ANDREW MALCOLM: What Trump’s attack on Syria did – and did not – do.

Trump campaigned against U.S. military being a global policeman. This single strike doesn’t mean that’s changed. His justification was based on the paramount importance of U.S. national security.

“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States,” Trump said, “to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons….Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed, and failed very dramatically. As a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies.”

It does mean, however, that America’s allies, especially Sunni Arab states like Jordan and Saudi Arabia that were awaiting U.S. leadership, are encouraged. The Saudis have even offered troops to fight ISIS.

It does mean that bad actors such as Syria, Iran, Russia and even loopy North Korea must now factor in Trump’s proven willingness to exercise American clout when he perceives a national security threat.

After the Sarin gas attack with photos of babies gasping for air, Trump acted swiftly and decisively. But not as critics fretted last year, wildly. He could have attacked all six Syrian airfields. He could have ordered Special Forces to simultaneously move in eastern Syria.

Instead, Trump targeted only the specific airfield that launched the gas attack. It was a measured response. No new ground troops. Not even pilots risking capture.

“Measured responses” don’t win wars, but that’s beside the point. The message was sent that the use of chemical weapons won’t be tolerated, but not sent strongly enough to kill Assad and turn Syria into another Libya.

ELI LAKE: The Frivolous Case Against the House Intelligence Chairman.

The committee is investigating whether Nunes violated rules prohibiting the disclosure of classified information when he held press conferences to discuss the reports he had seen. What is the violation? It’s the fact that Nunes said publicly that he had seen summaries of raw intelligence reports that he said inappropriately contained details about the Trump transition and were not related to Russia. While the chairman never acknowledged that the sources of his information were NSA intercepts, any mention of any information collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is technically classified.

This sounds worse than it is. This complaint, brought by a handful of lawyers who have been harsh critics of Trump and by progressive activists like MoveOn.org, is a ruse, meant to distract from the bigger question of how the Obama White House was receiving raw intelligence reports on the activities of Trump and his advisers after the election.

The infraction, if it was one, was not serious. Nunes did not disclose the targets of the surveillance or any details about how the information was collected. There is rarely a day that goes by in Washington when someone in the media is not reporting on classified information. It’s a part of the ecosystem. In most cases these leaks are considered to be the cost of doing business and a way for the press and Congress to hold the national security state accountable.

I think it’s fair to conclude after the last few months that the national security state does not want to be held accountable.

And I agree with Glenn that Nunes’ recusal was a “bad idea.”

CHARLIE MARTIN: Understanding the Health Care Mess.

I was about to add, “You’re gonna need a longer column,” but then I saw it’s the first in a multipart series. There’s a lot of ground to cover, most of it broken by Washington.

KEVIN GLASS: If Trump breaks up the White House press cabal, it may be the most important thing he ever does.

Just last month, there were members of the press questioning why The Daily Signal, a news publication affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, was participating in pool reports. Fred Lucas, The Daily Signal’s White House correspondent, has covered the White House for more than 10 years for CNS News, The Blaze, and now The Daily Signal. He’s an award-winning journalist with impeccable credentials.The mainstream media, however, guards every inch of its status, such as writing pool reports, with shocking ferocity. And it should be noted that nobody took issue with the content of any pool reports, merely that someone they perceive to be an outsider from their club was allowed to write them.This isn’t the first time that the media has thrown a hissy fit, and it’s not exclusively about Trump, or even the conservative media. At the dawn of the Obama White House in 2009, the White House press welcomed Politico, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Salon and more, to the shock and outrage of some of the journalist insiders. Politico was an upstart web-focused publication, and The Huffington Post was famous for being a blog platform for Hollywood celebrities.

Mandarins are always opposed to fresh blood, new faces, and different ways of thinking.

BIPARTISAN DEALS ARE GENERALLY OVERRATED ANYWAY: Democrats’ Conditions for Tax Overhaul Make Bipartisan Deal Unlikely.

Democrats say they oppose net tax cuts and will resist proposals that mostly benefit high-income households. Those priorities diverge from President Donald Trump’s repeated promise to “cut the hell out of taxes” and congressional Republicans’ plans to lower marginal tax rates and repeal the estate tax.

