WAIT, I’VE SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE: WHO asks China for more data on respiratory illnesses outbreak.

SKYNET BUILDS: Autonomous excavator creates 3D map of rocks to build 19-foot-tall wall.

RAPE IS ONLY BAD WHEN COMMITTED BY WHITE FRATERNITY GUYS IN AMERICA: More Hamas Atrocities Documented, Strongly Supported By Palestinians and Ignored By Western Feminists. “Survey by Palestinian polling firm shows 75% support for October 7 massacre. Defeating Hamas is just the first step if there ever is to be peace. Palestinian society is going to have to change, much like German and Japanese societies changed after their defeat.”

And frankly, our own society needs its own version of deNazification.

FIRST STUDY OF POST-DOBBS RESULTS ON BIRTH RATES: They’re going up. “Births increased in every state with a ban, an analysis of the data shows. By comparing birth statistics in states before and after the bans passed, researchers estimated that the laws caused around 32,000 annual births, based on the first six months of 2023, a relatively small increase that was in line with overall expectations.” Naturally, this is terrible.

FOLLOW THE SCIENCE: Why Research Fraud Is Getting Worse: Until we disincentivize number-fudging, academic scientists will continue to cheat.

THEY’RE NOT UNUSUAL: Ohio State University prioritized DEI over merit in hiring, documents show.

IF YOU DID THAT WITH MOHAMMED YOU’D BE UNEMPLOYABLE ANYWHERE: Prof at public college assigned students ‘The Baby Jesus Butt Plug’ as mandatory reading.

Compare: USC professor banished from campus after anti-Hamas comments go viral.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I’m thankful for all of you.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Trump lead widens to 47%-43%.

I hope his security is good.

UPDATE: Trump poll lead expands with Biden losing black, Hispanic support. What have they got to lose?

BUT PENN IS TRYING TO FIRE AMY WAX FOR INSENSITIVITY: This Islamic Scholar Railed Against Gays. An Anti-Israel Student Group Invited Him to UPenn’s Campus. ‘Prepare to be inspired,’ UPenn’s Muslim Students Association said when announcing Yasir Fahmy as a speaker.

ADVICE TO THE PEOPLE RUNNING MANY OF AMERICA’S INSTITUTIONS: Your Decision To Cave To Internet Weirdos And/Or Your Youngest And Most Annoying Staffers Is Unlikely To Age Well.

Last night I got drinks with a friend, let’s call him “Jon,” who is pretty well-connected in politics. He’s had a successful career working for a bunch of politicians, several of whom you have heard of. That’s why, in addition to being a very good guy, he is a fun person to get drinks with. These folks always have stories.

Jon and I both felt, circa 2016, that the whole “man, these college students sure are crazy” thing was overblown. Seven years or so later, there we were, catching up and shaking our heads at just how wrong we’d been. The craziness absolutely spread into liberal institutions and caused countless meltdowns, as documented most comprehensively by Ryan Grim in The Intercept. From 2016 or so on, Jon saw things get worse and worse in progressive politics, and I saw things get worse and worse in mainstream (that is, progressive) journalism, and the similarities. . . weren’t subtle.

My friend told me that some politicians (including, again, ones you’ve heard of) are now “extremely frustrated and sick of their mostly younger and more radical staffers feeling entitled to dictate the terms of their policy positions and then slam them on social media if they didn’t capitulate,” as he summed things up in a follow-up text message. These politicians are being less and less shy about expressing their views about these staffers in various ways. This, he thinks, is a sign of a pendulum swinging back toward relative normalcy after a period of major fervor.

But in some places, the pendulum isn’t quite there yet.

We tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen.

TRUTHSGIVING: This Thanksgiving, Let’s Put Some ‘Truthsgiving’ on ‘Decolonization.’

Conquest without morality was the rule of all peoples and nations until a couple of hundred years ago. Only in the very recent past has morality become a major consideration in warfare.

And the people most responsible for adding moral considerations to the law of conquest were… Europeans.

People pushing the Victim Narrative pretend that their ancestors were morally superior to their conquerors. In fact, they were not. Their ancestors conquered everyone they could conquer. The Commanche Empire conquered other Indian tribes, which is why Indian tribes allied with American government to fight the Commanches.

Slavery and genocide were pretty much universal until recently. To the extent that they’re not anymore, it’s because of the efforts of Europeans.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Black Friday: US retailers prospects look gloomy in a forgettable year: Consumers remain choosy and discounts are expected to hit record highs.

Investors in America’s retail sector would probably prefer to forget 2023. The S&P Retail Select Industry Index has climbed about 5 per cent, less than a third of the S&P 500’s gain. The industry trades on just 12 times forward earnings, well below the five-year average of 17 times.

Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving — traditionally is America’s biggest shopping day of the year. But this time it will not provide much of a boost.

People are skint.

OPEN THREAD: Happy Turkey Eve.

THE NEW SPACE RACE (CONT’D): NASA acknowledges possibility of short-term post-ISS gap.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: New Evidence: Chinese Rocket And Secret Payload Caused Double Crater on The Moon.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Preparing for the Unknown: Space Biology and Manufacturing in Long-Term Missions.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SO BAD FOR STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH? The state of mental health across Wisconsin’s public universities in 4 charts.

FIRST ARGENTINA, NOW THIS: Anti-Islam Populist Geert Wilders Heading for a Massive Win in Netherlands.

“15 MINUTE CITIES” — built on “ableist” assumptions.

AND OF COURSE NOT ALL WILL TELL STRANGERS: Half of Respondents in NBC Poll of Voters Say They Live in Household with a Gun. “This month, 56% of white voters report that they or someone in their household owns a gun and 41% of Black voters say the same.”

Related:

Privately owned firearms surpass 500 million in US after third-highest October for gun sales on record https://t.co/HfYy9hbGM4

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 15, 2023

I PREFER THE DARK MEAT: Could eating turkey ease colitis? Study suggests extra tryptophan could reduce risk of future flares.

HMM: Researchers identify quercetin as possible cause of ‘red wine headaches.’ I take quercetin and it doesn’t give me headaches, but neither does red wine.

NOT MENTIONED: PEOPLE WHO WERE FIRED FOR REFUSING THE COVID VAX. State health director: It will take 20 years to recover from shortage of health care workers.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE: South Carolina teacher arrested for having sex with student in Pizza Hut parking lot.” “Reagan Anderson, 27, is facing two counts of sexual battery with a child 17 years of age, according to an arrest warrant obtained by WCSC. . . . ‘No young quarterback or athlete is safe in our community if this woman is free.'”