DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY:

Not even going to ask about the French she took.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: The Evolution of Terrorism Prosecutions – My Speech at the Federal Bar Council.

I KNOW SOMEBODY WHO’S GOING TO ENJOY HIS RETIREMENT: Joe Biden Wants Corvette’s Chief Engineer to Help Him Pick a New Vette.

YES. ALSO ALL OTHER PUBLIC OFFICIALS: Is it time to hold police officers accountable for constitutional violations? “Qualified immunity” is a judicial invention with no basis in the Constitution.

HAIL MARY: Chargers’ desperation move is a shot to the NFL’s vitality.

Now a weird year for the NFL just got weirder. If the Chargers do indeed move, and if owners approve the Raiders’ move to Vegas in March, three teams will have relocated in a 14-month span. There will be plenty of blame to go around. Goodell will be the face of it, but internally, owners and executives will wonder if NFL executive Eric Grubman, the point man on stadiums, did an effective enough job of negotiating with San Diego officials. The owners will be viewed as vessels of greed; Spanos will be the one who in the end decided to pull the plug on a cherished home, his legacy a sunburned version of Art Modell’s. But the lingering conflict goes beyond the relocations, beyond the logistics and into an area that is tougher to navigate if not solve, because there is no clear solution: What if the NFL simply matters less?

Indeed.

WHEN GADGET FIXERS TURN FBI INFORMANTS: Members of Best Buy’s Geek Squad passed incriminating evidence to the law enforcement agency and received payments from agents.

EPA: Fiat Chrysler Used Emissions-Cheating Software.

Officials stopped short of calling Fiat Chrysler’s software defeat devices, saying they were continuing to investigate. But they nevertheless accused Fiat Chrysler of illegal activity and said it could cost the company $4.63 billion, based on a $44,539 penalty for each affected vehicle.

“This is a clear and serious violation of the Clean Air Act,” said EPA Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles, adding Fiat Chrysler failed to disclose eight so-called auxiliary emission control devices on the vehicles when getting them certified. “AECDs that are not disclosed are illegal.”

Fiat Chrysler “is disappointed that the EPA has chosen to issue a notice of violation,” the auto maker said in a statement. The company “intends to work with the incoming administration to present its case and resolve this matter fairly and equitable and to assure the EPA and FCA US customers that the company’s diesel-powered vehicles meet all applicable regulatory requirements.”

European companies sure do talk a green game.

DECISION EXPECTED SOON IN University of Texas cover-up lawsuit.

BECAUSE WHEN TRUMP MOVES, HE SLICES LIKE AN F***ING HAMMER, BABY: “A source close to [Paul Anka], 75, told Radar exclusively that he will buck the trend of most singers and perform his song ‘My Way’ at the Inauguration January 20…with lyrics re-written for the incoming Commander-In-Chief!”

I assume this time, the guys will get shirts — and they’ll be the softest most luxurious shirts you can imagine. So many shirts, you’ll be sick of all the shirts.

HEALTH: Physically active men may improve their prostate cancer prognosis.

BETTER TO BE A “WEEKEND WARRIOR” than not to exercise at all.

VIDEO: It’s Really Not a Smart Idea to Try to Rob a Gun Store.

Graphic, but educational.

OVERRIPE: Are Conditions Ripening for Iraqi Kurdish State?

It is unlikely that Syria’s Democratic Union Party (PYD) or its fighting force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), or Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) will realize their objectives of statehood, but Iraq’s Kurds may be in a far more advantageous position to press for independence. Significant obstacles remain for Iraqi Kurds, but the combination of regional instability, the coming liberation of Mosul, and the state of Iraqi politics may help advance the historic goals of Kurdish leaders.

It might not matter if Syria’s or Turkey’s are “ready” for statehood. If Iraq’s Kurds achieve independence, Free Kurdistan will almost surely follow.

Whether we would get one Kurdistan or several remains an open question, but any people who can maintain cultural cohesion for so many centuries without a country, could probably make a go at unity.

GOOD: Scientists have figured out how to make wounds heal without scars.

WE HAD TO SAVE THE RULE OF LAW BY DESTROYING IT: Rosie O’Donnell Wants to Stop Trump Inauguration with Martial Law.

UPDATE (from Glenn): My paper on military coups just gets more timely all the time.

