HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: A College Republicans meeting at the University of California, Santa Cruz was taken over by protesters screaming that the group’s existence is a threat to the safety of students.

AT AMAZON, Hot New Releases, updated hourly.

Plus, Kindle Daily Deals.

And, Today’s Digital Deals.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: The Frontier Moved.

The Russian effort was in fact so small, especially when laid alongside Hillary’s giant purchases, that when asked to find the ads Facebook couldn’t even detect them. “Instead of searching through impossibly large batches of data … Facebook zeroed in on a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency, which had been publicly identified as a troll farm. ‘They worked backward,’ a U.S. official said of the process at Facebook.” Only then could they find the needle in the haystack.

Faced with the numbers Madrigal concludes the ads themselves were unimportant. The Kremlin must have bought the ads as research; to discover what messages bombed and which succeeded. “Think of it as a real-time focus group to test for the most viral content and framing.” But the theory that Russian genius guided Trump’s diabolical babblings fails before one fact. It is now known that Facebook itself that was guiding Donald’s campaign.

Yes, Facebook helped Trump.

This was a regular product offering. Facebook had built analysis tools and offered consulting services to both candidates but apparently only Trump’s newbie team used the analytics Facebook supplied. Hillary’s team decided it did not need help, while Donald’s team took full advantage of it. “The Trump campaign’s digital director, Brad Parscale, says Facebook targeting played a major role in the president’s win last November. Parscale says the campaign accepted help from Facebook employees, which he ‘heard’ the Clinton campaign did not do.”

Fascinating, and serves as further evidence that Clinton made an election-losing mistake in making Robby Mook her point man for All Things Data.

For whatever this anecdote is worth, I’ve also noticed that while YouTube appears to be throttling (and in at least one case, demonetizing) Bill Whittle.com videos, on Facebook our traffic is still trending upwards.

I’LL BELIEVE GLOBAL WARMING IS A CRISIS WHEN THE PEOPLE WHO TELL ME IT’S A CRISIS START TO ACT LIKE IT’S A CRISIS:

John Flannery, the leader of General Electric Co. for just 2½ months, has already begun dismantling the legacy of his predecessor, including the planes.

For much of Jeff Immelt’s 16-year run atop one of the world’s largest conglomerates, an empty business jet followed his GE-owned plane on some trips to destinations around the world, according to people familiar with the matter. The two jets sometimes parked far apart so they wouldn’t attract attention, and flight crews were told to not openly discuss the empty plane, the people said.

The second plane was a spare in case Mr. Immelt’s jet had mechanical problems. A GE spokeswoman said that “two planes were used on limited occasions for business-critical or security purposes.” Mr. Immelt didn’t respond to requests for comment.

If this was indeed “For much of Jeff Immelt’s 16-year run” at GE, then it would have included the period that ended in 2013, when GE still owned MSNBC and NBC, which frequently hectored (and still does so) its viewers on global warming — including this infamous moment in 2007:

So while NBC was urging its viewers to turn off its (GE-manufactured) light bulbs, its CEO was flying around with an empty emergency backup private plane. I don’t want to hear another goddamn word about Glenn Reynolds’ carbon footprint ever again.

LARRY SCHWEIKART: Blue States Getting Redder and Red States Getting Redder.

All the latest voter registration numbers at the link, but here’s the conclusion:

In short, among the truly contested states in 2016, the only ray of hope for the Democrats is Colorado, and even there, the trends have flattened some. They have stabilized New Jersey and Delaware, but Republicans continue to gain significant ground in Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, and above all, Pennsylvania. If these trends continue through 2020, Florida would be have a slight Republican registration edge, North Carolina would be nearly even, and New Mexico would be close enough that it could never be taken for granted. Moreover, Pennsylvania and Iowa would be solid Trump states.

The remarkable thing about the Republican trending states is that they have moved steadily ever since last November, in almost every case without a single break. Democrats continue to lose voters, and they are not becoming independents. All of this appears to be due to Trump and Trump alone, as the Republican Party has not offered any reasons to embrace it.

Stay tuned.

ANNALS OF MEDIA DECLINE: Poll: Plurality Of Voters Believe News Media Fabricate Stories About Trump.

