NOW THAT’S REAL SOCIALISM: Venezuela just keeps on delivering new economic absurdities.

Anyone who has flirted or is flirting with the idea that socialism offers a reasonable remedy for the drawbacks of capitalism should mull the utter absurdity of Venezuela’s current plight.

Considering importing additional oil into a country where it is already more abundant than anywhere else is not just ridiculous but also a reflection of an economic system that doesn’t work.

The common refrain is that capitalism makes what is scarce abundant, whereas socialism makes what is abundant scarce. It seems like that is happening in this case.

The possible importing of oil is of course just the latest laughable move by the South American country.

Maybe Maduro believes that real absurdity has never been tried before.

MICHAEL KOFMAN: Raiding and International Brigandry – Russia’s Strategy for Great Power Competition.

Raiding is the way by which Russia seeks to coerce the United States through a series of operations or campaigns that integrate indirect and direct approaches. Modern great power competition will thus return to forms of coercion and imposition reminiscent of the Middle Ages, but enacted with the technologies of today. Although raiding will be Moscow’s principal approach to competition, international brigandry may be the best term to describe elements of Russian behavior that the West considers to be “bad” or “malign.” These are acts of indirect warfare, both centrally planned and enacted on initiative by entities within the Russian state empowered to shape policy – often in competition with each other. Brigandry may come with negative legalistic connotations, a byword for outlaw, but here the term is meant to define a form of irregular or skirmish warfare in the international system conducted by a partisan.

Russia is, at times, miscast as a global spoiler or retrograde delinquent. Delinquents commit minor offenses and have no plan. Spoilers react to plans, but have little strategy of their own. Raiders, by contrast, launch operations with a strategic outlook and objectives in mind. And while often weaker than their opponents, raiders can be successful. The structure of the international system and the nature of the confrontation lends itself to the use of raiding, which increasingly appears to be the chosen Russian strategy. By focusing on deterring the high-end conventional fight and restoring nuclear coercive credibility, both important in and of themselves, the United States national security establishment may be fundamentally overlooking what will prove the defining Russian approach to competition.

Interesting piece with some creative thinking sometimes lacking in our diplomatic corps and national security/intelligence agencies. You might want to spend some time with this one.

BRAD POLUMBO: I’m gay, but I’ll pass on Pride Month.

The Pride movement has been hijacked by a left-wing agenda, and some of its advocacy is actually setting gay people back.

A quick look at the national Pride website reveals not a neutral agenda advocating for all gay people, but a blatant endorsement of progressivism — even on issues that have little to do with gay rights. Advocate.com, a news website affiliated with the Pride movement, contains a glowing profile of gun-control advocate Emma Gonzalez on its homepage, even nominating her for their “Hall of Fame.” Another article openly calls on gay people to “fight for gun reform.”

The Pride rallies last year in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles could have easily been mistaken for the gun-control-oriented March for Our Lives, pro-choice Women’s March, or any other left-wing rally. Rainbow flags reading “Make America Gay Again” openly mock President Trump’s signature slogan, and ignore the obvious reality that America has never been more gay-friendly than it is in 2018. One anti-Trump chant at last year’s D.C. rally went viral — “We’re here, we’re queer, get that Cheeto out of here.”

Apparently, so-called advocates of LGBT equality don’t think that gay people are capable of supporting gun rights or President Trump, even though he won 15 percent of the LGBT vote.

Diversity means what they tell you it does.

WESTERN FEMINISTS AREN’T PRO-WOMEN, THEY’RE ANTI-WESTERN: Iranian Feminist Says Western Feminists Make Things Worse for Her Cause at Home.

ROBERT SPENCER: Relax, the global jihad is just a big misunderstanding.

FRANK BRUNI: How to Lose the Midterms and Re-elect Trump.

What’s amazing about this column is that Bruni understands exactly how we’ll get more Trump, but remains clueless as to how we got any Trump in the first place.

I HAD BEEN ASSURED THE SCIENCE WAS SETTLED: Errors Trigger Retraction Of Study On Mediterranean Diet’s Heart Benefits.

JOHN HAWKINS: The 5 Weirdest Things About Being a Conservative Who Doesn’t Love Trump.

HEALTH: Suicide Rate in Women Jumps by 50%. “From 2000-2016, rates also increased by 21% in men.”

BUZZFEED REPORTS THIS LIKE IT’S A BAD THING: Congress Is Offering Training For Staff On How To Respond To A Shooting.

Every responsible adult — teenagers, really — should take CPR and first aid training, and keep their training current.

