COWARDS: ISIS Fighters, Having Pledged to Fight or Die, Surrender en Masse.

For an extremist group that has made its reputation on its ferociousness, with fighters who would always choose suicide over surrender, the fall of Hawija has been a notable turning point. The group has suffered a string of humiliating defeats in Iraq and Syria, but the number of its shock troops who turned themselves in at the center in Dibis was unusually large, more than 1,000 since last Sunday, according to Kurdish intelligence officials.

The fight for Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, took nine months, and by comparison, relatively few Islamic State fighters surrendered. Tal Afar fell next, and more quickly, in only 11 days. Some 500 fighters surrendered there.

The Iraqi military ousted the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, from Hawija in 15 days, saying it had taken its forces only three days of actual heavy fighting before most of the extremists grabbed their families and ran. According to Kurdish officials, they put up no fight at all, other than planting bombs and booby traps.

Seen up close, the fighters’ pretense of bravado soon disappears.

Bill Maher could not be reached for comment.

THE SPANISH PRISONER: Huge Spain unity rally in Barcelona.

At least 350,000 people gathered in Barcelona, capital of Catalonia, for a rally against independence from Spain.

They waved Spanish and Catalan flags and carried banners saying “Together we are stronger” and “Catalonia is Spain”.

It was the largest such rally in Catalonia amid the furore over last week’s disputed independence referendum.

Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has warned he would not rule out anything “within the law” to halt Catalan secession.

Given how lopsided the vote was in favor of independence, I wonder whether the local pro-Madrid Catalonians were energized to show up, or if there might have been an effort to bus them in from other regions. Doing so would certainly be “within the law,” and actually a common practice in democratically run countries.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Vegas Update, Corker v. Trump, Pence Bounces and Much, Much More.

DEFENSE FOR ME BUT NOT FOR THEE: Dem Charlie Rangel Says Law-Abiding Citizens Don’t Need Guns, Stuns When Asked About What He ‘Deserves.’

Rangel told the Daily Caller he was “glad” to hear that it was difficult to get a concealed permit in his home state of New York. He even went on to say he wouldn’t want the law-abiding residents of his Harlem district to be able to carry. “I wouldn’t want them to have it,” he said.

Rangel’s comments come amid reports that NYPD officials accepted bribes in exchange for gun licenses and special privileges.

“Law-abiding citizens just shouldn’t have to carry a gun,” Rangel added. “You’re not gonna push me in that direction.”

But when the Daily Caller reminded Rangel that he and other members of Congress are protected by armed U.S. Capitol Police, he revealed his true feelings on the subject.

“Well, that’s a little different. I think we deserve — I think we need to be protected down here,” the Democrat admitted.

The current incarnation of the Democratic Party is more leftist and hateful and hypocritical than it ever has been, but its newfound honesty about all that is quite refreshing.

ALLIES: Turkey and Venezuela Agree to Increased Flights and Tourism.

Maduro and Erdogan oversaw the signing of five agreements for cooperation on air travel, tourism, culture, agriculture, and international crime. They discussed ways to deepen economic and energy ties and explored opportunities for military industry cooperation, the Turkish leader said.

Maduro’s visit to Turkey, the first by a Venezuelan head of state, comes amid stringent U.S. sanctions on the South American nation and a deepening political crisis in Venezuela as the country struggles with triple-digit inflation and widespread shortages.

If either of them is truly interested in increasing air travel, tourism, culture, and agriculture, and fighting international crime, they should both resign their posts immediately after calling for free and fair elections.

PERHAPS SARAH HOYT WILL LET ME BORROW HER SHOCKED FACE: In a switch, GOP deserts its budget-cutting mantra.

Republicans initially tried but failed to cut spending this year, stymied by intraparty divisions they could not rectify.

They could not unify behind an effort to slash the growth of Medicaid, a joint state and federal health-care program for low-income Americans. And Democrats unified to block other proposed spending cuts to programs for the poor.

Congress also twice agreed to raise the debt ceiling without putting any new restraints on spending.

Three devastating hurricanes in August and September ravaged Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, prompting emergency steps to seek $40 billion in new spending. A storm landing this weekend, Hurricane Nate, could create new spending pressure. In the past, some Republicans have sought to offset disaster relief spending with cuts in other areas, but no such demands were made this time.

Meanwhile, Trump rejected a proposal from White House Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to curb future Medicare and Social Security spending, saying he had promised voters in 2016 that he would not touch those programs.

This is not the GOP government I was hoping for, but it is the one I’ve come to expect.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: ‘Nothing is Getting Done’ in Congress Because of Gerrymandering.

If gerrymandering were all that effective, you might expect the election-proof majority to pass whatever legislation it wanted.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: The Separatist Wave: Kurdistan, Catalonia, Brexit…

HIPSTER BACKLASH: Stop pretending to like IPAs.

