RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Jim Geraghty: Why It’s So Hard To Make Progressives Live Up To Their Own Rules. “Ultimately, not that many liberals care whether their brethren are following their own book of rules. They’ve demonstrated a remarkable acceptance for one another’s hypocrisy.”

WELL, THE BULLYING WORKED LAST TIME: May We Have Another, Please? The left lobbies the chief justice–again.

Even if Roberts is inclined to “adopt a new, more stringent test”–and we know of no reason to think he is, much less that four of his colleagues are–these cases afford him no opportunity to do so. The standard set forth in RFRA (which, to be technical, did not “overturn” Smith but enacted into statute protection for individual rights beyond those the court had found in the Constitution) is sufficient to decide the cases.

Donnelly seems to be hoping to discourage the chief justice from ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor at all, not just to refrain from approaching the case in a fantastically overbroad way. Two years ago, of course, Roberts at least created the appearance that he is responsive to that sort of political pressure. Thus we suppose we’d do the same thing if we were a left-wing legal commentator, on the theory that there’s nothing to lose by trying.

Then again, if Roberts does make decisions with an eye toward his own reputation and the court’s, he may also find it desirable not to appear so easily rolled.

Indeed.

JOURNALISM: The 5 dumbest sentences in the WaPo article “What celebrity divorces like Gwyneth Paltrow’s tell us about ‘having it all.'”

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: GOP aide on White House: ‘They’ve blown off the subpoenas’; IRS faces another hearing.

GAFFE OF THE YEAR? Bruce Braley: The Iowa Democrat who belittled Iowa farmers while praising lawyers. Well, we lawyers are the salt of the Earth. But lawyers are supposed to be better at advocacy: “Why is this so awful? Let us count the ways. Iowa is a farm state, and it’s never a good idea to disparage one of the state’s chief occupations. Next, it’s particularly not a good idea to demean your state when you’re somewhere else: In this case, Braley was speaking in Texas. Next, Braley, a trial lawyer, was making his pitch to a room full of trial lawyers at a private fundraiser (which is why he didn’t think he was being recorded). Trial lawyers are perhaps the most unpopular constituency among Republican base voters—besides Obama administration officials. Since midterm elections are all about motivating your base, Braley has given his opponent a turnout gift. Next, look where Braley is standing: If you’re going to talk down to Iowa farmers, at least don’t do it next to a table of booze. It makes for amusing viewing and that reinforces the idea for voters that you’re not one of them.”

IT’S POTEMKIN VILLAGES ALL THE WAY DOWN: The Hill: GOP again accuses Sebelius of misleading ObamaCare testimony.

JOURNALISM: The Subjects of New York Times Millennial Trend Stories Aren’t Actually Millennials. “What a fascinating example of how millennials are using innovative technologies to deal with the most basic of human problems. Except that Rebecca Soffer is not a millennial. She’s 37. According to the Times itself, Neil Howe and William Strauss—the men who literally wrote the book on millennials and are credited with coining the term—establish the start of the millennial generation with people born in the year 1982. That means that today, even the eldest millennials are no more than 32 years old. And yet, the Times trend story on millennial mourning quotes Soffer, the 37-year-old founder of online grief resource Modern Loss; her co-founder Gabrielle Birkner (at 34, not a millennial); 35-year-old Modern Loss blogger Melissa Lafsky Wall (not a millennial); and Jason Feifer, the 33-year-old creator of the Tumblr “Selfies at Funerals” (so close, and yet, not a millennial). Also cited is Esther D. Kustanowitz, another contributor to Modern Loss, though the paper doesn’t divulge her age—perhaps because she is in her 40s. All told, the piece quotes more Gen Xers than it does millennials, even when you count the obligatory reference to Girls protagonist Hannah Horvath, who is 25, and made up. . . . I guess ‘a few rich white people in New York are doing something’ isn’t a enough of a hook.”

