ANALYSIS: TRUE. The Russians weren’t that good; the Obama administration was that bad.

The Democrats want to play the victim, blame Donald Trump and declare Trump the beneficiary of the Russians’ interference in the 2016 campaign, but in fact, it was their own leadership that dropped the ball and gave the Russians the opening they needed. And, Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s silence on this was deafening. Where was she when her agents were trying to get the DNC’s attention? Probably somewhere carrying out her audition for a job in a Clinton administration.

Anyway, the tale of incompetence doesn’t stop there. In a Keystone Cops-worthy episode revealed in no less than the New York Times, it turns out the FBI repeatedly called the DNC beginning in September 2015 to warn them about hacking attempts, but the Democratic staffer the FBI agent reached wouldn’t return the agent’s calls because “he wasn’t certain the caller was a real FBI agent and not an imposter” and because the DNC had “nothing to report.” Not to mention, another Democratic staffer made the world’s most inexplicable “typo” and called a phishing email a “legitimate email” instead of an “illegitimate” one, opening the path for a hacker to gain access to all of John Podesta’s emails. Oops.

It’s unbelievable. And as troubling as it is that Obama and the Democrats allowed the Russians to interfere in the election and engage in cyberwarfare without any ramifications, we shouldn’t be surprised.

Putin knew exactly what he was up against — at the very latest — when Obama warned Eric Cantor, “Don’t call my bluff.”

THE INSTA-WIFE: The New Mean Girls: Democratic Women Most Likely to Unfriend You.

AND SO THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE DRAWS TO A CLOSE: Deaths from Fentanyl Overdoses Double in a Single Year.

ADRIANA COHEN: Berlin Attack Is A Reminder That ISIS Is Still Out There.

THIS IS THE MOST ENTERTAINING PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED. New York Times in Full-Fledged Frothing Freakout Frenzy Over Friedman Pick.

UNEXPECTEDLY: CA Gun Sales Surge Ahead of ‘Assault Rifle’ Ban.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: Laser helps unlock antimatter secrets.

“Because we have this mystery about the disappearance of antimatter from the creation of the Universe, we always try to look at antimatter very carefully,” added Prof Hangst.

Writing in Nature journal, the Alpha team reports the first ever measurement of how antihydrogen responds to laser light at a precisely tuned frequency.

“We’ve tried to shine the same “colour” of light, if you will, on an antihydrogen atom that we would use for hydrogen, to see if it responds in the same way. The answer so far is yes,” said Prof Hangst.
The team found no differences in how antihydrogen behaved compared with ordinary hydrogen, a result that’s perfectly in line with the Standard Model.

“We’d like to take a good look at an antimatter system that is commensurate with a matter system that we know very well. Hydrogen is the most basic atom that we’ve been studying for about 200 years – we know everything about hydrogen. So it’s really compelling to try to compare the two. That’s the overall goal of our programme,” Prof Hangst told me.
…
Even a slight difference in properties between hydrogen and antihydrogen would break basic principles of physics – and possibly shed light on the matter-antimatter imbalance in the Universe.

EPISTEMIC CLOSURE: There’s going to be a third meeting at Catholic University on “the relationship of Catholicism to libertarianism.” As with the others, there are no libertarians (or, indeed, anyone remotely right of center) on the docket.

MILLIONAIRE: Don’t Cut My Taxes.

The Patriotic Millionaires Chair Morris Pearl weighs in on why he feels wealthy Americans should pay taxes at a higher rate than everyone else.

“No, I don’t [want tax cuts], not for the rich people,” Pearl told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney.

Though Pearl did support tax cuts for lower income Americans.

“I think that the poorest among us, yes, I think the people that make lower incomes should have tax cuts, I think the people who have higher incomes should pay more taxes than people at lower incomes.”

When asked whether higher income individuals would give back the money they receive from the tax cut, Pearl said, “Most of the people in my group mostly spend their money on philanthropic causes and do a good job trying to help their country be a better country.”

When Varney pressed him on it, saying Pearl was avoiding the question, Pearl responded, “No, I don’t think anyone gives back. I think everyone pays taxes as the law requires but we have to change the system.”

Wouldn’t it be even more patriotic to write a large check payable to the U.S. Treasury Department, in excess of what the law demands?

