GEORGE WILL: End the Filibuster’s Power of Obstruction.

There was no limit on Senate debate until adoption of the cloture rule empowering two-thirds of senators present and voting to limit debate. This occurred on March 8, 1917 — 29 days before Congress declared war on Germany — after a filibuster prevented a vote on a momentous matter, the Armed Ship Bill, which would have authorized President Woodrow Wilson to arm American merchant ships. (He armed them anyway.)

In 1975, imposing cloture was made easier by requiring a vote of three-fifths of the entire Senate, a change the importance of which derived from what Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D., Mont.) did in 1970: He created the “two-track” system whereby the Senate, by unanimous consent or the consent of the minority leader, can set aside a filibustered bill and move on to other matters. Hitherto, filibustering senators had to hold the floor, testing their stamina and inconveniencing everyone else to encourage the majority to compromise. In the 52 years after 1917, there were only 58 cloture motions filed; in the 46 years since 1970 there have been 1,700.

Clearly, the current system is ripe for abuse and in need of reform.

CAN’T KEEP A GOOD JUDGE DOWN: Judge Nap Is Back and Standing by British Intel Story.

OF COURSE THEY DID: Leftists Flip Off Memorial Dedicated To Victims Of Communism.

One death is a tragedy. 100 million deaths is a tasty omelet.

SAUCE FOR THE GANDER: ‘Cards Against Humanity’ Creator Vows To Buy And Publish Congress’s Internet History.

Temkin vowed on Twitter that if the anti-net neutrality bill was passed that he would personally buy the private browsing history of each and every Congress person and Congressional aide who voted for the bill and publish it online for the entire world to see. You know, so they would know what it feels like to have their personal data auctioned off like that.

Now that the bill has passed, Temkin promised people he’ll use his personal wealth to do it and warns against crowdfunding campaigns.

President Trump is about to add his signature to the bill, making this perfectly legal.

“I DON’T WANT THAT”: Ryan Opposes Trump Working With Democrats On Obamacare.

With House Republicans said to make another push to pass Obamacare, perhaps as soon as next week according to a Bloomberg report, some have speculated whether Trump will engage democrats this time to assure at least a few votes from across the aisle. Overnight, however, House Speaker Paul Ryan poured cold water on the idea, saying he does not want President Donald Trump to work with Democrats on overhauling Obamacare.

In an interview with “CBS This Morning” that will air on Thursday and which was previewed by Reuters, Ryan said he fears the Republican Party, which failed last week to come together and agree on a healthcare overhaul, is pushing the president to the other side of the aisle so he can make good on campaign promises to redo Obamacare.

“I don’t want that to happen,” Ryan said, referring to Trump’s offer to work with Democrats.

Carrying out those reforms with Democrats is “hardly a conservative thing,” Ryan said, according to released interview excerpts. “I don’t want government running health care. The government shouldn’t tell you what you must do with your life, with your healthcare,” he said.

A simple repeal ought to do the trick.

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: 5-Year-Old Suspended from School for Pretending a Stick Was a Gun.

GET OUT: Tourists are warned to leave Sharm el-Sheikh and other Egyptian Red Sea resorts IMMEDIATELY over fears of an imminent ISIS attack.

Israel has warned citizens to immediately leave Egypt’s Red Sea resorts and cancel all future travel plans over fears of an ISIS attack.

The country’s counter-terrorism bureau said there is a ‘serious and current threat’ of a terror attack targeting the region, and in particular Israeli tourists.

The Red Sea region includes the tourist destinations of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada, Marsa Alam and Luxor, which are popular with British holidaymakers.

Eitan Ben-David, the head of Israel’s counter-terror bureau, told The Telegraph: ‘We don’t want to cry wolf, wolf. We really believe that the threat is serious.’

“Israeli intelligence,” as Bibi Netanyahu once had to remind Mike Kinsley, “isn’t so bad.”

VETTING: Fingerprints of Refugee Admitted To U.S. Were Found In An Iraq Bunker Used To Hold Hostages In Terrible Conditions.

