NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Active and reversible control of nanoparticle optical properties.

AT AMAZON, New Year’s Deals in Home and Kitchen.

Plus, Winter Cleaning Deals.

IS THE OREGON MESS PROOF “WE NEED A CONSERVATIVE ALINSKY?”

ACTUALLY, IT’S DESIGNED FOR PRECISELY THAT: First Amendment doesn’t let you say ‘hateful things,’ Mizzou’s new vice chancellor says.

Though it’s nice of Mizzou to sponsor the F.I.R.E full employment act of 2016.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: An Open Letter to Mark Steyn, Simon Heffer, Milo Yiannopoulos, Breitbart (London), and His Grace, Archbishop Cranmer.

THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED: “‘Every time I hear about those kids it makes me mad’: Obama cries for the victims of Newtown as he pushes gun control at speech surrounded by families who lost loved ones in mass shootings,” gushes the London Daily Mail, ignoring Obama’s silence on both the over 440 murders last year and disgraced crony Rahm Emmanuel’s sinking fortunes in Chicago, a city that should be entirely pacified, if overwhelming blue state gun control efforts actually worked.

But “The MacGuffinization of American Politics,” as Ace described how the media crafts its Obama narratives in late 2013 rolls on:

For Obama’s fanbois, this is not politics. This isn’t even America, not really, not anymore.

This is a movie. And Barack Obama is the Hero. And the Republicans are the Villains. And policy questions — and Obama’s myriad failures as an executive — are simply incidental. They are MacGuffins only, of no importance whatsoever, except to the extent they provide opportunities for Drama as the Hero fights in favor of them.

Watching Chris Matthews interview Obama, I was struck by just how uninterested in policy questions Matthews (and his panel) were, and how almost every question seemed to be, at heart, about Obama’s emotional response to difficulties– not about policy itself, but about Obama’s Hero’s Journey in navigating the plot of President Barack Obama: The Movie.

As with a MacGuffin in the movie, only the Hero’s emotional response to the MacGuffin matters.

Speaking of which, “Chris Matthews talking about Obama crying on ‘Hardball’ today will be must-see TV,” Allahpundit predicts. (An earlier tweet by Allah also inspired our headline above.) But then, as NewsBusters’ Geoffrey Dickens writes, the MSM has worked hard to pave the way for Obama’s anti-Second Amendment efforts.

Finally, just a reminder, here’s Obama on the stump in 2008:

Words — just words, to coin a phrase.

Related: Obama: Hey, forget what I said about Australia (twice) — no one’s looking to take away your guns!

More: “Obama is only this animated and energized when disarming the American people. ISIS not so much.” But then, his speech today is an attempt to distract Americans (via the supine media) from his ISIS and Al Qaeda-related epic failures.

BARACK OBAMA CHANNELS my USA Today column about Zaevion Dobson, but misses its essential message.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: GM and Lyft Team Up for Robot Taxi Service. “Our self-driving car future may eventually include robot taxis developed by General Motors and operated by the ride-sharing service Lyft. The U.S. automaker has invested $500 million in a new partnership with Lyft intended to develop a network of on-demand autonomous vehicles without the need for human drivers.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Mark Rippetoe asks, Good Trainers vs. Bad Trainers: How Can You Tell the Difference?

NRA: “What kind of government cares more about appeasing Islamic terrorists than defending the constitutional rights of its citizens? A government that would disarm us during the age of terror.”

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Heat-Resistant Ceramic Parts Are Now 3-D Printable.

COVER-UP OF MASS MOLESTATIONS ON NEW YEAR’S EVE IN COLOGNE DRAWS IRE:  “Oh, how the German authorities wanted to bury this story. But when nearly a hundred women reported sexual molestation by a crowd of Arabs numbering nearly 1,000 during the Silvester celebrations in the heart of Cologne, the news got out,” Michael Walsh writes. Read the whole thing.

THREE STRIKES AND YOU’RE OUT FOR ROBERT REDFORD: In 2013 the former actor turned far left proselytizer praised Bill Ayers’ Weathermen terrorist group, in a film whose national debut overlapped the Tsarnaev brothers’ Boston Marathon bombing. In 2015, Redford glowingly portrayed Dan Rather in a little-seen movie. In-between?

Redford is known for both his impeccable film resume and creating The Sundance Film Festival. He recently broadened his empire to include reality television. Specifically, he executive produced an eight-part series focusing on Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Yes, the same politician currently clinging to his job thanks to his questionable leadership.

The eight-part “Chicagoland” debuted on CNN in 2014 to tepid reviews and weak ratings. That’s not the noteworthy part. The series ended up being a love letter to Emanuel.

As Christian Toto asks, “Should CNN, Robert Redford Apologize for ‘Chicagoland?’”

Given Rahm Emanuel’s sudden reputation as a pariah amongst his fellow leftists, they would be required to, if CNN’s core viewers could even remember what they’ve seen on the network that largely exists these days as a conduit between the Obama White House, its cronies such as Emanuel, and the departure lounges of the American airport system.

