READER DANIELLE IVEY WRITES: “While everyone is doing their due diligence in stocking their favorite ammunition or reloading supplies, take the time to supplement your cleaning supplies. Purchase a few extra silicone socks to protect your firearms. A rusted out, pitted barrel is of no use to anyone.”

Happily, Amazon carries all sorts of gun cleaning supplies. Also gun socks.

And I recommend some moisture absorbers for your gun safe or closet, too.

ROGER SIMON: Schumer, Hagel, and Obama’s ‘Good Jews.’

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 7 Benefits Of Having Sex.

FROM MAURICE STUCKE: Should Competition Policy Promote Happiness?

POPULAR MECHANICS: The Boeing 787’s No-Good Very-Bad Week.

AMERICA’S DIVISIONS OVER ABORTION: Blame Nixon!

RICHARD EPSTEIN: Unions vs. Our Kids: In New York City, bus drivers go on strike at the expense of children with disabilities.

THE CARNIVAL OF NUCLEAR ENERGY IS UP!

J.D. TUCCILLE: Why Licensing Gun Owners Is Unworkable and (Probably) Unconstitutional.

PROFESSOR JACOBSON: I can see 2014 from that gun show. “In a blue county in Ohio. Could this be to 2014 what Obamacare was to 2010, a issue which cuts across party lines outside of the big cities?”

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Bill Henderson: A Blueprint For Change.

THE ECONOMIST Gives Up On Global Climate Treaties. “This is pretty much where we’ve been for some time: the global approach to reducing CO2 emissions is a dead end, and while the overall science about the climate seems well established, there are some significant fiddly bits that haven’t yet been worked out. There may be more surprises like soot in the works, some good, some bad, but in any case the details, the timing, and the consequences of climate change are less clear than the overall arc, and the case for particular policies is often significantly weaker than the overall case that climate change is under way.”

MICKEY KAUS: More On The Fantasy Life of Journolists. “After I posted an item about ‘wonkblogger’ Ezra Klein’s confident embrace of Obama’s $19 billion push for electronic medical records, I received several emails from readers who know more than I do. The two excerpted below suggest I was wrong: The effect of the electronic records crusade hasn’t been disappointing, with cost-savings failing to materialize. It’s much worse than that.”

AT AMAZON, $500 off the Bose® Lifestyle® V35 Home Theater System. Still a bit pricey for me, but then we mostly watch House Hunters International and reruns of The Nanny, so we don’t stress the sound system too much as it is. . . .

Also, today only: Far Cry 3 for $34.99 (42% off).

SYRIA’S CHEMICAL WEAPONS: The Nonexistent Red Line.

CHUCK HAGEL: Politicizing National Security?

HAPPY NEW YEAR: The ghost of the Keystone XL pipeline returns to haunt Obama.

GEITHNER ALLEGATIONS BEG FED REFORM: “Allegations that Timothy Geithner, then head of the New York Federal Reserve, may have told banks ahead of time about a surprise policy move in 2007 underscores the pressing case for reform to safeguard the integrity and independence of the central bank.”

WILLIAM BRATTON: The Real Cures For Gun Violence. It’s a good interview, but I keep wondering why “gun violence” is somehow sui generis and worthy of more concern than other forms of violence. But it’s interesting that Bratton’s preferred approach — “certainty of punishment” for violent crimes involving a gun — is basically the NRA’s position, even though Bratton’s a gun-controller. And it’s interesting that cities that are hotbeds of murder — and gun control — don’t do this. “In Chicago, where the murder rate rose 16% last year, ‘to try to put someone in jail for gun-related activity you really have to go the extra mile,’ he says.”

What gives, Rahm? Don’t you care about the children?

“IT SOLD LIKE GANGBUSTERS OVERNIGHT:” Author reports a Helen’s Page success story.

DAVID IGNATIUS: A flat, partisan and pedestrian speech. “The only voice that really soared at midday was Beyonce’s.”

Plus, from Slate: “Obama even indulged in American liberalism’s favorite ideological tic—the insistence that it’s not an ideology at all, but simply a pragmatic response to changing circumstances.”

UPDATE: Nick Gillespie: Profs Grade Obama’s Inaugural Address; Demonstrate Reality of Grade Inflation.

CBS’S SHARYL ATKISSON: Obama Administration Has Been Stonewalling on Obama Since October.

TO BE FAIR, I think that “you’re pretty for a fat girl!” line has worked for him quite a few times. . . .

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Mitch Daniels’ letter on taking over the presidency at Purdue is getting a lot of press. I was pleased that he quoted me on the higher education bubble.