BRIDGET JOHNSON: Russia Slams U.S. Strikes, Warns ‘New WMD Attacks Can be Expected’

GROUNDHOG DAY: Activity Continues at North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site.

Over the past four weeks, there have been unusually high levels of activity at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, especially around the North Portal—the tunnel in which the four most recent nuclear tests have taken place. New commercial satellite imagery from April 2 indicates continued activity in this area and at the Main Administrative Area, while the rest of the facility remains quiet. This pattern of activity could mean a sixth nuclear test is imminent, but the imagery does not provide any definitive evidence of the installation of a nuclear device or the exact timing of such a test.

I hope President Trump brings this up, complete with the photos at the link, in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

NYT today: Missile Strikes on Syria Put U.S. Relationship With Russia at Risk.

NYT on Monday: Trump Tries to Deflect Russia Scrutiny, Citing ‘Crooked Scheme’ by Obama.

C’mon, fellas — which is it?

HEALTH: 23andMe is finally allowed to tell you if you have the genes for Parkinson’s.

Nine other diseases made the FDA’s approval list, including late-onset Alzheimer’s and celiac disease.

I get the feeling that an awful lot of people who think they’re sensitive to gluten are going to be disappointed with their results.

MICHAEL F. CANNON: Here’s How Trump Can Get Congress To Repeal And Replace Obamacare.

The Mo Brooks Method still seems the best and most straightforward.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Google is wading into the battle against online fake news and adding a fact check to its search results.

The Californian tech giant announced on Friday that it is rolling out globally a feature in its search and news results that will assess the authenticity of information shown.

Google isn’t doing this fact-checking itself: Instead, it’s relying on respected independent fact-checking organisations like PolitiFact and Snopes to provide the info.

No bias there.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Sean Davis nails it:

SALON: Donald Trump, who’s totally not Vladimir Putin’s puppet, warned Russia before airstrikes on Syria.

Can you imagine the headlines if Russia hadn’t been warned — doing so in Syria is a routine matter between Moscow and Washington, and has been since President Obama — and Russian personnel had been killed in the attack?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Forget it, Steve, it’s Salontown.

HILLARY BLAMES THE RUSSIANS FOR HER LOSS: ‘More effective theft even than Watergate’

Notice, please, the smug implication that the White House was somehow hers already and that it was stolen from her by others — others who weren’t the American voters.

WAIT… WHAT? For Comment on Gas Attack, NBC Interviews ‘Expert’ Accused of Kidnapping Journalists.

SWEDEN TERROR: Truck plows into department store, killing at least 2.

More at Hot Mic.

UPDATE: And the almost-inevitable attempt at deflection from Chris Cillizza.

DEREGULATION: FCC Chief Ajit Pai Develops Plans to Roll Back Net Neutrality Rules.

The multistep plan that is emerging appears aimed at eventually shifting oversight for net neutrality to the FTC, which has long overseen most internet-related business, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Under federal law, the FTC lost much of its oversight of broadband providers when the FCC adopted its net neutrality policy, because the FCC rules reclassified broadband providers as common carriers subject to the agency’s oversight.

Mr. Pai’s plans likely would reverse that reclassification eventually, so the FTC again would have jurisdiction over the telecommunications carriers. To preserve the basic tenets of net neutrality, the plans would require broadband providers to pledge to abide by net neutrality principles such as no blocking or paid prioritization of internet traffic. That would allow the FTC to go after violators for deceptive or unfair trade practices.

tl;dr? It’s complicated.

THE MISFIT PUNK-ROCKER MAKING CONSERVATIVES LISTEN: A smart writeup of Jason Pye’s unlikely rise from punk-band drummer to inside-the-Beltway influencer.

DEMOCRATS TO WHITE HOUSE: Declassify Susan Rice Intel Reports for Public to See.

Be careful what you wish for…

WINNING:

Doug Mataconis adds, “Hours. They’ve likely got someone waiting in the wings to swear him in soon after the Senate votes this morning.”

I’m normally not a fan of fast-moving government, but I’ll make an exception in this case.

RALPH PETERS: Trump shows we finally have a fearless leader back in the White House.

Trump also ignored Russia’s shameless prevarications. We did warn the Russians to evacuate any of their personnel who were on the base — which may also have alerted the Syrians — but the point was made: Slaughter the innocent and there’s one country left in the world that won’t allow it.

Incontestably, our president became . . . presidential. He passed his first pressing foreign-policy test with dispatch and guts.

To know the full results of our attack, we’ll have to wait for imagery, daylight and bomb-damage assessment. No attack goes perfectly. But Trump just sent a vital message — to the butcher Bashar al-Assad, and also to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and other rogue leaders:

The United States is back. There are, indeed, red lines. And the enemies of humanity cross those lines at their peril.

