I’D RATHER SEE NEITHER A BUSH NOR A CLINTON ON THE TICKET IN 2016. But since we’re talking about Jeb Bush, let me say that his only chance is if W’s presidency looks retrospectively like a golden age. From a jobs-and-income standpoint it already does, and as Obama piles up foreign policy debacle after foreign policy debacle, it may look like a golden age from that standpoint too. So he’s got that. . . .

SHADES OF ANDREA YATES: 6-year-old boy in drowning case against mom dies. “A 6-year-old Pennsylvania boy whose mother allegedly held him underwater in a bathtub died Saturday, four days after his younger brother drowned, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed. . . . Forty-year-old Laurel Michelle Schlemmer is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond on criminal homicide and other charges in the death of her younger child. With Daniel’s death, the charges against her are expected to be amended.”

SO AFTER I POSTED ON EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS, it occurred to me that the basement room where we shelter during tornado warnings, though quite safe, would be hard to get out of if the house were wrecked above us. So after a little research, I went with the Stanley FatMax Xtreme 55-120 FuBar III. It’s a very stout crowbar/wrecking bar/beakhead/sledge hammer. Pretty much its only drawback is that it’s kind of heavy. I don’t mind it — though at the end of a day doing demo work I probably would — but for digging out of a mess it seems pretty good. I’ve bent crowbars before, but I don’t think that could happen with this one.

RAMPANT SEXISM IN THE NEW YORK TIMES: “Guys are just jerks, and women know it.” Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure that the tech culture’s problem isn’t that it’s overrun by alpha males. Here’s another bit from the same story: “Pax Dickinson, left, and Elissa Shevinsky ended their working partnership after he tweeted in defense of an app called Titstare. The two reconciled after Mr. Dickinson wrote a public apology.” Alpha male all the way, bro.

But then I see this piece and I wonder (1) if Political Correctness has the tech industry devouring itself; and (2) Is all this stuff somehow more Hillary 2016 battlespace prep? Protect us from the bad alpha males so we can be empowered women!

UPDATE: “Switch one word (male/female) in nearly any graf and you’re describing the culture at most elementary schools.”

RETRO-BLOGGING FUN WITH RAQUEL WELCH.

WHY YES, YES WE DO: Angry motorists want to put brakes on red light cameras.

AT AMAZON, warehouse deals on Small Appliances.

Also, Great Summer Products in Kitchen & Dining.

Plus, check out the Amazon Emergency Essentials Store. It’s easier to buy this stuff now than it will be when you need it.

SARAH HOYT HAS A NEW BOOK OUT. I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to buy it.

BECAUSE SHUT UP: What Does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Need with 96 Armed Agents?

LIBERTY ISLAND: 8 Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Writers on the Cutting Edge.

21ST CENTURY GREASE MONKEYS: Guy finds hidden Ethernet port on his Tesla, scans it, gets call from Tesla security.

HERITAGE: Neandertals gave Europeans lipid catabolism genes. So maybe a “paleo” diet is better for people of European descent?

21ST CENTURY PARENTING WORRIES: Is Siri Doing Psychological Harm To Kids?

FIRST WI-FI, NOW THIS: Raw Eggs Actually Pretty Darn Safe. “About one out of every 20,000 chicken eggs commercially produced in the US is at risk for spreading Salmonella. Fortunately, a new radio-frequency (RF) heating technique could be used to pasteurize eggs more quickly without affecting the taste or texture.”

AT AMAZON, 50% off on Kitchen Tools & Gadgets.

Plus, new coupons in Household Supplies.

Also, deals on bestselling barware and drinkware.

THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW: TX Cops Lobby to Ban Man from Exposing Speed Traps.

THE INVISIBLE MAN: NPR’s TV Critic Laments All-White Late Night Shows, Completely Ignores Arsenio.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA: No danger from wi-fi. Well, that’s a relief.

INTRODUCING Microsoft’s Answer To Siri.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: How To Get The Most From Your Lawnmower.

PAYOFFS: “House Of Cards” Will Likely Get The Millions It Sought In Maryland Film Tax Credits.

As I’ve noted before about Hollywood, it’s easy to demand higher levies on the ‘rich’ when your own industry gets $1.5 billion in government handouts.

I say, repeal the Hollywood tax cuts! All of them.

IN THE MAIL: From Jerry Jay Carroll, The Great Liars: They knew he knew. Too bad for him.

Also, today only: $1.99 Mysteries & Thrillers on Kindle.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 332.

MICHAEL BARONE: Millennials’ Path of Least Resistance:

Today the Millennials, write the Pew analysts, are “relatively unattached to organized politics and religion,” and significantly more unattached than the age cohorts (Generation Xers, Baby Boomers, Silent Generation) that came before.

Politically, 50 percent of Milennials classify themselves as Independents rather than Democrats or Republicans, compared to about 36 percent of their elders.

Millennials largely voted for Barack Obama — 66 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in 2012. But only 49 percent approve of his performance now, just a bit more than among Xers and Boomers. Only 34 percent of white Millennials rate Obama’s performance positively.

Most Millennials say they believe in God, but it’s a smaller majority than among older age groups, and only 36 percent say they see themselves as “a religious person,” versus nearly 60 percent of their elders. Some 29 percent of Millennials are religiously unaffiliated. They’re evidently moving away from their parents’ religion but not moving toward one of their own.

One reason may be that people tend to join churches when they marry and have children — and Millennials, so far, aren’t doing much of either. Only 26 percent of Millennials age 18 to 32 are married, far lower than other generations were at their age (Xers 36 percent, Boomers 48 percent, Silents 65 percent).

Millennials aren’t entirely rejecting parenthood, but 47 percent of births to Millennial women are outside of marriage. Even so, about 60 percent of Millennials, like their elders, say that having more children raised by a single parent is bad for society.

Unlike Tocqueville’s Americans, and unlike the generations just before them, Millennials seem to be avoiding marriage, church and political affiliation, and to lack a sense of social trust. Only 19 percent say that generally speaking most people can be trusted, compared to 31 percent to 40 percent among older generations.

This is in line with Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam’s thesis that social trust is declining in America.

So is that just sort of happening? Or are things being pushed in that direction?

I WAS EXPECTING AN EARTH-SHATTERING KABOOM: Blast Sensors Detect More Asteroid Strikes Than Expected. “A network designed to detect nuclear test explosions has recorded more asteroid impacts over the past decade than expected, according to a group that’s working on an asteroid-hunting telescope. . . . ‘The fact that none of these asteroid impacts shown in the video was detected in advance is proof that the only thing preventing a catastrophe from a ‘city-killer’-sized asteroid is blind luck.'”