WHO’S YOUR DADDY? Wrong rubber apparatus may have mixed-up sperm that fertilized 26 eggs: Couples are now getting DNA tests to determine who their baby’s daddy really is.

BIPOLAR MSM ATTACKS CUSTOMERS:

Shot:

—“We Are All Socialists Now,” headline on February 16, 2009 cover of Newsweek, then owned by the Graham family, which also owned the Washington Post until 2013. (Link safe, goes to NewsBusters.)

Chaser: “2016 Was the Year White Liberals Realized How Unjust, Racist, and Sexist America Is.”

—Headline, Slate, the last opinion Website owned by the Graham family, this past Thursday. Link safe, goes to Power Line, where Steve Hayward writes:

Forget all the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the left. That’s just for show. Remember that the left was never very enthusiastic about Hillary Clinton, and are not sorry to have seen her lose. Trump’s victory, however, provides the left with something much more important that patronage in Washington DC: it provides them with the supposed evidence to bolster their essential hatred and contempt for America, and endless opportunities to proclaim and parade their supposed moral superiority over their fellow citizens.

Because if there’s one thing that’s a sure business model for success, it’s constantly insulting your customers.

HMM: New study shows cognitive decline may be influenced by interaction of genetics and… worms.

In fact, Tsimane who both carried ApoE4 and had a high parasitic burden displayed steadier or even improved cognitive function in the assessment versus non-carriers with a similar level of parasitic exposure. The researchers controlled for other potential confounders like age and schooling, but the effect still remained strong. This indicated that the allele potentially played a role in maintaining cognitive function even when exposed to environmental-based health threats.

For Tsimane ApoE4 carriers without high parasite burdens, the rates of cognitive decline were more similar to those seen in industrialized societies, where ApoE4 reduces cognitive performance.

It’s looking as if cleanliness may have a downside.

COMEDIAN PATTON OSWALT HAS TRUMP EPIPHANY AFTER SJWS BADGER STEVE MARTIN INTO DELETING CARRIE FISHER TWEET:

Twitchy adds:

The way SJWs attacked Steve Martin for talking about someone he obviously respected and found attractive appears to have been a wake-up call for Patton Oswalt, who has been a fairly outspoken detractor of Donald Trump.

Perhaps NOW he understands why so many people are sick and tired of the Left, particularly social justice warriors who go out of their way to attack men and screech about being politically correct.

To be fair though, it would have been far braver for Martin to have let the tweet stand. But as one of Ace of Spades’ co-bloggers bluntly writes, “I’m tempted to feel sorry for Steve Martin, but I don’t. He’s a coward. He’s willingly joined a tribe that forces him to submit to the angry, ever-changing whims of its loudest and most extreme members. Nothing is sacrosanct. Nothing is yours and yours alone. Every utterance, friendship, and affiliation is open to their raging condemnations… This is your soul on leftism. They own it, not you.”

On the other hand, nobody forced Martin onto Twitter or demanded that he respond to the mob if a tweet is (deliberately, in this case) misunderstood. It was distance after all, much of it forced upon them by the studios themselves, that made the original generation of movie stars seem larger than life.

We’ve come a long way from Bob Dylan telling fans at the height of his stardom in the mid-’60s, “Just because you like my stuff doesn’t mean I owe you anything,” to Steve Martin feeling the urge to placate a vocal group of crybullies. Unfiltered ubiquitous social media and its concomitant ability to generate intense feelings of shame has radically transformed stardom, for better and worse.

NO VIAGRA REQUIRED: This heat-activated penile implant could be the answer to erectile dysfunction.

DOWNSIDES TO EVERYTHING: Self-Driving Cars Could Cause a Massive Organ Shortage: Fewer vehicle-related fatalities means fewer organs to harvest for hospitals.

CHARLIE MARTIN: Making Sense of the Russian Hacking Saga.

By the way, his GoFundMe campaign is still up, if you want to donate. I did. He’s a good guy and he’s had a rough time lately.

OBAMA APPOINTEES ACTING BADLY:

Newly obtained records reveal that the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics personally ordered several oddly enthusiastic tweets after President-elect Donald Trump’s recent claim that he planned to sever ties to his business operations to avoid conflicts of interest as president.