A 101ST AIRBORNE PATHFINDER UNIT HELPS GUIDE TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT TOWARD BASTOGNE: StrategyPage has published more photos from the Battle of the Bulge. Here’s one of C-47 transports dropping supplies (taken on December 26, 1944). I’ve never seen either of these.

MORE: A color photo, date taken uncertain. The webmaster wants some help identifying the area.

UPDATE ON PROBLEMATIC PHOTO: Thanks to the commenter who suggested Hunnage/Hunningen. That’ll be explored. I told the webmaster I thought he may have encountered a transcription error.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1321.

PROCUREMENT: 3-Star Rejects Trump F-35 Slam: ‘This Program Is Not Out of Control’

If [Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher] Bogdan could send one message to Trump, it would be that “this program is not out of control,” he said.

“Since 2011, we have basically been on schedule. Since 2011, we have basically been on budget,” he said. “We are delivering now today 50-plus airplanes a year that in the hands of the warfighter make a huge, huge difference.”

But despite his advocacy for the program, Bogdan said he and the Joint Program Office have not coordinated with industry to counter Trump’s messaging, nor do they plan to. His strategy, he said, was to tell the truth.

“I am not a salesman for the F-35,” he said. “Our job is going to be to give the administration the good, the bad, and the ugly about this program and let them make their own decisions. What I will tell you is, I think that this program is vital for air dominance for us and our allies for the next 50 years. It replaces many, many, many legacy fleets. It has tremendous international participation and involvement. And it is a necessary program for the United States to maintain its security. And I will tell, if given the opportunity, that to the next administration.”

There’s no getting around the fact that the F-35 program is late and way over budget. Whether or not it was the right aircraft for the many “near-peer” warfighting jobs it was given is something we probably won’t know until the shooting starts — and hopefully it will prove enough of a deterrent that we may never know.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: As yuan weakens, Chinese households rush to open foreign currency accounts.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuela Deploys Troops After Weekend Riots.

President Nicolás Maduro’s government deployed 3,000 troops to the southeastern state of Bolivar on Monday after people desperate over the government’s elimination of much of the country’s currency looted stores and homes over the weekend.

The unrest took an especially heavy toll on Chinese immigrants, who own many of the grocery stores in the capital, Ciudad Bolívar, and nearby towns.

“Everything was left in ruin,” said Juan Carlos Ho, standing next to the China Cham supermarket in the town of Sifontes, which had been left gutted. “They took the stands, the carts, all of the merchandise, which was a lot, and the air conditioners.”

China, a key economic ally, on Monday called on Venezuela to protect Chinese immigrants and their property.

“China is very concerned about the development of the situation in Venezuela,” China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a news conference in Beijing.

Beijing should try picking better allies.

MEANWHILE, THESE COMPANIES ARE PUTTING ALL THEIR EFFORT INTO CENSORING “FAKE NEWS” THAT MIGHT HELP REPUBLICANS: “Material support” for terrorists: Facebook, Twitter, Google sued by Orlando shooting victims’ families.

AS WELL THEY SHOULD BE: University of Kentucky faculty upset over University’s claim that professor in “California Girls” case has no due process rights. The university’s position that there’s no due process unless tenure is revoked is both wrong and foolish.

But if I were a journalism professor in his position, I’d start looking into the University’s finances and relationships. I’m sure there’s plenty of dirt that an enterprising investigative journalist could find, because there always is. Remember, as a tenured faculty member you’re not trapped in there with them; they’re trapped in there with you!

ONE MAN WITH COURAGE MAKES A MAJORITY: UMinn Football Coach Thought He’d Be Fired for Standing Up for Players in Rape Case. “I want everybody to understand, the boycott was around the due process, period.”

SO MUCH WINNING YOU’RE GOING TO GET BORED WITH WINNING: Will Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Create Too Many Jobs?

With college debt rising, less-costly technical schools are an especially attractive option. As the older generation of construction workers and craftsman retire, the urgency of finding a solution to this problem will increase. Moreover, if we see a rise in new home construction in the suburbs, the crunch will become even tighter.

