A REVIEW OF THE Nissan GT-R. Sounds kinda cool, but I’m not likely to swap the RX-8 for one. I mean, it’s cheap for a supercar, but it’s not cheap, and the extra performance mostly falls in the “use it only when traversing Nevada” category. Also, the RX-8 is paid for . . . .

POPPING THE HIGHER ED. BUBBLE?

A READER EMAILS: “What happened? A few weeks ago Obama had to win Indiana to put Hillary away. She won, but now she’s toast?” I guess they weren’t able to gin up enough votes in Gary, despite the extra time . . . .

ANOTHER NO-KNOCK OUTRAGE: “What makes the case especially egregious is not that the police may have gotten the wrong home, that they shot a man, or that they were covering it up or going silent. We’ve seen all that before. What’s mind-blowing about this one is that they’ve continued abusing the poor guy, even after it should have been clear for some time now that they made a mistake.”

TALK OF HILLARY QUITTING: “The noise in the echo chamber is deafening.”

THE FIRST JETTA TDIs are now in transit to American dealers. These things are excellent alternatives to hybrids like the Prius.

Plus, a Highlander Hybrid patrol car with an added bonus: “the hybrid’s battery pack reportedly interferes with the operation of the speed radar.” That’s not a bug, it’s a feature!

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS NO LAUGHING MATTER, except when it’s a man who’s stabbed.

HMM: Ugly Truth: Why Hillary Won’t Quit.

DIY PARADISE at the Maker Faire.

IN THE MAIL: Steven Pressfield’s Killing Rommel: A Novel. I loved his earlier novel, Gates of Fire.

MICHAEL TOTTEN ON the real “moderate Muslims.”

THOUGHTS ON Steve Jobs, securities law, and disclosure of executive health issues. More on that subject, in depth, right here.

JEEZ: “The number of dead and missing in the Burma cyclone soared past 60,000 Tuesday amid signs the toll will rise even higher, as much of the disaster zone remained flooded by seawater, threatened by disease and out of reach of an international relief operation that is taking shape.”

BEST DVDs OF THE MONTH for May. I can’t believe that John Adams is already out.

Plus, a list of top new releases.

UPDATE: My mistake. John Adams isn’t actually out until next month. Sorry to have gotten people excited.

ANGRY WHITE FEMALE.

UGH: “New disease outbreaks in China; 15K children infected.”

JENNIFER RUBIN: Fun for Republicans is at an end. Yeah, instead of enjoying the Democratic primary, they’ll have to start thinking about winning in November. And that’ll be hard, not fun.

UPDATE: Related thoughts here.

JAMES KIRCHICK ON THE NEW ACCEPTABILITY OF religious extremism.

SOME COOL PHOTOS of the Great Smoky Mountains.

HILLARY: Should she stay or should she go? I don’t think there’s any chance she’ll quit until after Kentucky and West Virginia. And probably not until the convention. Why should she? What can anyone offer her?

MAYBE THE INSTA-WIFE’S NEXT ICD WILL HAVE THIS UPGRADE: New wi-fi devices warn doctors of heart attacks. It should interface with a bluetooth-equipped GPS cellphone.

WELL, DUH:

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money.

Some of us were warning them of these problems before November of 2006. You can see how well that worked out. They need to try doing something besides stuffing their pockets with pork for a change, but how credible will that be by now?

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I am a conservative Republican (more the former than the latter) and do not want to see either Clinton or Obama in the White House.

I have been contacted by the NRCC several times by phone since the 2006 elections, and been asked for a donation since I gave in the past.

I have refused each time, telling them they need to clean up their act first.

Every time the soliciter then brings up the spectre of Hillary as President to make me cough up the cash, and every time I tell them that boogeyman won’t work anymore. I assume they’ll try the same with Obama if he’s the nominee.

So, I guess the Republican slogan for ’08 is, “Hey, I know we’re terrible, but it could always be worse.”

Yeah, that’ll work.

“SUCH A NICE BOY” — for a suicide bomber. Plus, praise for Shearman & Sterling’s legal work.

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I was an associate at Shearman & Sterling many years ago, when being posted to the Abu Dhabi office was almost as prestigious as being sent to London or Paris. The firm took pains to point out that its work was about money, not politics, and was diligent in providing reassurances to associates who expressed concern. I even remember one large orientation meeting in which a junior associate (maybe even a summer) asked whether Jewish lawyers were eligible for the AD office. Of course, responded the partner, a position that might have come as a surprise to consular officials in the Emirates but which was firm policy nevertheless.

To the extent that any of us speculated about the firm’s involvement with the politics of the region, we were more suspicious of the oil companies than of the banks, and (IIRC) most of our work at the time was for banks. Our thinking, I believe, was that it took deeper involvement with the government to get oil concessions than to get financing deals so it was easier for a firm with financial clients to keep its distance from the icky stuff. My own experience involved briefly working on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (anti-boycott) compliance matters, and I never saw either lawyers or clients try to push the envelope.

I was therefore somewhat surprised to learn of Shearman & Sterling’s involvement with the Kuwaiti detainees, at least until I read that the firm’s clients were oil companies. I’m still a little surprised, because the firm was always so discreet. Unless they just blundered from a PR perspective, I can only imagine that they view public opinion in this country as sufficiently anti-Guantanamo that they could participate in this without repercussions. If the mainstream media picks this up, we may find out.

Indeed.

OBAMA tries to change the tone.