SUCK-UP WATCH: Having backed the losing candidate, Google now tries to align with Trump. “Despite Google’s support of Clinton, and Trump’s tendency to hold grudges, the tech behemoth may very well succeed in its efforts to embed itself in the new power structure.” And apparently they’re doing okay:

Joshua Wright, long an ally of Google, is in charge of the transition team at the Federal Trade Commission. The Intercept noted Wright is “pulling off the rare revolving-door quadruple-play,” having moved from academic work supported by Google to FTC commissioner, back to Google-supported work and now back to the federal government.

As a George Mason University law professor, Wright wrote at least four academic papers while being funded by Google that argued the company hadn’t violated antitrust laws by favoring its own sites in search engine results.

After Wright became a FTC commissioner in 2013, he recused himself from any cases involving Google for two years. He returned to George Mason in August 2015, but also began working with the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Google’s primary outside law firm.

Now Wright could very well be named chairman of the FTC in the coming months.

Stay tuned.

HEADLINES FROM 2015: As Trump Berates News Media, a New Strategy Is Needed to Cover Him.

SUPERCUT: 79 Times Obama Referred to Himself in Farewell Speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKIiKTuO9Og

Oops? The link is correct but the wrong video is playing, at least on my end. So click the YouTube link if you’re having the same problem.

FUSION GPS: The Sordid History of the Firm Behind the Trump-Russia Dossier.

Mark Hemingway:

That’s not all Fusion GPS has been up to in recent years. In 2015, Planned Parenthood was stung by a video expose that detailed its involvement in human organ trafficking—organs harvested from the bodies obtained after abortions. Those behind the expose, David Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress, knew they would be severely scrutinized so they released dozens of hours of raw footage that their documentary evidence was culled from to show that their reports had not been selectively edited. Nor were they misrepresenting the shocking statements of Planned Parenthood officials.

Nonetheless, Planned Parenthood produced a “forensic report” concluding that the videos had in fact been manipulated. The author of that report was none other than Fusion GPS. If you bothered to read the details of Fusion GPS’s report it made some damning concessions, even admitting there was no “widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation.” But overall, the report was calculated to be misleading and was nothing but an underhanded PR stunt for Planned Parenthood. Naturally, Fusion GPS’s report was uncritically covered by a credulous media. Politico’s headline was “Report for Planned Parenthood finds sting videos manipulated.” The New York Times went with “Planned Parenthood Videos Were Altered, Analysis Finds.” Neither report mentioned the controversy about Fusion GPS’s attacks on GOP donors or otherwise suggested the firm had partisan motivations.

Indeed, it seems that the media have been uncritically amplifying Fusion GPS’s disinformation campaigns for years now.

Read the whole thing.

THE WORLD’S COLDEST CAPITALS: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia is the world leader in cold capital cities. It’s average annual temperature is -2.4 degrees Celsius. The link goes to that old Cold Warrior, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. RFE/RL credits the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

ROGER SIMON: More CEOs, Please — Tillerson Hugely Impressive in Confirmation Hearing.

THE SINS OF THE GRANDDAUGHTER: L.L. Bean Targeted by Anti-Trump Group.

The anti-Trump group “Grab Your Wallet” has targeted outdoor company L.L. Bean for a boycott because a granddaughter of the L.L. Bean founder donated money to a Trump PAC.

Linda Bean is the granddaughter of founder Leon Leonwood Bean and “owns a chunk” of the company.

They can have my Bean Boots when they pry them off my cold, dead — but still dry! — feet.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1344: Democrats Remind Jeff Sessions AG Enforces ‘Every Law,’ Yet Were Silent When DOJ Declined To Prosecute Lois Lerner.

CUE WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN: Billionaire George Soros Lost Nearly $1 Billion in Weeks After Trump Election.

Last year, Mr. Soros returned to trading at Soros Fund Management LLC, which manages about $30 billion for Mr. Soros and his family. Mr. Soros was lured back by the opportunities to profit from what he saw as coming economic troubles.

Mr. Soros was cautious about the market going into November and became more bearish immediately after Mr. Trump’s election, according to people close to the matter. The stance proved a mistake—the stock market has rallied on expectations that Mr. Trump’s policies will boost corporate earnings and the overall economy.

As a result, some of Mr. Soros’s trading positions incurred losses approaching $1 billion, the people say. Mr. Soros adjusted his positions and exited many of his bearish bets late last year, avoiding further losses, the people added.

Maybe he got tired of all the winning.