NEWT GINGRICH’S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN TWO VIDEOS.

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE INFORMATION THEORY OF THE LEISURE CLASS:  This is my draft, unpublished take on the business-cultural model of the New York Times, from a couple of years ago.  It starts by announcing that Beloved Wife and I finally gave up the home delivered subscription in DC. This did not turn out to be true, married as I am to a True New Yorker.  This, even though it runs something like $800 a year for home delivery, and despite the fact that the editor of the Times’ digital edition, who is an old family friend from our days in New York, expressed disbelief that anyone would pay those rates for out of town home delivery.

THOMAS NACHBAR: Justice, violence, and the OBL killing.  I find nearly all of this article utterly compelling – and important parts of it not focused on by other commenters; particularly what is said about the different institutional roles of different actors, such as the CIA:

What SEALs and the other members of our nation’s armed forces do is different from what law enforcement officers do, although both occasionally involve violence. (As a society, we tend to accentuate the role that violence plays in both professions—police are, after all, “peace officers,” and today’s wars are being fought through building as much as they are by targeting insurgents and terrorists.) Both members of the armed forces and law enforcement officers operate according to well-defined principles, but they are not identical principles, and those differences need to be preserved in both rhetoric and practice. The principles under which CIA operatives operate, given their status as neither members of the armed forces nor law enforcement officers, are considerably murkier. Lumping what all three groups do together under the rubric of “justice” might be rhetorically appealing, but it invites the same kind of mistakes that were made in places like Abu Ghraib, where the blurring of such lines helped erode adherence to our principles, with catastrophic results.

The argument is also an exercise in practical ethics of a practical kind.  Its payoff, after all, is this – and it says something I’ve been trying to say, but better:

Already, lawyers (among them Geoffrey Robertson, Julian Assange’s defense attorney) are opining that, in order for the killing of Bin Laden to have been legal, the SEALs on the raid must have acted in self-defense and that the Navy should accordingly conduct an investigation into whether his killing was justified. But that is treating SEALs on a combat mission as though they were law enforcement officers conducting an arrest. By virtually any account of the law of war, Osama Bin Laden was a valid military target, and as far as we can tell from the news accounts, this was a military mission undertaken by a military unit. To require that military units can use lethal force only in self-defense is not only a complete misunderstanding of the law of war (under whose auspices the SEALs were operating); it would subject our servicemembers to intolerable risk and cripple our nation’s ability to defend itself. Understanding the distinction between security and justice is not just a limit to protect against overreaching by security agencies; it’s also a protection for our armed forces as they carry out their lawful mission to defend our national security.

That two way relationship between security and justice is very astute, and not one that I had focused on. Yet there is a part in the opening of the article with which I don’t fully agree, though it is easily the most persuasive of the critiques of “justice” in the killing of OBL – and I’ve spent a lot of time reading unpersuasive ones in the last week.  It is the version of the argument that requires real analytic engagement, the one that I believe sets the terms of debate. The deep philosophical and moral question here, one that goes to the heart of “sides” in war; the bonds of affection and the fiduciary use of violence that is for the protection of a political community – what Tom calls the question of security – and yet is also a question of justice; and how one reconciles justice and partiality.

Tom is both a friend and someone whose intellect I’ve come to appreciate visiting at UVA this term. I look forward to taking up those questions with him – and I’ll report back, over at Volokh.

MICKEY KAUS ON OBAMA’S BORDER SPEECH: ‘“The fence is now basically complete.” Huh? Or was there an implicit “as far as I’m concerned” tacked onto the end of this sentence?’

FORTUNE REPORTS RETURN OF MBA JOB MARKET: Turnaround in job market for newly minted MBAs. “Moreover, the improved numbers represent B-schools and corporate recruiters across the board, not merely the top 25 or 50 schools, which tend to outperform the industry or the large-scale MBA recruiters that essentially make the market.” I wonder to what extent this could be said of law jobs – not, of course, that one could tell by asking the schools themselves. My impression, admittedly much influenced by Larry Ribstein, is that consolidation of the private law firm market is going to put pressure on law schools outside the very top tier for some time to come.

