OVER AT JERRY POURNELLE’S, some talk about the latest developments in reactionless thrusters.

AMNESTY: John Hinderaker: Is Barack Obama Plotting a Coup? “When a tyrant asserts the right to rule by decree in a state that has formerly been subject to the rule of law, he is commonly described as carrying out a coup d’etat. That is just what the Obama administration has done, and reportedly will continue to do. . . . Can you imagine the furor that would have resulted if President Nixon, in the midst of the Watergate crisis, had asserted the right to repeal or amend federal statutes by decree? No, actually, you can’t. Forget impeachment; he would have been escorted out of the Oval Office by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. What, then, makes Barack Obama special?” He’s black. And a Democrat. Not necessarily in that order.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN FOR TOMORROW IS ON THE CIA AND THE IRS: Public Servants Acting As Public Masters.

IT’S AS IF MARKETS ENCOURAGE COMPANIES TO GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT, AT LOWER PRICES, OR SOMETHING: Whole Foods’ Success Breeds Competitors, Squeezes Profit Margins. “The problem is that at Whole Foods, shoppers have been paying way over the cost of regular produce, and its success in getting them to do so has now attracted a lot of competitors, from rival organics chains like Sprouts and Trader Joe’s to mass-market retailers like Walmart and Costco. As a result, the price premium for organic produce is crashing down. On a recent shopping trip, a pound of organic apples cost $2.99 at Whole Foods but just $1.99 at Sprouts and even less at Costco.”

LET’S HOPE THIS IS A SIGN THAT SOMEONE THERE IS IN TOUCH WITH REALITY: WH: Obama undecided on immigration steps. “White House officials are downplaying stories that President Obama is prepared to take executive action on immigration that would allow millions of undocumented people to stay in the United States.” Such an action would be an extraconstitutional coup, entirely justifying the impeachment talk.

Actually, it might justify more. I can imagine governors — Rick Perry, perhaps — simply taking matters into their own hands. They’d have a better argument for self-help there under the Constitution — Article I sec. 10’s authorization to go to war when actually invaded, or in such danger as will admit of no delay — and the federal government’s default on its duty under the Constitution to protect them from invasion. There’s a lot of room for constitutional self-help there, and realistically what’s Obama going to do about it?

UPDATE: This overstates my position a bit. I’m not sure the argument for self-help is right, only that it’s much stronger than Obama’s claim to be able to act unilaterally.

GIVEN THE WAY OUR “SMART DIPLOMACY” IS GOING, BOTH COUNTRIES MIGHT BE BETTER OFF IF WE DID: John Kerry Just Visited. But Should We Just Forget About India? “So low is the bar in U.S.-India relations right now that the best thing that can be said about John Kerry’s two-day hop-over to New Delhi was that he went there at all. A relationship that burst into true blossom under George W. Bush, one that held for many Americans the promise of a mold-breaking alliance for the 21st century, lies shabbily dormant. Indeed, the only memorable episode in Kerry’s visit was his scolding by India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, for the NSA’s spying on her political party.”

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: China Experiences a Booming Underground Market in Child Surrogacy. “As in most countries, surrogacy is illegal in China. But a combination of rising infertility, a recent relaxation of the one-child-per-family policy and a cultural imperative to have children has given rise to a booming black market in surrogacy that experts say produces well over 10,000 births a year.”

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TONIGHT FROM 9-10 EASTERN, Barbara Oakley, author of A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra), will be on Amy Alkon’s radio show talking about it.

KYLE SMITH: Why Obama Is Concocting An Impeachment Threat: Because He Has Nothing Else.

It’s as if our president has read all of the disappointed head-shaking opinion pieces by Very Serious Liberals and is responding, “Hey, I’m not sad. I’m ridiculous!”

Because in the last couple of weeks Barack Obama has reached his Basil Fawlty stage.

Instead of John Cleese’s Fawlty rushing around a dismal English hotel trying to avoid insulting his German guests by squawking, “Don’t mention the war,” we have Obama stumbling around the country crying, “Don’t mention impeachment!”

The president is, of course, the only American of any standing whatsoever talking about impeachment.