UPDATE: Emails show Emanuel aides, producers coordinated CNN ‘Chicagoland’ scenes.

SPYING: House Intelligence Committee Orders Investigation Into Surveillance Of Congress That It Authorized.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON ON HATING THE WEST, INC.:

What explains these hypocritical and incoherent attacks on the West? The answer is important because it reminds us not to take too seriously the agendas of 20-something campus critics of white privilege and those protesting against micro-aggressions and demanding safe spaces and trigger warnings.

No civilization in history has been more leisured, affluent, or self-critical than the contemporary United States and Europe, Westernized Asia, and the British Commonwealth of Nations. Globalization has made former millionaires billionaires and near millionaires multimillionaires; among them are those who run universities, the media, foundations, Wall Street, politics, and the arts, whose influence far outweighs their relative small numbers.

At some point, for the Western elite class, the acquisitive dreams of the past become the banalities of the present, as luxury cars, penthouses, and vacation homes only remind the guilty how blessed they are, whether through inheritance, the power of trillion-dollar investments, or the global market of 6 billion people. For many of our elites, trashing their culture and heritage offers a sort of medieval penance that lets them alleviate guilt without sacrificing privilege. George Soros, Al Gore, and Mark Zuckerberg often are critical of the very engines that powered them to zillionaire status. Billionaire George Lucas calls his additional multibillion-dollar buyout from Disney the work of “white slavers.” Is Lucas, then, our version of an indentured Irish immigrant, or a Balkan peasant sent in chains to Istanbul? The 1 percent hope their loud displeasures will help to square the circle of finding redemption without ceasing to satisfy their material appetites. For some, anti-Westernism is the white lace that adds something to their costly but boring outfit.

Meanwhile, James Lileks visits an Arizona shopping mall during his Christmas week reprieve from the brutal cold of Minneapolis and responds “What you see is a miracle. This is the pinnacle of civilization, in its own way:”

I sound like a high schooler criticizing the snobby kids. I get that way in malls. Not in grocery stores, even though I get irritated by food snobs who will only use Madagascar vanilla in their French Toast batter. (Along with cage-free eggs and milk from cows that didn’t take BGH and ate non-gmo clover and were slaughtered with a blade sharpened on diamonds certified to be non-conflict) Grocery stores are a marvel. Daughter accompanied me to Fry’s today — walked! Three miles! Willingly! With her father! Made my day. We had a serious conversation on the way there and an amusing one on the way back. She was impressed by the store, which has everything. And of course I made to make this a Sermon.

What you see is a miracle. This is the pinnacle of civilization, in its own way. No king in the history of mankind had access to riches like this. Look — here. (picks up box of special expensive gourmet crackers) This is someone’s livelihood. Someone got a loan, started a business, hired people, paid someone to design this, because he or she wanted to make a special cracker, and here it is next to all the other special crackers, and this is just the special cracker department in the cheese department. There’s another special cracker section in the cracker aisle. He might fail, he might win, but you can do that here, you can try. And if someone says why do we need so many cracker choices, this is why. Do you want some governing Cracker Bureau to say no, don’t make crackers, make pretzels. But I don’t want to make pretzels. I want to make crackers. Sorry, we have enough crackers. But I have this new taste. SORRY.

Now apply that to everything here! And the other store that has the stuff this one doesn’t! And the other chain that carries a different line of specialty stuff!

Boris Yeltsin had the very same reaction when he visited a Houston supermarket in 1989; he immediately knew the Soviet Union was dead when he saw its shelves stocked to the brim. Bernie Sanders considers this a bad thing — both the abundant selection of the typical supermarket and the fall of the Soviet Union. Or as Lindsey Graham joked in October, Sanders “went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon,” and never came back.

BUT WILL HE STILL HUMP EVERY LEG?: William McGurn on how “The Big Dog–Bill Clinton–Gets Fixed.” Donald Trump’s statement that Bill Clinton’s sexual past is “fair game” for discussion has set the pace:

Now the Clintons must expect such moments throughout her 2016 campaign. Nor can Mrs. Clinton brush them off as her hubby’s problem, especially given that many of the women who accused Bill of sexual assault also say it was Hillary who orchestrated the smears against them. . . .

Mr. Clinton is now facing the heat himself as he gets into the race. It can’t help that his past misbehavior is resurfacing at the same time Bill Cosby, once a beloved figure himself, has just been charged with sexual assault. The comparisons between the two men are too obvious.

So is the question about the different responses the two men have received. Even before Bill Cosby was charged with a crime, the allegations against him led to his being stripped of honorary degrees, booted off boards and seeing his name replaced on buildings. Bill Clinton, meanwhile, is feted and rakes in the millions.

All this would be academic except for one thing: Mrs. Clinton needs the Obama coalition, especially its young women, to propel her into office. Unfortunately, as a recent New York Times feature about a Democratic mother and her daughter recently reported, “younger women are less impressed” by Mrs. Clinton than are older women. . . .

