MAYBE IT’S JUST BECAUSE STEM ISN’T SUPPOSED TO BE EASY: White Men Feel Discrimination in STEM Too, Study Finds.

BUSINESS CLIMATE: How JPMorgan Will Spend a Big Chunk of Its Tax Windfall. “The biggest U.S. bank is planning to open more branches, expand mortgage lending and boost pay for some employees.”

The largest U.S. bank by assets is planning to open up to 400 branches in new markets across the country, grow its home lending to lower-income consumers and boost wages for some retail-banking employees, among other changes, Chief Executive James Dimon said in an interview.

JPMorgan is one of many large companies passing its employees or clients some of the windfall of billions of dollars in expected additional profit from the tax-code overhaul enacted late last year. The bank’s effective tax rate will be about 19% this year and 20% over the near term, down from 35% previously, finance chief Marianne Lake said during an earnings call earlier in January.

“In anticipation [of tax reform], we asked our people: ’What can we do? What different things can we do to help? What can we do to accelerate our growth?’” Mr. Dimon said of the planned new investments. “This is good for the business, good for employees, [good for] wages, skills, jobs.”

FLASHBACK: If Trump thinks he can get more than 3% economic growth, he’s dreaming.

We’ll see.

TURNOVER: Twitter COO Anthony Noto Resigns, Stock Slides.

It’s just a very badly run company.

WINNING: U.S. rising as world’s ‘undisputed’ energy leader.

I remember being assured by the highest authorities that we couldn’t drill our way to energy independence, and that we were almost out of oil anyway.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Dems Lose Shutdown Battle, Secret Societies, and Much, Much More.

PLUS: Here’s video of Rep. Adam Schiff, Chairman of the House I LEAK EVERYTHING committee, explaining that the public is too dumb to understand the four-page memo written by the House Intel committee on FISA abuse.

WHO’S NEXT? Going Nuclear? The Optimal Posture and Force Structure for Australia.

The states with smaller nuclear arsenals including, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel each adopt one of three postures according to Vipin Narang. These being, a “catalytic posture” whereby a state that is being threatened attempts to use its nuclear arsenal to compel, or catalyze, third-party intervention on the state’s behalf. An “assured retaliation posture” whereby a state can threaten nuclear retaliation if it suffers a nuclear attack. Lastly, an “asymmetric escalation posture” that enables the first use of nuclear weapons in the event of a conventional attack.

Each posture requires a different force structure that is optimal for the state’s perceived needs but what would work for Australia? It is my opinion that if Australia were ever to consider going down the nuclear path, it would be best suited to an “assured retaliation posture.” This would provide the capability of deterring a nuclear attack and nuclear coercion. Australia’s conventional force would continue to be modified and strengthened, but an “assured retaliation posture” would enable the country to free itself from the potential fear of not being able to counter nuclear blackmail. With an adequately deployed nuclear force suited to the concept of assured retaliation, the strategic nuclear option would be off the table for any future adversary determined to use threats to obtain resources, economic gain, territory or any form of strategic dominance.

China is going to end up hemmed in by nuclear powers at every turn, if they don’t rein in Li’l Kim.

GOOD LORD: German nurse charged with 97 more murders at hospitals.

The new indictment against Niels Hoegel was expected after officials said in November that he may have killed more than 100 patients in total. He worked at a clinic in Oldenburg from 1999 to 2002 and in nearby Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.

Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst and was given a life sentence.

During his trial, Hoegel had said he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in about 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them. He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg.

Those statements prompted investigators to carry out toxicological examinations on dozens of other patients who died at the hospitals, leading to the new charges.

It wasn’t immediately clear when a new trial at the state court in Oldenburg might start. Additional convictions could affect Hoegel’s possibility of parole, but there are no consecutive sentences in Germany. In general, people serving life sentences are considered for parole after 15 years.

There’s probably something to be said against Europe’s soft-on-crime attitude, but I’m not certain there’s any deterring a killer like Hoegel.

SOURCE: FBI Must Now Prove ‘Missing Texts’ Claim Is Not Bureau Wrongdoing.

CHANGE: Mattis Visits Vietnam Seeking to Expand Security Relationship.

The former enemies have gradually set aside their wartime differences, in part out of shared concern about China’s growing military power and more assertive position in the South China Sea. The Trump administration sees Vietnam as a partner in opposing China’s assertion of territorial claims in the South China Sea, including the Spratlys, an island chain where Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei also have claims.