THE ECONOMICS OF GROUPON: From our own Megan McArdle, at the Atlantic. “The LASIK is almost certainly a “raise prices and discount” situation–you have no idea what their normal price is.  Even so, who wants discount eye surgery?  (Eleven people, apparently.  Good luck with that.)” (Fixed link.)

OBAMA’S RUNNING MATE: Wall Street Journal editorial buries Mitt Romney.

FREQUENT PAJAMAS CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER CIA AGENT “REZA KAHLILI” WINS A PAIR OF LITERARY PRIZES:

The pseudonymous Reza Kahlili, who writes frequently for Pajamas Media, won two literary prizes today, getting the nod in the categories of “Autobiography/Memoirs” and “Best New Non-Fiction” in the 2011 International Book Awards for his memoir A Time to Betray: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran. Reza was also a finalist in the “Non-Fiction Narrative” category.

The International Book Awards, in their second year, awarded prizes in 130 categories to 300 winners and finalists. Reza’s book, as his title implies, concerns his life as a secret agent for the West in Iran. You can read an excerpt on his website or buy the book here.

Kahlili’s articles for PJM are online here.

LEE SMITH on the cost of Egypt’s revolution.

AND WITH A STRAIGHT FACE, APPARENTLY: Wikileaks threatens leakers.

I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR NEW ROBOTIC OVERLORDS’ MESSAGING: And it turns out the message is … GRITS (Georgia Robotics and Intelligent Systems).  “A masters student at Georgia Tech University has created a system that allows a group of robots to move into formations without communicating with the other robots it is forming shapes with. The robots have no predefined memory or prior knowledge of their location.” (The video at the link is quick fun.) (Before I get deluged with emails, read the story to see that it does require inputs from an overhead camera that might be thought of as the equivalent of GPS. This is not as radical as the quoted sentence suggests.)

“WEEKEND AT BIN LADEN’S”… as “President Obama … runs around and practically campaigns with the corpse.”

OBI-WAN KENOBI DEAD, VADER SAYS:

CORUSCANT — Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday.

In a late-night appearance in the East Room of the Imperial Palace, Lord Vader declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that agents of the Imperial Army and stormtroopers of the 501st Legion had finally cornered Kenobi, one of the leaders of the Jedi rebellion, who had eluded the Empire for nearly two decades. Imperial officials said Kenobi resisted and was cut down by Lord Vader’s own lightsaber. He was later dumped out of an airlock.

Read the whole thing, young padawan — or at least don’t miss the holographic image at the top of the page.

RELATED: Ace writes, “It’s a well-done parody,” but, “the connection they make is a little dicey.”

Presumably though, George Lucas would approve.

TIME TO SMASH BIN LADEN’S LEGACY: Austin Bay writes:

The Arab Spring popular revolts caught al-Qaida by surprise. The revolts are not al-Qaida’s operational handiwork, and they certainly do not fit the ideologically driven historical narrative spun by al-Qaida elites, such as the late Osama bin Laden.

Of course, militant Islamists are exploiting the revolts. Egyptian Islamist extremists have launched attacks on Coptic Christians, seeking to ignite a sectarian civil war and derail Egypt’s transition process. Al-Qaida’s Musab al-Zarqawi attempted the same ploy in Iraq, pitting Sunnis against Shias.

However, demands for jobs and freedom swamp calls for a caliphate.

Bin Laden’s death at any time would have been a coup, but his death now, in this fascinating Arab Spring, provides Arab modernizers with a political tool to challenge the utopian poppycock of militant Islamist extremists and forward the goal of marginalizing them in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria.

Al-Qaida has always been first and foremost an information power whose most potent weapons are psychological manipulation, ideological influence and media exploitation.

Bin Laden’s death gives the entire civilized world an opportunity to attack al-Qaida’s strengths.

But does the West have the civilizational confidence to actually do that?

UPDATE: QED.

THANKS, L.A. CITY COUNCIL! Billionaire Eli Broad gets $52 million of taxpayer funds for parking garage:

We told you it was happening, and now it has. The cash-strapped city of L.A., which is having trouble hiring cops and keeping fire stations manned, is officially giving billionaire El Broad $52 million for a parking lot.You heard it right. The L.A. City Council approved the deal this week. Of course, there are details that help public officials deflect the reality of of the situation.