An India Pale Ale, IPA for short, is a strong, hoppy beer that basically gives your tongue a wedgie, noogie and purple-nurple all at the same time, while making your taste buds scream, “Uncle!” And when your little buds do scream, the IPA calls them a wuss. That’s right: IPAs are the bullies of beers, and Americans are falling all over themselves pretending they are delicious.

I know, I know. I just heard that, too. It was the sound of speechlessness. Of pint glasses slipping from hands in cinematic slow-motion before shattering on the floor. Of beer droplets standing on the precipice of beards, beading on the end, as they decide whether or not to jump. Yes, beer drinkers, I went there. I just besmirched the mighty IPA. And no, I will not take it back.

It wasn’t always this way. The IPAs that came out 15-plus years ago, like Racer 5 and Lagunitas, were more balanced and inviting. Sure, they were hoppier and more bitter than other beers, but they weren’t assholes about it. And beer lists weren’t catered just toward them.

Sometime in the past decade, brewers decided beer wasn’t hoppy enough. They began one-upping each other, trying to see who could make a beer so hoppy that the drinker’s face would pucker up like an angry anus. They wanted to see whose beer could make it feel like your tonsils had been stomped out by a street gang.

They wanted to craft beer so hoppy that it would steal you soul.

That last part might be a little hyperbolic, but you get the point.

It needed to be said.

OH FER CRYIN’ OUT LOUD: UW-Madison Wants to Fight Systematic Oppression by…Abraham Lincoln?

THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Mattel withdraws kid-focused “smart hub” from market after complaints.

“Aristotle” was first shown off at CES earlier this year. The red-and-white device is meant to be kept in a child’s room where its WiFi-enabled camera acts primarily as a voice-controlled baby monitor. It can adjust lighting levels, noting when babies wake up and then playing a lullaby or turning on a night light.

The device also claimed to be able to extensively interact with a young child. It can recognize and answer questions, play games, do singalongs, and teach the ABCs. Aristotle’s voice-interaction capabilities are intended to be like a kid-centric version of Amazon’s Alexa.

Last week, two members of Congress sent a letter (PDF) to Mattel about the device.

“Never before has a device had the capability to so intimately look into the life of a child,” wrote Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). “Consumers should know how this product will work and what measures Mattel will take to protect families’ privacy and secure their data.”

Instead of answering those questions, Mattel has withdrawn the product.

I’d accept that as answer enough to Barton and Markey’s letter.

BYRON YORK: 10 reasons to stay calm about those Russia Facebook ads.

1) Of the group of 3,000 ads turned over to Congress by Facebook, a majority of the impressions came after the election, not before. Indeed, in a news release Monday, Facebook said 56 percent of the ads’ impressions came after the 2016 vote.

2) Twenty-five percent of the ads were never seen by anybody. (Facebook also revealed that Monday.)

3) Most of the ads, which Facebook estimates were seen by a total of 10 million people in the United States, never mentioned the election or any candidate. “The vast majority of ads run by these accounts didn’t specifically reference the U.S. presidential election, voting or a particular candidate,” Facebook said in a Sept. 6 news release.

4) A relatively small number of the ads — again, about 25 percent — were geographically targeted. (Facebook also revealed that on September 6.)

5) The ads that were geographically targeted were all over the map. “Of those that were targeted, numerous other locales besides Michigan and Wisconsin, including non-battleground states like Texas, were targeted,” the government official familiar with the ads said, via email.

6) Very few ads specifically targeted Wisconsin or Michigan. “Of the hundreds of pre-election ads with one or more impressions, less than a dozen ads targeted Michigan and Wisconsin combined,” the official said.

7) By and large, the ads targeting Michigan and Wisconsin did not run in the general election. “Nearly all of these Michigan and Wisconsin ads ran in 2015 and also ran in other states,” the official said.

8) The Michigan and Wisconsin ads were not widely seen. “The majority of these Wisconsin and Michigan ads had less than 1,000 impressions,” the official said.

9) The Michigan and Wisconsin ads (like those everywhere else) were low-budget. “The buy for the majority of these Michigan and Wisconsin ads (paid in rubles) was equivalent to approximately $10,” the official said.

10) The ads just weren’t very good. The language used in some of the ads “clearly shows the ad writer was not a native English speaker,” the official said. In addition, the set of ads turned over by Facebook also contained “clickbait-type ads that had nothing to do with politics.” And in general, the official’s view is that the ads simply were not terribly sophisticated, contrary to how they have been portrayed.

The eleventh reason: Russia wants us upset about these ads, in order to discredit the result of the election and to turn Americans against one another. In this effort, the Kremlin is being aided and abetted by high-level members of the Democratic Party.

