Government & Politics

DENMARK VOYAGE CALLED OFF: Yesterday, President Donald Trump intoned, “Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time.” He continued, “The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!”

MIXED SIGNALS: “The White House pushed back late Tuesday on claims by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that President Trump had purportedly said universal background checks were off the table… Earlier in the day, The Atlantic published an article saying Trump had opted against expanding federal background checks, citing a ‘person briefed on the call.’ But a White House official told Fox News that ‘meaningful’ new background checks remain a legislative option, and denied that Trump said he supported universal background checks.” (Fox News)

MARCH FOR OUR GUNS: The anti-gun group March for Our Lives has introduced “A Peace Plan for a Safer America,” which The Washington Post explains “goes much further than the current debate over universal background checks and ‘red flag’ laws.” In fact, “The Peace Plan would create a national licensing and gun registry, long a nonstarter with gun rights advocates; ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; implement a mandatory gun buyback program; and install a ‘national director of gun violence prevention’ who would report directly to the president and coordinate the federal response to what advocates call a national public health emergency.” NRA spokeswoman Amy Hunter responded, “The gun-control community is finally being marginally honest about their true wish list. The simple fact remains their proposals and ideas are out of the mainstream, and most people will understand their real intent goes beyond what they publicly state.”

FLORES SETTLEMENT TABLED: “The Trump administration is seeking to terminate the Flores settlement, an immigration-related court order that prevents most migrant family units from being held in detention centers for more than 20 days,” reports The Daily Caller. “Eliminating the Flores settlement would allow the U.S. government to hold migrant children and their families indefinitely while they await court proceedings. … The termination of the Flores Settlement will likely face legal challenges from immigrant activist groups who accuse the administration of detaining immigrants without proper due process.”

SPACE COMMAND LIFTOFF: “The new United States Space Command will officially be up and running by the end of the month, Vice President Mike Pence said [yesterday] … at a meeting of the National Space Council. The U.S. Space Command will be the military’s unified combatant command in charge of the country’s defense operations in space. It will become the Defense Department’s 11th unified combatant command, alongside the U.S. Strategic Command, the U.S. Special Operations Command and other commands that serve specific functions or geographic regions.” (Space.com)

NO PAIN, NO GAIN: “President Donald Trump acknowledged his aggressive China trade policies may mean economic pain for Americans but insisted they’re needed for more important long-term benefits. He contended he does not fear a recession but is nonetheless considering new tax cuts to promote growth.” (Associated Press)

RISKY ENDEAVOR: “Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez plans to hold party fundraising events with the American expatriate community in Mexico City next month. … The registration form on the DNC website requires that attendees be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and enter passport or green card numbers. It is illegal for foreigners to contribute to American political campaigns.” (Bloomberg)

Other Notables

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: “Facebook is launching a long-promised tool that lets you limit what the social network can gather about you on outside websites and apps. The company said Tuesday that it is adding a section where you can see the activity that Facebook tracks outside its service via its ‘like’ buttons and other means. You can choose to turn off the tracking; otherwise, tracking will continue the same way it has been.” (Associated Press)

MELTING HEARTS: Iceland holds funeral for first glacier lost to climate change (The Guardian)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Progressives promote disrespect for cops — at our peril (New York Post)

POLICY: Red-light cameras undermine rule of law (The Hill)

HUMOR: Two million sign up for Facebook event to storm DNC HQ to find secret candidate who isn’t a socialist nutball (IMAO)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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