NOEMIE EMERY: The Tea Party Train Wreck That Never Happened. Compare to #Occupyfail.

BILL CLINTON: Press Favored Obama Over Hillary in 2008.

CHINA: Wukan forces Chinese officials to release three villagers. “The rebellious Chinese fishing village of Wukan forced the ruling Communist Party to agree to the release of three villagers detained for protesting against corruption and land grabs on Wednesday. . . . The significance of the Wukan siege and the government’s forced hand is still being digested. Never before in recent history has violent unrest by peasant villagers in China been seen to force a compromise by high-ranking Party officials.”

The people, united, will never be defeated. No justice, no peace!

TRUE: Even In A Best-Case Scenario, North Korea Remains A Big Problem.

COMEDY GOLD FROM THE DEMONIZER-IN-CHIEF: Obama White House lectures Iraqis on reaching out to political opponents.

SOPA COULD BE USED TO CENSOR CANDIDATES: I predict that it will be used mostly on candidates that Hollywood doesn’t like.

During the waning days of the 2008 presidential race, there was an important but overlooked occurrence on the John McCain campaign. In mid-October, the McCain campaign awoke to find that its Web videos and online advertisements were disappearing from its YouTube page.

The culprit turned out to be a major television network claiming they owned portions of the videos and that posting the clips was a violation of copyright law. Even though the campaign, and many others in the online community, believed the content to be privileged under the “Fair Use Doctrine,” the videos were pulled down.

Fast-forward more than three years, and a new piece of legislation is making its way through Congress that would make it easier for online campaign content and websites to be taken down. Even more concerning, if passed, this bill would allow opposing campaigns or campaign committees — not just the original content provider — to pull down websites harboring “infringing content.”

But I’m probably just cynical.

ETHICAL OIL ACTIVISTS ARE BOYCOTTING CHIQUITA. According to a press release:

Today, at noon EthicalOil.org will be staging a demonstration outside the Oliver Safeway, 11410 104th Ave in Edmonton. The demonstration will begin at noon sharp. Demonstrators will be handing out information to consumers about our boycott of Chiquita products.

EthicalOil.org has launched a campaign asking all Canadians to boycott Chiquita brands until they reverse their boycott on Canada’s ethical oil. So far, thousands of Canadians have spoken out against Chiquita’s unethical boycott of Canada’s oil sands oil through our website www.chiquitaconflict.com, our Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/BoycottChiquita and on twitter–using the hashtag #boycottchiquita.

Love the picture on their website.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR ‘EM? New York Times In Talks To Sell 16 Newspapers. “News of the sale follows Thursday’s announcement that Times Co. chief executive Janet Robinson will resign her post at the end of the year. It also continues a longer-term trend in which Times Co., facing revenue declines and debt pressures, has shrunk its media portfolio. Since 2006, the company has sold interests in television, radio and sports.” Selling off the silver to pay the rent.

NEWS: Obama Places Himself On The Continuum Of Greatness.

PULP FASCISM: John Boot reviews The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

THEY DON’T CALL IT THE “STUPID PARTY” FOR NOTHING: Jay Cost: A Very Beatable President — But The GOP Can Still Blow It.

Of course, it’s not like there’s a smart party in opposition. . . .

KENNETH ANDERSON: A Couple of Other Good Reads on Drones and Targeted Killing.

WAIT, DIDN’T JOE BIDEN JUST DECLARE VICTORY? Crisis Unfolds In Iraq.

But don’t worry: Biden calls Iraqi prime minister after reports of renewed sectarian tensions.

ACE ENDORSES RICK PERRY. Mike Flynn agrees.

ASK SLASHDOT: Entry-Level Robotics Kits For Young Teenagers?

I nearly gave my 7-year-old genius nephew a Lego Mindstorm kit, but I decided to wait one more year.

AT AMAZON, lots of holiday markdowns, and new “lightning deals” every couple of hours.

PHIL BOWERMASTER: We need to think about backing up civilization.

SO I’M INTERVIEWING MARK RIPPETOE FOR PJTV TOMORROW about his book Starting Strength. Any suggested questions? I’ll work a couple in if I can.

IS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN antibiotic use and obesity and stroke risk? I’m skeptical.

THE PROBLEM WITH GPS WATCHES FOR RUNNERS. “It seems clear enough that a GPS watch is not very accurate, yet online runners’ forums, like one at the Web site of Runners World, are filled with comments from confused athletes who rely on the devices.”

They’re also kind of pricey, at least to me, though that’s gotten better. My take: First, people sure expect a lot from devices that are basically kind of miraculous. Second, if I were to start running again, I’d get one of these anyway because the motivation-value would outweigh any problems with accuracy. Then again, the athletes described here are a lot more serious.

TOM MAGUIRE: “We all understand that Elizabeth Warren liked to pretend that medical bills were driving people into bankruptcy. But is Obama really dumb enough to believe his side’s talking points?”

GUN LAW NIGHTMARE: Tea Party Leader’s Gun Arrest Highlights Tyranny of Law. “Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler was arrested on a firearms violation for declaring a locked, cased, unloaded gun at LaGuardia. Don’t you feel safer?” It’s clear that he did nothing actually wrong, but gun laws are full of traps for the unwary and — although violation is mere malum prohibitum — are often enforced more stringently than laws banning behavior that is actually wrong. Back when the Second Amendment right to arms wasn’t recognized, you could perhaps justify an in terrorem approach where traps for the unwary were seen by law enforcement as features, not bugs. (Though even there I believe there were due process issues that weren’t properly aired.) But once you recognize a right to arms, the whole chilling-effect approach is weak.

This is a topic I discuss in my Second Amendment Penumbras piece, forthcoming in the Southern California Law Review. I also note that a patchwork of confusing (often even to law enforcement) and overlapping laws regulating the exercise of a fundamental right is a burden on the constitutionally recognized right to interstate travel. At the very least, they should warn you when you’re entering a repressive regime.

And here’s a guy with some related thoughts on gun control and mens rea.

INVESTING: Are guns and ammo the new gold? Well, I know a lot of people who are stockpiling them as a commodity-inflation hedge. Unlike bullion, they’re self-defending, too. . . .

You might consider some laser sights while you’re at it.

UPDATE: Reader Marc Greendorfer writes:

Your laser sight link reminds me of a recent purchase I made on Amazon- a holographic weapons sight made by EOTech for my AR type rifle. The one I bought, an XPS2, is small and easily mounted on just about any rifle with a rail. It also works amazingly well for quick target acquisition. The best part is it’s made in the USA, which is something that I have been focusing on more over the past few years. So though it’s not cheap ($400 range) it’s a quality piece of gear for shooting. And if you watch Amazon regularly, the price dips at times and you can pick up the unit for about $380 on the dips.

I favor the Aimpoint myself, but I’ve fired one of SayUncle’s AR-15s with the Eotech and it’s a nice sight.

WOW, THEY’RE STILL BLOWING UP IRAN: “Two more explosions today. One at the big refinery in Isfahan, the other at the very important Revolutionary Guards base in Kerman, which is the headquarters for the RG’s operations in the East (think Afghanistan, etc.).”

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals on toys and baby goods.