ALLIES: Turkey withdraws troops from NATO drill in Norway.

“There was an incident in Norway,” Erdogan told ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party members in capital Ankara.

“They used an enemy chart in Norway. In that chart, there was my name and [Mustafa Kemal] Ataturk’s picture.”

The president said he was informed about the issue by Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik.

“They told me that they are withdrawing our 40 soldiers from there [Norway],” Erdogan said.

“I told them to do that immediately. There can be no alliance like that.”

NATO troops using Erdogan’s name as the enemy seems unlikely. Using Ataturk’s name (next to Erdogan’s, which is rich) seems unlikelier still.

So we have a big excuse about a minor offense (stipulating that it even happened) during a small exercise — which has me wondering if Erdogan isn’t prepping his country for a NATO exit.

NOT SO SLY: Sylvester Stallone’s Sexual Assault Denial Already Proven False? Allegations Were Reported Last Year.

BUT OF COURSE: Menendez Blames Racist Americans For Trial, Vows Political Vengeance Against Opponents.

CHANGE? Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe makes first public appearance since ‘coup.’

Zimbabwe’s beleaguered President Robert Mugabe attended a graduation ceremony at a university in the capital Harare on Friday, his first public appearance since he was put under house arrest by the army late Tuesday.

The 93-year-old wore a graduation gown and cap for the event at the Zimbabwe Open University. He announced the ceremony’s opening to applause, but did not make a speech.

It came as the country’s army said it has made “significant progress” in their “operation” after seizing control of state television and the capital’s airport during an apparent coup earlier this week. Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, refused to stand down during a meeting with military officials Thursday, AFP reported.

AND: Mugabe exit plan talks deadlocked.

Insiders said Mugabe, who is holed up at his house with his wife Grace and his family, and close allies Jonathan Moyo and Saviour Kasukuwere and their families, agreed during the delicate talks at State House in Harare yesterday that he could step down as Zanu PF leader at his party’s congress next month and as head of state and government when his current term of office expires by mid next year.

“Mugabe is agreed to go in principle. As a general plan, although the details are not yet established, he has agreed to step down as Zanu PF leader next month and president next year, but he does not want to be removed from office outside the constitution and law framework,” one source said.

“However, the military and its political allies want him to go now; they want him to resign and reinstate (fired Vice-President Emmerson) Mnangagwa and also allow him to become acting president, and then follow the party and government processes leading to an eventual takeover.

“So for now he is going nowhere; he is staying put even at the risk of military escalation and a complete takeover.

The dilemma for the military is to stage a fully-fledged coup and remove Mugabe, but then suffer the consequences of global condemnation, sanctions and isolation which might collapse the country – achieving the very opposite of what they say they want to do. For Mugabe the risk is removal through a coup, harm and humiliation.”

Mustn’t upset the international community when removing the vile dictator, dear.

MEANWHILE: Breaking: Mugabe too old & must go – All Zanu PF provinces.

In a dramatic twist of events, all the ten Zanu PF provinces have passed a vote of no confidence on President Robert Mugabe, and declared the 93 year-old leader – who has been in office for 37 years – too old and incapacitated to lead both Zanu PF and government.

After that, I’m not sure it means much what the international community thinks.

THE FINAL FRONTIER: Scientists found a new Earth-sized planet nearby… and it might be habitable.

Known as Ross 128b, the newly discovered planet orbits a life-friendly red dwarf star that is an estimated seven billion years old.

Red dwarfs are the most common stars in the galaxy, making up about 70 percent of all known stars, and tend to hold water-friendly planets in their orbit. What this means is these planets are likely to have an atmosphere and possibly support life.

Ross 128b has a few things going for it that make it a much better candidate to support human life. For one, it has a consistent wobble in its rotation. It also orbits an older star that has probably settled down somewhat. A computer simulation also suggests it might have built up clouds to keep water from evaporating on its surface, giving it a better chance at hosting an atmosphere that could support life.

I’m wary of computer simulations of worlds we’ve never been to when we can’t yet get this one right.

IT ISN’T THEIR OWN IRE THEY OUGHT TO BE WORRIED ABOUT: Sexual Harassment Settlements, Capitol Hill Reporting System Raise Lawmakers’ Ire.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Amazon Key flaw makes entering your home undetected a possibility.

Amazon Key is available to Amazon customers who have bought and installed Amazon’s own Cloud Cam security camera and installed it at their front door. If you’re one of those customers, you can select “in-home delivery” as a delivery method when purchasing something on Amazon. Amazon couriers can then authenticate themselves with your Cloud Cam to unlock the door and enter your home to leave the package. However, they can only do this at a home to which they’re assigned to make a delivery and only at the scheduled time. They are recorded by your security camera as they make the delivery, and they must lock the door when they leave. Amazon also tracks which courier is assigned to the delivery, and only that courier has access.

Rhino Labs discovered that a courier equipped with a simple program can use their laptop to fake a command from your Wi-Fi router to disconnect the Cloud Cam from your network. This causes the camera to stop functioning by freezing the image at the last frame. At that point, the courier could re-enter your home, do whatever it is that they want there, and then exit, reactivate the camera, and lock the door as usual. This re-entry would be undetectable by the resident, and it would appear like a normal delivery in Amazon’s data.

Nobody should trust the internet of things.

