HE’S JUST GRATEFUL BECAUSE THEY’RE THE ONLY ONES WHO EVEN KNEW HE WAS RUNNING: Kasich praises CNBC debate hosts.

STEVEN HAYWARD: “Ask yourself a series of questions: Why is it that whenever you hear about a speaker having his/her invitation rescinded from a college speaking invitation, it is always the left that complained? When was the last time you heard about conservatives protesting an event or speaker somewhere? Last night, the audience at the GOP debate booed the questioners from CNBC. When was the last time you heard a Democratic audience boo a media panel questioning Democratic candidates?”

One of the valuable lessons that Donald Trump has taught the GOP — or, I should say, is beginning to teach the GOP — is to punch back twice as hard. But the GOP folks should click through and read Hayward’s advice on what to do next.

THEODORE DALRYMPLE ASKS: Are Annual Medical Exams Really Necessary?

THE QUIET REVOLUTION: A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN AMERICA, as spotted by Avner Zarmi at PJM:

No less a constitutional authority than John Adams, first vice president and second president of the United States, put it this way: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The reason should be obvious: only a self-disciplined, self-restrained, self-reliant people can function with the relatively minimalist government, one whose processes are deliberately slowed and frustrated by checks and balances to maximize personal liberty, as the United States Constitution seeks to do.

It follows, therefore, that a form of religious revival is precisely what is necessary to restore the health of the American civil society, which has been under such relentless assault in recent decades from the Left, if we would wish to save the constitutional order. To that end, recent surveys showing a marked decline in religious observance in the general American population have made depressing reading for people of a conservative mind.

But there is a bright corner, a quiet religious revival which has been underway for the past 40 years or so, spearheaded by a tiny group of visionaries who began building for it as long ago as the 1930s. I am speaking of the American Orthodox Jewish population.

There’s no reason why Albert J. Nock should have a monopoly on a Remnant forged in the 1930s attempting to rebuild society after its been flattened by the bulldozer of “Progressivism.”

JOEL KOTKIN: END OF ONE-CHILD POLICY IS UNLIKELY TO SOLVE CHINA’S LOOMING AGING CRISIS:

n 2050, the number of children in China under 15 is expected to be 60 million lower than today, approximately the size of Italy’s population. It will gain nearly 190 million people 65 and over, approximately the population of Pakistan, which is the world’s sixth most populous country.

The same broad pattern will play out in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Japan, but those countries’ much greater per capita wealth gives them a greater ability to cushion the impact than China. Demographer Nicholas Eberstadt envisions a developing of fiscal crisis in China caused by “this coming tsunami of senior citizens,” with a smaller workforce, greater pension obligations and generally slower economic growth.

These factors were clearly part of the calculus that led to suspending the one-child policy. But if China’s rulers think they can change demographic trends on a dime, they are massively mistaken.

The birthrates of many other East Asian countries have plummeted as well, despite campaigns to promote fertility. In South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore birthrates are near one per woman, roughly half the rate needed to sustain the current population. With the exception of Singapore, which accepts many immigrants, none have a reasonable path away from rapid aging of their populations and shrinking workforces.

So what is causing this plunge? Gavin Jones, a demographer based at the National University of Singapore, identifies primarily rapid urbanization and sky-rocketing house prices. In 1979, China’s population was 80 percent rural; today the proportion is roughly half that.

This transformation makes reversing the one-child policy largely moot, Jones says. Indeed a 2013 easing of restrictions on family size in certain circumstances elicited far fewer takers than expected. Barely 12 percent of eligible families even applied.

Having children and raising them is difficult and expensive. It turns out it’s easier to get people to stop doing that than it is to get them to start up again.

THAT WAS FAST: Senate Approves Two-Year Bipartisan Budget Agreement.

MSM ONCE AGAIN BAFFLED AT HOW “RACIST” CONSERVATIVES CAN SUPPORT A BLACK PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, Jonah Goldberg writes:

How strange it must be for people who comfort themselves with the slander that the GOP is a cult of organized racial hatred that the most popular politician among conservatives is a black man. Better to ignore the elephant in the room than account for such an inconvenient fact. The race card is just too valuable politically and psychologically for liberals who need to believe that their political opponents are evil.

