MORE ON Ray Kurzweil and Google.

PRESS: “There are many murders, but some get more media than others. . . . The media reports are — I must assume — a causal factor in the creation of a murderous impulse that some people are not going to be able to control. And yet, the media have their own irresistible impulse to publish these highly stimulating stories, an impulse which, by linking, I am stimulating.”

REVEALED BY GOOGLE: What America Really Thinks.

15 THINGS that overachievers do.

ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF SELLING Old Man’s War, John Scalzi has some thoughts. If you haven’t read the book, you ought to.

ADVICE ON LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS.

WHAT IT’S LIKE to be an adult without kids.

ON INSIDE WASHINGTON: Evan Thomas, Charles Krauthammer rip Obama for lack of fiscal cliff leadership.

“This is not Congress’ fault,” Thomas said. “Congress is behaving like Congress. This is the president’s fault. The president needs to go to the country and explain why they need to get this done. He has never done that.” . . . Thomas later reiterated his point by saying the aftermath of the election is a time for the president to spend his political capital not on gaining political advantage, but on solving a crisis.

“All political advances are with the president,” Thomas added. “What is he running for? He won, right? This is his time to actually take some political hits and tell the truth for a change instead of trying to get political advantage.”

He’s voting present while casting blame. But you gotta admit, that’s an approach that’s worked pretty well for him so far.

LEADERSHIP: Benghazi? Whatever! There was just some ‘sloppiness’ there, says Obama. According to a State Department spokesperson, Secretary of State Hillary of Clinton was unable to comment because of “a really bad hangover.”

UPDATE: From the same interview: “Unfortunately, the camera was not on Gregory at the moment when ‘banning these high capacity clips’ was mentioned.” Heh. I doubt that was by accident.

PRIVILEGE AND THE BELFAST PROJECT. “To induce participants to document their memories for posterity, Belfast Project historians promised all those interviewed that the contents of their testimonials would remain confidential until they died. More than a decade later, this promise of confidentiality is at the heart of a legal dispute implicating the United States’ bilateral legal assistance treaty with the United Kingdom, the so-called academic’s privilege, and the First Amendment.”

FROM PROF. JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Top Media Mythbusting Posts of 2012.

CHARLIE MARTIN: 13 Weeks: Week Eight — Plateaus and Diets and Goals, Oh My! “I’ve always had a subconscious awareness that I was fat, and that being fat was disgusting. I suspect this may have had some impact.”

IS PUTTING YOUR KID IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS PARENTAL MALPRACTICE? (CONT’D): Boy, Not Making Bombs, Arrested for Having Things Cops Think Could Blow Up (And For Drawings That Spooked a Teacher). Nothing actually dangerous was found.

Lest you think it is inherently suspicious a young man would have chemicals or electronic parts, note that his school is, according to a Press of Atlantic City account, “a magnet school with programs focusing on engineering and environmental sciences and specializing in hands-on learning.”

The system and police should apologize, and there should be consequences and reparations all around. But there won’t be, because accountability is for the little people. Which is why I’m beginning to think that putting your kids in public schools might just be parental malpractice.

I THINK THE ANSWER IS “NO.” Should We Criminally Punish Non-Violent, Regulatory Offenses? Indeed, I think it might be that the distinction between malum prohibitum and and malum in se should be incorporated in due process analysis. This is something I mean to discuss if I ever get around to writing my Due Process When Everything Is A Crime piece.

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INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREE: Prof. Jacobson: If the names and addresses of gun permit holders are fair game, what about this? When journalists start a privacy war, where does it end? I’d be interested to see the results of criminal background checks.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: In Congress, relatives lobby on bills before family members. Remember when Nancy Pelosi promised to “drain the swamp?” Hahahahahahahahahaha!

HARVARD LAW SCHOOL OFFERS first free online course.

AMUSE YOURSELF ENDLESSLY with the Thomas Friedman Op-Ed Generator.

IN RICO SUIT AGAINST ANIMAL-RIGHTS TERRORISM, ASPCA Pays $9.3 Million in Landmark Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Settlement.

