WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, OLD CHAP: UK military to build prototype ‘laser weapon’

J. CHRISTIAN ADAMS: Pray For Jeff Sessions.

Everyone who believes in prayer should say some for attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions. Senator Sessions is experiencing the full wrath of the worst hateful lies that the modern Left and Democrat Party can conjure. Lies, half-truths, and smears have become the strategy to attack his nomination.

The age of Obama has seen the rise of bricks-and-mortar operations with deep cash reserves designed to permanently transform the nation, and the Justice Department has been ground zero. That’s why Jeff Sessions is the perfect pick for attorney general, and that’s why the liars on the Left are willing to smear this good man. They’ve served up all their familiar charges against him from their phobia smorgasbord: homo-, xeno-, Islamo- or trans-.

That’s why the NAACP decided to trespass and occupy his Senate office — an action far worse than the one that landed James O’Keefe in jail (banner photo above). Don’t expect Loretta Lynch to do anything. Who commits the crime is sometimes more important than what they did. O’Keefe played for the wrong team. . . .

Consider Deval Patrick. Mr. Patrick formerly served as assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the Justice Department, an NAACP lawyer, and of course, governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Patrick sent this disgraceful letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee seeking to derail the Sessions nomination.

It claimed that when Mr. Sessions prosecuted a case of brazen voter fraud, he actually engaged in voter intimidation.

Sound familiar? It’s part of a larger campaign to preserve vulnerabilities in the American system of elections. It’s why they oppose voter ID and efforts to clean voter rolls. It’s why they are anxious to get felons to the ballot box. It’s why they hate Mr. Sessions — he understands the corrosive evil of voter fraud and has been willing to fight it.

At this point, the Left is mostly just a noise machine. If Trump and Sessions and the GOP majority in the Senate ignore it — and I expect they will — nothing it does will matter. Except that it may stiffen Sessions’ spine:

Feeling the full wrath of the ugly, hateful Left is an experience that leaves one assured that there are no coincidences. When someone experiences the soul-wrenching lies and distortions of the sort now blasting at Mr. Sessions, it provides a reassuring context to the larger constitutional fight in which we now find ourselves engaged.

There have always been enemies of individual dignity and freedom. The nastiness aimed at Mr. Sessions reminds us there always will be. The task at hand is to beat them.

I’m pretty sure that attitude is widely shared in the Trump Administration.

Plus: GOP to Dems: Assault on Sessions will carry a price.

“I hope that doesn’t happen,” Roberts said. “I mean, that really eliminates any possibility for meaningful bipartisan action because then that opens the door for us to respond in kind and then it keeps devolving and poisons the well for any cooperation down the line.”

Other Republican senators said Democratic efforts to cast Sessions as a racist simply won’t work regardless of whom the Democrats call as witnesses because the Alabama senator, a 20-year veteran of the Senate, has worked well with so many Democrats over the years.

“We all know Jeff and have worked with him for a long time,” said Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. “I think you are going to see strong support for him among Republicans but also some Democrats too.”

“He’s worked with a lot of Democratic members of the Senate for a long time and built up good relations,” he added.

The GOP, if it’s smart, will push back against all the attacks on its nominees.

Related: The Law Professors’ Scandalous Statement Against Jeff Sessions. “Character assassination is so unworthy of our profession – what an awful example to set for the budding lawyers who are our students! The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit ‘conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.’ I contend that the law professors’ statement, which condemns Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions based on irrelevancies and innuendoes, is just that.”

Plus: Hans van Spakovsky: How Black Democrats Stole Votes in Alabama … And Jeff Sessions Tried To Stop It. This, of course, is what Democrats are really upset about.

And look who else is weighing in — the NRA’s Chris Cox, with this: Sen. Jeff Sessions will fight for the Second Amendment: Unlike his predecessors, Jeff Sessions knows that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem.

TRUE, BUT… The American auto industry does not need Trump to stage-manage it.

Trump’s tweets to GM and Toyota are probably less about trade and macroeconomics, than he’s telling his Rust Belt voters: “I’ve got your back.”

And that’s a message few of them have gotten from Washington in decades.

THIS MAKES ME THINK THAT THEY MAY ACTUALLY BE READY TO TAKE ON THE BUREAUCRACY: House Republicans revive obscure rule that allows them to slash the pay of individual federal workers to $1.

Democrats and federal employee unions say the provision, which one called the “Armageddon Rule,” could prove alarming to the federal workforce because it comes in combination with President-elect Donald Trump’s criticism of the Washington bureaucracy, his call for a freeze on government hiring and his nomination of Cabinet secretaries who in some cases seem to be at odds with the mission of the agencies they would lead.

Yes, I can see why they’d find this alarming. Not everyone will share that sentiment.

TED CRUZ: Let’s face it, the media’s invested in this Russia story because they want to delegitimize Trump’s win.

PROCUREMENT BLUES: The most expensive F-35 variant has hit another major snag that could take years to fix.

Essentially the problem, detailed in a Navy report with data dating back to 2014, deals with rough takeoffs that hurt and disorient pilots at the critical moment when they’re taking off from a carrier.

The Pentagon’s red team found the problem was due to several factors central to the plane’s design, and recommended several fixes that will take several months to several years to fully fix. The report states that long term actions to address the problem will not take place until 2019, at which point they’ll take 12-36 months to implement.

Redesigns to the plane, as well as to carriers, may be necessary to fully address the problem.

