OKAY, IT’S NOT A READER BOOK PLUG, but a brother book plug, I guess, because the author of this “urban fantasy” novel — sounds kinda reminiscent of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden novels — is one of my brother’s students. It’s called Neat.

PRESUMABLY, MIKE AND MICHELLE VIEW THIS AS A GOOD THING: Unions drive America dangerously close to the twinkie cliff.

TWEET OF THE DAY: “If I’m reading this correctly, Obama had absolutely nothing to do with the last four years except killing Bin Laden?”

HARDLY A SURPRISE: AK-47 Sales Soar, Crime Rates Fall? I mean, would you mug a guy with an AK-47?

CURIOUSLY, HE MEANS IT AS A COMPLIMENT: ‘For all its issues and faults, California is the closest thing that the U.S. has to European-style social democracy…’

PROF. JACOBSON ON BOARD WITH THIS WHOLE TAX THE BLUE STATES THING: “Mind you, I am pure on this issue. I live in two Democratic blue states, Rhode Island and New York. I want you to tax the crap out of the blue states in which I live because I put country ahead of personal fortune. Not because I want to hear my tax-loving liberal neighbors squeal like stuck pigs. I’m better than that.”

HOW’S CBS DOING IN THE POST DAN RATHER ERA? CBS’s Nancy Giles: Whites Oppose Abortion ‘To Build Up the Race.’

Nancy, Margret. Margaret, Nancy. Get to know each other a little better, OK?

THEN: ASSIMILATION. NOW? IT’S BACK TO BLOOD:

A phrase pops into his head from out of nowhere. “Everybody… all of them… it’s back to blood! Religion is dying… but everybody still has to believe in something. It would be intolerable— you couldn’t stand it— to finally have to say to yourself, ‘Why keep pretending? I’m nothing but a random atom inside a supercollider known as the universe.’ But believing in by definition means blindly, irrationally, doesn’t it. So, my people, that leaves only our blood, the bloodlines that course through our very bodies, to unite us. ‘La Raza!’ as the Puerto Ricans cry out. ‘The Race!’ cries the whole world. All people, all people everywhere, have but one last thing on their minds— Back to blood!” All people, everywhere, you have no choice but— Back to blood!

From, not surprisingly, Tom Wolfe’s new novel.

INFANT STRESS AFFECTS TEEN BRAINS: Two-decade study reveals neural connection between early stress and anxiety and depression in girls.

SANDY UPDATE: Cuomo Gets Criticized For Not Fixing LIPA Before The Storm. “Andrew Cuomo, who initially served as the vocal chord for thousands of New Yorkers frustrated by the utility companies’ response to Hurricane Sandy, is now facing increasing scrutiny over his role overseeing the state-controlled Long Island Power Authority. At a press conference yesterday, he was pelted with questions from a television reporter in the front row who asked, in a number of ways, what responsibility Cuomo shouldered for LIPA’s problems, since the governor left several board positions vacant, and did not replace others whose terms have expired.”

Related: Cuomo’s LIPA Fail.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Dems Split Over Spliffs: Pot showdown smoking between Democratic governors and Obama administration.

CATO: ObamaCare Is Still Vulnerable.

SINCE I SCREWED UP THE LINK BEFORE, HERE IT IS AGAIN: Liz Peek: The Obama Tax Hikes — End Of The Upper Middle Class? They’ll certainly put a lot of pressure on two-earner couples.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Who’s doing who in the Obama team’s sex scandals: A handy guide.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: One Nation, Under Compromise. “Our political and financial realities will force both Democrats and Republicans to work toward smaller government.” I dunno, Obama hasn’t exactly been the compromiser-in-chief.

DIANNE FEINSTEIN NOT HAPPY WITH WHITE HOUSE STONEWALLING: Feinstein: I’ll subpoena CIA about Petraeus trip to Libya after Benghazi attack. “One piece of information that got lost the last few days of sex scandals is the news that David Petraeus personally traveled to Libya after the Benghazi attack — and apparently filed a “trip report” covering his own findings. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee probing the Benghazi terrorist attack, wants either the report or Petraeus to testify to its contents. So far, though, the CIA and the White House have refused to provide it — and yesterday, Feinstein threatened that subpoenas may be forthcoming if the stonewalling continues.”

JACKIE LEO: Tax Hikes over $250K: End of the Upper Middle Class?

UPDATE: Link was wrong before. Fixed now. Sorry!

I’M BEGINNING TO BE DISAPPOINTED IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Kofi Annan Reports: African Democracy a Sham.

For years analysts have held that democratic elections are key to spurring economic development in Africa and therefore ought to receive greater U.S. support. But the African democracy consensus is beginning to crack, and even Kofi Annan is skeptical. A new report by the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), with Annan as chairman, tells us that elections often provide “a false veneer of legitimacy” for autocratic incumbents.

The report finds that elections often exacerbate underlying tribal, ethnic and religious tensions rather than guide polities into a bright, secular future. The fixation on elections as “the root of democracy” is doing little to help the downtrodden and keep the peace.

Oh, well: At least they’re above this kind of thing in enlightened Europe. Uh oh. . . .

Here’s some worrying news: A new German public opinion survey shows an uptick in “right-wing extremist” attitudes, especially in the East and especially among the young. Up to 15 percent express Xenophobia, anti-Semitism and longing for a right-wing authoritarian ruler (dare we say Leader?).

As a point of reference, that’s a little less than half the percentage that Hitler got in his best performance in a free election.

Ugh.

SUCKERS! Ohioans’ food stamp aid to be reduced: Benefit to fall $50 a month starting in January. “I used ta be somebody. I used ta be a Swing State!”

ADVICE TO THE AMERICAN LEFT, AND RIGHT from France.

BOBBY JINDAL’S FREE MARKET POPULISM: “We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything.”

That’s a good strategy. Also, think he’s running in 2016?

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: The Places Where America’s Drones Are Striking, Now On Instagram.

Credit Fake Jeff Jarvis.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on LEGO Toys & Games.

Also, this classic toy.

And, today only: Up to 60% Off Select Collectible Books.

KATRINA ON THE HUDSON: My USA Today column.