Homeland: President Obama spoke from the Oval Office last night to assure Americans that he’s handling the threat of international and domestic terrorism. “The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it,” he promised. “We will destroy ISIL (ISIS)and any other organization that tries to harm us.”

It was only the third time Obama has spoken from the Oval Office, an effort to signal the seriousness of his intent. But the result was far from inspiring or dramatic.

Obama offered no new strategy for dealing with the Islamic State. He said the US would continue bombing ISIS, supporting its opponents, and using special forces to target and destroy ISIS.

On the domestic front he renewed his request for Congress to make it illegal for anyone on the “no-fly” list to buy an assault rifle. And he added that it should be made harder for anyone in the US to buy a military-style weapon. He said it’s impossible to identify every potential mass murderer. “What we can do — and must do — is make it harder for them to kill.”

The president warned about what should not be done. “We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam,” He said. “That, too, is what groups like ISIL want.  ISIL does not speak for Islam.”

Investigators are still trying to figure out how the married couple behind the San Bernardino massacre turned into Muslim extremists. Obama said in his speech that, “So far, we have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home.”

Policing the Police. After revelations about the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, the Justice Department plans to investigate the patterns and practices of policing by the Chicago Police Department.

Police statements at the time said McDonald was approaching and threatening the lives of police officers, an explanation that was shown to be clearly untrue after video of the shooting was released by court order. But the police department and the city had suppressed the video for more than a year and charged the police officer who killed McDonald with murder only on the day the video was released.

It’s not uncommon for the Justice Department to put a police department under federal supervision for bad behavior. It’s happened in Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland, New Orleans and other cities.

Bill of Health: Only four months after announcing that cancer had spread to several parts of his body, former President Jimmy Carter said yesterday that he is cancer free. Carter had a poor prognosis after it was found that melanoma, a skin cancer, had spread to his liver and his brain. He was treated with a combination of radiation and chemo-therapy.

The Obit Page: Holly Woodlawn, the transgender actress who was part of the Andy Warhol “Factory” crowd in the 60s and 70s has died of cancer at age 69. She was the inspiration for Lou Reed’s song, “Walk on the Wild Side.”

The lyric:

“Holly came from Miami F-L-A,

Hitchhiked her way across the U.S.A.,

Plucked her eyebrows on the way,

Shaved her legs and then he was a she.

She said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.”

On the Grid: The Philadelphia Eagles shocked the New England Patriots 35-28 last night, handing the mighty Patriots their second loss in a row. New England was headed for a shellacking but managed to crawl back to within one touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Eagles, now 5-7 for the season, brought the Patriots down to 10-2.

The Carolina Panthers are the only undefeated team left in the NFL.

Centerfold: Playboy magazine has announced its final nude centerfold, a 26-year-old from the Republic of Georgia. According to the editors, Playboy will still feature “sexy, seductive pictorials of the world’s most beautiful women,” but they will have at least a few clothes on. It’s been described as the end of an era, but let’s wait to see the circulation numbers.

-30-