JEFF JACOBY: The U.S. is still #1 in all that matters.

But the Obama administration is doing its level best to change that....

NYC MAYOR DEBLASIO gets a vote of confidence from the police union.

Sarcasm intended.

MORE PROOF PROGRESSIVES ARE NUTS: Seven Insane Christmas Shopping Tips from the PC Police.

THE ONLY REASON to assume the government hasn't shut down is that politicians are still getting paid.

PROGRESSIVES: "They're just not making [up] reality they way they used to."

More on the moonbattery from PowerLine.

FIRST IT WAS RACISM; then it was feminism; now it's "partyism":

Partyism’ is a form of hostility and prejudice that operates across political lines. For example, some Republicans have an immediate aversive reaction to Democrats, so much so that they would discriminate against them in hiring or promotion decisions, or in imposing punishment.

Let's face it; progressives are nuts.

MORE ON RACISM: Why does the government hate Indians Native Americans?

VODKAPUNDIT: Racism is still a Lefty pastime.

PERHAPS AFTER HE'S FULLY (FINALLY?) RETIRED, Obama can become an ESPN sports commentator....

JUAN WILLIAMS: White liberal hypocrisy revealed in all its glory. Williams is an honest liberal, which is probably why he was fired from NPR.

SLATE: There’s no way Bush and Cheney didn’t know about the CIA'S EIT program.

Since both former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney have both stated that they knew and approved of the 'enhanced interrogation techniques' from the outset, this article appears to be Slate's attempt to assure that moron remains firmly established within the bounds of the word 'oxymoron'.

ENHANCED TECHNIQUES WORK: The truth about interrogation.

Jason Beale's report is here.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES is up this morning. Given Sen. Diane Feinstein's "Torture Report", this has to be the picture of the week:

There are many more; all are good, most are funny. Go view them.

THE STUPID, it is strong here. And getting stronger, and not just in Sweden.

INSTAPUNDIT: Not a formula for progress.

The Greens and the Luddites got power, just as Nixon initiated the Regulatory Explosion that brought us OSHA, EPA, and various new regulatory regimes, even as money was being diverted to transfer payments to people who didn’t produce anything except votes — from funding the X-15 to funding Section 8.

Instapundit summarized well; now go read the rest.

POWERLINE on 'knowable unknowables'.

MEDICAID IS BROKEN and expansion won't fix it. What isn't mentioned is that the same is becoming true of Medicare as well.

AMMO GRRRLL returns with a welcome to Planet Diversity.

UNEXPECTEDLY, OF COURSE: Obama opens fraud-ridden benefits programs to illegal immigrants.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: Obamacare is working so well it should probably be renamed. 'Edsel' comes to mind....