ROGER SIMON: What’s Really behind the Jim Acosta ‘Controversy?’

JOHN ELLIS: Alexa Apologizes to Cities That Lost Amazon HQ2 Bid. “Alexa should be apologizing to the two places that Amazon picked.”

THE NEW REPUBLIC: Facebook Betrayed America.

While Zuckerberg was sitting doe-eyed before Congress, insisting that Facebook only wants to connect people, his company was in fact imitating some of the worst behavior on Facebook to counter the barrage of negative stories the company was facing.

Zuckerberg may have insisted that all of the criticism of Facebook was a byproduct of the company’s core mission, but a crisis PR firm contracted by Facebook linked the site’s critics to George Soros, the liberal Jewish billionaire who is often at the center of right-wing attacks and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. At the same time, top executives, notably Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, were discouraging it from investigating Russian activity on the site.

This response exposes the hypocrisy at the center of the company: While Zuckerberg was promising to return to the company’s utopian vision of bringing humanity closer together, it was doing everything it could to sow division, all in order to steer clear of negative coverage and eventual regulation.

I don’t agree with much of Alex Shephard’s analysis here, and post this only to point out that Facebook is now in a position where it can’t make anyone happy. That’s a bad place to be for such a fat, rich target.

WHEN STANDARDS ARE DIFFERENT, PEOPLE’S PERCEPTIONS ARE DIFFERENT: Michelle Obama Felt ‘the Shadow of Affirmative Action’ as Princeton Undergrad. “It planted a seed of doubt. Was I here merely as part of some social experiment?”

Of course, we could solve at least part of that problem by abolishing the Ivy League.

PARKLAND SHOOTER: Nikolas Cruz Allegedly Flipped Off and Assaulted Jail Guard Before Grabbing Stun Gun.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF: An open letter to my American friends, re: your shambolic election process.

I write this not with condescension or glee but as a friend who wants to help. Furthermore, I write as an Australian, from a country, which has always been on the forefront of electoral best practice and thus has much to offer by way of experience and example. In 1856, the state of South Australia adopted universal male suffrage as well as secret ballot as a way to conduct election, the latter reform adopted later that year by Tasmania and Victoria and over the next few years by the remaining states. Throughout the second half of the 19th century, political reformers in the United States and Great Britain would fight – eventually successfully – for the adoption of “the Australian ballot”, as it became known overseas. It is now the international standard. It seems to me that it’s time for America to again look Down Under for inspiration on how to improve its democratic process. Our Australian system is not perfect and it’s not 100 per cent foolproof (what is?) but it has been by and large free of fraud or the perception of fraud and its integrity is acknowledged by all sides of politics as well as the general voting public (voting in Australia is compulsory but I don’t recommend it for the US).

What follows is solid advice.

CROWDFUNDING IS THE LEFT’S NEWEST POLITICAL WEAPON: It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody but have you noticed how lefties have recently turned to sites like GoFundMe on the Internet to raise millions of dollars for their causes?

“Online platforms such as CrowdJustice, GoFundMe, and CrowdPAC, among others, have drawn in millions for political activism and progressive causes. Funds have been raised for purposes as varied as supporting the federal bureaucrat who lost her job for flipping off Trump’s motorcade to covering the security costs for Christine Blasey Ford, and even underwritingStormy Daniels’s legal bills,” according to Washington Free Beacon’s Haris Alic.

Leftist advocates and their buddies in the mainstream media often portray these crowdfunding efforts as spontaneous efforts by the populace outraged by President Donald Trump’s latest tweet but Alic provides evidence that, as so often proves to be the case, they are anything but unorganized.

WELL, TO BE FAIR, NEARLY ALL OF HIGHER ED FUNCTIONS AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUPER-PACS THESE DAYS: Mich State Dept investigates college for potential campaign finance violations.

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LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Judge Decides CNN’s LOLsuit Today and Much, Much More. “We can confirm that today LAPD Detectives arrested Michael Avenatti on suspicion of domestic violence. This is an ongoing investigation and we will provide more details as they become available.”

Does this mean we’re returning to a presumption of innocence for everybody? Because that would be nice.

POSTMODERN WARFARE: The F-35’s Greatest Vulnerability Isn’t Enemy Weapons. It’s Being Hacked.

Every F-35 squadron, no matter the country, has a 13-server ALIS package that is connected to the worldwide ALIS network. Individual jets send logistical data back to their nation’s Central Point of Entry, which then passes it on to Lockheed’s central server hub in Fort Worth, Texas. In fact, ALIS sends back so much data that some countries are worried it could give away too much information about their F-35 operations.

Another networking system is the Joint Reprogramming Enterprise, or JRE. The JRE maintains a shared library of potential adversary sensors and weapon systems that is distributed to the worldwide F-35 fleet. For example, the JRE will seek out and share information on enemy radar and electronic warfare signals so that individual air forces will not have to track down the information themselves. This allows countries with the F-35 to tailor the mission around anticipated threats—and fly one step ahead of them.

