THINGS YOUR BARTENDER won’t tell you.

#UNIONFAIL: Wisconsin’s Senate Majority Is Democratic No More.

GETTING IT WRONG on Aurora.

UPDATE: More on James Holmes’ federally-funded stipend. “If any program would be put on a pedestal, it would be this one.”

STILL TODAY’S MOST POPULAR OPINION PIECE AT THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: My 2007 column, People don’t stop killers. People with guns do.

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals on toys.

THE NEW YORK SUN: Mayor Bloomberg and Ice-T. “The problem the mayor has is that it turns out that, even after more than two centuries, Americans like this freedom, and they are prepared to risk a lot for it. That is the meaning of the refusal of our democratic institutions to do what the mayor wants on guns. . . . It is a scandal that this most basic article of the Bill of Rights is not in force now in the leading city in America because the mayor, among others, refuses to bow to the Constitution that he is bound by oath to support.”

UPDATE: A reader emails: “I’ve passed Michael Bloomberg’s townhouse nearly every day since long before he became mayor of Fair Gotham. There is *always* at least one armed person (wearing a NYPD uniform) standing at his front door on East 79th Street.”

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: He Wanted Me To Be His Pimp.

STARE BACK: At Amazon, it’s the Security & Surveillance Store.

Also, today only: 50% off Brave, the video game.

YES, IT’S TRUE: The White House eagerly requested a copy of my new book. The White House chef, that is.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Political Prejudice At Yale. “As people know, many leading universities, such as MIT and Yale, have made many courses available on line for free. This is a great service. But this does not merely spread knowledge, it also opens a window to the educational bias that is going on in elite college classrooms.”

I THINK I’LL ENGAGE IN A NEW YORK TOURISM STRIKE INSTEAD: Late Night: Mayor Bloomberg urges police strike over gun control.

Of course, if the police do strike over gun control, taxpayers may not notice much difference, and indeed may find crime control works better without them. . . .

Related: Michael Walsh: Mike bloomberg’s Suicide Cult. “That’s right — in Bloomberg’s universe, the ungrateful taxpayers should count themselves lucky that the cops don’t just say the hell with them. This absurd statement does conservatives a valuable service, by framing so clearly how people like Bloomberg — who commands an armed NYPD and no doubt employs private security guards to protect his Manhattan mansion and his Bermuda retreat — think about the role of the police.”

BRYAN PRESTON: Obama Throws Himself, And Liz Warren, Under The Bus. By rewriting the Roanoke speech.

UPDATE: Chronology Of A Chastened Politician. Trouble is, we know which one of these came from the heart, and which one came from panicked focus-grouping. . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Ari Mendelson writes: “All you have to do to see that Obama really meant what he was saying in the Roanoke speech is look at his facial expression when he was saying those awful lines. The absolute delight he had in informing his audience of this great ‘truth’ was apparent to anybody paying attention.”

WAR ON PHOTOGRAPHY UPDATE: D.C. Police Officially Declare Photography Is Not a Crime.

Last week, two years after Washington, D.C., cops told Jerome Vorus to stop taking pictures of a traffic stop in Georgetown and to stop recording his encounter with them, the Metropolitan Police Department issued a general order against such illegal interference with citizens’ exercise of their First Amendment rights. The order (PDF), part of an agreement settling a federal lawsuit Vorus filed last year with help from the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation’s Capital, “recognizes that members of the general public have a First Amendment right to video record, photograph, and/or audio record MPD members while MPD members are conducting official business or while acting in an official capacity in any public space, unless such recordings interfere with police activity.” That was not the position taken by the cops who detained Vorus in July 2010, four of whom incorrectly informed him that he was breaking the law by photographing and recording police without permission from the department’s public affairs office. To the contrary, Police Chief Cathy Lanier says in the new directive, “A bystander has the same right to take photographs or make recordings as a member of the media, as long as the bystander has a legal right to be present where he or she is located.”

That right applies in “public settings” such as “parks, sidewalks, streets, and locations of public protests” as well as “an individual’s home or business, common areas of public and private facilities and buildings, and any other public or private facility at which the individual has a legal right to be present.” If someone is legally taking pictures or making a recording, an officer may not “order that person to cease such activity,” “demand that person’s identification,” “demand that the person state a reason why he or she is taking photographs or recording,” “detain that person,” “intentionally block or obstruct cameras or recording devices,” or “”in any way threaten, intimidate or otherwise discourage an individual from recording [officers’] enforcement activities.” Furthermore, “a person has the right to express criticism of the police activity being observed…so long as that expression does not jeopardize the safety of any member, suspect or bystander…and so long as that expression does not violate the law or incite others to violate the law.”

It’s sad that it takes a lawsuit to get these basic truths recognized, but this is still progress.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Keep Your Aging Car Running. “As the U.S. economy continues to battle tough headwinds, many drivers are keeping their cars longer. The average age of a passenger vehicle in the U.S. has increased to about 11 years, according to researchers R.L. Polk. (It was only nine years back in 2000.)”

SO IS ANYTHING THEY REPORTED ABOUT THE SHOOTING ACCURATE? Aurora Shooter Not Actually Wearing Bulletproof Body Armor.

That kind of blows this piece by William Saletan out of the water.

CHANGE: US Regaining Manufacturing Might With Robots and 3D Printing.

I BLAME GEORGE W. BUSH: U.S. Drought Could Cause Global Unrest. “USDA needs to figure out a way to remove the mandate on ethanol use from corn . . . . If we could free up 20 to 30 percent of the U.S. crop, reduced as it is, it would bring corn prices down very quickly.”

UPDATE: A reader who requests anonymity emails:

I work for a grain and ethanol company. Our ethanol guys say cutting the ethanol mandate would not solve the supply and demand issue until fuel refiners adjust their blends to remove ethanol. The mandate created ethanol demand which will be difficult to “unwind.” I don’t believe it is easy and I know it is not cheap. I think the comparison is somewhat similar to the problems with switching from winter to summer gasoline blends but on steroids. The government would need to mandate limits to blending ethanol to cut use (unless corn prices get really stupid). Think this will happen in the fall of an election year ? With real corn supply problems meat prices will not get silly until next year. Herd/flock liquidation may depress meat prices in the short run. Buy a freezer.

Getting more discussion in the grain trade is the issue of aflatoxin. The weather in the corn belt makes this a likely problem. Corn over 20 ppb aflatoxin has very limited uses. What is “available” may not be entirely usable.

Ugh.

USING MICRONEEDLES to target therapeutics to the back of the eye.

MY FIVE-YEAR-OLD COLUMN, People Don’t Stop Killers, People With Guns Do, is still #1 in “Most Popular” for Opinion at the New York Daily News.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Look, good for you. But you didn’t do that alone. We all did that. You’re welcome.” Hey, in this case it’s pretty much true. . . .

YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT MASSACRE YOURSELF. SOMEONE ELSE BUILT IT FOR YOU: “Holmes was awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. NIH is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It gave the graduate student a $26,000 stipend and paid his tuition for the highly competitive neuroscience program at the University of Colorado in Denver.” Well, now we know how he could afford all those guns. Uncle Sam!

TAXPAYER-FUNDED ELECTIONEERING: Senators push Geithner on potentially illegal taxpayer-funded social media campaigns.

21ST CENTURY NARRATIVES: “The message: Take whatever handouts you can get. Be a submissive, thankful little receiver.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Human Beings Were Meant to Eat Meat: It’s In Our Genes.

RESILIENCE: Microgrid Keeps the Power Local, Cheap, and Reliable.

CLEAN AND LOW-MAINTENANCE: The Propane Outboard Motor.