AT AMAZON, warehouse deals in Sporting Goods.

A DISTURBANCE IN THE POLICE FORCE: The NYPD Is Trying to Figure Out Which Cops Have Been Blasting Darth Vader’s Theme Song.

FLASHBACK: Obama’s Top Counterterrorism Adviser, John Brennan, Praises Police Surveillance. “The comments from the top counterterrorism official in the White House follow months of debate over an NYPD domestic intelligence operation that placed Muslim businesses, mosques and student groups under surveillance. The Associated Press revealed the details of the program in a series of articles that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting earlier this week. Brennan’s comments represent a White House stamp of approval of the NYPD’s tactics.”

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: More thoughts on homeschooling. “It’s funny; we homeschoolers escaped brick-and-mortar schools in the best interests of our children. Now, it turns out that brick-and-mortar buildings may be the best bet for homeschooling’s future.”

THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MITT ROMNEY, THIS KIND OF THING WOULD HAPPEN: Inmate in ‘the Hole’—for Practicing Journalism? And they were right!

I HAVE TO SAY, I totally agree with Jessica Valenti.

WOULD JESSE JACKSON RATHER SEE GEORGE ZIMMERMAN ACQUITTED? I think so. Obama, too.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Women Who Freeze Their Eggs Still Face Social Stigma.

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NEWS YOU CAN USE: Abstinence Makes The Sperm Grow Stronger.

DEREK LOWE ON THE LATEST IN CLINICAL TRIAL FRAUD. “This came to light because a contract worker went to his or her supervisors with a problem: this person had been asked to change data and documentation on a hard drive before an FDA inspection, and the supervisor making the request (who was later fired) had worked at 18 other trial locations in China. This led the FDA, naturally enough, to say that it was worried about what else might have been going on, and to complain about broad problems with oversight. . . . It doesn’t have to be that way. There are vast numbers of ethical, hard-working scientists and staff in both India and China; it’s not like these entire countries are full of cheaters and corner-cutters. But international companies go to these countries to get work done for lower cost, so the incentives are there to keep those costs down by whatever means come to hand. There are underhanded shortcutters in every country in the world, but some business environments give these people more scope to exercise their talents.”

SMARTPHONES, SEX, AND SPYING: “Close to 60 percent of us password protect our phones, which is good because Jumio found that 29 percent of respondents fessed up to snooping on someone else’s smartphone. Not all of us are prone to spying though: single smartphone owners were more likely to snoop than married people, while younger users under 35 were also more likely to spy on a phone that wasn’t theirs.”

STEVE AUSTIN, CALL YOUR OFFICE: DARPA Pushes Bionic Arm Boundaries. “The Revolutionizing Prosthetics program has led to two parallel research paths investigating new ways to build arm prostheses that users can control with their brains.”

STEPHEN GREEN reviews Pacific Rim.

PSYCHOLOGY: Different Reactions To Getting Rear-Ended.

DAVID FEITH: Why China Fears a 12-Year-Old Egyptian Boy: YouTube sensation Ali Ahmed’s talk of people power and constitutionalism makes Beijing nervous.

IT’S ART: Fiat Body-Paints a Dozen Naked Women to Sell Cars.

JUSTICE: “In a breaking development, the Special Prosecutor’s Office of Angela Corey has fired the IT specialist who blew the whistle on the prosecution’s concealment of evidence.” They told me if I voted for Mitt Romney, there’d be a war on whistleblowers. And they were right!

NEXT GENERATION TV: Congressional Candidate Ron Meyer: Young Americans Are Struggling And Nobody Is Speaking For Them. With Michelle Fields. “We’re creating a permanent underclass of young people right now. . . youth unemployment is still 16.3 percent. Only 4 in 10 young Americans under 30 have full time work. . . . It’s not a good time to be young right now.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 65.

CHANGE: Houston Unseats NYC As King Of Exports.

Houston has officially topped New York City as the greatest exporter of goods in the US—exports totaling $110.3 billion. The reasons for the shift should be familiar to anyone who’s been following the economic miracle in Texas. . . .

In 2012, Texas boasted the fastest-growing economy of the 50 states, expanding by 4.8 percent. If Texas were a country, its GDP would be 14th largest in the world. This economic success has many sources, but the energy boom looms largest among them.

America has been blessed with abundant shale resources, and Texas is more blessed than most. But its success cannot be attributed solely to geology—unlike resource-rich states like California, Texas has implemented the right policies to encourage drilling and make the most of its resources. Houston is a great example of the power of brown jobs and brown energy, and an important model for other energy-rich states looking to emulate its success.

But all the journalists on Twitter the other day were mocking Rick Perry as a dumb red-state hick.

MEGAN MCARDLE: Why I Think The GOP Will Have Control In 2017.

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Also, today only: Prospera Kneading Massager Cushion, $27.99 (44% off). For that computer-related back pain. Though I think you’ll experience more long-lasting relief from lifting weights and stretching, there’s something to be said for short-term relief too!

ROLL CALL: The First Post-Nuclear Cabinet Appointment?

President Barack Obama could probably nominate anyone he wants to be the next Homeland Security secretary, assuming there are no ethical or legal issues.

That’s because Janet Napolitano’s successor at the Department of Homeland Security could be the first Cabinet choice to be nominated in a Senate without the risk of a filibuster — or maybe even a procedural hold, assuming Senate Democrats deploy the “nuclear option” to end the need for a 60-vote supermajority to overcome a filibuster of executive branch nominees next week.

There would be policy implications of a partisan choice, however. Some Republican supporters of the Senate-passed immigration overhaul are already cautioning the president to pick a successor who has the confidence of lawmakers in enhancing immigration enforcement.

I have a better suggestion. How about abolishing the Department of Homeland Security, which was a terrible idea from the beginning.