PHILIP KLEIN: Confessions of a Russiagate agnostic.

Being agnostic about Russiagate is challenging for a political commentator. Russia has dominated the news for the past two years, and people on each side have passionate and confidently held views. It seems either they’re convinced that Trump colluded and attempted to cover it up, or they’re convinced that it’s all a nothingburger cooked up to delegitimize the Trump presidency.

On such a polarizing issue that’s played a central role in our political debate, it’s been difficult to take a wait and see approach before forming a strong opinion. But it’s also hard to feel confident about any narrative without knowing more.

In the absence of any report from special counsel Robert Mueller, much of the commentary involves speculation about what he does or doesn’t know. Those convinced Trump is being railroaded assume Mueller just keeps dragging out the investigation because he’s found nothing, while those convinced of his guilt assume Mueller is slowly and carefully building a case that will corner Trump.

I’ve been reluctant to get too far ahead of my skis in either proclaiming Trump’s innocence or declaring his guilt.

What’s made me particularly wary is that there has been a steady stream of stories that have been promoted as being “bombshells,” that either end up being corrected, and/or turn out upon further analysis and with the benefit of context, to be less dispositive than initially advertised.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire — smoke screens excepted, of course — but so far Mueller hasn’t even produced much smoke.

WHY WON’T PELOSI AND SCHUMER NEGOTIATE? Build the wall and allow DACA recipients like me to stay in America, the only country I know and love.

ROBERT SPENCER: Toronto Synagogue Backs Out of Hosting Conference on Threats to Freedom: It’s ‘Islamophobic.’ “Apparently there is no jihad threat, and those who say there is must be silenced.“

JIM GERAGHTY: Fifteen Things You Didn’t Know about Elizabeth Warren. “Warren was, at one point, a passionate advocate for school-voucher programs. As she joined the Democratic party and became increasingly prominent in it, Warren’s position changed. By 2018, she was denouncing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for ‘using her vast fortune to bankroll radical K–12 ‘school choice’ policies and private voucher programs,’ and she decried voucher programs as an effort to ‘further drain funds from public education and programs serving low-income and working Americans’.”

She fell into line quickly.

HAIL, CAESAR: US officials say it’s safe to eat romaine lettuce again.

BE OUT, BE PROUD: Ana Navarro Loses It When Steve Cortes Says She’s On The Left.

HEALTH: This mobile app could offer sweet relief from tinnitus.

If you’re one of the millions that suffer from this condition — a strange ringing or buzzing in the ear — coping can be a constant struggle. Diapason, a French startup, has distilled some of the best treatments into a mobile app that people can use anywhere. It offers a series of three-to-five minute activities, served through daily collections, that are personalized to the particular frequency or pitch that your ears are struggling with. The activities are basically mini-games that can, the company claims, deliver tangible results in as little as two weeks.

I suffered from tinnitus as a side effect during both bouts of hyperthyroidism, and the only permanent relief from the crazy-inducing randomness of it was having my thyroid gland nuked. But tinnitus has many other causes, so if this app works as promised, that’s a huge relief for perhaps millions.

IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN DEMOCRATS KEEP DOING IT BECAUSE SHUT UP: Former Obama Tech Guy Behind 2018 Midterm Disinformation Campaign on Facebook. “Designed to suppress the Republican vote.”

KING OF THE HILL OF BEANS: As Venezuela falls apart, Maduro poised for six more years as president.

PRIVACY: Taking the smarts out of smart TVs would make them more expensive. “It’s not just about data collection. It’s about post-purchase monetization of the TV.”

That seems like a distinction without much difference.

PROCUREMENT: As the Last Zumwalt-Class Vessel Launches, the Stealth Destroyer’s Fate Remains Deeply Uncertain. “The Navy still hasn’t said what it’s going to do about the fact that it can’t afford the ammo for the boats’ fancy guns.“

The service now has three destroyers with no ammunition for their long-range guns, which was the entire point of building them to begin with. The Navy is reportedly planning to reconfigure the destroyers as hunter-killers, meant to seek out and attack enemy ships and land targets with precision-guided missiles. In such a case, the Zumwalts would rely on the 80 vertical-launch missile silos per ship to provide offensive firepower.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Marines are still awaiting the fire-support replacement for the Iowa-class battleships, 26 years after the last battleship was retired.

What a mess.

NON-SCANDAL OF THE DAY: Trump used a wall metaphor in a commencement address to college graduates in 2004 and the Washington Post is on it.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump to Visit NOTACRISIS Border and Much, Much More. “Can you imagine all the things you could get out of Trump if you were willing to negotiate over that wall? If I were a Dreamer, I’d be pissed. If I were any one of the special interest groups that the Democrats claim to represent I would be angry too, here is an opportunity to get some stuff out of Trump and Chuck & Nancy are blowing it. But we all know that the Dems want Trump to lose his wall, more than they want their constituents to win.”

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: How Media Botched Their ‘Fact Checks’ of Speech.

