THE VASSALIZATION OF RUSSIA CONTINUES APACE: The yuan’s the new dollar as Russia rides to the redback.

YES. The incoming House of Representatives should hold hearings on the destructive racialization of medical schools and medicine. “Medical School education is in crisis, with ‘social justice’ and race-focused activism being imposed on students, faculty, and staff.”

ONCE AGAIN WE HAVE A CLOSE RUNOFF IN GEORGIA THAT IS IMPORTANT TO SENATE CONTROL, AND THE GOP IS LETTING IT SLIDE: Gulp: Warnock’s war chest triple that of Walker’s. Is it because they know the fix is in, or because they don’t want to win?

CHINA: Video: ‘It’s unimaginable’ – Mainland students in Hong Kong share hopes and fears for China’s Covid demos.

Related: “Rule of Law” in Hong Kong? “Weeks after Hong Kong holds a conference and sends emissaries overseas to maintain that the city still has rule of law, Beijing will overturn the Court of ‘Final’ Appeal’s rejection of the government’s attempt to bar British lawyer Timothy Owen from defending Jimmy Lai. Officially, CE John Lee is ‘requesting’ the NPC Standing Committee to ‘interpret’ the NatSec Law. In practice, Beijing will redefine the wording and amend or expand the meaning of the law.”

From the comments:

In the midst of the anti-extradition protests in October 2019, I published a list of 16 community leaders with whom the Administration could meet if it wished to negotiate an end to the protests. Of course, Mrs. Lam sent in the police instead.

Here’s where the 16 community leaders are now:

In prison: 2
In jail awaiting trial: 3
On bail awaiting trial: 4
In exile: 4
Convicted with suspended sentence due to terminal illness: 1

Two have been allowed to escape the net:

Charles Mok, resigned from Legco IT functional constituency in 2020
Anson Chan, retired from public life

Talking about rule of law in Hong Kong is pointless. The sooner discussion moves on from that quaint notion, the better.

There’s a scene in Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age where a hapless character asks “don’t I have any rights?” Response from a policeman: “Don’t be an asshole, this is China!”

MEGAN FOX, FILLING IN ON KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: The Thanksgiving Hangover Edition. “All I want for Christmas is Jeffrey Epstein’s clients on trial. Is that too much to ask?”

IF YOU LOOK UP “RECKLESS DISREGARD” IN THE DICTIONARY, THERE’S PROBABLY A LISTING FOR THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW: Devin Nunes’ Libel Claim Over Rachel Maddow Broadcast Can Proceed.

WELL: Biden’s “disinformation czar” registers as foreign agent.

That’s nothing. Most of his administration should register as working for China.

AND ANOTHER ONE: Crypto lender BlockFi files for bankruptcy after FTX collapse. “BlockFi, which operates in a similar fashion to a conventional bank, paying interest on savings and using customer deposits to fund lending, says it has $256.9m cash in hand. According to court documents, its creditors include FTX itself, to which it owes $275m, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to which it owes $30m.”

IT’LL NEVER HAPPEN, THE FIX IS IN: Investigate! 62% want Hunter Biden probed.

Even under a Republican president I expect the FBI would drag its feet and run interference.

Related: Majority see FBI as Biden’s ‘personal Gestapo’ after Trump raid.

DEFENDING CHINA IS WHAT OUR ESTABLISHMENT DOES: WaPo’s Taylor Lorenz defends China’s zero-COVID policy while blaming US for killing ‘millions’ by reopening.

Speaking of: Apple hobbled a crucial tool of dissent in China weeks before widespread protests broke out.

REPUBLICANS HAVE BEEN PUSHING THIS FOR YEARS, AGAINST DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPPOSITION: Free the Birth Control Pill.

OK, GROOMER: NBC Reporterette Defends the Sexual Grooming of Children But Accuses Parents Opposed to it as the Real Sexual Predators.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Watch China launch Shenzhou 15 astronauts to Tiangong space station today. It’s scheduled for 10:08 ET this morning.

