MARK STEYN’S GOT IT ALL WRONG: Michigan Unions Managed to Get Core Message Out Yesterday …(Don’t Cross Us or We’ll Smash Your Mouth). Yeah, but so fucking what?

Look, what they did to Crowder was wrong, and revealing. But they lost. And despite all the effort by the press to protect them, they’re losing the PR battle afterward, too. And they’re a bunch of fat old men.

When I worked as a summer associate after my first year in law school, I worked at a Birmingham law firm where the top labor partner was famous for having carried an axe handle while crossing a picket line to meet with clients. He would have made mincemeat of these guys. We’re witnessing the labor movement in its dissolution, not its strength. Don’t be misled.

UPDATE: Reader Bart Hall writes: “‘Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt. It is when we are unsure that we are doubly sure.’ Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971). We are witnessing the frantic late-stage thrashings of a badly-wounded animal. Still dangerous, but nevertheless in the process of mortal exsanguination.” Yes.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Tom Elia emails:

I agree with you.

Not only are they a bunch of fat fucks, they can’t punch worth shit.

In fact, they fight about as well as their leadership runs the state they live in — or maybe about as well as they build cars.

It’s hard to get good goons these days.

MORE: A reader emails: “From what I saw on the video they are just a bunch of fat, old white men bitterly clinging to a labor model that was outdated 25 years ago. If unions weren’t the darlings of the Left, think how this would be portrayed.”

A POLITICAL FLEET-IN-BEING: So one of John Kerry’s roadblocks in being named Secretary of State is a fear that Scott Brown might take the seat from the Democrats. And Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Haslam showed unexpected backbone on the ObamaCare exchanges because he feared a Tea Party challenge in 2014. Even the credible threat of political challenge can affect behavior. Worth keeping in mind.

AT BAEN BOOKS, the Sarah Hoyt Darkship Scavenger Hunt.

AT AMAZON, coupons galore in razors and other Personal Care Appliances.

Also, up to 60% off on Outerwear and Winter Accessories, for men, women, and children. Winter is coming.

TWEET OF THE DAY: “If getting employer benefits without paying union dues is BAD, why is getting government benefits without paying taxes GOOD?”

A BUSINESS IDEA FROM BOB OWENS: Would you recommend a firearms purchasing consultation to a friend or family member interested in purchasing a gun?

BOB WALKENHORST streaming live. Courtesy of reader Thomas Lynn.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Why I’m Buying My Mom A Vibrator For Christmas.

BOILER ROOM WITH P.B. WOLF: 12-12-12. (Via Geri Soriano Lightwood on Facebook).

“SNIDE UNIVERSITY?” “Or wherever it is you went.”

AT AMAZON, Top Holiday Deals. New ones every day, plus “lightning deals” every hour.

Also, today only: Little Giant RevolutionXE 22-Foot Multi-Use Ladder, $199 (61% off). Looks very useful.

YES. Sex After 40: Does It Get Better?

NEW FRONTIERS in Post-Sex Tweeting.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Are There More Female Athletes With Great Racks?

ROT: BBC Presenter Jimmy Savile Suspect in 199 Crimes, Including Rape.

#WARONWOMEN: Rep. Jim Moran’s (D-VA) son pleads guilty to assaulting girlfriend. “According to a court document, on Dec. 1, police outside the Getaway at 1400 Meridian Place NW observed Moran ‘grab a white female by the back of her head with his hand and slam her head into the metal trash can cage in front of the nightclub.'”

Plus: “The incident marked the second time in recent months that Patrick Moran found himself in hot water. In October, Moran was forced to resign from his father’s re-election campaign after he was caught on camera coaching a man on how to commit voter fraud.”

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: “U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez employed as an unpaid intern in his Senate office an illegal immigrant who was a registered sex offender, now under arrest by immigration authorities, The Associated Press has learned. The Homeland Security Department instructed federal agents not to arrest him until after Election Day, a U.S. official involved in the case told the AP.” (Emphasis added).

I guess the Obama Administration figured one sex scandal for Menendez at a time was enough.

UPDATE: “Mustn’t embarrass members of the Inner Party.”

JUST DON’T LET ELMO HAVE THE KIDS: Sesame Street tackles divorce.

SHIKHA DALMIA: Unions Begin Long War After Stunning Blow in Michigan. “Labor has two options now that its ability to extract mandatory dues from workers as a condition for employment is gone. It can fight the law or try to persuade workers to voluntarily pay up. Union bosses aren’t accustomed to the second approach, so until the next elections in 2014 they can be expected to try everything to overturn the law and to stop the right-to-work fever from spreading to neighboring states.”

CLOSE, MAYANS, BUT NO CIGAR: Asteroid Barely Misses Earth.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Top Dorm Room Gadgets.

IN THE WASHINGTON POST, a nice story on Roger Simon & Sheryl Longin’s Walter Duranty play, The Party Line.

THE RAINMAKERS: Downstream. I saw them at the 930 Club in DC — a double-bill with Steve Earle for just 5 bucks, a few weeks before both bands got famous — and it was one of the best shows of my life. Amusingly, it turns out Mickey Kaus was at that show too, though I didn’t know him then.

CHANGE: Chips expand beyond potato and corn; a garden awaits. “Lentils, black beans, sweet potatoes — yes, they can be chips too. But different ingredients don’t change the fact they must be eaten in moderation.” D’oh!

REMEMBER, JUST BECAUSE THE APOCALYPSE STRIKES there’s no reason to be without bacon!