SAMUEL SISKIND:

“…Of course no one should be surprised at these developments. The American sanctions that kicked back in last November were designed well. They’ve hit Iran’s biggest industries, especially the oil sector, and have been slowly producing devastating effects. In January, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran is facing its toughest economic situation in 40 years, and that the United States was squarely to blame.

And Rouhani is exactly right. Much of the world today is now being given a choice between engaging with the market of the U.S. or that of Iran. Regardless of a country’s political proclivities and whether or not it supports America’s policy on the Islamic Republic (much of the West does not), it is nearly impossible for any nation to forgo the $20 trillion American economy in favor of accommodating Iran.

In addition to Iran cutting funds to Syria, the latest consequence of U.S. sanctions have been another massive hit to Iran’s oil industry…”

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The torpedoes the Democrats put in the water to sink Trump have turned around and taken out their own.

‘It’s never, never, never, never, never OK to touch her without her consent,’ he told college men in 2011.

“…While speaking to students at the University of New Hampshire in 2011, then-Vice President Joe Biden told men in the audience that “no matter what a girl does, no matter how she’s dressed, no matter how much she’s had to drink—it’s never, never, never, never, never OK to touch her without her consent.”

One of Mr. Biden’s signature issues during the Obama administration was fighting an alleged epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses. He promoted the debunked claim that 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted as undergraduates—the result of surveys using an impossibly broad definition of sexual assault that encompassed any conduct that, knowingly or not, made someone uncomfortable.

The Obama administration issued guidelines to campuses in 2011 to combat the alleged crisis. Mr. Biden headlined the announcement. The guidance traduced due-process rights for students accused of sexual assault and threatened colleges and universities with federal investigations and potential funding reductions if they did not find more accused students and professors guilty.

Now those impossible standards are being applied to their proponents. Since last Friday, several women have accused Mr. Biden of making them uncomfortable during his interactions with them. One accuser, Caitlyn Caruso, told the New York Times that during an event about sexual assault at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Mr. Biden put his hand on her thigh and didn’t remove it even when she showed discomfort by shifting in her seat. She also said he hugged her “just a little bit too long.” . . .

When accused himself, Mr. Biden naturally fell back on all the arguments that are often dismissed when made by college men. He said it was never his “intention” to make women uncomfortable. He also acknowledged that “social norms have begun to change” without acknowledging that he helped lead the change—and hasn’t lived up to the standards he sought to impose on others…”

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“…Hiring rebounded in March as U.S. employers added a solid 196,000 jobs, up sharply from February’s scant gain and evidence that many businesses still want to hire despite signs the economy is slowing.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate stayed at 3.8%, near the lowest level in almost 50 years. Wage growth slowed a bit, as average hourly pay increased 3.2% from a year earlier. That is down from February’s gain of 3.4%, which was the best in a decade.

The figures suggest that February’s meager job growth, which was revised to 33,000 from an initial 20,000, was a temporary blip and that businesses are confident the economy remains on a firm footing. Still, the U.S. faces several challenges, including cautious consumers, slower growth in business investment, and a U.S.-China trade war that is contributing to slower growth overseas…”

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‘Believe All Women’ Movement Publishes Extensive List Of Exceptions.

JON GABRIEL:

“…The world’s first democracy was ancient Athens, which allowed around 30,000 free adult male citizens to choose their leaders. They made up less than 15 percent of the population, but it was the most egalitarian political innovation to date.

It didn’t take long for the system to implode amid rampant corruption, an economic downturn, immigration headaches and unpopular foreign wars. (Sound familiar?) The plan of “one man, one vote” devolved into a kind of mob rule, the populace veering with wild swings of opinion. Voters overthrew leaders, exiled the unpopular, and executed generals and politicians – even Socrates himself.

As the saying goes, democracy is four wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. The Founders looked to Athens less as a political model than an object lesson in what not to do.

James Madison said that democracies are “incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

Therefore, America was set up as a republic, filled with countless checks and balances to avoid one group gaining power and using it to punish or exclude everyone they didn’t like…”

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Joe Biden’s Identity Reckoning: He may have been VP, but he’s old, white, male and heterosexual.

