REINCE PRIEBUS AND SEAN SPICER: White House looking “substantively and then both logistically” at amending the Constitution to expand libel law at the expense of the 1st Amendment.

PROCUREMENT: The Air Force Plans to Fly 100-Year-Old Planes.

A hundred years ago, one state-of-the-air warplane was Standard Aircraft Corporation’s Standard J with a top speed of 106 miles per hour. Although to be fair, its wooden frame and small size probably made it quite stealthy.

WE’VE LOST OUR DAMN MINDS: Study Says Breastfeeding Should Not Be Called ‘Natural’ “Coupling nature with motherhood … is ethically inappropriate.”

This one could also be filed under “This Is How You Get More Trump.”

STEVE RATTNER: Trump’s Tax Cuts May Be More Damaging Than Reagan’s.

I’m willing to take that risk.

Of course, what Rattner failed to address — and what Trump and the GOP Congress seem comfortable ignoring, too — is that we don’t have a revenue problem. What we have is a spending problem.

CNN PRESIDENT JEFF ZUCKER: ‘Fox is state-run TV’

Asked for his assessment of the cable news landscape in the era of President Trump, Zucker began his reply by saying: “Obviously Fox News is, uh,” then paused for more than 11 seconds. “So, look, there’s three cable news networks. Certainly in primetime and in the morning, Fox is state-run TV and is extolling the line out of the White House.”

A spokeswoman for Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zucker said MSNBC “has become the opposition” and CNN “is seeking the truth.”

“Do you think the other two networks are not broadcasting the truth?” the New Yorker’s David Remnick asked.

“Well, I think that there are clear agendas at work at the other cable news networks depending on their political points of view,” Zucker replied.

Physician, heal thyself.

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED: Reaction To Bret Stephens’ Global Warming Column Shows Left Isn’t Interested In Debate.

David Harsanyi:

For his debut New York Times column, Bret Stephens penned a tepid article in which he made the completely rational suggestion that both sides of the climate-change debate might fare better if they were open to hearing out the opposition’s arguments. Perhaps then, he argues, they could better work toward some sort of solution. It’s the type of platitude the Left is always pretending they want to hear from conservatives.

They don’t. The overwhelming reaction, as usual, was “Burn the witch!” If you challenge climate change alarmism, you’re a denier of science. If you believe Obamacare is flawed policy, you support killing poor Americans. If you support tax cuts, you’re a pawn of the plutocracy. There is a perfunctory reaction for every issue; a prefabricated smear devised just for the occasion. Every one is meant to circumvent debate while imbuing the Left’s position with a (fake) patina of morality and “science.”

Within this world, there’s no space left for any conversation that doesn’t begin with “You’re right. What can I do to help?”

“Thank you, sir. May I have another?” might have been more apt.

THAT’S FAR KINDER THAN COMMUNISTS TREAT THEIR FOES: French Police Use Tear Gas on May Day Protesters as Presidential Election Nears.

VIDEO: Trump Loses It on Reporter for Asking About His Obama Wiretapping Claims.

WAR ON MEN? Student penalized for using word ‘man’ on his essay.

“Thoughtful paper, although the writing-mechanics errors are killing you,” Professor Jack Davis wrote at the bottom of the paper. He gave the student a B minus, according to a copy of the essay published in the student news outlet the Daily Nerv.

Davis circled “man” and referenced his Writing Mechanics Exercise #20, which draws a distinction between “mankind” and “humankind.”

Davis defended the penalization in an email to The College Fix. He explained that the “exercise and inclusion of ‘humankind’ are consistent with the Chicago Manual of Style, the style and the usage guide followed in the discipline of history.”

Davis also said the exercise is “not to enforce political correctness” but is “both a grammar refresher and a style and user guide.”

It was also not for the use “man” alone that Poirier lost points. Rather, Davis explained to The Fix that students lose points when they don’t follow two or more standards.

“I do not lower a student’s grade for only one inconsistence, and I single out no student as an example,” Davis said.

Poirier’s paper was selected for class discussion, having been emailed to his classmates “with anonymity strictly maintained,” according to Davis.

But Poirier decided to publicly defend his use of the word “man” during the class discussion, calling it politically motivated, according to the Daily Nerv student news outlet.

It’s complicated.

TURNABOUT: Japan helicopter carrier conducts operation to protect US ships.

This is a bigger deal than just a routine escort mission:

The MSDF helicopter carrier Izumo left the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, on Monday morning. The mission, ordered by Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, is aimed at deterring the North Korean regime, which attempted to test fire a ballistic missile on Saturday, from further provocations by demonstrating a robust U.S.-Japan alliance.

The carrier is scheduled to join a U.S. supply vessel in the Pacific on Monday and escort it on its journey to waters off the island of Shikoku in western Japan.

Under the new legislation, Japan’s SDF can provide protection for U.S. forces in ordinary times using a limited, minimum number of weapons to the extent needed to carry out a mission.

Today’s mission shows that Japan’s attitude towards the military has moved far away from its postwar constitutionally mandated pacifism, and towards something more assertive.

What the report left unsaid is that while the Izumo and her sister ship Kaga are classed as “helicopter destroyers,” they could conceivably carry and launch F-35B VTOL fighters — which would put Japan back in the power-projection business for the first time since 1945. Only this time, hand-in-hand with the U.S. Navy.

Beijing, which had previously protested that the Izumo is an “aircraft-carrier in disguise,” is on notice.

SLAM DUNK? Student Sues College That Expelled Him Hours Before Being Exonerated.

