PARTY OF OLD, WHITE PEOPLE: Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren Named to Senate Democratic Leadership Team. Just look at the photo.

ANALYSIS: FALSE. The Presidential Election Was a Referendum on Gender and Women Lost.

A woman lost, having run an over-scripted campaign run by the wrong people targeting the wrong voters in the wrong states.

WAIT, THIS DOESN’T FIT THE NARRATIVE: Trump considering openly gay man as U.N. ambassador, woman to head RNC.

Note, however, that this wouldn’t, in fact, “inject new diversity into the GOP” as both Richard Grenell and Ronna McDaniel are already Republicans. It might, however, force the press to cover the GOP’s actual, existing diversity, at least for a few minutes.

Trump keeps violating the Monster Frame.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: NASA and FEMA Rehearse for the Unthinkable: An Asteroid Strike on Los Angeles.

The possibility has existed on the pages of Hollywood scripts. But in what may be a case of life imitating art, NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies engaged last month in a planetary protection exercise to consider the potentially devastating consequences of a 330-foot asteroid hitting the Earth.

The simulation projected a worst-case blast wave by an asteroid strike in 2020 that could level structures across 30 miles, require a mass evacuation of the Los Angeles area and cause tens of thousands of casualties.

I was expecting an earth-shattering kaboom.

SEAN TRENDE: Democrats And The God That Failed.

It’s not just that Republicans have now won four of seven elections since the book was published, although that is, as we would sometimes note dryly when I practiced law, a “bad fact.” It’s more that it is very difficult to shoehorn into the theory this election of a 70-year-old white male with a policy portfolio that is basically the antithesis of what the “Emerging Democratic Majority” recommended. It is even more difficult to do so given that Donald Trump won in the most racially diverse electorate in American history.

Even if you could somehow account for that, I do not see how you reconcile this election outcome with the Emerging Democratic Majority theory when the incumbent president has a job approval rating in the low 50s, when the country is basically at peace, and while the economy is still growing; this is not simply an odd reaction to some global disaster. Finally, to make the theory work, you have to find a way to explain the fact that, from top to bottom, the Republican Party is the strongest it has been since the 1920s. Whatever majority may be emerging, it does not look particularly Democratic right now.

But thinking about all the old white people dying off was so satisfying. Take that, Daddy!

ROGER KIMBALL: The Steve Bannon Bogeyman.

A REAL-LIFE HORROR MOVIE: The Last Days of ISIS in Mosul.

That the “jayvee” was allowed to take and hold the city for so long ought to be just as revolting as the atrocities ISIS is committing there.

THIS SEEMS RIGHT. IT SEEMED LIKE A TOTALLY UNJUSTIFIED SHOOTING: Minnesota officer charged with manslaughter for shooting Philando Castile during incident streamed on Facebook.

Reminder: The NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation both called for investigation in this case where a Latino police officer shot a black man with a carry permit.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: Dutch firm unveils concept space suit for Mars explorers.

RESET: Putin pulls Russia out of International Criminal Court.

Russia in 2000 signed the Rome treaty that established the Hague-based court but never ratified it.

Putin’s decree, published on the Kremlin’s website, comes a day after the U.N. General Assembly’s human rights committee approved a resolution condemning Russia’s “temporary occupation of Crimea” and blamed Russia for rights abuses such as discrimination against some Crimean residents, such as Tatars.

I’m not sure the ICC (the U.S. is not a member) has ever accomplished much besides providing yet another international forum for grandstanding.

THE 21ST CENTURY ISN’T TURNING OUT AS I HOPED: Options for Periods Include Cups and Special Underwear.

THANK GOODNESS IT’S ONLY SIX: Six More Examples of Anti-Trump Violence.

SYRIA: Regime blitz on Aleppo kills 21, including children.

At least 21 people — including four children — were killed in a Syrian regime blitz over war-ravaged eastern Aleppo on Wednesday that pounded hospitals, a blood bank and targets near schools, activists and medical staff said.

The Al-Shaar neighborhood appeared to be the worst hit, with nine barrel bombs striking the Children’s Hospital, Al-Bayan Hospital and the Central Blood Bank, staff on site with the Syrian American Medical Association (SAMS) told CNN. Buildings nearby were completely flattened.

Good lord.

TRANSPARENCY: Facebook Says It Found More Miscalculated Metrics.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Carve A Thanksgiving Turkey.

REMY PUTS EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE:

SKYNET FROWNS: Human drivers will bully robot cars, says CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA.

Some people are afraid of robots taking over. Exler is worried that humans will “bully” driverless cars.

Human drivers already speed, drive erratically and cut in line. Driverless cars will be programmed to be polite and follow the law.

When someone tries to cut in line at a traffic merge, humans won’t let them in. But a driverless car will be programmed to stop when it sees an obstruction — like a line cutter. “They’ll look for the autonomous car and that’s where they’ll cut in,” he said.

