WOMENS’ RIGHTS UPDATE: Dutch woman jailed in Qatar after reporting rape convicted of ‘illicit sex’

A Dutch woman who has been in jail in Qatar since mid-March after she reported being raped, has been found guilty of “illicit consensual fornication” and being “drunk in a public place.”

At a court hearing in Doha Monday, the 22-year old, whom CNN has identified only as Laura, was handed a one-year suspended sentence and placed on probation for three years for the sex-related charge, and fined 3,000 Qatari Riyals ($823) for being drunk outside a licensed location.

She’ll almost certainly be deported immediately.

A Syrian man also appeared alongside her and was found guilty of the same crimes. He was sentenced to 100 lashes for the illicit fornication charge and a further 40 lashes for the illegal consumption of alcohol. As a Muslim he is not allowed to drink at all under Qatari law.

The woman may have been slipped a drugged beverage by someone at the bar, but at least the worst penalty she faces — for having been raped — is a fine and deportation.

RESET: NATO Chief: 4 Battalions Going to Baltic States, Poland.

Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, said alliance defense ministers will formally approve the deployment plan drafted by NATO military planners at a meeting that begins Tuesday in Brussels.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, four of NATO’s members that feel most threatened by Russia, will each be reinforced by “a robust multinational battalion,” Stoltenberg told a news conference.

“This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally,” the NATO chief said.

Stoltenberg said the battalions will be commanded by NATO military leaders, and deployed on a rotational basis rather than being based permanently in the host countries.

For what it’s worth, the last time relations with Moscow were this tense, the US alone kept about 7 divisions permanently deployed in West Germany.

NO, IT ISN’T CALLED “BOEHNER”: Australian Researchers Believe They’ve Found the World’s Ugliest Color.

BOOZE, SMOKES, AND CONDOMS RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR: The new age of alcohol.

Never before has Europe seen an app dedicated to the late-night delivery of alcoholic beverages until the launch of Bevy, one of London’s emerging tech startups. With operations running until 5 a.m., plans to become a 24/7 business and a model ready for rapid scale, Bevy is redefining on-demand services through increased access to liquor.

Designed for ultimate convenience, the app is built with GPS technology for tracking deliveries and offers a zero minimum spend along with a wait time of only 30 minutes. Appealing to those enjoying nightlife, Bevy additionally delivers mixers, tobacco, vape products and condoms.

If Bevy ever makes it to the US, the howls are going to be ear-shattering.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Disneyland Is Testing New Interactive Droids That Will Roam Its Expanded Star Wars Lands.

Disney is the best thing to happen to Star Wars since George Lucas opted not to direct The Empire Strikes Back.

HEALTHY COMPETITION: Regulator says too many drugmakers chasing same cancer strategy.

Perhaps some kind of anti-dog-eat-dog rule is called for.

HMMM: Donald Trump’s polling surge has faltered — and Democrats haven’t even united.

Most candidates enjoy a nice little honeymoon between securing the nomination and the primetime acceptance speech.

BIAS: Facebook admits rogue employees may have shown bias against conservatives.

Rogue?

SHOCKER: Hillary Clinton Used Leadership PAC as “Slush Fund” in 2008-09.

Hill PAC dates back to 2001, but was dormant while Clinton ran for president. She relaunched Hill PAC after suspending her campaign in June 2008 and tossing her support to Barack Obama.

In an October 2008 article headlined “Democrats Have Reason to Celebrate: Hill PAC is Back,” the Washington Post cast it as a big win for down-ballot races.

“We’re throwing everything we’ve got into making sure [Obama] stands before the nation as a president with the political strength to break the gridlock, get things done, and start progress going in America again,” Clinton wrote to supporters in October. “And with a filibuster-proof Senate, we’ll be able to bring the change this country so desperately needs.”

A Hill PAC email sent the day before the election read: “I hope you will take action by joining us in this final push,” just above a button to contribute.

