ASIA PIVOT: South China Sea Artificial Islands Have Weapons Installed.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report late Wednesday that the anti-aircraft guns and close-in weapons systems designed to guard against missile attack have been placed on all seven of China’s newly created islands.

The outposts were built in recent years by piling sand on top of coral reefs followed by the construction of military grade 10,000-foot airstrips, barracks, lighthouses radar stations and other infrastructure.

CSIS based its conclusions on satellite images taken of the islands in mid-to-late November and published on the website of its Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, which has been tracking construction of hexagonal structures on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs in the Spratly Islands since June and July.

China is engaging in the oceanic version of salami tactics, and they’ve already succeeded in slicing off The Philippines.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Militarization of South China Sea Proceeds Apace. “The cat is out of the bag: new satellite imagery confirms that weapons have been installed on China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea, despite Beijing’s official claims that it is not seeking to militarize the region.”

Plus: “The question of the hour is how Donald Trump will handle the increasingly volatile region. Early word from Trump security advisor Jim Woolsey suggested that the incoming administration intends to project power more forcefully and push back against Chinese expansionism. Trump’s subsequent appointments are painting a fuller picture. His Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, is on the record supporting a naval buildup to counterbalance against China’s ‘bullying role’ in the South China Sea. And Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has shown a willingness to buck Beijing’s claims as well: as CEO of Exxon Mobil, Tillerson signed a controversial deal with Vietnam to drill in disputed waters, provoking China’s anger.”

WELL, GOOD: Netanyahu and Sisi Building Strong Security Ties.

Israeli-Egyptian security cooperation happens behind closed doors through very sensitive channels. So much of our analysis of the operational aspects can only be inferred indirectly. The shape of this cooperation is governed by the terms of the 1979 peace treaty, which sets out limits on the scope of Egyptian military operations in the Sinai and creates demilitarized areas within it. The fact that Egypt has had as much latitude as it has in fighting the Islamic State and other groups in the Sinai without drawing Israeli’s ire, speaks volumes to the level of coordination that is presumably happening behind the scenes. We can assume based on those kinds of data points that it’s probably quite significant, given both countries’ shared animosity towards Hamas and ISIS, as well as other actors operating in the Sinai and the Gaza Strip.

Set aside the religious rivalry for a moment, and you’re left with the Middle East’s two most ancient and enduring cultures, and two neighbors with complementary security needs.

ROGER SIMON: Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Vlad?

OR MOST ANYTHING ELSE: Desperate Democrats would subvert the Constitution to deny Donald Trump the Oval Office.

SHOCKER: People Who Are Free To Choose Schools Like The Schools They Choose.

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PEAK VOX:

lol: a double-bank shot Voxplainer. pic.twitter.com/9l6adYE7ZW

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) December 15, 2016

I’m kidding, of course. It seems obvious that the kids at Vox still have a ways to go over the next four-to-eight years before they find the bottom of the deep end.

MEXICO’S CARTEL WAR TEN YEARS ON.

IF DEMOCRATS DID THIS, IT WOULD BE PORTRAYED AS A BRILLIANT LAST-DITCH MOVE TO PREVENT A DICTATORSHIP: NC Dems ‘Freaking Out’ After GOPers Call Surprise Session To Limit New Governor’s Power.

DHS CHIEF: ‘No Evidence That Hacking by Any Actor Altered the Ballot Count’

What’s a little fake news to overturn an election among friends of the Left?

DRILL BABY DRILL: Britain taps new natural gas field in the North Sea.

AWKWARD: Dem critics of Jeff Sessions spent 20 years praising him.

A growing number of key Democrats raising questions about Attorney General-nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions have spent 20 years praising his character and bipartisanship, leading to a potentially awkward and hypocritical challenge at his upcoming Senate confirmation hearing.

A review of past public statements that show support and admiration for the Alabama senator includes words from Labor Secretary Thomas Perez who plans a spirited bid for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee.

Consider: During his 2009 confirmation hearing as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Perez called Sessions a “wonderfully welcoming person.”

At his hearing Perez said: “I had the privilege of serving as a first-line supervisor in the criminal section. I traveled the country. My first travel was to Mobile, Ala., where we were treated with great dignity by then-U.S. Attorney and now Sen. Jeff Sessions, the first trial that I participated in, and he was a wonderfully welcoming person, a wonderfully welcoming U.S. attorney, and I am very grateful for that work.”

Now that he has been chosen as President-elect Trump’s attorney general, however, top Democrats are challenging Sessions on gay, racial and other issues and the attack would be led by potential leaders like Perez.

They’ll flip positions as fast as Lillian Hellman did on Germany.

HMM: Trump transition says request for names of climate scientists was ‘not authorized’

The Trump transition team appeared to back away from a controversial questionnaire sent to the Energy Department last week that had asked for the names of department staffers who had worked on several climate-change initiatives under President Obama.

“The questionnaire was not authorized or part of our standard protocol,” Trump’s transition team said in a statement to The Washington Post. “The person who sent it has been properly counseled.”

I’d like to know exactly what “properly counseled” entails before drawing any conclusions.

FAKE ISLANDS THAT ARE BAD NEWS: China deploys new anti-aircraft and anti-ship weapons on its artificial islands in the South China Sea. The weapons aren’t artificial.

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ERDOGAN’S TURKEY: Ruthless Assault on Press Freedom Shields State from Scrutiny.

The assault on critical journalism sharpened in 2014 but accelerated after the failed coup attempt in July 2016, denying Turkey’s population access to a regular flow of independent information from domestic newspapers, radio, and television stations about developments in the country.

