AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR: Top Taliban Commander Killed by U.S. Airstrike in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Col. David Butler, spokesman for U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan, said Abdul Manan, the Taliban’s shadow governor in southern Helmand province, was killed late Saturday in an attack by an “unmanned aircraft.” In a statement, the Taliban also confirmed his death.

Mr. Manan’s killing is the biggest loss for the Taliban since 2016 when the group’s leader, Akhtar Mansour, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in western Pakistan. The killing of Mr. Mansour sank the prospects for peace talks at the time, as the Taliban resented the loss of its chief.

Mr. Manan’s death comes as the U.S. steps up the air war in Afghanistan in an attempt to bolster its sway in embryonic efforts with the insurgency to get peace negotiations under way to end the 17-year war.

“Pack up and go” doesn’t seem so bad after 17 years.

COOL YULE: Branson says Virgin Galactic will send people to space before Christmas.

The billionaire said he is “pretty confident” the space tourism venture he co-founded can achieve this milestone by the end of the year in a Nov. 30 interview with CNN Business.

“We have a brilliant group of astronauts who literally believe 100% in the project, and give it their everything,” he said.

The entrepreneur said that the first few trips into space will be flown by test pilots with no tourists on board. He’ll be the first passenger, he added.

Still, several people are ready to pony up $200,000 to $250,000 for a seat on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

“I’m not allowed up until the [test pilots] have broken it in a few times, first,” Branson told the business news network. “I would love to have gone on this very [first] flight, but [pilots] are incredibly brave people.”

Godspeed.

IF IT MOVES, TAX IT: Prominent Chicago mayoral candidate suggests a commuter tax.

On Fox 32’s Flannery Fired Up on Sunday, Bill Daley promised a plan to fix the pension debacle soon. Well, part of his plan came out yesterday during a speech to the venerable City Club of Chicago. Daley is open to a commuter tax.

Time for some history. Businesses and residents were fleeing Detroit in the 1950s and the early 1960s. The solution, Jerome Cavanaugh, the Motor City’s liberal mayor reasoned, was a municipal income tax and a commuter tax. The version of the decline and fall of Detroit you are familiar with is that the deadly 1967 riots fostered the city’s collapse. While it surely hastened it, the seeds of Detroit’s failure, which culminated in the historic 2013 bankruptcy, was planted by Cavanaugh’s income and commuter taxes. Even today Eight Mile Road, the northern border of Detroit, is the demarcation line for poverty and prosperity.

To be fair, Daley is not suggesting a Chicago income tax and he favors amending the pension clause–great idea–in the state constitution that forbids cutting pension benefits.

But if Daley’s commuter tax becomes law, look for the 14-lane Dan Ryan Expressway to be one of the thoroughfares out of Chicago for a multitude of residents and businesses.

If this tax ever comes to pass, there will be an immediate cry for discounts or rebates for people who drive the “right” kind of vehicles into the city.

NO TAKEBACKS: Broward County Elections Chief Snipes Rescinds Resignation.

SO THE ORIGINAL STORY WAS… FAKE NEWS? NPR has now amended their completely botched story about Don Jr’s testimony to the Senate in 2017.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): It’s playing badly.

Journos complain about Trump undermining trust in journalism. But the problem isn’t what Trump says about journalists, it’s what journalists do.

PALEONTOLOGY: DNA shows ‘Siberian Unicorn’ roamed Earth with humans.

Researchers are learning more about the fuzzy rhinos called “Siberian unicorns” after DNA tests of fossils are providing insight into their extinction. Paleontologists say they were around much longer than originally thought, living until at least 39,000 years ago. This means the animals lived among humans.

They were previously thought to have gone extinct between 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

Probably due to early SUV emissions.

NO. Hot Cocoa-Flavored Beer From Wicked Weed Brewing Just Combined Your Favorite Drinks In One.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: How Long Does It Take to SHAT Out a LEGO?

RICK MORAN: Wanted: Pro-U.S. Military Dictators and Strongmen for Latin America. “Do you really think Somoza, Pinochet, Torrijos, or any other Latin American strongman in the old days would have allowed these caravans to form?”

THANKS, OBAMA! Oil’s plunge propels gas prices toward lowest of this year.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Here we go:

UGH: Ebola outbreak in east Congo now world’s second biggest.

EXPORTS: China Is So Desperate for Pork That It’s Buying American Again.

A disease sweeping through Chinese hog herds is helping negate the effects of the trade war for American farmers, with U.S. pork sales to the Asian nation back to levels before tariffs were introduced.

China was the third-largest buyer of pork in U.S. Department of Agriculture weekly data released Thursday. The 3,300 metric ton-purchase was the most since February, a month before China imposed tariffs on U.S. pork. Hog futures rose 4.4 percent in Chicago, the most in two weeks.

“This is a game changer,” said Dennis Smith, a senior account executive at Archer Financial Services Inc. “It gives confirmation that the disease is far worse than what we’ve been told.”

The real story here isn’t that we’ll be paying more for pork again, but that despite Beijing’s Great Power ambitions, they still have serious trouble with basic public health safety issues.

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE: Ryan casts doubt on ‘bizarre’ California election results.

The California election system “just defies logic to me,” Ryan said during a Washington Post event.

“We were only down 26 seats the night of the election and three weeks later, we lost basically every California race. This election system they have — I can’t begin to understand what ‘ballot harvesting’ is.”

