JAMES TARANTO: Russian Republican? Obama answers aggression with standoffishness.

“Accusing Russia of failing to live up to its commitments, President Barack Obama warned Moscow on Thursday that the United States has another round of economic sanctions ‘teed up’–even as he acknowledged those penalties may do little to influence Vladimir Putin’s handling of the crisis in Ukraine,” the Associated Press reports from Tokyo.

“Teed up”? What was it that somebody said about Putin playing chess while Obama plays golf?

If Obama took foreign policy as seriously as he takes golf, it would be an improvement. Taranto continues:

Conservatives have sometimes wished–jokingly or not–that Obama were as aggressive toward America’s antagonists as he is toward his own. With Putin, that wish appears to have come true. Maybe Baker is right and this is part of a grand strategy for containing Russia. But we suspect that’s wishful thinking too.

The president’s comments in Tokyo certainly don’t inspire confidence. “I understand that additional sanctions may not change Mr. Putin’s calculus,” he said at a press conference with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “How well they change his calculus in part depends on not only us applying sanctions but also the cooperation of other countries.” . . .

This sounds very much like Obama’s approach to domestic politics since 2011, when the Republicans took the House. The president is lamenting his own ineffectuality and blaming it on others’ unwillingness to do things his way–which only reinforces the sense that he is ineffectual.

Nothing’s his fault. Of course, nothing’s his accomplishment either.

10-YEAR-OLD GIRL MEETS MICHELLE OBAMA: “My dad’s been out of a job for three years and I wanted to give you his resume.”

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: The Hill: Issa questions role of Holder’s DOJ in targeting of Tea Party groups.

RACIST POLITICAL SPEECH IN ILLINOIS: Democratic Governor Compares Black Republicans To Jewish Nazis.

Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is in some hot water with the Jewish community after his campaign tweeted—and then quietly deleted—several messages urging backers to read an article comparing black Republican voters to Jews who collaborated with the Nazis.

Chicago Sun Times readers were stunned last week to find that writer Neil Steinberg has penned a column comparing black supporters of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner to Jews who collaborated with the Nazis against their brethren. . . .

Quinn’s camp praised the piece and tweeted it out to supporters several times. The tweets were deleted after local Jewish community officials quietly communicated their outrage to the governor.

If he’d been a Republican, the outrage probably would have been noisier.

JOHN HINDERAKER: Venezuela Banned Guns. Let’s Not Follow Their Example. “The American Left would love to follow the example of Venezuela. (If that seems inexplicable, bear in mind the fact that Venezuelans who are tightly connected with the socialist government are filthy rich, and have stashed most of their wealth in other countries.) I have come around to the view that if we don’t want our society to devolve into a tyranny like Venezuela’s, it is a good idea to be armed.”

Indeed.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Senate probe: Ex-DHS watchdog altered reports as favor to senior officials.

The official tasked with keeping watch over the Department of Homeland Security was instead watching out for senior officials he considered his “friends,” according to a Senate probe.

A subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a scathing report on Thursday that effectively confirmed many of the ethical allegations that have trailed Charles Edwards ever since he resigned his post in December as acting DHS inspector general. The report determined that he “jeopardized the independence” of his office by socializing with senior DHS officials and had reports “altered or delayed” to accommodate the department he was supposed to oversee.

The report also included, though did not confirm, allegations that Edwards’ office sat on information about the 2012 Secret Service prostitution scandal that could “influence an election.”

I’m beginning to think that we can’t rely on the nonpartisan professionalism of the bureaucracy.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Why Adjunct Professors Are Unhappy.

THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Arizona VA boss accused of covering up veterans’ deaths linked to previous scandal.

AIRPLANE BOARDING: WE’RE DOING IT WRONG. “From a data-driven perspective, this is nothing short of maddening. There are many ways to board a plane, with ‘back-to-front’—the chosen boarding process of most U.S. carriers—the slowest. It is so ineffective that timed research shows that simple random boarding ends up being faster. One possibility is that airlines have no incentive to improve the process. As long as it remains terrible, they can sell early boarding privileges. Southwest, for example, charges $40 to be among the first 15 to board. Consider the indignity: The stress of boarding is so bad that people are willing to pay money to wait in the plane, rather than outside it—and they pay money to the very company causing that stress.”

OBAMACARE BLOWBACK: Ed Driscoll: GE: We Bring Bad Karma to Life.

A LENGTHY ESSAY ON masculinity in the 21st century.

