HMM: New Harvard Research Says U.S. Christianity Is Not Shrinking, But Growing Stronger.

New research published late last year by scholars at Harvard University and Indiana University Bloomington is just the latest to reveal the myth. This research questioned the “secularization thesis,” which holds that the United States is following most advanced industrial nations in the death of their once vibrant faith culture. Churches becoming mere landmarks, dance halls, boutique hotels, museums, and all that.

Not only did their examination find no support for this secularization in terms of actual practice and belief, the researchers proclaim that religion continues to enjoy “persistent and exceptional intensity” in America. These researchers hold our nation “remains an exceptional outlier and potential counter example to the secularization thesis.”

Stay tuned. My University of Tennessee colleague Rosalind Hackett has long argued that the big religious story of the 21st Century wasn’t going to be Islam, but Christianity. Plus: “Put high fertility and [faith] retention rates together with general population decline and you have a potent formula for change.”

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: Orgasm shot anyone? This bride-to-be swears it works wonders. I have a doc friend who does this procedure, and swears it’s amazingly effective.

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Ridiculous licensing rules are holding back people who want to work.

CHANGE: Leaked document shows White House plan for major rural infrastructure program. “White House officials are expected to unveil an infrastructure plan next week that will largely focus on improving rural economies through improved transportation, internet access, and other resources, according to a leaked document. The $1 trillion plan circulated by the Trump administration, which Axios obtained on Monday, would allocate 25 percent of the total appropriation to a rural infrastructure program in parts of the U.S. that currently lack high-speed internet and public transit, and whose roads and bridges are in disrepair. The program would also aim to improve water supply and maritime ports in areas where both are lacking. . . . Trump has long talked about pursuing a bipartisan infrastructure plan that would address structurally deficient transportation systems and roads, curb traffic congestion in major metropolitan areas, among other proposals. Sources close to the White House have said the plan would aim to reduce federal government spending on infrastructure and encourage private investments.”

DC MCALLISTER: As Trevor Noah Proves, the Left Just Can’t Stop Lying About Racism.

THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA IS NOT DONALD TRUMP:

The 45th president’s first year has in fact been a very good year for the country. By the time those 12 months were up, the unemployment rate was the lowest the country had seen in 18 years, and the number of new filings for unemployment benefits was at a 45-year record low. Even black Americans were doing better under Trump than they did under the first black president: by the start of 2018 the black unemployment rate was the lowest it had been since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping count. For all that his enemies insist that Trump’s electoral appeal was really about race, in 2016 Trump made jobs the centrepiece of campaign. And now Americans are working again in numbers not seen since the tail end of the booming 1990s.

Wall Street has also enjoyed a sustained rally since Trump became president. . . .

Donald Trump is only the beginning of a populist retrenchment, one that faces great adversity from a well-entrenched globalist political class.

And that, rather than anything to do with Trump’s presidency, is what has gone horribly wrong in America. The broader ruling class in the country, the wealthy and politically connected, the best educated and most widely heard, have abandoned their countrymen. The very concept of citizenship, to say nothing of placing one’s fellow citizens above those whose loyalties are to other states and cultures, has fallen out of vogue among America’s most privileged. The nation and the citizen have been the core of Donald Trump’s appeal-the common denominator in his emphasis on immigration, jobs, industry, and America First in foreign policy—yet even within his own party, the globalist ideology of the 1990s staggers on. This, and not Donald Trump’s temperament or tweets, is the real menace to the country: an elite that has lost the trust of the people because the people knows what the elite will not admit—namely, that it despises them.

Yes, America — and the West in general — has been ruled by people who, at core, don’t very much like the countries they rule. But they do like ruling them, and will do anything they can to keep doing it.

YOUR DAILY TREACHER: Dan Rather Is Tanned, Rested, and Ready To Report Stuff That May or May Not Be True.

BRAVE SIR ROBIN: Comedian Greg Proops Calls Conservatives Nazis, Then Hides.

It’s different when the hecklers aren’t easily cowed drunks.

TAMARA KEEL reports on holsters.

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Can Sexbots Be Transgender?

ANOTHER REASON NOT TO TRUST THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Nokia will disable the key feature of its priciest scale.

Nokia has announced that it will be disabling the headline of feature of its Body Cardio scale in a software update. The scale was sold with the ability to track Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV), essentially measuring the speed at which your blood flows through your veins. The slower and more constant the speed, the healthier you are, and vice versa. In a statement, the company said that the feature “may require a different level of regulatory approval,” possibly risking the wrath of regulators.

Like most smart scales, the FDA initially considered the scale as a “wellness device,” requiring little in the way of scrutiny. In the last two years, however, something must have changed for the company to suddenly row back on both selling the device, and deactivating existing units. Users are told that they are unable to opt out of the software update, which is coming on January 24th. In addition, the device itself has been withdrawn from sale until such time as the hardware can be altered.

