AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME? Is this the start of Arab NATO plan?

On Oct. 31, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense had noted in a statement that land, naval and air forces, special forces and air defense forces from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan arrived in Egypt to take part in the military exercises alongside Egyptian troops. Lebanon and Morocco have joined the exercises as observers.

The statement said that the military exercises aim to “face common challenges and support efforts for security and stability in the region.”

Commenting on Arab Shield 1, Brig. Gen. Safwat al-Zayat, an Egyptian expert in military affairs, said that a state of anxiety prevails within the Arab region. He noted the escalating pace of military maneuvers among Arab countries or between them and countries outside the region.

Speaking to Al-Monitor over the phone, he said, “The Arab Shield 1 exercises come amid [Arab] fears of armed conflicts in the region. The situation in Yemen is deteriorating, the conflict in Syria is ongoing and the crisis in Libya is worsening.”

Arab armies don’t have a very good fighting history in the modern era, but maybe the seriousness of the current situation will force them to get serious about training, doctrine, maintenance, and individual initiative.

Maybe.

GOOD: F-35 Tests Out Tech that Keeps Pilots from Crashing Into the Ground. “Auto-GCAS saves lives, it’s been proven in the F-16 and the F-22. We’ve been able to be an advocate to the warfighter, and the F-35 enterprise as a whole, to get them to accelerate implementation of F-35 Auto-GCAS by about seven years.”

Given that this is proven technology and the importance of the F-35 to three service branches and to foreign allies, I’m surprised Auto-GCAS wasn’t baked in much earlier.

IT’S AS IF THAT WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG: Orange County’s Booming Foreign-Born Population Coincides with Democrat Electoral Sweep.

PRIORITIES: Palm Beach Went for Coloring Books, iPads Over Vote-Machine Upgrades.

The company behind the Palm Beach machines says official claims that they overheated are false. “The idea that this equipment is at fault is a mischaracterization,” Kay Stimson, vice president of government affairs for Dominion Voting Systems, told RealClearInvestigations. “There were no reports of overheating machines during the recount. We had engineers on the ground there, available 24/7, and they heard nothing from anyone at Palm Beach County.”

Three statewide races – for governor, U.S. senator and agriculture commissioner – were close enough to require a statewide recount this year. Because of vote-counting problems, Palm Beach election workers were forced to miss the Thursday deadline for recounting votes. A circuit judge extended the count to this Tuesday, although remaining doubts over the winners appeared to have been settled over the weekend.

The counting controversy in Palm Beach seems certain to endure, however.

Problems have occurred despite federal election security funding that the county has been given to keep voting systems running correctly — part of the millions doled out to states under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, or HAVA.

Records show Palm Beach County this year used its $909,000 share of HAVA funds to buy iPads for voters to check in at the polls. A 2009 audit of the county’s elections department found the agency improperly spent $48,000 in HAVA money on coloring books.

Sheesh.

I WANT TO BE LIKE FRANCIS: On this day in 1615, Francis Dane, later to become the Rev. Francis Dane, pastor of the North Parish Church in Andover, Massachusetts, was born. In 1658, he testified for the defense at a witchcraft trial, where he “judged against the probability”—a polite way to say that he though it was a warm pile of horse manure. The defendant was acquitted.

Later, in 1692, when the witchcraft panic in Salem sent shockwaves throughout New England, he spoke against it vociferously, warning that the people were guilty of blood for accepting these unfounded accusations against covenanted members of the church.  He led an effort to petition the governor to put a stop to it all.

Sounds easy, right? Just do the right thing. But it took steel body parts to speak out during the panic. It meant accusations of witchcraft would immediately be made against him and his family members. Being a man of the cloth was not enough to protect him. One minister had already been executed.

In short order, Dane himself, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and several granddaughters were all accused (though Dane himself was never charged). All survived. One escaped hanging only because she was pregnant.

How do I know about this obscure figure in American history? Ancestry.com told me that he was an ancestor of mine. Does it make me feel proud? You bet it does. Am I aware that it is completely ridiculous for me to feel proud of something in which I had no hand whatsoever just because it involves a 17th century ancestor of mine? Yes … I know that too.

TONI AIRAKSINEN: College Students Felt Depressed, ‘Rejected’ After 2016 Election.

I wonder how much of this “depression” is real, and how much of it is Generation Preen virtue-signaling for the pollsters.

LIES ARE ALL THEY’VE GOT: Activists, Democrats, and the Media Keep Smearing Betsy DeVos Over New Title IX Rules.