THE VIEW FROM THE IVORY TOWER: Amherst College’s Condescending Class on Why Some Women Go ‘Right-Wing.’

MORE THAN TWO MILLION DEAD: A Hypothetical Nuclear Attack on Seoul and Tokyo – The Human Cost of War on the Korean Peninsula.

HMM: Over half of new cancer drugs ‘show no benefits’ for survival or wellbeing.

Forty-eight cancer drugs were approved by the European Medicines Agency between 2009 and 2013 for use as treatments in 68 different situations.

But the study, which looked at the clinical trials associated with the drugs, reveals that at the time the therapies became available there was no conclusive evidence that they improved survival in almost two-thirds of the situations for which they were approved.

In only 10% of the uses did the drugs improve quality of life. Overall 57% of uses showed no benefits for either survival or quality of life.

I’m dubious of medical studies coming from where medical spending is controlled by the state. That said, cancer treatment is still an area with more unknown-unknowns than anything else — so drug companies will hit more brick walls than make breakthroughs. The correct time to stop advancing is never.

YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER CASTING COUCH: 10 Noteworthy Twitter Reactions to the Harvey Weinstein Sexual Harassment Bombshell.

ACTUAL NEW YORK TIMES EXPLAINER HEADLINE: What Is the Iran Nuclear Deal? And Why Does Trump Hate It?

HMM: U.S. Nearing Contract With Boeing For Qatar F-15QAs.

Relations between the U.S. and Qatar were tested in June when Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar over its alleged support for terrorist organizations. U.S. President Donald Trump praised Saudi Arabia’s actions in a tweet on June 6, writing: “They said they would take a hard line on funding extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”

Five months on, Qatar remains shunned by its Gulf neighbors, but the process of hammering out an F-15 deal continues.

At the Paris Air Show in June, Boeing Defense, Space & Security CEO Leanne Caret said production of the 36 aircraft for Qatar would begin in 2019 at the company’s fighter factory in St. Louis.

So why sell such dangerous jets to such a troublesome country? Jobs, perhaps among other things.

Without Qatar, F-15 production would probably end. If the deal does go through, the line would stay open through 2022 and potentially longer if Qatar orders another batch of 12.

And Boeing may still be trying to drum up sales of its even-more advanced F-15 Silent Eagle. That’s already an expensive fourth-generation jet, about on par with the fifth-generation F-35. But the Silent Eagle would be even more expensive still if Boeing had to start back up closed production lines to produce it.

SNEAKY DEVIL: Article 9 and Japan’s missile defence dilemma.

At present, Japan’s missile defence strategy against North Korea is focussed on ensuring a successful interception of the No-Dong medium-range ballistic missile. In fact, it may be the only North Korean missile Japan’s Self-Defence Force can intercept under domestic law. The reason for this lies in the Japanese Constitution. Written in the aftermath of World War II, Article 9 stipulates that “Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.” In this sense, the Japanese Self-Defence Force is only allowed to defend against a foreign attack. This means that Japan can only intercept missiles that are due to land in its territory. Any other missile cannot be intercepted as it would constitute a “use of force as means of settling international disputes” that do not explicitly involve Japan. That is why Japan’s missile defences are based upon interception of the No-Dong.

After understanding these legal constraints upon the Japanese Self-Defence Force, it becomes clear why North Korea’s latest missile test was so provocative. The Hwasong-12 has an optimal firing range of around 4,500 kilometres which means that North Korea will probably never fire the missile at Japan. It would be much more likely for North Korea to try and fire it over Japan en route to another destination. This is where the test of the Hwasong-12 comes in to play. By firing the missile over Japan, North Korea calculated that Japan’s elaborate missile defences would sit idle and increase the chances of a successful test. According to the Yonhap News Agency, the Hwasong-12 flew 550 kilometres above Japanese territory which meant it navigated 450 kilometres above the upper threshold of Japan’s airspace. Japan could not legally intercept the missile and North Korea likely gleaned a lot of useful data. In short, the aforementioned missile test was a rational calculation from Pyongyang.

Li’l Kim is shooting his missiles through a loophole in Japan’s Article 9. So perhaps Japan needs to have a very public debate, aimed squarely at Beijing, about altering or abolishing it.

MIZZOU JUST NEVER LEARNS: No matter how low their enrollment dips, Mizzou keeps doubling down on the social justice nonsense.

My old school doesn’t seem to be teaching much anymore, either.

BIG BADDA-BOOM: Why Tactical Nuclear Weapons Are Still A Thing.

Tactical nukes are a vital part of the deterrence mix. If Superpower A only has strategic nukes, then Rogue Nation B might be tempted to risk using a tactical nuke (or chemical weapon) of his own, gambling that Superpower A wouldn’t risk Global Thermonuclear War over a non-strategic nuclear matter. If Superpower A has the ability to respond in a “smaller” way, more in kind, and with less risk of escalation, then Rogue Nation B ought to be deterred into keeping their nukes holstered.

