I WAS TALKING ABOUT THESE THE OTHER DAY: Honda: Please Bring Back the CRX.

AT AMAZON, save on Automotive Tools and Equipment.

Plus, bestsellers in Sports and Outdoors.

OH FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD: UW-Madison Wants to Fight Systematic Oppression by…Abraham Lincoln?

REMEMBER THE ALAMO: Bryan Preston emails:

Hey Glenn, could you do me a favor? We’ve started a GoFundMe campaign to restore 7 cannons that were used in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. It’s a way to let people own a little piece of the larger restoration efforts that we’re doing at the Alamo over the next few years, leading up to the construction of a museum to protect and display the Phil Collins collection a few years from now.

(Collins is a long-time Alamo researcher and backer, and he donated a massive collection of Alamo artifacts to the effort in 2014. “Susudio” and Tarzan have helped save Texas history!)

Here’s the GoFundMe link to donate to the cannon fundraiser.

Seems like the kind of thing Instapundit readers would dig.

It does!

QUACKERY: Severe Liver Damage Case Study Shows The Dangers of Naturopathy.

THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Mattel withdraws kid-focused “smart hub” from market after complaints.

“Aristotle” was first shown off at CES earlier this year. The red-and-white device is meant to be kept in a child’s room where its WiFi-enabled camera acts primarily as a voice-controlled baby monitor. It can adjust lighting levels, noting when babies wake up and then playing a lullaby or turning on a night light.

The device also claimed to be able to extensively interact with a young child. It can recognize and answer questions, play games, do singalongs, and teach the ABCs. Aristotle’s voice-interaction capabilities are intended to be like a kid-centric version of Amazon’s Alexa.

Last week, two members of Congress sent a letter (PDF) to Mattel about the device.

“Never before has a device had the capability to so intimately look into the life of a child,” wrote Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “Consumers should know how this product will work and what measures Mattel will take to protect families’ privacy and secure their data.”

Instead of answering those questions, Mattel has withdrawn the product.

I’d accept that as answer enough to Barton and Markey’s letter.

ROGER SIMON: Harvey Weinstein and the Death of ‘Feminism.’

BYRON YORK: 10 reasons to stay calm about those Russia Facebook ads.

1) Of the group of 3,000 ads turned over to Congress by Facebook, a majority of the impressions came after the election, not before. Indeed, in a news release Monday, Facebook said 56 percent of the ads’ impressions came after the 2016 vote.

2) Twenty-five percent of the ads were never seen by anybody. (Facebook also revealed that Monday.)

3) Most of the ads, which Facebook estimates were seen by a total of 10 million people in the United States, never mentioned the election or any candidate. “The vast majority of ads run by these accounts didn’t specifically reference the U.S. presidential election, voting or a particular candidate,” Facebook said in a Sept. 6 news release.

4) A relatively small number of the ads — again, about 25 percent — were geographically targeted. (Facebook also revealed that on September 6.)

5) The ads that were geographically targeted were all over the map. “Of those that were targeted, numerous other locales besides Michigan and Wisconsin, including non-battleground states like Texas, were targeted,” the government official familiar with the ads said, via email.

6) Very few ads specifically targeted Wisconsin or Michigan. “Of the hundreds of pre-election ads with one or more impressions, less than a dozen ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin combined,” the official said.

7) By and large, the ads targeting Michigan and Wisconsin did not run in the general election. “Nearly all of these Michigan and Wisconsin ads ran in 2015 and also ran in other states,” the official said.

8) The Michigan and Wisconsin ads were not widely seen. “The majority of these Wisconsin and Michigan ads had less than 1,000 impressions,” the official said.

9) The Michigan and Wisconsin ads (like those everywhere else) were low-budget. “The buy for the majority of these Michigan and Wisconsin ads (paid in rubles) was equivalent to approximately $10,” the official said.

10) The ads just weren’t very good. The language used in some of the ads “clearly shows the ad writer was not a native English speaker,” the official said. In addition, the set of ads turned over by Facebook also contained “clickbait-type ads that had nothing to do with politics.” And in general, the official’s view is that the ads simply were not terribly sophisticated, contrary to how they have been portrayed.

The eleventh reason: Russia wants us upset about these ads, in order to discredit the result of the election and to turn Americans against one another. In this effort, the Kremlin is being aided and abetted by high-level members of the Democratic Party.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Amherst course puzzles over how women become conservative.

THE VIEW FROM THE IVORY TOWER: Amherst College’s Condescending Class on Why Some Women Go ‘Right-Wing.’

MORE THAN TWO MILLION DEAD: A Hypothetical Nuclear Attack on Seoul and Tokyo – The Human Cost of War on the Korean Peninsula.

FASTER, PLEASE: Antibody cocktail ‘potentially feasible’ for Zika therapy.

HMM: Over half of new cancer drugs ‘show no benefits’ for survival or wellbeing.

Forty-eight cancer drugs were approved by the European Medicines Agency between 2009 and 2013 for use as treatments in 68 different situations.

But the study, which looked at the clinical trials associated with the drugs, reveals that at the time the therapies became available there was no conclusive evidence that they improved survival in almost two-thirds of the situations for which they were approved.