He can solve all his problems at once by identifying as a lesbian between now and the convention.

“…The U.S. Navy’s first-in-class amphibious assault ship USS Wasp recently arrived in the Philippines for a major annual exercise carrying a U.S. Marine Corps contingent that includes at least 10 F-35B Joint Strike Fighters. This is a larger than average number of the combat jets than Wasp-class shipsnormally embark, but is a force structure that the Navy and Marines are looking to standardize. It’s also one that could help lay the groundwork for a future operating concept that could turn amphibious assault ships into light carriers, as necessary…”

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ROBERT STACY MCCAIN:

“…Portland, Oregon, is a deep-blue city in a deep-blue state — in 2016, Hillary Clinton got 73% of the vote in Multnomah County, carrying Oregon by an 11-point margin — and therefore would seem to be an unlikely place to find anti-LGBT violence. So when activists in Portland claimed they had been the targets of hate crimes in February, Andy Ngo was skeptical. A transgender activist’s claim to have been attacked by assailants wielding a baseball bat? Portland’s anti-bias crime unit dropped the investigation for lack of evidence. When “a self-described fat-queer activist” claimed on Facebook that her girlfriend “was attacked by ‘two young white men’ in a maroon SUV”? Portland police don’t even have a record of a report for such an incident, according to Ngo. The good news, then, is that Portland’s LGBT community has no reason to fear they’re being targeted by an epidemic of hate crimes, but the bad news is, some activists are apparently willing to invent such incidents to support the Left’s narrative that President Trump’s election has unleashed the forces of “hate.”…”

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The real Southern Poverty Law Center scandal isn’t about #MeToo–it’s about 48 years of separating gullible rich liberals from their money

Pavel Felgenhauer:

“…The decision to send around 100 military advisors, support staff and possibly some combat-experienced special forces personnel (as guards)—all led by the Army chief of staff—to market weapons to the insolvent and beleaguered government of President Nicolás Maduro at first glance appears wholly incongruent. Tonkoshkurov is a combat-experienced top Land Forces commander, not an arms dealer. Instead, his mission could be to thoroughly assess the current military/security situation in Venezuela, the deficiencies and real capabilities of the pro-Maduro military and security forces, and to prepare a list of concrete measures Moscow needs to take to ensure the survival of the regime and the defeat of the opposition, led by the self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido. Moscow views Guaido as Washington’s puppet and part of the alleged imperialist conspiracy headed by the United States to oust Maduro. According to Russian reports, the 35 tons of cargo just delivered to Venezuela was mostly food, but not for the starving locals. Rather, the foodstuff will feed the military mission in a situation where logistics have virtually collapsed. The Russian mission is apparently not a combat force per se, but will be assessing the situation and “taking measures” to mobilize and “put together” the pro-Maduro forces. It is preparing for a lengthy operation (Ura.news, March 25). The above-mentioned “measures” could involve additional shipments of arms, munitions and other equipment, the deployment of more Russian specialists and advisors and also a possible limited combat unit—presumably the Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno-Kosmicheskiye Sily—VKS) and anti-air assets—mirroring the Russian deployment in Syria in 2015 to keep in power the beleaguered regime of President Bashar al-Assad…”

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ADRIANA COHEN:

“…It’s become abundantly clear there was a conspiracy waged against a sitting U.S. president now that the Robert Mueller investigation has confirmed the Russia collusion hoax was just that — a hoax — manufactured by a witches’ brew of Democrats including Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, the Democratic National Committee, Obama deep state officials and a complicit media seeking to derail the Trump administration. . . . Will these corrupt actors who sowed enormous discord and distrust our democracy be treated the same as Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, lawyer Michael Cohen and adviser Roger Stone, who were subjected to heavy-handed raids by the feds at their homes and offices?…”

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I feel bad for Biden. I disagree with him on most policy issues, but he is not an abuser of women. I have known and worked with several men a decade or more older than me who also touched and hugged and did similar things as Biden. Accuse one of those men of abuse, and you’re likely to get punched in the face. It is not abuse. It is kindness, in today’s world maybe misdirected, but nonetheless, kindness.

All the torpedoes the democrats put in the water to sink Trump have circled back and taken out their own.