WE NEED A BETTER FLU VACCINE THAN THE LAME ONE WE’VE GOT: This could be our worst flu season in decades.

UP IN SMOKE: Chicago airports add boxes for travelers to dispose of marijuana. “The cannabis amnesty boxes, as they’re called, were installed at each airport last week, just as legal marijuana sales began in Illinois.”

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: UCalgary prof: I will fail students citing Jordan Peterson. “Assistant professor of sociology at UCalgary and self-described ‘anti-fascist’ Ted McCoy has threatened on Twitter to fail any students citing Dr. Jordan Peterson.” He’s deleted the tweet, but it’s not helping.

WE SHOULD BE BUILDING NICE CLEAN NUCLEAR PLANTS, AND PLANTS FIRED BY CLEAN-BURNING FRACKED NATURAL GAS: Closing coal plants saves lives, boosts crop yields. I mean, if you say you care about the environment but you oppose nuclear power or fracking, then you’re an idiot or a liar.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW? ‘This was an act of war’: Lawmakers react to Iran’s missile strike on US military bases.

As Richard Fernandez noted the other day, the Suleimani killing forced Iran’s 40-year-war with us out of the shadows — where they can’t afford to fight.

GREAT MOMENTS IN GASLIGHTING: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) Claims There Were No Embassy Protests Or Dead American Contractors Under Obama.

REMEMBER LIBYA? Thank God It’s Donald Trump in the White House and Not Warmonger Hillary Clinton.

To be fair, at this point I’m not sure the people in what used to be Libya can still remember Libya.

DISAPPOINTING NEWS FOR ALL THE TRIAL LAWYERS HOPING TO CASH IN: Large study shows no strong link between baby powder, ovarian cancer.

SNOWFALLS ARE NOW JUST A THING OF THE PAST: Glacier National Park is replacing signs that predicted its glaciers would be gone by 2020.

(Classical reference in headline.)

TO BE FAIR, BIDEN SAYS A LOT OF STUFF WITH LITTLE OR NO BASIS IN REALITY: Biden in 2010 Said Iran’s Influence in Iraq Was ‘Greatly Exaggerated.’

I WAS EXPECTING A GALAXY-SHATTERING KABOOM: Astronomers Just Detected a Second, Epic Neutron Star Collision.

HMM: Iran fears US war – May have deliberately missed hitting Americans in missile attacks.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO HAVE SEX WITH EMPLOYEES: Kentucky judge accused of courthouse threesome is suspended.

MOURNING SOLEIMANI, FROM HOLLYWOOD TO THE CAMPUS.

And the broadcasting booth: #Journalism: NBC Beclowns Itself Promoting ‘Live Coverage’ of Qassem Soleimani’s Burial in Iran.

Ben Rhodes’ media “echo chamber” lives on.

ILAN BERMAN: Exploiting Iran’s Imperial Overstretch. “Quite suddenly, the Islamic Republic finds itself facing serious setbacks in the Middle East. After years of strategic gains fueled by the dividends of its 2015 nuclear deal with the West, Iran’s clerical regime has started to weather significant reversals in the region in recent weeks. These developments — from unrest in Iraq and Lebanon to renewed grassroots protests within the Islamic Republic itself — suggest that, contrary to the public proclamations of its officials, Iran’s geostrategic position is in fact far from secure. These same indicators also suggest that the United States now has a crucial opening to further weaken the regime in Tehran, should the Trump administration choose to seize the opportunity.”

The Mullahs are broke, unpopular at home and abroad, are stuck in quagmires in Iraq and Syria, they just lost their terror mastermind, and were just put back in the box Obama let them out of.

But other than that, I suppose they’re doing just fine.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Iran Retaliated, Sort Of: So Now What? “Trump’s attitude seems to be that if the Mullahs want peace, they can have it. If they don’t, he’ll do to the next guy what he did to Suleimani. If last night’s ‘retaliation’ is anything to go by, Tehran seems to be very receptive to Trump all of a sudden. Iran reportedly alerted both Baghdad and Washington, quietly, that an attack was imminent, and then made sure the missiles were badly targeted. Hence, zero casualties. The harmless explosions were mostly for domestic propaganda purposes, so the Mullahs have something to show the people on TV and claim to have killed a jillion infidels with their mighty missiles or whatever. But the whole world knows exactly what they just saw: Tehran backing down after Trump ordered the death of their terror mastermind.”

You’ll want to read the whole thing.

GOOD: Facts & Figures 2020 Reports Largest One-year Drop in Cancer Mortality.

HMMMMM: Iran refuses to hand over airliner’s black box: report.

INCENTIVES, HOW DO THEY WORK? Ohio Town Rolls Out Red Carpet for Homeless. Is Shocked When Stream of Homeless Show Up.

I FOUGHT THE BEE AND THE BEE WON: CNN fights with satire site, loses.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Iran Appears to be Standing Down. A friend on Facebook comments: “Trump is giving Iran an exit here with his remarks this morning. They know he will hold the line if they try to escalate further. Excellent strategy.” Weird that a guy everyone in DC thinks is an angry toddler can somehow hit just the right note, when prevous administrations have all failed.

Related: Don Surber: Why the Media Got Iran Wrong. Well for starters, because they wanted to. Quoth Surber: “They dug a hole and keep digging. That so many used the off ramp analogy informs me Ben Rhodes likely decided on that spin. He’s the brother of the head of CBS News and the Obama flunky who sold the Iranian deal to reporters.”

Plus: “The people in the press are largely too stupid to see this. Again, nothing personal, just fact. They have an excuse. They were taught by people like Professor Beinart.”

Also: Iran Blinks: Point to Trump: Maybe it’s time to help him, instead of hindering him. Not going to happen. The press and the foreign policy establishment are far more afraid of him succeeding than of him failing.

OH, WHAT A NIGHT: As Iran Launched Missiles at U.S. Troops, There Was a Mysterious Plane Crash in Iran. Oh, and a Couple of Earthquakes.

JONATHAN TURLEY: Democratic impeachment case collapses under weight of time.

The witness was Charles Kupperman, a deputy to former national security adviser John Bolton. Other than Bolton himself, Kupperman is one of the officials most likely to have direct knowledge of an alleged quid pro quo on aid to Ukraine. After subpoenaing him last fall, the House withdrew its request before the court could rule on compelling his testimony for the record. The House also decided not to subpoena Bolton or any other key witnesses in the administration. Judge Richard Leon dismissed the case before New Years Eve with a hint of frustration, if not bewilderment, that the House did not seem interested in hearing from a possible eyewitness. Historically, that lack of attention in not only witnesses but also a triable case will remain one of the most baffling blunders of this impeachment.

When I testified in the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing, I cited this case in my criticism of the pledge by Democrats to impeach Trump by Christmas despite a very incomplete record. While I opposed some of the proposed articles of impeachment that were subsequently dropped by the panel, I said Trump could be legitimately impeached on abuse of power and obstruction of justice if the House could establish such violations. But the House refused to wait just a couple months to build a much stronger case to remove Trump. In the mad rush to push impeachment, Democrats could not have made it easier for his team.

I’m convinced Democrats rushed it because A) They could not indeed make a legitimate impeachment on abuse of power and obstruction of justice, and B) they needed out of the headlines ASAP.