THE POLITICS OF BIG TECH: Elon Musk Says Apple Threatening To Yank Twitter From App Store.

BRUCE ROTTMAN: The Case for Bringing Back Neckties (and Classical Liberalism).

This doesn’t mean that some sort of return to an Edwardian, hierarchical society is desirable. But we do need a world in which we respect and emulate those who know more than us or are wiser than we are, or who practice amazing generosity, humility, or self-sacrifice. We need to honor traditions that have evolved, rather than chucking each of these into the dustbin of history.

As faiths and families have faltered, what we have is a society of atoms. With civility torn asunder, local autonomy usurped, traditions upended and genders deconstructed, we should not be surprised that we are divided and drifting as well, like flotsam and jetsam in the ocean.

Think about California, which has always been what the United States will be in a couple decades. This state helped pioneer today’s new world, a world of egalitarianism, relativism, identity politics, avocado toast, surfing, free love and flip flops. Of course, not all of these are bad (though I never caught on to either surfing or avocado toast). But what emerged from California—think Hollywood and Silicon Valley for starters—has some responsibility for the cultural drift in our country and the loss of “forms” in our modern era.

Colorado is very much a “wear your best jeans out to dinner” kind of state. But I’ve taught my sons that if the event involves a judge, a bride, or a casket, then put on a tie.

A LAWYER FRIEND WRITES: “I’ve got criminal clients with better excuses than Balenciaga.”

YALE LAW SCHOOL’S REVOLT OF THE ELITES:

But there was something strange about the spectacle of Dean Gerken denouncing as “profoundly flawed” a rankings system that identifies Yale itself as the #1 law school in the country—an evaluation with which, one would assume, she wholeheartedly agrees. The other quitters share rarefied air as well. . . .

While the boycott was framed as a bold, egalitarian blow on behalf of legal education writ large, the practical effect of responding to Dean Gerken’s criticism would be an increase in the already lofty standing of Yale and its elite compatriots. That’s what happens when the nation’s top universities reject a rankings system that was essentially reverse-engineered to replicate a status hierarchy that the schools themselves created, and continue to embrace. …

In critiquing U.S. News, Dean Gerken expressed particular ire about a provision that rates law schools based on the percentage of graduates who get jobs that require a Juris Doctor degree. Her concern is understandable. One of the odd things about Yale’s unassailable position as law school #1 is that it is famously uninterested in training people to become practicing attorneys. …

As legal commentator (and Yale Law grad) David Lat notes, some people have attributed more nefarious motives to Dean Gerken, claiming that the boycott is an attempt to preemptively delegitimize the rankings before Yale loses its decades-long chokehold on the top spot in the face of various controversies, dinner party–related and otherwise. That could be true.

I’m pretty sure it’s true.

THE OLD LEFT AT LEAST PRETENDED TO PROMOTE THE FIRST AMENDMENT: Ex-CIA Wonk Explains the Dangers of Free Speech

NEW YORK IS RUN BY A CABAL OF ITS ENEMIES: Next up fighting NYC crime wave? Preventing landlords from doing criminal background checks on prospective tenants.

I LINKED THIS BEFORE, BUT YOU KNOW, IT’S A GOOD SALE AND IT’S A HARD HOLIDAY FOR A LOT OF US THIS YEAR:  It’s a Cyber Monday Extravaganza.

Get some ebooks for close to nothing and escape our unpleasant reality for a little while.

HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR MEN are here.#CommissionEarned

OH, THAT’S EASY. DEMOCRATS NEED IT. SO ALL THEIR POWER AND THEIR ALLIES ARE DEPLOYED TO KEEP IT GOING:  What has kept election security reform from happening in many states?

IF IT DID, BRANDON WOULDN’T HAVE DONE IT:  Biden’s Chevron Oil Deal Won’t Benefit Americans.