But then this:

At a roundtable discussion in December, F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan assured reporters that F-35C takeoff problems only occur when the planes takeoff with low weight load outs, saying ” you don’t see this problem at all” when the plane is more laden with ordnance or fuel.

A representative from Lockheed Martin told Business Insider that all the catapult launches they had monitored were successful.

This is the first time since the F-111 that the Air Force and Navy have tried to share a common airframe, and naval variant never made it to production.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Charlotte Law School Cancels Classes And Works On Transfer Plan With Florida Coastal As Rumors And Lawsuits Swirl After Feds Cut Off Student Loans.

CLAIM: ‘Repeal and Delay’ Won’t Prevent Obamacare Repeal Chaos.

What about the ObamaCare-created chaos of being forced to switch plans and providers every year?

The 2018 Senate Map Puts Senator Schumer’s Filibuster Threat to the Test.

Senators Joe Manchin and Heidi Heitkamp represent states that went to Trump by margins larger than Clinton’s actual share of the vote, and will face intense pressure from their voters not to interfere dramatically in nominations. Three more Democratic Senators won in 2012 thanks in large part to big missteps by their opponents, but now face electorates that picked Trump by decisive margins. Sen. Claire McCaskill has already signaled she will fight Trump, but her state went overwhelmingly to him and she won’t have the luxury of Todd Akin as an opponent again. Sen. Joe Donnelly represents a state that clearly rejected Evan Bayh’s comeback and delivered its electoral votes to Trump by an apocalyptic margin. Jon Tester has played things smart, and represents a state that, despite giving Trump a lopsided victory, re-elected its Democratic Governor. However, his state flipped its other Senate seat from blue to red just two years ago, so he too will need to walk delicately as he faces re-election in a midterm year.

Beyond them, an additional five Democrats represent states that went narrowly for Trump: Senators Tammy Baldwin, Debbie Stabenow, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, and Bill Nelson. They have more wiggle room as their states went by smaller margins, and all represent states that voted for President Obama’s re-election, but they are facing midterm electorates in states that have mostly favored Republicans in off-years for the last decade. Throw in independent Angus King, who will face re-election in a state which saw its 2nd district move eighteen points rightward in four years, and Amy Klobuchar, whose state voted more Republican than the national vote for the first time in seven decades, and you can see where many in the Democratic ranks facing re-election will have to wriggle around.

Dick Durbin is gonna need a bigger whip.

IN THE EMAIL FROM STEPHANIE OSBORN: Alpha and Omega (Division One).

BECAUSE SHE WAS GUILTY AS SIN?  Why Ethel Rosenberg Should Not Be Exonerated.

SECRETS OF THE PAST: 16th Century Boxwood Carvings Are So Miniature Researchers Used X-Ray To Solve Their Mystery.

THERE IS NO INTELLIGENT LIFE…: ‘Star Trek ship’ spotted in the sky by UFO sceptic – who admits he’s baffled by the sighting.

BAH, SHUT UP AND REVIEW.  GET UP OFF THE FLOOR.  AMERICA IS TIRED OF YOUR EXTENDED LIBERAL TANTRUM: To Disappointed Hollywood Liberals, Everything is Trump’s Fault.

TELL STORIES, STORIES WILL MAKE YOU IMMORTAL: Newly translated, a sequel to ‘The Three Musketeers’ is as fresh as ever.

GIVE MILO CREDIT, HE REALLY UPSETS THE GLITTERATI: Who’s Trolling Who?

I DON’T THINK FEMINIST SCOLDS NEED A LIST: How To Alienate Family And Friends In 7 Easy Steps: A Fisking.

LAYERS AND LAYERS OF FACT-CHECKERS AND EDITORS:

Between the WaPo (twice!), CNN and Yahoo, the DNC-MSM really covered themselves with glory yesterday.

AH, CHICAGO: The Chicago Outfit, Chicago police and the silence of consent.

YEAH, SURE, BUT THE RUSSIAN MIND-RAYS PREVENTED HER RESPONDING AND STUFF: FBI warned Clinton campaign last spring of cyberattack.  (And yes, I realize the article is old.  Think about it.)

WELCOME TO THE CRAZY YEARS.  MAY I HAVE MAYO IN MY CLAY  SANDWICH? High School Ditches ‘Stallion’ Mascot, Says It’s ‘Sexist’.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Feminists knit “Pussy Hats” for the anti-Trump march on Washington.

They told me if Trump was elected, feminists would be told to stick to their knitting. And they were right!

ANNALS OF RACIAL HATE: 10 years later: Remembering Christian-Newsom. “Ten years ago, a small group kidnapped, beat, tortured, raped and killed Channon Christian and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom, eventually leaving the young couple’s bodies in an industrial section of North Knoxville. . . . Newsom was almost immediately raped, fatally shot in the head, and set afire along nearby railroad tracks between Ninth Avenue and Cherry Street. Christian was tortured and raped for several days before suffocating in a trash can with plastic bags over her head.”

There was no White House commentary, and no mass marches or riots. And not all that much press attention. Because these horrors did not Advance The Narrative.

WHITE MAN MINIMIZES RACIST VIOLENCE: Shaun King: “So no, I won’t be writing angry tweets about what these folk did in Chicago.”

AT AMAZON, save in Arts Crafts and Sewing.

Plus, New Year’s Deals on Video Camcorders.