THIS IS CNN: CNN’s Erin Burnett thinks due process is boring.

MEDIA WARS: Billionaire outbids Obama donor for the Outdoor Channel.

MICHAEL GRAHAM: Forget Scott Brown: Rand Paul points way for Massachusetts GOP.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Obama chooses lawmaker accused of corrupt ties with Chavez to attend strongman’s funeral. “resident Obama is sending a lawmaker whose relationship with Hugo Chavez has come under scrutiny in the past to represent the United States at the Venezuelan strongman’s funeral on Friday. Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.) allegedly met with Chavez in 2006 at the bequest of one of his donors, indicted Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, to request a criminal probe into a Venezuelan banker who had fallen out with Stanford, The Miami Herald reported in 2009. The banker, Gonzalo Tirado, was charged with tax evasion and theft a year after the meeting with Meeks.”

UNSUSTAINABLE: Tom Coburn: Since 2002, total federal spending has increased nearly 89% while median household income has dropped 5%.

CHANGE: Obama sets end-of-July goal for bipartisan agreement on deficit. “President Obama wants to complete a grand bargain to reduce the deficit by the end of July, an aggressive timeline coinciding with the expiration of the nation’s debt limit.”

I’d like to see 5% year-on-year across the board cuts. Failing that, a real hard-freeze on spending — no more dollars next year than last — would be good. My guess is we’ll see something much, much weaker than that. But I’d love to be wrong.

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: Obama On His Heels: How The President Fell For The Mandate Myth. “The sequester has yet to cause tremendous panic and consternation anywhere but in the executive branch, the congressional Democratic caucus, and, needless to say, MSNBC. . . . A victory by the incumbent party is less easy to interpret. President George W. Bush won reelection by 51 percent in 2004, but his ‘political capital’ vanished as he moved to privatize Social Security and failed to secure Iraq. Obama won with 51 percent in 2012. His political capital seems to be diminishing quickly, as well.”

ED DRISCOLL: Lights! Camera! Weimar!

SEN CARL LEVIN (D-MI) will retire in 2014.

THOUGHTS ON ECONOMIC MOBILITY:

Most people are not even surprised any more when they hear about someone who came here from Korea or Vietnam with very little money, and very little knowledge of English, who nevertheless persevered and rose in American society. Nor are we surprised when their children excel in school and go on to professional careers.

Yet, in utter disregard of such plain facts, so-called “social scientists” do studies which conclude that America is no longer a land of opportunity, and that upward mobility is a “myth.” Even when these studies have lots of numbers in tables and equations that mimic the appearance of science, too often their conclusions depend on wholly arbitrary assumptions.

Social science tends to proceed toward politically preordained conclusions.

GUN CONTROL: Politico: How the White House silenced gun control groups.

Related: NRA campaign in high gear.

THIS IS PROBABLY WHY JOHN MCCAIN AND LINDSAY GRAHAM HAVE THEIR PANTIES IN A WAD: Rand Paul filibuster energizes Tea Party against GOP establishment.

Meanwhile, seen on Facebook:

Related thoughts from Michael Walsh.

And Prof. Stephen Clark emails: “Rand Paul did the unforgivable: He upstaged ‘The Dinner.’ Worst of all, though thinking about it for a while, Paul decided to do it on his way into the Senate yesterday morning more-or-less on the spur of the moment. For god’s sake man, he torpedoed a whole news cycle focused on the two of them and the mysteries of conversations unheard but lovingly hinted at by both McCain and Graham.”

JOHN HINDERAKER: New Study Finds Firearms Laws Do Nothing to Prevent Homicides. “That’s the headline you should be seeing, but won’t.”

WHEN LAW PROFESSORS ATTACK.

HOPEY-CHANGEY: “Barack Obama has become the evil straw man he campaigned against.”

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Roll Call: Did McConnell Wait Too Long to #StandWithRand? But better late than never.

Sens. McCain and Graham, meanwhile, are looking unbecomingly pouty. They should get over their ego issues and recognize that this is the best thing to happen for the Senate GOP all year. And for the Senate as a whole, for that matter.

GLAD TO BE OF HELP: Reader Sean Stickler writes:

This weekend I was casually browsing Instapundit and clicked on the link to the Practical Paleo book, which I’ll be buying. I’ve been meaning to write for quite some time with a plug to both to you as well as the Taubes “Why We Get Fat” book that you’ve recommended. On impulse, I bought the Taubes book about six months ago. When received, I read it cover to cover in 3 days. I began the Paleo diet the next day, sticking closely to the 20 grams of carbohydrate per day recommendation in the book.

Over the course of the next four months, my weight dropped from 216 pounds to 184 pounds and my BMI dropped by 6. I’ve not been to the doctor’s yet, so can’t report on my blood pressure, but I can only imagine it’s improved as well. I’m 42 years old and not a heavy exerciser. I play racquetball twice a week and walk at lunch twice a week when the weather is warm. This diet can and will work for anyone willing to be disciplined enough to stick to it. I’m 6’3″ so my current weight is something I’m comfortable with so I’ve gone into maintain mode and allow myself an occasional piece of bread, regular soda or potato chip. I have maintained 184 for two months without suffering.

Thank you for the recommendation and I can attest to the effectiveness of the Taubes method.

I get emails like this all the time; it really does seem to work. Let me just suggest that you add some Mark Rippetoe-style strength training to your workouts and you’ll really be amazed at the results. Since reading Rippetoe, I’ve gotten back into free squats and strictly following his pointers on form. The result is that my knees, hips, and lower back are the best they’ve been since I started using a computer.

WHEN PIZZA TIPS go viral.

SCIENCE: ‘Viking sunstone’ found in shipwreck. “A crystal found in a shipwreck could be similar to a sunstone – a mythical navigational aid said to have been used by Viking mariners, scientists believe. The team from France say the transparent crystal may have been used to locate the Sun even on cloudy days. This could help to explain how the Vikings were able to navigate across large tracts of the sea – well before the invention of the magnetic compass.”

AT AMAZON, 20% or more off on Laptop Computers.

IS SENDING YOUR KIDS TO GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS PARENTAL MALPRACTICE? Are Grading Trends Hurting Socially Awkward Kids? “A generation ago, before current trends in K-12 education took hold, many Asperger’s children would have sailed through school without being downgraded for their social deficiencies. Nowadays, even in subjects where they used to excel, their grades are declining. And so are their prospects for appropriately challenging and rewarding education — and careers — in the future.”

SCIENCE: Ancient, mummified camel bones dug from the tundra confirm that the animals now synonymous with the arid sands of Arabia actually developed in subfreezing forests in what is now Canada’s High Arctic.

HILLARY CLINTON’S UNIMPRESSIVE TENURE as Secretary of State.

REST IN PEACE, Alvin Lee.

BRIAN DOHERTY: Rand Paul’s Filibuster: Its Historical Context, and Its Encouraging Friends.

It also has some enemies, as John McCain and Lindsey Graham are bitching about it. Hard to see why. It forced a concession from Obama, galvanized supporters, made the Senate GOP look dynamic, and ultimately cost nothing except a bit of foot-and-bladder discomfort for Paul. One suspects that McCain and Graham are mostly jealous of the attention. Paul, Cruz, Lee, Moran, et al., made McCain and Graham look old and tired. Then McCain and Graham made themselves look out of touch. Time to up your game, guys.