Based on the fingerprint match found in the Iraqi bunker, Yousif may have been involved in holding hostages with Mashhaadni. As noted, one of those hostages was an American citizen.

Hasan’s wife, Enas Ibrahim, was also arrested and charged “attempting to obtain naturalization contrary to law.” All three individuals live in Virginia. More from the release:

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Yousif, Hasan and Ibrahim are lawful permanent residents and have applied to naturalize and become U.S. citizens. On various applications and forms throughout their respective immigration processes, each has provided an extensive list of family members and information of their respective family trees; however, none listed any reference to Majid.

According to the affidavit, Hasan and Ibrahim also falsely represented their income level while on welfare to obtain an automobile loan.

Katie Pavlich has the entire affidavit at the link.

CHANGE. MAYBE. Abe Scraps Japan’s 1 Percent GDP Defense Spending Cap.

English-language resources hardly address the subject, but the 1 percent policy (which is not law) was, next to the constitution itself, one of the most tenacious obstacles restricting meaningful defense reform in Japan. Like the glacial five-year Midterm Defense Plan system Japan currently utilizes for defense spending, the 1 percent restriction was an antiquated feature that needed to go. Its origins, stretching back to 1976 and reflecting a Japan seeking to halt runaway Cold War defense expenditures, worked for Japan’s own particular situation and era; that of a Japan which turned toward a Japan-based U.S. forward presence as a main deterrent to the Soviet Union, abstaining from both expensive standing armies and pricey nuclear forces. Times have clearly changed.

There is only one immediate implication of this policy adjustment: we can expect Abe to raise the defense budget as high as he and his administration dare beyond 1 percent of GDP. Despite the removal of this significant barrier, Japan’s emaciated defense budget still faces multiple hurdles if it is to grow in order to meet East Asia’s rapidly changing defense environment. First and foremost of these hurdles is the power and entrenchment of the Ministry of Finance. While the Japanese constitution clearly gives the Diet the role of passing a budget, whether or not that budget survives the process is up to the Ministry of Finance.

Just because the people’s representatives pass it doesn’t mean the bureaucracy does it — sound familiar?

DON’T JUDGE XIM! ‘Large Burly Man’ Lurking in Disney Ladies’ Room Should Make Everyone Stop and Think.

CONGRESSMAN TOM EMMER: No, Conservatives Didn’t Bring Down AHCA.

CHELSEA CLINTON: ‘I Am Not Running for Public Office’

But, wait — there’s more:

“If someone steps down or something changes, I’ll then ask and answer those questions at that time. But right now, no, I’m not running for public office.”

Yep, she’ll run for public office.

MAKING DO: Etihad to lend US-bound passengers iPads as ban workaround.

Signing into your iCloud account would give you access to all of your email, notes, bookmarks, iTunes downloads, etc during the flight — just don’t forget to sign back out before your arrival.

PATRICK POOLE: Did a US Airstrike Kill 200 Civilians in Mosul? Maybe Not.

SURPRISE: Turns out Congressional Republicans Don’t Really Want to Cut Spending.

Congress doesn’t seem to want to cut the regulatory state and President Trump has promised not to pursue entitlement reform.

Our longterm fiscal path remains as unsustainable as ever.

GOOD LORD: Indonesian Python Swallows Man Whole, Video Shows.

At least it wasn’t spiders.

DAMON LINKER: The futility of filibustering Neil Gorsuch.

If Democrats had a way to exert power in an act of equal-and-opposite retaliation against Republicans (as they would have if they’d managed to win control of the Senate last November), they’d be justified in doing so. That would be very bad for the Supreme Court, keeping it hobbled with only eight justices. But it might have the salutary effect of teaching Republicans a lesson and therefore making possible a compromise down the road. But Democrats have no such power.

The only thing that gives a filibustering senator the power to prevent a floor vote is a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to end debate. (Republicans hold only 52 seats and so would need at least eight Democrats to break ranks in order to clear that hurdle.) But this rule can itself be changed with a simple majority — and Democrats opted to take this so-called “nuclear option” back in November 2013, when they eliminated the filibuster for other kinds of nominations. This created a precedent that McConnell claims he will follow if Democrats attempt to block Gorsuch: He and his fellow Republicans will simply change the rule, allowing a simple majority to end debate for Supreme Court nominations. An up-or-down floor vote would then follow.

