REGARDLESS, I’VE ALWAYS AVOIDED THEM. AND CYCLAMATES WERE THE ONLY ONES THAT EVER TASTED GOOD. Artificial sweeteners may leave their users glucose intolerant; Saccharin and other sweeteners alter the bacteria living in our guts.

“MEANWHILE, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY HAS TURNED INTO PEYTON PLACE.” Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Hillary Clinton, and the Democrats’ War On Women. “If the targets of back-biting were Republican women I have little doubt that the media would hop on the ‘war on women’ bandwagon. Really, why is poor Wasserman Shultz taking blame when the male president is responsible for the party’s bad fortunes? And how [many] of these ‘personal questions’ about Clinton have to do with her age — a sign of sexism in a world in which men grow distinguished and women grow old? (If you think this is pure silliness, you know how Republicans feel when accused of misogyny.)”

UPDATE: From the comments: “More like The Harper Valley PTA, it would seem.” Heh.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Novel multifunctional nanoparticle for diagnosis and therapy. “A variety of nanoparticles have been designed for multiple nanomedical purposes. An article at KurzweilAI.net presents news from UC Davis of a ‘nanoporphyrin’ platform for developing multifunctional nanoparticles based upon treelike dendrimer structures made using porphyrin, cholic acid, amino acids, and polyethylene glycol.”

BECAUSE THE PURPOSE OF THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN IS TO MAKE RULES FOR MEN, NOT RULES FOR WOMEN: Ashe Schow: Why is it ‘victim-blaming’ to suggest ways to defend against rape and sexual assault?

DID YOU BRING ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE? LA School District Reluctantly Gives Up The Grenade Launchers The Pentagon Gave Them. They’re keeping the military rifles and MRAP, though.

DONATED BLOOD AGAIN TODAY for the UT vs. Florida competition. (Yes, this is an old picture, because I forgot to get them to take one this time. But the process looks about the same). Once again, there were a lot more women donating than men. And once again, the questions they asked were more detailed than the last time. I was talking to Doug Weinstein the other day, when he’d just donated, and we concluded that we’d better keep giving because it seems like we’re pretty much the only ones left who are allowed to donate blood.

Seriously, all these Mad Cow Disease questions — is that really still a thing?

CHANGE: The People Who Organized Occupy Wall Street Are Now Suing Each Other.

WHAT REVIEWERS SAY ABOUT THE IPHONE 6 AND 6 PLUS.

THIS ISN’T COMFORTING: Australia Raids Thwarted ISIS Beheading Plot. “Police on Thursday said they thwarted a plot to carry out beheadings in Australia by supporters of the radical Islamic State group. They raided more than a dozen properties across Sydney and were holding six people and have identified the suspected ringleader, officials said.”

CHARLES COOKE: Forgiving Biden: Media that lean left will react differently to their friends than to their enemies. Gaffe by a Republican: Their inner bigotry is showing through the mask! Gaffe by a Dem: Meh, people misspeak sometimes.

GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Department Of Justice, Media Matters Coordinate To Attack Reporter.

THE DEMOCRATS’ WAR ON WOMEN: How gender mattered in the rise and fall of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

CAMPUS SEX POLICE GETTING CREEPIER: “His questions were strictly about my relationship with her and my personal sex life.” If a University administrator asks about your sex life, end the discussion, lawyer up, and file a complaint.

Plus, there’s a good Title IX suit when a female professor tells an ex-girlfriend she’ll make a male student’s “life suck without him knowing why.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 497.

WILL SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE CREATE A BANDWAGON EFFECT?

So, what will happen after tomorrow’s vote in Scotland? Success for “Yes” will likely give strength to independence movements elsewhere. In particular, it may encourage some of the more moderate regionalist and nationalist parties seeking forms of devolution and autonomy within the state to “up” their demands to full secession. A “yes” result in Scotland may strengthen those who oppose the constitutional stipulation that France, Italy, and Spain are indivisible, and trigger a “demonstration effect”, even if many of the pro-independence movements currently lack for the foreseeable future the political momentum or popular legitimacy necessary to realize their ambitions.

A “no” vote is very likely to strengthen the arguments of those who oppose independence and may similarly show the regions that they are better together within their states, especially in these trying economic times. However, it wouldn’t likely herald the end of efforts to achieve constitutional changes, either in Scotland or elsewhere. The pro-UK parties have all promised to grant the Scottish Parliament further constitutional powers if “no” wins. If they play their cards right, independence-seeking parties in France, Italy, and Spain may use this fact to pressure their national governments to do the same, strengthening demands to devolve even more powers.

Is it really imaginable today that if part of the United States genuinely wanted to secede, it would be stopped with the kind of violence we saw in the American Civil War?

A HEARTBEAT AWAY: Joe Biden Pulls Off A Gaffe Hat Trick.

Related: Remember When Slate Cared About Jewish Stereotypes?

INTERESTING: How Gangs Took Over Prisons.

AMAZON INTRODUCES A BUNCH OF NEW KINDLES. I like the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition, where if the kids break it, they replace it free, no questions asked.

There’s also the new Fire HDX 8.9, designed to compete head-to-head with the iPad and Surface.

And the Kindle Voyage, designed to replace my Paperwhite, but with better display and extended battery life.

Plus, the Kindle Fire HD is just 99 bucks, and the base Kindle (now with touchscreen) is just $79.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: “Last year was a difficult one for college admissions — with institutions reporting more and more difficulty filling their classes.” This year is no better, and may turn out to be worse.

Who could have seen this coming?

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: Koskinen: ‘Hard Drive Crashes Continue As We Speak.’ I’m sure they do.

A SMALL VICTORY IN THE WAR ON CAMPUS SEX: Clemson University is no longer prying into its students’ sex lives.

ED MORRISSEY: Fumbling The Ideological War Against ISIS. Maybe we should try calling them racists or something. That always seems to work.

THE STORY CHANGES: Delays contributed to patient deaths at veterans’ hospital, IG concedes.

Delays in receiving medical care contributed to patient deaths at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix, a top official in the agency’s inspector general’s office testified Wednesday.

Dr. John Daigh, assistant VA inspector general for healthcare inspections, acknowledged that patients were harmed by the long waits for treatment at the facility, where top administrators concocted phony appointment lists to hide the delays.

Daigh also said he could not “conclusively assert” that no patients died because they could not get timely care.

That language is crucial because the IG’s final report on patient deaths in Phoenix included a line that it could not “conclusively assert” any patients died because of the unacceptable delays documented in the investigation.

That phrase was not in draft versions of the report sent to top VA officials for comment and review. It only appeared in the final version published Aug. 26.

VA administrators seized on that phrase when they leaked a statement to the media before the final IG report was issued, touting the finding that deaths from delays could not be proven.

Richard Griffin, acting inspector general, was more reluctant than Daigh to concede harm to patients and possible patient deaths from delays.

Griffin said the lack of timely care “could have” contributed to patient deaths.

“It may have contributed to their death,” Griffin said as he was pressed for an answer by Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla. “But we can’t say conclusively it caused their deaths.”

Griffin was more definitive later in the hearing when questioned by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the committee.

“Can you conclusively say no deaths occurred from delays in care?”

“No,” Griffin replied. “We don’t know. It’s a causality thing.”

In other words, let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who. This is supposed to be a happy occasion!

AT LEAST SHE DIDN’T CALL THEM “SHYLOCKS” OR SOMETHING: Elizabeth Warren: It’s “Fair” to Compare Israel to Nazis.