MORE COWBELL: The 5 Most Irritating Musicians and Bands.

BACKTRACK: Perry regrets saying he would abolish Energy Department.

“My past statements made over five years ago about abolishing the Department of Energy do not reflect my current thinking,” Perry said at his confirmation hearing Thursday to be secretary of Energy.

“In fact, after being briefed on so many of the vital functions of the Department of Energy, I regret recommending its elimination.”

It would have been better if he’d have stuck to his guns, if only to keep the Fear of God flowing through an entire cabinet-level department.

FINAL (?) NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: U.S. Bombers Hit Islamic State in Libya.

American B-2 bombers struck at multiple sites in Libya on Wednesday evening, hitting an Islamic State training camp and other locations and killing dozens of Islamic State fighters, according to Pentagon officials, in what represents a broadening of the U.S. war against the extremist group in northern Africa.

The Pentagon and coalition members in the fight against Islamic State in Libya were still assessing the impact of the strikes, but as many as 90 Islamic State fighters may have been killed, according to military officials.

The strikes occurred in the desert outside Sirte, Libya, a city where the Pentagon last month concluded an intense airstrike campaign against Islamic State. But even after Sirte had been judged to be clear of Islamic State fighters, some militants had escaped the coastal city to outlying areas.

It’s always nice to kill ISIS fighters, but sending high-value B-2 stealth bombers into a low-risk area seems like overkill.

THIS IS CNN: Daughter of close Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett will cover DOJ for CNN.

LET’S GROOVE: LGBT Activists Throw ‘Queer Dance Party’ at VP-Elect Pence’s House.

Sounds fun, but what did they hope to accomplish?

UPDATE: Word on Twitter is that the event only lasted half an hour, which officially makes this the worst-ever gay dance party at any location.

ANOTHER UPDATE (From Glenn): Don Surber in the comments for the win: “I always said gay people would be dancing in the streets with the election of President Trump. And I was right!”

HMM:

Every President since Bill Clinton promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, but none delivered for fear of offending Arab sensibilities.

THE CLASSIEST, MOST LUXURIOUS AXE: Trump team prepares dramatic cuts.

The departments of Commerce and Energy would see major reductions in funding, with programs under their jurisdiction either being eliminated or transferred to other agencies. The departments of Transportation, Justice and State would see significant cuts and program eliminations.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be privatized, while the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated entirely.

Overall, the blueprint being used by Trump’s team would reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years.

A trillion here and a trillion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real cuts.

OOPS: $1.9 billion Medi-Cal error adds to California deficit projection.

The administration discovered accounting mistakes last fall, but it did not notify lawmakers until the administration included adjustments to make up for the errors in Brown’s budget proposal last week. The Democratic governor called for more than $3 billion in cuts because of a projected deficit he pegged at $1.6 billion.

“There’s no other way to describe this other than a straight up error in accounting, which we deeply regret,” said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the Department of Finance.

The agency followed its normal practice by waiting to report the errors in the governor’s next budget, he said.

Brown’s deficit projection was driven by more than just the accounting error, Palmer said, noting that California tax collections came in below expectations for most of the first half of the fiscal year.

The massive hole in the Medi-Cal budget surprised state lawmakers.

It always does.

ELEANOR CLIFT: Hard-Luck Hillary Clinton’s Second Case of the Inaugural Blues.

Clinton made her own luck, and Clift’s column reads like “Why didn’t she win by 50 points?”

SCENES FROM SCOTT WALKER’S WISCONSIN: Wisconsin’s budget picture gets $714 million brighter.

Fiscal bureau director Bob Lang reported tax revenues are expected to be $455 million higher than what the Department of Administration projected in November. Also, spending in the current fiscal year that ends June 30 is expected to be $226 million lower — largely due to lower-than-expected Medicaid enrollment — and other revenues are expected to be $33 million higher.

That turns what was thought to be a $693 million deficit for the upcoming budget into a $21 million surplus, including all departmental budget requests.

It also adds more cushion to the state’s bottom line as it closes out the 2015-2017 budget cycle. Previously the net balance was about $40 million. The latest estimate has the state closing out the year with a $362.2 million ending balance.

