THE NEW SPACE RACE: Chinese commercial Lijian-1 rocket launches 15 satellites.

AFTER SEC V. JARKESY THIS SHOULD BE EASY: NCLA Amicus Brief Asks Fifth Circuit to Overturn Currency Comptroller’s Violation of Jury Trial Rights.

Reminder/Disclosure: I’m on the NCLA’s Board of Advisors. At this point these are probably redundant, I guess, but. . . .

PERSONNEL IS POLICY:

🚨BREAKING: Donald Trump selects Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) pic.twitter.com/SbEhcNb5bi

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 13, 2024

ROARING 20S OR WARRING 20S? How disruptive would a Chinese invasion of Taiwan be?

BIG NEWS:

Huge decision holding that CEQ never had authority to issue the National Environmental Policy Act regulations that have been used for nearly half a century https://t.co/8Jn5TF4kT5 pic.twitter.com/KRn0ZDIbIS

— James Coleman (@EnergyLawProf) November 12, 2024

This will open up all sorts of previously-regulated projects. If the Supreme Court lets it stand, there will probably be calls for new legislation, but if the GOP plays its cards right it can fix this for a long time.

PERSONNEL IS POLICY:

🚨 BREAKING: Donald Trump names John Ratcliffe as Director of the CIA pic.twitter.com/IgngKnRawI

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 12, 2024

I MEAN, WHY WOULDN’T YOU, THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE WARSHIPS: CDR Salamander: Arm the Auxiliaries: Just Make it Happen.

Due to program management that progresses at the speed of smell and creates more board seats for recently retired four-stars than actual assets that displace water, we’ve run out of time for theoretical ‘offsets’ or the latest flavor of magic beans.

Nope. Time to walk away from the intellectual habits that painted us in this corner and look at what we can do to take action NOW to enhance the combat utility of what we have, with what we have.

We don’t have to look far. One of the first steps we must take is to arm the auxiliaries. In the generations after the Vietnam War, we were lulled into accepting the ‘green-eyeshade’ logic of saving money by converting former USS ships to USNS, leaving them unarmed. What pennies we may save in peace from that mindset will cost of bricks of gold at war.

The seas are no longer ours, if they ever really were. Our few replenishment ships have always been High Value Unit, it is time to start treating them like one. We cannot afford to lose any of the few that we have—but we seem to be inviting that exact event.

There’s been a lot of criminal negligence regarding our naval posture. We need to fix it as much as we can, as fast as we can.

DON SURBER:

USA Today reported, “Former Kamala Harris aide says Joe Biden should resign so she can serve as 47th president.”

Sure, go ahead because then we will not have to hear Democrats demand we elect their next candidate simply because she is a woman. Trump can sell more hats that read 45 and 48.

Democrats need to go back and read the Rules for Radicals because all these impeachments, indictments and lawsuits are getting old. Rule No. 7 says, “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.”

Democrat supporters must be tired of losing by now. It looks like Warren and Raskin want to give them another L. . . . Trump continues to amaze and amuse his supporters. I don’t know about anyone else but I feel better today than I did 8 years ago, and I was pretty happy then, too.

Heh. Indeed.

I LOVE A STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING: Home Invaders Meet Their Match When TX, FL Armed Citizens Fight Back. “What’s most striking to me about these defensive gun uses is that in both cases the homeowner was able to contact 911 and alert law enforcement that a crime was taking place, but as quickly as officers and deputies responded it would have been too late to save the residents from harm. The phase ‘when seconds count police are minutes away’ isn’t meant as a knock on police. It’s just a simple fact. . . . The reality is that if someone’s breaking into your home, you are the quickest first responder… and being able to defend yourself can all too easily be the difference between life and death.”

21ST CENTURY HEADLINES: Mazda Recalls CX-90 and CX-70 SUVs Due to Several Software Issues.

HMM: 9mm vs. .45 ACP: The Debate That Seems To Never End.

WELL, GOOD: Bystander CPR done within 10 minutes likely increases survival rates: Those who received care quickly had a 95 percent higher rate of surviving without significant brain damage.

HMM: Study: Deaths from cardiovascular disease surge among adults 25-64 in rural areas.

WELL, GOOD: Research monkeys still having a ball days after busting out of lab, police say.

JAMES LILEKS: Introducing Notes From Highway 10.

TURNS OUT, GIVING STUDENTS IPADS DIDN’T MAKE THEM SMARTER: The EdTech Revolution Has Failed: The case against student use of computers, tablets, and smartphones in the classroom.

I LIKED THE ARMY OF DAVIDS BETTER THAN THE “ARMY OF STUDENT CHEATING.” Cheating Has Become Normal. What Can Faculty Do?

Students cheated on informal discussion-board prompts. They cheated on essays. A few weeks ago, she emailed a student to say that she knew the student had cheated on a minor assignment with AI and if she did it again, she would fail the course. Clukey also noted there were several missed assignments. The student replied to “sincerely apologize,” said she was “committed to getting back on track,” and that she regretted “any disruption [her] absence or incomplete work may have caused in the course.” But her next paper was essentially written by artificial intelligence. Curious, Clukey asked ChatGPT to write an email apologizing to a professor for plagiarism and missed work.

“And what did it do?” she said. “It spit out an email almost exactly like the one I had gotten.”

I guess we’ll have to go back to in-class handwritten exams.

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK:

80,000 pounds of Costco butter was just recalled, because the label doesn't say that it contains milk.

It's butter.

News articles are telling people how they can return, or safely dispose of, the butter.

It's butter.

— Spike Cohen (@RealSpikeCohen) November 11, 2024

K12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: Teacher: Men should wear blue bracelets post-election to indicate they’re ‘safe’ to be around. “If you are, or know, a man … of any color, any background, any nationality, any ethnic group, any religion … who voted blue … you wear the blue bracelet, you wear the safety pin.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Michigan State University prof reportedly sends ‘grief’ email to students, offers extra credit for attending class after Trump victory.

YES, LIKE GANDALF THE WHITE HE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED BY HIS BATTLE WITH THE DARKNESS: Don Surber: This ain’t your father’s Donald Trump.

Plus: “Recess appointments allow presidents to bypass the confirmation process temporarily. All three of President Eisenhower’s Supreme Court appointees were recess appointments to protect them from racist Democrat filibusters. It has been years and maybe even decades since the Senate last allowed recess appointments.”

PRIORITIES: Trump’s first moves match public’s push for immigration fix.

FAST AND FURIOUS: Trump Picks Rubio to Head State Department.

I wonder if Ron DeSantis could appoint himself to Rubio’s Senate seat? His term as governor is up in 2026.

GOOD: Trump Reaffirms Push for National Concealed Carry Reciprocity.

FROM MAYORKAS TO NOEM: Trump Has Made His Pick for the Department of Homeland Security.