CONLAW PROF ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE DEBT LIMIT AND THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT:

Isn’t it funny how this “tea party” philosophy just sounds like a fair reading of the text? But only Clarence Thomas is crackpot enough to do that! I added the boldface to highlight what to me seems like the obvious interpretation: No one is talking about questioning the validity of the debt! When you fail to pay debts, you’re not claiming they aren’t valid. Why wouldn’t all the Justices say that? Why would that inapt clause take precedence over the specific and clear clause in Article I, listing among Congress’s powers the power “To borrow Money on the credit of the United States”?

We can’t follow the plain language of the Constitution. Doing that would unacceptably constrain the behavior of elites. Instead, the Constitution must be interpreted by an elite priesthood that will insure it means whatever the elites want it to mean.

WELL NOW, THIS IS NEWS: Top Syrian Generals Defect – Announce Formation of Free Syrian Army to Fight Assad.

THE END OF HARRY REID AS WE KNOW IT? “We don’t know all the details of the negotiations between Mitch McConnell and the White House which apparently are closing in on an agreement, but one thing is clear, Harry Reid has become a sideshow.” I feel fine.

SMART GIRL POLITICS: Alexis Garcia interviews Dana Loesch.

“I THINK THIS GETCHELL KID COULD GO A LONG WAY.”

UPDATE: “The radical punk-rock anthem of our age.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Must-see.

MORE: Jonah Goldberg likes it.

KEITH HENNESSEY: Risk, And The Government’s Credit Rating.

CITIES VS. COUNTRIES: “San Francisco’s metropolitan area contains an economy the size of Thailand. Chicago’s GDP rivals Switzerland.”

DAN MITCHELL: Just in Case You Need One More Reason Why the Department of Housing and Urban Development Should Be Abolished.

ATF GUNRUNNING SCANDAL UPDATE: Associated Press covers Gunwalker. “The article needs to be read in its entirety to get the full impact, but one notable point is that firearms dealers made sales of AK-47 type weapons that they normally would not have, because they were encouraged to do so by ATF. . . . The Obama administration’s cover-up continues to this day, as Eric Holder’s Department of Justice stonewalls Congress, seemingly in order to prevent the investigation from reaching into the highest levels of the administration. If the media’s need to protect the fast-sinking Obama administration were not so acute, this would be quite a scandal.”

CHANGE: GDP Report Shatters Illusion of Jobless Productivity-Packed Recovery. To have a jobless recovery, you’ve got to have a recovery. If you factor out government spending, I’m not so sure we have.

YOU ELECT AN APPARATCHIK, you get apparatchiks appointed. And favors for the nomenklatura. No surprise.

REACHED: A tentative debt-ceiling deal?

UPDATE: A Deal Comes Together.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY REVOLUTION GOIN’ FOR YA? The chant in Tahrir Square: “Islamic, Islamic. Neither secular nor liberal.”

STEVE CROWDER: WALL STREET SHENANIGANS (Debt Ceiling).

QUESTION: Will we have 72 hours to read a final debt-ceiling bill?

TODAY ONLY SALE: I Love Lucy: The Complete Series On DVD.

UTAH TRIAL COURT REJECTS “negligent directions” claim against Google.

ANDREW BREITBART WILL SKIP CPAC over its GOProud ban.

Roger Simon is boycotting too. And I won’t be there either. Of course, I don’t usually go anyway.

UPDATE: Breitbart link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

DEFENDING DEFENSE in the debt-ceiling talks.

UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU’VE BROUGHT A TASER TO A GUNFIGHT: Five Tasers, Two Seconds: That’s Gonna Hurt, Bro.

AT AMAZON, up to 50% off on luggage.

FAILING TO SAVE THE SPOTTED OWL: “This is a pattern we see all too often with the Endangered Species Act — regulatory measures are imposed with uncertain if any ecological benefit. The ESA has sometimes kept species from falling over the brink of extinction, but has done precious little to achieve its stated goal of species recovery. Residents of depressed timber communities may want ESA reform because of the Act’s tremendous costs, but there’s also ample reason to want ESA reform because of its environmental ineffectiveness.”

ALEC BALDWIN: Let’s raise taxes. I guess I can put him down as another vote in favor of my revenue-enhancement program.

CLAIRE BERLINSKI: The Politics Of Earthquakes.