The additional revenue helps explain why Gov. Scott Walker has been able to promise several additional spending proposals in his upcoming 2017-2019 budget proposal, such as a “significant increase” for K-12 schools, a University of Wisconsin tuition cut back-filled with state taxpayer dollars and $100 million more for local roads and rural broadband.

Wisconsin Democrats, to borrow a phrase, should be thanking him.

THIS IS CNN: Assassinating Trump Could Keep Obama Administration in Power.

S.E. CUPP: Democrats, please control yourselves: Trump derangement syndrome will not help win policy fights.

The meltdown comes to a crescendo on Friday, when more than 60 Democrats in Congress will boycott Trump’s inauguration, and on Saturday when millions are expected to gather at a Women’s March on Washington.

Snit fits about every little thing are not an effective way to oppose a President’s agenda.

Party leaders and activists don’t look defiant, resolved and unified; they look alarmingly insecure, weak and spastic.

In the immortal words of America’s poet — Miranda Lambert — “Run an’ hide your crazy and start acting like a lady.”

But it isn’t about policy. It’s about virtue signaling and the infantile joy of throwing a public tantrum.

WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL: Liberals Prepare for President Trump with Gun Purchases, ‘Prepping’

It’s possible to applaud them for exercising their constitutional rights, while also bemoaning the fact that ammo and firearms prices might not be coming down any time soon after all.

PRESIDENT ASH CARTER: I don’t support commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence.

CHANGEMENT? Le Pen Moves Into Lead in French Race, Le Monde Poll Shows.

The populist leader of the National Front had between 25 percent and 26 percent support compared with 23 percent to 25 percent for Republican candidate Francois Fillon, according to an Ipsos Sopra Steria poll for Cevipof and Le Monde. In mid December, Fillon led with about 28 percent and Le Pen around 25 percent.

Since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president on Nov. 8, the French race has been closely-watched as another crucial battle between populist and establishment forces. Under the French electoral system, the two leading candidates face each other in a run-off vote on May 7, presenting a significant hurdle to Le Pen. The poll didn’t include data for the second-round vote.

European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, a French Socialist, said in Davos Thursday that there’s little chance of Le Pen securing the broad support needed for victory.

“I’m not worried about Madame Le Pen being president,” Moscovici said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “I don’t want Madame Le Pen in power. Never, ever in my country.”

Le Pen has pledged to take France out of the euro if she wins.

After betting the country on an inept Socialist the last time around, don’t be too surprised if French voters make an abrupt volte-face.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Five Reasons Conservatives Must Support ‘Patriots Day.’

TILTING THE PLAYING FIELD: Google Uses Its Search Engine to Hawk Its Products.

A Wall Street Journal analysis found that ads for products sold by Google and its sister companies appeared in the most prominent spot in 91% of 25,000 recent searches related to such items; and 43% of the time, the top two ads both were for Google-related products.

The analysis, run by search-ad-data firm SEMrush, examined 1,000 searches each on 25 terms, from “laptops” to “speakers” to “carbon monoxide detectors.” SEMrush ran the searches Dec. 1 on a desktop computer, blocking past web-surfing history that could influence results.

The results show how Google uses its dominant search engine to boost other parts of its business and give it an edge over competitors, which include some of its biggest advertising customers.

A Google spokesman said the company has “consciously and carefully designed” its marketing programs not to affect other advertisers.

The Journal’s analysis highlights a rarely discussed apparent conflict of interest in the $187 billion digital-advertising industry: The leading sellers of online ad space, including Google, Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp., also compete with their customers for that space.

Google searches for “phones” virtually always began with three consecutive ads for Google’s Pixel phones. All 1,000 searches for “laptops” started with a Chromebook ad. “Watches” began with an Android smartwatch ad 98% of the time. And “smoke detector” led with back-to-back ads for internet-connected alarms made by Nest, a company owned by Google parent Alphabet. In all instances, the stores these ads pointed to were also owned by Alphabet.

There’s nothing wrong with a company hyping its own products and services, but smart shoppers might want to shop around for different search engines, too.

THAT’S NOT FUNNY, COMRADE: The People’s Cube Purged from Wikipedia.

