate that has continued for 2,000 years on what really happened, which makes for an unusual and revealing way of seeing a traditional holiday.

Check it out for each day – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And try not to be freaked out by the hands on Saturday!

POST-MUELLER DEMS, GOP SAME AS PRE-MUELLER DEMS, GOP: Remarkable how nothing changed despite millions of tax dollars, thousands of interviews, hundreds of subpoenas, and 448 pages.

WOULD LESS GOVERNMENT ATTRACT MORE TALENT? There are sometimes gold nuggets to be found where least expected. Take for example R Street Institute Senior Fellow Casey Burgat’s five excellent non-salary suggestions to the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress.

Burgat is focused on how to attract more talent to congressional staff and reduce the constant turnover that saps efficiency. He wisely notes that there is much more to attracting smart people to work on the Hill than simply handing them bigger paychecks.

And then comes Bret Bernhardt, a former chief of staff to senators Don Nickles of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who further points out in an analysis of Burgat’s suggestions on HillFaith that much of the turnover from Hill staffs is to K Street lobbying and government relations shops.

“The allure of work off the Hill is directly proportional to the growth and pervasiveness of government itself. Chart a line that shows the growth and pervasiveness of government alongside the growth in the number of lobbyists and you’ll find in it an interesting parallel,” Bernhardt writes. “Bringing this into equilibrium will cure most of the problem.”

Reality is so attractive when stated in such common sense terms.

IS DOJ’S CRIMINAL REFERRAL PROBE OF CHRISTOPHER STEELE CLOSED? The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland poses a key question and offers a disturbing possible answer.

HOW OBAMA SPIED ON TRUMP: The Epoch Times’ U.S. editor Jasper Fakkert offers a comprehensive round-up of all the ways the former chief executive’s minions used the power and presence of the federal government to spy on the Trump campaign, beginning in 2015. All of which raises the classic Watergate question: What did the president know and when did he know it?

MAYBE IT’S TIME TO RE-OPEN THE AWAN INVESTIGATION? The Daily Caller’s Luke Rosiak reports a second Senate aide was involved in digital theft of GOP senators’ personal information from the congressional computer networks.

Rosiak knows whereof he speaks, being the author of Obstruction of Justice and the guy who busted the Awan scandal wide open.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE NEW ‘CONSENT CONDOM?’ No, I am not making this up, it’s a new product from an Argentinian firm. Four fingers are required to open the package – thus the product name. Any bets on how long till American colleges distribute these to students for free?

Prof. Sean McDowell of Biola University points to the lesson shouted by the Consent Condum about the “failure of the Sexual Revolution.” And Prof. Adam Ellwanger, writing in The Federalist, points to a huge related glaring contradiction in the nation’s current sexual climate.

But wait, there’s more! The same post takes you to something The Urban Alternative’s Tony Evans and Super Bowl-winning NFL coach Tony Dungy are doing on the same front and did you see Gallup’s Lifestyle survey results? Surprise! Married men and women are happier virtually across the board.

It’s all in one jam-packed HillFaith post this morning.

COMEY DESCRIBED ‘SOURCES AND METHODS’ IN HIS CYA MEMOS: The former FBI Director is looking ever more devious. Consider this observation from The Last Refuge:

“Along with writing notes of the meetings and conversations, apparently Comey also made notes of the sources and methods associated with the investigation.  Why would Comey generate classified information in these notes (sources and methods) unless he was just covering his ass because he knew the investigation itself was a risk…”

Just keep scrolling.

WHAT’S THIS, A 53 PERCENT TRUMP APPROVAL RATING? That screeching sound you hear is from liberals and their “journalist” friends tearing their hair out in frustration over this. Or maybe it’s this from last week.

WHEN IS TOO MANY BEYOND TOO MANY? That’s a question that’s getting some worried discussion among Democrats, thanks to the total of 18 present candidates and the prospect of as many as 30 announced candidates seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination.

“This is a great example of all these people looking at their own interests, as opposed to the interests of the country and the interests of their party,” David Burstein told The Epoch Times. Republicans have some interesting thoughts about all this, too.

HOW MANY SMOKING GUNS BEFORE THEY LOCK HER UP? Judicial Watch just keeps winning court decisions forcing the government to cough up embarrassing documents that pile the evidence higher and higher that the FBI probe of Hillary Clinton’s email scandal was a joke.

And as the evidence piles up, it becomes ever clearer that what Comey should have said in July 2016 was this: “I hope the Justice Department throws the book at her because I don’t know an honest prosecutor who wouldn’t file charges based on this evidence.”

