WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS: A Powerful Personal Drone.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: BDSM Is Not “Consensual Domestic Violence.”

MR. PAUL GOES TO WASHINGTON: Sen. Rand Paul Filibustering John Brennan for CIA Right Now Over Domestic Drones. A lot of readers who have been watching it email to say it’s inspirational.

You can watch it on C-SPAN here, though it’s been going on for a couple of hours.

ABUSIVE LAB TEST: Brawny Bike Locks.

READER BOOK PLUG: Blog Goddess Stacy Tabb has a story in the Dreams of Steam 3 Steampunk anthology. Love the cover.

THE REAL-LIFE HORROR STORY that inspired Moby Dick.

AND NO, IT’S NOT JOE SALAZAR THIS TIME: Colorado Democrat Apologizes For Rape Remark.

MINDBLOWING HISTORICAL DOPPELGANGERS: It’s the Philip IV / Mark Zuckerberg one that really gets me.

NARRATED BY BILL WHITTLE, the video for my The K-12 Implosion is now available on YouTube.

RICHARD EPSTEIN: Can the government force firms to employ convicted criminals just because they are minorities?

VIDEO: Police Nationwide Say “You’re On Your Own.”

UPDATE: J. Christian Adams comments. “A government acts immorally when it prevents you from defending the lives of your children. If you care about keeping your family free from violence, move South.”

THE PERMIAN EXTINCTION: When Life Nearly Came to an End.

LOSS OF PERSPECTIVE: “To the extent that he felt that the world was unjust or unfair, that bothered him. And if a font was wrong that bothered him, too.”

THEY SHOULD FIND SOME RIPE TARGETS FOR BUDGET CUTS: ACLU Launches Nationwide Police Militarization Investigation.

The Pentagon’s 1033 program has also exploded under Obama. In the program’s monthly newsletter (Motto: “From Warfighter to Crimefighter”), its director announced in October 2011 that his office had given away a record $500 million in military gear in fiscal year 2011, which he noted, “passes the previous mark by several hundred million dollars.” He added, “I believe we can exceed that in FY 12.”

Then there are the Department of Homeland Security’s anti-terrorism grants. The Center for Investigative Reporting found in a 2011 investigation that since 2001, DHS has given out more than $34 billion in grants to police departments across the country, many of which have been used to purchase military-grade guns, tanks, armor, and armored personnel carriers. The grants have gone to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D.; Canyon County, Idaho; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

In the tiny town of Keene, N.H.,, the citizens protested plans to purchase a Lenco Bearcat armored personnel carrier with a DHS grant. One resident told HuffPost last year, “Keene is a beautiful place. It’s gorgeous, and it’s safe, and we love it here. We just don’t want to live in the kind of place where there’s an armored personnel carrier parked outside of City Hall … It’s just not who we are.”

They succeeded only in delaying the purchase by a few months. Keene now has a Bearcat. To town officials, it was a no-brainer. Keene was getting a $400,000 vehicle from the federal government, essentially for free. Why wouldn’t it accept?

To be fair, I’d probably take one of those if someone offered it to me for free, too.

I had some thoughts on this subject a while back.

ED MORRISSEY: A Return To Practical Conservatism. Alas, however, I think the influence of “Randian purists” on the GOP has been vastly overstated. . . .

UPDATE: Ed emails: “Just to clarify, I think you’re absolutely correct about their influence on legislation, but they tend to be more impactful on the public debate.” Not as influential as I’d like, but yeah. Randian purism will never be popular among politicians (or journalists) because it offers insufficient opportunities for graft.

WORKS FOR ME: Privatize Airport Security. “Rather than use sequestration to trim waste, the Obama administration has viewed the deadline—and the Republican desire to curtail spending—as an assault on big government. If it’s a choice between defending big government and hurting the individual, President Obama appears much more inclined to punish the individual, hoping that a backlash against government-instigated inconvenience will lead Republicans to cave. Nowhere is this attitude on greater display than with regard to airport security.”

AT AMAZON, up to 60% off on men’s shoes.

Also, today only: Over 57% Off Select Dragon NaturallySpeaking Software.

IT WOULD BE BETTER PR TO SCHEDULE THESE ONLY IN JULY: Congressional global warming hearing canceled due to D.C. snowstorm. Because I think this isn’t the first time this has happened.

HOWIE CARR NOT MISSING CHAVEZ, NOT IMPRESSED WITH THOSE WHO DO: Moonbats mourn another Red thug.

Related: Joe Kennedy’s Oil Aid To Dry Up?

HMM: Minnesota Poll: A majority doesn’t want gay
 marriage. “Months after an amendment to ban the unions was rejected, 53 percent opposes legalizing them.” Guess the public doesn’t want to lock in a decision, in case its thinking evolves.

GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE: Record Low Temperatures Giving Florida Spring Breakers A Chilly Welcome.

HANDY: During last night’s power outage (which lasted into the wee hours of the morning) one thing that really, er, shined was the performance of these emergency LED lamps. When the power’s on, they’re nightlights, but when it’s off they turn on and provide a healthy amount of illumination. I put ’em at the bottom of stairs, the end of hallways, etc. That means there’s no fumbling around trying to find the flashlight in the dark. The Insta-Wife and Insta-Daughter were quite impressed.

JAMES TARANTO: Not a Dictator: Obama’s declaration of ineffectuality.

By saying “I’m not a dictator,” then, Obama is admitting that he is ineffectual: that he lacks the political skill either to strike a compromise or to bend his opponents to his will. He concluded his press conference in an even more passive vein, hoping that “Congress comes to its senses a week from now, a month from now, three months from now.”

The country’s in the very best of hands.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Instead of living in his district, lawmaker lives rent-free in a lobbyist’s house.