ANTISOCIAL MEDIA: Researchers find coordinated anti-Trump campaign on Instagram.

A recently published study by Italian analytics firm Ghost Data identified a network of 350 anti-Trump accounts coordinating efforts to promote messages deriding the president, sometimes with graphic or violent language. The researchers found 19 suspicious Instagram accounts that took the lead in promoting anti-Trump content.

In total, the posts from the accounts generated have more than 35.2 million interactions, with 3.9 million of those interactions occurring in the last two months. The study concluded that the anti-Trump Instagram campaign has ramped up over the past several months, with the network’s activities swelling “dramatically” since April.

“Most content shared by these users is identical, while other images are slightly altered in size, colors, filter, partial or missing text,” the researchers wrote.

I try not to wonder what technological innovations we missed out on because some of our best minds spent the last 10-15 years building terrible social media platforms.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO LIE ABOUT RAPE: Woman’s False Rape Claim Led To Man’s Death.

JAY CARUSO: Republican Justin Amash says Trump has done enough to be impeached — but it’s the Democrats who will suffer. “What Amash has done shouldn’t be seen as a signal of change within the GOP. He has always been an outlier.”

Even after the release of the Mueller report, Speaker Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer took a cautious approach to impeachment. These days, the rhetoric coming from Democratic circles, including Pelosi, makes it appear that putting off any move toward an impeachment inquiry is all about presidential politics in 2020 instead of “holding Trump accountable.”

Earlier this year, House Minority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) compared the Trump administration to the Hitler regime and said, “This man and his family are the greatest threats to democracy of my lifetime.”

In recent weeks, the Trump administration refused Congressional subpoenas, prompting several Democratic House committee leaders, such as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Gerry Connolly of the House Oversight Committee, to discuss impeachment. Both Speaker Pelosi and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler have both said Trump’s refusal to honor Democratic subpoenas makes up a “constitutional crisis.”

Well, what are they waiting for?

Better poll numbers.

SALENA ZITO: Real America Sits at One End of the Potomac—and at the Other.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Democrats Embrace Socialism: Are We Headed Towards ‘Atlas Shrugged’?

FASTER, PLEASE: Mark Meadows Says ‘Declassification is right around the corner.’

Republican Congressman and House Oversight Committee Member Mark Meadows there will be more information showing that President Trump was set up by senior officials with the FBI and DOJ. He made the comments Monday on “Fox & Friends,” adding that the declassification of documents will reveal it.

Meadows cited instances where members of the Trump campaign were taped and recorded. He specifically referred to former Trump Campaign Advisor George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos has been vocal about being set up by the FBI.

Moreover, the North Carolina Congressman explained that ‘the American people will be astonished’ when Trump declassifies more information. For example, the classified FISA interviews, Bruce Ohr 302 FBI interviews and the so called “Gang of Eight” binder.

Former House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said Sunday, the new information could reveal “game-changer” evidence further disproving the collusion narrative.

Meadows said he is confident the President will act soon.

Yesterday would not be too soon.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Rep. Doug Collins Dumps Testimony Transcripts.

Last night, Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) released a boatload of closed-door testimony transcripts.

“The American people deserve transparency,” Collins said in a statement Monday. “They deserve to know what transpired in the highest levels of the FBI at the origin of the probe of President Trump’s campaign.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, these transcripts have a limited number of narrowly tailored redactions, relating only to confidential sources and methods, non-public information about ongoing investigations and non-material personal information,” Collins said.

Much more at the link.

THEN WE’D BETTER START BUILDING MORE NUCLEAR PLANTS: Making industrial chemicals “green” requires a lot of renewable electricity.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: In first, Trump’s ambassador to Germany requests $0 more in budget, cuts spending.

CONTAINMENT: US fighter jets just landed in Sweden to practice fighting in a new kind of airspace.

The looming proliferation of air defense systems, including sales of the Russian-made S-300 and S-400, means that allied pilots must prepare for the possibility of fighting in future airspaces unlike anything they faced in the permissive environments of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Airmen and F-16C Fighting Falcons from the 157th Fighter Squadron out of McEntire Joint National Guard Base, Columbia, South Carolina, arrived in the region Thursday for the first day of Arctic Challenge Exercise 19 taking place throughout Norway, Sweden and Finland.

“There’s some unique training airspace we don’t get to train with in South Carolina. Being just 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the high latitude means nearly 20 hours of daylight. That together with the cool weather, will set us up for some essential training.” said Maj. Shaun Hoeltje, an F-16 pilot from the South Carolina Air National Guard, in an Air Forces Europe news release.