With an eye toward restoring a measure of fairness to adjudicating campus sexual misconduct, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced new standards for such procedures on Friday.

Some in the media seemed determine to misrepresent these changes, and are uncritically parroting claims from victims’ advocacy groups who think any attempt to reform Title IX—the federal statute that forbids sex discrimination—is an attack on sexual assault survivors.

The worst example is an article from Abbey Crain, whose article at Alabama.com makes several significant errors.

“Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ proposed changes for how schools handle Title IX cases would allow students accused of sexual assault to cross-examine their victim,” writes Crain.

This is simply untrue. The new rules specify that an accused student’s lawyer or support person must conduct the cross-examination.

“The rules would create a higher burden of proof for victims of sexual assault to prove a Title IX violation occurred,” Crain continues, “removing Obama-era regulations that required a ‘preponderance of the evidence.'”

This isn’t quite right either: Colleges may use a higher burden of proof than the preponderance of the evidence, but it’s not mandatory.

Crain then turns the article over to Madeline Anscombe, a victims’ rights activist who claims the changes would “limit ways students who are sexually assaulted could seek justice.”

But the new rules give students more options for seeking justice. The permit accusers who do not wish to undergo the full-court treatment to seek informal resolution, mediation, restorative justice, or any other option that satisfies both parties. “At any time prior to reaching a determination regarding responsibility the recipient may facilitate an informal resolution process, such as mediation, that does not involve a full investigation and adjudication,” the new rules state.

“Activists” aren’t about justice, or fairness.

JAMES ROBBINS: Acosta’s legacy: Kill the lights, shut off the cameras, reform White House press corps.

NO, IT WASN’T, AND THE SCIENCE FICTION COMMUNITY WAS ALL IN, TOO. I REMEMBER:  The 1970s Global Cooling Consensus was not a Myth.

IN GENERAL, NEVER TRUST PURVEYORS OF HEALTH FOOD. ENVIRONMENTALISTS, FAIR TRADERS AND ANIMAL-RIGHTS ACTIVISTS. THEY MIGHT HAVE OTHER PROBLEMS:  Orangutan extinction: blame Kellogg’s!!!

WHEN OCCLUDED CORTEX IS RIGHT, SHE’S RIGHT. THE DEMOCRATS ARE INDEED REVOLTING. THE MORE LEFTIST THE MORE REVOLTING THEY ARE:  Ocasio-Cortez pushes for a leftist revolt in the Democratic Party.

PRO TIP: ALWAYS CHECK WATER’S DEPTH BEFORE JUMPING IN:  Girl bounces off ice after jumping onto frozen lake in Russia.

SO WE CAN STOP WORRYING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE NOW?  If Earth keeps sucking up its oceans, the planet might explode, study warns.

THE TABLE IS ALWAYS SET AT THE VICTIMHOOD CANNIBAL FEAST:  Headline of the day.

CONGRATULATIONS, CHUCKIE! I GUESS FACEBOOK IS ALL IN THE FAMILY!  Chuck Schumer’s daughter weds in Brooklyn.

BUT WHEN DEMOCRATS DO, IT’S A MANDATE. HOW LONG WILL WE TOLERATE THIS?  When Republicans win close elections, the results are illegitimate.

WHEN YOU BELIEVE THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE AGAINST SOMEONE IS NOT IDEAS, EXPERIENCE, HISTORY, BUT ONLY THEIR SKIN COLOR, YOU’RE THE RACIST:  Andrew Gillum Concedes in Florida. But Racism!

LIKE THE AUGEAN STABLES NEEDED A LITTLE WASHING:  Brenda Snipes Resigns, But Broward County Needs A Clean Sweep.

YOU SEE, DEMOCRATS CAN’T LOSE. THAT’S AGAINST THE ARROW OF HISTORY. SO IT’S ALWAYS A NEFARIOUS PLOT:  Georgia Elections: “Deliberate Interference” And Nap Time.

GAMES INTERNATIONALISTS PLAY:  Hard Brexit Here We Come.

AT AMAZON, Shop Top Gift Ideas.

THINK OF THEM AS A LEFTIST SUPER-PAC AND YOU WON’T BE FAR WRONG: The ACLU Declines to Defend Civil Rights.

JOHN HAWKINS: 5 Reasons Americans Are Living Through a Sex Recession.

#BELIEVEALLWOMEN: Actress files for domestic violence restraining order against celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti.