AND HAVE WE MENTIONED THIS IS FUNNY TOO: And by funny we don’t mean ah ah. Celebrating a Deserter in the Rose Garden.

RELATING TO DA BOSS’S COLUMN IN USA TODAY: Why is Obama obsessed with springing terrorists from Gitmo?

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: The Democrats’ Terror Compassion Deficit. “Democrats are supposed to be the party of compassion, but lately a lot of Americans are feeling as if the Obama administration doesn’t much care about them. The reason is terrorism and the way Obama and Hillary Clinton have responded to it.”

AT AMAZON, Christmas Deals on “Retro” Toys.

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH: Finland faces wave of vigilante mobs targeting migrants as arrest of an Afghan asylum seeker for rape of 14-year-old schoolgirl pushes one town to the brink.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Professor Blames “White Privilege” For The Existence Of Michigan. To be fair, who else would put up with those winters?

MAYBE THE TRANSFORMATION HASN’T BEEN SO FUNDAMENTAL: Americans Want Christmas, More Religion in Schools. “Americans continue to strongly support the celebration of Christmas in public schools, places that most already believe lack enough religion. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 76% of American Adults believe Christmas should be celebrated in public schools. Just 15% disagree.”

CHRISTMAS DEALS ON AMAZON DEVICES.

I REMEMBER WHEN THE 21ST CENTURY WAS GOING TO BE FULL OF BUFF PEOPLE IN SPANDEX OUTFITS: Rising Obesity Rates Put Strain on Nursing Homes.

STEVE GREEN IS DRUNKBLOGGING TONIGHT’S CNN’s GOP DEBATE; click here to join in.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Dear Parents: Everything You Need to Know About Your Son and Daughter’s University But Don’t.

AT AMAZON, Gift Cards Galore.

Plus, shop the Holiday Toy List.

HEH: Just post this picture; it covers the entire week.

SEEN ON FACEBOOK:

DONALD TRUMP’S COALITION OF THE DESCENDING:

If the goal in Washington really were to elevate Trump’s blue-collar white males and make them feel more secure, then “stupid” would be an apt description because the opposite effect has been achieved. Average hourly wages in the U.S. have been stagnant for half a century. Median household income has only risen for those toward the top of the income distribution. Earnings for male high school graduates have plummeted since 1970.

But who in the American power grid is actively pursuing the goal of elevating such people?

Neither Democratic nor Republican elites seem overly concerned with Trump’s crowd. Bernie Sanders would surely make a play for their support if he could get a hearing. But the Democrats are otherwise dreaming of dominance with their coalition of the ascendant. That coalition, the product of decades of politically costly investments that have only begun to pay a return, is female, black, Hispanic and Asian, with highly educated whites pitching in. It relies less and less on the votes of white males without college educations, and the coalition’s new members, many of whom have suffered discrimination, aren’t much saddened by the relative decline of white male status.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have seemed to heartily endorse white male working-class rage, wearing their constituents’ class grudges on their rolled-up sleeves. But they have shown scant interest in the efforts of so-called reform conservatives, for example, to address the economic plight of the working class.

It’s lucky that Trump’s supporters — despite media efforts to suggest otherwise — are so nonviolent. In most countries, a class of people this large, this vilified, and suffering this degree of reversal, would be rioting or worse.

FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: Pew: The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground. “In at least one sense, the shift represents economic progress: While the share of U.S. adults living in both upper- and lower-income households rose alongside the declining share in the middle from 1971 to 2015, the share in the upper-income tier grew more. Over the same period, however, the nation’s aggregate household income has substantially shifted from middle-income to upper-income households, driven by the growing size of the upper-income tier and more rapid gains in income at the top.”

RACISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Young White Men The Most Derided Groups In Britain. “YouGov data from 48 separate surveys has shown that young white men are seen as the worst ethnic, gender or age group almost across the board.” Note the big jump between them and the second-worst. I suspect results in the US would be similar.

From the comments: “Everybody probably just figured they get in trouble if they checked any of the other boxes…”

CHIPOTLE 0, MODERNITY 1: Chipotle: The Long Defeat Of Doing Nothing Well.

These episodes reveal several things. First and foremost, Chipotle is a company so out of control and negligent that it repeatedly endangers the public. But they also illustrate something important about food safety: Although the crops, meats and other foods produced by modern conventional agricultural technologies may not bring to mind a sentimental Norman Rockwell painting, they are on average safer than food that reflects pandering to current fads.

And Chipotle knows it.

“We may be at a higher risk for food-borne illness outbreaks than some competitors,” the company admits in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, “due to our use of fresh produce and meats rather than frozen, and our reliance on employees cooking with traditional methods rather than automation.” (Think about that: Would you agree to open-heart surgery if the anesthesiologist planned to use “traditional methods” instead of state-of-the-art technology?)

One wonders whether Chipotle’s “traditional methods” include employees’ neglecting to wash their hands before preparing food, which is how norovirus is usually spread. And the fresh versus frozen dichotomy is nothing more than a snow-job. Freezing E. coli-contaminated food does not kill the pathogens; it preserves them.

Ouch.

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WON’T EVEN LOOK AT IMMIGRANTS’ SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK ARE WILLING TO censor anti-immigrant statements on social media. “The partnership to crack down on what Germany deems illegal speech comes after German law enforcement’s reported concerns about ‘racist abuse’ posted to social media after the country’s huge and extremely controversial import of over a million Syrian refugees.”

REPORT: REVIEW FINDS THAT HILLARY CLINTON RECEIVED ‘TOP SECRET’ EMAILS DESPITE STATE DEPARTMENT CHALLENGE.

Unexpectedly! Or as they say around the Politico’s water cooler, “Badass.”

KELSEY GRAMMER SET TO STAR IN AMAZON TV ADAPTATION OF F. SCOTT FITZGERALD NOVEL THE LAST TYCOON.

Well, co-star at least, as the role of Monroe Stahr will be played by an actor named Matt Bomer.

Let’s hope its pacing is faster than the 1976 Robert DeNiro version, which was the last film directed by Elia Kazan. Handsome production values and great cast (Grammer is playing the role that Robert Mitchum played), but Kazan’s elegiac adaptation made Barry Lyndon seem like it moved along with the brisk pace of Star Wars.

THE LEFT IS ALL ABOUT THE “OTHERING,” EVEN AS THEY PURPORT TO DENOUNCE IT: How the Left really sees Republicans: neo-fascist white people.

HOAXED: Bogus email threat sent to NYC, LA schools was remarkably similar to plot line of “Homeland.”

WONDER TWINS POWERS ACTIVATE! Rape-Hoaxer Lena Dunham to Campaign for Rape-Denier Hillary Clinton.

MIKE ROWE TO BERNIE SANDERS: Stop Telling Everyone College is The Only Thing.