AND VIEWERS DON’T STICK TO ESPN: ESPN Reporters Say They’re Not Going To ‘Stick To Sports’

FAUSTA WERTZ: A week of pearl-clutching.

The one thing that is clear from the start of the Trump presidency is that the media insists that it owns the narrative, regardless of the emergence of independent media, or whether, in this instance, people don’t care about a career bureaucrat, who, as Byron York points out (emphasis added),

is the FBI director who did not tell the Director of National Intelligence that the FBI had opened a counter-intelligence investigation involving Russia and the 2016 election.

The liberal media (I repeat myself) owned the narrative for so long that they took Hillary’s victory as a given. After the American people went against that narrative, the media will do anything to take Trump down, and will clutch ever-larger pearls, to the detriment of actual news.

Some of those pearls are the size of ice cream scoops.

Read the whole thing.

AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR: Security situation in Afghanistan likely to get worse.

ANDREW KLAVAN: President Troll on the Planet Hysteria.

OUCH: Retail Sales Miss Across The Board; Grow At Slowest Pace Of 2017.

We could sure use some tax reform about now.

SPENGLER: The Existential Roots of Trump Derangement Syndrome.

THE RED PLANET IS A HARSH MISTRESS: 5 Ways Mars Can Kill.

BIG IFS: Six ‘Ifs’ Stand Between AHCA and Successful Passage.

RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: Indonesian Islamist leader says ethnic Chinese wealth is next target.

The leader of a powerful Indonesian Islamist organization that led the push to jail Jakarta’s Christian governor has laid out plans for a new, racially charged campaign targeting economic inequality and foreign investment.

In a rare interview, Bachtiar Nasir said the wealth of Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority was a problem and advocated an affirmative action program for native Indonesians, comments that could stoke tensions already running high in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

“It seems they do not become more generous, more fair,” the cleric said, referring to Chinese Indonesians, in the interview in an Islamic center in South Jakarta. “That’s the biggest problem.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world:

And here you’ll find a much-needed reminder for Dowd.

WSJ EDITORIAL BOARD: The fastest way to lose Congress is by not repealing ObamaCare.

I’ve been saying this for three months.

A SLEEPING GIANT: America’s export machine cranks up.. “Shipments of oil and gas hit new highs in 2016. As drilling picks up and new infrastructure is built, 2017 could be another record breaker.”

The bigger change, however, was that US oil was able to find its way to markets around the world, reflecting broad demand for the light sweet crude coming out of US shale oilfields. Before the lifting of the ban, nearly all exported US crude went to Canada, which held a valuable exemption from the long-standing restrictions. In 2016, US oil found its way to 26 different countries, though Canada remained the biggest buyer, pulling in nearly 60% of exports. The Netherlands, which funnels crude throughout Europe, was the second largest buyer at 38,200 b/d.

Italy and the UK were also sizable importers. Curaçao, where Venezuela’s PdV blends its own heavy oil with US light oil for re-export or to feed its refinery on the island, was the third-largest buyer.

Early 2017 figures point to rising crude exports as production picks up and new infrastructure is built as oil fills the gaps left by Opec’s cuts. Exports for the first quarter were 0.775m b/d, compared with 415,000 b/d over the same period in 2016. Rising output from the Permian is helping push crude exports to new highs. Most of the Permian’s 2m b/d-plus in output is linked via pipeline to the Gulf Coast, which is saturated with light tight oil. Domestic supplies have already backed out virtually all imports of other light grades in the Gulf Coast, leaving the new Permian barrels little space except for the export market.

Have you hugged a fracker today?

THEY’LL GET RIGHT ON THAT, KEITH: Keith Olbermann Pleads with Spy Agencies Around the World to Help Him Take Down Trump.

It hardly seems likely that even the Deep State Obama holdovers in the American intelligence community want to get on board with Olbermann.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Facebook Targets Low-Quality Links With Spam-Fighting AI.. “A new algorithm will automatically purge posts in your News Feed that link to sites with lots of disruptive or shocking ads.”

Disruptive — to whom?

JUST WAIT UNTIL THE PASSENGERS FIND OUT: Airlines Fret About Laptop Ban From Europe During Peak Season.

Extending electronics restrictions — now in place for travel from some Middle Eastern and African airports — to Europe would disrupt one of the world’s busiest and most lucrative travel markets just ahead of the peak summer tourism season. It could also hinder business passengers’ ability to work on their laptops on long-haul routes across the Atlantic.

Two travel trade groups, the Global Business Travel Association and the U.S. Travel Association, issued statements Thursday saying genuine security risks should be addressed, but also urging the U.S. Homeland Security department to be as flexible as possible to minimize disruptions.

“The question remains whether the targeted application of policies banning personal electronics is an effective measure to reduce the risk of terrorism,” Michael McCormick, GBTA executive director, said in a statement Thursday.

It’s certainly an effective way to expose the heavy-handed fecklessness of Homeland Security. The frequent business travelers I’ve spoken to are just about ready to engage in open revolt against the U.S. government, too.

THERE IS ONLY ZUUL: Spiky Ankylosaurus Looks Like Monster from ‘Ghostbusters’

FAKE NEWS: Rod Rosenstein Says He is Not Resigning and Never Threatened To.

