LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Jones Wins, FBI Agents’ Shocking Trump-Hating Texts Revealed and Much, Much More.

PETER HASSON: Steve Bannon Blamed, Mocked After Roy Moore Loss.

“Luther Strange would have won in a landslide… Just too much crazy in nerve racking times,” influential news kingpin Matt Drudge wrote on Twitter following Moore’s loss. “There IS a limit!”

“This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running,” Steve Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, said in a statement. “Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco,” Law said.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala mockingly thanked Bannon for making Democratic candidate Doug Jones’ victory possible.

“Special thanks to the genius strategist who did so much to make this happen: Steve Bannon,” Begala gloated.

Roger L. Simon predicted weeks ago that Bannon had overplayed his hand.

BONFIRE OF THE ACADEMIES: Two professors on how leftist intolerance is killing higher education.

At colleges and universities all over the country, students are protesting in increasingly virulent and sometimes violent ways. They demand safe spaces and trigger warnings, shouting down those with whom they disagree. It has become rote for outsiders to claim that the inmates are running the asylum; that this is analogous to Mao’s Red Guard, Germany’s brown shirts, the French Revolution’s Jacobins; and, when those being attacked are politically “left” themselves, that the Left is eating its own. These stories seem to validate every fantasy the Right ever had about the Left.

As two professors who recently resigned from positions at a college we loved, and who have always been on the progressive-left end of the political spectrum, we can say that, while none of those characterizations is exactly right, there is truth in each of them. . . .

Hateful white nationalists comprise a tiny but exceedingly loud minority of people on the Right. The analogous group on the Left is the virulent social justice crowd. Those who would have us destroy Martin Luther King’s dream comprise a small but disproportionately loud minority of people on the Left. Also, we would argue that “Right” and “Left” make little sense in either of these contexts. Both fringe groups, extremists wherever they are found, are more accurately described as authoritarian.

We come from the Left, and our values and worldview have not changed. But our understanding of the landscape has, as has our understanding of who is most likely to be interested in pursuing democratic goals through democratic means. A democratic system needs intelligent dissent, which means that it must create and protect the conditions in which people can learn how to think critically, and how to critique ideas and proposals. Those are longstanding values on the Left, but today, they are hanging by a thread. . . .

At Evergreen, a small fraction of students was the face of the protests, some even going so far as to patrol campus with baseball bats, threatening people, and vandalizing property. But the vast majority of students were not part of the protests. Some were yelled at, insulted, assaulted, even battered. Some left the school. Some graduated. Some are keeping their heads down, angry and scared, until they, too, graduate, while they wonder why their experiences are apparently of no interest to the college administration.

Read the whole thing.

WASHINGTON GOP BLEW THE ALABAMA RACE BUT NOT LIKE YOU THINK: LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby quotes a former Alabama Republican State Chairman Marty Connors pointed to the GOP’s failure to produce on its promises as a determining factor:

“If you go to any watering hole in suburban Alabama or rural Alabama, everybody is very, very angry at Washington and they are blaming Republicans, which is the rise of Roy Moore in this race. Had tax reform had been passed two or three months ago, this would not have been an issue. If Obamacare had been repealed, this would not have been an issue.”

Hmmm, maybe that Barnett feller at Georgetown has a point!

PROCUREMENT: A newly completed comprehensive Navy analysis says producing more Virginia-Class attack submarines on a much faster timetable is “achievable” and necessary.

The Navy report, titled The Submarine Industrial Base and the Viability of Producing Additional Attack Submarines Beyond the Fiscal Year 2017 Shipbuilding Plan in the 2017–2030 Timeframe, was delivered to Congress on July 5, 2017, Navy officials told Scout Warrior.

The current or previous status quo had been for the Navy to drop from building two Virginia-Class boats per year to one in the early 2020s when construction of the new Columbia-Class nuclear armed submarines begins.

The completed study, however, maintains that the Navy and industry can produce two Virginia-Class boats and one Columbia-Class submarine per year, increasing the current plan by one Virginia-Class boat per year.

Navy leaders have consistently talked about an expected submarine shortfall in the mid 2020s and that more attack submarines were needed to strengthen the fleet and keep stay in front of near-peer rivals such as Russia and China.

Maintaining a two-per year Virginia Class build-rate will help the Navy reach its goal of 66 SSNs, as identified in the December 2016 Force Structure Assessment, Navy officials added.

The Virginia-class attack boats have been a rare procurement success story for the Navy this century. The most recent boat completed — the USS South Dakota — was christened back in October. And even though it was built with new “acoustic superiority” technology and other innovations, was delivered on-time and on-budget.

AFTER LAST NIGHT’S UNFORCED DEFEAT, RANDY BARNETT OFFERS A SOLUTION FOR THE GOP THAT’S SO CRAZY, IT JUST MIGHT WORK:

D.C. MCALLISTER OFFERS HER TAKE ON REALITY AND RELATIONSHIPS: Can We Be Honest About Women? Here’s a little secret we have to say out loud: Women love the sexual interplay they experience with men, and they relish men desiring their beauty.

Women want to be desired by men, to attract them, to be the only woman in the world for that man. Their beauty is an essential part of their allure, especially when men and women first meet. They have little else to go on because they don’t know each other, and beauty serves as a guidepost to greater interest.

Outside of a woman looking for a mate, her beauty is a source of power because men and other women value it. This is why married women still want to be beautiful. It’s an expression of their femininity, which doesn’t disappear at the altar.