Mattis said he didn’t expect the war to come up in his talks in Vietnam.

“That largely has been made a matter of the past,” he said aboard his flight to Asia.

Vietnam is also a very young country, demographically speaking. Only about 15% of the population is old enough to have any adult memories of the war, and nearly 40% is under the age of 25 — and look just like blue-jean wearing kids anywhere.

JAZZ SHAW: Senate Bid Could Land Chelsea Manning Back In Prison.

My sentiments about the idea of casting a vote for someone who was convicted on that many counts of betraying his nation (and was technically never even pardoned, only having had his sentence commuted) haven’t changed. But there was one other wrinkle in this story which hadn’t even crossed my mind and could make it an even worse idea for Manning. Due to a rather obscure and rarely enforced rule, technically it would be illegal for Manning to run and it could even land him back in prison.

The Daily Caller dug up some information on this subject and reminds us that there’s a rule barring active duty military personnel from engaging in any overt political activity. Running for office would certainly qualify.

Some readers might be shaking their heads at this point and noting that Manning is described pretty much everywhere as a “former Army private.” But that’s not technically true. Manning remains an active duty soldier while his convictions are on appeal, though he is on excess leave and in “a non-pay status.” He still has a military ID card and remains eligible for many military benefits, including medical care.

Does that mean he’ll be prosecuted?

Interesting. And the evidence against Manning in this case is clearly more than just “he said, she said.”

LIVE BY THE PEN AND PHONE, DIE BY THE PEN AND PHONE: Obama Mocked Trump’s Political Ambitions. Trump Spent His First Year Dismantling Obama’s Legacy.

Trump has overseen the dismantling of several of Obamacare’s most controversial aspects. The tax cuts package Trump signed last month included a provision repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate. Trump also rolled back the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, which forced religious groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide birth control for all employees, regardless of conscientious objections.

Trump’s Department of Education rolled back several measures that conservatives had decried as federal overreach. The Trump administration repealed the Obama-era mandate that required all public schools to implement transgender bathroom policies and speech codes. The Trump administration also revoked a legally dubious Title IX guidance that regulated sexual assault proceedings on college campuses.

In July, Trump announced the United States would be pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, which Trump blasted as a threat to American sovereignty. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rolled back the Obama administration’s Waters of the US rule, which drastically increased federal regulations of streams, and repealed the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which increased environmental regulations on coal-fired plants. Trump approved both the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines that Obama had rejected.

Last month, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rolled back the Obama-era Net Neutrality policy that increased federal regulation of the Internet.

The difference a year can make is remarkable. Or, “Get the hell out of my way!” as the wise man once said.

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

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.

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.

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

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’.

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.

RAW POWER: The FBI didn’t come up with a lame excuse because that’s all they could come up with. They came up with a lame excuse because they think that’s all they need.

PROMISE KEPT: US Embassy in Jerusalem will open next year.

Vice President Pence said Monday that the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will open before the end of 2019.

“By finally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the United States has chosen fact over fiction. And fact is the only true foundation for a just and lasting peace,” Pence said in a speech to Israel’s parliament.

The U.S. will set its relocation plans in motion in the coming weeks, with the facility slated to open by the end of next year, Pence said. Observers had previously expected the Embassy to open in a few years.
During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pence said it was an honor to be in “Israel’s capital, Jerusalem.”

The Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital drew widespread backlash from leaders in Europe and the Middle East, who said it undermines the peace process.

There’s always a peace process that the US and Israel are supposed to hold to, but never any peace from the Palestinians.

THE ART OF THIS DEAL:

Schumer’s internal polls must have looked awful to have caved so quickly and completely.

PROCUREMENT: US approves potential F-35 sale to Belgium.

The approval, which was granted by the State Department and announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on 19 January, covers 34 aircraft, spares, ancillary systems, simulators and support, and is valued at USD6.53 billion.

The Belgian Air Component (BAC) is seeking to replace its 44 single-seat Lockheed Martin F-16AM and 10 twin-seat F-16BM aircraft in the 2023–30 timeframe with 34 new multirole platforms.

The US government approval for the F-35 does not indicate that Belgium has selected the type or even made a decision, but is the normal administrative step that must be taken ahead of any such sale to a foreign government. However, the F-35 is the strong favourite given that Belgium is part of the Multinational Fighter Program (MNFP) that includes the US and most European F-16AM/BM operators.

The Lightning II has been doing quite nicely in foreign sales.