WHEN KINKY SEX GOES WRONG: Perhaps you need a stronger foundation of trust than is available on a first date with someone you’ve met online.

GOOGLE READER SHUTDOWN PROMPTS BACKLASH: Don’t buy a Google car: they might stop it while you’re driving.

THE OBAMA QUAGMIRE: How Chuck Hagel and the sequester stalled the president’s agenda.

BEST OBITUARY EVER? “A Mississippi man who only sported T-shirts designed by ‘fashion house Fruit of the Loom’ and had a penchant for buttermilk served in martini glasses is bringing thousands of people joy in his afterlife, thanks to an obituary written by his daughter.”

BASEBALL CARDS from the 19th Century.

UPDATE: Sorry, somehow managed to leave the link out when I posted this. Fixed now!

READER BOOK PLUG: Warren Fahy’s Pandemonium.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Smart Women Have Babies in Their 20s. “Long story short, I totally wasted a decade of my life. Oh all right, it wasn’t a total waste. I learned a lot. But I definitely didn’t ‘get ahead’ or do any of those other things you’re supposed to do to prepare for parenthood. It was kind of an extended adolescence.”

WAIT, YESTERDAY WAS NATIONAL POTATO CHIP DAY? Why wasn’t I told?

HMM: Menendez-Melgen investigation circles around Terry McAuliffe.

CANADA: Toronto School Board Sics Police On Sarcastic Blogger.

Can writing a sarcastic but clearly tame blog comment really land two cops at your doorstep?

It happened to Blazingcatfur blogger Arnie Lemaire Wednesday for musing “OISE and the TDSB need to be purged, or burnt to the ground whichever is more effective.”

He’s, quite rightfully, upset about it.

But, often critical of the Toronto District School Board and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Lemaire said he will not back down from efforts to “intimidate” him.

Perhaps a lawsuit is in order.

ROB PORTMAN comes out for gay marriage.

BLOOMBERG’S NEW YORK: A Preserve Of The One Percent. “The low and middle classes are being priced out of a life in New York City. Even as many residents spend fifty percent or more of their earnings on housing, the majority of the city’s ‘affordable homes’ are still out of reach. House prices and rent have risen by more than forty percent since 2001, and landlords, betting on gentrification, are evicting existing tenants in favor of wealthier ones. The result is a skyrocketing homeless population and a threat of a mass exodus to other cities and states. . . . For all the fretting by city officials about this exodus, there doesn’t seem to be any acknowledgement that the city’s taxes and job-killing policies may also have something to do with it. New York will always have a high concentration of wealthy people who can afford whatever the housing market throws at them. But as in California, New York’s blue policies have contributed to the creation of a city where increasingly only the very wealthy can afford to live.”

You’re welcome to move here, so long as you don’t start agitating for the same policies that drove you out.

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Illinois Bar Calls For Law School Reform.

AT AMAZON, over 50% off on select Norton titles.

Also, today only: Iron Gym Total Body 4-Piece Fitness Kit, $24.99 (75% off).

REASON TV: Thank God for Pope Francis – and for Budget Gridlock!

EMBATTLED NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ROBERT MENENDEZ now under grand jury investigation.

PETER WEHNER: Obama’s Second Term Troubles Have Begun. “President Obama’s RealClearPolitics.com approval rating is in the 40s. His disapproval rating exceeds his approval rating in three different polls (Fox, McClatchy/Marist, and Quinnipiac). Congressional Democrats are beginning to grouse. And according to a Washington Post story yesterday, Mr. Obama’s approval rating at this early stage in his second term is among the lowest of any president in the post-World War II era. . . . This is clearly not where a president who is less than two months into his second term wants to be. But in some respects, it’s not all that surprising. Mr. Obama, while he won his contest with Governor Romney fairly handily, was not a particularly popular president for most of his first term–and the key elements of his agenda are decidedly unpopular.”

ROLL CALL: A Kildee Comeuppance? Or More Obama Aloofness?

Michigan Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee has been in Congress for a little more than two months, and today the leader of the free world gave him a gentle ribbing about just how new he is to Capitol Hill.

At a closed-door meeting between President Barack Obama and House Democrats, Kildee introduced himself as a freshman, to which Obama said, “Wow, you’re really classing up the place then.”

Kildee then proceeded to ask what one person described as a somewhat “long-winded” question about the importance of creating jobs for his economically distraught district.

“I can tell you’re a freshman because you didn’t pay much attention to the State of the Union,” Obama joked. “I talked about that.” . . .

Actually, though, the joke was on Obama: On Wednesday, Kildee had met with the White House legislative affairs team about the innovation centers proposal, so he was quite familiar with it.

And his question was broader, about what types of reforms are necessary to reform decaying urban centers like Flint, Mich., which Kildee represents.

“Dan wasn’t specifically talking about innovation centers in his question,” a spokesman said.

He’s a real pro, our President.

THE HILL: Obama Pleads With House Dems To Make Concessions For Deficit Deal. “President Obama asked House Democrats on Thursday to give him the political room to make concessions to Republicans on entitlements as part of a deficit-reduction deal. In a meeting with the House Democratic Caucus in the Capitol Visitor Center, Obama said he won’t accept anything less than a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes new tax revenues, according to numerous lawmakers in the room. But he also reminded his troops that, with Republicans in control of the lower chamber, no deal is possible unless Democrats are willing to sacrifice some of their sacred cows.”

And if you’re looking for new tax revenues, I’ve got a suggestion or two.