AT AMAZON, up to 40% off on bakeware.

“RELENTLESS FRAUD:” Judge Asks IRS, Feds to Investigate Copyright-Trolling Attorneys.

Using terms like “brazen conduct and relentless fraud,” a federal judge on Monday sanctioned attorneys running a BitTorrent copyright lawsuit factory, and recommended federal prosecutors investigate for potential criminal charges.

Los Angeles federal judge Otis D. Wright II said the Prenda Law attorneys’ “moral turpitude” is “unbecoming of an officer of the court.” (.pdf) The judge said the attorneys “fraudulently signed” documents about who owned the rights to sue thousands over the illegal downloading of pornographic films.

The attorneys, including John Steele, a Chicago barrister who has sued thousands for unlawfully downloading porn, were also labeled a racketeering outfit.

But for the real awesome sauce: “The judge often used Star Trek references as he blasted them.”

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Relationship Contracts Growing In Popularity With Married And Unmarried Couples.

FOUND: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

CHECK OUT the Insta-Wife’s Amazon author page.

I THINK I’LL PASS: French Fries Smothered In Cheese & Gravy Sounds Delicious… As A Soda Flavor?

IF IT WERE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, OR THE BOY SCOUTS, INCIDENTS LIKE THIS WOULD DEMONSTRATE SOME SORT OF SYSTEMIC PROBLEM: “Married high school teacher Jennifer Vigil, 31, allegedly pounced on her now 18-year-old victim at Pojoaque Valley High School…’You’re not leaving until I get something from you,’ she reportedly threatened him.”

WELL, YOU COULD TRY “AWESOME:” Wanted: A Word to Describe Men Who Stay Home to Take Care of Their Families.

REMINDER: HILLARY PUSHED THE “INTERNET VIDEO” STORY AT FUNERAL. Video here.

A reader emails:

We have known for a long time – and the MSM is going to have to finally reckon with the fact – that the “video” narrative was a fraud, a political construct to cover ass, protect campaign talking points, and misdirect accountability for the four deaths in Benghazi. The Susan Rice spectacle has been pounded on over and over, and rightfully so, but there’s one nuance that needs to be shoved repeatedly into Hilary Clinton’s face:

Hilary pushed the fraudulent video narrative while standing over the caskets of Ambassador Stevens and the other three murdered Americans.

The optics on this alone should haunt her for the rest of her sad, pathetic, cravenly political life. I’ve transcribed her comments, and also have a link to the full, unedited video of the memorial service below.

Clinton comments occur from 16:25-17:45:

“This has been a difficult week for the State Department and for our country. We’ve seen the heavy assault on our post in Benghazi that took the lives of those brave men. We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an awful internet video that we had nothing do to with. It’s hard for the American people to make sense of that, because it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable. The people of Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia, did not trade the tyranny of a dictator for the tyranny of a mob. Reasonable people and responsible leaders in these countries in these countries need to do everything they can to restore security and hold accountable those behind these violent acts. And we will, under the president’s leadership, keep taking steps to protect our personnel around the world.”

Here’s the video so you can see for yourself.

Update: Via Ed Driscoll, here’s an isolated clip of the segment quoted above:

Also, here’s the State Department’s transcription of Hillary’s speech.

SO IF WE’RE GOING TO BE HEARING MORE ABOUT ONLINE PORN AFFECTING MEN’S SEXUALITY, then can the pundits (usually women) who write about this stuff pay a little attention to this problem, too? The Pill makes women prefer beta males, lose interest in sex. “Women who used OC scored lower on measures of sexual satisfaction and partner attraction, experienced increasing sexual dissatisfaction during the relationship, and were more likely to be the one to initiate an eventual separation if it occurred.”

MY USA TODAY COLUMN ON THE START-UP DROUGHT has engendered some comments.

I should also invoke Deirdre McCloskey’s Bourgeois Dignity.

But reader Jeffrey Levin offers a different theory:

I enjoyed reading your column on missing startups at USA today. I would however like to point out that you completely missed the real reason why all those start-ups are missing. As a CPA with 20+ years of experience, I have a pretty decent idea of why. The idea of companies being started up in garages by 20 year old whiz kids, while fun, are totally and completely not representative of the vast majority of start-ups. When you think those are the real start up stories, its why you miss the boat on why we have not seen any for the past 5 years.

Prior to the past 5 years, I will give you an idea of what a real start up was like. 35-40 year old Joe cannot stand working for the large company he has worked for since graduating college and knows that with the recession he will have to (a) kiss some serious ass towards a superior he cannot stand or (b) knows his pink slip is coming down the pike. He decides he no longer wants to work at large company (or is shown the door) and decides instead of doing the same old again, decides to start up his own business. He has some cash in the bank but doesn’t want to use that right off the bat, so he goes to his local bank and asks for a loan. The community bank loan officer’s first question is what collateral do you have.