Although the networks have serious cybersecurity protections, they will undoubtedly be targets for hackers in times of peace, and war. Hackers might try to bring down the networks entirely, snarling the worldwide logistics system and even endangering the ability of individual aircraft to get much-needed spare parts.

As aerospace engineer Will Collier explained to me several years ago, the F-35’s main strength is its sensor suite and networking capabilities. But that also introduces new vulnerabilities, as this report underscores.

SALENA ZITO: Yes, there’s a political realignment. Just look at the Republican wins — and losses — in Ohio.

In no state was the realignment in American politics more apparent in last week’s midterm elections than in the Buckeye State.

It’s not just that Republicans swept the statewide executive offices, most illustrative was where and how they did it.

Here in Mahoning County, where Democrats have held the political upper-hand for nearly a century, Republican candidates are now much more competitive. And some of those Republicans win.

Michael Rulli eked out a win in the state senate race in the 33rd District. Don Manning won a race in the 59th District. Two Republicans are going to Columbus representing the Mahoning Valley.

Meanwhile, in Franklin County, where Republicans have held the political upper-hand in the sprawling suburban county for decades, GOP candidates went down hard. Voters flipped three open state legislative seats from Republicans to Democrats. Mary Lightbody won the19th District, Dr. Beth Liston won the 21st District and Allison Russo won the 24th District.

All women, all in suburbs, all in districts Hillary Clinton won by 10 percentage points in 2016.

In short, the Mahoning Valley has shifted from blue to purple and Franklin County flipped from red to blue.

While everyone has focused on the nationwide wave, and they should, in the process they missed the realignment in real time in Ohio when one of the most Democratic counties in the state in Mahoning, weakened to being very competitive for Republicans, and one of the most Republican counties in the state in Franklin has flipped blue.

So if you lived in a suburb you rejected Trump through your vote against any Republican running for office, if you lived in a mixed area, where suburbs, exurbs, and blue-collar neighborhoods overlap each other, you voted more for Republicans.

Read the whole thing.

KABUKI: Pelosi unfazed as unhappy Dems claim votes to block her rise.

For two days now, disgruntled Democrats have claimed they have 17 names on a letter opposing Pelosi’s leadership, promising to air the document soon. They say those signing on are pledging to vote against the Californian when the full chamber elects the next speaker on Jan. 3.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., confirmed the letter Tuesday, and an aide to an organizer of the effort said it stood at 17 names as of Wednesday. The aide was not authorized to discuss the letter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pelosi, asked by a reporter about her message to rebellious colleagues, challenged them to put forward an alternate candidate for speaker.

“Come on in, the water’s warm,” she said.

Pelosi is one of the best vote-counters her party has ever produced. If she weren’t confident about the result, it seems likely she’d have found an excuse to step aside already.

NINA BOOKOUT: Ted Olson Is Wrong, It’s About Acosta’s Behavior NOT The First Amendment.

The press functions as a guild. It’s not defending the First Amendment — and it’s happy to flush your First Amendment rights — it’s defending guild privileges.

In the unlikely event Trump loses this suit, he should move the press room across the street to the New Executive Office Building. There’s no constitutional right to a place in the White House, though I suppose you could probably get Breyer and Sotomayor to hold otherwise. The modern-day White House press conference is just another bad idea dating back to Woodrow Wilson. Just remember what I keep saying about Trump — the Trump era is marked by the renegotiation of all sorts of post-war institutional arrangements. A wiser press corps wouldn’t be bringing their cushy setup up for renegotiation, especially over Acosta’s theatrics, which have nothing to do with journalism.

Related: James Freeman: Acosta Privilege: Does the First Amendment require the President to listen to a partisan and inaccurate lecture?

This is not an accurate rendering of what happened. A video recording of the event shows that after four reporters took their turns asking questions, the President called on Mr. Acosta, who made it clear that he would not simply be asking questions and seeking information as reporters do but intended to provide a rebuttal to recent comments made by the President. “I wanted to challenge you on one of the statements that you made in the tail end of the campaign—in the midterms,” said the CNN commentator.

Mr. Acosta mentioned Mr. Trump’s characterization of the immigrant caravan making its way through Mexico as an “invasion.” At this point Mr. Acosta did not ask a question but simply issued a declaration. “As you know Mr. President, the caravan was not an invasion. It’s a group of migrants moving up from Central America towards the border with the U.S.,” said the CNN correspondent.

So instead of simply serving as a reporter Mr. Acosta chose to offer commentary—and according to standard dictionaries he was wrong. The large group of immigrants had crossed illegally into Mexico and plainly intended to illegally enter the U.S.

Mr. Acosta may think that an invasion must include a military force but Mr. Trump’s use of the word is common. Merriam-Webster defines invade as “to enter for conquest or plunder,” but also “to encroach upon” or “infringe.” Other dictionaries have similar definitions, such as “to intrude” or “violate.”

Having wrongly asserted that the caravan could not be called an invasion and wrongly asserted that Mr. Trump knew he was saying something untrue, Mr. Acosta then asked why Mr. Trump had done so and if he had “demonized” immigrants. Yes, Mr. Acosta was now asking a question, but doing so while demanding that the President accept a false premise.

