ANOTHER HIT: Raytheon SM-6 intercepts ballistic missile target in key test of the ballistic missile defense system.

THE WORLD needs ethical killer robots.

INSTAPUNDIT (Glenn Reynolds) polled his readers for preferences both before and after Thursday's first Republican debate. Here's the pre-debate preference poll:

Now here's the post-debate poll, and be prepared for a surprise.

Carly Fiorina gained 19 points, to 35% from 16%. Scott Walker lost 17 points, down to 23% from 40%. Of the remaining candidates, Rubio was up 3%, Perry down 3%, and the other candidates barely moved.

I've been impressed with Fiorina from the get-go; now I'm even more impressed. She has the potential to be England's Margaret Thatcher and America's Ronald Reagan all rolled into one.

[Update] And Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel; I forgot her.

REPUBLICAN 'OLD GUARD' pushes back against Cruz and Lee.

Let's get real - the 'divisiveness' of which Sen. Hatch (R-UT) decries is a direct consequence of six years of then-Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Democrat leadership. Lack of decorum is not the problem; a return of decorum is not the solution.

Cruz and Lee are doing what is necessary, if not pretty.

IT'S TIME to end life tenure on the Supreme Court.

GOOD QUESTION: What happens when science allows us to abort a baby if it has the 'gay gene'? I had asked the same basic question in some earlier posts.

NASA IMAGINES a drone of your own.

"I see a time when every home will have a drone. You're going to use a drone to do rooftop inspections. You're going to be able to send a drone to Home Depot to get a screw driver," said Parimal Kopadekar, manager of NASA's Safe Autonomous System Operations Project at Ames Research Center.

Perfect. I've got a second-floor gutter on my new home that badly needs inspecting....

ANDREW KLAVAN: Who helped themselves in GOP debate, and who ought to drop out.

With the possible exception of John Kasich, I agree with Klavan's assessment. And I especially agree with his assessment of Carly Fiorina, so much so that I'm linking to this must-watch [MSNBC] video.

WHY PROGRESSIVES CONTINUE TO FAIL: Contrary to progressive belief, human nature can't be changed.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, post-debate edition, is up. My favorite is this one:

Of the other 'clean energy' cartoons, I'd suggest the unicorn power one is the more realistic.

FROM MY EMAIL. Mayor refuses to remove pork from school cafeteria menu:

Muslim parents demanded the abolition of pork in all the school canteens of a Montreal suburb. The mayor of the Montreal suburb of Dorval has refused, and the town clerk sent a note to all parents to explain why.

Muslims must understand that they have to adapt to Canada and Quebec, its customs, its traditions, and its way of life, because that's where they chose to immigrate.

Muslims must understand that they have to integrate and learn to live in Quebec. They must understand that it is for them to change their lifestyle not the Canadians who, so generously, welcomed them.

Muslims must understand that Canadians are neither racist nor xenophobic. Canada accepted many immigrants before Muslims showed up (whereas the reverse is not true, in that Muslim states do not accept non-Muslim immigrants).

Just like other nations, Canadians are not willing to give up their identity or their culture.

And, if Canada is a land of welcome, it's not the Mayor of Dorval who welcomes foreigners, but the Canadian-Quebecois people as a whole.

Finally, they must understand that in Canada (Quebec) with its Judeo-Christian roots, Christmas trees, churches and religious festivals, religion must remain in the private domain.

The municipality of Dorval was right to refuse any concessions to Islam and Sharia.

For Muslims who disagree with secularism and do not feel comfortable in Canada, there are 57 beautiful Muslim countries in the world, most of them under-populated and ready to receive them with open halal arms in accordance with Sharia.

If you left your country for Canada, and not for other Muslim countries, it is because you have considered that life is better in Canada than elsewhere. We will not let you drag Canada down to the level of those 57 countries.

Ask yourself this question - just once: "Why is it better here in Canada than where you come from? A canteen with pork on the menu is part of the answer.

If you came to Canada with the idea that you will displace us with your prolific propagation and eventually take over the country, you should pack up and go back to the country you came from. We have no room here for you and your ideology.

About time. Unfortunately, common sense seems to be limited to Canada.

I WANT ONE:

NEW STUDY finds feedback loop between air travel and climate change:

By analyzing 34 global climate models, [researchers] found that global warming is expected to increase average west-to-east winds. They calculated that such a change would add about 5.5 flying hours to each daily round-trip, per carrier, per route, per year. For all four airlines, that added up to an annual cost of US$1.4 million on fuel and 4.6 million kg of carbon dioxide emissions.

Except that they forgot that west-to-east flights are correspondingly more efficient and thus emit less CO2.

Junk 'science'.

CAMPAIGN 2016: Democrats should be terrified of Scott Walker. Here's why:

No Republican has ever defeated an Obama or a Clinton, and both will be campaigning to assure none ever will. Scott Walker, however, is the only candidate that has defeated their tactics. Unanswerable public sector unions and their overburdening costs and pensions are bankrupting the country both economically and educationally. For too long they had they’ve had free reign of the asylum, negotiating sweetheart deals with their well-puppeteered marionette politicians and torching every opponent that has stood in their way. All except one. As of today, Scott Walker becomes Public Enemy Number One.

This was originally posted before the Thursday night debate, and while Walker isn't my Number 1 candidate, he's still high on the list. I thought his performance in the debate was solid, but not memorable, and I'm waiting for him to clarify his positions on immigration and foreign policy.