SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX reaches milestone with 300th successful booster landing.

I DON’T KNOW IF THIS RESEARCH WILL PAN OUT, BUT WHY TAKE CHANCES: Dark chocolate might help ward off Type 2 diabetes.

IT’S NOT CLEAR WHAT VALUE NASA IS ADDING HERE. OR THE FAA FOR THAT MATTER. NASA Delays Return to the Moon (Plus How Will DoGE Impact NASA).

MAKE THEM PAY: Florida High School Suspends Student for 3 Shell Casings.

The deputy sheriff told school officials that J.S. had committed no crime by possessing spent shell casings. The youth, the deputy said, had done nothing wrong. However, the principal ignored the deputy’s claims and called the student’s parents, who arrived about 40 minutes later. The parents were told to take their child home and wait for a phone call.

Van Ayres, the superintendent of Schools for Hillsborough County Public Schools – the seventh largest school system in the county – was told of the incident. According to his website, Ayers serves on a dozen local boards and civic groups. He is a named defendant in the lawsuit.

The principal called J.S.’s parents later that afternoon and told them their child was going to be suspended. . . .

There was no indication the student had threatened anyone, or that he had somehow intended to use the spent shell casings as a weapon. Instead, the student’s suspension was based on unwritten policies in play at the Hillsborough County Public Schools.

I’m delighted that the student is getting representation via Florida Carry. Examples need to be made.

COLOR ME SKEPTICAL: Is It Time To Reconsider the Draft? Our all-volunteer force won’t hold up in an era of great power conflict.

MAKE THEM PAY: Student sues South Carolina college after being suspended for gun-related social media post.

WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE: 10 outrageous taxpayer-funded higher ed research projects DOGE can investigate.

FROM A FRIEND, AND IT’S 100% CORRECT.

CHANGE: California Bar Will Consider Campus Protests In Moral Character Review For Lawyer Licensing.

PATTON SAID THAT SOLDIERS WHO WON’T F*CK WON’T FIGHT. I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE WOULD HAVE SAID ABOUT SOLDIERS WHO WON’T DRINK BEER. BREAKING NEWS: Infantryman Drank Beer. “Pete Hegseth is being Kavanaughed. And the only people dumb enough to fall for it are Republican senators.”

To be fair, some of them are pretty dumb.

JOHN LUCAS: The Daniel Penny Case — Two Contrasting Timelines: When lives are at risk decisive action is a must. And it must come quickly. “Does anyone remember the story of Kitty Genovese? In March 1964 a Kitty Genovese was murdered in Queens, New York. She had been raped and stabbed at least 13 times. The assault lasted approximately a half-hour. Two weeks later The New York Times ran a front-page article that reported that numerous people had heard her screams and watched the attack but did nothing to aid her.”

DAVID LAT, Thomas and Alito are hiring clerks, so probably not retiring.

YOU CAN TELL WHO IS WHO, AND WHO IS WHAT, BY WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THIS NOMINATION. Joni Ernst – Who Voted for Lloyd Austin -Says Hegseth ‘Didn’t Persuade Her.’

OPEN THREAD: Because I love you and want to be happy.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: How American entrepreneurs can help win the space race against China.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Parkinson’s Link to Gut Bacteria Suggests an Unexpected, Simple Treatment.

JOHN LUCAS IS UNIMPRESSED BY THE LAW PROFESSORIATE.

But while it’s fine to call Sandy Levinson to task for his anti-Trump silliness, it’s worth noting that he’s also the author of The Embarrassing Second Amendment, a triumph of intellectual honesty that kickstarted the Second Amendment revolution. That’s an awfully impressive thing that sets him apart from the law professor herd in a very admirable way.

BOB GRABOYES: Idiot America Indeed: 2024’s Flaming Feculence Awards go to Charles P. Pierce and Ana Navarro-Cárdenas.

IT’S PAST TIME TO CLEAN UP THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: Admiral Bartleby Would Prefer Not To. “The armed forces are lying, as policy, and deliberately hiding a well-documented number that they have to know, while allowing political ‘debate’ to proceed on the basis of politicized fake estimates.”

HMM: 2026 Honda Passport Interior Review: Two Spare Tires Inside!

IT’S LIES ALL THE WAY DOWN: Gun Control Groups Pad Their ‘Gun Violence’ Numbers With Suicides to Inflate Their Statistics.

SHE’S A FREQUENT DISAPPOINTMENT:

Sen. Joni Ernst, who is reportedly lobbying to replace Hegseth as Trump's SecDef nominee, supports the transing of the military and requiring women to be eligible for the draft. Not entirely surprising she prefers the status quo to Pete Hegseth. https://t.co/NRsuprY42n

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) December 5, 2024

WHY BOTHER WITH THIS, THE ELECTION IS OVER: Mysterious illness in Congo has killed dozens of people, health authorities report.

FROM WORLD WAR I TO NOW, EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: “Although dazzle camouflage fell out of favor between the wars, it is remarkable that the Ukrainian navy have recently shared images on social media where vessels are dressed in a form of dazzle. The precise purpose of this is not clear, but one expert supposed it might offer some protection against drones.”

SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX sets record launching Falcon 9 first-stage booster 24 times.