CHARLOTTE HAYS: Democratic Rep Suggests that Members of Congress Are Above Ordinary Sexual Conduct Rules.

Congress over the years has made itself a privileged class. A quip from Rep. James Clyburn, Democrat from South Carolina, says it all. When asked why, unlike Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Bill O’Reilly, and Charlie Rose, Rep. John Conyers, the scourge of the elevator, is keeping his job, Clyburn instantly replied, “Who elected them?”

Got that?

Members of Congress are a protected class, insulated from the consequences of their deeds. There is even secret fund, paid for by us taxpayers, to defray the cost of settlements when our public servants (ha ha) step out of line and harass someone. Our elected officials vote in ObamaCare but are made exempt from having to rely upon ObamaCare themselves.

Many Americans aren’t aware of the extent to which Congress has set itself up as a quasi-nobility (without being noble). Voters probably think their elected representatives are struggling with increasing ObamaCare premiums just as they are. Joke’s on us, my fellow taxpayers.

I’m not laughing.

DESPERATE FOR CHEAP SHOTS, Newsweek charges Ivanka Trump with plagiarizing “one of her own speeches” in India. You can’t plagiarize yourself.

Lots of background on plagiarism here. But this sort of crazed press attack is why people have tuned out even substantive criticisms. You want more Roy Moore? This is how you get more Roy Moore.

UPDATE: Under universal mockery, Newsweek changes the headline, though a story about a political figure giving similar speeches isn’t a story at all, and just underscores what a sad reach-for-something-damaging this was.

REPORT: Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) hospitalized for “stress-related illness.”

THEY KEEP COMING FORWARD: Army veteran says Franken groped her during USO tour in 2003. “Stephanie Kemplin, 41, of Maineville, Ohio, is the fifth woman in two weeks to accuse Franken of inappropriate touching, and the second person to allege that such behavior took place while Franken was on a USO tour. Three of the five women have been identified by name.”

SO, LIKE THE LAST ONE, THEN: Christian Adams in The Hill: The next major battle over voting rights in America is based on a lie.

AT AMAZON, Hot New Releases, Updated Hourly.

Plus, new Kindle Daily Deals.

And, today’s Digital Deals.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Lauer Down, Twitter Trouble and Much, Much More.

WAITING FOR THE FOG TO LIFT: An MQ-9 Reaper UAV prepares for take-off. Air National Guard units operated the Reapers in this exercise.

ROGER KIMBALL: If We Love Democracy, Why Does ‘Populism’ Get Such a Bad Rap?

To modern ears, “democracy” is a eulogistic word. It produces pleasant vibrations. People feel good about themselves when they use it. “Populism,” just the opposite.

At first blush, this seems odd because the two words occupy adjacent semantic space. “Democracy” means “rule by the demos,” the people. “Populism,” my 1982 American Heritage Dictionary explains, is “a political philosophy directed to the needs of the common people and advancing a more equitable distribution of wealth and power”—that is, just the sorts of things that the people, were they to rule, would seek.

But the term “populism” is ambivalent at best. Sometimes a charismatic figure can survive and even illuminate the label “populist” like a personal halo. Bernie Sanders managed this trick among the eco-conscious, racially sensitive, non-gender-stereotyping, anticapitalist beneficiaries of capitalism who made up his core constituency.

Still, it was always my impression that in this case the term “populist” was less claimed by Mr. Sanders or his followers than bestowed by his rivals and the media in an effort to fix him in the public’s mind as one of the many lamentable examples of not-Hillary. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, was presumed to be popular though not populist.

There are at least two sides to the negative association under which the term “populist” struggles. On the one hand, some commentators insist that “populist” and “demagogue” are essentially synonyms (though they rarely point out that the Greek demagogos simply meant a popular leader, such as Pericles ).

On the other hand is a disdain for the unedified masses, the soil in which populism takes root. Anyone who watched the commentary on Brexit, Donald Trump’s campaign, the early months of his administration, or the recent French election will have noted this.

Since (at least) the post-World War II era, elites in both parties have tried to slip their preferred policies past a populace that, they know, wouldn’t support them if it knew what was going on. “Populism” is what happens when the charade breaks down.

Roger, by the way, has a new book out: Vox Populi: The Perils and Promises of Populism.

NORTH KOREA’S THIRD ICBM TEST:

At roughly 2:47 AM Pyongyang Time (6:17 PM GMT) on November 29, North Korea test fired a ballistic missile from the Sain-ni area.[1] North Korea has since claimed that this launch was a new Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Initial reports from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff indicated that the missile reached an apogee of about 4,500 km, and traveled 960 km downrange before impacting in the East Sea, within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).[2] The total flight time was reportedly 53 minutes. Without additional flight data, photographs, or video of the launch, it is difficult to estimate the exact range of this new missile with complete certainty; however, preliminary calculations place the range from 13,000 km on the high-end with light to no payloads to 8,500 km with more standard 500 kg payloads.

More:

However, it is important to note—as Dr. Wright does in the last paragraph of his post—the Hwasong-14 and -15 missiles which were tested likely carried very small payloads, which exaggerate the range that can be achieved with a North Korean nuclear weapon. Indeed, the engineering model used for this analysis indicates the missiles were tested with a 150 kg payload. It is doubtful North Korea can fashion a nuclear weapon that weighs less than 100 kg. It is also unlikely that North Korea has enough experience developing, testing and validating the technologies needed to build a 50 kg re-entry vehicle capable of protecting the warhead during the high-temperature, high-stress environment experienced during descent through the atmosphere. As the figure below indicates, a Hwasong-14 or -15 fitted with a 500 kg payload (weapon plus re-entry vehicle mass) and flown on a standard trajectory has a maximum reach is roughly 8,500 km. This means Kim Jong Un’s nuclear bomb must weigh less than 350 kg if he expects to strike the western edges of the US mainland. A 600 kg payload barely reaches Seattle.

Hey, Seattle — does “barely” in range give you confidence?

21ST CENTURY THEFT: Websites use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency even when you close your browser.

Over the past month or two, drive-by cryptomining has emerged as a way to generate the cryptocurrency known as Monero. Hackers harness the electricity and CPU resources of millions of unsuspecting people as they visit hacked or deceitful websites. One researcher recently documented 2,500 sites actively running cryptomining code in visitors’ browsers, a figure that, over time, could generate significant revenue. Until now, however, the covert mining has come with a major disadvantage for the attacker or website operator: the mining stops as soon as the visitor leaves the page or closes the page window.

Now, researchers from anti-malware provider Malwarebytes have identified a technique that allows the leaching to continue even after a user has closed the browser window. It works by opening a pop-under window that fits behind the Microsoft Windows taskbar and hides behind the clock. The window remains open indefinitely until a user takes special actions to close it. During that time, it continues to run code that generates Monero on behalf of the person controlling the Website.

RELATED? Tesla owner builds a bitcoin mining rig in a Model S to use free Supercharger power.

THEY TOLD ME IF DONALD TRUMP WERE ELECTED, BLATANT SEXISM AND ELIMINATIONIST RHETORIC WOULD BE COMMONPLACE. AND THEY WERE RIGHT!

MICHAEL BARONE: In Defense Of Gentrification.

I MISS THE INNOCENT DAYS OF THE 1980S, when national sex scandals just involved a horndog Senator on a boat, banging a woman who wasn’t his wife.

WELL, TO BE FAIR, BACK THEN THEY HAD TO PROTECT BILL AND HILLARY: In 2012, the whole “Today” show gang made light of sexual harassment and impugned the motives of women who complain about it. “I suspect this little sketch grew out of the inside joke that Matt Lauer was a problem. There’s something awfully creepy about the way the women on the couch play along and act delighted about the fun of it all.”

PERHAPS SARAH HOYT WILL LET ME BORROW HER SHOCKED FACE ONCE AGAIN: Al Franken Admits In His New Book That He Faked Apologies To Save His Political Career.

In his new book “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate,” released in May 2017, Franken explains that he has managed to keep his head above water with these past controversies by giving fake apologies.

Fox News reports:

Franken eventually apologized for his crude remarks, but he later wrote in his book, “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate,” that he faked the apology to get the necessary support for his election win, according to the New York Times.

“To say I was sorry for writing a joke was to sell out my career, to sell out who I’d been my entire life,” he wrote in the book. “And I wasn’t sorry that I had written Porn-o-Rama or pitched that stupid Lesley Stahl joke at 2 in the morning. I was just doing my job.”

He added: “I learned that campaigns have their own rules, their own laws of physics, and that if I wasn’t willing to accept that, I would never get to be a senator.”

This revelation should be disconcerting to those who are considering giving him another chance in the Senate while the majority believe he should resign.

Which dovetails with this catch from Brit Hume:

Even The New Republic’s Jeet Heer has jumped on board the resignation train.

SURE, COME DOWN HARD ON THE BLACK MAN, GIVE THE WHITE GUY A PASS: Poll: Democrats Think Conyers Should Resign, Less Sure About Franken.

YEAH, THAT’S PRETTY MUCH HOW IT LOOKS TO ME, TOO: Veronique de Rugy: Maybe Not Libertarian, But There Are Some Things to Like in This Tax Reform. In fact, that pretty much sums up the Trump presidency in general.

VIDEO: Rubio Tells Laura Ingraham He Finds Moore Allegations ‘Credible.’

HOW OUR BETTERS CONDUCT THEMSELVES:

In 2001, the woman said, Mr. Lauer, who is married, asked her to his office to discuss a story during a workday. When she sat down, she said, he locked the door, which he could do by pressing a button while sitting at his desk. (People who worked at NBC said the button was a regular security measure installed for high-profile employees.)

The woman said Mr. Lauer asked her to unbutton her blouse, which she did. She said the anchor then stepped out from behind his desk, pulled down her pants, bent her over a chair and had intercourse with her. At some point, she said, she passed out with her pants pulled halfway down. She woke up on the floor of his office, and Mr. Lauer had his assistant take her to a nurse.

The woman told The Times that Mr. Lauer never made an advance toward her again and never mentioned what occurred in his office.

But they look down on Flyover Americans as sexist and uncultured.

FLASHBACK: The key to Obama’s struggle with white working class voters is not ‘white,’ but ‘working.’

GOOD QUESTION: How Can NBC Claim Not to Have Known About Matt Lauer?

According to the Variety report, several women “complained to executives at the network about Lauer’s behavior, which fell on deaf ears given the lucrative advertising surrounding Today.” In the words of another former NBC reporter, “Management sucks there. They protected the shit out of Matt Lauer.”

His bosses were also likely aware of the button he had under his desk that automatically locked his office door, a feature that the late Roger Ailes also had installed for himself at Fox News. Apparently that did not set off any alarm bells. Nor did his history of creepy comments to and about women on air.

Yet even after the Variety story broke, NBC News released a statement that read, “We can say unequivocally, that, prior to Monday night, current NBC News management was never made aware of any complaints about Matt Lauer’s conduct.” As of Wednesday afternoon, NBC had received two additional complaints from women against Lauer.

Management can make all the claims it likes; whether anyone believes them is a separate issue.

I DON’T REMEMBER HER RINGING THIS ALARM BELL WHILE OBAMA WAS DOUBLING THE DEBT: Yellen: National debt ‘should keep people awake at night.’

I mean, the Tea Party movement was all about this stuff and they just got called Nazis and racists. Suddenly people care?

ME, IN 2001, ON THE “COMFY-CHAIR REVOLUTION:”

I’ve noticed a gradual change in public surroundings over the past few years, and I think it’s driven in part by personal technology. Unlike the hard, unappealing settings of traditional retail space (ground rule: “get ’em in, get their money, get ’em out”), more and more places instead appear designed actually to encourage customers to linger.

Some of these are obvious, like the cozy coffee bars and cafes featured by many bookstores. But the phenomenon has spread to less obvious locales. In the mall near my house, for example, an Abercrombie spinoff called Hollister & Co. features comfortable leather chairs complete with endtables and stacks of magazines. The first time I was there I joked to a salesgirl that I might come back with my laptop and camp out. “People do,” she responded. And when I went back a couple of weeks later, the circle of armchairs nearest the cash registers was completely occupied by teenagers with cellphones and PDAs. A conversation with a couple of staffers confirmed that the store was intentionally designed to serve as a “hangout.”

And I think that may be the key. In the old days, retailers knew that most people squeezed shopping in between the office and home. The goal was to sell as much as possible to people during the relatively small amount of time they could be away from those places. Hence the keep-’em-movin’ philosophy.

But people live differently now. Lots of people work independently, or part-time, or work as telecommuters. The lifestyle is more fluid, in part because technologies like cellphones, laptops, and PDAs allow people to work wherever they are, or to stay in touch with family or teenagers without direct supervision. I see a lot of folks with that kind of personal tech hanging out wherever there’s a pleasant setting, checking email, returning calls, or writing. It’s work that doesn’t quite feel like work.

This fluidity gives retailers and other businesses a different kind of opportunity. Retailers have always tried to sell not just sweaters, but a lifestyle. But if you become somebody’s hangout, you don’t just sell a lifestyle, you’re selling a life. If price and selection are the main basis for competition, people can always buy on the Internet, but people – teenagers especially, but everyone — will still want a place to go.

And this piece from today on what’s happening to malls:

And throughout the mall, amongst the smartphone-accessory kiosks and the jewelry-repair places, homey stations are set up like small sitting rooms—leather chairs, table lamps, comfy couches. This is the American mall inviting you to treat it like a place to stay, not just to shop. To dwell there.

People come to read in the cozy chairs. Families sit to argue. Old men in golf shirts doze off. On that first morning, I found three women doing sudoku. A club, they said, that met there on Fridays and Saturdays. Natalie started it, they said. She wasn’t there today. Gallstones. They urged me to sit. Nice chair. Apparently, a lot of people in the area get gallstones. They feel there is ample evidence of that, and begin ticking off the gallstone victims they know. Even I knew one of them, the mother of a woman I knew in college. “See?” one of them marveled. “A mall is a small world.” . . .

The principle of most malls was once to keep people moving and looking, to expose them architecturally to constant opportunities to buy. This is not the case anymore. Not at Eastview, anyway. The urgency of movement is missing. The reasoning now seems to be: If people sit, they won’t leave.

Of course, there’s a downside: “I saw more than eighty people sitting on the couches by themselves, mostly checking their phones. At least two of these admitted to me they were ordering from Amazon after having priced an item in the mall.”