This is where this recession diverges from all modern recession for the past 50 years. You see, in past recessions, the bank officer would kindly ask about the house Joe has lived in and owned for the past 10 years and the ability to take a second or HELOC to use to start up that new business. This recession, the bank officer asks how much cash in the bank Joe is willing to deposit (or securities in a brokerage account) and doesn’t bother asking about home equity, knowing that it is highly unlikely he has any.

If you dig around and research start-ups you will find that the majority of start-ups are funded by second mortgages or HELOC draws. Due to the housing crash, that equity is just not there for the vast majority of people looking to start up a new business. Its one of the large reasons why commercial credit expansion has been so moribund. Without getting off the ground from seconds or HELOC’s all those startups that would have made it past year 1 and then been able to obtain standard commercial business loan never got off the ground and thus never graduated to commercial loan financing. You have to walk first before you can run. Startups don’t start in the commercial loan department (at least most of them don’t).

Hmm. Good point. I do think, though, that all the “you didn’t build that,” and class warfare, coupled with regulatory uncertainty and tax increases, doesn’t help.

Also: Entrepreneurship And The Prairie Fire. And — perhaps related to the regulatory uncertainty and tax increases — there’s this: America’s Venture Capitalists Are Now Risk-Averse.

A PRE-HEARING PRIMER: 5 Benghazi Mysteries That Must Be Solved.

THIS MIGHT BE AN ARGUMENT FOR A NO-GADGETS-IN-THE-CLASSROOM RULE: Students can’t resist multitasking, and it’s impairing their memory. On the other hand, where my students are concerned I figure they’ll have to cope with electronic distractions once they’re out practicing law, too.

MASSACHUSETTS: Gabriel Gomez Targets Massachusetts’ Fractured Unions. “The AFL-CIO usually backs Democrats, but several board members refused to endorse Markey last week, a red flag for a campaign that needs base support to get out the vote during the low-turnout special election on June 25.”

DOUG BERMAN: Don’t registered sex offenders need gun rights for personal self-defense more than others?

It’s also worth noting — again — that although “registered sex offender” sounds like a rapist or pedophile, it’s also a term applied to teenagers caught streaking or “sexting.” In my opinion, placing such people on lists that also include, and that are commonly interpreted as denoting, serious crimes of sexual violence is a due process violation. But my opinion, alas, does not control.

WHO NEEDS NEW GUN LAWS, when we’re already seeing a “sharp drop” in gun violence? Despite there being more guns out there than ever.

HOOVER COMING OUT IN FAVOR OF MORE H1B VISAS.

YEAH, BUT AS COVER ART IT SELLS A LOT OF FANTASY BOOKS: It’s Time to Retire “Boob Plate” Armor. Because It Would Kill You.

PAUL HSIEH IN FORBES: Why 3D-Printed Untraceable Guns Could Be Good For America. “Current law already allows home hobbyists to build their own firearms provided they are for personal use only (and not for sale). Such guns are already ‘untraceable.’ 3D-printing doesn’t change that basic fact — it merely allows a wider range of hobbyists without specialized machine shop skills to do what’s already legal.”

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Where Are The Start-Ups?

ROBERT REDFORD’S THE COMPANY YOU KEEP LOOKING PRETTY LONELY AT THE BOX OFFICE: “If Hollywood only cared about making money, they’d stop cranking out these stupid leftist fantasies that bomb at the box office. But they’re not making these movies for us. They’re making them for themselves. We’re just not intelligent and sophisticated to appreciate the pearls cast before us.”

Plus: “Bill Ayers will claim The Company You Keep is just another bomb that hurt nobody.”

ED DRISCOLL INTERVIEWS KEVIN WILLIAMSON about Williamson’s new book, The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome: How Going Broke Will Leave America Richer, Happier, and More Secure.

ZONING KILLS AFFORDABLE HOUSING. Well, yes. That’s kind of the point, most of the time.

MEGAN MCARDLE CORRECTS THE RECORD: No, Democrats Did Not Just Want to “Count All the Votes” in the 2000 Election. “Count all the Votes” became the rallying cry after the courts told Democrats they couldn’t just count some of the votes. “I don’t mean to suggest that Democrats are somehow specially hypocritical here; I am personally skeptical, for example, that Katherine Harris’ maneuvers to cut off vote counts were motivated by her fervent committment to administrative efficiency and strict deadline discipline. Both sides had reasonable points, and reasonable grievances. But Al Gore was running for president, not Santa. The procedure he chose–and stuck with, until a court told him to knock it off–was not fair. And by the time the case hit the Supreme Court, his supporters (and the Florida Supreme Court) had already invested a huge amount of credibility in coming up with creative reasons that it should happen anyway. Ironically, I suspect that if Gore had simply unilaterally requested a statewide manual recount, or the Florida Supreme Court had forced one upon him, the United States Supreme Court would have probably stayed out of it. But they didn’t, and as they say, the rest is history.”