At least Basil Fawlty had an excuse for his dizzy behavior: He had just been clocked in the skull with a frying pan.

Sadly, this is the most benign explanation. A scarier one is that it’s battlespace-prep because he’s planning something really awful and when serious people start talking impeachment he can say “they were planning it all along!”

CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION: “Angry Black Woman” to anti-Israel activists: Stop pilfering civil rights legacy for your “repugnant agenda.” Rosa Parks never wore a suicide vest.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Man 3D-Prints Castle In Back Garden Using Concrete Printer He Invented.

Related: U.S. Army Contemplates 3D-Printed Warheads.

IF TECH HAS AN “UGLY GENDER PROBLEM” because women are so “underrepresented,” then how do we describe the situation in K-12 education? Oh, right, we don’t.

UPDATE: From the comments:

We worry about women being underrepresented in tech….but we don’t worry about men being over-represented in prison, in garbage collection, and on death row.

We also don’t worry about men being over-represented when it comes to alcoholism, suicide, violence in the workplace, or being killed on the job.

And when a ship is sinking, by God, men are supposed to go to the back of the line.

But we live in a patriarchal society, or so they keep telling us.

Indeed they do.

WHEN POLICING IS POLITICIZED: Terror study group finds “sovereign citizens” and “militia/patriot groups” among greatest threat to US.

Obviously they share Lois Lerner’s views of talk radio. To be fair, these people are bureaucrats, and small-government groups probably are a bigger threat to them. I hope they’re also keeping a close eye on the threat of pickup artists.

AT AMAZON, deals on Men’s Merino Wool Clothing. Winter is coming.

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SLEEPING PILLS, OLDER ADULTS, and the danger of extended sedative use.

PRIVACY FOR ME, BUT NOT FOR THEE: LAPD: Don’t Fly Camera Equipped Drones Over Our Police Stations. Nonsense. If you’re doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide. Right? Hint to cops: It’s not “private property,” and it’s not “kind of like your house.”

Some remedial reading can be found here.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: These vibrating Bluetooth-connected shoes could help you drive. I have enough trouble getting a 14EEEE in athletic shoes.

POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS: Tech Industry Mostly Liberal, Some Libertarians, Very Few Conservatives.

HE’S SELF-QUARANTINING IN MORRISTOWN, WHICH IS LESS THAN AN HOUR FROM ME: Tenn. Man in Quarantine After Ebola Outbreak: ‘I’m Feeling Well.’ “A Tennessee doctor who placed himself in quarantine after volunteering in West Africa, where the Ebola virus is rampant, says he’s ‘feeling well’ and showing no sign of symptoms. Alan Jamison, a retired pediatrician, returned home to Morristown, Tenn., after he was evacuated from Liberia by the aid group he was volunteering for — working at the same hospital as Dr. Kent Brantly, an American now fighting the deadly virus.”

Related: Ebola Outbreaks Explained.

ACTUALLY, I THINK THE BBC DOES: BBC Worries That Bloggers Have Too Much Power.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 451.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Families Depending Less On Student Loans.

Amid growing recognition that easy college loans all too often turn into a lifetime debt burden, the tide may be turning. Families aren’t borrowing as quite as much to pay for their kids’ college education, reports the WSJ.

But that’s not necessarily good news for schools:

Many colleges are upping the numbers of grants and scholarships because enrollment is in decline. For private schools, that means the sticker price is often nothing like the price that students actually pay, and the schools earn much less from tuition than you might assume. Meanwhile, public schools will soon have to rely more on tuition than on state funding.

Even with all those sweeteners and discounts, students still aren’t flocking to pricy schools as readily as before. . . .

And who among us thinks it’s the Ivy League that’s getting squeezed? Of course not—it’s almost certainly mid-tier private universities and liberal arts colleges that are seeing their enrollment numbers fall as more students content themselves with cheaper public or private schools.

All is proceeding as I have foreseen. But the Ivy League isn’t immune to the trend. And my advice is, don’t be afraid to dicker. You may get a better deal.

THE HILL: CIA Reeling From Spy Scandal.