DAILY MAIL: Hillary supporter Harvey Weinstein thinks a ‘right wing conspiracy out to get me’ is reason he has been revealed as serial sexual harasser.

The Hollywood mogul thinks that shadowy right wing forces are ‘out to get me’ and that he is being targeted for his liberal views.

In an echo of his close friend Hillary Clinton’s notorious claim that ‘a vast right-wing conspiracy’ was out to get her and her husband, the Democratic supporter is making the claim to those around him – despite his admission

Weinstein believes a team of lawyers linked to conservative groups have been digging up dirt on him and that other prominent Democrat supporters will be attacked next.

The Oscar-winning founder of film company Miramax was accused of reaching at least eight settlements with women for inappropriate behaviour going back three decades in a bombshell investigation by the New York Times.

He is said to have asked Ashley Judd to watch him shower and paid Rose McGowan $100,000 under a settlement for an incident shortly before her breakthrough role in ‘Scream’.

The right wing is deeply sorry for having dressed up as Weinstein and forcing Ashley Judd to watch us shower, and we regret the error.

SENATOR TOM COTTON: ‘Willing’ to Give Administration, Allies More Than 60 Days to Try for ‘Better’ Iran Deal.

RELATED, FROM STEPHEN HAYES AND MICHAEL WARREN: The art of decertifying the Iran deal.

What happens after decertification is a precarious balancing act if the president hopes to succeed in renegotiating a better deal that achieves the U.S. goal of preventing a nuclear Iran. There are a lot of things Trump and his administration could do to try to improve the deal before deciding whether to scrap it altogether. As Mark Dubowitz and David Albright put it in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, these include: designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, slapping Iranian companies and organizations with new non-nuclear sanctions allowed under the JCPOA, insisting on making permanent the “sunset clauses” that only temporarily restrict Iran’s nuclear program and testing, and demanding thorough and complete inspections of Iranian facilities to ensure compliance. In his Council on Foreign Relations speech, Tom Cotton echoed these ideas.

Success on this post-decertification route will require working closely with Congress, negotiating with European allies who have economic interests in Iran and want to expand them, and follow-through and commitment on the part of the administration. John Bolton tells TWS he’s highly skeptical of the news reports of this plan. “What’s been described is an incoherent policy mishmash,” says Bolton, who was candid in his criticism of Tillerson, Mattis, and McMaster’s guidance of the president toward recertification back in July. “If they failed to present the president with the full range of policy options, it is—and I say this wittingly—a dereliction of duty.” If Trump begins to feel this way again, he could upend the difficult path forward for improving the deal.

It’s the worst of all possible deals, locked in by Russian and Chinese intransigence and our own foreign policy and national security establishments.

Thanks, Obama.

RENT-SEEKERS GOTTA SEEK RENTS: Despite a May ruling declaring the ban unconstitutional, Wisconsin continued to target home bakers.

According to the state attorney-general’s office, Judge Duane Jorgenson’s ruling only applied to the three women who had challenged the baked-good rules in court: Dela Ends, Lisa Kivirist, and Kris Marion, all farmers and bakers who wanted the right sell homemade goods directly to consumers. They filed a lawsuit last year with help from the nonprofit Institute for Justice (IJ).

Today, Jorgenson issued an opinion clarifying that no, the ruling was not limited to letting Ends, Kivirist, and Marion peddle home-baked foods, but applied to all entrepreneurs like them in the state.

“This is more than a win for us home-based bakers,” said Kivirist, “it’s recognition that all small businesses have the right to earn an honest living free from irrational government regulation.”

Kudos to Judge Jorgenson for delivering a swift kick to the state attorney general’s office behind, which seems to be in thrall to Big Bakeries.

THE WALKING DEEP STATE DEAD: The rotting corpse of Wisconsin’s John Doe investigation still stinks.

You may recall the two John Doe investigations of Scott Walker, his supporters and almost the entire Wisconsin conservative movement. It was a nasty, vicious investigation which saw military-style raids in the middle of the night.

There was John Doe No. 1, investigating Scott Walker’s time as Milwaukee County Executive. They never came up with any wrongdoing by him.

Then there was John Doe No. 2, regarding Walker’s alleged unlawful collusion with conservative groups during the recall election. It is John Doe No. 2 that has generated litigation over several years. In the end, every court that ruled on the issue found that the entire prosecution legal theory was legally unfounded — that even if these conservative groups did what they were alleged to have done, it was constitutionally protected speech and not illegal.

Lives were ruined over an attempt to punish constitutionally protected speech by conservatives.

Read the whole thing.