All of this is true, but it’s also true that the President launched the attack without approval from Congress and no clear and present danger to the United States or our allies.

The precedent for going to war under these conditions was set by the previous Administration, but that doesn’t mean that the current Administration should necessarily follow it.

MATT LEWIS: While the focus is on a few high-profile losses and messes, the president is quietly, steadily racking up big wins.

While the media focuses on sexy topics—Russian spy intrigue, botched Muslim bans, White House palace intrigue, emerging foreign policy challenges, and the health care bill’s collapse—Team Trump has been quietly rolling back job-killing regulations and appointing a boring (by design), yet highly competent, Supreme Court Justice who almost certainly will be confirmed on Friday.

Despite evidence to the contrary, President Trump is making changes in his first 100 days that will affect America for decades to come.

One of his key weapons has been the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a 1996 law that allows Congress to repeal recent regulations. Before Trump took office, this law had been used just once. Since taking office, however, President Trump has signed 11 of these CRAs into law, effectively reversing several last-minute Obama-era regulations.

The window for using this tactic is closing; the CRA can only be used within 60 days of Congress being informed of a new regulation. But here’s where things have the potential to get very interesting: Once a regulation is repealed, agencies are also banned from issuing new rules that are “substantially similar” to the one that was just vetoed.

Use of the CRA isn’t news to Instapundit readers (or to Bill Whittle fans), but Lewis omitted one important detail. Whether due to spite or laziness, many Obama-era agencies never bothered to notify Congress of new regulations — so the 60-day clock has yet to start ticking on regs going back years.

HMM: Lawmakers Say Intel Agencies Are Stonewalling Investigations into Surveillance Leaks. “Sources say that Rice was not the one calling the shots.”

What did the former President know, and when did he know it?

TURKEY’S REFERENDUM: The Dangerous Road to ‘Yes’

Turkey’s plebiscite will ask the electorate to cast a simple Yes/No vote on a slate of 18 proposed amendments to the constitution. Turkey has a long history of constitutional referendums – often heavily politicized – but the amendments proposed in this round are by far the most transformative. If Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) win the Yes vote, the position of prime minister will be abolished and President Erdogan will become both head of state and head of government. He will remain head of the ruling AK Party and will get the power to appoint cabinet ministers.

All this is relatively normal for a presidential system. However, the amendments sought by Erdogan would also grant him the power to issue legislation by decree, to dissolve parliament and to call new elections at will. According to Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the amendments would give Erdogan “strong control over Turkish finances and the judiciary branch.” Under the new system, Erdogan would personally appoint half of the judges in Turkey. A parliament controlled by his AKP would appoint the other half.

The proposed changes would give Erdogan unparalleled authority over the military and security apparatus. He would have the power to declare a state of emergency at will. In fact, the upcoming referendum will be held under a state of emergency, declared by Erdogan after the attempted military coup against him last July.

If Turks approve one-man rule, they’ll also lose the peaceful transfer of power enjoyed by democratic republics. So there’s the question of just how bad Erdogan’s dictatorship would be, but there’s also the question of who — or what — would follow Erdogan.

CODE-SHARING: U.S. judge warns Uber in Waymo self-driving car case.

A U.S. judge on Wednesday warned Uber Technologies Inc it could face a court injunction that would bar a key Uber executive from working on its self-driving car project, in a high-profile case filed by Alphabet Inc’s Waymo unit.

The litigation pits two Silicon Valley giants against each other over technology at the heart of a potential revolution in the auto industry.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said evidence amassed by Waymo to bolster its case of being robbed was extraordinary.

“I’ve never seen a record this strong in 42 years,” Alsup said. A hearing on Waymo’s request for an injunction on Uber’s self-driving program is scheduled for May.

Waymo sued ride services company Uber earlier this year, claiming that former Waymo executive Anthony Levandowski downloaded over 14,000 confidential documents before leaving the company to join Uber. Waymo said Uber benefited from those documents and has sued for damages and to stop Uber from using the technology Levandowski allegedly stole.

Levandowski is one of the most experienced self-driving car engineers in Silicon Valley, and the loss of his expertise would be a major blow to Uber, which has said autonomous vehicles are crucial to future growth.

Crucial enough to steal?

BUT OF COURSE: Student Removed From Campus Event for Bringing Pro-Trump Sign.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Tomorrow is National Beer Day.

Act accordingly.

HMM: Target CEO Wouldn’t Have Approved LGBT Message That Helped Tank Profits.

BACK FROM THE DEAD? House Freedom Caucus signals support for healthcare bill with changes.

THE HILL: Bannon ready for White House ‘gunfight’

MICHAEL LEDEEN: The Real War in ‘Syria’ and the Strategy for Long-Term Victory.

Read the whole thing.