OF DISHWASHERS, COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN AND THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE: Several Supreme Court cases could herald the end of the $2 trillion “Administrative State,” which is another way of saying reining in the “oppressive, suffocating, incompetent, self-serving federal bureaucracy.” Issues & Insights sees some bright light.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Shigella: An antibiotic-resistant bacteria is rising among Philly’s homeless population.

VIDEO: What Changed Jordan Petersen’s Mind. “I worked with them for a few years, and I got disenchanted, in part, because when I went to the conventions of the party, I met the radical types, and they were the same as they are now. I thought ‘What the hell’s up with you people? You’re just bitter and resentful.’”

ITS ORIGIN AND PURPOSE, STILL A TOTAL MYSTERY: As Times Square Machete Attacker Pleads Guilty, Authorities Still Refuse to Face His Motive. “AP added that Bickford ‘shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ — the Arabic phrase for God is great — before striking the officers in the head with the machete and trying to grab an officer’s gun, authorities said. One officer suffered a fractured skull.’ AP’s explanation was inaccurate: While most media outlets routinely translate ‘Allahu akbar’ as ‘God is great,’ it actually means ‘Allah is greater.’ That is, the god of Islam is superior to anything that non-Muslims worship or hold dear. This declaration of superiority frequently accompanies acts that are designed to enforce the subjugation and submission of the non-believer or ‘infidel,’ amounting to a kind of explanation of why a particular act of violence is being perpetrated.”

NOT JUST A CLICHÉ: Shoveling show dangerous? Experts say it could be. The chore is linked to heart attacks.

YOU WON’T FIND MANY “CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER” BELIEVERS ON THE LEFT THESE DAYS: The Fight Over Martin Luther King’s Legacy.

GERMS: DNA from ancient humans gives clues to common diseases.

COFFEE, IS THERE ANYTHING IT CAN’T DO? Coffee grounds may hold the secret to preventing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.

UM: Fani Willis speaks out after allegations she hired her lover to prosecute Trump: ‘You cannot expect black women to be perfect.’

BY ITS FRUIT THE TREE IS KNOWN: Law School Founded On DEI Pillar Is Now ‘Riven With Betrayal And Fear’ Over October 7th And Israel-Hamas War.

‘PEACOCK GAME:’ THE NFL’S DIGITAL BUTTFUMBLE. The Kansas City-Miami playoff contest is barricaded behind a paywall, leading to fan irritation. But are streaming platforms the way of the future?

On The Peacock Game, I hate to say it but: expect more. Television, you may have read, is in decline, at least the old way of watching: the cable “bundle” is dwindling, replaced by streamers like Amazon, Max, Peacock, Netflix etc. These companies need to grow, and it makes sense that they’d explore weaponizing the one thing on television everyone still watches: the NFL.

That’s what Peacock wants to know: if you love it enough to pay them for it. The streamer announced Sunday that 23 million people watched the game, a figure Peacock said includes those local audiences in K.C. and Miami. Peacock also claimed the game drove internet usage to “a single day U.S. record,” a major claim, if it includes the afternoon two llamas escaped in Arizona and BuzzFeed asked everyone: What color is this dress?

This is our new reality. You’re already paying Amazon if you’re been watching Thursday Night Football, Sunday Ticket is off to YouTube,and as cable continues to bleed subscribers, more streaming games are sure to follow. The NFL’s desire for every eyeball is pushing up against the new realities of modern media, and if it wants the dollars (Peacock paid $110 million for its playoff game, the Journal’s Joe Flint reported) it has to let its TV partners reorient their business.

(Allow me to disclose the obvious: I’m behind a paywall! I’m fine with it. If this doesn’t work out, I’ll be standing at an intersection with my column scribbled on a sandwich board.)