This prospect is what brings Democrats to their dilemma: Should they filibuster Gorsuch and risk having this counter-majoritarian power taken away from them for good?

The answer is no — because Democrats need to hold onto this meager power for the next opening on the court, when the stakes could be far, far higher for liberals.

The beauty of the Reid Option is that it remains just as viable for the GOP to exercise in 2018, 2019, or 2020 as it is today.

And Allahpundit, riffing on yesterday’s post, tweeted, “Really basic strategy, but the left is going to force Schumer to jump off the cliff anyway.”

Everybody knows you never go full Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid…

DOC SHARING: Tech Innovator ‘Nomad’ Hopes to Become the ‘Airbnb of Healthcare’

DREAM BIG: Architects Want To Hang A Skyscraper From An Asteroid.

Clouds Architecture Office is noted for its collaboration with NASA to design a Martian habitat called Mars Ice Home.

The building will be suspended in air by a string of cables. The asteroid will be repositioned for that purpose in a geosynchronous Earth orbit.

Every day, the fancy tower will embark on a journey carving a figure-eight path over Earth’s surface, according to the officials of Clouds Architecture.

Taking the orbital path of Earth, the figure-eight formation will go above the northern and southern hemispheres and cover cities like Havana, Panama City, and New York. The skyscraper will revert to the same position in the sky at the end of each day after 24 hours.

Suitable adjustments in the asteroid’s orbit can make the slowest point of the path happen above New York City.

Presumably Mars Ice Home residents could then drop in for a visit.

IT WAS OFF THE TABLE BY SUNDAY WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE STARTED TALKING ABOUT WORKING WITH DEMOCRATS: Republicans Claim That Obamacare Repeal Is Still On The Table, Don’t Believe Them.

YOUR SCIENTISTS WERE SO PREOCCUPIED WITH WHETHER OR NOT THEY COULD THAT THEY DIDN’T STOP TO THINK IF THEY SHOULD: Scientists Discover Way to Transmit Taste of Lemonade Over Internet.

COUNTING VOTES: Gorsuch May Need Nuclear Path to Supreme Court.

Politico reports Mitch McConnell is working “behind closed doors” to make that happen.

JACOB SULLUM: Anti-Abortion Activists Face Dubious Eavesdropping Charges in California.

Yesterday California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced 15 felony charges against two anti-abortion activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, in connection with their hidden-camera recordings of conversations with Planned Parenthood employees they sought to implicate in the illegal sale of fetal tissue. “The right to privacy is a cornerstone of California’s Constitution, and a right that is foundational in a free democratic society,” Becerra declared. “We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations.”

The right to freedom of the press, which Daleiden and Merritt claim they were exercising, is also foundational in a free democratic society, and it conflicts with California’s dubious definition of the right to privacy. That conflict is especially troubling when law enforcement officials use privacy as a pretext to attack political opponents, which is what seems to be happening in this case.

Shameful — but the Deep State has no sense of shame.

And here’s the kicker:

Surprised?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN):

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’: Proposed legislation bans “fake news.” “Even satirical websites, such as The Onion, could come under fire.”

The new proposal bars the online publication of a “false or deceptive statement designed to influence the vote.” Bye-bye online news. On the flip side, this legislation would probably outlaw lawmakers’ and candidates’ online speech, too.

The bill is proposed by California Assemblyman Edwin “Ed” Chau, a Democrat representing a section of Southern California. The proposal, which is likely unconstitutional on its face, was supposed to have a committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, but it was pulled at the 11th hour.

The measure does have a laudable goal, however. It’s designed to combat the so-called “fake news” that filled the 2016 election season.

There’s nothing laudable about telling adults what they may read, see, or listen to.

ISN’T THERE ANYTHING REAL OUT OF RUSSIA ANYMORE? Russian dressing is actually from Nashua, New Hampshire.