SO THE ORIGINAL STORY WAS… FAKE NEWS? NPR has now amended their completely botched story about Don Jr’s testimony to the Senate in 2017.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): It’s playing badly.

Journos complain about Trump undermining trust in journalism. But the problem isn’t what Trump says about journalists, it’s what journalists do.

AND HERE YOU THOUGHT THE SCIENCE WAS SETTLED: Turns Out Mitochondria Don’t Work Like We Thought They Did.

PALEONTOLOGY: DNA shows ‘Siberian Unicorn’ roamed Earth with humans.

Researchers are learning more about the fuzzy rhinos called “Siberian unicorns” after DNA tests of fossils are providing insight into their extinction. Paleontologists say they were around much longer than originally thought, living until at least 39,000 years ago. This means the animals lived among humans.

They were previously thought to have gone extinct between 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Probably due to early SUV emissions.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MARK TWAIN: Alas, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been dropped from the curriculum at a number of schools. But here’s a fact that is somewhat less well-known these days: High-minded folks viewed Huckleberry Finn as objectionable from the beginning: The Concord Public Library condemned the book and took it off its shelves in 1885, shortly after it was published.

NO. Hot Cocoa-Flavored Beer From Wicked Weed Brewing Just Combined Your Favorite Drinks In One.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: How Long Does It Take to SHAT Out a LEGO?

GALLERY: Photos From The 2018 L.A. Auto Show.

AT AMAZON, Cyber Monday Deals Week Savings in Kitchen.

Plus, save on Stocking Stuffers.

JOURNALISM:

Plus, as Ben Rhodes noted, they literally know nothing:

RICK MORAN: Wanted: Pro-U.S. Military Dictators and Strongmen for Latin America. “Do you really think Somoza, Pinochet, Torrijos, or any other Latin American strongman in the old days would have allowed these caravans to form?”

MY TENNESSEE COLLEAGUE BEN BARTON HAS A CLASS WITH STUDENTS DOING THAT THIS SEMESTER: Joshua Browder Is Building You a Robot Lawyer: The Stanford-trained wunderkind would like to see robot lawyers replace humans, doing all manner of legal work for (virtually) free.

NOW OUT FROM KURT SCHLICHTER: A new Kelly Turnbull novel, Wildfire. I didn’t get an advance copy of this one, but I loved the two previous books, People’s Republic and Indian Country, and I expect this one will be just as good, or even better.

THEY’RE NOT, BUT THEY’D BE A BAD THING EVEN IF THEY WERE: What if Responsible Encryption Back-Doors Were Possible?

THANKS, OBAMA! Oil’s plunge propels gas prices toward lowest of this year.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Here we go:

THIS IS CERTAINLY WHAT THE AIR FORCE WANTS: ‘Space Force’ May Be Hobbled Before Liftoff: The Space Force could end up a part of the larger Air Force.

UGH: Ebola outbreak in east Congo now world’s second biggest.

EXPORTS: China Is So Desperate for Pork That It’s Buying American Again.

A disease sweeping through Chinese hog herds is helping negate the effects of the trade war for American farmers, with U.S. pork sales to the Asian nation back to levels before tariffs were introduced.

China was the third-largest buyer of pork in U.S. Department of Agriculture weekly data released Thursday. The 3,300 metric ton-purchase was the most since February, a month before China imposed tariffs on U.S. pork. Hog futures rose 4.4 percent in Chicago, the most in two weeks.

“This is a game changer,” said Dennis Smith, a senior account executive at Archer Financial Services Inc. “It gives confirmation that the disease is far worse than what we’ve been told.”

The real story here isn’t that we’ll be paying more for pork again, but that despite Beijing’s Great Power ambitions, they still have serious trouble with basic public health safety issues.

BAKER’S LAW: “You’ll never know how evil a technology can be until the engineers deploying it fear for their jobs.”

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: Ryan casts doubt on ‘bizarre’ California election results.

The California election system “just defies logic to me,” Ryan said during a Washington Post event.

“We were only down 26 seats the night of the election and three weeks later, we lost basically every California race. This election system they have — I can’t begin to understand what ‘ballot harvesting’ is.”

It was a remarkable comment from the retiring Speaker of the House, who until now had not joined President Trump and other Republicans who have complained about what they believed were election irregularities in places like Florida and California.

After this story was published, Ryan campaign spokesman Jeremy Adler said in a statement: “The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results” of the election.

California does have a more liberal policy when it comes to counting ballots. The Golden State allows absentee ballots to be counted if they are mailed by Election Day and arrive at the registrar by the Friday after the election. That’s why results in a handful of close California House races were not called until days, or weeks, after Nov. 6.

Joseph Stalin smiles.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Top Five Media Lies on the Migrant Caravan.

HEADLINES FROM 2001-2018 INCLUSIVE: The Fed Has Become Increasingly Dependent on Easy-Money Policy.

TONI AIRAKSINEN: UT Prof Punished for Calling Police on Rude, Disruptive Student. “The student was “rude and disruptive on many occasions’.”

IT’S SATIRE, BUT ONLY JUST BARELY: Feminists justifiably angry at gay men for not being attracted to females: A cultural push for female acceptance within the gay male community. “Men don’t understand how hard we women work to feel beautiful. We shouldn’t have to. We should be able to eat what we want, when we want it not feel pressured to work out or take care of ourselves. I haven’t showered in four weeks and I’ve had Hardee’s four times a week for a month. Men should find us beautiful but gay men simply don’t. It’s sexism to the highest degree.”

DEEP STATE: Corker, Menendez Push Effort to ‘Neuter’ Trump’s Broadcasting Chief. “Outgoing Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) is teeing up another parting shot to President Trump by facilitating an effort to undermine his choice to lead the nation’s taxpayer-funded global broadcasting operation, according to several GOP sources.”