REVENGE OF THE PATRIARCHY: Professors Pull Off Clever Hoax With ‘Penis Paper’, Expose Liberal Academia as a Sham.

TOLERANCE: Notre Dame Students Walk Out of Mike Pence Graduation Speech.

How will these young adults cope with the real world?

BRIAN BEUTLER: Democrats Should Proudly Call for Trump’s Impeachment.

Hillary should make it the focus of her Comeback II 2020: The Glass Ceiling Tour III campaign.

MAKE DIRECT FLIGHTS GREAT AGAIN: Nobody Flies From Saudi Arabia to Israel. Nobody. Trump Just Did.

The two nations have no diplomatic relations. Travelers can’t fly from one country to the other. Planes can’t even fly through the other’s airspace.

In order to travel from one nation to the other requires travelers to take what many call a “cleansing stop.” Often, flyers go to Amman, Jordan, or Cairo, Egypt, before heading on. And travelers who stop in Israel before heading to Saudi Arabia often ask Israeli officials not to stamp their passports (Saudis authorities get visibly unhappy when they see the stamp). Some frequent fliers even have an extra passport so they can keep one clear of the Israeli stamp.

That’s what makes President Trump’s itinerary so interesting. He made Saudi Arabia his first stop, which no doubt greatly pleased the Saudi royal family. Then he flew from Riyadh directly to Tel Aviv, which no doubt made them furious.

In fact, the flight may well have been the first in history from Saudi Arabia to Israel, the Associated Press reported.

Despite what Joseph Curl says here, Saudi Arabia and Israel get along better than their diplomatic status and lack of niceties would indicate, albeit behind the scenes:

“The biggest enemy for both countries is Iran, and there are also the radical terrorist groups like ISIS [Islamic State] that threaten the regional order in the Middle East,” Yaari said. “It is this overall framework that has created the conditions for cooperation between Jerusalem and Riyadh.”

Despite this convergence of interests, Israeli-Saudi cooperation will likely remain hush-hush as long as the Zionist-Arab conflict remains unresolved , Yaari said.

“We need to remember that even if there are ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, it’s only behind the scenes, behind closed doors, since Saudi Arabia can never launch a bilateral peace process with Israel,” she said.

And as recently as February, “Iran blasts cooperation between Israel, Saudi Arabia.”

It seems more likely then that Riyadh, Jerusalem, and Washington orchestrated Trump’s direct flight in order to send a message to Tehran.

IF TRUMP WERE IN PUTIN’S POCKET, WHAT WOULD HE BE DOING DIFFERENTLY? Pretty much everything.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: How the Media Bullied Jimmy Fallon into Hating Trump.

Standing up to bullies usually puts an end to bullying, Jimmy.

SECSTATE TILLERSON: Trump Underscores Terror Fight ‘Has Nothing to Do with Religion’

DRAINING THE SWAMP? Trump moves to block ethics inquiry centered on ex-lobbyists.

The New York Times reports that the White House sent a letter to the head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) challenging its legal authority to request that information.

“It is an extraordinary thing,” Walter Shaub Jr., the director of the ethics office, told the Times. “I have never seen anything like it.”

The letter sent by Mick Mulvaney, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, questions whether the ethics office has the authority to demand information regarding ex-lobbyists who are currently working in the federal government.

“This data call appears to raise legal questions regarding the scope of OGE’s authorities,” the letter reads. “I therefore request that you stay the data call until these questions are resolved.”

Trump signed an executive order in January that enacted a two-year ban on lobbyists being hired for federal government positions in “particular” agencies as part of a broader “ethics pledge.”

This looks more like a turf battle than anything sinister, but that doesn’t mean it looks good.

CHANGE: North Korea says missile meets all specifications, ready for mass-production.

The North fired the missile into waters off its east coast on Sunday, its second missile test in a week, which South Korea said dashed the hopes of the South’s new liberal government under President Moon Jae-in for peace between the neighbors.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of the Pukguksong-2, which confirmed reliable late-stage guidance of the warhead and the functioning of a solid-fuel engine, the KCNA state news agency said.

It quoted Kim as saying the Pukguksong-2 met all the required technical specifications so should now be mass-produced and deployed to the Korean People’s Army strategic battle unit.

Pyongyang has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile programs, even from China, its lone major ally, saying the weapons are needed for defense against U.S. aggression.

Next up: More nuclear tests for making warheads small enough to be delivered by the Pukguksong-2.

WONDERFUL RADIO, MARVELOUS RADIO: Earth’s radio signals may be protecting it from space radiation.

