THE WAGES OF “SMART DIPLOMACY:” Duterte aligns Philippines with China, says U.S. has lost.

SAYUNCLE: Hillary at the debate on guns.

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Plus, Generators and Portable Power for Storm Season. Or if a generator isn’t practical, consider an inverter. It’s hurricane season, and winter storms are coming!

HMM: Transportation problems make smart cities a national priority.

STAY TUNED: James O’Keefe Says Donna Brazile’s Head May Be Next to Roll.

STUDY: Women More Susceptible To Road Rage Than Men. Huh. I thought the science was settled.

ONLY BECAUSE SHE’S IN COURT: Rolling Stone‘s University of Virginia frat rape lie rolls on. Reporter Sabrina Rubin Erdely admitted to some errors. Albeit reluctantly. I know, calling Erdely a reporter is a stretch. Fabricator-propagandist-liar may be a more precise description, but let’s see what the court decides.

POSTURING BY DEFENSE FASHIONISTAS: That’s what it is, in several senses of “posturing.” The National Interest article gives a quick look at thoughts from five influential DC think tanks.

This article could also be titled “Loren Thompson Unleashes.” Here’s an example: “Aircraft carriers stand out as the least favored form of sea power, with three of the five think tanks proposing cuts to the carrier fleet.” Then: “But hey, we’re talking about fashion here, not the real world. And when it comes to fashion, nobody, but nobody, is more out of style than the U.S. Army. All of the think tanks except Cato recognize the need to bolster U.S. ground-force presence in Europe, but none of them seems to grasp how starved the Army is for modernization money. Four out of five think tanks propose giving the Air Force and Navy more additional money than the Army, even though the Army is dreadfully unprepared for war in Europe.”

Yes.

RELATED: Italian parliament considers buying new armored vehicles and helicopters. Why? Because they know they need them.

WELL, LAW DEANS HATE IT: The ABA 75% Rule: Dead On Arrival?

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MORRIS FIORINA: The Nationalization Of Congressional Elections.

IT COMES DOWN TO THIS: Her crimes, his words. (My latest Observer column, bumped.)

VERY OLD FOSSILS: Science discusses the fossilization process of Ediacara biota and silica’s role in the process.

I’M NOT SAYING IT’S ALIENS… BUT IT’S ALIENS: Mysterious Planet Nine is making sun tilt, adding ‘wobble’ to the solar system.

Caltech researchers announced the findings at the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences meeting Wednesday — nine months after the group initially reported about the massive planet lurking at the outer reaches of our solar system.

The planet is believed to have a mass about 10 times that of Earth and takes about 15,000 years to orbit the sun.

Its existence has fueled speculation about Planet X or Nibiru, a mythical rogue planet that doomsayers believe will collide or pass near Earth.

Lord John Whorfin was not immediately available to comment on this story.

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: University of North Dakota Offers Class on Starting Your Own Drone Business.

MICKEY KAUS: “Did something happen in 2011, something Hillary Clinton is to a large extent responsible for?”

FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: 2K Seattle Teachers Wear Black Lives Matter Shirts to Class.

CAUGHT IN THE CLUTCH: St. Louis carjacker thwarted because he couldn’t drive a stick shift, victim says.

SPENGLER: The Roof Blows Off the Echo Chamber.

Read the whole thing.

FREEVALVE, the camless engine of the future.

VIDEO OF IRAQI ARMORED UNIT CLEARING MINES AND IEDS NEAR MOSUL: The Radio Free Europe video is short but gives the viewer a sense of what a mine clearing operation entails. It’s a slow process. The RFE report identifies the Iraqi Army unit as the 9th Armored Division.

DOES A CANCER CELL’S SHAPE OFFER CLUES TO ITS DANGEROUSNESS?

JAMES TARANTO: Trump vs. Gore: The question nobody asked the 2000 loser.

Let’s try a thought experiment. Suppose that during one of the October 2000 presidential debates, Vice President Al Gore had been asked the following question: “Do you make the . . . commitment that you’ll absolutely accept the result of the election?” Moderator Chris Wallace put that query to Donald Trump last night.

Now for the experimental part: Imagine Gore giving a completely truthful answer—that is, an answer that not only reflected his honest intent but accurately anticipated how he would respond to various scenarios, including the one that actually obtained.

It seems to us that Gore’s hypothetical answer would be similar to Trump’s actual one—not the long back-and-forth in which Trump enumerated complaints including media bias, FBI corruption and poorly maintained voter roles, but the prospective bottom line, to wit: “I will look at it at the time. I’m not looking at anything now, I’ll look at it at the time. . . . What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense, OK?”

Gore probably wouldn’t have said “I’ll keep you in suspense, OK?”—that’s a distinctly Trumpian bit of showmanship—but if he were being completely truthful, he would say, as Trump did, that he would keep his options open and respond to circumstances as they arose. And did they ever arise. True, Gore delivered a gracious concession speech, but not until Dec. 13, more than a month after Election Day.

It isn’t hard to imagine a counterfactual scenario in which Gore would have conceded on the normal schedule. If George W. Bush’s initial margin in Florida had been, say, 60,000 votes (just over 1% of the total) instead of around 2,000, there would have been nothing to contest. But the narrow margin in a decisive state led to weeks of lawsuits and selective recounts—and, even after Gore’s concession, to years of bitter claims that he wuz robbed.

Among those bitterly clinging to the myth of the stolen election—or at least propagating it for political purposes—was Hillary Clinton.

As I say, Trump’s real sin is campaigning like a Democrat while running as a Republican.

SCREAMING CAMPUS GARBAGE BABIES SAY WHAT? Oklahoma Campus Protestors Hate The Term ‘Sooner,’ Because Racism.

(Classical reference in headline.)

IT REALLY HAS COME TO THIS: French police protest lawlessness.

Hundreds of police officers have been protesting in Paris and other cities to denounce what they say are insufficient resources to fight mounting lawlessness, defying government demands that they stop the unauthorised demonstrations. Six months from an election, the protest, now in its third day, has put President François Hollande’s Socialist government on the defensive at a time when security forces are struggling to combat the threat of further terrorist attacks.