WIRED: Why ‘I Have Nothing to Hide’ Is the Wrong Way to Think About Surveillance. Including this: “We won’t always know when we have something to hide. . . . If the federal government can’t even count how many laws there are, what chance does an individual have of being certain that they are not acting in violation of one of them? . . . If the federal government had access to every email you’ve ever written and every phone call you’ve ever made, it’s almost certain that they could find something you’ve done which violates a provision in the 27,000 pages of federal statues or 10,000 administrative regulations. You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.”

This kind of ties together with Ham Sandwich Nation.

HEY, TEA PARTIERS WERE THE PRIORITY: Obama’s Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston Bombers. “Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee. . . . The FBI never canvassed Boston mosques until four days after the April 15 attacks, and it did not check out the radical Boston mosque where the Muslim bombers worshipped.”

DO NOT CHALLENGE THE ROYAL TRAVEL BUDGET: WaPo: Obama’s trip to Africa poses special challenges, enormous costs.

Because if you do, Josh Marshall will call you racist.

#NARRATIVEFAIL: The 2 cases cited as proving the need for NSA style total surveillance prove nothing of the kind.

NANCY PELOSI: Late Term Abortions “Sacred Ground.”

DEMOGRAPHICS: Washington Post: “More white people died in the United States last year than were born.”

THE EVOLUTION OF automotive paint.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: 4 Ways to Get the Best Indoor Air Quality.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Marry Me. And Me. The more serious part of this piece involves the privatization of marriage, which I support. For those who say “what about the children?” note that we’ve basically separated marriage from childbearing already.

I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW: Bacon Jam.

TAKING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SERIOUSLY: Mark Bauerlein calls on older, white males who advocate diversity to resign, so their jobs can be opened up to minorities.

When white male President Mills pledges to press for race-based affirmative action, the right reply is this: “Well, then, sir, you must resign your post immediately and call for Bowdoin to hire a racial or ethnic minority in your place.” Keep it simple and direct. Every white male board member of the ACE should receive a message to step down. Let’s ask white male campus leaders to stand up for their own principles and do the thing they want everybody else to do. When white women acquire a disproportionate number of jobs in campus leadership, yet still call for more diversity, they, too, should be asked to withdraw.

This is the logic of affirmative action, and if diversity proponents who are white follow it to its conclusion, they should relinquish their positions as soon as possible.

I was saying this 20 years ago. But yeah.

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Eyeball Licking Causing Pinkeye In Japan. “I mean they don’t really make tongue rubbers, but maybe they should.”

I CERTAINLY HOPE SO: Do these startling longevity studies mean your lifespan could double?

MARK STEYN ON TODAY’S IRS: When Your W-2 Meets an AR-15. “When the IRS is accused of ‘targeting,’ don’t assume they’re speaking metaphorically. . . . A bureaucracy is bad. A politicized bureaucracy is worse. A paramilitary politicized bureaucracy is nuts. And, in fact, evil. There is no reason in a civilized society why the Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Paperwork should have his own Seal Team Six.”

SUPREME COURT: Human Genes Aren’t Patentable. I would be bothered by this, if it weren’t for the degree of patent-abuse that has gone on over the past couple of decades. Best to keep as much as possible outside that system, I think.

LOOKING A LITTLE WORRIED: Never mind Obama, Markey Brings In Bill Clinton. In Massachusetts, Markey should be a shoo-in. That he’s acting worried says a lot, even though I suspect he’ll pull through in the end. Scott Brown was a surprise once, but now the machine is paying attention.

ED MORRISSEY: Why Doctors Are Bailing Out Of Health Insurance. As I think I mentioned, some of Helen’s psychologist friends quit taking insurance, and saw their business go up, and their quality of life increase even more thanks to reduced paperwork.

HOWARD NEMEROV INTERVIEWS AUTHOR ROB OLIVE: “I have NO confidence whatsoever that some sort of gun registry doesn’t already exist, in light of the NSA revelation, IRS revelation, AP wiretap revelation, etc.” Don’t be ridiculous. A gun registry would be in violation of federal law. Our law enforcers would never break the law.

IMMIGRATION: Paul Mirengoff: In The House, Too, The Fix May Well Be In.

THE IRS: Now Targeting Free-Market Education Groups?

BUILDING BUNKERS, STOCKPILING WEAPONS, AND COMPILING FREAKISH DOSSIERS ON IMAGINED ENEMIES: Frank J. Fleming: Our Paranoid Government — What To Do About The “Fanatical Fringe?”

The feds have shown warning signs for years, becoming increasingly withdrawn, hunkered down in their bunkers in DC. They’re disconnected from what’s going on in the rest of the country, getting their news only from extremist sources like Media Matters, MSNBC and The New York Times.

And in their fear and isolation, federal workers seem willing to believe almost any crazy conspiracy theory about the American public — such as that everyone is secretly racist against the president and that people are going to form militias to fight the government.

And now we know they’ve started attacking those they fear. . . . Now, citizen have plenty to worry about with the feds lashing out. After all, for years the government has stockpiled dangerous weapons like assault rifles, nuclear weapons and audit forms.

It hasn’t started blowing up US citizens in drone strikes (other than the four), but who knows what the feds will do if their paranoia is allowed to grow?

I think they should be disarmed and sent for mandatory therapy.

Plus: “I’m not trying to say this is Obama’s fault — it’s not like it’s his job to know what goes on in the federal government — but if he were more careful with what he says, he could probably end a lot of federal workers’ paranoia has about our citizens right now.”

ANDREW MALCOLM: Obama, campaigning again, blames D.C. mess on pols campaigning too much.

OFT EVIL WILL SHALL EVIL MAR: ObamaCare Doing What Term-Limits Movement Couldn’t. “Dozens of lawmakers and aides are so afraid that their health insurance premiums will skyrocket next year thanks to Obamacare that they are thinking about retiring early or just quitting.”

REMINDER: Obama “Joked” About Subjecting Enemies To IRS Audits Back In 2009.