TURNING TABLES: Rwanda intends to investigate French involvement in the 1994 genocide.

ISLAMIC STATE CLAIMS OHIO STATE TERRORIST WAS “A SOLDIER”: He probably had no direct contact with ISIS. His deluded mind obviously had direct contact with militant Islamist ideology.

The claim issued by Amaq news agency makes no suggestion that the assailant, Abdul Razak Artan, had been in direct contact with the group or was formally affiliated with the organization, according to a transcript of the report provided by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors radical organizations.

Amaq is the Islamic State’s propaganda arm.

RECOUNT?: Just more of Hillary’s hubris inflicted on America.

CANADA’S OBAMA GETS CUBAN COLD FEET: Justin Trudeau is now a laughing stock. And deservedly so. Obama is also a laughing stock but the mainstream media lacks the brains to laugh. Anyway, ole Justin’s skipping Fidel’s funeral ’cause “warm comments about the late Cuban leader sparked a backlash.”

More:

Opposition Conservatives have seized on the Castro controversy as a political misstep that could cut into the popularity the prime minister has enjoyed among voters since his surprise majority election in October 2015.

Attention Canada: You need to get this fool out of office ASAP.

CONGRESSMAN ISSA RE-ELECTED: He won it on a long count, by 2,348 votes. More here.

WHEN YOU SEE THE POST-ELECTION ANTI-TRUMP VIOLENCE REMEMBER THE PRE-ELECTION VIOLENCE INCITED BY DEMOCRAT PARTY OPERATIVE ROBERT CREAMER.

HARVESTING SAFFRON IN AFGHANISTAN: Alas, when it’s saffron versus opium poppies, opium poppies still win.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, selling for as much as $1,200-$1,800 a kilogram, and has long been seen as an alternative crop to opium poppies for poor farmers in a country struggling with the legacy of decades of war and lawlessness.

So far, it has had little impact on the opium trade which the United Nations estimates is worth some $3 billion a year in Afghanistan, source of most of the world’s opium, from which heroin is produced.

MARINES TESTING A BATTALION ARMED WITH SILENCER-EQUIPPED WEAPONS: During the tests every “element” of 1st Battalion 2nd Marines will utilize silencer-equipped weapons, from M-4s to .50 caliber heavy machine guns.

They’ve already done some experimentation.

“What we’ve found so far is it revolutionizes the way we fight,” Love told Military.com. “It used to be a squad would be dispersed out over maybe 100 yards, so the squad leader couldn’t really communicate with the members at the far end because of all the noise of the weapons. Now they can actually just communicate, and be able to command and control and effectively direct those fires.”

More:

Suppressors work by slowing the escape of propellant gases when a gun is fired, which drastically reduces the sound signature. Used by scout snipers and special operations troops to preserve their stealth, the devices are also valuable for their ability to minimize the chaos of battle, enabling not only better communication but also improved situational awareness and accuracy.

Good. FWIW I recall a couple of late night discussions in the 1970s –lieutenants and captains ruminating while sipping beverages– where arming infantry companies and battalions with silenced weapons was a subject of professional speculation.

CONRAD BLACK: Vanquished leftist press “Fails To Comprehend Its Defeat by Trump.”

Black dissects left-wing adulatory hallelujahs for Obama, especially from The New Yorker’s David Remnick. “The mountain of Mr. Remnick’s adulation (for Obama) gives birth to a tiny, squeaking mouse.” Heh.

Black argues Remnick is representative of his left-media pals –and that clan missed Trump completely.

More:

His explanation of Mr. Trump’s success, the tedious screed about Trump the psychotic, extremist dumbbell, is just a jangling echo of the Democratic campaign: a coast-to-coast, wall-to-wall smear job in the absence of any argument for the reelection of the Democrats. It would have been no less fair for the Republicans to have tied Mr. Obama hand-and-foot to Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright.

Mr. Trump won because the United States has had the 15 worst years of misgovernment by all branches and both parties, and the only period of absolute and relative decline, in its history. The new president will have a clear mandate for reform of taxes, spending, health care, immigration, and campaign financing; for a workfare program to address decrepit infrastructure; and for a redefinition of the national interest between George W. Bush’s mindless interventionism andMr. Obama’s Panglossian crusade to make friends of America’s enemies.

Donald Trump is the oldest and wealthiest person elected president, the first not to have had a public office or high military command, the first to pay for his own campaign, and the first since Washington to waive his salary. He has defeated the Clintons, the Bushes, the Obamas, and almost all the dishonest, myth-making national press (including David Remnick). The national political press has declined even more precipitously than the political class, and the president-elect was elevated despite the animosity of both, a signal achievement whose significance those who have been vanquished show no signs of grasping.

Read the whole thing,

STEVE BANNON ON POLITICS AS WAR: Kimberley Strassel in the Wall St. Journal interviews Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Fascinating read. (Warning: I got the link via google and it went around the paywall. Others may not be so lucky.)