“We told your counsel that we’d sing your praises if you divested and we meant it!” read one of the gushing tweets issued by the department. Another read: “Brilliant! Divestiture is good for you, good for America!” The tweets were so unusual for the staid department that Twitter initially investigated to determine if the account had been hacked. The tweets also sparked controversy. Some readers thought they were too wildly positive, while others thought they were mocking Trump’s bombastic style and his overuse of exclamation points.

According to emails first obtained by National Public Radio and the Daily Dot as part of a Freedom of Information Act request, the tweets were among nine ordered by agency director Walter Shaub Jr. . . . Shaub, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2012, also followed up with a link to a legal document mentioned in one of the tweets and added: ‘Get all of these tweets posted as soon as humanly possible.'”

I look forward to the Trump Administration, when government officials’ use of social media will be more restrained and professional.

PEAK 2016: Tactical Yoga Pants.

GOTCHER WHITE MALE PRIVILEGE RIGHT HERE:

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1332.

YES: Bureaucratic Bloat is Eating Away at the American Education System.

Americans have been spending more and more on education—both K-12 and higher ed—over the last several decades, but those investments seem to be delivering ever-more measly returns. Over at Brookings, Jonathan Rothwell offers some grim statistics on “the declining productivity of education,” focusing specifically on one source of the decay: bureaucratic bloat, or the steadily increasing share of education expenditures that flow to managers and administrators. . . .

Rothwell’s post helps illustrate the exhaustion of mainstream policy thinking in the West on both sides of the political divide. The Boomer progressive formula of more spending and more borrowing and more subsidies has done more to nourish rapacious and growing bureaucracies than improve educational outcomes or skill acquisition for disadvantaged students.
And while conservative state and local policymakers have the right instinct about the risks of administrative bloat, few have offered a workable program for actually restructuring and rebuilding these institutions while excising the crud that has accumulated over the years, offering instead indiscriminate cuts and starve-the-beast orthodoxy.

One reason voters delivered such a stunning repudiation of the establishment last month is that elites have stopped offering bold or creative thinking—allowing themselves instead to become complacent in the face of mediocrity and decline—and voters sensed this. Now is the time to turn things around.

Someone should write a book on this.

RACE-HATE IN THE OBAMA ERA: Beyonce Fans Wish Death on ‘White Anchor’ Tomi Lahren After Falling for Fake Tweet.

And this remains evergreen, alas:

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THEY JUST CAN’T ACCEPT ELECTORAL REPUDIATION: No, Media, the Election Wasn’t ‘Hacked’ — Stop Saying It Was.

THAT BLEW UP GOOD — REAL GOOD: Reviewer Bashes ‘Rogue One’ for Thinking ‘Solution Is to Blow Things Up’

Analysis? False. Sometimes the solution is to shoot stuff.

25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK: The Soviet Union dissolved. My Creators Syndicate column for this week. (bumped)

ICELAND ENDS THE YEAR WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT: Well, not quite — services continue to function. Despite the situation, the island appears to be flourishing.

Iceland is ending an eventful year in a political quagmire, left without a government for two months after the Panama Papers scandal and a snap election reflecting deep divisions in the island nation.

“In recent years we thought we were seeing the craziest, but we were proven wrong every time — Iceland found ways to be even crazier,” a parliamentary assistant from the Icelandic opposition said on April 6, seeing a government in tatters hesitate on its next move.

Former Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson had resigned the day before over revelations of his holdings stashed away in a tax haven.

This prompted demonstrations for six consecutive days with protesters shouting “Elections right away! Elections right away!” while striking metal fences in front of Iceland’s parliament.

SARA ELLIS: Beating the Holiday Blues: What Happened When I Cancelled Christmas and Went to the Caribbean Alone. “The holidays are hard for everyone. We all feel it, right? While it is the most wonderful time of the year it also comes with a great deal of stress. For me, it also comes with a great amount of sadness. I recently lost both my mother and father within 13 months of each other. And it sucks. It really sucks. Even after having some time to process it all, I still can’t put into words that, despite being 30-something, I still feel like an orphan. . . . I started thinking about where I wanted to go. I had a few considerations: safety (as a solo female); weather; maximizing daylight hours; and being able to make the most of my time off. I knew I had to go South.”