Carson’s popularity isn’t solely derived from his race, but it is a factor. The vast majority of conservatives resent the fact that Democrats glibly and shamelessly accuse Republicans of bigotry — against blacks, Hispanics, and women — simply because they disagree with liberal policies (which most conservatives believe hurt minorities).

Yet conservatives also refuse to adopt those liberal policies just to prove they aren’t bigots. Carson — not to mention Carly Fiorina and Hispanics Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — demonstrates that there’s no inherent contradiction between being a minority (or a woman) and supporting conservative principles. And that fact is just too terrible for some liberals to contemplate.

You mean judging a man by the content of his character, his intellect, and his accomplishments, rather than by the color of his skin? It’s an idea so crazy, it just might work someday!

FAILED NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO plans to launch a national gun-control campaign.

Maybe he should be lawyering up instead: Andrew Cuomo’s already reeling from Preet Bharara’s probes. “Albany’s reputation for self-interested politics is long-standing and well-earned, and Cuomo’s role as the third man in the room with Silver and Skelos for four deal-filled years speaks for itself. . . . Certainly, he’s doing his best to appear productive while distancing himself as far from the Legislature as possible. His lawmakers-be-damned executive actions on the state’s minimum wage and gender identity are contemptuous of constitutional separation-of-powers standards — but, hey, it keeps him out of that room with the two new guys.”

ROLL CALL: Budget Deal’s Fate Looks Good in Senate.

Senators feel confident a two-year budget deal that also lifts the debt limit before the Nov. 3 deadline has the necessary support.

Leaders are looking at 1 a.m. early Friday for a cloture vote, but the exact time is still up in the air as senators negotiate a final agreement.

Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters Thursday he was confident the deal would get the 60 votes required to advance, and that the expectation is a vote on final passage could come in the hours after the cloture vote Friday morning.

The White House-backed bill easily passed the House Wednesday.

Senate Banking Chairman Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., told reporters “they’ll get a sizable amount, if not all of, the Democrats and some Republicans.”

As for the substance of the deal, which raises domestic and defense spending caps, Shelby said it was a big win for President Barack Obama, adding, “It’s not anything I can support.”

See, stuff like this is why Trump is doing so well.

CHANGE: Wake Up, America—Your Military Is Marginal:

The Heritage Foundation released its annual assessment on the state of the armed forces. The rating delivered by the 2016 Index of U.S. Military Strength is “marginal.” That might not be a bad grade for kindergarten kids to bring home. They have a couple of years before they have to apply to Harvard. But, that’s not much to show for a commander-in-chief after seven years of stewardship over America’s military.

Fox Butterfield, is that you? I suspect Mr. Obama is thrilled to have received such a low score.

JEB SHOULD PROBABLY WITHDRAW. I DON’T SEE HOW IT’S GOING TO HAPPEN FOR HIM. Bush supporters pick up the pieces after disappointing debate.

eb Bush’s supporters are struggling to explain the candidate’s listless debate performance, as baffled investors ponder the way forward.

Top fundraisers and donors aren’t setting their hair on fire just yet, but in interviews on Thursday, they said they were frustrated and puzzled by Bush’s wilting act under the bright lights at the debate on Wednesday night.

“It’s frustrating for those of us who are supporters of his, those of us who know him,” said one of Bush’s largest donors. “I mean, I’ve seen in these meetings with the smaller groups, he’s unbelievable. It’s just sort of weird.”
Bush was outmaneuvered by his former protégé and whiffed on softballs that his rivals clobbered.

The former Florida governor tepidly followed a debate moderator’s lead in attacking Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for missing votes in the Senate. The moment was a long time in the making, and could have announced Bush’s reemergence as an authoritative voice in the race while diminishing his chief rival for the establishment mantle.