“Tax reform’s got to be responsible and it’s got to be progressive,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.).

Republicans made overtures across the aisle in recent weeks and, in theory, Democratic participation on tax policy could ease legislative challenges for Republicans vexed by slim House and Senate majorities and internal disagreements. By attracting Democratic votes, Republicans could overcome procedural hurdles without uniting fractious wings of their own party.

There is, at some level, rhetorical room for agreement. Mr. Trump says middle-class tax cuts are a top priority. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) says he’s aiming for his plan to be revenue neutral—collecting as much money over the next decade as the current system does. Mix Mr. Trump’s class rhetoric, Mr. Ryan’s budgetary promise and the prospect of spending on infrastructure and there is a recipe for bipartisanship.

Even WaPo’s Wonkblog admits that “America’s taxes are the most progressive in the world,” but maybe Capitol Hill could agree to a “conspicuous consumption” levy on immodest third homes.

TRUMP’S CONUNDRUM: What Policy Will He Adopt After the Bombing?

Ron Radosh, so read the whole thing.

LIZ SHELD: Her new morning brief has everything you need to start off the day smart, sharp, and well-informed.

Well, except for coffee.

HMM: Russian computer programmer arrested in Spain.

A Russian computer programmer, Pyotr Levashov, has been arrested in the Spanish city of Barcelona, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Madrid said on Sunday.

Russian television station RT reported that Levashov was suspected of being involved in hacking attacks linked to alleged interference in last year’s U.S. election.

He was arrested under a U.S. international arrest warrant, RT reported on its website, citing Spanish police.

The embassy spokesman declined to give details on the reasons for Levashov’s arrest. The Spanish police and interior ministry were not available for comment.

What will he be charged with and in whose jurisdiction?

FRED BARNES: How Mitch McConnell Won the Battle to Confirm Gorsuch.

When I interviewed McConnell shortly after Gorsuch was confirmed, he wanted to talk before I asked a question. He had plenty to say. It’s rare there are things “you can say you did on your own.” One was his snap decision to bar the Senate from taking up a Supreme Court nomination until a new president took office. Only the majority leader could do this. “It is the most consequential decision I ever made,” McConnell said.

And it turned out the open seat was an “electoral asset” for Trump. Voters didn’t like him or Hillary Clinton. But once filling the seat became the “principal issue,” Trump had the advantage. Everyone knew she would dump Garland, a moderate, for someone further to the left.

“We didn’t know if the president would be a conservative or not,” McConnell said. However, he had promised to pick a nominee from a list of 20 conservative jurists. (McConnell had advocated such a list.) “This reassured conservatives.” The result: he got 90 percent of the Republican vote and won.

McConnell gave Trump credit for nominating “the single best circuit court judge in the country. It made my job easier.” He described the job as “getting all my frogs in the wheelbarrow.” On cloture, the nuclear option, and confirmation, he got all 52 frogs.

Paul Ryan could learn a thing or two.

CNN NARRATIVE FAIL: Syrian Refugee Slams Clinton, Obama; Praises Trump.

The look on CNN host Brooke Baldwin’s face is priceless. (Bumped, by Glenn).

TO BE FAIR, IT’S DIFFERENT WHEN THEY DO IT:

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: Sorry, Democrats, The Obama Spying Scandal Isn’t Going Away.

But the fact is members of intelligence committees are not perfect about how they handle disclosure of classified information. Schiff has a reputation for lacking discretion, but many other Democratic members would be sure to face problems if mild mention of already public surveillance was cause for censure or oblique denials of FISA warrants. If Republicans wanted to make life difficult for Democrats on the committee, they could. Or as one anonymous official on the committee said, “There is evidence that some Democrats have leaked classified material — both inadvertently and intentionally.”

The House is busy with health care discussions and on a spring break. But Rep. Nunes will continue to dig into the potentially improper handling of information collected on Trump associates. And now he’ll have more time to do so. Those who watched him investigating previous intelligence problems know he is like a dog with a bone when it comes to getting to the bottom of wrongdoing. Whether Democrats agree with Nunes’ decision to go public with the news of the unmasking and dissemination of information about Trump associates, the fact that the public knows about it means that an investigation must continue.