Red Cross provides both training classes for about a hundred bucks, which is cheap compared to a life.

HEH: Women Fighting ISIS to ‘All the Feminists’ in West: Come Join Us. “The Bethnahrin Protection Forces are a unit of Christian Assyrian women within the Syrian Democratic Forces still battling the terror group.”

OF COURSE THEY ARE: China’s Surveillance State Is Using RFID Chips To Track Cars’ Movements.

Now that “social credit” allows Beijing to prevent people from using public transport and other niceties, how long before they can stop undesirables from driving their own cars?

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Tax preparers’ loss is America’s gain.

STEPHEN KRUISER: Luxury Hotels Deluged with B-List ‘Instagram Travel Stars’ Demanding Perks.

HE ISN’T WRONG: Bernie Sanders Says Liberals Are Turning the “Radical” into the “Mainstream.”

JOSEPH MICALLEF: An Assessment of the Islamic State in 2018.

According to the Pentagon, ISIS has been expelled from 99 percent of the territory it controlled in June 2014. As of June 2018, ISIS controlled a small triangle of territory south of Deir ez-Zor and to the west of the Euphrates Valley; a pocket in Iraq west of Al Hadar; and a third pocket east of Al Suwar, along the Syrian-Iraqi border.

In addition, much of its senior leadership, including many of its most experienced field commanders, have been killed or captured, although its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, remains at large. His death has been announced on several occasions, most recently by Russian military forces but, in the absence of any confirmation, he is presumed to still be alive.

According to unconfirmed reports, the Pentagon has been given six additional months, possibly longer, to finish final operations against ISIS in eastern Syria. It’s estimated that the ISIS militants in the two remaining pockets number several hundred fighters. With little prospect of escape, they are expected to fight tenaciously.

“And then die” is strongly implied.

THE “MISHANDLING” ALWAYS SEEMS TO GO IN ONE DIRECTION: Zuckerberg Admits Mishandling Controversy in Labeling Conservative Pundits as ‘Dangerous.’

BUT HE HAS A DATE THAT NIGHT. WITH A GIRL FROM CANADA. THEY MET AT NIAGARA FALLS. YOU WOULDN’T KNOW HER. Alec Baldwin: If I Ran for President against Trump, ‘I Would Win.’

ALWAYS SOMETHING BREAKING US IN THREE: Man behind plan to split up California likes chances in November vote.

MAKE THE NAVY GREAT AGAIN: House Approves $22.7B for Shipbuilding.

The bill supports a $22.7-billion shipbuilding budget for the Navy and $20.1 billion for new Navy and Marine Corps aircraft.

The shipbuilding line includes three Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51), two Virginia-class attack submarines (SSN-774), two John Lewis-class fleet oilers, an Expeditionary Sea Base and a fleet tug.

The spending bill also supports $2.9 billion for advanced procurement of the Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile program, $41 million for the LCU landing craft replacement program and $507.8 million for the Ship-to-Shore Connector program.

The aviation spend includes $1.9 billion for 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, $1.1 billion for 13 MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and $1.8 billion for 10 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

The bill also sets aside $9.4 billion for 93 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, split between the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

I’d say, “Faster, please,” but it seems they already got the message.

COLD WAR II: Brit arrested over suspected Chinese plot to steal secrets of £100million RAF stealth fighter jet.

He was quizzed in connection with the alleged Chinese plot after his arrest in an “ultra-discreet” swoop by officers from Scotland Yard’s SO15 counter-terrorism command at his home on Tuesday – but released on bail hours later.

Mr Jones, who describes himself as a “visiting professor” in “gas turbine combustion” at the Aeronautical Uni­versity of Xian, central China, was held on suspicion of brea­ching the Official Secrets Act.

Section One of the Act, rel­ating to national security, ca­rries a maximum 14 years’ jail.

Last night a source said: “China and Russia are determined to steal state ­se­crets by any means. Any arrest of this type is highly significant.”

14 years seems light.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: ‘Air Claire’ McCaskill, Sarah Huckabee Sanders Out? And Much, Much More.

Tyler O’Neil is filling in for Liz this week.

ELON’S ON THIS: U.S. Senator: Do not underestimate China’s determination to win in space.

Link was bad before. Fixed now — sorry!

PROGRESSIVE GOVERNANCE: The City of Philadelphia Cut Ties with a Religious-Based Foster Agency and Now Dozens of Children Are in Limbo.

They hate religion more than they love children.

WINNING: Accused Duke University Student Gets His Degree, Four Years After Unfair Expulsion.