KIM DOTCOM: ‘I Knew Seth Rich. I Know He Was the Wikileaks Source.’

A TRILLION HERE AND A TRILLION THERE… Trump’s Budget Will Slash $1.7 Trillion In Entitlements, Cut Food Stamps By 25%.

Either we apply the brakes to the Gravy Train, or it derails.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Putin calls flap over Trump’s meeting with Russian diplomats ‘political schizophrenia’

The Kremlin has ridiculed the flap in the U.S. over allegations of possible collusion between members of Trump’s campaign during his run for the White House and the president’s seemingly cozy relations with Putin. Moscow has denied meddling in U.S. elections and political affairs.

Putin warned that the United States’ anti-Russian rhetoric could backfire.

“You know what surprises me? They are destabilizing the internal political situation in the United States under anti-Russian slogans,” Putin said, according to Tass. “They either do not understand that they are harming their own country, which means they are just shortsighted, or they understand everything, and that means that they are dangerous and unscrupulous people.”

The denial stinks — Putin’s technique is to sow chaos and reap whatever may come from it. But his analysis of what Democrats and not-just-a-few Republicans are doing to this country is spot-on.

(This story is from last week, but it got lost in the flow — thanks to several Instapundit readers for bringing it to my attention.)

OPEC’S DEAD, BABY: OPEC’s Worst Cheater Will Get Harder to Ignore as Curbs Falter.

Iraq pumped about 80,000 more barrels of oil a day than permitted by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries curbs during the first quarter. If that deal gets extended to 2018, the nation will have even less incentive to comply because capacity at key southern fields is expanding and three years of fighting Islamic state has left it drowning in debt.

“Leaving that productive capacity idle will come with an opportunity cost that Iraq may prove reluctant to bear,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, the London-based head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA. He’s nonetheless optimistic that global inventories will fall by year-end as members like Saudi Arabia pick up the slack for Iraq’s transgressions.

A risk, though, emerges if Iraqi compliance worsens to such an extent that other countries in the 13-member group start cutting corners too, exacerbating a global surplus that’s already erased much of the gains that unfolded after the deal was struck in November.

Have you hugged a fracker today?

SALENA ZITO: The crisis in American journalism benefits no one.

Power corrupts:

Beginning in the 1980s, Washington and New York City newsrooms began to be dominated by people who had the same backgrounds; for the most part they went to the same Ivy League journalism schools, where they made the right contacts and connections to get their jobs.

Yes, elite networks are a thing not just in law schools, as “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance so aptly described of his experiences in law school. They also exist in Ivy League or elite journalism schools.

And the journalists who came from working-class roots found it in their best interest to adopt the conventional, left-of-center views that were filling the halls of newsrooms.

In short, after a while you adopt the culture you exist in either out of survival or acceptance or a little of both. Or you really just wanted to shed your working-class roots for a variety of reasons: shame, aspiration, ascension, etc.

That does not make them bad people – aspiration is the heart of the American Dream — but it did begin the decline of connection between elite journalism institutions such as the New York Times and the Washington Post and the rest of the country.

So when fewer and fewer reporters shared the same values and habits of many of their consumers, inferences in their stories about people of faith and their struggles squaring gay marriage or abortion with their belief systems were picked up by the readers.

“Celebrate diversity” morphed into “Conform, proles” so slowly I hardly even noticed.

WHEN THEY GO LOW… Nancy Pelosi laughs as California Democrats chant ‘F*ck Donald Trump!’ raising 2 middle fingers.

The Calif. Rep. stood by, laughing, as the state’s Democrat Chairman John Burton raised two middle fingers as he encouraged the crowd at the state convention in Sacramento to chant “F**k Donald Trump.”

Democrat leaders at the convention used their time to deride President Donald Trump and beat the familiar drum of tying him to Russia, the Associated Press reported.

Sen. Kamala Harris told the crowd that the president is putting “Russia first, America second.”

“The world, literally the world, is counting on all of you, counting on California to reject Trump’s deception and destructiveness,” Gavin Newsom, the California Lieutenant Governor, said.

But it was Burton who took it to the classless extreme.

“All together now,” he told the crowd, encouraging them to chant as he raised his two middle fingers. “F**k Donald Trump.”

Daddy issues.

BRUCE RIEDEL: Saudis Tie Themselves to an Unpredictable U.S. President.

Perhaps, but that would still be an improvement over the prior situation where a U.S. President tied himself to the utterly predictable Iranians.

GOOD MORNING: Start the new week with Liz Sheld’s morning brief.

CHANGE: Legal marijuana outsold both Viagra and tequila in 2016.