Rod Rosenstein is not resigning and has never threatened to do so. The final definitive account came from the Deputy Attorney General’s own mouth. Liz McKernan, a Senior Online News Producer at Sinclair Broadcast Group, managed corner Rosenstein in Washington and managed to pry the answers out of him as he walked down a hallway.

“No I’m not quitting,” said Rosenstein.

When pressed about whether he threatened to quit, Rosenstein responded “no.”

That ought to settle that, but I have the feeling the meme will live on.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): So how many fake news Trump-scandal stories have there been this week? Please list all the examples you can think of in the comments!

SPACE RACE II: China takes aim at the Moon with long-term cabin trial.

Science students have moved into a cabin to simulate life in a lunar-like environment for up to 200 days.

The goal is to prepare for a long-term space mission with no input from the outside world.

China has poured huge funding into its space programme to rival that of the US and Russia.

Four postgraduate students from the astronautics university of Beihang on Wednesday moved into the cabin, ambitiously called the Yuegong-1, or Lunar Palace in English.

They will stay in the cabin for 60 days, followed by another group who will stay for 200 days. The first four will then return for yet another 105 days.

According to state news agency Xinhua, one of the main elements of the experiment is to explore is how a space mission could be entirely self-contained over a long period of time.

Human waste will undergo a bio-fermentation process, and crops and vegetables are to be grown with the help of food and waste by-products.

China’s space program is progressing much like their naval expansion program: With patience and determination.

FASCINATING: A game theorist takes on North Korea, artillery, nuclear missiles, and international extortion.

It’s a longer piece, and impossible to excerpt. But it comes highly recommended if you have the ten minutes or so to spare.

THE EPIC OF SEBASTIAN GORKA: Holocaust Manipulation for Political Purposes.

KIMBERLY STRASSEL: Why James Comey Had to Go. “The FBI head’s sense of perfect virtue led him to ignore his own enormous conflicts.”

We don’t know what these things were, but it seems the head of the FBI had lost confidence — even before TarmacGate — that the Justice Department was playing it anywhere near straight in the Clinton probe. So what should an honor-bound FBI director do in such a conflicted situation? Call it out. Demand that Ms. Lynch recuse herself and insist on an appropriate process to ensure public confidence. Resign, if need be. Instead Mr. Comey waited until the situation had become a crisis, and then he ignored all protocol to make himself investigator, attorney, judge and jury.

By the end of that 15-minute July press conference, Mr. Comey had infuriated both Republicans and Democrats, who were now universally convinced he was playing politics. He’d undermined his and his agency’s integrity. No matter his motives, an honor-bound director would have acknowledged that his decision jeopardized his ability to continue effectively leading the agency. He would have chosen in the following days—or at least after the election—to step down. Mr. Comey didn’t.

Which leads us to Mr. Comey’s most recent and obvious conflict of all — likely a primary reason he was fired: the leaks investigation (or rather non-investigation). So far the only crime that has come to light from this Russia probe is the rampant and felonious leaking of classified information to the press. Mr. Trump and the GOP rightly see this as a major risk to national security. While the National Security Agency has been cooperating with the House Intelligence Committee and allowing lawmakers to review documents that might show the source of the leaks, Mr. Comey’s FBI has resolutely refused to do the same.

He should feel worse than “mildly nauseous.”

ANOTHER TAX PATRIOT: Ex-Rep. Corrine Brown guilty on fraud, tax evasion charges.

GOOD MORNING: Liz Sheld’s morning brief goes great with coffee.

JOHN MOORE: North Korea’s Stealth WMD.

If undergraduates can design and use genetic material, then North Korea has the capability. It would be a mistake to underestimate them — just look at their missile program.

North Korea began a biological weapons program in the 1960s and is believed to be able to produce smallpox, anthrax, tularemia, and a number of other pathogens suitable for bioweapons. These may already be on missiles aimed at South Korea and Japan.

Worse, North Korean intelligence agents may have them, ready to strike in the U.S. North Korea’s intelligence agency has a long history of operating in free countries. Their assassination of ruler Kim Jong-un’s half brother in a Malaysian airport could have as easily used smallpox. That attack may have been meant to send two messages to us: they are willing to use nerve gas, and they can deliver chemical or biological weapons in foreign countries.

Read the whole thing.

I’m old enough to remember when an American president was mocked for including North Korea in a terrorist Axis of Evil.

HMM: Turkey tones down criticism of Trump’s Syria policy.

Ankara strongly objected to a US decision to directly arm Syrian Kurds who are regarded by Turkey as a threat to its security.

But, in an interview with the Financial Times, Binali Yildirim, prime minister, indicated that Turkey had been reassured by James Mattis, US defence secretary, whom he met in London on Thursday.

“Turkey’s concerns are understood but on the ground this was a tactical alliance and they had no choice,” said Mr Yildirim, referring to the US argument that the Syrian Kurds — which Turkey regards as a terrorist group on its border — will be vital in the battle to capture Isis’s northern Syria heartland of Raqqa.

“The defence secretary on numerous occasions made very, very clear, an unequivocal commitment that they would never allow those weapons to be turned against Turkey,” he added.

Or it could be now that the Kurds will be better able to defend themselves, Ankara has suddenly remembered the importance of cooperation with Washington.

THE AUDACITY OF HYPOCRISY: Maxine Waters Thinks It Would’ve Been Fine for Hillary to Fire Comey, But Doesn’t Support Trump Firing Him.

I had to read that headline twice.