A crush of student protesters shut down a Friday evening event featuring controversial Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos and "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli at UC Davis before either man's speech could begin. Chanting "Say it loud, say it clear, racists are not welcome here," protesters blocked access to the venue until campus security officers informed the UC Davis College Republicans, who were hosting the talks, that the event could not continue with guaranteed safety for attendees.

UC Davis released a statement saying protesters were not responsible for any property damage or violence and only one arrest was made. Still, Interim Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter said he was "deeply disappointed" in the Davis campus community for failing to demonstrate "respect for all views, even those that we personally find repellent." "As I have stated repeatedly," he added, "a university is at its best when it listens to and critically engages opposing views, especially ones that many of us find upsetting or even offensive."

Yiannopoulos on Facebook Saturday morning disputed the university's account of the previous night. "Campus police say there was 'no violence' last night," he wrote, "But my guests told Breitbart reporters last night" stories of protester violence including fecal projectiles, punches, and hot coffee thrown at an ABC News reporter, the latter of which was independently confirmed on Twitter. "We will be pursuing this matter further," Yiannopoulos assured his readers. Bonnie Kristian

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday invoked the "nuclear option," killing the filibuster for Supreme Court confirmation votes. Senate Democrats in 2013, then in control of the upper house, did the same thing for most other federal nominees. In each case, supporters argued the change was necessary to overcome minority obstructionism and proceed with the business of governing.

Though this week's vote passed along party lines, many Republicans expressed opposition to the nuclear option earlier this year. And in the run-up to Thursday's vote, a bipartisan group of nine senators made a secret, last-ditch effort to save the filibuster. Politico reports on why they failed:

[Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.)] circulated a proposal calling on senators in both parties to admit they'd abused the Senate rules to the detriment of the institution — and commit to not do so again in the future. It was designed to be painful and cathartic: Republicans would express regret for blocking Merrick Garland last year; Democrats would do the same for a 2013 rules change that set the stage for this year's nuclear option.

But clinching an agreement on how Democrats would advance Gorsuch while preserving the option of blocking a nominee for the next vacancy proved impossible. The fact that the parties clashed so severely over whether Gorsuch was even a mainstream jurist undermined any confidence that senators could hold to a pact covering President Donald Trump's next Supreme Court pick. [Politico]

Politico's 20-plus sources disagreed on whether the project to save the filibuster ever stood a real chance, but they agreed the "gap between the two parties was too broad and mistrust" too widespread for the group to succeed.

Read the rest of Politico's in-depth account here, or check out this analysis from The Week's Edward Morrissey on whether the modern filibuster was even worth saving. Bonnie Kristian

The Trump administration's Thursday strike against a Syrian regime air base in response to Tuesday's chemical weapons attack was "an unforgivable act of aggression against a sovereign state," a statement from North Korea said Saturday.

The strike also justifies Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development program, the statement added: "The reality of today proves our decision to strengthen our military power to stand against force with force was the right choice a million times over." If North Korea is a nuclear state, the logic goes, it will be protected from similar attacks by the United States because the risk of retaliation becomes too great.

These comments come on the heels of President Trump's two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump and Xi "reaffirmed their commitment to a denuclearized Korean peninsula" and discussed how to "convince North Korea to peacefully resolve the issue and dismantle its illegal nuclear and missile programs." Bonnie Kristian

"My concern has been mostly that this is an inappropriate way to begin a war, that the Constitution says war begins with a vote in Congress," Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on CNN Saturday, reiterating his role as a chief critic of the Trump administration's strike against Syrian regime targets Thursday night.

"Even George Bush, who was often treated mercilessly by the media as being so far out there, he came to Congress and asked to go to war against the Taliban and those who attacked us on 9/11. He also did the same in Iraq," Paul continued. "And so I think this is a wrongheaded notion, that we just skip the most important step — and that is whether or not we should go to war."

Paul has repeatedly raised objections to the Syria strike on constitutional grounds, but he also questions the inherent merits of military intervention against the Bashar al-Assad regime. "Military action is not in our national security interest and should not be authorized," he wrote at Fox News on Friday. "Our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer, and Syria will be no different." Watch Paul's CNN comments in context below. Bonnie Kristian

Swedish police said Saturday they have arrested a man who is "likely" the driver responsible for crashing a stolen beer truck into a department store in central Stockholm on Friday, killing at least four people and injuring more than a dozen.

The suspect is a 39-year-old from Uzbekistan and was known to intelligence agencies. Investigators found a suspect item in the attack vehicle that may be an unexploded bomb. "We confirm that we have found a device in the truck that doesn't belong there. We are now investigating its content," said Dan Eliasson, chief of Swedish Police, on Saturday. "Whether this was a classic bomb or some sort of flammable device is now a matter for our analysis."

The arrested suspect will either be released or have a pre-trial hearing by Tuesday. Bonnie Kristian

A U.S. Department of Labor official on Friday accused Google of a widespread gender pay gap among its employees. "We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce," said Janette Wipper, a Labor Department regional director, in court testimony.

Though the "investigation is not complete," added another Labor official, Janet Herold, the "government’s analysis at this point indicates that discrimination against women in Google is quite extreme, even in this industry." About a third of Google's 70,000 workers are women.

Google roundly rejected the allegations. "We vehemently disagree with Ms. Whipper's claim," the company said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch. "Every year, we do a comprehensive and robust analysis of pay across genders and we have found no gender pay gap. Other than making an unfounded statement which we heard for the first time in court, the DoL hasn’t provided any data, or shared its methodology." Bonnie Kristian

The rebel-held town in Syria's Idlib province that was hit by a chemical weapon attack on Tuesday was targeted in a new airstrike on Saturday, local sources say.

It is not yet clear who is responsible for the attack, though CNN notes only Russian and Syrian regime aircraft have been observed bombing that area in the past. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in the United Kingdom, said the strike killed one woman.

Russia is meanwhile in the process of moving a frigate carrying cruise missiles to the Mediterranean, apparently in response to Thursday's U.S. bombing of a Syrian government air base in response to the Tuesday incident. The American strike strike puts Washington and Moscow "on the verge of a military clash," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Friday, labeling the strike "really sad for [Russia's] now completely ruined relations" with the U.S. and "good news for terrorists." Bonnie Kristian

After a rainy winter, California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday declared his state's historic, four-year drought is officially ended — at least for now. "This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner," Brown said. "Conservation must remain a way of life."

California uses more water each year than is naturally available in the state under normal conditions, and the drought emergency remains in effect in four counties. "Water may appear to be in abundance right now," said Kate Poole of the Natural Resources Defense Council, but one wet season can't supply California's water needs longterm. Bonnie Kristian