UNEXPECTEDLY! Trump’s Trade War Comes With an Unexpected Bonus: More Trade.

HERE’S HOW THEY DECIDE WHO CAN SAY WHAT ON FACEBOOK: Blatant censorship of unpopular political speech is rampant on the world’s largest social media platform. In fact, it appears to be in Silicon Valley’s DNA. If you doubt that, read this. Then share it. Until they stop you.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Suspended MSU student sues college for gender bias in rape trial. “Michigan State University suspended a student accused of rape for two years. But the student has sued the university, claiming that the school violated his due process rights by using a lead investigator who used to serve as a sex crime prosecutor and denying him the chance to cross-examine his accuser. The former student’s case comes during the public comment period for proposed changes to Title IX aimed at aiding accused students.”

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FIND SOMEONE WHO LOVES YOU THE WAY JOURNALISTS LOVE THEMSELVES:

LOOKING TO MAKE A YEAR-END CHARITABLE DONATION? I recommend the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which has been fighting higher-ed totalitarianism for many years.

BE AFRAID: Bob McManus: ‘President Bloomberg’ could actually happen.

America’s perpetual presidential campaign is on the upswing, with Democratic national chairman Tom Perez wondering about how best to sort out an oversized candidate field that ranges from left to hard-left to even-harder left.

And then there is Mike Bloomberg.

The fellow formerly known as Mayor Mike has had big eyes for the Oval Office since forever but never quite could bring himself to — excuse the expression — pull the trigger.

This time, he’s 77, richer than Croesus, not at all bashful about spending his dough and clearly hearing the clock tick. There will be no next time.

So the question is whether America’s prepared to ditch full-fat donuts. Or, to paraphrase a reason he gave for not running last time, to see whether the country is ready to install a short Jewish man from New York in the White House.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that it is not. His New York address and identification with liberal causes have much more to do with it than his religion, though that’s a factor, too.

Then again, conventional wisdom couldn’t have been more wrong about another ­unlikely New Yorker two years ago: Donald Trump of Fifth Avenue, by way of Queens. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was inevitable — until she wasn’t.

Now the wise ones are suggesting that Trump is toast, which isn’t necessarily true, but the possibility is strong enough to attract an infantry platoon of folks happy to dance on Clinton’s (figurative, centrist) grave, most entering from stage left and most distinguishable from the others only at the margins.

Really. After the vaporware candidates — the likes of Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Beto O’Rourke of Texas or Cory Booker of New Jersey — are culled, what really differentiates former Vice President Joe Biden from Bernie Sanders of Vermont from Liz Warren of Massachusetts from Kamala Harris of California?

Rhetoric is all. They are from deep-blue states, they have virtually no executive experience — and they are poor as church mice.

Thus, the blue-state bit aside, Bloomberg is a singular presence: He is worth a breathtaking $51 billion going into the latest stock-market gyrations, and when it comes to spending on ­behalf of his perceived best interests, Scrooge he isn’t.

I remember when money in politics was bad. But I’m sure if Bloomberg gets the Democratic nomination, the papers will be filled with high-minded encomia to the principled independence that great wealth can bring.

POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL:

WELL, THEY WON’T HAVE JEFF FLAKE TO GUM UP THE WORKS ANYMORE: Philip Klein: Republicans should accelerate confirmation of judges in 2019.

Republican losses in the House have eliminated the possibility of advancing major legislation in 2019, but the party’s gains in the Senate have provided a rare opportunity to shape the judiciary with a wave of judges who believe in closely adhering to the U.S. Constitution. Republicans should not squander it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already had a lot of success on getting judges confirmed, ensuring it will be the most enduring part of his legacy. Following the death of Antonin Scalia in 2016, he kept a Supreme Court seat open until President Trump could fill it with Justice Neil Gorsuch. During the first two years of the Trump presidency, McConnell has taken good advantage of predecessor Harry Reid’s triggering of the “nuclear option” that eliminated the filibuster for judicial appointments and allowed confirmations with a simple majority.

