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TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 21.

TRIFECTA: Shock Poll for Liberals: People Want Less Government.

JAMES TARANTO: The Other Obesity Problem: Behavioral Economics And The Ever-Expanding State.

CBS NEWS: What’s going on between the IRS and True the Vote? “Texas businesswoman Catherine Engelbrecht says she never had trouble with the government. That is, until she founded two groups with conservative causes. Now, she’s telling a fascinating story of alleged harassment not only by the IRS but also other agencies that she believes targeted her and her organizations because of their political ties.”

BANDING TOGETHER FOR EQUALITY: Democrats and Tea Party Supporters Teaming Up To Stop Lawmakers Giving Themselves Gun Perks. “Tea Party supporters and Democrats in Texas and North Carolina have found a common gripe: legislators giving themselves gun perks that won’t extend to the public.”

USA TODAY: War on leaks threatens your right to know: Intimidation tactic serves to hide all manner of government secrets.

UPDATE: Charles Oliva doesn’t like the term “war on leaks,” writing: “I wish people would not use this term. It is pure spin. It really should be titled ‘War on Whisleblowers.’ The press is supposed to help dig out corruption and this tactic is helping to shut down that function. Not that the press has been doing a great job at vetting the administration in the first place.”

WANT TO KEEP YOUR RIGHTS? DO WHAT WE WANT! Democratic Party spokesman: Media surrender ‘right to gripe’ if they won’t meet Holder off the record. No desperation here.

BYRON YORK: Ted Cruz Opens Up On Immigration.

What, exactly, is Ted Cruz’s position on comprehensive immigration reform? There’s no doubt the outspoken and still very new Texas senator opposes the Gang of Eight proposal. From that, some Democrats and commentators on the left have concluded that Cruz is determined to block any far-reaching immigration measure. “Cruz seems categorically opposed to anything that smacks of comprehensive reform,” declared one liberal analyst recently.

Cruz doesn’t see it that way. Last weekend, his office got in touch, saying the senator would like to discuss his views on immigration reform. “His critique of the [Gang of Eight] bill and his amendments to restructure it offer a compelling contrary vision that we believe makes more sense and is more in line with the country,” wrote an aide.

Read the whole thing.

GUT-CHECK TIME FOR THE PRESS: “If they’re truly offended by the DOJ’s secret snooping on James Rosen and the AP. . . they won’t agree to attend Holder’s gladhanding session unless/until he agrees to make it on the record, right?”

THE HILL: Holder On The Ropes:

Attorney General Eric Holder is in the midst of perhaps the most serious challenge of his career over his department’s investigation of government leaks to journalists.

The battle-scarred head of the Justice Department (DOJ) weathered a House vote placing him in contempt of Congress in President Obama’s first term, but is now facing mounting criticism from figures in both parties as well as scornful scrutiny from the media.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are investigating whether he lied to the panel under oath, while David Axelrod —Obama’s former chief political strategist — this week called Justice’s investigation of a Fox reporter “disturbing.” Liberal pundit Bill Press said Holder should resign.

White House press secretary Jay Carney was peppered with several questions Wednesday about Holder, and responded that Obama has “confidence” in the attorney general. Obama believes Holder is “doing a good job,” Carney said.

Well, everybody knows that when the President has “confidence” in you, your job is safe!

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: The Ohio Players.

CROSSING THE AISLE: Roll Call: GOP Staffer Is There for Good-Looking Democrats.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How Ben Carson Is Not Like Hitler. “All you need to know is that Carson opposes same-sex marriage. Case closed. Carson was supposed to be the graduation speaker at Johns Hopkins Medical School. There was a fuss, and Carson decided to withdraw as speaker. The obviously relieved dean nevertheless criticized Carson for being ‘hurtful.’ His analysis of the situation was that ‘the fundamental principle of freedom of expression has been placed in conflict with our core values of diversity, inclusion and respect.’ My analysis is that, at a crucial moment, the dean failed to defend a real core value of the university: tolerance.”

Free speech and tolerance were only important back when communists and gays were being gone after. Now that the worm has turned, those bourgeois values no longer obtain.

THE HILL: Obama to nominate Comey as next FBI director, sources say. “Comey is a Republican who served in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, and is perhaps best known for his time as acting Attorney General, when he refused to certify parts of the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.” Cynics wonder what Obama has got on him to ensure that he won’t do anything like that again . . .

GUESS WHERE IT ENDS UP: The Road Europe is On. “V S Naipaul wrote of the eastern lands conquered by Islam that ‘converted peoples have to strip themselves of their past.’ In the west, in the nation states that built the modern world, that process is well under way. And Islam is Europe’s future. Which is to say, for Europe, there is no future.”

PUTTING A WEBCAM on the Moon.

TO RESPOND TO THESE COMMENTS on my USA Today column on penalties for politicians, let me note that, while I’m in favor of abolishing judicially-created immunities for government officials, that doesn’t mean that I’d oppose similar immunities created by legislation — though, frankly, I doubt that such immunities would pass legislatively. And note the conclusion to my piece, not mentioned in the post:

But the real lesson is this: We entrust an inordinate amount of power to people who don’t feel any pain when we fall down. The best solution of all is to take a lot of that power back. When the power is in your hands, it’s in the hands of someone who feels it when you fall down. When it’s in their hands, it’s your pain, their gain. That’s no way to run a country.

To me, that was the big point.

BRITISH INTELLIGENCE NOT LOOKING SO GOOD: “Our own intelligence in Kenya were reluctant to release him, but it is the British High Commission which recommended that the suspect be released.”