NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama Goes Cowboy On Cuba:

With respect to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, the true cowboy diplomat may be the White House’s current occupant.

President Obama, as he has shown all year, isn’t about to go quietly into the lame-duck night, even with Republicans ready to take full power down the street. With the stunning announcement Wednesday that the United States is set to normalize relations with Cuba, the president is closing his self-termed “Year of Action” with a thunderclap.

In doing so, Obama is serving notice to new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that a sitting president trumps a Congress divided both along party lines and within them. The shift comes about a month after the last time the president thrust his stick into the GOP’s eye, when Obama announced he was unilaterally providing widespread deportation relief to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants.

Flashback: “The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America.” That Senator Obama seemed like a sensible fellow. I wish he were President now.

SO YOU’RE NOT LIKE AL SHARPTON, THEN. GOT IT. Joe Scarborough: ‘Jeb and I Are Moderate … We Don’t Set Houses on Fire and Scare Kids.’ Well, that’s what they said about McCain and Romney, too. How’d they do?

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MICHAEL BARONE: Let’s learn from Canada’s ‘bootstrap’ immigration policy.

Our friends and neighbors in Canada are giving us good lessons on immigration policy, as you can see from journalist John Ibbitson’s article in Toronto’s Globe and Mail, forwarded by Minnesota reader David Sturrock. In that article and in this Centre for International Governance Innovation paper, Ibbitson described how Canada’s Conservative government has virtually eliminated family-based immigration and has reduced refugee immigration from “safe” countries (including the United States). Canada has increased immigration places for high-skill immigrants who are fluent in English or French and are ready to prosper in Canada’s economy: “bootstrap” immigration.

Yes, I think that immigration should be based on what they can do for us, rather than what we can do for them.

I DON’T THINK THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH A CONGRESS THAT IS “UNPRODUCTIVE,” GIVEN WHAT IT PRODUCES WHEN IT’S “WORKING.” Historically unproductive Congress ends.

I’d still like to see the House Of Repeal in action, though. And I’d like to see it be highly productive.

CHANGE: Roll Call: McSally Win Gives Republicans Another House Seat.

Republican Martha McSally has officially defeated Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., after a protracted recount in the Tucson-based 2nd District reaffirmed her lead.

MsSally won the seat by 167 votes, picking up six votes after the recount, according to elections officials.

Barber conceded shortly after the official tally was released.

“Today I congratulated Martha McSally on her victory, and wished her well in serving Southern Arizonans,” Barber said in a statement. “This result is not the one we hoped for, but we take solace in having spoken out loud and clear for the principle that every legal vote should be counted.”

Including McSally’s victory, House Republicans picked up a net of 13 seats in the midterms, giving the conference a historic majority.

Just for the record, this is Gabby Giffords’ old seat, now occupied by a pro-gun-rights Republican.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Wisconsin won’t admit it, but its new egalitarian policy leads to grading quotas.

In fall 2009, the College of Letters and Science pushed further with a study of grading practices in five introductory courses. Its title was revealing: “Grade Gap/Future Gap: Addressing Racial Disparities in L&S [Letters & Science] Introductory Courses.” Departments were instructed to implement strategic action plans to “eliminate racial grade gaps by 2014.”

This targeted five introductory courses: Chemistry 103, Communication Arts 100, English 100, Mathematics 112, and Psychology 202.

Putting an even sharper point on the administration’s desires, the report explained, “. . . these courses have something in common, sharp disparities in grade outcomes by race. In all courses targeted minority students achieve lower grades than non-targeted students at similar preparation levels. In each course, targeted minority students receive more of the low grades and fewer of the high grades.”

No, that doesn’t explicitly demand grade quotas, but the unsubtle point can’t be missed.

Furthermore, to ensure “steady annual improvements,” the dean would create incentives and an accountability system.

The people who teach those introductory courses, mostly teaching assistants and instructional academic staff, are quite vulnerable to administrative pressure because they are on limited-term contracts. They are apt to decide that giving each individual the grade he or she earned is less important than assigning grades so that there is little or no gap between groups.

