MARK STEYN: The Great Brain Drain.

As I said to Tucker Carlson the other night, the demographic transformation of the western world is “the biggest story of our time”, and it will indeed determine all the others:

~Taxes? Big Government welfare programs depend on a high degree of social solidarity between givers and takers. If you think in France or Germany that young Mohammed and Ahmed will be willing to pay higher and higher taxes so that Jean-Pierre and Fritz can continue enjoying their present thirty-year retirements, you’re deluded.

~Defense spending and ISIS? More UK and Canadian Muslims have volunteered for the Islamic State than serve as soldiers of the Queen. As you can tell from their kid-glove treatment of returning jihadists, it’s unlikely that these countries will still be willing to follow America into the sands of Araby as Islam becomes a bigger and bigger domestic and electoral consideration. As for the broader international order, two of the Big Five at the UN will be semi-Islamized (and, indeed, semi-Islamic nuclear powers).

~Abortion? Hispanics, we’re told by Charles Krauthammer et al, are “natural conservatives”, so in theory Latin-American immigration ought to be good for the pro-life lobby: After all, South America has some of the toughest anti-abortion regimes on the planet. Then again, once they get to the United States, Hispanics account for about a quarter of all abortions. So who knows?

To reprise an old line of mine from America Alone, the future belongs to those who show up for it.

Read the whole thing.

THERE’S NOTHING WRONG IN TAKING A PROFIT, MY GRANDFATHER USED TO SAY: After 7,500% Rally, Cryptocurrency Founder Sells His Coins.

Charlie Lee, creator of the world’s fifth-biggest cryptocurrency, cashed in during a 75-fold rally this year.

The San Francisco-based software engineer whose litecoin was founded in 2011 sold and donated all of his holdings over the past few days, he said in a Reddit post. The disposal was aimed at preventing a “conflict of interest” when Lee makes comments on social media about the digital currency that could influence its price, he said.

“Litecoin has been very good for me financially, so I am well off enough that I no longer need to tie my financial success to litecoin’s success,” Lee said. “For the first time in 6+ years, I no longer own a single LTC” other than a few collector’s coins.

He should buy some back as a hedge against fiat currency — after the bubble pops, of course.

OOPS: Elon Musk Accidentally Shared His Personal Phone Number On Twitter.

TO BOLDLY DRAIN THE ULTIMATE SWAMP: Time for a Trump Makeover of Liberal NPR and PBS, Michelle Malkin writes.

J CHRISTIAN ADAMS: Radical LGBT Activist Chai Feldblum Renominated to EEOC.

NOW IT’S GONE TOO FAR: Women Reportedly Ditching High Heels Amid Sexual Harassment Firestorm.

REGULATION: Uber dealt blow after EU court classifies it as transport service.

In the latest of a series of legal battles, Uber had argued it was simply a digital app that acted as an intermediary between drivers and customers looking for a ride and so should fall under lighter EU rules for online services.

“The service provided by Uber connecting individuals with non-professional drivers is covered by services in the field of transport,” the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said.

“Member states can, therefore, regulate the conditions for providing that service,” it said.

Uber’s genius in its early days was its ability to skirt the regulatory state, but that advantage was bound to fade as the company grew larger. And Uber’s toxic corporate culture virtually guaranteed that when it did come under the regulatory state’s microscope, it wouldn’t have any friends helping defend it.

MEANWHILE IN JERUSALEM:

The weekend before last marked the 30th anniversary of the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada. Thousands lost their lives in the fighting that ensued after four Palestinians were killed in a traffic collision with an Israeli truck in early December 1987. The death toll resulting from a second uprising in 2000 was even higher than the original.

The Hamas leadership is hankering for a rematch. After President Donald Trump conferred U.S. recognition upon Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s most senior political chief, called for a “day of rage” as a launch pad for an “intifada of freedom for Jerusalem and the West Bank.” A spokesman for the Gaza-based organization was even more dramatic. Trump’s decision “opens the gates of hell,” he declared.

But the response of the Palestinian public has been lukewarm. Jerusalem was decidedly calm on the morning following Trump’s pronouncement and it has largely stayed so. International opprobrium notwithstanding, clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian protestors have not escalated beyond the almost perfunctory. While casualties on either side should surely be mourned, there has been no widespread outbreak of hostilities toward Israel. There are good reasons for this.