For football fans shut out of Chiefs-Dolphins, this is cold comfort. I will assure that you didn’t miss a classic. You didn’t miss emotion like Sunday’s Lions win in Detroit, or despair like Jerry Jones in his skybox. You missed Mahomes playing well, you missed Kansas City looking again like a contender, and you did miss a little bit of happy Taylor Swift. And you missed Andy Reid mustache icicles.

Worth paying for? You’ll have to decide.

And a lot of people did: The Chiefs-Dolphins game on Peacock was the most-streamed live event in US history.

Peacock scored a touchdown Saturday for its first NFL playoff game exclusively shown on the NBCUniversal-owned streamer, registering record ratings and internet usage for the matchup in the freezing cold between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins.

The “Peacock Exclusive Wild Card” game garnered 23 million total viewers, according to Nielsen. NBC said in a release that the game sets records for the “most-streamed live event in US history” and was also responsible for the most internet usage ever in the US on a single date, consuming 30% of internet traffic during the Saturday night game.

That number also includes viewership figures from the local NBC affiliates in Miami and Kansas City and on the NFL+ mobile app, where the game was also shown outside of Peacock.

Notably, the ratings for the exclusively streamed game was up 6% over last year’s primetime AFC Wild Card Game that was shown on NBC’s broadcast network.

Overall, Saturday was a good day for Peacock, which lost $2.8 billion last year for its parent company Comcast but is growing in paid subscribers. The streamer had its ”largest single day ever in audience usage, engagement and time spent, with a record 16.3 million concurrent devices,” NBC said, but it didn’t reveal how many new subscribers were added.

At least for the moment, live look inside the Peacock boardroom:

Travis Kelce and The Kansas City Chiefs will win the Superbowl because of Taylor Swift and her allegiance to Satan and the New World Order.pic.twitter.com/GG3QfGjp3n

— Conspiratorial Report (@CnsprtrlRprt) January 15, 2024

GEORGIA, MAN: Whatchu Talkin’ ‘Bout, Willis? Fani Goes to Church to Grandstand.

GENTLEMEN, START YOUR HYPE MACHINES! Analysis: After another playoff failure, only Bill Belichick can save Cowboys.

Jimmy Johnson showed more passion for winning on television than any of the Dallas Cowboys did on the field.

Now, Jerry Jones should turn to another coaching icon to save his franchise.

Speculation about Bill Belichick has ramped up. He’s already the odds-on favorite to be the next coach in Dallas even though Mike McCarthy hasn’t been fired yet.

After a dismal performance Sunday against Green Bay, that might be just a matter of time.

Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons and the rest of the NFC East champions didn’t show up for a wild-card game against Green Bay. The Cowboys became the first No. 2 seed to lose to a No. 7 seed since the NFL went to a 14-team playoff format in 2020.

It wasn’t even close. The Cowboys were embarrassed.

* * * * * * * * *

Under McCarthy, the Cowboys are the first team to win 12 games in the regular season three straight years and not advance to the conference championship. The Super Bowl drought for America’s Team will reach 29 years.

Jones has to be contemplating a change.

He has a talented roster that features four first-team All-Pros and five on the second team, including Prescott and Parsons.

But everyone crumbled under pressure against the Packers.

Prescott threw two interceptions, including a pick-6. Parsons had just one solo tackle and one quarterback hit and the team had no sacks.

Simply put: Nobody on the Cowboys did their job. Belichick wouldn’t stand for that.

McCarthy is very likely toast in Dallas. And if the nation’s sportswriters have anything to say, there’s only one man to replace him.

GLENN LOURY: Clarence Thomas and Me: To speak as a black man at odds with the consensus of other blacks can be burdensome—and liberating.

READER FAVORITE: DMoose Fitness Forearm Exerciser – Hand, Wrist and Forearm Strengthener. #CommissionEarned

NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE THE 21ST CENTURY I’D BEEN HOPING FOR: Personal Aircraft Requiring No Certificate to Fly Hits U.S. Market. “To fly Helix, owners must be at least 18 years old, weigh less than 220 pounds, and stand no taller than 6-foot-5. Customers can place a nonrefundable $250 application fee on Pivotal’s website. To lock up a production slot and receive a forecasted ship date, they’ll need to deposit another $50,000 within five business days of the initial order.”

