IF YOU HIRE SOMEONE WITH A NAME LIKE THAT, there can only be trouble to follow.

DON SURBER: Hope. Change. Fail.

JOY MCCANN: Burying Breitbart. “The bottom line? Don’t let them get by with lying. That’s it. And that is Andrew’s legacy.”

MARKETS: Is the Market Rigged? Absolutely, Says Streettalk Advisors CEO. “The U.S. Labor Department’s monthly employment report is one of the most-anticipated market-moving data points watched by investors and traders on Wall Street. But ahead of Friday’s February jobs data, CNBC reports that the Labor Department and other government agencies are concerned some traders are illegally accessing data ahead of its official release while others are jamming agencies’ websites to give only a handful of people access to information, slowing it down for everyone else.”

A VOICE FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE: Andrew Breitbart Lambasts MSNBC in Unaired Interview for Prepping the Race Card.

CHANGE: Gallup: Unemployment now up over 9%. Have you noticed how the Gallup numbers are always worse than the government numbers?

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, CRITICAL RACE THEORY, and a Wikipedia edit war.

BLOGGER’S DEATH NOTED: A Personal Note from SecNav Ray Mabus on the Passing of Neptunus Lex.

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT:

Two people have written to suggest that I run for Fred Thompson’s soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat.

Somehow, I don’t see myself in the Senate, except perhaps in the extremely enjoyable fill-someone-else’s-unexpired-term capacity. That might be fun.

Good book fodder. Likewise a closed-ended recess appointment to the Supreme Court. Neither, alas, is likely.

CHANGE: US Budget Deficit Hits All Time High In February.

ANDY MCCARTHY: Obama and the Crits.

AT AMAZON, loads of coupons.

OUCH: Limbaugh Not So Hot To Get Faithless Advertisers Back: “The rift between Sleep Train Mattress Centers and Rush Limbaugh apparently became permanent today after Limbaugh reportedly turned aside the Sacramento retailer’s attempt at a truce. Limbaugh rebuffed Sleep Train’s request that the controversial radio host resume his duties as a paid spokesman for the company.”

Ultimately, he’s got the audience. And the audience isn’t happy with the advertisers who’ve left. So now it’s Limbaugh who’s protecting his brand, since if he went back to endorsing them it would look like his endorsement was only about the money, which would devalue it.

UPDATE: Reader Michael Ubaldi writes: “The next step, of course, is to start signing contracts with each advertiser’s toughest competitor. What better way to celebrate free speech?”

DEMOCRAT BEGS REPUBLICAN FOR MONEY: Detroit’s Mayor Asks Governor for Help. “With Detroit projected to run out of money in May, Mayor Dave Bing is calling on Michigan’s governor to give the city a loan rather than appoint a financial overseer who would have broad power to cut costs and break union contracts.”

But here’s the key bit: “New labor agreements that could save the city $100 million have yet to be ratified by unionized workers.”

ED MORRISSEY: Gingrich’s Southern strategy off to a slow start. “Can a Southern strategy exclude Tennessee? Gingrich came in third in the Volunteer State, a poorer showing than expected. Even his win in Georgia wasn’t all that impressive.”

MORE ON TOMORROW’S Second Amendment symposium at Fordham Law.

ET TU, DOROTHY? I don’t believe in a higher standard for conservatives. I think that’s a trap. If women are strong enough to operate in the public sphere, they shouldn’t be able to call on archaic standards of female fragility whenever they want, and I think Rabinowitz is way, way behind the times.

Plus, her comments on Limbaugh’s “booming voice” sound a bit sexist, to my ears. . . .

UPDATE: Reader Catherine MacMillan writes: “I have long said that ‘not showing up to riot’ is a failed conservative policy.”

VIDEO: Does Soledad O’Brien know what “Critical Race Theory” is? “After sneering at Joel Pollak for supposedly mischaracterizing the discipline and then refusing to define it herself, she finally demonstrates her grasp of Critical Race Theory by uncorking a definition that’s curiously similar to … the opening of Wikipedia’s intro on CRT, replete with the noncolloquial use of ‘intersection’ to describe an interdisciplinary study. Could be a coincidence — the definition she gives is generic — but the thought of her taking this much of a tone with him over his alleged ignorance while she’s got some intern reading Wiki entries to her in her earpiece is irresistible. But is that what happened?”

UPDATE: “Prepare to gaze into the face of hatred.” “By the way… Good catch, Joel!”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Prof. Stephen Clark writes: “Someone should ask Holder if now would be a good time to have that frank discussion [about race]. We could even include a seminar on CRT for the unenlightened.” Yeah, I’m sure he’d be into that now. . . .

BUMMER: Nigeria rescue bid: Kidnapped Briton and Italian killed. “A Briton and an Italian abducted in Nigeria last year have died in a rescue bid by UK and Nigerian forces, Prime Minister David Cameron has announced.”

OIL? WHY WOULD WE WANT MORE OIL FROM A FRIENDLY COUNTRY? Senate Democrats Block Keystone Oil Pipeline Bill. But not all: “Despite Obama’s efforts, 11 Democrats brushed off Obama on the vote and sided with Republicans.”

ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Are drivers getting meaner? It seems that way to me. I blame the recession.

UPDATE: Reader Kent Wood emails:

My take on this is that it’s true (drivers are more angry) and that the reason is…(drumroll please)

…Starbuck’s.

More people are drinking more and stronger coffee than ever before. It makes us a bit more impulsive and jumpy than normal, and on the highways this gets magnified many times over.

Just a theory, and probably not a very popular one, but there you go!

Hmm. I dunno, I’m angrier when I’m tired, usually.

SEX AND YOUR HEART: “While many fear that sexual activity could hurt their hearts, recent evidence suggests just the opposite. The Massachusetts Male Aging Study made headlines with the finding that men who had sex at least twice per week were less likely to develop cardiovascular disease compared with those who had sex once a month or less.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How A “Man Cave” Can Strengthen Your Relationship.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: New Company Exposes Cheating By Studying Stained Underwear.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Relative Risks of Rape by Age, and Is Rape “About Control … Not About Sex”?“Sexual attacks on women are pretty strongly correlated with their being in the years of maximum sexual attractiveness.”