Mr. Bannon’s role in the Trump campaign was never made clear, though fellow adviser Kellyanne Conway called him the campaign’s “general” and a “brilliant tactician.” Mr. Bannon describes a close alliance of himself, Ms. Conway and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who developed a very “tight strategy” that relied on targeted speeches, rallies and social media. They envisioned two possible paths to the White House: one that hinged on Nevada and New Hampshire; the other that “leveraged Ohio” and rolled up Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. By the last week they saw the latter plan coming together.

The claim that the Trump campaign was chaotic in the final months is wrong, Mr. Bannon says. It benefited from “excellent data” furnished by the Republican National Committee and an operation in San Antonio set up by Mr. Kushner. The campaign was looking closely at “rural communities and the hinterlands that held a lot of votes,” which the Clinton campaign had “basically ceded” to Republicans. Mrs. Clinton also made the mistake of trying to “close the deal on a coalition” (minorities, millennials) that “she’d never closed on before.”

Mrs. Clinton aside, the reason Mr. Trump won, he says, “is not all that complicated. The data was overwhelming: This is a change election. People weren’t happy with the direction of the country. So all you had to do was to give people permission to vote for Donald Trump as an agent of change, make sure he articulated that message.” That, and paint Mrs. Clinton as “the guardian of a corrupt and incompetent elite and status quo.” Mr. Bannon believes Mr. Trump to be uniquely suited to make the case, as “one of the best political orators in American history, rated with William Jennings Bryan.”

Additional thought: “Mr. Trump “knows how to mix and match, get the best out of people, and I think it says something about what a historic figure he could be.”

If you can get past the paywall, read the whole thing.

DEBRA SAUNDERS: She pulls no punches in this essay: “‘Sanctuary’ means career criminals can run and hide.”

Donald Trump understood something that many Washington insiders missed. Many Americans and some naturalized citizens bristle at elected officials constantly defending the rights of non-Americans to migrate here illegally — and to be rewarded for breaking the law with a path to citizenship. Toward that end, and in deference to his campaign promises, Trump seems primed to deport undocumented immigrants and withhold some federal funds from sanctuary cities like San Francisco.

Trump has dispensed with some of his magical thinking. For example, Trump has ditched his one-time (but impossible to fulfill) promise to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Now he says he would focus on 2 million or more undocumented immigrants with criminal histories. That is, his focus now is on mainstream ideas that the news media can brand as extreme only at the peril of their credibility.

Yes, he’s setting a trap.

More:

There is also a principle involved here. “As a lawyer for 60 years and a judge for 10,” Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp recently told me, “I’m a believer in the law. That’s why I don’t understand accepting, much less rewarding, disregard of the law.” That’s a pretty basic belief.

Ouch. Remember, Deb Saunders writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. She’s witnessed sanctuary city hell first hand. Read the entire essay.

PITIFUL CAST OF “HAMILTON” CONTINUES TO RECEIVE INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH LESSON IN GENUINE SOCIAL JUSTICE: The Donald fired off another twitter blast this morning. The Broadway show’s leftist poseurs virtue signaled by verbally attacking an audience member — Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Poor little poseurs. Now Trump is sending a signal. While he’s president lefty moral preening and posturing will be mocked and attacked. Stay tuned.

NOTE: The Examiner article says George Will writes for the NY Times. Nope, the Peter Pan Republican writes for the WaPo. It’ll probably be corrected, but the mistake is understandable. “At this point, what difference does it make?”

NEWS UPDATE FROM NEVERLAND: Early critics doing 180s. I called them Peter Pan Republicans, living in NeverLand. That essay drew several memorable sneers. Fewer sneers now, I suspect.

ISLAMIC STATE CHEMICAL WARFARE IN IRAQ AND SYRIA: This is an AFP report. Here’s the allegation: The “…Islamic State group may have manufactured sulphur mustard gas used in attacks in Syria and Iraq.”

More:

Samples analysed by experts with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons “suggest that this substance may have been produced by ISIS itself,” the body’s director general Ahmet Uzumcu said, adding it was of “poor quality but still harmful” and the development was “extremely worrying”.

Mustard really isn’t a gas– it’s a blister agent. Ugly stuff.

RADIO FREE EUROPE: Another Balkan intrigue. A coup to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO? That’s what Montenegrin prosecutors allege. Two Russians organized it.

Prosecutors on November 18 identified the two Russians as Eduard Shirokov and Vladimir Popov and accused them of organizing a criminal group with the aim of murdering Djukanovic and inciting a coup in order to prevent the country from joining NATO.

Read the entire article. It’s short. Note Montenegro’s pro-Russian opposition says the charges are fabricated.

STATE DEPT ‘NOW IN CONTACT’ WITH TRUMP’S TEAM: This is good news. For eight years The State Dept’s senior leadership has been out of contact with reality and with the rule of law. The State Dept is another swamp in desperate need of draining.

ISLAMIC STATE ATTACK ON ISRAELI SOCCER TEAM FOILED: The attack was to occur in Kosovo.

Simultaneous attacks by ISIS have been foiled — including one targeting the Israeli national soccer team, police in Kosovo said. According to a statement issued Thursday, 18 people were arrested in Kosovo and six more across both Albania and Macedonia. Police said explosive devices, weapons, electronic equipment and a drone were recovered.

CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS MULL GETTING RID OF OBAMACARE BEFORE INAUGURATION:

The plan could entail using a budgetary tool known as reconciliation, which allows legislation to pass the Senate with just 51 votes instead of the typical 60 votes.

Great idea. Do it.

NOW REMEMBER TWO WEEKS AGO THE SMART GUYS WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW PRESIDENT HILLARY COULD PARDON HERSELF: I linked to this Fox News report yesterday but it’s worth a bump. The Democrat propagandists are pleading for comity and healing, which translates as let her get away with it. Sorry. Hillary and her gang committed felonies. This NRO article from July by Andrew McCarthy discusses non-Hillary prosecutions. McCarthy focuses on military personnel confronting allegations similar to those leveled against Hillary. Her crimes, his words. They were the choice in the election. And elections have consequences.

YOU HEARD IT HERE ON INSTAPUNDIT, FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE NEXT SENATE’S HARRY REID MEMORIAL RESOLUTION: Dirty Harry is telling Trump to fire Steve Bannon. It’s Alinskyite “personalize the attack” tactics of the worst sort. Now listen to me. It’s high time dirt bags like Reid suffered the same Alinsky assault, in a permanent, burned in the Congressional Record sort of way. When the Senate sets its filibuster rules in 2017, the resolution defining the rules should be named “The Ole Divisive Dirt Bag Harry Reid Senate Civility, Comity and Supreme Court Filibuster Rules and Nuke’im Back Resolution.” The resolution’s title is long but the resolution itself is comparatively short. My suggested language: “No filibuster allowed on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees or, for that matter, any Trump nominees. And –to make sure you distinguished gentle colleagues on the Dem side of the aisle fully comprehend how disgusted we are with the despicable way you treated us and damaged this body when you jerks were in the majority– we will permit no filibusters on any bill or resolution. You were dishonorable, arrogant, crude and rude while in the majority — so, yo’ face. If you Dems wish to object to this resolution, snail mail your complaints to: Dirt Bag Harry, The Man Who Nuked The Filibuster In Order To Advance Obama’s Agenda, c/o Mustang Ranch, Nevada. You may cc Charles Schumer, Senate Minority Leader, Washington, DC. Of course you can always carp to The New York Times but that will get you precisely zero.” This is just my suggested language and who am I to suggest language to the august US Senate? So Mitch, if you can craft something sharper, please do so.

CONGRESSIONAL PROBES INTO HILLARY’S CRIMES WILL CONTINUE: Most excellent.

At least four congressional investigations into Hillary Clinton’s personal email use and mishandling of classified information are expected to go forward even after the former secretary of state’s election loss last week, Republican lawmakers tell Fox News. The probes, which cover allegations that Clinton lied to Congress about her email practices in October 2015 and that government records were destroyed, are ongoing and not dependent on the election’s outcome, two senior Republican senators said. “I still don’t have the information I need,” Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told Fox News. Johnson said the work of his committee, with jurisdiction over government records and the mishandling of classified information, would be careful not to disrupt President-elect Donald Trump’s priorities.

Hey. The basic choice in this election. Her crimes. his words.

OBAMA SAYS REPEALING OBAMACARE IS THE GOP’S HOLY GRAIL, AN ARTICLE OF FAITH: Such snitty and condescending phrasing, Barack, especially from a fellow who will go down as one of America’s most incompetent and politically-tone deaf presidents. Look Barack, elections have consequences, Barack…Oh wait…I believe you said that, didn’t you, sir?…How ironic. In retrospect brutally ironic. You will hear that phrase often, sir, as well as “get in their faces and punch back twice as hard.” You said something like that as well…OK, in your face…Get this: Of course the Republicans will repeal ObamaCare, and they darn well should. ObamaCare’s chickens have come home to roost.

SOUTH KOREA’S PRESIDENT PARK GUEN-HYE ON THE BRINK: This scandal –now called the Choi Scandal–involves inner-circle corruption and the mishandling of classified information. Influence peddling and classified information compromise have a certain resonance with ole Hillary’s antics, don’t they? Pressure is building on President Park to resign. She’s resisting it. The pressure, however, appears to be across the board.

Many among the protesters said it was their first time out in the streets protesting…“I never expected to see a president who blatantly violated Constitution as Park did. I want her out of office immediately. She does not deserve the power she now exercises.”

This isn’t a Soros-funded fake protest. Stay tuned.

HILLARY CONTINUES TO BLAME THE FBI LETTERS, AS SHE CALLS THEM: She’s the crook who committed the damn crimes. In July FBI Director James Comey bent the law on her behalf. Comey should never have made any recommendation regarding prosecution. Attorney General Loretta Lynch should have had to wear that burning necklace, but Comey gave her cover. Hillary ought to be blaming Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin and her own criminal self. But that would require honesty, a character trait she demonstrably lacks.

MICHAEL LEDEEN ASSESSES TRUMP’S VICTORY: His commentary also includes a history lesson on nationalism.