BIG-SCREEN TV: Three Netflix Epics You Won’t Want to Miss.

SHUT UP, SHE EXPLAINED: Men, hush now. Let us womansplain it to you.

All I had to do was rewrite her headline, and that was only barely.

GODSPEED: Shots fired at DMZ as North Korean soldier defects to South.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Many Unanswered Questions about Amtrak Crash.

MOVE TO STREAMING — OR ELSE: Amazon Music removes ability to upload MP3s, will shutter storage service.

Both free and paid customers of Amazon Music Storage will be affected by this recent decision: free users, who were able to upload up to 250 files, can play and download any of that music until January 2019. Free users should download their previously uploaded tracks before January 2019, because those will become inaccessible through Amazon Music at that time.

Paid users, who paid $25 annually to store up to 250,000 files, can also play and download any of that music until their subscription expires. Those who let their subscription expire won’t have the option to renew it, and all songs over 250 will be removed. Those remaining 250 songs will be available for one year after the subscription expires before they’re removed as well.

Those who stand to lose the most in this situation are paid Music Storage subscribers. Those customers should re-download any and all tracks they originally uploaded before their subscription expires to avoid the service erasing part of their library and leaving them with just 250 songs.

I don’t care for streaming.

POP: Bitcoin Plunges 25% in 24 Hours in a Cryptocurrency Market Rout.

Bitcoin recently traded at $13,758 after earlier falling as low as $12,504, according to research site CoinDesk. The notoriously volatile digital currency started December at about $10,000 and traded close to $20,000 this past weekend, but has been in retreat since.

From its recent peak, the virtual currency has lost about $121 billion of its total market value in less than a week, or more than twice the market cap of Tesla Inc.

That Bitcoin could have a market cap bigger than Tesla which has a market cap bigger than Ford indicates that the easy money policy might have gone on just a bit too long.

WELL, GOOD: Georgia regulators say nuclear reactors, nation’s first since 1978, will be finished.

It’s nice to see a progressive state like Georgia taking the lead on reducing greenhouse gasses.

BRIDGET JOHNSON: Eight Countries Stand with U.S. as UN Condemns Recognition of Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Bridget’s unexplained and unacknowledged Twitter banishment remains unexplained and unacknowledged by Twitter management.

HELP A DAD OUT? Single dad ‘prepared to take out a loan’ after son’s life-saving medicine taken from porch.

The three-month supply of medicine for the 4-year-old’s kidney costs around $5,000, according to KSTU. It was swiped exactly a week before Christmas, and his father wasn’t sure he would be able to replace it in time. Whoever took it hasn’t returned it as of Thursday, but luckily Taylor has been working with his insurance to get a replacement.

Cody Taylor, a single father, says he’s had medication delivered right to his door for years and never had a problem until this week when their most expensive and arguably most important medication was stolen.

Austin Taylor, 4, is a little boy with a big heart who was born with several severe birth defects. Doctors weren’t sure he’d survive.

“He’s my little miracle. He’s my hero. Because of everything he’s gone through, I can’t complain about life,” Cody said. “They gave him a 25 percent chance of living three months.”

But now, four years later, “He’s so strong and always fighting,” Cody said.

No sign of a Kickstarter or GoFundMe campaign, but I’ll keep an eye out.

PRIVACY: WhatsApp Gets One Month to Stop Data Sharing With Facebook.

France’s data protection authority CNIL gave a sharp warning to WhatsApp by issuing a formal notice, criticizing it for “insufficiently” cooperating. The decision comes a year after European Union privacy authorities said they had “serious concerns” about the sharing of WhatsApp user data for purposes that weren’t included in the terms of service and privacy policy when people signed up to the service.

CNIL “decided to make this formal notice public in order to ensure the highest level of transparency on the massive data transfer from WhatsApp to Facebook Inc. and thus to alert to the need for individuals concerned to keep their data under control,” the regulator said in a statement on its website on Monday.

Facebook faces regulatory hurdles throughout Europe over a range of privacy issues. Germany’s Federal Cartel Office in preliminary findings published Tuesday criticized Facebook’s data collection practices, saying the company abusively requires users to allow it collect data from web use beyond its site. Menlo Park, California-based Facebook rejected the German authority’s findings as giving an “inaccurate picture.”

I suspect WhatsApp isn’t financially viable without significant data sharing with Facebook, but more importantly, the EU has long been way out ahead of the US on digital privacy issues.