OK, BIG GUY: Putin Ally Says Poland Is Next. “Another question is to you, guys in the West, what are you going to do about it?”

OLD AND COLD: “There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.”

The New Hotness: Feds are banning humorous electronic messages on highways.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Furman ‘culture of intolerance’ prompts alumni to form free speech group. “I believe the culture at Furman is one of intolerance, but to only right-winged views.”

MATT MARGOLIS: There’s Proof Biden’s Border Crisis Was Intentional… And It’s Being Covered Up.

RULE OF LAW: Northwestern under fire as critics say it is ‘choosing not to enforce Title VI’ when it comes to Jewish students.

HIGHER ED AS IT IS AIN’T SUSTAINABLE: As we wrote in our latest book even WITHOUT the groupthink, lack of free speech, and claustrophobic conformity higher ed needs BIG changes:

“If the only problem with higher education today were how expensive it is, it would be enough to warrant reforms. If the only problem were that higher education is saddling millions of Americans with debt while swelling its administrative ranks, that, too, should be cause for change. Or if the only problem were that higher education is neglecting to instill critical thinking skills, that alone would be a huge issue. But all of these things are true. Higher education is begging to be fixed. Given that higher education is the wellspring of the Perfect Rhetorical Fortress, an engine for conformity, and ground zero for Cancel Culture, the case for reform could not be stronger. And small changes around the edges aren’t going to cut it. We need big changes—and even brand-new institutions.”

The Canceling of the American Mind: Cancel Culture Undermines Trust and Threatens Us All—But There Is a Solution (p. 283).

SPACE IS HARD: We Finally Know The Full Extent of Space Destroying Astronauts’ Red Blood Cells.

In microgravity, the human body loses about 10 percent of the liquid flowing through our blood vessels, as blood accumulates in our head and chest. That’s why astronauts sometimes look swollen in their videos from the ISS.

For years, this was the explanation for space anemia. Perhaps the loss of red blood cells was our body’s way of compensating for a loss in blood volume.

But that’s not what the recent study found. Instead of equalizing the makeup of our blood, the loss of red blood cells appears to continue unabated throughout space flight.

Even after 120 days, when all the red blood cells in an astronaut’s body had been created in space, the loss of red blood cells continued at a similar pace.

“Our study shows that upon arriving in space, more red blood cells are destroyed, and this continues for the entire duration of the astronaut’s mission,” said Trudel.

When the astronauts were in space, the loss of red blood cells appears to have led to a higher-than-normal circulation of iron serum in their blood. Without as many red blood cells to transport iron around the body, the astronauts gradually approached anemia, which can be classified into mild, moderate, and severe.

When they returned to Earth, five out of 13 astronauts (one didn’t get blood drawn on landing) had reached clinically diagnosable levels of anemia, defined as the condition where the body doesn’t have enough red blood cells for its physiological needs.

About three or four months after landing, their red blood cell levels returned to normal. But even a year after their space flight was done, the astronauts’ bodies were still destroying 30 percent more red blood cells than before their trip to space.

Think of the study as (another) excellent reason to build much larger ring space stations, spun up to 1G.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Is That a Caucus on Your Calendar or Are You Just Happy to See Me? “If you’re a political junkie, you may as well just lay in a supply of popcorn and your favorite adult beverage, then kick back and enjoy the spectacle until all of the “peaceful protesting” breaks out or we’re all gulag-bound (or both).”

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Tesla, Volvo Car pause output as Red Sea shipping crisis deepens. “The biggest supply chain upheaval since the COVID-19 pandemic risks derailing the global economic recovery, while higher freight and oil prices could reignite inflation. The canal accounts for about 12% of global container traffic.”