Mr. Acosta then interrupted the President as he tried to answer. Then Mr. Acosta editorialized again:

“Your campaign had an ad showing migrants climbing over walls and so on. But they’re not going to be doing that.”

Is Mr. Acosta now a spokesman for the caravan? After another interruption, Mr. Acosta insisted on continuing to talk after the President called on a reporter. Then Mr. Acosta fended off a White House intern as she attempted to retrieve the microphone to allow others to ask questions.

The First Amendment prevents the President or anyone else in the federal government from restricting the ability of citizens to report and publish. Does it also require the President to listen to ill-informed lectures for as long as the lecturers choose to speak? Obviously if everyone had the right to refuse to surrender the microphone at press conferences the result would be fewer members of the press corps having an opportunity to ask questions, not more.

But there’s something special about Mr. Acosta and about CNN, at least according to the lawsuit.

And we’re back to the guild thing again.

Plus: Bob Woodward criticizes CNN’s Acosta lawsuit, says media’s ’emotionally unhinged’ about Trump.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO LIE ABOUT ASSAULT: She Accused A Cop Of Sexual Battery. Here’s How Her Story Fell Apart.

ARBEIT MACHT FREI: US lawmakers aim to hold China accountable for Uyghur abuses.

As many as 1 million of the minority Muslim population have been forced by the Chinese government into “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang province. Former detainees say they were forced to endure intensive “brain washing” sessions including close study of Communist Party propaganda. The Chinese government has defended these camps as a means of fighting what they describe as a rising tide of extremism in Xinjiang.

“The United States must hold accountable officials in the Chinese government and Communist Party responsible for gross violations of human rights and possible crimes against humanity, including the internment in ‘political reeducation’ camps of as many as a million Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim minorities,” Rubio said in a statement.

The legislation urges President Donald Trump to condemn the abuses.

China has been making big infrastructure investments in the mineral-rich former Soviet (and largely Muslim) Central Asian republics bordering or nearby Xinjiang. I wonder how much more they can squeeze Xinjiang before poisoning their growing relations with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.

ALL THIS RUSSIA TALK HAS DISTRACTED FROM THE REAL THREAT: China Speeding Up Large-Scale Military Buildup: Commission warns PLA expansion undermines deterrence and increases risk of war.

THE PROPER NUMBER IS ZERO. THE ACTUAL NUMBER IS… How Many Non-Citizens Vote in U.S. Elections? “In spite of substantial public controversy, very little reliable data exists concerning the frequency with which non-citizen immigrants participate in United States elections. Although such participation is a violation of election laws in most parts of the United States, enforcement depends principally on disclosure of citizenship status at the time of voter registration. This study examines participation rates by non-citizens using a nationally representative sample that includes non-citizen immigrants. We find that some non-citizens participate in U.S. elections, and that this participation has been large enough to change meaningful election outcomes including Electoral College votes, and Congressional elections. Non-citizen votes likely gave Senate Democrats the pivotal 60th vote needed to overcome filibusters in order to pass health care reform and other Obama administration priorities in the 111th Congress.”

By any means fair or foul, as I’ve been repeating since late last Tuesday.

SPENGLER: France has neither nationalism nor patriotism. “Just 29% of the French are willing to fight for their country, according to a 2017 WIN/Gallup poll, a bit above Germany’s 18%. Contrast that to 84% of Israel’s Jewish population. That’s ‘patriotism’ or ‘nationalism,’ as you prefer. The Europeans know from neither. All they want is an untroubled journey to extinction.”

Needless to say, read the whole thing.

THIS IS JUST EMBARRASSING, SEVIER COUNTY: Assault by panic attack? Sevier County man stands trial after deputy opened fire, panicked. “In the first case of its kind in Tennessee, a Sevier County man will stand trial Wednesday on charges he caused a deputy’s panic attack – while he was unarmed and facedown on the ground several yards from the law enforcement officer.”

THEY SHOULD NAME IT AFTER NOTED ABOLITIONIST LAW PROFESSOR LYSANDER SPOONER: Dean Chemerinsky Recommends Removing Boalt Name From UC-Berkeley Law School.

But I’m just cynical enough to think that this is a ploy using PC sentiments to open things up to a naming opportunity with a big donor. . . .

NEW, FROM MY FRIEND LAURA MONTGOMERY:  Like a Continental Soldier.

The starship Valerie Hall failed to reach the terraformed world of its original destination. Instead, it found a habitable substitute where the settlers split into two factions. First Landing devolved into a rude replica of medieval despotism. Seccon might promise more.

Or so hope Gilead Tan and his companions.

Gilead spent three centuries in cold sleep, held there by a First Landing custom that decreed only one sleeper could be awakened every fifty years. Once awake, Gilead freed two dozen of his fellows—all soldiers like himself—and led them into the wilderness.

Close to two hundred civilians still lie trapped in the decaying cryo-cells of First Landing. Their captive slumber haunts him.

But despite its vaunted freedom, Seccon has one rule. No one goes back to First Landing.

THIS IS MY NAUSEATED FACE: ‘Woke’ Kimmel Lets Borat Sexualize Melania.