TAMMY BRUCE: CBS News: 44 Seconds On Trump Drinking Water, 0 On Menendez.

Think of them as Democratic operatives with Chyrons and… you know the rest.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Tax Reform Moves to Senate, Harassment Accusations Mount and Much, Much Moore.

LIBYA: The Forgotten Reason North Korea Desperately Wants Nuclear Weapons.

It is unlikely that the DPRK will ever return to nuclear virginity. Pyongyang has multiple reasons for retaining its nukes. For a country with an economy roughly the size of Paraguay’s, a bizarre political system that has no external appeal, and an increasingly antiquated conventional military force, a nuclear-weapons capability is the sole factor that provides prestige and a seat at the table of international affairs. There is one other crucial reason for the DPRK’s truculence, though. North Korean leaders simply do not trust the United States to honor any agreement that might be reached.

Unfortunately, there are ample reasons for such distrust. North Korean leaders have witnessed how the United States treats nonnuclear adversaries such as Serbia and Iraq. But it was the U.S.-led intervention in Libya in 2011 that underscored to Pyongyang why achieving and retaining a nuclear-weapons capability might be the only reliable way to prevent a regime-change war directed against the DPRK.

Thanks, Obama.

BLUE ON BLUE: The Left Is Already Attacking Biden As 2020 Campaign Rumors Surface.

THE DAM HAS BURST: McConnell, Schumer Unite on Ethics Probe as Franken Apologizes for Sexual Assault.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN: Blue State Tax Revolt.

Across high-tax jurisdictions, productive citizens aren’t necessarily waiting for the turnaround. This week a Journal editorial chronicled the stampede of residents headed to more favorable tax climes with faster-growing economies. Among the biggest blue-state losers was Illinois, which had to say goodbye to residents generating at least $3 billion in adjusted gross income in each of the years from 2012 to 2015.

Are politicians finally getting the message? Let’s not overstate the possibilities. But Illinois is now home to some local pols who, pressed by angry residents, are contemplating a few precious baby steps toward less expensive government. The editorial board of the Chicago Tribune explains how Cook County of all places—home to Chicago and a legion of public employees—became ground zero for a recent tax revolt.

More like this, please.

CHANGE: Israel Ready To Share Intel With Saudis “Against Iran” Ahead Of Possible War.

If a Israeli/Arab-Iran War does break out, we should call it Obama’s War in honor of the man who made it necessary.

NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A RESET: Pentagon begins research on missile banned by arms treaty with Russia: report.

“The idea here is we need to send a message to the Russians that they will pay a military price for violation of this treaty,” one U.S. official told the newspaper. “We are posturing ourselves to live in a post-INF world … if that is the world the Russians want.”

The 1987 INF Treaty was a landmark deal between the U.S. and then-Soviet Union that banned ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of violating the treaty, including by deploying a nuclear-tipped cruise missile.

The goal of the United States’s recent research is not to end the treaty, but rather to show Russia what type of U.S. arsenal it could be facing if the pact were to end, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Good.

The Pershing II missile scared the crap out of the Soviets, and its deployment in Europe — over strong protests (financed in part by Moscow) from the Left — helped set the stage the INF Treaty and for victory in the Cold War.

If the Russians want to copy from the Soviet playbook, well, we can copy from Reagan’s.

QUALITY SOFA TIME: 5 Highly Addictive Netflix Shows to Binge Right Now.

WHEN YOU’VE LOST CHRIS CILLIZZA… Al Franken’s absolutely awful apology.

FASTER? PLEASE! Mach Effect Propulsion 2016 – it is proven, replicated and will scale to fast interstellar travel.

ROGER KIMBALL: Anti-Trump Chihuahuas Overlook the President’s Many Achievements.

ANALYSIS: How Putin’s Attempts at Deception Failed in Ukraine.

STARSHIP TROOPERS: New study finds Lockheed’s exoskeleton increases mobility for troops.

SOUNDS HYSTERICAL: Jeff Ross’ Comedy Central “Roast” Demands Open Borders.

WORST POLITICAL CLASS EVER, AS GLENN LIKES TO SAY: Ohio State Rep Wes Goodman Resigns Over ‘Inappropriate Behavior’ with a Man in His Office.

YUGE, IF TRUE: Fisker has filed patents for solid-state batteries.

Though Fisker is a very small car company that is currently taking deposits for its upcoming EMotion electric sedan, there are reasons to believe that the company could fulfill this promise. One of the members of the battery-development team was a co-founder of Sakti3, a company that formed to develop new batteries and announced its research into solid-state technology back in 2011. That company was purchased by Dyson, the vacuum cleaner company, which also intends on producing electric cars that AutoExpress reports will feature solid-state batteries in 2020. Toyota is also expected to have solid-state batteries just ahead of Fisker around 2022.

The reason all these companies are working on developing solid-state batteries is because they present a whole host of advantages over what you’ll find in today’s phones, computers and cars. The two big ones are greater energy density and rapid charging times. Fisker claims the batteries it’s developing have an energy density 2.5 times that of current batteries, and they should be capable of providing a 500-mile driving range. The company also says the batteries could be recharged in as little as a minute.

If they can be produced affordably at scale…

BYRON YORK: 6 scenarios for GOP disaster in Roy Moore Senate race.