UPDATE (From Glenn): It’s still up at the more free-speech-oriented InfoGalactic.

A CHANGE OF THE GUARD? Trump’s threat to the liberal ‘deep state’

There’s one last way in which Trump’s inauguration represents a return to politics, and that’s as a repudiation of the ideal of a politically neutral administrative state, run by a government of experts whose rules anonymous bureaucrats faithfully follow.

There were echoes of that in Andrew Jackson’s victory, for the unruly mob that had descended on Washington in 1829 was composed of office-seekers who had been promised patronage jobs in the new administration. And many of them got what they wanted, for Jackson introduced the “spoils system” in which career civil servants were replaced by political appointees.

Civil-service reform, beginning with the 1883 Pendleton Act, was supposed to protect us from Jacksonian politics, creating a merit system that tied the president’s hands in patronage appointments. That was meant to give us an efficient government, free of corruption, with rule by scientific experts.

Instead, we got rule by stale ideologues. Today, when the “deep state” of federal workers is so wholly opposed to Trump, and is so partisan in its opposition, when they’ll do whatever they can to frustrate Trump’s policies, there’s an argument to be made for a return to politics and an abandonment of our faith in rule by politically neutral experts.

The patronage system was corrupt to be sure, but it did bring in a new group of thieves with each new administration.

FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: Student group sues after members arrested for handing out copies of Constitution.

Come to think of it, “freedom’s charter” probably is a subversive document.

I’M SURE IT MUST: “Beer Yoga” Looks Even Weirder Than It Sounds.

Beer goes with everything.

THE H.R. POLICY MANUAL WOULD FILL A LIBRARY: Psychologists say you should masturbate at work.

CAN WE TALK? Sex Is Communication at a Biological Level.

Evidence from animal research and clinical studies has led researchers to conclude seminal fluid – the fluid sperm are bathed in following ejaculation – plays an important role in fertility.

Seminal fluid contains small molecules that act as biological signals. Once deposited in the vagina and the cervix of a woman, these persuade the woman’s immune system to adopt a profile that tolerates (that is, recognises and accepts) sperm proteins known as “transplantation antigens”.

The tolerant profile matters if fertilisation takes place. Immune cells recognise the same transplantation antigens on the developing baby, and so support the process through which the embryo implants into the wall of the uterus and forms a healthy placenta and fetus.

So over time, repeated contact with the same male partner acts to stimulate and strengthen a tolerant immune response to his transplantation antigens. The immune system of a woman responds to her partner’s seminal fluid to progressively build the chances of creating a healthy pregnancy over at least several months of regular sex.

That healthy bodies engaging in a healthy activity leads to a healthy outcome should come as no surprise.

CONGRESSMAN STEVE RUSSELL: U.S. military ‘completely broken’

Russell is an Army Ranger graduate who commanded infantry troops in Iraq. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.

He has been a foremost advocate for President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis.

“We’ve got a military that is completely broken, completely broken,” Russell said.

He said the first step in turning things around is giving the defense secretary post to Mattis.

“Let’s get him in there and get our military repaired,” Russell said.

Military cuts need to be restored and ISIS needs to be wiped out, he said.

“My goodness, the most humane thing we can do with regard to ISIS is to win. Let’s eliminate them.”

Completely broken — or fundamentally transformed?

STEPHEN HAYES: Obama’s Shameful Legacy.

There was a time, early in Barack Obama’s presidency, when it was considered outrageous to worry out loud that the new president might treat enemies better than allies, run down friends and elevate foes, show solidarity with anti-American leaders, maybe even release dangerous terrorists or sympathize with traitors.

And here we are.

Obama has accommodated leaders hostile to America, like Vladimir Putin in Russia and Bashar al-Assad in Syria. He strengthened a rogue regime in Iran and boosted despotic leaders in Cuba. At the same time, he chastised and isolated Israel and abandoned friendly governments in places like Afghanistan and Ukraine.

He’s freed from Guantanamo dozens of jihadists and high-ranking al Qaeda terrorists, including some who have promised to kill Americans upon their release, and he’s done this even as U.S. men and women in uniform and in the intelligence community fight and die to protect us from the threat that these enemies represent.

Read the whole thing.