But only 11 percent of the relaunched Hill PAC’s spending ultimately went to candidates, filings show. Between June 2008, when Clinton dropped out of the presidential race, and the PAC’s termination the next summer, Hill PAC raised about $3.9 million but contributed just $421,500 to candidates.

Follow the money — if you can.

RUM, SODOMY, THE LASH, AND A TOTAL LOSS OF ELECTRICAL POWER IN THE PERSIAN GULF: Britain’s Type 45 guided missile destroyers have a serious design flaw.

(Classical reference in the headline.)

IT’S EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK IT IS: How Clinton Donor Got on Sensitive Intelligence Board.

A prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates and contributor to the Clinton Foundation, who later traveled with Bill Clinton on a trip to Africa, Rajiv K. Fernando’s only known qualification for a seat on the International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) was his technological know-how. The Chicago securities trader, who specialized in electronic investing, sat alongside an august collection of nuclear scientists, former cabinet secretaries and members of Congress to advise Hillary Clinton on the use of tactical nuclear weapons and on other crucial arms control issues.

“We had no idea who he was,” one board member told ABC News.

No biggie, just nuclear security issues.

POLL: Majority thinks Clinton is lying about emails.

That’s because she’s lying about her emails.

PIVOT: Obama’s strategy to thwart China in South China Sea showdown ‘almost entirely meaningless’

Retired Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force(JMSDF) Rear Admiral Sumihiko Kawamura, the former vice commandant of the Joint Staff College, told The Sekai Nippo that “the Obama administration’s strategy of freedom of navigation is intended to be a gesture indicating they do not recognize the seas around the artificial islands as territorial waters, but I think this is almost entirely meaningless.

“What the U.S. is currently doing is called ‘innocent passage.’ Innocent passage refers to passage through a nation’s territorial waters by another nation’s military vessels within 12 nautical miles of the shore, taking only the minimum of action necessary and without causing any alarm or intimidation. The passage of military vessels is permitted so long as it is innocent passage. According to the statements by US Department of Defense, U.S. Navy vessels are making innocent passage. That is to say, their actions imply that they recognize the area as Chinese territorial waters, which has the opposite of the intended effect.”

As intended by whom?

20 MINUTES OF ACTION: Ott, Whittle, and Green on the Stanford rape sentence.

Full disclosure: I’m Green.

CIVIL WAR: 4-in-10 GOP insiders want to derail Trump at the convention.

The majority of GOP insiders, a little more than 60 percent, expressed either hesitance or disdain for such an effort. Many warned against overturning the will of the GOP electorate: Trump has won 1,447 bound delegates and has commitments from another 95 unbound delegates — putting him well over the 1,237 needed to clinch the nomination.

But with just six weeks to go until the GOP convention, more than a third want to see the party throw out those rules, unbind the delegates and allow them to choose a different candidate. For many of them, it isn’t as much about winning this year’s election: Trump as the nominee, they believe, represents an existential threat to the party.

“Trump’s continued descent into madness is dragging the GOP down with him,” said a Florida Republican, who like all respondents, completed the survey anonymously. “A convention switchup would be great politics and save the GOP.”

“More than a third” doesn’t seem like enough to overturn a nomination, but it is enough to split a party.

ELI LAKE: U.S. Taxpayers Are Funding Iran’s Military Expansion.

It all starts with $1.7 billion the U.S. Treasury transferred to Iran’s Central Bank in January, during a delicate prisoner swap and the implementation of last summer’s nuclear deal to resolve a long-standing dispute about Iran’s arms purchases before the revolution of 1979.

For months it was unclear what Iran’s government would do with this money. But last month the mystery was solved when Iran’s Guardian Council approved the government’s 2017 budget that instructed Iran’s Central Bank to transfer the $1.7 billion to the military.

Unclear to whom?

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Ninth Circuit Ignores Second Amendment to Uphold Ban on Concealed Carry.

YOU DON’T SAY: Minimum wage, maximum mess in Oregon.

Wages will rise to $12.50 in rural Oregon, $13.50 in mid-size regions and $14.75 in greater Portland, all by the year 2022.

