A PLAGIARISM SCANDAL AT BROWN. The two best ways to avoid accidental plagiarism are to only work from hard copy, so that every word in your manuscript is put there by you, avoiding the risk of accidentally cut-and-pasting others’ words in, and to never let research assistants do any actual writing on your project, but restricting them purely to research. That won’t keep you from using, say, a phrase that comes to you as if it’s your own but is really something you read elsewhere, but most plagiarism cases aren’t about isolated phrases or sentences.

My general thoughts on plagiarism — including a defense of Joe Biden — can be found here, in a chapter from the book I wrote with Peter W. Morgan, The Appearance of Impropriety: How The Ethics Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business, and Society.

ELIZABETH WARREN FAKE-INDIAN UPDATE: Boston Herald: After two years, no answers from Elizabeth Warren on roots.

WASTED MONEY: States make wild claims about the effectiveness of their tourism promotion campaigns. I’m especially suspicious when the ads feature politicians.

ROGER SIMON: Duranty Prize Update: Will 60 Minutes Apologize for Defamation of Israel?

WASHINGTON FOR SALE: Byron York: On Keystone pipeline, Democratic stalwart Laborers Union finds itself outbid by one enviro-billionaire.

POLITICO: Issa seeks insight into DOJ role in IRS targeting scandal.

CHANGE: Orange County, CA residents have been applying for concealed carry permits in droves.

IT’S ALWAYS NICE TO MAKE TWITCHY. See, Paul Begala’s tweet was an effort to — completely unfairly — connect Rand Paul and Ted Cruz to the Clippers’ Donald Sterling. So it was important to remind Begala, and everyone else, that Sterling is a Democrat. Also, Begala’s gotten sloppy in his old age.

Related: ‘It would be reported repeatedly’: Drudge, others hit media for missing an important detail of Sterling story — that he’s a Democrat.

UPDATE: As the correction at Twitchy notes, although a frequent Democratic donor, Sterling is actually a registered Republican. So I guess the scandal can resume!

HIGHER EDUCATION APPARENTLY NOT CONCERNED WITH PROTECTING ITS BRAND: At Dartmouth, White People Not Allowed To Use Word “Fiesta.”

OUT: NO MEANS NO. IN: YES MEANS NO, TOO. A College with Strange Sex Misconduct Hearings (‘No’ Means ‘No,’ and ‘Yes’ Can Mean ‘No’ Too). Why would you pay top dollar to send your kid — especially if that kid’s male — to Occidental College, or to any other college with this kind of Kafkaesque approach?

UPDATE: Hideous typo fixed.

ED DRISCOLL: Microclimates of Totalitarianism.

POLITICAL-CLASS INCEST: The Media And The White House: A Love Story.

IF DEMOCRATS WERE DOING IT TO REPUBLICANS, IT WOULD BE A MATTER OF HIGH PRINCIPLE: Oklahoma House seeks to impeach half of the state Supreme Court.