MICHAEL WALSH: Tear Down That Wall . . . Of Silence.

As the Obama wall of silence begins to crumble, the FBI’s reputation is befouled by its own rash actions, a politicized Justice Department stands revealed as, well, politicized, and the Democrats furiously spin the facts outlined in the Nunes Memo and subsequent revelations, there’s only one overarching question left to ask: what made them think they could get away with it?

And by “them,” I mean the lot of them—the corrupt, partisan officials, the political operatives masquerading as selfless public servants, the intelligence community pooh-bahs who betrayed their trusts, the preening “straight arrows,” the talking heads, the Washington bureau chiefs, the White House correspondents, every man jack of whom did his level best to create, run, and disseminate a disinformation operation designed to do one thing: destroy the unwanted and unwelcome presidency of Donald J. Trump.

From the moment it dawned on Hillary Clinton, late on election night, that she had managed to blow a fixed fight, and that there would, therefore, be hell to pay, the Democrat-Deep State-Media Complex suddenly had to conceal their own malfeasance by doing what the Left does best—projecting its own sins onto others.

Read the whole thing.

JON GABRIEL: How to keep social media from rewiring your brain.

Those of us who spend too much time on social media (for me, it’s a job requirement) are all too familiar with the firehose of the latest news, trends and jokes. Within hours, they’ll be replaced by new topics just as meaningless.

Many experts have sounded alarms that this torrent of ephemera and the mad chase for clicks are rewiring brains, reducing attention spans and altering how we process information. Too often, our focus is locked on the transient and new as we abandon the meaningful and eternal.

Not wanting to waste so much of each day, I embarked on a new media journey. Or, should I say, a very old one.

At the start of the year, I cracked open “The Iliad” by Homer. Apparently the 3,000-year-old book is kind of a big deal, which is why every smart person I know has read it (or at least has claimed to). But, as with most classics, I had never quite gotten around to it.

It was a bit slow-going at first (I apparently chose a dated translation), but I soon fell into the rhythm of the brutal war epic. After a few days, I was done and … I actually enjoyed it.

Read the whole thing — and then maybe The Iliad.

HMM: Sen. Mark Warner Traded Secret Texts with Russian Oligarch’s Lobbyist Linked to Hillary.

WHAT UBER CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE “GENDER GAP:” It’s not about discrimination.

DUBNER: Okay, a third of the gap can be explained by returns to experience. You said about 20 percent of the gap can be explained by time and location of work. But that leaves almost half that can be explained by the third factor. What is that?

LIST: That’s right. So after we account for experience now we’re left scratching our heads. So, we’re thinking, “Well, we’ve tried discrimination. We’ve done where, when. We’ve done experience. What possibly could it be?” What we notice in the data is that men are actually completing more trips per hour than women. So this is sort of a eureka moment.

DUBNER: They’re driving faster, aren’t they?

HALL: Yeah. So the third factor, which explains the remaining 50 percent of the gap, is speed.

DIAMOND: So men happen to just drive a little bit faster, and because driving a little bit faster gets you to finish your trips that much quicker, and get on to the next trip, you can fit more trips in an hour, and you end up with a higher amount of pay.

DUBNER: Now how did these Uber driver data for male/female speed compare to male/female driver speed generally? Do we know for a fact that men generally drive faster than women?

LIST: Yeah, what you find is that in the general population men actually drive faster than women.

DUBNER: Okay, so male Uber drivers drive faster than female Uber drivers, and therefore that helps them make more money. Is that, however, more dangerous, the faster driving?

DIAMOND: So the gap is small — men drive about 2 percent faster than women. So it doesn’t suggest that that’s leading to big differences in risk.

Very interesting. But since it can’t be politically weaponized, it’s likely to be ignored.

QUICK, WARM THE GLOBE:  The sun is growing colder.

AMAZING SURVEY SHOWS COUPLES WANT WHAT COMPANY PAYING FOR SURVEY SELLS:  A lot of couples say Valentine’s Day is boring.

1 IN 20 END IN LITIGATION:  One-third of office romances end in unemployment.

HATERS GOT TO HATE:  Trump Haters Rip on His Bad Hair Day. Because Their Bleep Don’t Stink or Something.

AND MORE MEMO:  The Post, the Memo and Classification.

MOSTLY THAT THE DEMOCRATS SHOULD MAKE A PILGRIMAGE TO NIXON’S GRAVE IN SACKCLOTH AND ASHES AND BEG FORGIVENESS… IF THEY HAD ANY VESTIGE OF HONESTY:  The memo, and what it implies.

FOR SOME REASON THIS POST DISAPPEARED FROM FORBES:  But fortunately the internet is forever.

I THINK THEY FAILED TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHOLE “BUSINESS” THING:  ‘Feminist Business School’ Teaches Students to Shun Profit-Seeking.

WE’D LIKE TO SELL YOU SOME SWAMPLAND IN FLORIDA:  If you expect Social Security to be there for you…

JUST WHEN YOU THINK CALIFORNIA CAN’T GET CRAZIER, IT SAYS “HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS”:  California says will block crude oil from Trump offshore drilling plan.

SHE THOUGHT #METOO MEANT SOMETHING ELSE?  Assemblywoman at forefront of #MeToo movement accused of sexual misconduct.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Another longtime Comey aide leaving FBI. “It’s unclear whether the retirement was long-planned or in any way precipitated by recent events.”

AT AMAZON, save on Athletic Clothing.

FREEDOM: FIRE to University of Arkansas System: Do not adopt proposed board policy 405.1.

J.B. WHITE: The OODA Loop President.

OPEN THREAD: Proceed as usual.

SCIENCE: DNA suggests 10,000-year-old Brit had dark skin, blue eyes. This suggests the white-skin mutation must have spread very fast, but of course superior Vitamin D production is a huge advantage in northern latitudes.

THIS IS JUST SAD: A woman may have given birth in an airport bathroom, and left the baby behind, police say.

AT AMAZON, save on Bestsellers in Jewelry.

Plus, deals in Sports and Fitness.

OLD WOMAN YELLS AT CLOUDS: Even House Dems wonder: What was the point of the Pelosi filibuster?

Related: Nancy Pelosi’s Grandson Story Is So Racist.

COVERING THE IMPORTANT STORIES: Remembering Bailey, the ‘I have no idea what I’m doing’ dog.