STILL MORE ON the Erik Scott shooting in Las Vegas.

P.J. O’ROURKE ON THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT’S FOREIGN POLICY: “There is no Tea Party foreign policy as far as I can tell.” But then, as he correctly notes, it’s a movement, not a party. Plus this:

If the Tea Party movement, so-called, achieves “small, effective government with low taxes and free enterprise,” America will be a much richer nation. A much richer nation will have a much more powerful foreign policy, whether it means to or wants to or not.

Indeed.

JACOB SULLUM: Ad Rage: Democrats blame the First Amendment for their impending losses.

As Democrats head for what promises to be a midterm election fiasco of historic proportions, a pre-emptive excuse has begun to circulate: It’s all because of Citizens United. Team Donkey fans claim the January 21 decision, in which the Supreme Court overturned restrictions on the political speech of corporations, triggered a flood of negative advertising by what President Obama calls “shadowy groups with harmless-sounding names.”

If independent groups favoring Team Elephant have a spending advantage so far, it’s not because of recent changes in election law. Most of the advertising that irks Democrats was legal before Citizens United, and the plausible prospect of taking over one or both houses of Congress has energized Republicans, while Democrats are dispirited by the unpopularity of their party’s policies.

Yeah, you ram through policies that the public doesn’t like, you’re going to do badly. It’s that whole actions/consequences thing.

LES JONES: Scariest Economic Fact I’ve Seen Lately.

SHIKHA DALMIA: ObamaCare’s First Major Casualties: Gays And Aliens. “How ironic that a president who got elected on the promise of bipartisan comity has produced nothing but partisan rancor. And his signature legislation that was supposed to save America’s most vulnerable has begun by throwing them under the bus.”

UPDATE: Obama heckled over gay rights in New York.

THE IPAD AND WHAT IT’S DOING TO MEDIA. “The iPad’s effect on media firms extends well beyond its screen. The device contains a web browser as well as an app store, bringing together the world of paid content and the open web, where print content tends to be free. It is as though a news-stand carried two versions of every magazine—one costly, the other inferior but free. Media firms that were already coming to believe that the web is a mediocre advertising platform have drawn a stark conclusion: they should pull back from the free web.”

LAST NIGHT’S lecture on the higher-education bubble went well; there was a crowd of around 300, mostly students who probably would have preferred a more upbeat treatment. The Q&A lasted about as long as the lecture, which is always a good sign. One point that I haven’t blogged, but that is worth mentioning here: The government decides to try to increase the middle class by subsidizing things that middle class people have: If middle-class people go to college and own homes, then surely if more people go to college and own homes, we’ll have more middle-class people. But homeownership and college aren’t causes of middle-class status, they’re markers for possessing the kinds of traits — self-discipline, the ability to defer gratification, etc. — that let you enter, and stay, in the middle class. Subsidizing the markers doesn’t produce the traits; if anything, it undermines them.

DAVID BERNSTEIN EXPLAINS THE CONSTITUTION TO DAHLIA LITHWICK: “Senators swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. Of course they are obligated to determine whether a bill they are considering is constitutional. Where did Lithwick get the idea that courts, and only courts, should be concerned with the constitutionality of legislation?”

REPUBLICANS RELEASE the “Pledge To America.”

SHOCKER: Senator Kirsten Gillebrand of New York… Leading By Only One Point? Let’s see whether some other polls confirm this, but . . . .

OBAMA LOSING THE “WAL-MART MOMS.”

AMAZON’S FALL BLOWOUT SALE is still on for a couple of more days.

THE BLUTARSKY PRESIDENCY. Nah, he’s not on a roll. . . .

WELL, THEY’VE ALREADY CHASED OUT THE LAST INCANDESCENT FACTORY: An American innovation in light bulbs, but will manufacturing stay in the U.S.?

HARDWIRED FOR CHOCOLATE and hybrid cars?

WHAT THOMAS FRIEDMAN ISN’T TALKING ABOUT.

HEY, I’VE BEEN TELLING YOU THIS FOR A WHILE: Poll Surprise Of The Day: Barney Frank In Trouble?

UPDATE: Readers complain that I didn’t link to his challenger. Okay, here he is.

CHANGE: U.S. Air War Soars in ‘Post-Combat’ Iraq.

PJTV: DOJ BOMBSHELL: Former Voting Rights Chief to Testify in Black Panther Voter Intimidation Case.

UPDATE: More: Bombshell: Defying DOJ Instructions, Christopher Coates Will Testify Friday on New Black Panther Case. “Told by the Department of Justice to ignore a subpoena from the Civil Rights Commission, former Voting Section Chief Coates has instead chosen to comply. His testimony Friday morning is likely to be incredibly damaging to DOJ leadership and the Obama administration.”

SCIENCE: People In The Midwest Are Best At Having Sex. Which explains why they’re all so gosh-darn cheerful and friendly, I guess!

UPDATE: Reader Fred Boness writes: “I think the gosh-darn cheerful and friendly part comes first. It’s one
of those how to win friends and influence people things.”

SUSANNAH BRESLIN ON HER stillborn HBO series. I like this: “He picked the porn idea first, because editors always do.”

IT’S GOOD TO SEE THAT WASHINGTON IS GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT OUR PROBLEMS: Stephen Colbert to testify before House immigration subcommittee Friday.

TRACY QUAN: Adult Services Is Dead — Where Will the Craigslist Pervs Go Next? They’re not “pervs,” they’re just “special needs lovers.”

QUESTION: If Americans prefer smaller government, why does it continue to grow?

COOL: A Do-It-Yourself Satellite Builder.