SEX: When He Says “More” And She Says No.

It’s the whole maintenance sex discussion again. As usual, the MSM is just catching up with InstaPundit.

SMART THERMOSTATS: Nest’s Plan to Stop Brownouts Before They Start.

Living in Texas is unimaginable without air conditioning, especially on steamy summer afternoons. Unfortunately, there simply isn’t enough power to go around—and when the energy companies suggest that residents not cool it during those hours, people ignore the pleas.

But recently Les Bowles, a retired American Airlines pilot living in a suburb not far from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, became part of a possible solution. He is a beta tester for a program called Rush Hour Rewards, wherein a lusciously designed thermostat with artificial intelligence and an Internet connection eases his domicile into a zone of thrift and earth-friendliness. True, temperatures can inch into the mid-to-high seventies—but the thermostat orchestrates the AC so the increase sneaks up on him. If he does get uncomfortable he can always override the procedure and lower the temp, but he hasn’t done it yet; he says he’s learned to trust the wisdom of the thermostat in such matters. Overall, he’s come to love his thermostat. “I’m kind of overwhelmed and amazed,” he gushes. And his power bill, he reports, hasn’t been as low for decades, when he was a much younger man living in a basement apartment.

The Nest isn’t very expensive, considering. Roger von Oech likes his.

There’s only one problem with plans like the one above: “The bottom line is people don’t like their utilities.”

SO WHY ARE REPUBLICANS BACKING IT? Politico: Immigration reform could be bonanza for Democrats.

MICHAEL TOTTEN: The Beginning Of The End For Hezbollah.

THAT SOUNDS USEFUL: Team finds antibody that transforms bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells.

AP TWITTER HACKED, bogus reports of explosions at White House. I figured it was just Joe Biden after a lunch of Senate Bean Soup.

UPDATE: The instant stock-market crash that followed doesn’t suggest the market has much faith in a Biden Presidency.

REPORT: Ricin Suspect Released From Jail.

COMING SOON FROM KEVIN WILLIAMSON: The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome: How Going Broke Will Leave America Richer, Happier, and More Secure. Well, that certainly beats my expectations.

SCHOOL SHOULD START LATER: Why Teenagers Really Do Need An Extra Hour In Bed.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: Searches and Seizures: Reasonable or Unreasonable?

A LOOK AT THE FUTURE OF U.S. SPACE POLICY, with Scott Pace, Robert Walker, and James Fallows.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, CANADIAN EDITION: In Alberta and across Canada, Universities having to make gut wrenching choices as upwards of 10% comes off their budgets.

MAYBE BLOOMBERG SHOULD FOCUS ON THIS INSTEAD OF BIG GULPS: Jew-Hatred On The NYC Subway.

A harrowing scene occurred recently on the New York City subway when a group of teens approached and harassed a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke. The ringleader, a self-identified Muslim teen, threatened to kill the man and added, “They should have killed all of you.” When police confronted the belligerent 17-year-old at a stop in Brooklyn, a mob formed. As the crowd filmed the scene and yelled at the policemen, one young woman began beating a cop before being arrested.

It’s unclear from the Daily News report whether the mob knew exactly who or what they were defending. It’s conceivable they thought they were protesting the needless arrest of a black teenager, not endorsing the anti-Semitic conduct that led to the young man’s arrest. There’s also no evidence from this report that the 17-year-old insulted and threatened the Jewish passenger out of any religious motivation. We wouldn’t be surprised if he is simply a jerk.

Whatever the motives for the attack and for the mob’s reaction, one can’t help but be appalled. Since its founding, America has been one of the safest and most welcoming countries for Jews, judged against any time period, and New York has played a particularly important role in this regard.

It is, indeed appalling.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: West Virginia teen returns to school with NRA shirt, classmates’ support.

A West Virginia teen who was arrested and suspended for wearing a National Rifle Association T-shirt to school returned to class Monday wearing the same shirt that got him into trouble.

Jared Marcum, 14, was joined by about 100 other students across Logan County who wore shirts with a similar gun rights theme in a show of support for free speech.

That’s how you respond to this sort of thing.

MAX BAUCUS TO RETIRE FROM SENATE. “Baucus helped guide President Obama’s healthcare law through Congress, but last week said he feared a ‘train wreck’ as the law was implemented. . . . He was angered this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to bring an online sales tax bill directly to the Senate floor for a vote rather than first having it go through Finance.”

This business of bringing bills directly to the floor without the usual run of committee hearings is a disgrace.

WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED TO “MY BODY, MY CHOICE?” Female Ivy League graduates have a duty to stay in the workforce. “I do consider any Harvard Law School degree obtained by a woman who then chooses not to use it in any sort of professional capacity throughout most of her life a wasted opportunity. That degree could have gone to a woman who does want to spend her entire life using it to advance the cause of women – or others in need of advancement – not simply advancing the lives of her own family at home.”

UPDATE: It’s worth pointing out that this is precisely the argument that used to be employed for excluding women entirely from jobs and educational opportunities — she’ll just go have kids, whereas a man with that credential would be using it to support a family. Ah, how feminism has turned. . . .

AT AMAZON, up to 75% off on Men’s Clothing.

Also, today only: Up to 33% Off “God of War: Ascension” and Legacy Bundle.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN IS UP: Guns, Gay Rights, And Giving The Tie To Liberty.

DEPENDS ON YOUR METRIC. IT ENRICHED PLENTY OF CRONIES. Obama’s crony capitalism posts more pitiful results. If that’s the goal — and it is — the results aren’t “pitiful” at all.

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR . . . OH, HELL, YOU KNOW THE REST: Jeffrey Rosen: Do You Have the Right to Remain Silent? The Obama administration’s radical view of Miranda rights was in place well before Boston.

21ST CENTURY MATURITY:

Andrew, adding to your list of activities that young people are allowed to do, according to the Nanny Left, but who should not be allowed to buy tobacco: While underage, obtain an abortion without parental consent, buy the morning-after pill, consent to sex at age 17 (in N.Y., lower elsewhere), and bring a legal action to be declared emancipated.

Also, once 18 — get tattooed, enter into a contract to buy a car, sue and be sued, have one’s body pierced, consent to surgery, etc., etc.,etc. Eighteen-year-old men and women are, well, men and women. Indeed, Bloomberg et al. should just go away.

Yes. But to prove their sincerity, Republicans should get behind ending the national 21-year-old drinking age.

ORIN KERR & LARRY LESSIG: Why Is Congress Trying to Make Our Internet Abuse Laws Worse, not Better?

A LAW SO BAD THE COPS DON’T WANT TO ENFORCE IT: NY State Troopers Distance Themselves From Cuomo, Hesitant to Enforce Draconian Gun Laws.

YOU THINK IT’S UP NOW, JUST WAIT UNTIL THE END OF OBAMA’S SECOND TERM . . . . As Bush library opening puts his presidency back in the spotlight, his approval rating is up.