SCIENCE: Is there such a thing as an emotional hangover? Researchers find that there is. “Specifically, these data showed that the brain states associated with emotional experiences carried over for 20 to 30 minutes and influenced the way the subjects processed and remembered future experiences that are not emotional.”

GRIPPING PHOTO, GRIPPING MUD: From StrategyPage’s Battle of the Bulge photo series. This was posted several days ago and I managed to miss it. Move That Gun: an American anti-tank gun crew wrestles with the weapon and the mud.

I’M NOT SAYING THAT IT’S ALIENS. BUT IT’S ALIENS. 6 more mysterious radio signals have been detected coming from outside our galaxy.

KOREAN AIR LINES STUN GUN POLICY:

Korean Air Lines said it will allow crew members to “readily use stun guns” to manage violent passengers, and hire more male flight attendants, after coming in for criticism from U.S. singer Richard Marx over its handling of a recent incident.

The article describes the incident that led to decision.

HECKUVA JOB, BARRY: Russia Expands Middle East Role to Libya.

I’m old enough to remember when Libya was at peace and quietly cooperating with Western antiterror efforts.

THAT’S NICE: After George Michael’s Death, Stories Emerge Of His Quiet Generosity.

NOT WITH A BANG… The Top Five Firearm Stories of 2016.

GOOD-BYE, PRINCESS: CARRIE FISHER DEAD AT 60.

THOMAS SOWELL says farewell. I get it. I’ve always said that if I quit blogging/punditry it will be because I don’t want to pay close attention to the news anymore.

CHINESE LIVES MATTER: Chinese Middle-Class Anger Reignites Over Death of 29-year-old Researcher Lei Yang in Police Custody.

Criticism has been building in the days since Beijing prosecutors announced Friday that they won’t pursue negligence charges against five police officers despite finding that their “improper” actions had contributed to the death of 29-year-old Lei Yang in early May.

A number of prominent academics, lawyers and businessmen have publicly taken the prosecutors to task, saying the decision undermines the rule of law. A petition started by alumni from the university Mr. Lei attended has attracted more than a thousand signatures decrying the outcome as “inappropriate.” Some high-profile lawyers expressed willingness to represent Mr. Lei’s family in potential lawsuits against the five officers.

Though discussions of the decision were heavily censored on social media—and searches for Mr. Lei’s name blocked—two censorship-tracking websites, Weiboscope and Free Weibo, logged hundreds of deleted posts on the Weibo microblogging platform. According to WeiboScope, censorship on Weibo rose to a three-month high in the two days after the decision.

Social media and the rising expectations of China’s middle class are two tricky obstacles in the way of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to re-consolodate Communist Party power.

FAT, DRUNK, AND BRUTAL: Five years of Kim Jong Un: How has Kim the younger clung to power?

When Kim Jong Un first came to power, he seemed like something of a long shot. Could this princeling, still only in his twenties, really maintain order and secure the rule of his family amid the endless cloak and dagger ways of North Korean politics? Many assumed he’d quickly be assassinated, some that he’d simply be a puppet for more powerful interests.

But five years on and the Kim Dynasty of North Korea seems stronger than ever. The ruling party and the army are marching in step with the leadership, and state media is full of reports of his military supervision and party activities. Within no time, he’s slipped with ease into the roles that his father and grandfather inhabited for so long.

So how has he managed this?

Execution of the occasional rival by antiaircraft gun probably had something to do with it.

OOPS. FIRST FEMALE AFGHAN FIGHTER PILOT PLEADS FOR ASYLUM IN AMERICA: “I don’t know whether the final decision on this request will be handled by the Obama administration or Trump, but if we really honor the contributions of Ms. Rahmani as much as we claim to, her request should be approved. If we send her back there and she winds up dead, the blame won’t be placed entirely on people in Afghanistan.”