Although we’re skeptical of some of the dire reports that are published by trade groups like the American Society of Civil Engineers, America’s infrastructure clearly needs repairs. Bridges and tunnels and roads and airports all would benefit from major capital investments. But one of the concerns to keep in mind as we prepare for four years of construction is that any massive government effort, particularly at a time when demand isn’t so depressed, could crowd out private activity. If all the capable skilled labor is being put on government projects (and, thanks to current federal law, paid at prevailing union wages in big cities), there won’t be many people left to build houses and private-sector buildings. Those who are left will command high salaries, which sounds like a good thing but could also discourage private firms from even building at all.

As Congress and the president-elect prepare for a big infrastructure push, they would do well to keep these issues in mind. Construction is a highly cyclical industry, and the federal government is preparing to get involved at a time when labor supply is low and private sector demand is rising. To avoid a major shortage, more skilled laborers will have to enter the market.

Too many jobs, wages too high. It’s a nightmare.

QUESTION ASKED: Are We In a New Era of Espionage?

The release of the surreptitiously gathered information, either to tip an election in one direction or just to sow disorder, is novel—especially in the context of American elections. During the 2008 and 2012 cycles, political campaigns came under cyberattack, but if anything was stolen, it was never shared with the public.

Despite the unique nature of this intervention, the 2016 cyberattacks square with Russian intelligence techniques reaching as far back as the Cold War. It’s an evolution of the Soviet Union’s “active measures,” a tactic favored by the KGB that involved covertly spreading politically damaging fictions in order to seed discord in an enemy. Houghton pointed to an example: Operation INFEKTION, a Soviet misinformation campaign in the 1980s that claimed the U.S. Army had created the AIDS virus at a research facility in Maryland. The Soviet Union pushed the story particularly hard in Africa, where AIDS epidemics had broken out in several countries, and where the Kremlin was wrestling with the U.S. for influence.

“What we’re seeing, essentially, is a long-running, old, traditional struggle, perhaps being conducted in new ways with new technology,” said John Hughes-Wilson, a former British intelligence officer and the author of The Secret State, a history of espionage. “Do you not think the CIA is working hard—I bloody well hope they are, actually—to try and do stuff in Russia? I mean, why do you guys pay your taxpayer dollars?”

There’s very little that can be done to save hubristic politicians and their enablers from themselves. And there’s plenty of evidence now that the DNC emails weren’t hacked by Russians, but leaked by Democrats.

We can and should however hack-proof our elections by requiring photo ID, paper ballots, and ink-stained fingers.

TERRORISTS TARGET EUROPEAN CHRISTMAS MARKETS: This AFP report says European police forces have responded to the Berlin terror attack by beefing up their presence at Christmas markets.

French authorities said the threat to Christmas markets and Christmas shopping crowds isn’t new:

President Francois Hollande said France was under a “high level of threat” following the events in Berlin but pointed out that the country already has a large-scale security operation in place.

“We have a high level of threat and we also have a particularly high level of mobilization and vigilance,” Hollande said.

France’s best-known Christmas market in the picturesque eastern city of Strasbourg has been a particular concern for security forces for years, with at least two jihadist cells in the city being broken up in the past few years.

More:

The large Christmas market extending along the renowned Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris was the target for a gang of six suspected jihadists arrested in November, according to prosecutors.

In the wake of the Berlin attack, officials on Tuesday added more concrete blast blocks at pedestrian entrances to the market, which is sealed off on the traffic side by barricades…

…In Britain, the central English city of Birmingham erected concrete blocks earlier this month around what it bills as the “largest authentic German Christmas market outside Germany or Austria”.

Targeting a Christmas market gives Islamist terrorists a deadly twofer. The terrorists metaphorically target a Christian holiday. They also target economic activity.

ROGER SIMON: FREEZING COLD? TIME TO RENAME THE EPA THE CONSERVATION AGENCY.

Exit quote: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket. And those who benefit in the racket will defend it with passion.”

AND “MISGENDERING” IS ONE OF THE WORST THOUGHTCRIMES OF 2016: Hollywood Celebs Try to Convince Kansas Elector to Flip, Get Her Gender Wrong.

JIHADI JOHN II: British Extremist Beheads Terrified Prisoner in Shocking New ISIS Video.

YES. Is it time for progressives to stop venerating FDR?