We don’t need studies to bear this out, though we do have them. A recent Pew Research study says society values physical attractiveness in women the most. Nurturing and empathy are second. The top traits most valued in men are morality and professional success. In other words, men want women who are attractive and emotionally connective, and women want good men who are financially successful.

Read the whole thing.

BRIDGET JOHNSON: Transgender Military Recruits to be Accepted in New Year Per Court Orders.

Meanwhile, Bridget’s unexplained and unacknowledged Twitter banishment remains unexplained and unacknowledged by Twitter management.

I HAD BEEN ASSURED THIS KIND OF THING NEVER HAPPENED: Firms reach $7.8-million settlement over allegations of selling fetal tissue.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into the companies in September 2015 after a complaint was submitted by Irvine-based Center for Medical Progress. The anti-abortion group gained national attention in 2015 after releasing a video showing Planned Parenthood affiliates discussing the sale of aborted fetuses.

In October 2016, prosecutors filed a complaint against the companies in Orange County Superior Court alleging unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business practices.

The lawsuit accused the companies of illegally selling cells from fetal brain tissue for up to $1,100 per vial from 2009 to 2015, prosecutors said. Fetal tissue and cells were sold to pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions in Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and the United Kingdom, authorities said.

Furthermore, “DV Biologics LLC and sister company DaVinci Biosciences LLC, both based in Yorba Linda, must cease all operations in California within 60 to 120 days.”

CHANGE: Trump Poised To Set Record In Appeals Court Judges.

Senate Republicans are set to confirm three more of President Donald Trump’s appeals court picks this week, a push that will help set a record for the most such appointments in a president’s first year in office.

The Senate is expected to confirm Steve Grasz for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, and James Ho and Don Willett for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, over the objections of Democrats who question whether they can be unbiased.

That would mean at least a dozen Trump appointees would join the nation’s appeals courts — which have the last word in all but the 100 or so cases that the Supreme Court decides each year — in his first year in the White House. That comes in a year the Senate also confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in April.

Compare that to Barack Obama, who successfully appointed three appeals court judges in his first year in office in 2009, as well as Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Obama followed up with 13 appeals court appointments in his second year in 2010. Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy successfully appointed 11 appeals court judges in their first year in the White House.

“Each of these nominees will make strong additions to the federal bench and I look forward to considering them in the coming days,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Monday.

There are currently 17 vacancies on the nation’s 13 appeals courts, with seven nominees pending, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

You should give Mitch McConnell credit for speeding these through. And Harry Reid, too!

THE MOST 2017 HEADLINE EVER (EARLY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13 EDITION): North Korea Hacks Bitcoin Exchanges Attempting To Steal Amid Bubble Warnings.

ALLIES: Turkey Places Bounty on Two Former U.S. Government Officials.

A bounty of three million Turkish lira, or nearly $800,000, was placed on the heads of former Pentagon official Michael Rubin and former top CIA official Graham Fuller for what Erdogan’s allies claim is their role in a 2016 failed coup that nearly toppled Erdogan’s ruling government.

Both Rubin and Fuller have been vocal critics of Erdogan’s, often publicly highlighting his widespread corruption. Rubin, in particular, has been in constant conflict with Erdogan, who once filed a lawsuit against the former Pentagon official in a bid to silence him.

The Turkish prosecutors office has issued arrest warrants for both Rubin and Fuller.

Current and former U.S. officials who spoke to the Free Beacon about the situation called allegations that Rubin and Fuller played any role in the coup attempt “absurd,” and said the bounty is part of a larger effort by Erdogan to silence dissent against his government across the globe.

Some also criticized the State Department for doing very little to combat Turkey’s threats on former American officials.

Erdogan’s government has threatened and intimidated several prominent Americans in recent years and is currently holding hostage U.S. citizens who his government claims played a role in the failed 2016 coup.

What to do? The Turkish military’s size, strength, and location makes it NATO’s southern and Middle Eastern pillar, but the country’s political leadership is increasingly retrograde and even hostile.

A VICTORY FOR GOOD SENSE: The University of Wisconsin-Madison has confirmed that it has disbanded its “Men’s Project,” a program designed to teach “men-identified students” about the harms caused by traditional notions of masculinity.

THE HILL: Senate Dem warns of lack of diversity in AI engineering.. Priorities!

WE DON’T HAVE TO HANDICAP OURSELVES TO MAKE THEM HAPPY:  Europeans Endorse GOP Tax Plan.

THIS IS MY SHOCKED FACE:  Strzok-Page texts show hatred of Trump by the two ex-Team Mueller members.

RUN LIKE THE WIND, MY BROTHER:  Dating in the Age of Intersectional Feminism: Knowing When to Run.

OF COURSE THEY DO:   Port Authority Bomber’s Family Is ‘Outraged’ And Blames The NYPD.

YEAH.  THAT’S ABOUT IT:  Tax Cuts, Theft, and Other Lies.

A CHEMICAL IS A CHEMICAL AND SUGAR MAY BE WORSE THAN SYNTHETIC SWEETENER:  Diet Coke might not be so bad for your health after all.

DOESN’T THIS SIMPLY ENCOURAGE BAD ECONOMIC HABITS?  Anonymous donor pays off layaway items for 200 families.

NEWS OF THE OBVIOUS:  What you eat affects your mood, scientists say.

8 ASIAN, 2 AFRICAN:  10 rivers are responsible for 90% of the plastic in the ocean.

ROGER SIMON ON STEVE BANNON’S BIG LOSS IN ALABAMA.

UPDATE: Currently featured atop the Drudge Report.