SOCIALISM MEANS CARING: Weaponizing hunger is a new low for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

It might be a new low for Maduro, but it’s nothing new for really committed socialists.

FRACK THAT: If Venezuela’s economy collapses, and with it the oil business, then expect oil prices to jump by as much as $10 a barrel.

HIS APPEAL IS BECOMING MORE SELECTIVE: Does Richard Spencer’s Disastrous College Tour Mean The ‘Alt-Right’ Is Fizzling Out?

RIP: Floyd Carter Sr., one of the remaining Tuskegee Airmen, dies at 95.

Floyd Carter Sr., one of the last of the Tuskegee Airmen, dedicated his remarkable life to serving his country and his city.

The decorated veteran of three wars and 27 years with the NYPD died Thursday at age 95, leaving a long legacy as a groundbreaking hero pilot and a city police detective.

Carter, who simultaneously rose through the ranks of the U.S. Air Force Reserves and the police, was honored in 2007 with the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bush for breaking the color barrier in Tuskegee.

“We mourn the loss of a true American hero,” read a tweet from the 47th Precinct in his adopted home of the Bronx. “Our community & nation has lost a giant.”

Carter rose to the rank of Air Force lieutenant colonel years after joining the group of African-American pilots at Tuskegee University.

He met his wife Atherine there, where the Alabama native was working as part of an all-female repair crew.

Carter wooed his bride-to-be on several dates in his plane, and they were married at the air base in 1945.

What an amazing life.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump School Safety Plan Revealed and Much, Much More. “Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was interviewed on 60 Minutes last night. I had no idea that show was still on, but it is. DeVos told Leslie Stahl the administration is reviewing Obama’s school discipline policy.”

That’s a start.

INCIRLIK BLUES: U.S. Pares Back Use of Turkish Base Amid Strains With Ankara.

The base was the centerpiece of the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State for several years, but conflicting aims in Syria have driven a wedge between the U.S. and Turkey. The drawdown is among the strongest consequences yet of those fraying ties.

A squadron of American A-10 ground attack jets was moved from Incirlik to Afghanistan in January, leaving only refueling aircraft currently at the Turkish base. At the time, the Pentagon said it was stepping up operations in Afghanistan.

At the same time, the U.S. military has gradually reduced the number of military family members living on the base, shrinking its footprint in Turkey.

U.S. officials maintain that the U.S. remains committed to Turkey, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally, and that there are no immediate plans for a further drawdown of forces and aircraft. The A-10s, officials said, could return to the base at any time.

According to an older report, the US military began moving its nuclear weapons stockpile out of Incirlik two years ago, just weeks after Recep Erdoğan began his nationwide crackdown.

21ST CENTURY WARFARE: Russia test-fires ‘ideal’ hypersonic missile.

The high-precision Kinzhal (Dagger) missile was launched from a MiG-31 supersonic interceptor jet that took off from an airfield in the South Military District in Russia’s southwest, the defense ministry said.

“The launch went according to plan, the hypersonic missile hit its target,” the ministry added.

The ministry released video footage showing two pilots gearing up for a flight and then running towards a jet with a large missile slung beneath its underbelly.

Set to rousing, patriotic music, the video then shows a missile detaching from the airborne plane and gliding across the dark sky, leaving a fiery trail behind.

The video isn’t really proof of anything other than that the Kremlin’s propaganda filmmaking is far superior to Soviet efforts.

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE VOTERS? The Missing Obama Millions.

Our analysis shows that while 9 percent of Obama 2012 voters went for Mr. Trump in 2016, 7 percent — that’s more than four million missing voters — stayed home. Three percent voted for a third-party candidate.

We would hardly urge Democratic strategists to abandon Obama-to-Trump voters. However, Obama-to-nonvoters are a relatively liberal segment of the country who have largely been ignored. They are mostly young and nonwhite, and they represent an important part of the Democratic Party’s demographic future. Given the likelihood that many Obama-to-Trump voters will remain in Republican ranks, it is hard to imagine how Democrats can win elections if this group remains on the sidelines.

