JUST THINK OF THEM AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH PULPITS: Reform Jewish Movement: Concerned About White House Jerusalem Announcement

That was yesterday. There must have been some blowback from the grassroots, because today’s press release was much more agreeable. The fact remains that the institutional Reform movement increasingly acts as a wing of progressive Democratic politics. I have little doubt that if President Clinton, instead of President Trump, had been making the announcement about Jerusalem, no such “concern” would have been expressed.

THEY ALL KNEW: Harvey Weinstein’s Web of Complicity Included National Enquirer and CAA.

According to the Times, at least eight agents at Creative Artists Agency were aware that Weinstein had sexually harassed or threatened female clients, yet the agency continued to do business with him and send actresses to meet with him.

The story also details Weinstein’s close relationship with tabloid journalists, detailing how Weinstein would provide tips to reporters about others in exchange for killing stories about his infidelities. The story also documents Weinstein’s close relationship with Bill and Hillary Clinton, and discloses that Weinstein was involved in a documentary project about Hillary Clinton until revelations of his sexual misconduct came to light.

Bryan Lourd, the managing partner of CAA, declined to tell the Times whether he was aware of the allegations against Weinstein, citing client confidentiality. In a statement in response to the story, CAA apologized to clients who were “let down,” and vowed to use its influence and resources “to help create permanent change.”

I’ll believe in permanent change when managers like Lourd are permanently canned.

BIG, IF TRUE: “‘The meth doesn’t make me crazy, man,’ the Sheriff’s Department says the man told the deputy. ‘The lizard people are real!’”

FOLLOW ME: Most U.S. airlines set to limit use of ‘smart bags.’

The bags generally have USB ports where customers can recharge their phones and other devices. They might also have GPS to track the bag’s location in case it gets lost, electronic locks and a weight scale to prevent overpacking. Some even a motor to propel the bags so that they can double as a scooter or just follow their owner around the airport.

Airlines are worried that the batteries could cause a fire in the cargo hold that would go undetected. Most of the bans will allow fliers to check the bags if the battery can be removed and carried by the passenger in the cabin. But many of the bags already on the market have batteries that can’t be removed.

American was the first U.S. carrier to announce a new policy Friday to require passengers checking smart luggage to remove the lithium ion batteries. If the bag will be traveling in the cabin, the battery can remain installed as long as it is powered off.

I have yet to see one of these bag in the wild, but you have to believe that luggage following owners around airports will be the norm in the not-distant future.

HISTORY: The Many Ways in Which Cars Were Stupendously Unsafe 60 Years Ago.

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Plus, deals on DVDs.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND, HOW DO THEY WORK? German Young Socialists Want the Government to Fund ‘Feminist Porn’ on TV.

QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED:

● Shot: Is hugging still okay? In the wake of Weinstein sexual assault accusations, men ask: What is acceptable to women and society now?

—AP, Monday.

● Chaser: Librarian: To fight microaggressions, hug a person of color.

—Campus Reform, today.

● Hangover: ‘I don’t like men’: Lawmaker brings meeting to a halt after male colleague touches his arm:

While debating a land-use bill at a committee meeting on Tuesday night, Pennsylvania state Rep. Matt Bradford laid his hand — for just a moment — on the left forearm of the colleague sitting next to him.

That colleague was conservative Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who interrupted Bradford mid-sentence with a personal bit of information.

“Look, I’m a heterosexual. I have a wife, I love my wife, I don’t like men — as you might. But stop touching me all the time,” Metcalfe told Bradford, who then began laughing.

Several other members of the committee, which Metcalfe chairs, giggled and smirked.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” said Metcalfe, a Republican from Butler County. “If you want to touch somebody, you have people on your side of the aisle who might like it.

“I don’t.”

—The Washington Post, today.

