MARCO RUBIO: Reported Obama immigration plan ‘dead on arrival.’

GREEDY POLITICIANS ARE ALL THE SAME: Argentina Stiffs Pensioners. “The U.S. is no stranger to these problems, particularly as politicians try to force pension funds to ‘invest’ in pork belly projects. Proposals now on the table to reduce the degree to which social security pensions are topped up for inflation will have the effect of transferring money from pensioners back to the government, where it will be used again for whatever purposes politicians want. What’s needed is an actuarially sound, adequately financed, conservatively invested pension system. Anything else is a gimmick. Unfortunately, there are lots of gimmicks floating around these days.”

MARK STEYN: ACHIEVE YE THIS GOAL:

“I’m also issuing a new goal for America,” declared President Obama at his State of the Union on Tuesday. We’ll come to the particular “goal” he “issued” momentarily, but before we do, consider that formulation: Did you know the president of the United States is now in the business of “issuing goals” for his subjects to live up to?

Strange how the monarchical urge persists even in a republic two-and-a-third centuries old.

Indeed.

GREG LUKIANOFF: “The state should no more pay to defend a university president who ignored the Constitution than it should pay to defend a university president who committed a crime.”

WHEN PROFESSORS BAN FOX NEWS.

OBAMACARE UPDATE: Will young adults face ‘rate shock’ because of the health-care law?

Meanwhile, my former colleague Colleen Medill, an ERISA expert, writes:

I don’t know if you will see this in your volume of email, but you might.

I am deeply into studying the impact of Obamacare on employers, and I have been communicating with highly sophisticated ERISA lawyers who are advising employers, from Fortune 50 companies to small firms under 50 employees, on whether to keep or drop or modify their employer group health plans.

It has become very clear to everyone involved who is analytical and not ideological that the rational strategy, for both large and small firms, is to cease providing health care insurance to employees.

No company wants to admit that they are considering eliminating health insurance as an option, or be the first one to drop their health insurance plan, but once a competitor does so, the preference cascade will begin. The clear sentiment is “We will not be the first one to drop our health insurance plan, but we would be a close second.”

The coming preference cascade for employer group health plans is what the Democrats fear the most, because Obamacare was sold to the masses as “if you like your health insurance plan, you can keep it.”

The people who really know the law, and who have been following the avalanche of regulations, have already figured this out. It will take a while for this specialized knowledge to seep downward, because right now only $800+ an hour ERISA attorneys and the most sophisticated HR people understand how Obamacare really works.

Hopey-changey!

CHARLIE MARTIN: 13 Weeks: Two Weeks in, I See Some Real Results.

MICKEY KAUS: Why I Hope Hagel Wins.

Why? Because immigration reform–i.e. amnesty–is by far the most important issue facing Congress this year. Obama’s aides and advisers certainly seem to know this. Tax and spending decisions can be reversed, after all. Same for whatever mild gun controls Congress might pass. “Climate change” initiatives could have a big impact–but they’ll never get through the House.

“Comprehensive immigration reform” just might. And the decision to legalize 11 million illegal immigrants, plus whatever equal number of relatives they bring in–and the potential to attract yet another fresh wave of illegals–would cause huge changes to the nation and the labor market. These changes, unlike tax increases, will be irrevocable. Once people become legal Americn residents they aren’t going to be made illegal. Certainly not if they’re on a “pathway to citizenship.”

If you support an “enforcement first/amnesty second” approach, as I do, you would understandably be feeling a bit beleagured right now. It’s not just that the Obama administration is against you, cooking up statistics showing “record deportations.” The press is against you. The elder statesmen are against you. The juiceboxers are against you. Even Fox News is against you. Practically all the Democrats are against you and the Hispanicked Republican elite is against you too.

Read the whole thing.

AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals in Sporting Goods.

TAR. FEATHERS. Operation overkill: Armed cops swoop on Action Man looking for a mortar after owner posts picture of TOY weapon on Facebook. I’d like the names of the person who complained, and the superiors who took the complaint seriously.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOOD MEN GONE?

Related: “Being a man is now intriguing and ironic.”

TAR, FEATHERS: Elderly couple pulled over after their Buckeye car decal is mistaken for a marijuana leaf. Of course, there’s nothing illegal about having a marijuana leaf decal on your car, anyway.

I want to know the names of the cops involved, and their superiors. I have some remedial education in mind.

EGYPT: Diesel shortage pushes Egyptians to the brink.

THE SPIRIT OF ENTERPRISE: This College Student Founded A Startup Delivering Emergency Condoms On Campus.

REPORT: X Prizers Storm Into Mojave in Style — With Seth Green!

AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Estimates raised for nuclear-sized asteroid blast that hit Russia. “Scientists have raised their estimates of the size and power of what turns out to be the most widely witnessed asteroid strike in modern history. The size estimate puts the object that caused Friday’s meteor blast over Russia in a troublesome category of asteroids: big enough to cause damage, but small enough to evade detection. The new estimates, based on additional readings from a sensor network built to detect nuclear blasts, suggest the meteor released the energy equivalent of nearly 500 kilotons of TNT. That’s about 30 times the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.”

UPDATE: A reader emails:

The relative lack of ground-level damage from a explosion equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bombs is due to its occurence about 25 miles above ground. And the reason it exploded so high up is that it came in at a shallow angle (20 degrees). If the approach had been steeper (less time in the atmosphere), it would have gotten closer to the ground before exploding. The folks in Chelyabinsk were very lucky.

True. And we were all lucky, in that if something like this had happened at the height of the Cold War it might have ignited a nuclear exchange.

And another reader writes: “Don’t forget in all the worry about asteroids, that a Carrington event could be devastating as well.” True enough.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ASTEROID: Another Meteor Flashes Across Bay Area Skies.

More here.

UPDATE: Charlie Martin, Late-Blooming Athlete: Week 2 – ‘Quality of Life’ and ‘The Un-Calloused Butt Mystery.’

LESSONS FROM THE RUSSIAN METEOR STRIKE: “When a small piece of rock would fall on the Earth 100 years ago it could have caused minimal damage and would have stayed largely undetected, but Friday’s accident fully demonstrated how vulnerable the technological civilization of today has become.”

ALSO, RACE FOR FUNDING: Scientists unveil new detectors in race to save Earth from next asteroid.

FASTER, PLEASE: The U.S. Just Got Its First Bionic Eye. “A game changer in sight-affecting diseases.”

STACY MCCAIN: “Times change. Back in the day, the Washington Post exposed corrupt cover-ups. Nowadays, they’re active participants in the cover-up. Meanwhile, the guy who originally broke the story, Matthew Boyle continues covering the Menendez scandal at Breitbart.com.”

Plus, an illustration.

THAT’S KIND OF SWEET: Reclusive fan wills estate worth up to $1 million to two ‘80s-era actors he never met.

Maybe I should start putting up those “Remember InstaPundit In Your Will” notices. . . .

WHY VIDEOGAME CONSOLE SALES ARE PLUMMETING.

AT AMAZON, coupons galore in office & school supplies.