This is why every serious (and not-so-serious) Democratic contender for 2020 has already doubled down on the identity politics.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Is Trump turning the U.S. into Putin’s Russia?

WHAT COULD GO WRONG? Steyer Works to End Bail Payments for Criminal Defendants in California.

“Join NextGen America, Tom Steyer and a panel of criminal justice reform experts to discuss how we can fix California’s broken bail system, and for a special screening of ’13th,’ the documentary by Ava DuVernay on racism in the criminal justice system,” the California Playbook message reads.

NextGen America did not respond to an inquiry about whether the organization or Steyer personally funded the documentary.

A bill to overhaul the bail system in California has stalled in the Assembly after being approved in the Senate. It faces stiff opposition from industry lobbyists and lawmakers who are worried that it will impose high costs on counties.

The measure is aimed at trying to ensure that accused criminals awaiting trial do not remain in jail solely because they cannot afford to pay bail.

The proposals would end the practice of requiring criminal defendants from having to pose money as a condition of release from jail and would instead require counties to set up pre-trial services agencies to consider whether defendants pose a harm to the community or are okay to release.

Sounds like more make-work for government officials and less safety for California residents — so pretty much business as usual, should this Steyer get his way.

MEET THE RESISTANCE: Far-left organizer found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor. “Rhodes was on supervision by the Oregon Youth Authority for sexual abuse and sodomy at the time he was charged for alleged abuse in both counties, authorities say. Juvenile records aren’t public, so details of the earlier case aren’t available.”

THESE INNOCENT MISTAKES ALWAYS SEEM TO GO IN THE SAME DIRECTION: Cybersecurity Firm Apologizes After Parental Controls Block Conservative Sites for ‘Hate’ and ‘Violence.’

AVNER ZARMI: Meet the Gaza-Raised Grandson of a Munich Terrorist Running for Congress.

YOUR DAILY TREACHER: If Trump Can Make Peace with North Korea, That’ll Be Great.
“The people who hate him are determined to remind me why so many Americans voted for him.”

OLD GLORY: Unacceptable at Stanford.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: Little Rocket Man’s Great Big Summit Scam.

This plan is now being widely hailed as a historic step forward; a triumph for Trump’s campaign of coralling Pyongyang with “maximum pressure.” It’s historic all right, but there’s an enormous hazard that it’s a step right into the same old North Korean trap.

North Korea has a record of deceit that includes not only the series of broken nuclear deals over the past 24 years, but the surprise invasion of South Korea way back in 1950, with which Kim Jong’s grandfather, founding tyrant Kim Il Sung, triggered the 1950-53 Korean War. The totalitarian character of the regime itself — a system built on brute force, threats and lies — ought to warn us that Kim’s goal in proposing a summit is not to surrender to maximum pressure, but to deflate it, via assorted diplomatic stunts. All the better for Kim to regroup and carry on with North Korea’s predatory projects, global rackets and nuclear missile program. (Forget the idea that Kim might be suddenly looking to repent his murderous ways and scrap his totalitarian system; odds are, his own gotesquely abused citizenry would seize the chance to kill him.)

Already, with this plan for a summit, Kim is gaming the mighty United States. For an American president to agree to a sitdown with North Korea’s tyrant is not a coup for the U.S., it’s a concession. When the elected leader of the Free World sits down with a totalitarian dictator to bargain as equals, it dignifies the dictator, not the democrat.

Read the whole thing, but given that Kim has put much on the table (even if he doesn’t mean it) and Trump hasn’t, for now I’m more sanguine on the talks than Claudia is.

“IT’S RAINING ROCKETS”: Deadly New Syrian-Russian Assault Kills Hundreds in Eastern Ghouta.

A LOVELY OBITUARY FOR NATIONAL REVIEW’S DUSTY RHODES, who passed away Wednesday at 78.