Without the need for Democratic votes, in the first two years of the Trump presidency, the Senate has already confirmed 85 federal judges, and the pace has accelerated. In 2017, there were 19 judges confirmed, and in 2018, that number soared to 66. Republicans should try to crush that number in 2019.

Then retake the House in 2020 and pass a bunch of laws that the newly-reformed judiciary won’t strike down.

JOHN MCWHORTER ON “THIRD WAVE ANTI-RACISM:” The Virtue Signalers Won’t Change the World. I don’t think that changing the world — at least in terms of reducing or eliminating racism — is what they’re all about anyway.

I LIKE THIS ADVICE FROM NASSIM TALEB:

FROM SARAH A. HOYT: A SALE ON MY FIRST THREE EVER PUBLISHED BOOKS:

Ill Met by Moonlight is free to the end of the year

All Night Awake and Any Man so Daring are 99c a piece each, so you can own the entire trilogy for $1.98).  Warning, these are “literary fantasy” and rather different than most (except for some short stories) of the rest of my work.  Not illegitimate representations of it, as such, but things I only feel like doing once a decade or so.  I had originally planned two more books in this series.  They might even happen… one day.
If you like Shakespeare, however, you might enjoy it even as is.

The first was a Mythopoeic Award Finalist, a fairly rare honor for a first book.

SURE. BUT HOW HARD IS THAT:  Comic: Trump Fans More Tolerant Than College Kids.

WHAT? YOU’VE NOTICED NOW? Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’s Un-kosher Exploitation of Politically-charged Headlines.

CONSIDERING THAT IN THE METAPHORIC CENTER OF THE WESTERN WORLD THIS WAR STILL THROBS LIKE A MIGRAINE HEADACHE, AND THAT THE TRAILERS I’VE SEEN LOOKED MESMERIZING, YEAH, IT GET WHY TOO:  They Shall Not Grow Old a box office blowout – for good reason.

THAT WOULD BE AN IMPROVEMENT. IT’S BEEN IN THE S TRAP FOR A WHILE:  With David Hogg admission, Harvard circles the drain.

IT’S THE FACT IQ SCORES REALLY MEASURE  SCHOLARLY COMPETENCE, AND OUR SCHOOLS ARE DETERMINED TRAINING KIDS NOT TO THINK.  NO, I’M NOT JOKING. I HAD TO FIGHT THEM EVERY STEP OF THE WAY TO PRESERVE SONS’ ABILITY TO THINK. WE’RE GOING TO NEED MASS CULT DEPROGRAMMING TO SAVE WESTERN CIVILIZATION:  Western IQ scores are falling. Is it computers or something else?

HANGED, CUT DOWN WHILE STILL– WHAT? IT WOULDN’T BE UNUSUAL IF WE DID IT MORE OFTEN:  Beachy Shutdown for Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi.

YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE FAIR? FOR HIM TO BE HANGED CUT DOWN WHILE STILL LIVING, AND HIS ENTRAILS BURNED BEFORE HIS EYES WHILE LISTENING TO SOB-POETRY BY PROMINENT SF WRITER’S WIFE ON HOW UNJUST ALL THIS IS, THEN DRAWN AND QUARTERED POUR ENCOURAGER LES AUTRES.  WHAT? OKAY, SO THE POETRY MIGHT BE CRUEL:  Boston Marathon Bomber Appeals, Says Trial In Boston Was Unfair.

AND IT’S COME TO THIS:  France faces lawsuit for rescinding harsh carbon tax.

CONGRATULATIONS ON TERRORIZING A MINIMUM WAGE CLERK. FIRST CLASS: Cross-Dressing Man Goes Full Roid Rage after Being ‘Misgendered’ in GameStop.

A FRIEND COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK: “So the only people you’ve stopped from having guns are the ones who don’t commit crimes. Keep thinking. You’re ALMOST to a conclusion.” Police struggle to stop flood of firearms into UK.

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Organizers cancel Women’s March Jan. 19 due to ‘overwhelmingly white’ participants. I mean, who else gives a shit about this stuff?