THIS IS PROBABLY WHERE THE “MAGIC SWORD” LEGENDS COME FROM: The Most Precious Bronze Age Artefacts Were Made With Cosmic Materials. “According to a new study, it’s possible that all iron-based weapons and tools of the Bronze Age were forged using metal salvaged from meteorites. The finding has given experts a better insight into how these tools were created before humans worked out how to produce iron from its ore.”

LET’S HAVE THEM DO THAT THEN: F-35s Could Shoot Down North Korean Missiles.

Subscription required, but a nice tool to have for implementing Austin Bay’s “return of serve” option for neutralizing North Korea.

BIG, IF TRUE: Organic Food Won’t Help You Get Pregnant.

WINNING: Zandi Warns “Job Market Feels Like It Might Overheat” As Manufacturing Jobs Grow At Fastest Pace On Record.

IT MAY DO THE SAME HERE NEXT: ‘Opiophobia’ Has Left Africa in Agony.

IT WAS A MILLION-TO-ONE SHOT: 240-Year-Old Statue of Jesus Had a Surprise in Its Butt.

YOU DON’T SAY: FBI Increasingly Politicized Under Comey and Mueller.

Bill Gertz:

The shift is the result of a bureaucratic culture that emerged in the 1990s and was fueled by its two most recent former directors, James Comey and Robert Mueller, who ran the agency for the past 16 years. Mueller headed the FBI from 2001 to 2013, when Comey took over and served until he was fired by Trump in May.

Both former directors currently are at the center of a fierce political debate over the FBI’s competency and integrity.

“People are finally tumbling to the realization that this [FBI] has become a proto-KGB,” said a former senior intelligence official with extensive experience in counterintelligence. “We’re in a constitutional crisis. These guys are playing out a silent coup against an elected official.”

The problem of the FBI, according to national security strategist Angelo Codevilla, is more the result of careerism and an out of control bureaucracy than liberal politicization of the ostensibly nonpartisan FBI, the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency and main domestic counterspying and counterterrorism agency.

“I’m afraid that the explanation is all too simple: Bureaucrats—employees of large organizations—figure out on which side their bread is going to be buttered,” Codevilla said. “They learn to think, feel, and do what advances their careers.”

And in our highly politicized bureaucracy, career advancement increasingly means following the (Democratic) party line.

FASTER, PLEASE: Zika vaccine shows promise in early clinical tests.

NOT A GOOD LOOK FOR CONYERS: “Courtney Morse, 36, said she was a 20-year-old college student when Conyers propositioned her. She said Tuesday that she believes he resigned to escape further scrutiny…Morse told The Post she quit her internship after Conyers drove her home from work one night, wrapped his hand around hers as it rested in her lap, and told her he was interested in a sexual relationship. When she rejected his advances, Morse said he brought up the then-developing investigation into the disappearance of former federal intern Chandra Levy. ‘He said he had insider information on the case. I don’t know if he meant it to be threatening, but I took it that way,’ Morse said in an interview. ‘I got out of the car and ran.’”

THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED: Eating cheese every day might actually be healthy.

CHANGE: National Spelling Bee to offer wild cards; expand field. How long before the contestants have agents?

HEIR APPARENT: Conyers Endorses Son, Who Called Dad a ‘F***king Player’ for Hitting on Married Women.

PAUL SPERRY ON PETER STRZOK: Double-crossing FBI agent must be held accountable. “His misconduct has sent shock waves through Washington because in July 2016, just days after closing the Clinton email case he led, Strzok signed the document that opened the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. His fingerprints are all over both cases, one widely criticized as a whitewash and the other condemned by the president and many in his party as a witch hunt. Potentially more disturbing is Strzok’s possible role in what many see as an even bigger scandal: the weaponizing of US intelligence against political opponents.”

MAKE A YEAREND DONATION TO FIRE AND GET IT MATCHED.

DAM BREAKING: MULTIPLE SENATE DEMS CALL ON FRANKEN TO RESIGN; UPDATE: DNC CHAIR: “FRANKEN SHOULD STEP DOWN”; Update: Franken announcement coming tomorrow?

TWEET OF THE DAY: