UNWISE LATINA: Supreme Court justice Sotomayor slyly encourages anti-Trump protests to continue.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Just saw this on Facebook:

TRICKLE DOWN: Facebook plans to boost UK headcount by 50% as gov’t signals corporate tax rate cut.

Reducing corporate taxes increases jobs and investment — who knew?

ANALYSIS: TRUE. If there was a demand for smart guns, they would already be on the market.

Last week the Department of Justice released guidelines for smart-gun manufacturers. Obama has made “gun safety” a priority during his second term as president and since the Congress is in the control of the Republicans, he has been unable to pass any gun control legislation. The Democrats controlled both the Senate and the House during part of Obama’s first term, but the President chose not to make any gun control moves, probably because gun control doesn’t play well at the ballot box. As with other unsavory political issues rejected by the population, Obama has turned to his imaginary executive power to curb gun violence and pushing the smart gun is one misguided way to do that.

A “smart gun” is a gun that will only fire when an authorized user tries to use it. Theoretically.

The new guidelines are voluntary, so they are useless.

You might think the Obama Administration had learned something about the futility of using the federal government to conjure up profitable markets by fiat or subsidy or mandate, but no.

CHANGE MORE OF THE SAME: Democrats Should Dump Pelosi, Abandon Ellison for DNC.

Few have stepped up to question why the party would elevate Ellison, who has a past connection to Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam and famously compared the 9/11 attacks to the Reichstag Fire. Though Ellison, an African-American who is the first Muslim to serve in Congress, later walked back his involvement with the Nation of Islam by agreeing the group was anti-Semitic, he would be an easy target for a party that can no longer win the heartland. Breitbart, no shock, has labeled Ellison a “radical leftist.”

While enough nervous members of Pelosi’s caucus pushed to delay leadership elections until after Thanksgiving — a sign of younger members’ concern over re-electing the woman they hoped would relinquish her post — it doesn’t appear that a challenge by Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio can prevail. The former speaker, and first female to hold the title, insists she still enjoys support from two-thirds of her colleagues.

Meanwhile, David Brock is forming a network of big donors to attack Trump throughout his term. This is hard-core denial. After watching the GOP reach its peak power since the 1920s, introspection and accountability seem to be in order, but Democrats are struggling to muster the requisite dose.

Ellison’s elevation indicates that the Democrats have “learned nothing and forgotten nothing” from the last few election cycles. And Pelosi’s leadership has been an absolute disaster for Congressional Democrats.

This is the almost-inevitable result of the Democrats having their elected officeholders whittled down to the party’s radical “Progressive” core.

DID OBAMA HAVE TO “EARN” HIS? Al Hunt: Trump Needs to Earn His Mandate.

If it weren’t for double standards…

WAR FOR AGAINST OIL: Police clash with North Dakota pipeline protesters, arrest one.

I’d like to see the Trump Administration investigate into where these groups get their funding.

PORN STAR SYDNEY LEATHERS: ‘I’m Sorry’ for Helping Elect Donald Trump.

SAFE SPACE: Obama exudes calm about Trump as Democrats fret.

Each time Air Force One landed in another foreign capital, cellphones buzzed and White House officials’ faces fell as the latest news came in about Trump’s team-in-waiting: First, Steve Bannon, former head of the far-right outlet Breitbart News, as chief White House strategist, then retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who has said Islam is a “cancer,” to be national security adviser.

And as Obama was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, flying to Lima, Trump picked immigration hard-liner Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and national security hawk Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA chief.

Taken together, the selections deflated the hopes in the White House that Trump, faced with the awesome duty of running the nation, might tone it down after the campaign.

Of all the Trump’s choices, White House officials said it was the selection of Flynn that felt like the most devastating blow, given the immense authority the national security adviser has over matters of war and peace.

As I wrote here last week, Flynn rankles all the right people.

