Deflate Gate: Is the end of inflation in sight? Can 2023 avoid being the economic disaster we’ve all been warned about? We’ll see. But in the meantime, this seems positive. “U.S consumer prices fell for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years in December amid declining prices for gasoline and motor vehicles, offering hope that inflation was now on a sustained downward trend.”

+ Tip Top: Who could possibly be interested enough in the royals or Harry’s frostbitten knob to purchase the book by the memoirist formerly known as Prince? A lot of people. Penguin Random House announced that first day sales for the Harry’s tell-all memoir topped 1.4 million copies, a record pace for non-fiction. (It took my book weeks to hit those numbers.)

+ Popping Pill Poppers: WaPo (GIft Article): “Alabama’s attorney general became the most prominent Republican official yet to suggest that pregnant women could be prosecuted for taking abortion pills, saying in recent days that a state ban targeting those who facilitate abortions does not preclude the state from seeking to penalize women under other existing laws. The comment reflects a simmering divide within the antiabortion movement, which has long sought to treat women seeking abortions as ‘victims’ and not as targets for punishment.” (How about treating them as full humans who have the right to control their bodies?)

+ Guitar Gently Weeps: “He began with bubblegum pop in the Yardbirds, then moved on to psychedelia, funk, jazz fusion, even techno – but no matter what the genre, Beck was always ahead of the curve.” The Guardian on Jeff Beck who died at 78. The maverick genius of Jeff Beck, the ‘guitarist’s guitarist.’ Variety: 10 of the Guitar Hero’s Finest Musical Moments.

+ H2OMG: For the first time in days, folks in California are seeing the sky. As we await the next batch of storms, here’s a look at some aerial images that show the scale of damage across the state

+ Pigeon Towed: “Officers were standing in one of the fenced inmate unit yards, which prisoners use regularly for hanging out, playing games or just getting some fresh air. Then the officers noticed something strange: a grey bird with a small package on its back.” Once they spotted him, he was like a sitting duck. Pigeon wearing crystal meth ‘like a backpack’ caught inside B.C. prison yard.