The 69-page report, “Silencing Turkey’s Media: The Government’s Deepening Assault on Critical Media,” documents five important components of the crackdown on independent domestic media in Turkey, including the use of the criminal justice system to prosecute and jail journalists on bogus charges of terrorism, insulting public officials, or crimes against the state. Human Rights Watch also documented threats and physical attacks on journalists and media organizations; government interference with editorial independence and pressure on media organizations to fire critical journalists; the government’s takeover or closure of private media companies; and restrictions on access to the airwaves, fines, and closure of critical television stations.

It wasn’t a failed coup; it’s a successful purge.

FAKE NEWS: State Department refuses to admit US failure in Syria.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Harvey Silverglate: Babson College Dropped Ball in Post-Election Incident.

The shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mentality that has gripped our college campuses, currently basking — or wallowing — in a so-called diversity and inclusion phase, has visited Babson College, where members of the administration and faculty worked themselves into a lather over an incident of racial harassment that, it turns out, the most elementary investigation would have demonstrated never occurred.

This puts Babson, President Kerry Healey, and a number of administrators and faculty members into the uncomfortable position of having failed to adhere to an academic obligation — first determine the facts, then draw conclusions, and only then open your mouth. . . .

Healey was joined by Dean of Students Lawrence Ward, and some 200 members of Babson’s faculty — none of whom apparently had bothered to look for evidence before condemning Rand-Ricciardi and Tomasso and effectively labeling them racists and homophobes. It was a classic example of the justice meted out by the infamous character Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland,” who pronounced sentences — “off with their heads” — before the inconvenience of a trial.

Remember, higher education is supposed to be valuable because it teaches critical thinking.

Related: Legal advocacy group says Babson’s actions a ‘serious concern.’

A national legal advocacy group that’s successfully sued colleges for violating students’ free speech and due process rights is putting Babson College on notice that it’s monitoring the discipline of two students who waved a Donald Trump flag on the Wellesley College campus the day after the presidential election.

The Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is delivering a letter to Babson today, said Ari Cohn, FIRE’s senior program officer for legal and public advocacy. He said the Babson case is “of serious concern” to FIRE.

“Because these students are going to face harassment and disorderly conduct charges simply for pre-existing support of a candidate, without anything more than that, the college’s promises of freedom of expression are essentially meaningless,” Cohn said.

Annual cost of attending Babson College: $58,692.

Flashback: ‘Tolerant’ educators exile Trump voters from campus.

YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT’S A BAD THING: Trump’s Ungovernment — His appointments are wrecking balls and swamp creatures, and his supporters won’t care.

But Trump won’t suffer, and here’s why. When Trump railed against “elites,” he wasn’t decrying the rich and powerful. His appeal was built on the fact of his wealth and power, on his promise to bring that wealth and power to bear on Washington and deliver benefits to the deserving. For Trump, “elites” are defined by the people with whom they sympathize. And in his narrative, they sympathize with the racial adversaries of his supporters: Hispanic immigrants, Muslim Americans, and black protesters. “Elites,” in Trump’s telling, are leaders who will not strike back against America’s enemies. This isn’t separate from his appeal to jobs and revitalization; it’s the other side of the coin. With echoes of George Wallace and Richard Nixon, Trump tied economic pain to a racialized picture of “elites.” Those elites, with their sympathy for the “other,” are the reason you are hurting; they are the reason America isn’t great. To elect Trump was to reclaim the country from those elites.

Maybe they just don’t like being called “swamp creatures.”

PROFILES IN COURAGE:

BREAKING: In a reversal, Obama declines to sign renewal of Iran sanctions, but lets it become law without his signature.

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 15, 2016

PROGRESSIVE GOVERNANCE: California DMV Calls Uber’s Autonomous Autos ‘Illegal’

The car-hailing firm on Wednesday said San Francisco residents could now hail a handful of autonomous vehicles within city limits, expanding a test that began three months ago in Pittsburgh.

Later in the day, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles told Uber it was operating autonomous vehicles without a necessary permit and could face legal action unless it takes the autos off the road. Uber executives say they believed a permit wasn’t required since the retrofitted sport-utility vehicles are manned by a driver and engineer in the front seats and therefore aren’t fully autonomous.

Uber has forgotten that in forward-looking California, nearly everything not mandatory is forbidden. There’s a wedge issue here the incoming Trump Administration could use to cleave Silicon Valley from the Democrats.

DAN MITCHELL: The Deadly Impact of Regulations on Organ Transplants.

YET ANOTHER ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF MY REVOLVING-DOOR SURTAX: Harry Reid Boasts About Not Going Back to Nevada.

Residency issues knocked out a handful of Harry Reid’s colleagues over the years, but the outgoing Senate Democratic leader didn’t even pretend that he got back to his home state of Nevada on a regular basis.

“It’s amazing what I have not done,” said Reid in the recent cover story for GW Magazine. “I don’t go home every week. I never have, even when I was in the House. I don’t like banquets, parades.”

Reid has never been known to pull rhetorical punches, so his comments aren’t a complete surprise. But they are remarkable, considering how multiple senators during Reid’s three decades in Congress lost re-election, at least in part, because they were portrayed as having “gone Washington” and not spent enough time in their home states. . . .

In 2010, Reid called attacks on his residency “embarrassing” and called Searchlight (population: 539) home as Republicans highlighted his condo in Washington’s Ritz-Carlton.

Amazing that he could afford to live in the Ritz-Carlton as a public servant.

HEALTH: E-cigarette use falls among teens.

Maybe this will help put to rest some of the panic-mongering at the Surgeon General’s office.