Like the fact that the cash is coming from a separate fund — from the controversial Community Redevelopment Agency, which is supposed to help redevelop blighted properties (not rich guys who want to house their art collections with the aid of your dollars).

Still, it’s a bit of a boondoggle, innit?

Gov. Jerry Brown has been attempting to seize CRA money across the state for precisely this reason — that it’s being misused.

Broad is building a museum as part of downtown’s Grand Avenue redevelopment project. His venue would house his multimillion-dollar art collection.

But will the graffiti be on the inside of the museum, the outside, or both?

RELATED: Steven Greenhut of City Journal on “California’s Secret Government: How Redevelopment agencies blight the Golden State.”

GOVERNMENT MOTORS:  “Jobs ‘added or preserved’ sounds an awful lot like ‘created or saved.'”

I think it’s definitely safe to call such euphemistic hyperbole shovel ready, though.

LIFEGUARDING IN ORANGE COUNTY IS TOTALLY LUCRATIVE: “High pay and benefits for lifeguards in Newport Beach is the latest example of frustrating levels of compensation for public employees. More than half the city’s full-time lifeguards are paid a salary of over $100,000 and all but one of them collect more than $100,000 in total compensation including benefits.” Full-time lifeguards are organized as part of the Fire Department’s union. PS:  I should add that my objection is not to the fact that making sure you have a competent lifeguarding staff on the beaches – 200 or so tower lifeguards, according to the article – and keeping all that organized and operational requires year-round, full-time, supervisory staff who of course must be better paid than some summer-job hourly rate.  It’s the rate assumed is required to get competent supervisory staff, how many, and with what benefits that’s the problem here.

HOOVER INSTITUTION’S BILL WHALEN: California’s coming train wreck over high speed rail.

TAXPROF: DESPITE LAW PROHIBITING IT, IRS Refers to Taxpayers as “Tax Protesters.”

THE FUTURE AND ITS ENEMIES: Virginia Postrel’s influential book — Mitch Daniels approved! — is now out in a Kindle version. Its $14.99 price was set by the publisher, but for those who prefer the old school, dead tree approach, the paperback is only $6.00.

SYRIA SHAMED OUT OF RUNNING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SEAT: “A coalition of 25 human rights groups headed by the Geneva-based UN Watch cheered today’s withdrawal by Syria of its candidacy for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.” This is good news. The problem is that it takes vast amounts of political capital to achieve something that, on any ordinary moral calculus, should not even be up for discussion.  Yet, the UN being the UN, it is.  The Human Rights Council is itself the shame, and the US does neither itself nor the cause of human rights any good by being on it.

BATMAN ARRESTED! Sure, Batman is a self-described duly-deputized officer of the law. But isn’t Michigan a bit out of his jurisdiction?

HARRY REID: The Founding Fathers would totally dig the NLRB:

“The Founders created a system of checks and balances — three branches of government, for example, and two chambers of the Congress — precisely because they anticipated these passions,” Reid said on the Senate floor.

“Long after that system was created, a new independent federal agency was created in the same spirit of checks and balances,” said Reid. “That agency is the National Labor Relations Board, and it acts as a check on employers and employees alike.”

I’m George Washington, and I approve this power grab? Somehow I don’t think so. And as Jennifer Rubin noted in the item we linked to earlier today, the NLRB could hand the Republicans a potent issue in 2012.

(H/T: Josh Trevino.)

UPDATE: Good question from a reader: If Boeing wanted to move its factory to Nevada, a right-to-work state, would Reid be OK with the NLRB forbidding such a move?

Well, that’s different — somehow.

INSTAVISION AT THE NRA CONVENTION:

Is 3D home printing the new future in gun magazine clip production? Glenn Reynolds catches up with gun blogger Sebastian from Snowflakes in Hell to get the scoop on his newest project.

“With 3D printing you can actually make real stuff. And that has really been a technical revolution.” — Glenn Reynolds.

Approximately eight minutes. Click here or on the screencap below to watch:

BUY PITCHFORK FUTURES: “The Irish government plans to institute a tax on private pensions to drive jobs growth, according to its jobs program strategy, delivered today.”

RELATED: “Question: Do you really think that Roth IRA is going to stay tax-free?”