ACOSTA: When The BBC Is Calling You Out.

I’m pretty sure Acosta never intended to “mistouch” the young female intern. He was just trying to hold on to the mic. . . .

But make no mistake. The media also does well when they are baiting the bear. The urge to poke can sometimes seem irresistible.

So let’s take a step back. What happened in that room was not the ultimate fight for press freedom. This wasn’t someone risking life and limb against a regime where freedom of speech is forbidden. This was a bloke sitting in a room full of colleagues who were all trying to ask questions too.

This was a man who’d had his turn and had been told he couldn’t hog the whole time.

I’ve been in high-pressure press conferences. And the art is to ask the single most succinct question that will land you the best possible response.

The achievement is not meant to be one of endurance.

There are plenty of things to berate in the behaviour, language or ethics of Donald Trump. But this moment was not one of them. Pull him up for his lies, yes. But not for wanting to widen the conversation.

The president took CNN’s question and then took more. And when he tried to move on, he couldn’t. Once the Acosta incident was over, he went on to take questions from journalists from all over the world – for a total of 90 minutes.

And then he got castigated for freezing out the press.

UPDATE: Roger Kimball: “I have at times wondered whether Jim Acosta pays the president a retainer for making him such a recognizable figure.”

ONE FOR THE LADIES: David Thompson brings  “saucy celebrity news, which we don’t often cover. The catch is, it’s from the Guardian…”

SO IF, IN THEIR JUDGMENT, BILL NELSON IS RE-ELECTED VIA FRAUDULENT BROWARD BALLOTS, THE SENATE SHOULD REFUSE TO SEAT HIM. Under the Constitution, it is the sole judge of returns.

WTF? Marc Caputo shares more evidence of Broward County ballot shenanigans and it’s ‘suspicious as sh*t.’

WE NEED MORE ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT: How AT&T Fooled The Federal Judiciary: The telecom giant promised it wouldn’t use its merger with Time Warner to hurt consumers. But now it is doing precisely that. Reversing the Bell System breakup was one of the Bush Administration’s poorer ideas.

JIM TREACHER: Angry Mob Targets Tucker Carlson’s Private Residence.

Read the whole thing.

NUMBER ONE SHOULD NOT SURPRISE YOU: 10 of America’s Most Overrated Tourist Destinations.

THE MEDIA’S BLATANT HYPOCRISY IN DEFENDING JIM ACOSTA.

S.M. STIRLING ON writing the Change series.

THEIR MEMORY IMPROVED BUT THEY DIDN’T FEEL LIKE DOING MUCH: Active Ingredient In Marijuana Reduced Alzheimer’s-Like Effects In Mice.

DAMN RIGHT WE DO: Study Claims Men Who Play Video Games Perpetuate ‘Technomasculinity.’

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Holsterpallooza: 30 Great EDC Holsters for Your CCW Pistol.

AT AMAZON: Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals.

Plus, Shop Amazon Warehouse Deals – Deep Discounts on Open-box and Used Products.

NICE: Trump Honors Victims of Communism.

WELL, I GUESS WE CAN RULE OUT FLYING THERE: How a Tiny Flightless Bird Got to an Island in The Middle of The Atlantic.

TOM MAGUIRE: California passed a Gun Violence Restraining Order law in 2014, didn’t use it with this shooter.

WINNING: U.S. crude output at new record with oil at lowest price since March.

I had been assured by the smartest President ever that we couldn’t drill our way to lower energy prices.

ANNALS OF TRUMP HATRED: Bangladeshi immigrant convicted of terrorism charges in NYC subway bombing. “I was angry with Donald Trump because he says he will bomb the Middle East and then he will protect his nation.”

ANALYSIS: TRUE. Democrats Aren’t Losing Faith In Our Constitutional System. They Just Don’t Like It.

David Harsanyi:

Why would Democrats lose faith in a “system” that is doing exactly what was intended? The Constitution explicitly protects small states (and individuals) from national majorities. The argument for diffusing democracy and checking a strong federal government is laid out in The Federalist Papers and codified on an array of levels. This was done on purpose. It is the system.

I mean, do Democrats really believe the Electoral College was constructed to always correspond with the national vote? Do they believe that the signers of the Constitution were unaware that some states would be far bigger than others in the future? If the Founders didn’t want Virginia to dictate how people in Delaware lived in 1787, why would they want California to dictate how people in Wyoming live in 2018? If you don’t believe this kind of proportionality is a vital part of American governance, you don’t believe in American governance.

You can despise Brett Kavanaugh all you like, but why would Democrats lose faith in “the system” that saw Republicans follow directions laid out in the Constitution for confirming a Supreme Court nominee? Why would Democrats lose faith in “the system” that elected Donald Trump using the same Electoral College that every other president used? Why would they lose faith in a system that houses a Supreme Court that stops the other branches from banning political speech? When the Supreme Court affirmed the election of George W. Bush, it turned out to be the right call.

It’s because they see the system as a way to achieve partisan goals, not as a set of politically neutral idealistic values.

“Partisan goals” is I think David’s nice way of saying “raw political power.”

THEY AREN’T THE ONLY ONES: Cannabis Industry Cheers Sessions’ Departure at DOJ.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: High blood pressure among young adults linked to earlier strokes.

IS IT REALLY THAT EASY? Iran’s ‘Ghost Ships’ Evade Oil Sanctions By Turning Off Trackers.

THREATS: China’s New Upgrade Makes Its Fighter Jets Wildly Maneuverable.

LEARN TO LOVE THE CONSTITUTION AND ADOPT NEW, LIBERTY-MINDED POLICIES? Progressives’ plan for victory just took a gut-punch. Now what do they do?

Despite a good night for congressional Democrats overall, nearly all of national progressive groups’ star candidates fell short in their contests in red or purple districts and states, potentially slowing the momentum the emboldened left had enjoyed since Hillary Clinton’s loss two years ago.

“Progressives have to really do some hard thinking about the shape of the movement looking at 2020 and beyond,” said progressive strategist Jonathan Tasini, adding that while the left had successes in some local races, they struggled in statewide contests.

“The failure, for example, of the Ben Jealous campaign in a very Democratic state says both that sticking a simple ‘progressive’ branding on a candidate’s campaign may sustain a small cult, but that isn’t enough to win enough elections.”

You don’t say.

GEORGE KORDA: Phil Bredesen knew – in advance, and why – for whom the bell tolled.

Phil Bredesen knew what was coming, and said so before the bell tolled.

In an interview with MSNBC two days before the Nov. 6 mid-term election, the former Tennessee Democratic governor said, “If I lose, I think it will be because the national Democratic brand is a problem in general for me, and it will be because I haven’t succeeded in making the case I’m different enough from that to be considered.”

Candidates who know they have a good chance to win don’t concede two days in advance that they might well lose, and why.

Internal campaign polling must have shown Bredesen that he would lose to U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn. A pragmatic and gifted problem-solver with a lifetime of achievement, Bredesen might well privately lament having accepted the siren song of national Democrats who encouraged him to run.

Bredesen after two terms left the governor’s office in 2011 as the sole Democrat since 1994 to win statewide office. He probably had two objectives in stating his pre-election gloom: save face and send a message to Tennessee Democrats: the national party’s ever-sharper left turn has driven us into a ditch. A deep ditch.

Yep.