MORE GRASSROOTS PUSHBACK: Michelle Obama scraps graduation speech. “First lady Michelle Obama is scrapping her plans to deliver a graduation speech for high school seniors in Topeka, Kan., after hundreds signed a petition in protest. . . . More than 1,750 people had signed a petition protesting the first lady’s appearance at the graduation ceremony, angered that security concerns would limit the number of friends and family who could attend.”

AT AMAZON, deals on Fireproof Safes. From little to big.

Also, shooting supplies.

RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: War On Women: Major Dem Donor Pleads Guilty To Beating Girlfriend, Gets Community Service.

EVERYONE SHOULD TEACH WRITING. That’s how we do it at UT Law, where writing is part of almost every course. And I can attest that the quality of student writing, overall, is much better than it was before we started doing this.

THE SCIENCE FICTION “COMMUNITY” HAS BEEN COMMUNITY-ORGANIZED, APPARENTLY: Larry Correia Nominated For Hugo Award, Immediately Subjected to Politically Motivated Character Assassination.

UPDATE: If you want to show your support, I suppose you could buy his books.

THE SEX PISTOLS WERE UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT: Teen Arrested With Loaded Gun In Vagina. Police quote: “It would seem to be a very dangerous place to carry a loaded firearm.” Ya think?

WHY CHOCOLATE IS GOOD FOR YOU: “The gut microbes that digested the cocoa were desirable probiotics like lactobacillus. Their numbers appeared to increase after the introduction of the cocoa, while less-salutary microbes like staphylococcus declined in number.”

AT AMAZON, up to 80% off on clothing, for men, women, and kids.

Plus, 25% or more off on Home Generators. Or you could always go with an inverter.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Telling Students to Earn Less: Obama now calls for reforming his bleeding college loan program.

The federal student loan program is becoming so costly to taxpayers that even President Obama is pretending to fix it. Readers will recall Mr. Obama as the man who has spent much of his Presidency expanding this program, creating new ways for borrowers to avoid repayment, and then campaigning about these dubious achievements on campuses nationwide.

Now Team Obama is acknowledging that his policies are turning out to be more expensive than he claimed. Participation in federal debt-forgiveness programs is surging. In a mere six months the number of borrowers who’ve signed up for such plans has increased to more than 1.3 million from less than a million, with total balances rising to $72 billion from $52 billion. Maybe the White House didn’t understand that when you give people an economic incentive not to repay a loan, more people won’t repay.

Plus this:

Pay As You Earn allows students under certain circumstances to borrow an unlimited amount and then cap monthly payments at 10% of their discretionary income. If they choose productive work in the private economy, the loans are forgiven after 20 years. But if they choose to work in government or for a nonprofit, Uncle Sugar forgives their loans after 10 years.

For aspiring community organizers who go to college and then grad school before moving into a job that the government defines as public service, the forgiven debt can be $150,000 or more, courtesy of the taxpayer. And unlike with some other federal programs, when the government forgives the debt of one of the exalted class of nonprofit or government workers, the do-gooder doesn’t have to report it as income to the IRS. Who wouldn’t want to pick up $150,000 tax-free?

Energized by Mr. Obama’s 2011 expansion, Pay As You Earn has been a slow-motion bailout for law schools, which saw diminishing applications in the wake of the financial crisis. Now the money is still rolling in thanks to more leveraged students. Upon graduation the median law school grad in 2012 was carrying more than $128,000 in grad-school debt, up from $77,000 in 2004.

But how much of it will ever be repaid? At least one creative school, Georgetown, last year offered to pay the students’ monthly bills under the Pay As You Earn program while simultaneously raising tuitions. This essentially makes taxpayers pay the entire cost and turns the loans into six-figure grants.

Next scam: Law schools start “nonprofit” law firms that hire their own graduates, thus boosting their U.S. News rankings by ensuring their grads have jobs while letting their students get out from under debt in half the time. Plus, faculty can have high-paying side jobs managing things at the “nonprofit.”

Actually, that doesn’t sound bad. Did I say “scam?” I meant, “public service opportunity.”

ARE SHARING SERVICES LIKE AIRBNB AND LYFT rebuilding social trust?

ACTUALLY, I THINK FACEBOOK WAS JUST A FRONT FOR AN NSA PROJECT TO DEVELOP THIS: An Algorithm That Recognizes Faces Better Than People Do.

THINGS WE CAN LEARN FROM looking at the blood of a healthy centenarian.

MONEY IN POLITICS: John Hinderaker Talks About Tom Steyer.

SO I GUESS THIS CHOICE OF METAPHOR INDICATES HE’S REALLY SERIOUS: Obama: Sanctions Against Russia Are “Teed Up.”

UPDATE: Related: Russia Threatens Invasion Unless Ukraine Stops Stopping Separatists.