Sorry-not-sorry.

MEGABOTS: The Giant Freaking Robot Fight—U.S. vs. Japan—Is Now Set!

My eleven-year-old is thrilled about this — and Dad might be, too.

KNOWN WOLF: Stockholm Truck Attack Suspect Was Previously Investigated Over Extremism.

Swedish police said Saturday they were racing to draw a more complete profile of the man, who was apprehended Friday night in a Stockholm suburb after a five-hour manhunt, to determine whether he acted alone or as part of a broader network in what authorities called a terrorist attack.

The suspect had been flagged as recently as last year, authorities said. An undisclosed source had alerted authorities that he posed a potential security risk, said Dan Eliasson, the head of Sweden’s national police. Sweden’s security services determined, however, that their information on the man was of a “marginal character,” he added.

“We are of course analyzing his social media, his contacts, his whereabouts to examine his links” to foreign terrorist groups, he said.

Clearly, the West sucks at vetting. Either procedures improve or more people die.

YESTERDAY IT WAS THE RUSSIANS: Hillary Clinton says misogyny ‘certainly’ played a role in 2016 election loss.

Women-hating Russians with frog avatars told her not to campaign in Wisconsin.

FAITH MOORE: New York Times Op-Ed Says Families Where Wife Stays Home Aren’t ‘Egalitarian’

Arbeit macht frei?

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 1860s series of photos illustrating the ‘5 stages of inebriation’

Larry Miller’s take is both more modern and more accurate.

ROGER SIMON: “I’m on RCP again this aft. It’s about the hundredth time in the last two years. (Yes, I bribe them.) Naturally, this brings out the trolls in force. I can’t imagine they have any impact at all on readers. Most of them are too obvious. Some, I suppose, do this out of “love,” but many are obviously paid and have pre-written talking points. You can see this because their responses are always vaguely off-topic. Anyway, what I’d like to know – and perhaps someone in our group has some information – just how much are these people paid and by whom? Yes, I know Soros is often the Grand Paymaster in the Sky, but how exactly does it work?”

I’ve often wondered this myself — any clues?

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Should you stand or walk on the escalator?

Huh. It’s faster if everybody just stands.

Update: Link was weird, fixed now — sorry!

TOM KNIGHTON: Why Climate Change Models Are So Horrendous.

IT CERTAINLY DOESN’T SEEM UNLIKELY:

21ST CENTURY CLAIMS: We Aren’t Using Your Robocar Laser Beam Secrets.

NAME THAT PARTY: Seattle Mayor Murray sued for alleged sexual assault of teen in 1980s.

The 46-year-old Kent man filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court on Thursday claiming Murray “raped and molested him,” as first reported by the Seattle Times.

D.H. alleged he met Murray when he was 15-years-old on a Metro bus, and Murray, who was about 32-years-old at the time, propositioned D.H. to visit his Capitol Hill apartment for sex. The encounters continued for “an extended period of time,” according to court documents.

“Addicted to drugs at the time, D.H. was willing to do whatever Mr. Murray asked for as little as $10-20,” the lawsuit claimed.

Murray’s lawyer denied the allegations and said, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these allegations have occurred in the midst of a mayoral campaign.”

However:

D.H. wasn’t the first person to accuse Murray of sexual abuse. Jeff Simpson of Portland, Ore. also claimed Murray abused him as a teenager in the 1980s.

Simpson, 49, said he first met Murray when he was six-years-old living in an orphanage. Murray was appointed Simpson’s resource parent, according to Simpson, and Simpson said he later went to live with Murray.

“He was my only parent figure,” said Simpson, who now works on a county road crew.

The details are shocking, but report did omit just one: Murray is a Democrat.

STOCKHOLM SHOCKER: Eyewitnesses in Stockholm saying the lorry driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” as it drove into the crowd of shoppers.

YUGE:

"The United States will no longer wait for Assad to use chemical weapons without any consequences. Those days are over." – @NikkiHaley pic.twitter.com/PMb24zpPId

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 7, 2017