PROBABLY AFRAID OF BEING CHARGED AS PEDOPHILES: Walk on by Britain: Two little girls pretend to be lost in a busy shopping centre. So how many people stop to help? One. How many ignore their plight? More than SIX HUNDRED. “Experts said the reluctance of the passers-by was partly explained by people being busy, and partly a fear – especially among men – of any help they offer a child being misinterpreted. But the NSPCC said a child’s welfare was more important than worrying about being labelled a ‘stranger danger’.” If they believed that, they’d act differently.

ROLL CALL: House Democrats to Try and Force Floor Vote on Immigration Overhaul. “They’ll need to get 218 signatures on the petition in order to compel GOP leadership to bring up their legislation, which mirrors the Senate-passed immigration bill, except for some tweaks in the border security language. The likelihood of that outcome is approximately zero: Even the few House Republicans who have broken with their leaders to sign on as co-sponsors to the House bill are not expected to embrace a procedural tactic that would embarrass the majority party.”

It’s smart of the GOP to resist this, but it’s also smart of the Dems to try it. If the bill passed, a lot of GOP voters would stay home in November.

TAXES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Dem House candidate penalized for not paying taxes on time. “A Democratic Congressional candidate in California has been hit with a penalty after failing to pay all the taxes due on her Washington, D.C., apartment. Amanda Renteria, who is challenging incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao, has outstanding taxes due on the D.C. row house she owns with her husband, Patrick Brannelly.”

RACIST FATCATS DEMAND GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES:

The comparatively wealthy Hollywood film industry is, once again, fighting for hundreds of millions of your tax dollars, pitting California and Los Angeles against cross-country locales that are also giving up public incentives for the chance to host productions.

Politicians often fall over themselves in order to give your tax money to multi-billion-dollar media corporations despite these factors: Studies show the return is negligible; ultra-white Hollywood doesn’t hire a workforce that even comes close to reflecting L.A. (or even America); and the industry appears to rely heavily on workers imported from out-of-state.

I say, repeal the Hollywood tax cuts!

MICHAEL BARONE: Canada shows you can cut government spending.

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Judicial Watch plans to sue states with dirty voter rolls.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Ninth Circuit upholds requirement that guns be either locked or carried on one’s person.

The case is today’s Jackson v. City & County of San Francisco (9th Cir. Mar. 25, 2014). The court concludes that the ban is constitutional, even though it applies even to people who aren’t living with children (most such locked storage requirements apply only when children could otherwise access the gun), and even to people who are living alone. The court also upholds the ban on sale of hollow-point bullets, though it repeatedly stresses that the law doesn’t ban possession or use of such bullets.

The court’s general approach does seem to take the Second Amendment seriously; for instance, the court allows the challengers to challenge the statute on its face, and rejects arguments that this sort of restriction is just outside the scope of the Second Amendment. But I’m not wild about the court’s decision about the particular restrictions in play here.

Well, it is the Ninth Circuit. But I recommend they read my Second Amendment Penumbras piece from the Southern California Law Review before issuing their next opinion.

OBAMACARE BLOG COMMENT OF THE DAY:

We shouldn’t forget that ObamaCare was written in the dead of night by Harry Reid’s office, voted on, unread, by the Senate hours later and sent to the House which passed it “as is” so it would not have to go back to the Senate where Scott Brown’s vote would have killed it.

Therefore, there was no internal consistency check. There was no opportunity for clarifying amendments. There was no opportunity for anything Harry Reid did not think was appropriate. That is why we keep finding these unintended consequences that Obama tries to paper over with Executive Orders.

That is why the idea of “fixing” ObamaCare is a very bad idea. There are so many traps in the bill (as well as in the stacks of “rules”) that no one could untangle the mess. This is just like a badly designed web site. Best to start all over than try to add undocumented patch upon undocumented patch in a vain attempt to fix it.

If the Republicans get control of the Senate, they should identify what the minimum requirements of a health care system should be, and create a much simpler, easy to understand bill and send that to Obama.

I suppose that, in a flipside of Obama’s Executive Order strategy, they could just deem the bill to pass into law regardless of what Obama does.