I think the reduction in Saudi support — which I believe is part of Trump’s mideast negotiations — is a major cause.

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? A Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted.

Such work can now proceed, said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, but only if a scientific panel decides that the benefits justify the risks.

Some scientists are eager to pursue these studies because they may show, for example, how a bird flu could mutate to more easily infect humans, or could yield clues to making a better vaccine.

Critics say these researchers risk creating a monster germ that could escape the lab and seed a pandemic.

Now, a government panel will require that researchers show that their studies in this area are scientifically sound and that they will be done in a high-security lab.

The pathogen to be modified must pose a serious health threat, and the work must produce knowledge — such as a vaccine — that would benefit humans. Finally, there must be no safer way to do the research.

“We see this as a rigorous policy,” Dr. Collins said. “We want to be sure we’re doing this right.”

The Army of the Twelve Monkeys smiles.

A MEASURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY: Charlottesville police chief retiring ‘effective immediately.’

Related: Virginia State Police Superintendent to Step Down. “The announcement comes two weeks after a scathing report criticized police response to a white-supremacist rally, which caused widespread violence and claimed the life of a protester in Charlottesville in August.”

Background here: Charlottesville report tells us what happens when the police fail to do their job.

FINALLY, ADULT SUPERVISION: UNC cracks down on disruptions with new free speech policy: The University of North Carolina Board of Governors passed a systemwide free speech policy Friday in response to demands from lawmakers that it take steps to curb the “heckler’s veto.” “The Faculty Assembly, however, complained that the policy goes beyond the bare minimum required under state law with regard to punishing those who disrupt free speech on campus.”

AT AMAZON, Hot New Releases, Updated Hourly.

Plus, new Kindle Daily Deals.

And, today’s Digital Deals.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Tax Reform Passes, McCabe Speaks, Haley Slays and Much, Much More.

TRUMP’S NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY ACKNOWLEDGES REALITY OF GREAT POWER COMPETITION: The Obama Administration didn’t. Remember Obama’s hot mic moment where he told Medvedev to tell Vlad he’d be more flexible after the election? (If you’ve forgotten, this will remind you.)

BREAK THEM UP: The Google-Facebook Duopoly Threatens Diversity of Thought: A political website pulled an article after Google’s AdSense team threatened to withdraw advertising.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE SO MUCH: A sailor meets his child for the first time following the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf’s (CG 72) return to homeport.

Posted for a second time, because we need some cheerful news for the holidays.

THEY SEEM MORE LIKELY THAN SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS CORPS: White House Reporter Asks Huckabee Sanders if Trump Believes in UFOs.

MORE PROGRESSIVE FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: Ex-‘Today’ assistant who admitted to Matt Lauer affair called ‘whore,’ ‘homewrecker.’

HUSH MONEY: Pennsylvania House Democrats pay $248K to settle sexual harassment complaint against 40-year lawmaker. “A payment of $248,000 went to resolve a complaint in 2015 against State Rep. Thomas Caltagirone, a Democratic lawmaker from Berks County, by a longtime legislative staffer. The settlement included a nondisclosure agreement, according to a source familiar with the matter. . . . It was not clear whether Caltagirone, who faced a separate and widely publicized sexual harassment complaint in the mid-1990s, was disciplined or reprimanded after the 2015 payout. House Democrats would not discuss details of the case, and Caltagirone did not respond to requests for comment.”

WELL, SOMEONE’S LIVING IN A FANTASY WORLD: NBC host Savannah Guthrie asked House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) if he was “living in a fantasy world” to think that the GOP tax bill will help workers.

Maybe she should look at this:

Full report here.

THESE ARE HEINLEIN’S CRAZY YEARS — WE JUST LIVE IN THEM: ‘Racist’ trees separating a black neighborhood from a golf course will come down.

BUFF IN WINTER: No, not baring it all in the snow. But the B-52 has been called a symbol of naked power.

FASTER, PLEASE: FDA Just Approved The First-Ever Gene Therapy For an Inherited Disease.