It’s a safe bet that Vladimir Putin isn’t happy about Sweden’s virtual admittance into NATO, but he has no one to blame but himself.

THAT’S BECAUSE PALESTINIAN LEADERS HAVE VERY LITTLE INTEREST IN EITHER PEACE OR PROSPERITY FOR THEIR PEOPLE: Palestinian leaders say U.S. “Peace to Prosperity” summit slights them.

NPR: With New Style And Graphics, North Korea Gives Propaganda A Makeover.

There’s an evening show on North Korea’s state TV that brings soldiers news from their hometowns.

Last September, the show on the regime-run Korean Central Television, or KCTV, was interrupted for an urgent update.

“Another piece of news from our families on the home front, just in from the Kangson steel factory,” an announcer says. “Soldiers from Kangson will be happy to hear that,” the anchor replies, beaming.

The update: A soldier’s father says he and fellow factory workers are so motivated, they will beat production targets by 50%.

The spirited labor message is decades old. But the presentation, including the staged interruption, hints at a change in propaganda tactics.

The news presenters are fresh-faced. Their attire is business casual. Their dialogue is chatty. You might almost think it’s a South Korean show.

Except for the actual content and that you’re watching it on a TV with one channel.

UGH: Switzerland Welcomes Gun Control, Future Terrorism Wave.

SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST AND/OR THE THIRD WEEK OF MAY: Denver weather: Snow already falling at DIA, up to 18 inches of snow in mountains.

INCENTIVES WORK: Brewery offers free beer for info on stolen van, 42 minutes later, it was located.

THAT WAS FAST: Justin Amash Gets Primary Challenger After Impeachment Stand.

UM… Biden Claims He “Started this Whole Thing” on Climate Change.

KRUISER: Measles on the Move — Outbreak Spreads Beyond New York.

HOMETOWN FAVORITE: Bill de Blasio’s initial poll numbers for the Democratic presidential primary are alarmingly bad.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Democratic Presidential Clown Car Update for May 20, 2019. “I’m now tracking 24 declared Democratic Presidential candidates. That’s enough to field both side of a football team, plus Mike Gravel as the coach and Beto O’Rourke as the towel boy.”

HEH: Salon.com Is Going Out Of Business And That Means Our National Politics Are Healthier Than We Thought.

UH-HUH: Kirsten Gillibrand Claims Georgia’s Heartbeat Abortion Law Is ‘Against Christian Faith.’

CHRISTIAN TOTO: How Netflix Hijacked That ‘Laugh-In’ Legacy. “The streaming giant brought back the classic comedy show to attack Trump and dole out some big, whopping lies.”

When I bought my first TiVo 15 or 16 years ago, its algorithm decided that I really wanted to watch old “Laugh-In” reruns — and, boy, was it right.

Conclusion: Old TiVo is smarter than new Netflix.

FRANCIS TURNER: A Tale of Two Coups.

On Brexit and Mueller:

One of reasons why elections are a good thing is that they provide a mechanism for peaceful transitions without the losers being shot or put in jail. The fact that the losers in this election appear to have attempted to undermine the winners is an extremely bad precedent because it leads to the winners deciding to take it out on the losers next time around and that in turn leads to people not relinquishing power short of being turfed out with violence – see Venezuela and any number of Latin American, Central Asian and African dictatorships.

In fact allowing the losers to come up with one way after another to try and delegitimise an election they lost is bad on its own because the ability to “throw the bums out” is a key feature of democracy. If voters can’t trust that their votes will be respected they are likely to resort to other methods of expressing their displeasure with the current set of rulers and that is something that these rulers may come to regret. The good news is that the New AG seems to be doing his job and turning over any number of stones that various parties would have preferred remained unexamined.

It is unclear to me how many of the plotters will end up in the poor house or jail – sadly I suspect most will skate – which means that the distrust of government which fired up the Tea Party and the Trump campaign is not going to dissipate.

Indeed — and read the whole thing.

I’D LIKE FRIES WITH THAT: Whataburger hires Morgan Stanley to explore possible sale.

Orange-and-white beacon and Texas chain Whataburger has hired financial services company Morgan Stanley to explore expansion and a possible sale, the San Antonio Business Journal reports.

The possibility of a sale was first reported by Reuters earlier this month. According to the news organization, the chain, which boasts more than 800 locations nationwide, could be valued at more than $6 billion.

The spicy ketchup alone is worth that much.