DEAL REACHED IN CONGO?: Well, mediators say so. They’re trying to avoid another round of civil war. In a bid to stay in power, President Kabila broke constitutional law. Kabila was supposed to cede power on December 19th. He didn’t. According to this report he will step down by the end of 2017.

JAMES RISEN: If Donald Trump Targets Journalists, Thank Obama.

If Donald J. Trump decides as president to throw a whistle-blower in jail for trying to talk to a reporter, or gets the F.B.I. to spy on a journalist, he will have one man to thank for bequeathing him such expansive power: Barack Obama. . . .

Criticism of Mr. Obama’s stance on press freedom, government transparency and secrecy is hotly disputed by the White House, but many journalism groups say the record is clear. Over the past eight years, the administration has prosecuted nine cases involving whistle-blowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined. It has repeatedly used the Espionage Act, a relic of World War I-era red-baiting, not to prosecute spies but to go after government officials who talked to journalists.

And the press, except for some token protests, rolled over for this. Well, reap what you sow. Maybe we need a press-corps version of this pic:

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: How Trump Clears Obama’s Minefield.

Before moving into the White House, President-elect Trump needs to double check the Oval Office for trip wires. His predecessor has spent the last month setting traps to ensnare the new administration.

President Obama has more on his mind than an effort to solidify a legacy and nail down policy. He has adopted a guerrilla strategy designed to defame and debilitate. Inherently political, it’s administrative sabotage by extra legislative means and it threatens to hobble Trump.

Obama has prepared what looks like a classic episode from Mad Magazine: Executive vs. Executive. Instead of delivering on his own agenda, Trump will be forced to deal with the aftermath of his predecessor’s final binge. They could consume a notable portion of Trump’s first 100 days, but if left unaddressed it would stain his administration long term.

To avoid that hazard, an examination of President Clinton’s final days in office is helpful. After all, Obama didn’t develop these tactics on his own. He lifted them directly from a manual written by the Clintons.

Just days before President George W. Bush’s inauguration, Clinton weaponized EPA regulations to set a trap for the new administration. Despite complaints from rural communities about crippling compliance costs and a lack of a scientific consensus, Clinton adopted aggressive arsenic standards for drinking water. When Bush eased the mandate, it unleashed a torrent of criticism that had been long planned, most notably from Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

Despite calling for studies based on “sound science,” Bush couldn’t shake accusations that he wanted to poison children. The attacks found their mark, and Bush later remembered the experience as one of the worst mistakes of his young administration.

Now Obama’s running the same play. But while his midnight regulations haven’t escaped media attention, journalists continue giving the Obama administration charitable coverage. By focusing on the policy impact, they ignore and amplify the coming political fallout. . . .

Although Obama promised a smooth transition, he’s moved unilaterally to make that impossible. He lacks the grace and modesty to recognize that the country does not want him or his policies any longer. His indefinite oil ban in the Arctic Ocean provides a perfect example. Overturning the ban would require congressional action and incur significant political opportunity cost. For every regulation Trump overturns, he risks letting another slip into the Federal Register forever.

None of this should dissuade Trump from delivering on his pledge to roll back regulation. But he should proceed with the proper preparation and study on both the substantive policies and on the public relations.

Trump would be wise to condemn early and often Obama’s weaponization of executive action. Remember how Obama blamed everything on Bush until, oh, about the sixth year of his presidency. Trump should make sure the public knows where the blame really lies.

I expect he will.

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Frank Luntz: Trump has a ‘Thank You Tour’; Obama is Doing a ‘F-You Tour.’

THE HILL: Nearing exit, Obama seeks to tie Trump’s hands.

President Obama has taken a number of unilateral actions in the waning days of his tenure that appear designed to box in President-elect Donald Trump.

Obama’s decision Thursday to sanction Russian entities for election-related hacking is just the latest obstacle he has placed in Trump’s way.

Days before the sanctions were unveiled, the Obama administration allowed the U.N. Security Council to condemn Israeli settlement activity — something that could have an indelible impact on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Obama has also permanently banned oil and gas drilling across large swaths of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, closed off 1.6 million acres of Western land to development and scrapped the last vestiges of a registration system used largely on Muslim immigrants.

Those actions, as well as Obama’s claim that he could have won a third term, seem to have irked Trump and his associates as the transition period enters its final weeks.

Irksome, maybe, but Obama’s obstructionism and egotism will be major assets for Trump in the coming years.