WE HAVE THE WORST POLITICAL CLASS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. FBI Confirms: Yes, James Comey Finished His Draft of the Speech Absolving Hillary Clinton Months Before Concluding the Investigation.

Perhaps that explains Comey’s not-so-righteous indignation last year as caught in this Power Line video: “You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels. We are honest people and…whether or not you agree with the result, this was done the way you want it to be done.”

What a weasel.

WASHINGTON POST: ‘Reeks of subtle racism’: Black Democrat omitted from campaign fliers in Virginia. “Virginia Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Ralph Northam omitted any mention of Justin Fairfax, the party’s African American candidate for lieutenant governor, from about a thousand pieces of campaign literature, a move Fairfax called a ‘mistake’ and that has stoked tensions within the Democratic ticket and threatens to alienate African American voters three weeks before Election Day.”

You know it’s bad when the Post is covering it this way. (Bumped).

US NAVAL INSTITUTE: The Clock is Ticking in China: The Decade of Concern Has Begun.

For too long in our hallowed halls of government, academia, and media we have been told, “Don’t worry. China takes the long view and would rather kick the can down the road than confront a dispute head on.” That belief has been the accepted conventional wisdom for the past 40 years, but the falseness of this view now is becoming incontrovertible.

Understanding this reality is critical for the U.S. military—and the U.S. Navy in particular—when it comes to how and when Taiwan will be attacked from the Chinese mainland. The question no longer is a theoretical, open-ended affair; President Xi’s words in Zhurihe do not stand alone as an empty proclamation. Instead, they are a reminder of the continuity of Chinese leaders’ devotion to the reunification of the motherland, and when it comes to reunification, Taiwan stands at the top of the list of unrestored territories.

One should not forget that in 2013, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported that China’s leaders had recommitted themselves to “continue the 2020 Plan,” whereby they would be able to “build and deploy a complete operational capability to use force against Taiwan by that year.” By implication, these leaders believe that by 2020, the PLA also will be able to fend off U.S. forces and thus be able to successfully invade Taiwan.

As such, President Xi’s Zhurihe speech can and should be interpreted as certifying that the PLA (all Chinese military forces) has achieved the capability to “safeguard China’s national sovereignty”—two years ahead of schedule.

So, what does this mean strategically?

Read the whole thing to find out, but I’d add that since China acts as though its OK for North Korea to have nukes, then perhaps Taiwan should have them, too.

BERNIE’S A SOCIALIST, THE DEMOCRATS ARE JUST A FLAG OF CONVENIENCE: DNC to consider resolution urging Bernie Sanders, Angus King to run as Dems.

HARVEY SILVERGLATE: How Robert Mueller Tried To Entrap Me.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Sessions Testimony, Cruz Explains Robin Hood to Bernie and Much, Much More.

USA TODAY: Florida Gov. Rick Scott is right to stand up to ‘vigilante censors’ and fight for free speech.

JESSICA VALENTI: #MeToo named the victims. Now, let’s list the perpetrators.

At first I didn’t understand what made me so uncomfortable about #MeToo – after all, the more women sharing their stories and raising their voices, the better. And though we all know the statistics around sexual violence, it can be easy to think of these things in terms of numbers rather than people. So why not humanize the issue?

Then I realized: we’ve done this so many times before. Told our stories, raised our hands. Do we really need to bleed ourselves dry once again? How many times will we need to lay our traumas bare in the hope that this will finally be the time people care enough to do something about it?

It’s true that telling our stories can help – it can help victims not feel quite so alone and make others understand the breadth and depth of the problem. But the truth is that nothing will really change in a lasting way until the social consequences for men are too great for them to risk hurting us.

Why have a list of victims when a list of perpetrators could be so much more useful?

Indeed.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: Good Lawyers & Good Books: My Personal Difficulties During the Recent Hamilton-Signatures Dispute.

In addition to family and some particularly loyal friends, bloggers, and New Reform Club co-bloggers, I was aided at every step by good lawyering and good advice from Professor Josh Blackman (South Texas College of Law) and from Robert W. Ray, Esq. (Thompson & Knight LLP). More recently, Carrie Severino, Esq. from the Judicial Education Project, joined my briefs, and team Tillman was additionally aided by Jan I. Berlage, Esq. (Gohn Hankey Stichel & Berlage LLP). Just imagine the difficulties they all overcame—a novel constitutional theory & having Seth Barrett Tillman as a client! Nothing would have happened without their diligent work in three different district courts.