US TREASURY REPORT: True U.S. Government Shortfall Is $88.9 Trillion, An Average of $704K Per Household. “Entitlements make the real national debt four times worse than it appears.”

I’M ALL EARS: The Case for a 21st-Century Battleship.

Stealth is one way to keep from getting hit, and the United States leads the way in the development of stealthy destroyers. But stealth defeats the purpose of a FONOP, which is to be seen. An old-fashioned battleship is a ship to be seen—and in a big way. But there’s no need for the Navy to build an old-fashioned battleship in the twenty-first century when it can build a new-fashioned battleship instead.

A contemporary battleship would combine advanced armor materials with automated damage control to produce a ship that is virtually unsinkable. Its offensive armaments might be mission-specific, but its key attribute would be survivability. It would be a ship that could be put in harm’s way in the reasonable expectation of coming home in one piece.

This “battleship of the future” could solve the challenge posed by China’s emerging anti-access / area denial (A2/AD) strategy for excluding the United States from the western Pacific. China is rapidly expanding and improving its networks of onshore, offshore, undersea, and space-based sensors to the extent that it will soon be able to see everything that moves between the Chinese mainland and the first island chain formed by Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Philippines. And improvements in precision weaponry will increasingly mean that China will be able to hit anything it can see.

I was only half-joking a few years ago when I suggested stripping down our museum-ship Iowa-class battleships down to the hull, dropping in a few A1B nuclear reactors, and festooning the new deck with lasers and railguns.

MUST-SKIP TV: Obama in Talks to Provide Shows for Netflix. “Former President Barack Obama is in advanced negotiations with Netflix to produce a series of high-profile shows that will provide him a global platform after his departure from the White House.”

Community agitators gotta agitate, but former Presidents continuing to push their agendas long after they’ve left office is un-(small-r)-republican, and damaging to the country’s civic health.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): I think this is the best take:

21ST CENTURY PARENTING: Porn is not the worst thing on Musical.ly.

Musical.ly looks innocent — just kids making music videos, and it is that, but more so it’s this: user uploaded content by millions of people who can also live stream, which is how I first encountered porn on Musical.ly. A very helpful naked man live-streamed his live stream (if you know what I mean.)

Kids are going to see it eventually, right? Might as well let them see it now. Might as well get them drunk while we’re at it. And high. Can’t keep them bubble-wrapped forever. 8-year-olds have been diaper free for five years; if you can pee in a potty, you can hold your own online. Amiright?

Friends who worry I’m over-reacting suggest I make the account private to keep pedophiles at bay, but pedophiles are not my main concern. Here’s why: Pretend you can turn your kid invisible. Pretend you drop your invisible kid off at a warehouse downtown LA. You have no idea who’s inside — fingers crossed it’s packed with Nobel Peace Prize winners, board certified pediatricians and J.K. Rowling. Pray it is not packed with the worst of humanity. No one can see your kid, but your kid can see everyone and hear everything.

Would you do it?

My wife and I let our sons (ages 7 and 12) watch some age-inappropriate programing and read almost anything which can hold their attention. But we have their hand-me-down computer and iOS devices locked out of social media/sharing apps and sites.

THE ART OF THE DEAL: The question is less “What will Trump give up for peace?” and more “What has Kim given up just to talk?”

RETAIL BLUES: Toys ‘R’ Us Is Prepping to Liquidate Its U.S. Operations.

While the situation is still fluid, a shutdown of the U.S. division has become increasingly likely in recent days, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Hopes are fading that a buyer will emerge to keep some of the business operating, or that lenders will agree on terms of a debt restructuring, the people said.

The toy chain’s U.S. division entered bankruptcy in September, planning to emerge with a leaner business model and more manageable debt. A new $3.1 billion loan was obtained to keep the stores open during the turnaround effort, but results worsened more than expected during the holidays, casting doubt on the chain’s viability.

That’s sad. I’ll miss the annual Christmas shopping excursion with my boys.

IF YOU WANT PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR: Pentagon Gearing Up for Space Warfare.