Theoretically, robot cars could be programmed to be more aggressive, but he doubts regulators would allow that to happen.

Humans have been gaming systems probably since the first system was put into place.

NEWS FROM TENNESSEE: State Sen. Mark Green touring state ahead of possible bid for governor.

“The frustration of voters is unmistakable and the election of Donald Trump as president is a clear message to the permanent political class,” Green said a news release. “The only way to begin cleaning up the mess of poll-driven politics is to start listening directly to those we represent.”

Green does not explicitly state that he is entering the 2018 gubernatorial race, but statewide tours like Green’s are common political maneuvers ahead of efforts to seek statewide office. It would be Green’s first attempt at seeking a statewide position. . . . Green is a former Army officer and doctor who owns an emergency department management firm that may eclipse $1 billion in worth in the next few years..

Our current governor, Bill Haslam (R) is term-limited out in 2018.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

Shot:

A vacationing President-elect Barack Obama slipped away from the traveling press pool that follows him wherever he goes, taking his two young daughters, family members and friends to Hawaii’s Sea Life Park.

— Lede for article with the earthshaking headline, “Obamas visit Hawaii sea park,” CNN.com, December 27, 2008.

Chaser:

Steady lads – keep it together, MSM.

YES, BUT THEY WON’T: Could the Electoral College elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump?

A Change.org petition, now signed by more than 4.3 million people, encourages members of the Electoral College to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton when the college meets on Dec. 19. The petition argues that Donald Trump is “unfit to serve” and that “Secretary Clinton WON THE POPULAR VOTE and should be President.”

“If they all vote the way their states voted, Donald Trump will win,” the petition states. “However, they can vote for Hillary Clinton if they choose. Even in states where that is not allowed, their vote would still be counted, they would simply pay a small fine – which we can be sure Clinton supporters will be glad to pay! We are calling on the Electors to ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Secretary Clinton.”

Wishful thinking about the Electoral College has been de rigueur on the losing side of every election since at least 2000. The Electoral College could act as a failsafe against a crazy electorate, but electors are unlikely in the extreme to undermine the College’s own existence just to please a few internet cranks.

THE WAGES OF FEAR-MONGERING:

Fear has won. We are all scared.

Remember when Democrats used to say “”The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”?

Was that only for when a Democrat got elected? When a Republican gets elected… go for full-out fear-mongering.

Well, to be fair, when FDR was President, minorities had to worry about being put in camps. But that’s a Democrat-President thing, so people should be fine with Trump.

GRUMPY OLD WHITE MEN: Schumer is next top Senate Democrat, adds Sanders to leadership ranks.

THEN: HIDE THE DECLINE! NOW: FORMER NASA “CLIMATE EXPERT” JAMES HANSEN SUPPORTS LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA:

Shot:

Barack Obama has only four years to save the world. That is the stark assessment of Nasa scientist and leading climate expert Jim Hansen who last week warned only urgent action by the new president could halt the devastating climate change that now threatens Earth. Crucially, that action will have to be taken within Obama’s first administration, he added.

— President ‘has four years to save Earth,’ the London Guardian, January 17, 2009.

Chaser:

According to Motherboard, the lawsuit, which is being spearheaded by Our Children’s Trust, a civic engagement nonprofit for youth, charges President Obama, the fossil fuel industry, and other federal agencies for violating the plantiffs’ constitutional right to life, liberty, property, and to vital public trust resources, by continuing to use fossil fuels.

The lawsuit was filed in September 2015, and is supported by noted climate scientist James Hansen, who is a co-plaintiff in the case, as guardian for his granddaughter and for future generations. Since last year, lawyers for the defendants from various governmental organizations have attempted to get the case dismissed on various grounds, including the question of whether minors can defend their constitutional rights like adults, as well as asserting that climate change is not caused by humans.

— Children win right to sue US government on actions causing climate change (Video), Treehugger.com, Monday.

As Jazz Shaw writes at Hot Air, “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this case will never go anywhere. But someone saw fit to allow it to move forward and the anti-energy media will have a field day with it during the slow, post-election news cycle.”

Or perhaps not, since the lawsuit renders Obama’s 2008 “This was the moment” speech a time capsule of that bizarre year, the equivalent of Phil Hartman’s Harold Hill-like monorail conman on the Simpsons, and yet another reminder that the left has replaced religion with politics, with predictable results. Sad!

Related: Michelle Malkin on “Prop-a-palooza: The Use and Abuse of Kiddie Human Shields.”

PRESIDENTIAL TWEETSTORM: President-Elect Trump Goes on Twitter Rant Against NY Times Reporting: ‘They Looked Like Fools’

We never saw media handwringing like this over President Selfie Stick.