But before the ink was even dry, Democrats, who control the state House, Senate and governor’s office, announced they wanted to change the bill that was rammed through in a five-week legislative session despite fierce Republican opposition.

“They just wanted to pass something,” said economist Eric Fruits, a Portland Republican. “They were really worried about the 15 Now people sending something to the ballot, and I think they got so snakebit they would have passed anything that was called a minimum wage increase.”

Labor unions, spearheaded by the S.E.I.U., had been collecting signatures for a $15 statewide wage initiative and hoping to build on recent victories in several cities.

But Oregon Democrats acted before state economists even had a chance to weigh in. Last week, state analysts concluded in a prepared forecast the high wage will “result in approximately 40,000 fewer jobs in 2025 than would have been the case absent the legislation.”

If only there were some kind of economic law describing the relationship between price and demand, then politicians wouldn’t keep producing these unintended consequences.

WELL, OF COURSE SHE DOES: Anti-Gun Documentary Producer Defends Her ‘Legal’ Gun Purchases.

Zero tolerance for illegal weapons purchases should start with gun control showboats like Stephanie Soechtig.

OFF-DUTY SPECIAL FORCES, IS THERE ANYTHING THEY CAN’T DO? Two guys allegedly tried to rob a French McDonald’s, but off-duty special forces unit was eating inside.

Among the customers were 11 off-duty members of the French paramilitary special forces, soldiers who specialize in hostage situations, reported the Telegraph.

As the men burst into the restaurant late Sunday night, firing a warning shot and allegedly ransacking the cash register, the special forces just waited. They wanted to avoid drawing their guns, officials told the Telegraph, to prevent any collateral damage.

With his loot allegedly in hand, about $2,270 according to AFP, one of the robbers rushed toward the door. But his getaway was quickly thwarted. Mid-escape, he tripped.

The special forces pounced.

Read the whole thing.

OF COURSE THE GAME IS RIGGED: How Obama Is ‘Trump-Proofing’ His Climate Pact.

[Obama “climate envoy” Jonathan] Pershing is now trying to lock in the U.S. side of the accord, which requires all nations to develop public plans detailing how they would cut carbon emissions through at least 2025. Oddly enough, Trump’s own hand-picked new energy czar, Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, agrees that his boss can do only so much damage. Cramer, in an interview with me in late May, was notably noncommittal when I asked him if Trump would simply renege on the Paris accord. He noted that Trump has said at a minimum that he’d “renegotiate” it, and he made the point that this is how Trump has approached past business negotiations, starting from an extreme position.

“I think you might see him pivot away” from his hard-line stance on scrapping the agreement altogether, Cramer told POLITICO.

It’s worrisome that Trump is signaling that he’ll back down before he even gets to the negotiating table, but then again we’ve seen this move before.

I’M SHOCKED, SHOCKED TO FIND THAT CHEATING IS GOING ON BY THE LEFT: Far-Right Party in Austria Challenges Results of Presidential Vote.

The Green candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen, was able to barely overcome the Freedom Party’s big early lead thanks to a suspiciously lopsided mail-in vote.

CRISIS OF CHARACTER: PJTV alums Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, and Steve Green discuss former Secret Service agent Gary J. Byrne’s new Clinton-era tell-all.

Full disclosure: I’m Green.

FLUSHED AWAY: NYC spends $265G to urge people to use restroom of their choice.

FRACK THIS: The Epicenter of America’s Oil Bust Is Drawing Buyers.

Investors hoping for a bargain are buying up oil and gas wells from cash-strapped operators in the state’s Bakken Shale, a bet they will eventually be able to profit off one of the country’s hardest-hit oil plays.

Hundreds of wells have changed hands or are in the process of being sold, state figures show, to a grab bag of fortune seekers ranging from industry experts to first-time wildcatters. They are picking up properties as more established producers scale back or shed assets to pay creditors.

Don’t worry. While this mess gets sorted out, it’s not like the oil is going anywhere.