Instead, Rubio won the encounter.

“The only reason you’re saying this is because we’re running for the same position and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you,” Rubio said, earning big applause from the crowd.

Bush didn’t have a comeback and he never really recovered.

Jeb, like Hillary, thinks he’s entitled to the nomination and doesn’t really seem to want to work for it. Unlike Hillary, though, he didn’t successfully clear the field of rivals before things started.

THE CNBC DEBATE WAS A TRAIN WRECK, BUT IT WAS A USEFUL TRAIN WRECK, Robert Tracinski writes at the Federalist:

Instead of being a chance for the Republican candidates to debate each other, the CNBC debate ended up pitting the candidates in a debate against the mainstream media.

And that’s what was awesome about it.

A presidential primary is not just an opportunity for candidates to stand around giving their policy positions or telling us the heartwarming and inspirational stories of their upbringing. It’s about putting them to the test and seeing if they can handle some of the real challenges of the job. Can they think on their feet and keep their cool? Can they make a personal connection with the average American? Can they handle stress and make decisions on the fly?

Last but not least—can they deliver a smackdown to the lamestream media?

Someone once compared presidential contests to crash test dummy simulations: it is a series of artificially induced crises intended to show how the candidates will deal with a real crisis. And if we want to test out the candidates in real-world conditions—well, what’s more realistic than figuring out how they deal with a biased, hostile media? Anybody remember moderator Candy Crowley weighing in on Barack Obama’s side during one of the debates with Mitt Romney in 2012? That’s exactly what a Republican candidate can expect in the general election. And it’s certainly what he (or she) can expect while in office. A hostile media is the air a Republican politician is required to breathe, so it’s good to have a nice, strong test to see who chokes and who can handle it.

Rather than writing off last night’s debate purely as a fiasco, I view it as a useful fiasco. We should have one debate like it during every primary cycle.

Mencken once wrote, “It is the prime function of a really first-rate newspaper to serve as a sort of permanent opposition in politics,” and that would be fine, if the MSM actually beat up both sides equally. But one need only look at the disastrous performance of the current president, particularly in regards to foreign affairs, to understand what happens when his operatives with bylines allow him to skate into office, clearing a path for him, rather than challenging him.

JUDGE: He Had A Right To Shoot At This Drone, And I’m Going To Dismiss The Charge.

GIVEN THAT BOTH OF THEM HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING EMMA SULKOWICZ’S FALSE RAPE CLAIMS WITH NO APOLOGY, SO WHAT? Senators Gillibrand and McCaskill Slam Fraternities That Lobby For Sexual Assault Due Process Bill.

Hey, when you’re a kangaroo, you don’t like it when people oppose kangaroo courts.

McCaskill and Gillibrand are Field Marshals in the War On College Men.

GREAT FUN: Automechanics Recreate Classical Paintings In Their Garage.

NEWS FROM THE WAR ON WOMEN: The best jobs for balancing work and life.

AH, SMOD, STILL YOU DISAPPOINT US: WATCH LIVE SATURDAY: Slooh’s ‘Spooky’ Halloween Asteroid Webcast.

INDIE AUTHORS HALLOWEEN SALE: Empire of the One.

HE LIES, SHE LIES: Or as my mom would say “Between the two of them, may the devil come and choose.” Spitzer: I buried plan to give illegal immigrants licenses to help Hillary.

PAJAMA BOY TO THE RESCUE: Uber Douche Wants New Type of Hero.

KIND OF COOL, BUT I WANT THE OTHER KIND: Star Ships: New Sciences Cruises Offer Pristine Cosmic Views.

GOVERNMENT BY FRAUD: Did Federal Agency Commit Climate Fraud? Sure Looks Like It.

INDIE AUTHORS HALLOWEEN SALE: Vulcan’s Kittens.

HOW TO RAISE PRECIOUS SNOWFLAKES: Autistic Man Jailed for Talking to Kids. Just Talking. That’s All.

INDIE AUTHORS HALLOWEEN SALE: Bloody Eden.