DEMOCRATS: Pressure Mounts on Sheldon Whitehouse To Resign in Shame Over Ties to Racist Beach Club.

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Audience Applauds as Colbert Says Fox News’ Peter Doocy Should Be Slapped.

Colbert played a clip of Doocy asking Biden to clarify his gaffes on his recent trip to Europe, when he suggested that the United States might use chemical weapons if Russia were to use chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Rather than applaud the fact that a member of the White House press corps challenged the country’s most senior elected official on an urgent question, Colbert suggested violence would be justified (transcript via NewsBusters, original emphasis):

COLBERT: Yesterday, President Biden held a press conference, and he was asked a ridiculous question by a ridiculous man: Fox News reporter and that one kid in high school who wears a suit to gym class, Peter Doocy. Jimmy, drop the deuce.

PETER DOOCY: When you said a chemical weapon used by Russia would trigger a response in kind?

BIDEN: It will trigger a significant response.

DOOCY: What does that mean?

BIDEN: I’m not going to tell you. Why would I tell you? You have got to be silly. (Laughter ) ( Applause )

COLBERT: Remember– ( applause ) Yes. Remember how on last night’s show I said that slapping is never, ever the answer? I’d like to file a one-time exception on behalf of the president of the United States. (Applause)

Smith apologized Monday for slapping Rock onstage after Rock told a joke about Smith’s wife’s hair, an altercation that shocked viewers around the world and for which the actor could still face serious legal and professional consequences.

For Colbert, clapter is the best medicine — the hard left bias of the network late night TV hosts are what the networks consider the best way to keep what’s left of a inexorably shrinking audience.

GOOD: Nanotherapy for micro-preemies protects lungs and brains in lab study.

FLORIDA GOP VOTER REGISTRATION EXPLODES: The Trickle-Down Genius of Ron DeSantis. “It isn’t all good news for the GOP. Some of it is bad news for Democrats.”

KINDA LATE THERE, JOE: White House launches COVID.gov website with access to tools, tests, other resources.

ONE HEARTBEAT AWAY: Kamala Harris tosses word salad after meeting Jamaican prime minister. “For Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way its impact has been the pandemic … we will assist Jamaica in COVID recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential.”

I hope you got all that. There will be a quiz later.

SELF-OWN: California Gov. Gavin Newsom Poses with To Kill a Mockingbird, Banned by District in Own State.

Aside from mockery online by those who were incredulous that he had not read most of the books already, since several are common in school curricula, some pointed out that Newsom was mocking other states despite California’s own examples of censorship.

To Kill a Mockingbird was recently banned, at least temporarily, by schools in Burbank, California, among other classic books, over concerns about “racism” and the use of racial slurs in the text. As Newsweek reported at the time:

Middle and high school English teachers in the Burbank Unified School District received the news during a virtual meeting on September 9.

Until further notice, teachers in the area will not be able to include on their curriculum Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Theodore Taylor’s The Cay and Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Four parents, three of whom are Black, challenged the classic novels for alleged potential harm to the district’s roughly 400 Black students.

Flashback: Atticus Finch: American literature’s most celebrated rape apologist.

BLUE ZONES AND SHORTAGES: Austin’s Bergstrom Airport Running Out Of Jet Fuel? “This seems like poor planning. . . . Bergstrom is run by the City of Austin, so it’s probably too much to expect the manifest incompetence that seems to plague all city governance not to show up there.”

“NOT PEDO-FRIENDLY” HAS BECOME TO MUCH TO ASK: Ketanji Jackson’s Record on Sentencing Child Porn Offenders Is Worse Than We Thought.

IMAGINE IF A REPUBLICAN DID THIS:

The title of this article was the first thing that came to mind when I learned of a new measure in Boston that was passed by the City Council this week and supported by Mayor Michelle Wu. Like many other Democratic mayors, Wu has imposed harsh vaccine restrictions and mask mandates lasting considerably longer than those in many red states. These decisions have led to sustained protests by mandate opponents, with gatherings regularly taking place right outside of Wu’s home in the upscale Roslindale neighborhood of Boston. Apparently, Mayor Wu felt either “threatened” or “harassed” by the protests so she worked with the City Council to pass new restrictions on when and where such protests could take place. While she is expected to sign it promptly and succeed in getting the measure put on the books, it turned out to be very controversial, even among some members of her own party who said that set a dangerous precedent of infringing on free speech. But at least she’ll get a peaceful night’s sleep, right?

Yet another leftist shocked when Saul Alinsky’s playbook gets run against a fellow leftist.

BRAD THOMPSON: An “F” for America’s Government Schools.

BIDEN FAR FROM ALONE ON GAFFE FRONT: Jeff Dunetz at The Lid helpfully provides a list of the Chief Executive’s numerous recent gaffes, but then goes the next step and also lays out those of other prominent Lefties across the country.

EVERY INSTITUTION HAS BEEN CORRUPTED:

IT WAS NEVER MORE THAN A DREAM: Democrats’ Dreams of Ousting Ron DeSantis Crushed by New Poll.

AT THIS POINT, EVERY “HATE” INCIDENT IS PRESUMPTIVELY A HOAX: Two black girls wrote ‘All [n-words] should die’ graffiti in latest hate-crime hoax.

MOURNING IN AMERICA: In U.S., Life Ratings Drop to 13-Month Low.

THIS IS ALL DESIGNED TO CHILL ANY EFFORTS BY THE DEPLORABLES TO ORGANIZE PROTESTS: DOJ expands Jan. 6 probe to look at rally prep, financing.

Only groups approved by the establishment are allowed to engage in disruption or, really, free speech of any kind.

CHANGE: Virginia Military Institute alumni launch full-scale assault against school’s DEI plans.

As the Virginia Military Institute continues to march toward the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion programming on campus, a battalion of its alumni have launched something of a blitzkrieg against those plans.

A large and vocal company of alumni, cadets, parents and friends of VMI recently started a petition calling on Virginia Attorney General Miyares to halt any and all “DEI initiatives until a full investigation is performed.”

Concerned VMI supporters have also taken to local media outlets, lambasting the plans. They’re also calling on newly elected Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who has already curbed DEI programming in public K-12 schools, to take the same tactic with higher education.

Higher education desperately needs some adult supervision.

GEORGE FRIEDMAN: Biden’s shambolic diplomacy “has created what once would have been considered impossible: an Israeli-Arab front confronting the Americans over their opening to Iran. Lean back and imagine how strange this is.”

THEY’RE GONNA PULL A TORRICELLI: Jeffrey Carter: Why are the Democrats torpedoing Biden?

CALIFORNIA WAS NEVER A SLAVE STATE: California Panel Approves Limits on Compensation For Slavery. “The panel agreed by a 5-4 vote that only those blacks whose ancestors were in the U.S. in the 19th century would be eligible for compensation. The panel rejected a motion to include all black people regardless of lineage.”

DEAL OF THE DAY: Carhartt Mens Loose Fit Heavyweight Short-sleeve Pocket T-shirt. #CommissionEarned

CHANGE: This university is shuttering its Office of Equity and Inclusion. “Having an office dedicated to common sense for a bunch of mature college students seems like a waste of resources to me.”

DEMOCRACY DIED IN DARKNESS: Washington Post authenticates laptop after dismissing ‘fake’ scandal in 2020.

HOW’S THAT ZERO-COVID STRATEGY WORKING OUT?

UPDATE: This robot dog barking Covid safety measures in the streets of China is the most dystopian thing I’ve seen all year.