WHEN NERDS CALL OUT NERDS: “FiveThirtyEight founder and statistics guru Nate Silver has accused Ezra Klein’s Vox.com of stealing other people’s charts without attribution.”

KURT SCHLICHTER SAYS FORGET DEFENSE, it’s time to take the offensive. “People say that to a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Well, I’m a lawyer and everything looks like a lawsuit, or at least an administrative complaint. I discuss this kind of ‘lawfare’ in my book Conservative Insurgency: From fascist public school administrators to uppity DMV clerks, you’re an American citizen with the God-given right to make their lives a living hell by initiating and pursuing your right to challenge their abuses. That’s their soft spot. Complain, appeal, sue – occupy the Occupiers with dealing with your grievances instead of leaving them free to keep screwing up our country. The mainstream media, also known the Democrats’ Steno Pool, looks invincible, but it’s vulnerable too.”

Read the whole thing.

FROM THE NRA CONVENTION PJTV’s Amber Smith Interviews Ted Cruz.

FREE SPEECH LESSONS FROM GARRY TRUDEAU: “How can you tell which minorities it is proper to satirize? By whether they are likely to shoot you, apparently. Trudeau spent his career unfairly attacking Republicans, so he never had to worry.” I keep warning people about this incentive system, and they keep not listening.

YES, THAT’S A POST FROM ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY JUST BELOW THIS ONE. NO, I’M NOT ON VACATION. But she’ll be dropping by from time to time with contributions. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble telling her posts from mine, but when in doubt, check the byline!

WISCONSIN VOTERS FIGHT BACK:  A group of 5 Wisconsin voters just filed a motion to dismiss Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson’s federal lawsuit, in which she frivolously asserts that she has a constitutionally protected “property interest” in her position as Chief Justice– that Wisconsin voters “deprived” her of by enacting a state constitutional amendment.

The amendment expresses the will of Wisconsin voters that their state supreme court’s Chief Justice should be selected by the 7 court justices, and term-limited to 2 years.  It is widely speculated that, pursuant to this new amendment, the 7 justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (the majority of whom are conservative) will select another Chief, leaving Abrahamson (an outspoken liberal) on the court as an “ordinary” justice.  Call the cops– this constitutional deprivation must be stopped!

Abrahamson’s intense desire to remain as Chief Justice has caused her to behave erratically.  Her complaint asserts, for example, that the amendment shouldn’t take effect until the expiration of her 10-year term, in 2019. But this directly contradicts an opinion she penned for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2002, in which she declared, “[U]nless a constitutional amendment provides otherwise, it takes effect upon the certification of a statewide canvass of the votes.”

RELATED:  Abrahamson’s zeal also may get herself into ethics trouble, as she declared on April 6, under penalty of perjury, that voters had approved the amendment.  The amendment, however, was not approved by Wisconsin voters until April 7.  This may sound like a technicality, but it is an ethical lapse, in which she swore to the truth of various facts that did not actually exist at the time.  At a minimum, it shows she is a very sloppy lawyer.

Stay tuned:  Wisconsin politics–even in the judicial branch–are notoriously entertaining and, er, robust.

I LIKE HIM A LOT BETTER THAN I LIKE HILLARY: Marco Rubio Declares Candidacy, Saying “Yesterday Is Over.”

UPDATE: Ouch.

Marco Rubio switches from English to Spanish without blinking. Hillary eats at Chipotle.

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) April 13, 2015

FROM MOE LANE: The Bush Era: A Reminder:

Gas prices were low.
So was unemployment.
The labor participation rate was higher.
Minority representation in the middle class was increasing.
We had a manned space program.
We had elections in Iraqi towns, instead of slave auctions.
Our allies in Europe trusted us.
Our rivals worldwide were wary of us.
And our enemies did their absolute damnedest to hide from us. Well. The ones still breathing, at least.

Those were the days.

PRAWFSBLAWG: Teaching citizens to video–and to exercise the First Amendment.

WELL, GOOD: EFF Helps Bust Bogus Patent That Was Being Used To Shake Down Podcasters.

GOOD NEWS FOR MY SISTER-IN-LAW’S AFRICAN-MOVIE-STREAMING STARTUP: NollyLand Now Available on Roku in USA & Canada |Releases Chromecast-Ready Android App.

FASTER, PLEASE: We have the technology to dramatically increase the independence of people with spinal-cord injuries. The problem is bringing it to market and keeping it there.

SCIENCE: Guinness is good for you, say medical experts. “Indeed it may work as well as a low dose of aspirin to prevent heart attacks.”

AT AMAZON, shop the Spring Outlet Event.

Plus, save big on Spring Cleaning gear and supplies.

SHE TOOK IT TO THE LIMIT: Woman Stabs Roommate for Refusing to Stop Listening to The Eagles.

21ST CENTURY RAPE CULTURE: “Saturday Night Live” seems to think female teachers having sex with their male students is a big, smirk-worthy joke. I blame modern women’s pervasive sense of sexual entitlement.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: This ‘Honey on Tap’ Beehive Design Just Raised $9 Million on Indiegogo.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Morgantown Bans Sofas From Being Kept Outside In Attempt To Stop WVU Couch Fires.

SALON IS NOT IMPRESSED WITH THE ROLLOUT: Hillary Clinton Just Doesn’t Get It: She’s Already Running A Losing Campaign. “Clinton personifies the meritocracy that to an angry middle class looks increasingly like just another privileged caste. It’s the anger captured best by the old ‘Die Yuppie Scum’ posters and in case you haven’t noticed, it’s on the rise. Republicans love to paint Democrats as elitists. It’s how the first two Bushes took out Dukakis, Gore and Kerry — and how Jeb plans to take out Hillary. When she says she and Bill were broke when they left the White House; when she sets her own email rules and says it was only for her own convenience; when she hangs out with the Davos, Wall Street or Hollywood crowds, she makes herself a more inviting target. . . . Clinton seems as disconnected from the public mood now as she did in 2008. I think it’s a crisis. If she doesn’t right the ship it will be a disaster. In politics it’s always later than you think. Advisors who told her voters would forget the email scandals probably say this too will pass. If so, she should fire them.”

Related: Mickey Kaus on Chelsea’s toxic pretentiousness.

Plus: “Another way for rich to curry favor w/ Clintons: Invest in son-in-law’s hedge fund?”

ROGER SIMON: No Questions, Please: Hillary Announces on Twitter.

My question for Hillary, shamelessly stolen from a tweet I can’t find now: Do the underage girls held as sex slaves on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island that Bill visited feel “empowered” by Hillary’s candidacy?

UPDATE: Ah, here’s the tweet.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: “So, basically, my butt refuted The New York Times.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 704.

REMINDER: Mickey Kaus is at Kausfiles.com. With a pithier, more InstaPundit-like approach!

FAIRNESS: Top 20% of Earners Pay 84% of Income Tax.