SHOCKINGLY, NOT ABOUT MIKE BLOOMBERG: “The ordinary people were not happy. They loathed the Emperor’s interference in every detail of their daily lives.”

A WHITE HOUSE PETITION TO Eliminate armed guards for the President, Vice-President, and their families, and establish Gun Free Zones around them. “Gun Free Zones are supposed to protect our children, and some politicians wish to strip us of our right to keep and bear arms. Those same politicians and their families are currently under the protection of armed Secret Service agents. If Gun Free Zones are sufficient protection for our children, then Gun Free Zones should be good enough for politicians.”

CHANGE: DC Rents Are Falling. Are House Prices Next?

#WARONWOMEN: IN JOE BIDEN’S HOME STATE, A GROSS INTERFERENCE WITH SEXUAL PRIVACY: Doggy Style: Delaware Couple Arrested, Now Facing Felony Bestiality Charges.

REMEMBER WHEN OBAMA WAS GOING TO SAVE US FROM THE EVIL BANKERS WHO WRECKED THE ECONOMY? NOW HE WANTS TO HAND OVER THE TREASURY TO ONE: WaPo: Jack Lew had major role at Citigroup when it nearly imploded. “In early 2008, he became a top executive in the Citigroup unit that housed many of the bank’s riskiest operations, including its hedge funds and private equity investments. Massive losses in that unit helped drive Citigroup into the arms of the federal government, which bailed out the bank with $45 billion in taxpayer money that year.”

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Bohemians Do Not Age Well.

NEW TREND: Having sex in the delivery room?

Well, it beats a “Push Present.”

WHEN BLACK FRIDAY COMES, I’ll stand outside the door. . . .

THE PERILS OF SCIENCE IN THE SEVENTIES: “It was a source of lasting dismay to Calhoun that his research primarily served as encouragement to pessimists and reactionaries, rather than stimulating the kind of hopeful approach to mankind’s problems that he preferred.”

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH ON THE “HEARTLESS” MICHAEL BLOOMBERG.

SEE, I DON’T ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT ALL CULTURES ARE EQUALLY VALID. And neither do anthropologists, actually. Just get them talking about Republican gun-owners from the south. . . .

MARILYN MONROE: EARLY PHOTOS.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: My Ex Posted “Revenge Porn” Photos Of Me.

A PALPABLE LACK OF ENTHUSIASM: Dem Senator Mark Begich: I’m “not interested” in a new assault-weapons ban. “Other red-state Democrats up for reelection: Mary Landrieu, Max Baucus, Tim Johnson, Kay Hagan, and Mark Pryor. Landrieu and Baucus voted no when the last AWB came up for renewal in 2004, and although Pryor voted yes, Arkansas wasn’t quite as red then as it is now. There’s no chance Reid will get to 60 in the Senate for a new ban; there’s a very slim chance that he won’t even get to 50. If you’re Pryor and you’re facing a tough campaign on unfavorable terrain, what’s your incentive for voting for a new AWB that hasn’t a prayer of passing?” Especially when it’s not going to get through the House.

NEW YORK SUN: Lower The Debt Ceiling.

STATE YOUR RACE!

I was actually kind of shocked today when I went online to register to vote and had to answer a race question–i.e. what was my “Ethnicity/Race”?–in order to finish the process. I would have thought race questions and voting registration don’t mix. I get to vote whichever way I answer, right?

The question wasn’t marked as optional–though other questions were, leaving the strong implication that if I declined to answer this one my registration wouldn’t go through. Nor was “decline to answer” one of the choices offered–only “Multi-racial” or “Other.”

Isn’t this arguably an excessive burden on a fundamental right–voting? You can’t tax me $10 to vote, but you can force me to answer a noxious question? What if they asked my religion? Where are Ward Connerly’s lawyers when we need them?

Indeed.

JAMES TARANTO: His Word Is Not a Bond: Why the president can’t just ignore the debt limit.

If the president spends as much as Congress has made available, and that sum falls short of what Congress has mandated be spent, he is not usurping legislative power. To the contrary, he is carrying out the will of Congress to the best of his ability.

The president would be obliged to comply with any laws governing which expenditures take priority under such circumstances, including the 14th Amendment’s mandate that servicing of existing debt is at the very top of the list. But in the absence of such laws, it seems reasonable to assume the president would have administrative discretion. (An alternative would be for judges to decide, but they really aren’t supposed to make policy.)

By contrast, if the president were to raise taxes or borrow money without congressional authorization, that would be a direct usurpation of legislative authority. Because of that, the Buchanan-Dorf proposal would be impracticable as well.

The duo want Obama to issue bonds without legal authorization. But without legal authorization, that debt would not be legally binding. Investors who bought such bonds would have no assurance of being paid back.

The U.S. is able to borrow money cheaply because of the 14th Amendment’s ironclad guarantee of repayment. U.S. bonds are the safest investment going because they will pay their promised rate of return barring a complete financial or constitutional collapse. Since the legally unauthorized Obama bonds would lack that guarantee, investors would demand a significant risk premium, assuming they were willing to buy the debt at all.

Plus, like the trillion-dollar-coin idea, it bespeaks an unseriousness about the whole thing that is unlike to instill confidence.

CRIME WRITER PATRICIA CORNWELL has her own legal drama.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on Jump Starters, Battery Chargers, and Portable Power.

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg. If you like what you see, hit his tipjar. I do.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): US Q4 GDP: From 2.5% To Sub 1% in Under Six Months.

DIANNE FEINSTEIN FORGOT TO BUY HER DOMAIN NAME, and now it’s a pro-gun site.

(Via Arms and the Law).

MORE ON BLOOMBERG’S PLAN TO LET PEOPLE “SUFFER A BIT,” from Megan McArdle.

Of course, I assume that this will also make it harder for addicts to get the prescription drugs with which they are currently screwing up their lives. But it’s hard for me to view this as a worthwhile tradeoff. It seems fairly horrible to keep people in bad pain, incurred through no fault of their own, in order to protect other people from themselves. I’m not minimizing the problem of prescription drug abuse, mind you; I’ve known a few people who’ve had a hard time with it. But I’ve also known a few people who were in chronic pain, and I know which one I’d choose.

And we know which Bloomberg has chosen.

UPDATE: Reader Gail Rampke writes: “More despicably, we know what he will choose when he is in pain: private clinic, private doctor, private medication for he, but not for thee.”

Suffering — like laws, and taxes — is for the little people.