IN THE MAIL: From David Weber and Eric Flint, Torch Of Freedom. It’s an “Honorverse” book.

CLIMATEGATE AND AN ARMY OF DAVIDS: My Sunday Washington Examiner column is up.

SALENA ZITO: Bedford Falls, USA:

Main Street America has entered an era of populism that embraces neither party. People are tired of government bailouts, spending and unchecked corruption, as well as the media’s perceived lack of curiosity or investigation into all three.

They are really tired of being told their values and way of life are not politically correct.

Sounds kind of familiar. Read the whole thing.

DANIEL GROSS: China Is A Communist Country, But I Have Yet To Meet An Actual Communist.

Plus these words of wisdom: “If somebody just went out in the street and shouted, ‘I will divide the property of rich people into poor people,’ I think he would be elected. But it is useless, as parity will not solve the problem of economic development.”

RASMUSSEN: 81% Disagree With New Mammogram Recommendation.

WOMEN WHO WANT TO WANT: Desire follows arousal.

THE PAJAMA SHOPPING REVOLUTION? Black Friday store spending edges up; online soars.

Shoppers who endured long lines and sometimes-frigid temperatures spent only slightly more during their Black Friday shopping sprees than they did last year, according to data released Saturday by a research firm.

At the same time, their pajama-clad counterparts, a much smaller group that accounted for only a fraction of overall sales, shopped online from the warmth of their homes and dramatically boosted their spending.

And yet online advertising was down last quarter.

INSIDE THE TUBE: Incredible Wave Photography.

ROGER SIMON: ClimateGate: Time To Postpone Copenhagen.

MY EARLIER POST ON WILLIAMS-SONOMA led people to ask which coffeemaker I bought — a reasonable question in light of past coffeemaker blogging. It was this one from Cuisinart. A few years ago I rejected a similar model because it had a “ready” beep that couldn’t be shut off (such noisemaking by appliances is a pet peeve of mine). But this one has an easy-to-use silencing feature. So far it’s doing fine.

UPDATE: Reader Dan O’Brien writes: “I have this one. It’s my second. If this one dies, I’d buy another exactly like it.”

LISA FAIRFAX ON The Financial Literacy (or Lack Thereof) of Young Americans. Of course, the older Americans in Congress aren’t looking so hot either . . . .

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS — in Afghanistan.

Plus, helping the troops stay warm.

STILL FIGHTING OVER TRAFFIC CAMERAS IN OAK RIDGE: “More than four months after special cameras to photograph traffic offenses were installed in four high-traffic locations, they remain as controversial as Oak Ridge City Council’s narrow vote to approve them. More than 5,000 violation notices a month are now being mailed out, mostly for speeding on Oak Ridge Turnpike, records show. Through September, the cameras generated $337,427 in revenue from the $50 citations.” Which is the point, no matter what else they say.

Plus this: “By far, out-of-city drivers receive the majority of traffic violations, O’Connor said. In October, he said, 4,015 nonresidents and 1,002 residents were mailed speeding notices, he said.”

DEFENDING A PROFESSION that no longer exists.

IS DUBAI A Financial China Syndrome? Beats me. On the one hand, if rich Arab sheikdoms can go broke, who’s safe? On the other hand, anyone can spend more than they should, and stupidly — and people with lots of money may even be at more risk for that. So does it tell us anything about the state of other sovereign debtors? Doubtful. Will it bring down the system itself? Also doubtful, but who knows?

UPDATE: A hedge-fund reader emails:

Dubai could be bailed out its by its Arab pals in the blink of an eye. This is about WILLINGNESS to pay, not ABILITY to pay.

The public list of Western bank exposures shows some institutions are wounded, but not mortally so.

The big financial enterprise at stake here is the recently created industry known as “Islamic Finance” which purports to create debt instruments consistent with arcane Moslem-friendly rules.

No one knows, or CAN know, how these spanking-new pieces of paper will be honored or valued. And only insiders know who holds the paper, and what process will be used to manage their first crisis.

Given the obvious conspiracy to spring this de facto default on markets before a lengthy Islamic holiday, it’s clear this will be very much an insiders’ game.

A worst case outcome, structurally, would be the collapse of the entire Islamic Finance complex, with unknowable consequences. At the very least we’d be looking at another drain on global liquidity/financing capability, at the margin dampening global growth further and pushing the US recovery further into the future.

Interesting. Well, stay tuned . . . .

A GADGET GIFT GUIDE, from Popular Mechanics.

THE EXAMINER: Growing Public Backlash Over Obamacare.

JONATHAN ADLER ON CLIMATEGATE: “‘We’re the Experts, Trust Us,’ Has Clearly Gone by the Wayside.”

A BUNCH OF INTERESTING FOOD LINKS. And a photo of a “bacontastic” Thanksgiving turkey.

OH, GOOD GRIEF: Polanski’s Release Secured by Sarkozy.

KING BANAIAN: Not an economist, just wrong.

DID F.D.R. actually die from cancer?

TV CALIBRATION: The Easy Route.

MANCESSION: The Jobless Gender Gap: Unemployment for men is growing at a much faster pace than for women. “Imagine the outcry if women amounted to roughly three in four lost jobs in this recession.”

This was not by accident, but a matter of Administration policy in response to interest-group pressure.

MARK STEYN: Major Nidal Hasan Had An Enabler.