CHRISTIAN TOTO: Media Memory Holes Bill Maher’s GOP Hate.

When the “Real Time” host trashed the Palin family in 2011 no one batted an eye. Variety didn’t call for his ouster. Yet the pure hate of his comments, targeting not just Sarah Palin but her children (including a special needs child) was off the proverbial charts.

And when I point out that Sarah Palin is a vainglorious braggart, a liar, a whiner, a professional victim, a scold, a know-it-all, a chiseler, a bully who sells patriotism like a pimp, and the leader of a strange family of inbred weirdos straight out of “The Hills Have Eyes,” that’s not sexist. I’m saying it because it’s true, not because it’s true of a woman.

The comments appeared planned, too, unlike his exchange with Sasse.

The comedian also called Sarah Palin a dumb tw** and the C-word in separate exchanges.

More recently, the comic trashed President Donald Trump last month in a way that made Stephen Colbert’s “cock holster” crack seemed quaint.

He suggested the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, needs to manually stimulate him to change his mind on certain policies.

No outrage from HBO. No collective calls from the media to fire him.

Nor did anyone in the mainstream media yelp when Maher accused a war widow of letting herself be President Trump’s “prop.”

When they demand, “Have you no decency, sir?” it’s all projection.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: CNN: Crude News Network.

TRUMP WILL NOMINATE CHRISTOPHER WRAY to be FBI head.

ISIS’ LAST STAND IN RAQQA? Fueled by “high morale and great preparations” and “our hatred of terrorism,” SDF moves into Raqqa.

IRAN UNDER FIRE, COMEY UNDER EXAMINATION, AND CONGRESS UNDER THE CLOCK: Liz Sheld’s morning brief has it all.

HARSHING THE NARRATIVE: Ex-DHS chief: ‘I know of no such evidence’ Russia altered vote counts.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says he knows of “no such evidence” Russia altered vote counts in the 2016 presidential election.

“We saw efforts by Russian intelligence at scanning and probing voter registration databases,” he said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily.” “And we were very concerned about it.”

“I know of no such evidence that actual counts were altered by any type of cyberattack. It is the case we saw and we saw no actual altering of voter counts.”

Of course, Johnson’s DHS was scanning and probing too.

“ALL BUT IMPOSSIBLE”: Republican senator says Trump’s education cuts won’t get through Congress.

“This is a difficult budget request to defend,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told Education Secretary Betsy DeVos at a hearing held by the subcommittee on labor, health and human services. “I think it’s likely that the kinds of cuts that are proposed in this budget will not occur, so we need to fully understand your priorities and why they are your priorities.”

DeVos appeared on Capitol Hill to argue for a proposal to slash spending for numerous programs while boosting funds for private school vouchers and other school choice initiatives.

This isn’t the G.O.P. congress I’d been hoping for, but it’s about the one I expected.

HMM: The $110 Billion Arms Deal to Saudi Arabia is Fake News.

I’ve spoken to contacts in the defense business and on the Hill, and all of them say the same thing: There is no $110 billion deal. Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but not contracts. Many are offers that the defense industry thinks the Saudis will be interested in someday. So far nothing has been notified to the Senate for review. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arms sales wing of the Pentagon, calls them “intended sales.” None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama administration.

An example is a proposal for sale of four frigates (called multi-mission surface combatant vessels) to the Royal Saudi navy. This proposal was first reported by the State Department in 2015. No contract has followed. The type of frigate is a derivative of a vessel that the U.S. Navy uses but the derivative doesn’t actually exist yet. Another piece is the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) which was recently deployed in South Korea. The Saudis have expressed interest in the system for several years but no contracts have been finalized. Obama approved the sale in principle at a summit at Camp David in 2015. Also on the wish list are 150 Black Hawk helicopters. Again, this is old news repackaged. What the Saudis and the administration did is put together a notional package of the Saudi wish list of possible deals and portray that as a deal. Even then the numbers don’t add up. It’s fake news.

Moreover, it’s unlikely that the Saudis could pay for a $110 billion deal any longer, due to low oil prices and the two-plus years old war in Yemen.

It’s difficult to feel much sorrow for the Saudis. On the other hand, a win for Iran in Yemen would be a disaster.

NEVER EAT LUNCH AT YOUR DESK.

A NEW WAY OF UNCOVERING HISTORY: Laser technology uncovers 1,600-year-old Christian frescoes in Rome’s biggest catacomb.

HOPLOPHOBIA IS A HARSH MISTRESS: Even now, why do only one in ten London police officers carry guns?

YOU KNOW, HILLARY WAY OUT-SPENT TRUMP. MAYBE SOROS’S INVESTMENTS DON’T ALWAYS PAY OFF: George Soros Gives Additional $250k to Tom Perriello for Virginia Primary Bid.

BUT I FEEL FINE: Your Soundtrack to the Post-Paris Climate Accord Trumpocalypse.

IF SHE HAD A HALF A BRAIN, SHE’D LEARN TO SHOOT: Before guns come to campus, this WSU professor is leaving.

THIS IS MY SHOCKED FACE: Portland Mayor Warned of Pro-Trump Violence. As Usual, Leftists Were the Problem,

OKAY, SO STOPPED CLOCK IS SOMETIMES RIGHT: How Bill Clinton Brought Back the 1911 Pistol,

AND THE THREE RS? What Liberal Students Could Learn from Conservatives: Politeness.

LEARN THE BURN:Marxism: A Cross Between Mean Girls & Lord of the Flies.

THEY KEEP USING THAT WORD. I DON’T THINK IT MEANS WHAT THEY THINK IT MEANS: These ‘empowering’ products are just screwing women over.

IT’S ALWAYS IN THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK. Hillary Clinton: The Solution To Terrorism Is To “Understand” Muslim Food.

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Betsy DeVos appoints campus free speech advocate Adam Kissel of FIRE. Leftists flip out.

Including “Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), well-known for her defense of Osama bin Laden as a man who built roads, schools, and daycare centers back in 2002, [who] blasted Kissel’s appointment in a statement.”

Read the whole thing.

AT AMAZON, Dockers Men’s Easy Khaki D3 Classic-Fit Flat-Front Pants, $24.99 – $34.99.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

● Barack Obama’s great leap forward dependent on putting a woman in charge of every country

—Twitchy, tonight.

Curiously, Barry had a rather different take on putting a woman in charge of one country in particular during the 2008 election season.

JAPAN CONDUCTS A DRILL SIMULATING A NORTH KOREAN MISSILE STRIKE:

The exercises measured the self-defense forces’ ability to respond to a potential attack, and to work with local governments and disaster management agencies…No civilians were involved in the exercises, but the prefecture is planning a drill for local residents in February 2018.

Japan takes North Korea’s threats very seriously. And well it should.