Owners paid an $80 premium for the scales, and will reportedly receive a full refund if they return them, or a $30 refund if they chose to keep them after they’ve been gelded.

HIE THEE TO THE FAINTING COUCH: Wow! Trump Campaign Releases Ad Saying Dems ‘Complicit’ in Murders by Illegals.

I just wonder what Katie Steinle’s parents and all the parents of people murdered by illegals think of Trump using their child’s death for political purposes.

The ad was posted on YouTube the day the shutdown began so it has nothing to do with that. But Ryan’s  “not necessarily productive” comment is an understatement. The ad is like tossing a stick of dynamite into the negotiating room. I don’t think it will put the Democrats in the mood to cooperate in ending the shutdown.

If this ad is a preview of the 2020 campaign, I’d recommend you dust off  your waders and be prepared for the mother of all sh*tstorms.

Wow, you mean Trump will continue to speak about Democrats using the same tone they reserved for Republicans for decades? Somebody pass me the smelling salts, quick.

BRICKS & MORTAR & CONSTANT SURVEILLANCE: Amazon Go debuts, and its prying cameras foil our shoplifting attempts.

BUT IT OFFERS EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAFT: California high speed rail is doomed and ultimately will cost $19.5 billion to repay in bonds including interest.

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Ridiculous licensing rules are holding back people who want to work.

THE OLYMPICS WON’T LAST FOREVER: The USAF maintains its Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) mission in U.S. Pacific Command. This B-1B was photographed in December returning from an exercise in Australia. Earlier this month three B-2s deployed to Guam (linked photo dates from September). This B-52 deployed last week (photo previously linked). Since North Korean athletes are participating in the games, everyone expects the Kim regime to behave. But what happens if Pyongyang rattles a saber? Though unlikely, it could happen. So plan for it. The Pentagon frequently assigns heavy bombers “show of force” missions. A show of force mission is one way of rattling back.

UPDATE: Three B-2s is a significant “forward deployment” of that particular aircraft. Here’s one of the B-2s now on Guam. The B-52 in the photo above arrived as part of a group of six. The B-52s and B-1Bs usually deploy as groups of anywhere from four to 12 (or more) aircraft. The bombers rotate between Guam and their bases in the U.S.

MICHAEL WALSH: About that “blue wave” fantasy the Democrats have been hugging tightly as they cry themselves to sleep at night…

CRIME OF THE CENTURY: Doughnut-eating champ charged with stealing from Dunkin’.

STACY TABB DESIGNED INSTAPUNDIT, AND SHE DESIGNS A LOT OF OTHER STUFF TOO. Check out her online store for Boondock Studios.

FASTER, PLEASE: Stable antibodies enable vast improvements to medical diagnostics and treatment in disaster-stricken areas.

RAMESH PONNURU: Get Rid of U.S. Government Shutdowns Forever.

There’s no law of nature that requires the federal government to run at partial capacity when Congress and the president can’t agree on a budget bill. Long ago Congress could have passed, and a president could have signed, a law stipulating how the government would operate in case of such a disagreement.

Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio has been trying for years to enact such a law. During the last shutdown, in 2013, he got a floor vote on an amendment for an “automatic continuing resolution.” If no appropriations bill were signed into law, the affected programs would keep running at their existing spending levels for the next 120 days. If no bill had passed by then, spending would be cut by 1 percent. Another 1 percent cut would be made every 90 days after that.

The amendment was defeated on a nearly party-line vote, with Portman’s fellow Republicans supportive and the Democrats opposed. Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat who at the time ran the Appropriations Committee, made two main arguments against the idea.

The real solution to shutdowns, according to the former senator, was not to change the budget rules but to agree on time to appropriations bills. She added that Portman’s idea was not just unnecessary but dangerous. It would be “draconian” to let those 1 percent cuts compound.

Every cut, no matter how small, is draconian. And every increase, no matter how large, is inadequate.

POSTMODERN FEMINISM: Oxford University extends time for maths and computer science exams in bid to help women get better grades.

Oxford University has extended time for maths and computer science exams in a bid to help women get better grades.

Undergraduates were given 105 minutes to complete their papers, rather 90.

There was no change in difficulty or the length of questions and female students were said to do better as a result.

Dons trialed the changes to allow women to achieve higher results, with just seven female maths finalists achieving firsts last year compared with 45 men.

The proposals were put forward to reduce the ‘undue effects of time pressure’ which the prestigious university believe effects women more than men, reports the Sunday Times.

The message from Oxford is clear: Women can’t keep up with men in math. The university is also doing its female math students the serious disservice of teaching them that time constraints don’t apply — a notion which the real world will disabuse them of without pity.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: U.S. Doctors Plan to Treat Cancer Patients Using CRISPR.