There is another group deserving of my thanks. My 5 experts: Professor Kenneth R. Bowling, John P. Kaminski, Ph.D., Professor Stephen F. Knott, Professor Robert W.T. Martin, and Michael E. Newton. (Links to their declarations are here: http://joshblackman.com/blog/2017/09/20/new-filings-in-the-emoluments-clause-litigation/.)

These five experts did a very brave thing. They knowingly took on the cause of historical truth in spite of the fact that a social media mob had already descended on me, and in spite of the fact that they don’t (as far as I know) have any particular love for the administration. (Indeed, one of them loathes the President, but nevertheless took on this project because it was the right thing to do.) They have all written extensively on Hamilton, the Constitution, the Founding Era, and/or the Early Republic.

Read the whole thing, and maybe buy their books!

YOU DON’T SAY: German Officials Say Iran Working to Build Nuclear-Armed Missiles.

German security officials have accused the Iranian regime of pursuing its goal to build missiles armed with nuclear warheads, the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel reported.

“Despite the nuclear agreement [reached with world powers in July 2015], Iran has not given up its illegal activities in Germany. The mullah regime also made efforts this year to obtain material from [German] firms for its nuclear program and the construction of missiles, said security sources,” Der Tagesspiegel wrote on Friday.

The paper added, “Iran has [according to the security sources] clearly not given up its long-term goal to become an nuclear power that can mount nuclear weapons on rockets.”

What a shame this story didn’t hit the papers in time for former President Obama to read about it before he negotiated his nuclear deal with Iran.

MATT WELCH: Trump Calls The Congressional GOP’s Bluff: From Iran to Obamacare to DACA, the president is acting on what Republicans have long promised, in a way that rightly devolves power to the legislative branch.

JOYCE CAROL OATES MAKES HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE TRUMP 2020 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN:

FASTER, PLEASE. DEEPER, TOO: Senate Judiciary Committee Launches Probe Into Uranium One Bribery Case, DOJ to Review.

ANDREW FERGUSON: The Ruling Classless. “Like her fellow revolutionaries, Quinn was at first mistaken for an anti-elitist, striking a blow against the hypocrisy and pretension of the old order. She was nothing of the sort. She just favored a different kind of elite—one whose ranks were filled with people like her. By the time the Watergate scandal had laid waste to the capital, the city’s aristocracy had been remade by journalists for journalists, along with the politicians that journalists found appealing. John Kerry, Gary Hart, and Ted Kennedy were early favorites.”

THIS HASN’T AGED WELL: Obama Administration Official Brandon Friedman: Hey, Maybe Bergdahl’s Platoon Was a Bunch of Psychopaths.

OUT: FAILED STATES. IN: FAILED CONTINENTS. The Europe Merkel Made.

FROM MICKEY KAUS, A 2003 FLASHBACK: Twilight of the Pricks? “Have you noticed that a number of powerful public figures with reputations for being … well, schmucks, have gotten their comeuppance lately? Howell Raines, Andrew Cuomo, Gray Davis. I don’t know Trent Lott, but you might be able to add him to the list. Is this a trend? [You have three examples, it’s a trend–ed] … Why is this happening? It’s certainly not just the Internet–the Internet seems to have had little to do with the Cuomo and Davis dramas. My guess is it has something to do with a) the freer flow of information out from inner circles of celebrity and power to the general population (which the Internet helps) so that when a Big Schmuck yells at somebody on the phone or in his office, citizens in Peoria are likely to know this gossip the next week; and b) the increased willingness of reporters to rebelliously act on this sort of information, the way reporters are even now making sure that Cuomo’s the loser in his marital split. … Larger issues! 1) Will this fundamentally change the Darwinian equation for success in Hollywood, New York, and D.C., to something closer to (or even nicer than) the game-theoretical ‘tit-for-tat’ posture, which says you need to be nice to people until they’re nasty to you? 2) Who’s next? … Harvey?”

AND IT’S A GOOD ONE:  The Important Story You’re Not Hearing Much About.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:  The Politically Incorrect Guide to Communism.