YES, OF COURSE: Neither Ann Coulter nor Linda Sarsour should be censored.

HMM: EU prepares for post-Brexit membership for united Ireland.

In a step that may stoke concerns in Britain that Brexit could hasten the fragmentation of the UK, diplomats are planning to ask leaders of the EU’s 27 post-Brexit member countries to endorse the idea in a summit on Saturday.

It would allow the province to follow the example of German reunification in 1990 and reflect the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

The agreement allows a referendum on reuniting Ireland where there is reason to believe a majority in the province is in favour.

Brussels is playing hardball.

THE FANTASY-BASED COMMUNITY: Cersei Lannister, Hillary Clinton, human nature, and bad government.

FACEPALM: Facebook and Google confirmed as victims of $100M phishing scam.

Both companies confirmed to Fortune that their employees were victims of the phishing scam, where the perpetrator — 48-year-old Evaldas Rimasauskas — forged email addresses, invoices, and contracts to swindle Facebook and Google into paying for electronic supplies. The payments were deposited into bank accounts in Latvia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Hungary, and Lithuania.

The court documents unsealed by the DoJ last month described the two tech companies as a “multinational technology company, specializing in internet-related services and products, with headquarters in the United States,” and a “multinational corporation providing online social media and networking services.” There are hundreds of companies that could have fit the above descriptions, but the reveal makes it pretty obvious in hindsight.

How much of your data do you entrust to these two companies?

WOW: ‘Lucky, lucky me.’ A San Antonio veteran marks his 108th birthday.

BUT WOULD THEY GIVE IT BACK? Turkey’s Erdogan will tell Trump Turkey could help retake Raqqa.

NO, REALLY: Mark Zuckerberg, Man of the People.

BREAKING: Jim DeMint out at Heritage.

WELL, YES: Lawyer for Berkeley Republicans: University Engaged in ‘Clear Censorship’

Anyone talking about “safe spaces” is trying to hide their opposition to free speech. Anyone threatening violence isn’t even bothering to hide it.

CONCENTRATE AND ASK AGAIN: Can California hit 1.5M zero-emission vehicles by 2025?

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY: The Democrats’ First 100 Days.

Matthew Continetti:

Democrats feel betrayed. The Electoral College betrayed them by making Trump president. Hillary Clinton betrayed them by running an uninspiring campaign. James Comey betrayed them by reopening the investigation into Clinton’s server 11 days before the election. Facebook betrayed them by circulating fake news. This sense of resentment isn’t so different than the sort Democrats attribute to Trump supporters: irritation at a loss of status, vexation at changed circumstances. The despondence of a liberal is alleviated when he sees throngs of protesters, hears Samantha Bee, scrolls through Louise Mensch’s tweets.

Makes him feel better. But his party is in tatters, reduced to 16 governors, 30 state legislative chambers, a historically low number of state legislative seats, 193 members of the House, 46 senators. The Democrats are leaderless, rudderless, held together only by opposition to Trump. The most popular figure on the left refuses to call himself a Democrat while sitting alongside the newly elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. That chairman, dirty-talking Tom Perez, represents a professional, technocratic class that supports Wall Street and globalization as long as there is room for multiculturalism and social liberalism. That is a different strategy from both the 50-state approach of Howard Dean, Rahm Emanuel, and Schumer that brought Democrats control of Congress in 2006, and the anti-Wall Street, protectionist, single-payer left of Bernie Sanders. Perez fights with Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi over whether there is room for pro-lifers in the party—Perez thinks not. Pelosi enjoys the distinction of being an American political figure less popular than Donald Trump.

What is the Democratic agenda?

The question can be answered with just three words: “Resist we much.”

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Shale investments have surged by $100 billion, Rystad says.

Norwegian consultancy Rystad Energy estimates $100 billion in investment funds has flowed into the U.S. shale industry over the past year, propping up domestic drilling by 60 percent. So-called completion activity – procedures like hydraulic fracturing that stimulate shale wells – has gone up 30 percent, Rystad said.

And there’s no sign things will slow down. Shale investments could climb another 50 percent this year, Rystad analyst Espen Erlingsen said in a written statement.

A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, pretty soon you’re talking real money.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: Does Judge Orrick Think President Obama ‘Fundamentally Transformed’ Executive Orders?

DO-NOTHING CONGRESS: Republicans Fail In Second Attempt To Repeal Obamacare.

Late on Thursday night, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy confirmed that, as expected, the GOP leadership would not bring up a revised ObamaCare repeal bill to the floor this week, after it became clear Thursday night that the 216 GOP votes needed to pass the healthcare bill had not materialized. At least 21 Republicans had come out against the bill, with many more undecided. Leaders can only afford 22 GOP defections.

After a two-hour meeting in Speaker Paul Ryan office in the Capitol, McCarthy told reporters that the GOP had again failed to whip enough support for the bill: “we are not voting on healthcare tomorrow or Sunday.”

He promptly then downplayed the adverse healthcare development, saying leaders had been discussing the short-term stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown.

“We’ve been making great progress, and when we have the votes we’ll vote on it.” Just not yet.

So yes, another embarrassing failure for the president and House speaker.

In 2009, the Democrats set out to “fundamentally transform” health coverage, and were willing to sacrifice the House to get it done. They assumed, and apparently rightly so, that the ratchet effect would remain in full force and that the Republicans would never dare undo what they had done.

Until the GOP is as bold, they will continue to fail. Embarrassingly.