MICHAEL WALSH: Michigan Meltdown: Labor’s Latest Loss.

Related: Walter Russell Mead: Michigan Stuns Labor as Blue Model Continues to Unravel.

THE RAINMAKERS: Reckoning Day.

Here’s a live version.

FAIR SHARE: Victor Davis Hanson: The Real Fat Cats. “If the country is going to turn redistributionist, then we might as well do so whole-hog — given that eight of the wealthiest ten counties in America voted for Obama. Why not limit mortgage-interest deductions to just one loan under $100,000 — while ending tax breaks altogether for second and third vacation houses? Under the present system, the beleaguered 99 percent are subsidizing the abodes of Hollywood and Silicon Valley ‘millionaires and billionaires’ — many of whom themselves have been railing against the 1 percent.”

UPDATE: Related: Dishonesty in the Pay for College Presidents. Why not cap pay for officers at nonprofits — including colleges and universities — at the level of a Supreme Court Justice? Or, if you’re feeling generous, the President of the United States?

MICHAEL TOTTEN: Notes On The Syrian Revolution From Marrakech. “It’s safe to say most of us in this room detest the Syrian regime and wish to see it destroyed, and I confess to feelings of vindication. For years I took flak in the Levant for describing Bashar al-Assad as the villain of the region rather than the Zionist Entity, but here we are. This room full of Arabs has at least partially come around to my point of view.”

INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: A Deadline Looms for Your Tax Preparer. Congress never gave the IRS the power to license tax preparers. The IRS just took it.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Prolong The “Honeymoon Phase.”

DAVID KOLTZ: The Coming Fiscal Tsunami.

PROFESSOR JOSEPH CAMPBELL: ‘Yes, Virginia’ special on CBS a sad distortion of a timeless newspaper reply.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN on what Sheldon Adelson, et al., should do with their money instead of giving it to consultants.

CHANGE: US Energy Boom Deals Blow to OPEC. “This is the beginning of a trend. The American energy boom is already changing Saudi thinking regarding its own oil reserves, and OPEC’s influence is in an even more advanced stage of decline. Divisions within the cartel and the threat of competition from ‘vast’ North American reserves pose a serious threat to a tight-knit organization that isn’t used to external competition. And as its influence wanes, the remaining members will begin to compete for portions of a continually shrinking pie, weakening the organization’s cohesion and further reducing its influence.”

IMMUNE MEMORY: Flu’s “first kiss”: Remembered forever.

The study, published Dec. 12 in the peer-reviewed BMC Medicine, looks at all five influenza pandemics of the past 100 years. It finds a variable but often large number of elderly individuals were immune to influenza because their bodies had been infected with a similar virus in the past. In other words, the viruses were recycled.

Reichert says that during the 2009 influenza pandemic, most people over age 62 were immune because the flu virus closely resembled viruses they’d been exposed to before 1947. In 1969, people over age 78 had immunity, the study found. In 1918, it was those over age 45-55 who were best protected.

In Reichert’s view, the “immunity of past experience” has important implications. First, he says in pandemic seasons, flu shots and other resources should be diverted to younger people who aren’t naturally protected and not wasted on the elderly, many of whom will already be immune. Second, he says American businesses should give serious thought to cultivating a cadre of retired, elderly to bring into the workforce in the event of a severe flu pandemic. “If your factory risks being down for a year because so many workers are stricken, the immune elderly could be a tremendous resource,” says Reichert. “Any employer who motivated his retirees could bring them in and only a few would get sick.” He concludes that competitors who prepared this way would have a huge advantage over those who don’t.

I don’t know about that, but perhaps this phenomenon helped to select for longevity in humans. A tribe with even a couple of oldsters who stayed well and could tend to the sick and mind the herds or whatever, would have a huge advantage over one where everyone was sick.

PROF. JACOBSON: The Racial Slurs The Press Doesn’t Want To Cover. It’s all about the narrative.

Related thoughts from Investor’s Business Daily.

CHRIS CHRISTIE: I’m Not Too Fat To Be President. Hey, if Christie corners the obese-American vote, he’s got a landslide.

ROBERT SHIBLEY: Harvard, Legendary Home Of Harvard Lampoon, Strangles Campus Satire.

CHANGE: Venezuela Without Chavez: Chaos The Most Likely Successor.

INSTAVISION: Going Broke by Degree: The Politics and Economics of a Student Loan Bailout. I talk with Richard Vedder about what such a bailout might look at, and why it’s a bad idea.

JOURN-O-LISM IN NEW JERSEY: Day After Arrest of Menendez Illegal Alien Sex Offender Intern, Star Ledger Ignores Story.

GOOD QUESTION: Why Haven’t We Heard From The Benghazi Survivors?

KEITH HENNESSEY: What Kind of Negotiator Is President Obama? “Unlike his predecessors, President Obama has not achieved any positive-sum legislative compromises with the other party.”

UNPATRIOTIC BILLIONAIRES: The Day After Calling for Higher Estate Taxes on the Rich, Warren Buffett Helps Billionaire Save Millions in Taxes.

BENGHAZI: Congresswoman to Ask Sec. Clinton About Unarmed ‘Security’ at Benghazi Hearing.

THAT’S BECAUSE THE WHITE MAN IS STILL TRYING TO KEEP HER DOWN: Elizabeth Warren Will Not Serve On Committee On Indian Affairs.

MICKEY KAUS: Krugman: Election’s over! I can think now!

THE PROBLEM WITH LAW SCHOOL.