In only 10% of the uses did the drugs improve quality of life. Overall 57% of uses showed no benefits for either survival or quality of life.

I’m dubious of medical studies coming from where medical spending is controlled by the state. That said, cancer treatment is still an area with more unknown-unknowns than anything else — so drug companies will hit more brick walls than make breakthroughs. The correct time to stop advancing is never.

FASTER, PLEASE: Light-Activated Nanoparticles Help Fight Drug-Resistant Superbugs.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER CASTING COUCH: 10 Noteworthy Twitter Reactions to the Harvey Weinstein Sexual Harassment Bombshell.

YES, THEY’RE THE REAL VICTIMS HERE: Harvey Weinstein Harassment Claims Put Obamas, Clintons in Tough Spot.

ACTUAL NEW YORK TIMES EXPLAINER HEADLINE: What Is the Iran Nuclear Deal? And Why Does Trump Hate It?

HMM: U.S. Nearing Contract With Boeing For Qatar F-15QAs.

Relations between the U.S. and Qatar were tested in June when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar over its alleged support for terrorist organizations. U.S. President Donald Trump praised Saudi Arabia’s actions in a tweet on June 6, writing: “They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”

Five months on, Qatar remains shunned by its Gulf neighbors, but the process of hammering out an F-15 deal continues.

At the Paris Air Show in June, Boeing Defense, Space & Security CEO Leanne Caret said production of the 36 aircraft for Qatar would begin in 2019 at the company’s fighter factory in St. Louis.

So why sell such dangerous jets to such a troublesome country? Jobs, perhaps among other things.

Without Qatar, F-15 production would probably end. If the deal does go through, the line would stay open through 2022 and potentially longer if Qatar orders another batch of 12.

And Boeing may still be trying to drum up sales of its even-more advanced F-15 Silent Eagle. That’s already an expensive fourth-generation jet, about on par with the fifth-generation F-35. But the Silent Eagle would be even more expensive still if Boeing had to start back up closed production lines to produce it.

LOOK OUT RACHEL DOLEZAL AND TALCUM X, THERE’S COMPETITION: ‘I’m getting an African nose’: White German glamour model with 32S breasts who has turned her skin brown reveals she plans more surgery and is heading to Africa to ‘learn to be black.’

With her think German accent and halting command of the English language, the video interview embedded in the above London Daily Mail article is pretty astonishing.

Perhaps they and Elizabeth Warren should simply all go to the Gap.

Or perhaps this idea, also found in the Insta-archives searching for Dolezal material is even better: “Al Sharpton peels back the mask, reveals himself as Marty Cohen from Piscataway, New Jersey, and we all go home.”

SNEAKY DEVIL: Article 9 and Japan’s missile defence dilemma.

At present, Japan’s missile defence strategy against North Korea is focussed on ensuring a successful interception of the No-Dong medium-range ballistic missile. In fact, it may be the only North Korean missile Japan’s Self-Defence Force can intercept under domestic law. The reason for this lies in the Japanese Constitution. Written in the aftermath of World War II, Article 9 stipulates that “Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.” In this sense, the Japanese Self-Defence Force is only allowed to defend against a foreign attack. This means that Japan can only intercept missiles that are due to land in its territory. Any other missile cannot be intercepted as it would constitute a “use of force as means of settling international disputes” that do not explicitly involve Japan. That is why Japan’s missile defences are based upon interception of the No-Dong.

After understanding these legal constraints upon the Japanese Self-Defence Force, it becomes clear why North Korea’s latest missile test was so provocative. The Hwasong-12 has an optimal firing range of around 4,500 kilometres which means that North Korea will probably never fire the missile at Japan. It would be much more likely for North Korea to try and fire it over Japan en route to another destination. This is where the test of the Hwasong-12 comes in to play. By firing the missile over Japan, North Korea calculated that Japan’s elaborate missile defences would sit idle and increase the chances of a successful test. According to the Yonhap News Agency, the Hwasong-12 flew 550 kilometres above Japanese territory which meant it navigated 450 kilometres above the upper threshold of Japan’s airspace. Japan could not legally intercept the missile and North Korea likely gleaned a lot of useful data. In short, the aforementioned missile test was a rational calculation from Pyongyang.

Li’l Kim is shooting his missiles through a loophole in Japan’s Article 9. So perhaps Japan needs to have a very public debate, aimed squarely at Beijing, about altering or abolishing it.

PAUL GREGORY: Speaking Bolshevik.

MIZZOU JUST NEVER LEARNS: No matter how low their enrollment dips, Mizzou keeps doubling down on the social justice nonsense.

My old school doesn’t seem to be teaching much anymore, either.

B-1B AND SLAM EAGLES ON A PRACTICE BOMB RUN: It was practice, but the B-1B dropped a live bomb. The Slam Eagle is the South Korean F-15K, a specially modified F-15E Strike Eagle.

The bombing exercise recorded by the USAF photo was one of several Korean peninsula show of force operations conducted in mid-September. The most dramatic show of force occurred on September 23 when B-1Bs and F-15C escorts flew in international air space over the Sea of Japan east of North Korea.