WHY ARE YOUNG AMERICANS SO MISERABLE? This is important. If you read nothing else this weekend, give this article by the Washington Free Beacon’s Charles Fain Lehman a close, thoughtful look, especially the concluding sentence. Then I would humbly suggest that you check out this observation on HillFaith.

THERE’S A SHOWDOWN COMING BETWEEN DEM PROGS AND MODS: AOC’s threat to primary Democrats with doubts about the Green New Deal isn’t sitting well with more than a few of her colleagues.

This one has all the markings of, as DUCKOFD3ATH might say, a real hair-pulling, blood-spitting, teeth-flying bar brawl.

WHY ARE YOU SO AFRAID OF SUBJECTIVE MORAL REASONING? Ravi Zacharias was asked that not long ago and, while he could have ended his response with his hilarious opening sentence, he went on and engaged the questioner in quite a useful and interesting discussion that speaks to many of the most important issues regularly considered on these venerable digital pages.

IS ‘UNPLANNED’ THE UN-CENSORABLE PRO-LIFE FLICK? Returns are in for the weekend following what had all the markings of a purposeful Twitter campaign to bury it and the numbers “Unplanned” did extraordinarily well, according to Faithwire.

What if despite their algorithms, the progressive digital monopolies can’t suppress the truth after all?

WHAT’S IN THE MUELLER REPORT? The Last Refuge undertakes an analysis based solely on the character and actions of the principal players in the anti-Trump campaign. By way of preface, Refuge notes:

“The most overlooked aspect is how the 2016 DOJ/FBI investigative unit that existed to investigate Trump before the election, is the same group of people who transferred into Mueller’s probe in 2017 to continue investigating Trump after the election.  It always seems odd to me that people don’t realize this very basic point.

“If what the investigators were doing in 2016 was unethical, corrupt and likely unlawful, it is not wise to think they suddenly became bastions of investigative moral integrity just because they transferred into the Mueller probe in 2017.  In fact, the reality is, those same people held/hold a motive to cover-up for their prior conduct; and, for the purposes of Robert Mueller, their corrupt motives were perfectly aligned.”

It’s essential reading and will make for a fascinating comparison when the Mueller Report becomes public. Go here. Yes, it’s long, but, hey, it’s the weekend.

HERE’S THE INSIDE STORY OF THE PLOT TO TAKE DOWN TRUMP: The Epoch Times’ Jeff Carlson has done great investigative journalism in documenting the roots of the Obama administration’s clandestine campaign against The Donald and to protect Hillary.

Did you know 22 top officials have been fired, resigned or demoted so far for their actions in the campaign and that’s even before Sen. Lindsay Graham’s Senate Judiciary Committee mounts a real investigation and before Attorney General Bill Barr does the same thing from inside the Department of Justice.

SHOULD HILL STAFF BE PAID MORE? Massachusetts Democrat Katherine Clark believes they should, especially if Congress wants to do better oversight of the executive branch and pull back powers it has given up in recent decades.

I worked on the Hill early in my career and the pay was low and hours were long then, too, so not much has changed since then. The irony is the same Congress that pays its own staff so poorly has made federal civil service pay and benefits much better than comparable jobs in the private sector.

WHY IS TRUMP’S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ‘PROTECTING OBAMA AND CLINTON?’ Judicial Watch chief Tom Fitton tells The Epoch Times about the latest illustration of how Department of Justice attorneys are pulling out all the stops to block the non-profit government watchdog’s efforts to dig out the truth about the Clinton email scandal and the Benghazi coverup.

“Everything is a fight,” Fitton said. “We even have to sue to get the time of day. It’s unbelievable.”

REP. MAX ROSE IS A DEMOCRAT WITH NO PATIENCE FOR AOC: David Marcus of The Federalist asks if Rose “can save the Democrats from Ocasio-Cortez” and offers some convincing evidence for a positive answer. Keep an eye on Rose, a former Marine who is only 32 years old and could become a genuine force in Congress.

BONUS POINTS FOR THE BEST SUGGESTED PHOTO CAPTION: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham warned House Democrats about over-playing their hand on Trump-Russia collusion. And check out the news photo of Nancy Pelosi and Jerrold Nadler, which just begs for a creative caption.

NOW COMES THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION: Remember Stefan Halper, the Nixon/Ford/Reagan White House aide who became a Cambridge professor? Margot Cleveland of The Federalist presents an excellent analysis of the evidence that the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane was not the first Trump-Russia collusion investigation. BTW, Margot, the answer to your concluding question almost certainly is: John O. Brennan.