TALK OF AGEISM AS HILLARY2016 BATTLESPACE PREPARATION? So in the comments to yesterday’s post on Silicon Valley ageism, a reader noted that this seems to be a theme, suddenly. And then I noticed this piece in the New York Times on how fabulous Gloria Steinem is at 80. So now I’m thinking: Ageism as a theme? Who are they worried we’ll think is too old? But of course! And look — Gloria Steinem is 80 and fabulous! Hillary’s much, much younger!

It’s just #banbossy all over again, this time with saggy jowls.

LIKE MICHAEL TOTTEN’S WRITING? Here’s a Kickstarter to get him to Vietnam. “Is Vietnam’s government blazing a path out of totalitarianism and toward democracy, or will the country explode all over again? I don’t know, but either way, Vietnam should provide a dramatic contrast to Castro’s hard-line police state.”

52 THINGS, 52 WEEKS: A Day As A Dolphin Trainer.

WITH THIS LATEST OBAMACARE DELAY IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT THE “TERRORISTS AND ANARCHISTS” ARE IN FULL CONTROL: Obama administration will allow more time to enroll in health care on federal marketplace. Remember when they told us that any delay would kill sick people, you MURDERER!!!!???

THE POWER OF COMPOUNDING: Every 25-Year-Old In America Should See This Chart.

THERE ARE WORSE PLACES TO HIDE OUT: Fugitive’s Home for 18 Years: Key West Houseboat. Also, better ordering of papers is recommended: “When they asked for her birth certificate, the 66-year-old ‘fumbled’ with her papers before pulling out Harris’ paperwork—at which point her real birth certificate and social security card fell on the floor.”

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Also save big at the Amazon Outlet Sale.

A DIFFERENT PARENTING STYLE: What Medieval Europe Did With Its Teenagers. “Today, there’s often a perception that Asian children are given a hard time by their parents. But a few hundred years ago northern Europe took a particularly harsh line, sending children away to live and work in someone else’s home. Not surprisingly, the children didn’t always like it.” Even as late as the Napoleonic Wars, children were Midshipmen on warships. Plus: “There was a sense that your parents can teach you certain things, but you can learn other things and different things and more things if you get experience of being trained by someone else.”

As I’ve noted elsewhere, the modern teenager is a recent construct.

And, of course: “In London, the different guilds divided into tribes and engaged in violent disputes. In 1339, fishmongers were involved in a series of major street battles with goldsmiths. But ironically, the apprentices with the worst reputation for violence belonged to the legal profession.”

CASS SUNSTEIN WRITES ON the dark side of New York Times v. Sullivan. But this passage rankles:

In light of the court’s ruling, critics usually do not have to worry about getting ensnared in an expensive libel suit if their target is a public official (a category that the court eventually broadened to “public figures,” including entertainers and athletes). Even if you’re negligent — that is, you should have known what you’re saying was untrue and defamatory — you are likely to be protected.

When it comes to public figures, all sorts of false allegations are permissible, whether they involve birth certificates, drug abuse, sexual misconduct or income tax fraud. One result is that those who seek public office put their reputation at immediate risk.

One of the goals of the court’s ruling was to protect self-government, but the effects on self-government are not all good. Talk show hosts, bloggers and users of social media can spread ugly falsehoods in an instant — exposing citizens to lies that may well cause them to look on their leaders with unjustified suspicion.

Really? “talk show hosts, bloggers, and users of social media?” In your place, peasants! In truth, New York Times v. Sullivan does the most to protect deep-pocketed defendants, who have something to lose. Would the New York Times have run its bogus pre-election hit piece on John McCain if pre-Sullivan law applied? Would the Washington Post have felt free to make baseless charges against the Koch Brothers pre-Sullivan?

Based on recent evidence, I’d say that it’s hard to look upon our leaders with unjustified suspicion. And that most emphatically includes our leaders in the press.

A SITE FOR CHEATERS, CHEATING? SAY IT AIN’T SO! Ex-Worker: Ashley Madison Makes Fake Profiles. According to a claim in a lawsuit.