Rather than adjusting grades, however, the university suggests that faculty members who teach those courses should “discover pedagogical strategies that reach targeted and non-targeted students with equal effectiveness” to reduce the achievement gap.

Resorting to faddish education-speak, the university suggests that the faculty use “proactive multicultural competence” to make their teaching more effective for the targeted students.

Efforts to eliminate the grade gap are being intensified under UW-Madison’s “Framework for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence” plan. Its Recommendation 1.5 calls for a “reduction in the achievement gap.”

I’m sure this will build confidence in the entire enterprise.

ASHE SCHOW: Defining nearly all sex as rape. “California’s ‘yes means yes’ law turns the idea of sexual consent upside down. Suddenly, nearly all sex is rape, unless no person involved reports it as such.”

THE HILL: Can Obama Lift Cuba Embargo Alone? Why the hell not? He does everything else that way.

President Obama has significant powers at his disposal to make the U.S. trade and travel embargoes on Cuba meaningless, though action by Congress is required to formally lift the sanctions.

Six separate laws dictate the terms of sanctions on Cuba. They range from the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 to the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000.

It was President John F. Kennedy who prohibited U.S. exports to Cuba under the Trading with the Enemy Act shortly after Fidel Castro took control of the island nation.

Since then, Congress has moved periodically to toughen the sanctions with legislation, and a series of presidents have also taken executive steps to tighten or loosen the screws on Cuba.

Experts agree that Obama, who with actions on healthcare and immigration has signaled a willingness to test the lengths of executive power, has significant discretion when it comes to U.S. policy toward Cuba.

The six laws are written in a way to give the executive branch latitude in enforcing the law, and regulations are used to implement many of the sanctions.

It’s clear that a lot of our immigration and national security laws were written with certain assumptions about the Chief Executive in mind, assumptions that no longer hold.

L.A. WEEKLY: Killing The Interview Opens Studios to Terrorist Manipulation.

You know, we need to start persecuting communists again. Apparently, that’s what it takes to get Hollywood to stand up for free speech.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT CHAIR: We Should Hate Republicans.

A University of Michigan department chairwoman has published an article titled, “It’s Okay To Hate Republicans,” which will probably make all of her conservative students feel really comfortable and totally certain that they’re being graded fairly.

“I hate Republicans,” communications department chairwoman and professor Susan J. Douglas boldly declares in the opening of the piece. “I can’t stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa or any of the legions of other blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing fetal ‘personhood.’”

She writes that although the fact that her “tendency is to blame the Republicans . . . may seem biased,” historical and psychological research back her up, and so it’s basically actually a fact that Republicans are bad! . . .

Republicans now, she writes, are focused on the “determined vilification” of others, and have “crafted a political identity that rests on a complete repudiation of the idea that the opposing party and its followers have any legitimacy at all.”

(Apparently, the irony of this accusation given the content of her own article was lost on her.)

You know, if I were a Republican — or even Republican-curious — student at the University of Michigan, I’d feel unwelcome there. If I were a Republican governor or legislator in Michigan, and I think they have some of those, I’d be finding ways to encourage Michigan to be more inclusive and diverse. Especially given that — perhaps because of incitement caused by faculty views such as those above — the University of Michigan has already seen mob violence against conservatives. Perhaps Michigan lawmakers need to add political discrimination to their state’s civil rights code — at least as relates to institutions of education — especially in light of Cass Sunstein’s recent argument that political hatred is a serious problem in our society.

UPDATE: Some thoughts from Spengler.

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BYRON YORK: Did Ted Cruz really bungle the lame-duck session for Republicans?

There are four problems with the anti-Cruz scenario. The first is that on Dec. 9, days before Cruz threw a wrench in the works, Reid signaled his intention to confirm all of Obama’s remaining nominees, no matter how long it took. . . . The bottom line is that President Obama and Democrats got the confirmations they wanted — just as they planned and intended, regardless of anything Ted Cruz did. As he made clear before it all began, Harry Reid was going to make full use of his last chance to confirm his party’s nominees. It would have made no sense for him to do otherwise.

Yes, but both Democrats and establishment GOP folks are happy to band together to attack Cruz. Which says something. . . .

DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS: Texas Theater Will Show Team America in The Interview’s Place. I hope this catches on generally.

AFTER NORTH KOREAN HACKS AND THREATS, Sony Pulls The Interview From Distribution. Once you pay the Danegeld, you will never be rid of the Dane. That said, something about this whole thing feels “off.”

UPDATE: “No one should kid themselves. With the Sony collapse America has lost its first cyberwar. This is a very very dangerous precedent.”

SCIENTISTS ARE SMART IN A PARTICULAR WAY, I’D SAY: Scientists Are Not That Smart.

The popular image of scientists is of a tiny, elite (and possibly deranged) minority of people engaged in esoteric pursuits. One of the three most common responses when I tell somebody I’m a physicist is, “You must be really smart. I could never do that.” (The other responses are, “I hated that when I took it in high school/college,” and, “Can you explain string theory to me?” This goes a long way toward explaining why physicists have a reputation as lousy conversationalists.)

While the idea that scientists are uniquely smart and capable is flattering to the vanity of nerds like me, it’s a compliment with an edge. There’s a distracting effect to being called “really smart” in this sense — it sets scientists off as people who think in a way that’s qualitatively different from “normal” people. We’re set off even from other highly educated academics — my faculty colleagues in arts, literature, and social science don’t hear that same “You must be really smart” despite the fact that they’ve generally spent at least as much time acquiring academic credentials as I have. The sort of scholarship they do is seen as just an extension of normal activities, whereas science is seen as alien and incomprehensible.

A bigger problem with this awkward compliment, though, is that it’s just not true. Scientists are not that smart — we don’t think in a wholly different manner than ordinary people do. What makes a professional scientist is not a supercharged brain with more processing power, but a collection of subtle differences in skills and inclinations. We’re slightly better at doing the sort of things that professional scientists do on a daily basis — I’m better with math than the average person — but more importantly, we enjoy those activities and so spend time honing those skills, making the differences appear even greater.

Also, nowadays being a scientist means having an enormous tolerance for tedium, not only in the pursuit of science, but in the pursuit of funding.

WALL STREET: A Black Hole For Our Best And Brightest. When your smartest people go into finance, it’s bad news.

A PRETTY COOL ANIMATED GRAPHIC of how a 1911 handgun works.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Broadening the synthetic biology path to molecular nanotechnology.

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WHAT A CURRENCY COLLAPSE LOOKS LIKE: Russians Rush To Stores As Country Fears Bank Run. “Russian consumers flocked to the stores Wednesday, frantically buying a range of big-ticket items to pre-empt the price rises kicked off by the staggering fall in the value of the ruble in recent days. As the Russian authorities announced a series of measures to ease the pressure on the ruble, which slid 15 percent in the previous two days and raised fears of a bank run, many Russians were buying cars and home appliances — in some cases in record numbers — before prices for these imported goods shoot higher.”

OBAMA ANNOUNCES “NEW CHAPTER” ON CUBA. “The Obama administration will initiate diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana in coming months, the president said. . . . The president also announced measures to ease travel and the flow of goods between the United States and Cuba. However, the embargo on Cuba cannot be lifted without congressional approval. And critics accused the president of putting his legacy ahead of achieving democratic reforms in the communist nation.”

I’d love for Cuba to open up so I can get a cheap Caribbean beachfront place. But it would have to decommunize before that was worthwhile.

PRIVACY: Cops illegally nailed webcam to utility pole for 6 weeks to spy on house. “The Justice Department contended that the webcam, with pan-and-zoom capabilities that were operated from afar—was no different from a police officer’s observation from the public right-of-way. . . . US District Judge Edward Shea disagreed and ruled (PDF) that a warrant was necessary to spy on Leonel Vargas via a webcam controlled by local police.”

HONESTY IS GOOD FOR COUNTRIES: “Why do some countries suck? There are some countries more people would like to be in and another set of countries that most of the inhabitants want to flee. What causes this? It’s mainly about corruption, and in the 21st century we have a much better idea of how much and where it is.” The problem is that while corruption may be bad for countries, it’s good for the political class.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: This Is the First Robot To Be a Paying Airline Passenger.