AT AMAZON, January Savings in Winter Sports.

WHAT FEMINISM HAS DONE TO RELATIONSHIPS, IN A NUTSHELL: “Couple this with the fact that as women get on average more educated there are fewer hypergamically-eligible males at every SES, and you have the jaws of a vicious vise. It’s especially hard on high-status women and low-status men. The main beneficiaries are high-status men, who often behave like entitled assholes because the new rules tilt the playing field in their favor even more than the old ones did. . . . I don’t have a fix for this problem. As you imply, if women were able to coordinate a retreat to withholding early sex they would regain some of their lost bargaining power, but I don’t see any realistic possibility of this today. The problem is that the refuseniks from such an agreement trying to form, and the defectors after it formed, would be rewarded with more sex with high-status men, which is exactly what every player on the female side is instinctively wired to want.”

I know I linked to this essay by Eric S. Raymond last night, but it was worth breaking this out.

HERE’S TONIGHT’S OPEN THREAD: Enjoy each other’s company.

IT’S LIKE 100% MEDIA NEGATIVITY IS ALREADY PRICED-IN: After “Fire and Fury” and the “shithole” smear, Trump isn’t any less popular than before. “He seems to be even a little more popular.”

As people see that they were lied to about the tax bill “only helping the rich,” he’s likely to gain traction against the press.

“GANG VIOLENCE.” Swedish PM does not rule out use of army to end gang violence. “Sweden will do whatever it takes, including sending in the army, to end a wave of gang violence that has seen a string of deadly shootings, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in Wednesday. Sweden’s murder rate is relatively low in international terms, but gang violence has surged in recent years and Swedes are worried that the police are unable to cope.”

Weird that Sweden never had this problem until recently.

HISTORY: Fightin’ Iron: The Krag-Jørgensen Rifle.

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Andrea Mitchell: Dems Must Get Deal ‘Written in Blood’ to Avoid Shutdown.

Earlier today: “CBS This Morning co-host John Dickerson on Friday touted Democratic talking points regarding a government shutdown. Talking to Senator Cory Gardner, Dickerson tried to explain away demanding a DACA fix in return for keeping the government open. He lectured the Republican: ‘Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging.’”

Earlier:

• NBC’S RACHEL MADDOW SHOW SPARKED FBI INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH THREATS AGAINST MCCONNELL, PRUITT.
• Rand Paul: Recovery after attack ‘was a living hell.’
• Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History.
• FCC Chairman Ajit Pai canceled his appearance at CES because of death threats.
• Terry McAuliffe says he’d punch Trump: ‘You’d have to pick him up off the floor.’

As Steve says, come and see the violence inherent in the leftism.

HE’S A MARINE, THEY KNOW HOW TO LEG IT: Mattis Was Late For A Speech, His Solution Will Make All Service Members Cheer. And somehow Mattis manages to look more badass in civvies than all those younger guys in uniform.

DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE AND THE BATHROOM WARS: Oregon Parents Sue School District Over Transgender Bathrooms, Claiming Civil Rights Violations.

PROTECTING AGAINST frozen and stuck car doors.

AT AMAZON, save on Bestselling Game Downloads.

Plus, new offerings in Amazon Instant Video. Why be bored?

RAND PAUL’S ATTACKER PLEADS GUILTY TO FELONY. I’m not so sure I believe that it was lawncare related, but a felony plea is a felony plea.

ANNALS OF FEMINIST AUTOPHAGY: Neo-Neocon on Margaret Atwood: feminist vs. feminist.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Link was broken; should be working now.

ROLL LEFT AND DIE: NFL Playoffs Ratings Plunge by 23 Million. As Ace writes in response:

This year may be the first year I completely blow off the Super Bowl. Even if the Dreamy Tom Brady does start in it.

Maybe I also blew off last year’s game; I forget. I know one recent year I didn’t watch the first half, but tuned in for most of the second after I got the impression from social media and blog comments that it was a competitive game.

Anyway, not really feeling I’m missing anything. Looks like 23 million other people are not really missing anything along with me.

What about you guys? If you’ve stopped watching, what phase are you in? Are you in the phase I was in two years ago (watched some clips and recaps), last year (checked the paper occasionally, watched an occasional game digest on YouTube), or this year (only saw one football play by accident on Neil Cavuto)?

I click through the Super 70s Sports Twitter account and wonder how the NFL weathered a decade as tumultuous as that without a single anthem kneel. Why, it’s as if Pete Rozelle understood the average sports viewer just slightly better than Roger Goodell. Or as Iowahawk wrote:

Let us know your phase of NFL withdrawal (if any) in the comments.

THAT’S ALWAYS BEEN MY SUSPICION AS TO ITS TRUE PURPOSE: Could a Chinese Space Junk Laser Double as a Weapon?

CESSPITS OF MISOGYNY (CONT’D): Committee Calls for GAO Probe on ‘Pernicious Problem’ of Sexual Harassment in Science Community.

HOW REGULATIONS MADE CALIFORNIA’S FIRES WORSE:

After raging through almost all of December, the so-called Thomas fire, California’s largest wildfire ever recorded, was finally contained on January 12.  While the worst is behind us (for now), the fact that last year’s wildfires so violently spun out of control puts the spotlight on the Golden State’s government and its lack of fire prevention measures.

The fires across the state caused unprecedented damage and loss of life.  Unsurprisingly, California governor Jerry Brown was quick to pin the blame on climate change for the forest fires’ ferocity and extraordinary longevity this season.  Whatever truth there may be to this, it would be a mistake to gloss over how misguided policies and regulations have hurt California’s ability to prevent and respond to fires.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), shrubs and live and dead vegetation are the most important factor in forest fires, being an easily ignitable fuel source that helps spread the flames quickly over vast distances.  For a dry and warm state prone to fires, regular clearing measures removing this vegetation should be common sense.  However, California has enacted several laws that heavily restrict such vital fire-preventing measures as logging, removal of dead trees, and clearing of dry underbrush.

As Jonah Goldberg noted today in his column titled “Does the California Model Really Work?”

Wealthy liberal Californians can be quite smug about how they can afford their strict land-use policies, draconian environmental regulations, and high taxes. And wealthy Californians can afford them — but poor Californians are paying the price.

Californians of all income levels had their lives disrupted, some tragically so, by December’s fires, but given that Jerry Brown has blamed them on the global warming boogieman, I doubt lefty Californians will be rethinking the destruction caused by their religious environmental beliefs. It’s tempting to quip sometimes you have to fry a few eggs to make an omelet, but to paraphrase Orwell, when does to California get to see the omelet?

(Via Small Dead Animals.)

NEW CIVILITY WATCH:

CBS This Morning co-host John Dickerson on Friday touted Democratic talking points regarding a government shutdown. Talking to Senator Cory Gardner, Dickerson tried to explain away demanding a DACA fix in return for keeping the government open. He lectured the Republican: “Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging.”

Yes, Dickerson is paraphrasing Samuel Johnson, but murdering Republicans seems to be a recurring fantasy for the CBS anchorman:

Go for the Throat! Why if he wants to transfo