It was a remarkable comment from the retiring Speaker of the House, who until now had not joined President Trump and other Republicans who have complained about what they believed were election irregularities in places like Florida and California.

After this story was published, Ryan campaign spokesman Jeremy Adler said in a statement: “The Speaker did not and does not dispute the results” of the election.

California does have a more liberal policy when it comes to counting ballots. The Golden State allows absentee ballots to be counted if they are mailed by Election Day and arrive at the registrar by the Friday after the election. That’s why results in a handful of close California House races were not called until days, or weeks, after Nov. 6.

Joseph Stalin smiles.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Top Five Media Lies on the Migrant Caravan.

HEADLINES FROM 2001-2018 INCLUSIVE: The Fed Has Become Increasingly Dependent on Easy-Money Policy.

TONI AIRAKSINEN: UT Prof Punished for Calling Police on Rude, Disruptive Student. “The student was “rude and disruptive on many occasions’.”

DEEP STATE: Corker, Menendez Push Effort to ‘Neuter’ Trump’s Broadcasting Chief. “Outgoing Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) is teeing up another parting shot to President Trump by facilitating an effort to undermine his choice to lead the nation’s taxpayer-funded global broadcasting operation, according to several GOP sources.”

ASHE SCHOW: New Study Confirms Yet Again Gender ‘Wage’ Gap Due To Women Not Working. Guess How The Media Is Portraying It.

How many guesses do you need?

Here’s a small sampling:

“Women May Earn Just 49 Cents on the Dollar”

“Gender pay gap is worse than thought: Study shows women actually earn half the income of men”

“U.S. women earn half the income of men, new study finds”

“The Gender Pay Gap Is Way More F***ed Than You Thought”

The last one is from the always measured and reasonable “Jezebel,” in case you were wondering.

But what these articles are forced to admit is that the study finds the gap is caused by women taking more time off from work than men.

As Iowahawk noted ages ago, if capitalists could actually hire women at half the cost of men for the same work, men would never hold jobs again.

SO MUCH SMOKE, SO LITTLE FIRE: A Collusion Probe Still Without Any Collusion.

ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUS: Temple University stands by Marc Lamont Hill after CNN fires him for anti-Israel remarks.

Temple University stood by Marc Lamont Hill on Thursday, the same day he was fired from CNN after he gave a speech at the United Nations in which he used language critics described as a dog whistle advocating the elimination of Israel.

Hill, a now-former CNN commentator, is also a professor of media studies and urban education at Temple University in Philadelphia. While the school doesn’t necessarily agree with Hill’s controversial rhetoric, it feels he has the right to speak freely.

“Marc Lamont Hill has been quoted extensively over the last 24 hours. Marc Lamont Hill does not represent Temple University and his views are his own. However, we acknowledge that he has a constitutionally protected right to express his opinion as a private citizen,” a Temple spokesperson told Fox News.

I wonder what Temple would have said if Hill had called for the elimination or expulsion of trans people.

BRIDGET JOHNSON: Tim Scott Dooms Farr Nomination by Vowing to Cast 51st ‘No’ Vote.

SPENGLER: A Sino-Russian “Greater Asia” from Shanghai to Lisbon. President Trump won’t meet Russian strongman Vladimir Putin at the Buenos Aires Group of 20 summit, but he will meet (and probably announce some kind of trade deal) with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin’s senior partner. Russia envisions a “Greater Asia” led by Russia and China, stretching from Shanghai to Lisbon, absorbing a Europe that is “not viable on its own.”

Demographics is destiny, and shrinking Europe’s — especially Russia’s — destiny looks increasingly like a Chinese satrap. Europe’s “elites” seem to think they can import enough Muslims to replace non-breeding Europeans, but dhimmitude is just another form of satrapy.

And do read the whole thing.

DECLASSIFIED: US Honors Swedish Pilots For Escorting Stricken SR-71 To Safety During Cold War.

Just the other day, four Swedish Air Force officers received Air Medals from the U.S. Air Force for a Cold War mission that had remained classified until just last year. On what might have been just any other day in 1987, they had helped escort a stricken SR-71 Blackbird spy plane through Sweden’s airspace and on its way to safety, potentially shielding it from any marauding Soviet aircraft.

Swedish Air Force Colonel Lars-Eric Blad, Major Roger Moller, Major Krister Sjoberg, and Lieutenant Bo Ignell got their medals during a ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden on Nov. 28, 2018. The U.S. military as a whole awards Air Medals for singular acts of heroism or other particular meritorious achievements during a flight. Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonels Duane Noll and Tom Veltri, the pilots aboard the SR-71 during the Cold War incident, were also present.

A great tale, well told. Read the whole thing.

OH: FBI Raids Home Of Whistleblower On Clinton Foundation, Lawyer Says. “The FBI raided the home of a whistleblower who was in possession of documents regarding the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One, according to the whistleblower’s lawyer, Michael Socarras.”

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Cohen Lied BLAH BLAH BLAH and Much, Much More. “So, basically, the Trump operation continued to conduct business while he was running for president. Sleezy lawyer Cohen may have lied about it. Nothing about TREASONOUS COLLUSION WITH RUSSIA TO STEAL THE ELECTION FROM HILLARY CLINTON® The end.”

So much smoke, so little fire.