Some might argue that legal marijuana obviates the need for tequila and Viagra.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: If the President Is Not the Subject of a Criminal Investigation, Then Say So.

MAYBE: Elon Musk’s Production Plan For New Tesla: Too Fast, Too Furious?

Model 3 production risks run high. Tesla plans to bypass the usual manufacturing-prototype stage and go straight to full car production. Most automakers also test their production-line process for a new model by building vehicles with relatively inexpensive prototype tools. Tesla is skipping that step as well.

By omitting steps, Tesla hopes to save time and money. The risk is that manufacturing problems could be costly to fix, slow production and damage its reputation.

As Tesla moves to ramp up production another huge project is playing out, in partnership with Panasonic. Together they are building the massive battery-production plant in Nevada that’s crucial to reaching Model 3 pricing goals.

At the corporate level, Tesla also is working to integrate SolarCity into its business operations.

In the earnings conference call that followed Tesla’s first-quarter results, Musk was asked if any critical outstanding items could slow the Model 3 launch or deliveries.

“There’s plenty of things with uncertainty, but I don’t know anything that would prevent us from starting production in July, and exceeding 5,000 units a week by the end of the year,” said Musk. “It’s been pretty close to the bull’s-eye.”

Prototyping exists to help discover the unknown-unknowns Musk seems so confident don’t exist.

ANDREW KLAVAN: A Win for the Deep State.

Nothing against the integrity or honesty of former FBI head Robert Mueller, but as we saw with the investigation into the absurdly trivial Valerie Plame affair during the W. administration, a virtually untouchable prosecutor and a staff of hungry, ambitious youngsters looking for a big score is a destructive combination. We can expect months or years of fevered headlines and speculation, all of it serving to paralyze tremulous Republicans and thus hamper the Trump agenda.

Congratulations to those who seek to undermine the results of a fair and square election. I’m old enough to remember when Democrats found that idea “horrifying” but I guess things have changed since then. Life comes at you fast.

The Media-Dem-State Complex used its patented Hysterical Wave™ technique to achieve its goal: a poorly substantiated media story from an anonymous Deep State source followed by echo-chamber histrionics from Democrats, then, just as the public catches on to one scam, a new poorly substantiated story followed by more histrionics and so on.

The Left keeps using this technique because it keeps working.

IMAGINE THE COCKTAIL POSSIBILITIES: China claims breakthrough in mining ‘flammable ice’

QUESTION ASKED — AND ANSWERED: Convincing your gullible flock that we live in a republic easily annexed by a rickety former superpower is not putting your country above your party.

David Harsanyi:

To see the world from this prism, Time magazine visualizes the Kremlinizing of White House. The magazine’s newest cover merges St. Basil’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral with the White House (the substance of the feature doesn’t even really reflect the cover).

The true “constitutional crisis” is the concerted effort to “resist” or undermine the “norm” of a peaceful transfer of power after election.
— Randy Barnett (@RandyEBarnett) May 18, 2017

One wonders what the reaction would be if a major magazine had run a cover of the White House conflated into an Iranian mosque while Barack Obama was sending pallets of cash to the Islamic Republic? Of course, that cover would have been hysterical—and not in a funny way. Simply because the former president believed that appeasing the Iranians was in the strategic interests of the United States doesn’t make him treasonous, just a terrible president. Not the first, or last.

Does putting your country above party mean never being skeptical of the intentions of an intelligence community—one that has lied to the American people repeatedly over the years—that is trying to overturn an election?

The Party always comes first, comrade.

HMM: Evidence of a Decline in Electricity Use by U.S. Households.

This pattern stands in sharp contrast to previous decades. During the 1990s and 2000s, for example, residential electricity consumption per capita increased by 12% and 11%, respectively, with increases in almost all states. Previous decades experienced much larger increases.

So what is different? Energy-efficient lighting. Over 450 million LEDs have been installed to date in the United States, up from less than half a million in 2009, and nearly 70% of Americans have purchased at least one LED bulb. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) are even more common, with 70%+ of households owning some CFLs. All told, energy-efficient lighting now accounts for 80% of all U.S. lighting sales.

It is no surprise that LEDs have become so popular. LED prices have fallen 94% since 2008, and a 60-watt equivalent LED lightbulb can now be purchased for about $2. LEDs use 85% less electricity than incandescent bulbs, are much more durable, and work in a wide-range of indoor and outdoor settings.

What finally got me on board with LEDs wasn’t just the price decline, but color-shifting bulbs able to produce warmer light when dimmed.

Also, for the most pleasing results, try to avoid installing LEDs with a CRI (color rendering index) of less than 90.