HOW CAN WE MISS HIM IF HE WON’T GO AWAY? Obama: I’ll weigh in on Trump’s presidency if necessary.

2016, MAN: Monkey attack in Libya sparks tribal clashes that kill more than a dozen.

FRACKERS SMILE: Putin Optimistic About OPEC Deal, Russia Is Ready to Freeze.

If Russia or OPEC seriously believe that $100 oil is coming back, they ought to pay a visit to Texas or North Dakota.

MAD DUCK: Obama Seeks to Fortify Iran Nuclear Deal.

The Obama administration is considering new measures in its final months in office to strengthen the landmark nuclear agreement with Iran, senior U.S. officials said, with President-elect Donald Trump’s first appointments foreshadowing an increasingly rocky road for the controversial deal.

Action under consideration to buttress the pact includes steps to provide licenses for more American businesses to enter the Iranian market and the lifting of additional U.S. sanctions.

This deal keeps getting worse all the time.

JAYVEE UPDATE: Iraq Shi’ite paramilitaries close to cutting Mosul supply route.

Six weeks into the U.S.-backed offensive on Mosul, Islamic State is fighting in the area of Tal Afar, 60 km (40 miles) to the west, against a coalition of Iranian-backed groups known as Popular Mobilisation.

Cutting the western road to Tal Afar would seal off Mosul as the city is already surrounded to the north, south and east by Iraqi government and Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The government’s U.S.-trained Counter Terrorism Service unit breached Islamic State’s defenses at the end of October and is fighting to expand a foothold it gained on the eastern side of Mosul.

The road to Tal Afar is no longer safe, said a truck driver who used it two days ago to bring in fruit and vegetables from Raqqa, Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold.

Well, good.

FINANCE: Invest in Whiskey, It’s Better Than Gold.

It certainly drinks better.

TRANSPARENCY: Dad Has to Find Out About Daughter’s School Bus Accident From Facebook.

ROAD WARRIOR: OHP trooper arrests man for driving 208 mph on Oklahoma turnpike.

The patrol says Trooper Ryan Smith pulled over the man Saturday on the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City. Authorities say the man was driving a Ford Mustang and the trooper’s radar clocked the car at 176 mph and then 208 mph.

Authorities say the driver attempted to elude the state trooper — turning off his headlights and brake lights at one point — but he was eventually pulled over at a red light. The highway patrol says the driver stopped his car and dropped his keys out of the window.

The highway patrol says the driver was arrested on complaints of reckless driving and felony eluding.

Extremely poor judgement, but maybe a helluva ad for Ford’s Mustang.

LET ME LIVE THAT FANTASY: Buckingham Palace Renovation Plan Unveiled With $458 Million Price Tag.

“Buckingham Palace is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and this program is designed to extend its working life by a further 50 years,” said Tony Johnstone-Burt, the master of the queen’s household. “The program addresses parts of the structure you can’t see from the outside: the plumbing, electrics and other essential building services which have gone six decades without a comprehensive upgrade.”

Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain’s monarch since 1837.

The upgrades will replace “miles of aging cables, lead pipes and electrical wiring,” but what about the wifi?

ENTREPRENEURS TO TRUMP: Don’t take away our Obamacare.

The President-elect’s promise to repeal Obamacare next year has left these small business owners fearful that they will have to dismantle everything they’ve worked for and return to the corporate sector just to remain insured.

The Obama administration is also playing up Obamacare’s role in entrepreneurship as it seeks to promote the health reform law’s importance to Americans.

“We’re hearing from consumers who value the protections that [the Affordable Care Act] brings, but also about the economic freedom that the coverage has given them,” said Andy Slavitt, acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees Obamacare.

War is peace. Ignorance is strength. Freedom is mandates.

The U.S. business formation rate — i.e., entrepreneurship — has been on the decline for 40 years, and business startups by the 20-34 demographic fell off the cliff the year after ObamaCare was signed into law.

THAT ’70S SHOW: Inflation is Coming… And Here’s Why.

It’s important to note that it’s only a matter of time before the end of the global PPI deflation cycle feeds into US prices and boosts the CPI. While the media has all but ignored this South Korean PPI chart, it’s a rather significant development. Goods deflation in the US is coming to an end.

While the dollar rally will continue creating a drag on US inflation, the dollar wasn’t the main culprit of disinflationary pressures over the past couple of years. Inflation fell sharply around the world – even in countries whose currencies didn’t strengthen. Many point to deflation being “imported” from Asia, particularly China. And now China’s (and South Korea’s) wholesale deflation, which has been in place since 2012, is finally over.

That’s why US inflation expectations continue to move higher.

The Fed has tried unsuccessfully for a decade to induce inflation. Now that the beast is finally escaping, that very same Fed thinks they can keep it tame enough to give us just the “right amount” of inflation.

ASIA PIVOT: Latin American Leaders Open Door to Tighter China Trade Ties.

SHOT: Pentagon plagiarized Wikipedia in report to Congress.

CHASER: Will Trump really purge Obama’s generals?

We can certainly hope so.

CHANGE: This Ohio Town Voted For Obama By Huge Margins. Then It Flipped To Trump.

Surely racism is to blame… somehow.

MILITARY EXPERTS: Trump Defense Spending Plans Would Break the Budget.

Over 18 months of campaign stops, stump speeches, and debates, President-elect Donald Trump rarely detailed his plans for the U.S. military, other than pledging to use it as a blunt object to hammer the Islamic State and other foreign extremist groups that threaten the United States.

But there is much more to his national security vision, and it involves tens of thousands of new troops, dozens of ships and hundreds of warplanes. Defense experts said the plans would cost almost $100 billion more than the Pentagon has currently budgeted for Trump’s first term, an amount that would require Congress to change laws setting budget caps for the Pentagon.

Still unknown, however, is where that money would come from, given Trump’s other plans to slash taxes while keeping many entitlement programs intact and also embarking on a $1 trillion infrastructure improvement program.

“I see big deficits in our future,” said long-time budget analyst Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Military spending as a share of GDP is at or near post-WWII lows — and shrinking. Washington tax revenues are approaching $3.5 trillion annually, yet 2017 is still expected to see a half a trillion dollar deficit, even without increasing military spending.

Social Security spending now dwarfs military spending, and health care and Medicare combined make up an even larger fraction of the budget. “Income Security” spending has also eclipsed the Pentagon’s budget, minus warfighting expenses for “Overseas Contingency Operations,” in Obama-speak.

Military spending isn’t busting the budget, and wouldn’t under Trump’s plan, either. Entitlement spending is far larger (in nominal dollars and as a percentage of GDP) than it was during the Great Depression — and growing, endlessly. This is despite seven-plus years of “recovery” purchased from future generations for the low, low price of $9 trillion in new debt, and trillions more in Federal Reserve funny money.

The choice used to be between guns and butter. Today the choice is between butter and avoiding national ruin.

PROSECUTOR: No reasonable officer would have killed Castile.

Prosecutors say that when Philando Castile was pulled over in July, he calmly told the officer he had a gun and was licensed to carry it.

Moments later, the officer fired shots, and a bleeding Castile’s last words were: “I wasn’t reaching for it.”

On Wednesday, that officer was charged with second-degree manslaughter following an investigation by prosecutors, who concluded that Jeronimo Yanez was wrong to use his weapon in the traffic stop. Castile’s girlfriend streamed his final gruesome moments live on Facebook.

“No reasonable officer, knowing, seeing and hearing what officer Yanez did at the time, would’ve used deadly force under these circumstances,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said.

Prosecutors believe Castile never tried to pull his handgun from his pocket, and Yanez’s unreasonable fear did not justify the shooting, Choi said.

Has Yanez been declared to be a “white Hispanic” yet?