WHAT ELSE HAVE THEY GOT? Liberals Poo-Poo the Post-Tax Cut Announcements of Raises, Bonuses.

The GOP would be smart to put together a gag reel of these condescending pronouncements.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: U.N. Jew Haters, Mueller, ‘Andy’s Office’ and Much, Much More.

BUBBLE ECONOMY: Long Island Iced Tea shares went gangbusters after changing its name to Long Blockchain.

Up until this morning, Long Blockchain was a little-known company making non-alcoholic lemonades and ice teas. As of Wednesday, the company had a market value of just $23.8 million, but at one point in pre-market trading had 9.76 million outstanding shares, giving the company a market value of close to $138 million. That’s small by Wall Street standards, but significant considering the only factor seemed to be the name change.

Caveat emptor.

WELL, YES: Democrats Are Fooling Themselves About Tax Reform’s Unpopularity. “Like Obamacare, people don’t know what’s in the Republican tax bill. Unlike Obamacare, they’re probably going to be pleasantly surprised.”

It’s one thing to be told you can keep your plan and then have it taken away for a worse one which costs significantly more. It’s quite another to be told you won’t be getting a tax cut, and then to find more money in your paycheck.

The Democrats have overplayed their hand on this one, but whether the GOP can capitalize on their mistake is a separate issue.

HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, SIR? Former Obama Staffer Ben Rhodes Dreams of Ryan, McConnell, Pence Obituaries.

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Venezuela’s Oil Industry Staggers Closer To Collapse.

Venezuela used to have a diversified economy and some of the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Now they have an oil-dependent economy yet can’t even get the oil extracted.

Unexpectedly, of course, and certainly the fault of wreckers, hoarders, saboteurs, Trotskyites, kulaks, Yankee Imperialists, counterrevolutionaries, and Jews.

BOOM: Limited Strikes on North Korea Are Past Due.

This comes from retired US Navy Captain David Allan Adams:

Whether North Korea can be deterred is a pivotal unanswered question. The trouble is that many of the same experts who are calling for the United States to lean on diplomacy and deterrence also say that Kim Jong Un “is not rational.” [iv] These leaders either failed or have forgotten their basic political science courses on deterrence. Renowned Harvard Professor Graham Allison explains in his Essence of Decision (Little Brown, 1971) why deterrent strategies require rational decision makers to succeed. In practice, Allison’s theories have proven right time and again. The success or failure of the U.S. North Korean policy hinges almost completely on the rationality of the North Korean regime.

Those who call for diplomatic solutions and a posture to deter North Korean aggression while at the same time calling out Pyongyang’s conduct as irrational cannot have it both ways. Allison and others argue that Kim is rational, although erratic. [v] Allison goes on to claim that if confronted even with limited military strikes, the North Korean dictator would unleash a suicidal war on the peninsula. This is hardly a rational response to measured U.S. military action.

The truth is, nobody knows for sure whether Kim is a “crazy fat kid” [vi] or a rational actor cleverly playing to his regime elites’ notion of their nation’s best interest. The distinction, however, is critical. Since no one knows for sure, the only way to absolutely discern the true nature of North Korea’s provocative decisions may be to gauge the regime’s response to limited military action.

China should take the lead on reining in their dangerous ally before our hand is forced.

WHEN WILL DANA MILBANK ISSUE A RETRACTION OR CORRECTION TO THIS COLUMN? Trump’s ticket to survival: Ban all the words.

MAYBE JUST SEND HIM THIS FOR CHRISTMAS: No, the Trump Administration Didn’t ‘Ban’ 7 Words at the CDC.

OR THIS: No, HHS Did Not ‘Ban Words.’

OR THIS: CDC director says there are ‘no banned words’ at the agency.

Democracy dies in darkness, I’m told.

I SENSE ANOTHER FLAMEWAR BREWING: The 10 Best Holiday Specials and Movies.

DO NOT ASK DIFFICULT QUESTIONS, COMRADE: Is California Already In Recession?

J CHRISTIAN ADAMS: 8 Great Last Minute Christmas Gifts for Children.

FLASHBACK: When President Obama’s National Security Advisor Lied, The Media Laughed.

DOUBLING DOWN: South Korea Moves Forward With Plans to Buy 20 More F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets.

POTENTIAL BOMBSHELL: Did President Obama Read the ‘Steele Dossier’ in the White House Last August?

CHANGE MORE OF THE SAME: Cuba Postpones Historic Handover From Castro to New President.