If Trump is truly serious about draining the Obama-era swamp, he should grant her asylum and then remind Americans about the threats she’s received, explain that unlike his immediate predecessor, his administration won’t tolerate such backwards thinking from our allies, and that if Afghan’s leaders want our help, they need to at least progress to the 19th century. The 18th, at a minimum.

Earlier: Photos Of Afghanistan’s Past: Modernity Lost.

LIFE IN OBAMA’S AMERICA: Charged a Fee for Getting Arrested, Whether Guilty or Not.

Corey Statham had $46 in his pockets when he was arrested in Ramsey County, Minn., and charged with disorderly conduct. He was released two days later, and the charges were dismissed.

But the county kept $25 of Mr. Statham’s money as a “booking fee.” It returned the remaining $21 on a debit card subject to an array of fees. In the end, it cost Mr. Statham $7.25 to withdraw what was left of his money.

The Supreme Court will soon consider whether to hear Mr. Statham’s challenge to Ramsey County’s fund-raising efforts, which are part of a national trend to extract fees and fines from people who find themselves enmeshed in the criminal justice system.

After 8 years of Barack Obama, it’s shocking that the Department of Justice has done nothing about this. Nor have Democrats in Congress enacted civil rights laws to eliminate these kinds of practices. But in less than a month, I predict, this sort of thing will be blamed on the “Trump Era.” Meanwhile, I think that people who are jailed but never convicted should be compensated for the time they lose to the criminal justice system.

OF COURSE HE DID: Obama circumvents Constitution with ‘signing statements’ after blasting Bush.

President Obama said Friday that the annual defense policy bill Congress sent him violated the Constitution — but he signed it anyway.

Instead of a veto, Mr. Obama issued a statement saying he would modify the law in its execution so he carries it out the way he thinks meets constitutional muster.

Mr. Obama promised during the 2008 campaign not to engage in issuing signing statements. He said that kind of behavior was a dark spot on the presidency of George W. Bush. But in the years since, Mr. Obama has become a regular practitioner, issuing more than 20 signing statements purporting to alter the way Congress wrote laws.

If it weren’t for double standards…

“She Betrayed Our Country” – Afghan “Top Gun” Pilot Seeks US Asylum, Sparks Domestic Outrage.

It all started when Niloofar Rahmani, a 25-year-old pilot described widely domestically as the “Afghan Top Gun”, was scheduled to return to Afghanistan last week after a 15-month training course with the US air force. But on the eve of her departure, she announced she will not be returning according to AFP, citing fears for her safety, triggering a storm of criticism in Afghanistan for “betraying” her nation but also garnering support from activists.

For a country whose love-hate relationship with the US in the past two decades has mostly gravitated to the latter, the defection was a huge blow: “What she said in the US was irresponsible and unexpected. She was meant to be a role model for other young Afghans,” defense ministry spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said on Monday. “She has betrayed her country. It is a shame.”

Rahmani had emerged as a symbol of hope for Afghan women when she surfaced in the press in 2013 after becoming Afghanistan’s first woman pilot since the Taliban era, dressed in tan combat boots, khaki overalls and aviator glasses. The once-unimaginable feat last year won her the US State Department’s “Women of Courage Award”.

But with fame came death threats from insurgents and she routinely faced contempt from her male colleagues in a conservative nation where many still believe that a woman does not belong outside the home. In an interview in Kabul last year, Rahmani said she always carried a pistol for her protection and though she has grown accustomed to the ogling eyes of men, she never left her airbase in uniform, lest it make her a target.

We would be lucky to keep her.

I’M FILING THIS UNDER AWESOME PHOTOSHOPS I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF. Militant snowflake: new insignia for social justice warrior.

THOMAS SOWELL IS RETIRING. “Even the best things come to an end. After enjoying a quarter of a century of writing this column for Creators Syndicate, I have decided to stop. Age 86 is well past the usual retirement age, so the question is not why I am quitting, but why I kept at it so long.”

His thoughts and his writing were always so fresh, I had no idea he was 86.

LOOKING BACK AT LOOKING UP: The 10 Biggest Spaceflight Stories of 2