The Democrats’ theme for the evening was “facts, not fear.” Many major media also adopted the same theme. The coordinated talking point began hours if not days before the speech even aired, with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota saying yesterday morning, “Fact-checkers are eating their Wheaties and getting extra rest since they will be working overtime tonight to separate fact from fiction on this border situation.”

As soon as the speech ended, White House press corps mascot Jim Acosta recited his rather groan-inducing rehearsed line that Trump’s address “should have come with a Surgeon General’s warning that it was hazardous to the truth.”

But when it came time to back up this talking point about factual inaccuracies, the media whiffed. Most of the alleged “fact” “checks” were instead critiques of opinions. Many critiqued things not included in Trump’s speech. And sometimes the “fact” “checks” dinged Trump for saying completely true things.

They’re much better at repeating a narrative than reporting the facts straight.

JEFF DUNETZ ON THE “GREAT LIBERAL LIE”: Illegal Aliens Commit Fewer Crimes.

The Federal Government does not release data that isolates illegal immigrants who commit crimes, they only look at citizens vs. non-citizens. “Non-citizens” is not a good benchmark because it includes both legal immigrants who have not yet become citizens, illegal immigrants and people who are here on a visa…all people in the U.S. who aren’t citizens. In other words, as the federal government does not ask about immigration for its crime data (only citizen status), any study claiming that on a national basis illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes is flawed. Additionally, the federal government records federal crimes. Most of the offenses people talk about in discussions about Illegal immigrant crimes are state crimes such as rape, burglary, murder, vehicular homicide, etc.

Some states do record immigration status, and it is done in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security for those states who share their illegal immigrant crime data with the federal government.

What he found won’t shock you, but it is good info to have on hand.

RELATED: Southern Border Violence Far Outpaces Mass Shooting Deaths In U.S. Yet Liberals Say Nothing.

CHINESE IMPERIALISM: Can the Land of a Million Elephants Survive the Belt and Road? “Chinese-funded projects in Laos could hasten the eradication of the elephant population.”

Without active human intervention, Laos will have no more elephants by 2030. Indeed, with BRI road and railway construction steaming ahead, we may see the total extinction of native elephants in Laos before 2030. At present it seems that attempts to halt BRI infrastructure roll out in Laos are futile. The perceived economic growth potential is too tempting for “least developed” Laos to pass up, and there is simply too much money to be made by state and corporate cronies. Many people across the country have never seen a train, let alone a high-speed train, and there is much excitement about what the future holds.

Weird that I haven’t heard anything from Western environmentalists about this.

AARON KLIEGMAN: The Mullahs Are Their Own Worst Enemies.

When the EU actually takes coercive action against Iran, the Islamic Republic must have done something so outrageous, so flagrant that even Brussels could not ignore it. Such was the case on Tuesday, when the EU imposed its first sanctions against Iran since the nuclear deal was implemented in January 2016. The new sanctions add Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and two senior Iranian officials to the EU’s terror list over suspicions that they helped organize multiple assassination plots in Europe—specifically plots to bomb a rally of an Iranian opposition group in Paris last year, to kill an Iranian opposition leader in Denmark last year, and to murder two Iranian dissidents in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2017.

Iran had the Europeans in the palm of its hand, and could have continued to use Brussels’ naivety and cowardice to its advantage in an attempt to isolate Washington diplomatically. But the ayatollahs could not help themselves—because of their paranoia, because of their twisted Islamist, anti-Western ideology. They had to attempt terrorist attacks and assassinations in Europe—not even the Middle East—to kill dissidents and others who speak out against their oppressive rule. Beyond their troubled psychology and ideology, Iran’s leaders are clearly nervous about their regime’s future. Otherwise, there would be no need to launch these plots.

Read the whole thing — but still, the Mullahs’ Regime has proven stubbornly long-lasting.

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? Record Number of Families Apprehended at Southern Border in December.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME: Dems Say They Aren’t Refusing Their Pay During Shutdown Because it Would be a ‘Distraction.’

YOUR DAILY TREACHER: Kevin Hart Will Not Negotiate with Terrorists.

YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO WALK AWAY:

ANGRIER AND ANGRIER ABOUT LESS AND LESS: Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) Says Women ‘Have Every Right to be Angry and Upset and Mad and to Curse’ in Public.

TOM HARRIS AND DR. TIM BALL: Extreme Environmentalists Are Anti-Human. “We must oppose these advocates of human suffering at every turn.”

AMATEURS STUDY STRATEGY, PROFESSIONALS STUDY THIS: Pentagon Say Military Logistics System Not Ready for War With China or Russia. “Defense Science Board warns military supply system ‘decayed’ and needs rapid upgrading.”

BUT THE HASTILY IMPROVISED NARRATIVE! No, Economists Don’t Agree a 70 Percent Top Marginal Tax Rate Is a Good Idea.

Hell, Paul Krugman and Paul Krugman can’t even agree on it.