For one thing, Americans now know that the Clintons were often lying to us about her husband’s accusers. Exhibit A? When Hillary appeared beside Bill on “60 Minutes” to deny an affair with Gennifer Flowers that her husband would later admit to under oath.

As Christopher Hitchens once put it, Bill Clinton didn’t lie about sex. He lied about women. The Clintons’ problem today is that they are being called on these lies—and neither he nor his wife has a good answer.

I always use my mom as the bellwether for presidential elections; she has supported the winner as far back as I can remember. And as a Southern lady of a certain age, she absolutely adored Bill Clinton–almost as much as Elvis. She initially planned to vote for Hillary because, in her mind, voting for Hillary would mean a “third term” for Bill.

Today, my mom says she will “never” vote for Hillary. She (correctly) thinks she is a liar who, along with Bill, has used the Clinton Foundation to sell political influence and abuse power.

I also have another, middle-aged liberal woman friend who recently told me that she will no longer support Hillary. Why? Because after Trump began the discussion about Bill’s past sexual behavior, she thinks there’s an important difference between a man who is a common philanderer, and one who abuses power to get a piece. She feels sorry for Monica Lewinsky and the way her life was ruined at a very young age.

These are only anecdotes, of course. But in my mind, they indicate that there is an “abuse of power” theme with the Clintons that is resonating very powerfully with women voters.

Trump has (once again) dared to tackle an issue that others were too fearful to address, and in doing so struck a chord with a critical part of Hillary’s “war on women” base.

21ST CENTURY PROBLEMS: The Age of Hacker-Caused Blackouts Is Upon Us: A malware attack left thousands of homes without power in Ukraine and this is only the beginning. “According to security researchers for iSIGHT Partners, the malware led to ‘destructive events’ that in turn caused the blackout. Details beyond that are a little unclear, but it sounds vaguely like Stuxnet, the cyberweapon used to destroy Iranian nuclear enrichment plans by making centrifuges go berserk. Meanwhile, researchers from antivirus provider ESET, a malware package that infected the affected power plants (but may not necessarily be the one responsible for the disruption) got in by way of macro functions built into Microsoft Word documents. This kind of attack has been a fear for years now, and a very credible one at that.”

Well, be prepared. I’ve got a generator.

HISTORY: “In 1889, the Shreveport Daily Democrat was renamed and subsequently issued as the Daily Caucasian and Weekly Caucasian. The name change reflected its support for black disfranchisement and white control of Louisiana’s state government.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, THEY’RE-GETTING-REALLY-DESPERATE EDITION: Prof Sues Amherst, Says She Was Pressured To Have Sex With Students To Increase Enrollment.

THE PUBLIC IS RATIONAL: We Are Way More Scared of Government Than Guns: President Obama’s urgency on gun control is at odds with what people are really worried about. People are 8 times more scared of government than they are of guns, according to Gallup. “Yet Obama pushes forward with measures that even he acknowledges ‘will save few lives,’ almost certainly more out of politics than an interest in dealing with the most serious problems facing the country.”

Obama, like the rest of the left, wants you disarmed because disarmed people are less trouble. Also, disarmament is a potent sign of submission, which the left gets off on.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 971.

ME ON DANA LOESCH’S TV SHOW, on how Obama is using gun control to distract from his (and Hillary’s) miserably-failed Mideast policy.

ACCORDING TO THE NONPARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, Bill gutting ObamaCare would save half-trillion over a decade, CBO finds. “Legislation to gut most of ObamaCare’s mandates and taxes, known as Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act, would reduce the deficit by $516 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill is expected to get a vote in the House this week, and it has already been approved by the Senate. President Obama has said he would veto the bill.”

They should be sending him a new, popular, money-saving bill to veto every week between now and November.

NEW TED CRUZ AD: If Bankers, Lawyers, and Journalists Were Crossing the Rio Grande, Immigration Would Be A Crisis.

(Via TalkingPointsMemo, which for some reason thinks this point is “bizarre.” Maybe Ted should have included “paid lefty shills” in the ad. . . .)

Related: Reihan Salam on immigration: “[Trump’s] emergence as the voice of the anti-immigration Right is a reflection of the failure of the Republican establishment to grapple with lawlessness at the border and half a century of mass immigration. Consider the events of the past two years. Child migrants have surged into the United States from Central America, and working-class cities and towns across the country are struggling to absorb them. Before the federal courts stepped in, President Obama signed an executive order shielding roughly half of all unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. from the threat of deportation, a move he had previously suggested was out of bounds. And now the U.S. is experiencing yet another wave of Central American arrivals. Border Patrol officials report that many unauthorized immigrants believe that the U.S. is going to welcome them with open arms, and who can blame them given the president’s rhetoric? The ongoing crisis in Syria has prompted a fierce debate over Muslim refugees, and the San Bernardino attack has shone a bright light on our immigration bureaucracy’s decision to admit one of the killers, Tashfeen Malik, an Islamic radical from Pakistan.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “If illegal immigrants were crossing the Rio Grande carrying Trump or Cruz signs, liberal journalists like Jonathon Chait would be demanding that they be shot.”