This settlement applies only to the ASPCA. Feld Entertainment’s legal proceedings, including its claims for litigation abuse and racketeering, will continue against the remaining defendants, Humane Society of the United States, the Fund for Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Animal Protection Institute United with Born Free USA, Tom Rider and the attorneys involved.

“These defendants attempted to destroy our family-owned business with a hired plaintiff who made statements that the court did not believe. Animal activists have been attacking our family, our company, and our employees for decades because they oppose animals in circuses. This settlement is a vindication not just for the company but also for the dedicated men and women who spend their lives working and caring for all the animals with Ringling Bros. in the face of such targeted, malicious rhetoric,” said Kenneth Feld , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Feld Entertainment.

The “animal rights” movement has been a haven for terrorism, lawfare, and all sorts of misconduct for years. It deserves far more scrutiny than it gets. As, for that matter, does the entire nonprofit sector.

And do the ASPCA, et al., get their nonprofit status reviewed in light of this misconduct?

2012: “To be frank, most pols had a year of which they should not be proud. President Obama ran a mean-spirited reelection campaign without a specific agenda; he and the country are paying for that now. Mitt Romney lost a winnable race, in part because his political operation was inferior to the Obama machine and in part because he could not connect at a visceral level with enough voters. Senate Democrats went another year without passing a budget and as of this writing haven’t put forth any plan to avoid the fiscal cliff. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) struggled mightily to forge a deal but perhaps has been too optimistic about the president’s deal-making abilities and his conference’s political maturity.”

WAR ON SCIENCE: Obama’s Science Commitment, FDA Face Ethics Scrutiny in Wake of GMO Salmon Fiasco.

Two years ago, the FDA had said it was going to release its environmental assessment, the final document in the approval process, within weeks. It was finally and quietly posted on the FDA’s website only last Friday—just hours before the long holiday weekend—and published in the Federal Register on Wednesday.

The release came, FDA sources say, in response to the publication of an investigation in Slate by the Genetic Literacy Project two days before, on December 19. The GLP, which I head, had reported that the FDA had definitively concluded last spring that the fish would have “no significant impact” on the environment and was “as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon.” However, the draft assessment, dated April 19, 2012, was not released—blocked on orders from the White House.

The seven month delay, sources within the government say, came after discussions late last spring between Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius’ office and officials linked to Valerie Jarrett at the Executive Office, who were debating the political implications of approving the GM salmon. Genetically modified plants and animals are controversial among the president’s political base, which was thought critical to his reelection efforts during a low point in the president’s popularity. . . .

According to sources, the White House political block—a direct violation of numerous ethics regulations and possibly of federal laws—was instituted over the objections of scientists at the FDA, but with the awareness of HHS Secretary Sibelius, her senior adviser Andrea Palm and the Office of Science and Technology Policy and its director John Holdren, who is responsible for enforcing “science integrity” across government agencies.

Chris Mooney, call your office.

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE: State of Kansas wants sperm donor found on Craigslist to pay for daughter born to lesbian couple.

UPDATE: Reader Shane McNeill writes:

As a retired attorney, this case is every reason I got out of private and public law practice once we had children of our own. These idiot parents who have children as some kind of status thing, and then delegate them to pawn in their continuing battle with immaturity or responsibility.

This plaintiff no doubt has no financial skin in this lawsuit, and the guy, who by all accounts did this in good faith for good will and at no profit, no doubt had to hire counsel to reply to this abuse.

Is there any kind of fund established to your knowledge to help this guy offset his legal expenses?

This is bullshit, and everything that is wrong with this country. The article barely glances over the “co-parent” who disappeared apparently shortly after the transaction took place.

And there is no reference of any kind to hold this co-parent responsible for the costs the taxpayers are stuck with due to their irresponsibility.

Yes, it’s pathetic. And I don’t know of any legal defense fund. Does anyone?

SHUT UP, THEY EXPLAINED.

The editors end the way these “conversations” usually do:

“If LaPierre and the NRA truly want to make meaningful contributions, they should have the grace, decency and good sense to get out of the way. They’ve dominated the debate over gun violence for decades. And they’ve failed.”

Translation: “shut up.” We know what’s best for you.

They keep using that word, “conversation.”