Airports

airport

From our Seattle Bureau–

Speaking of airport logic …if I freeze my liquids does that also deactivate their destructive nature? Liquids in excess of 3 oz. are banned but solids up to the size of a carryon bag are not….. 

What about jello? Is that a liquid or a solid? 

Also, I noticed in Palm Springs that if you have one of those little dogs that fit in your pocket, you don’t have to get x-rayed or zapped or anything. You get to go through a special gate and bypass all that. I was thinking about going into the puppy rental business. Rent them before security and collect them after… 

Also, old people (over 75) don’t have to take off their shoes. I don’t think this because old people are more trustworthy. I think they just couldn’t reach them and they were holding up the line. 12 year olds don’t have to take them off either but that could be a similar issue – they always had knots in their laces. 

Maybe I travel too much.

Indeed.

How many chiefs do they have?

(And will we run out of drones first?)

The CIA has opened the year with a flurry of drone strikes in Pakistan, pounding Taliban targets along the country’s tribal belt at a time when the Obama administration is preparing to disclose its plans for pulling most U.S. forces out of neighboring Afghanistan. 

A strike Thursday in North Waziristan was the seventh in 10 days, marking a major escalation in the pace of attacks. Drone attacks had slipped in frequency to fewer than one per week last year. 

Washington Post

It knows everything else though, so look out

What is “homeland security?” The federal bureaucracy doesn’t know…

Wired

But what about broccoli?

Facing low approval ratings after a historically unproductive 112th session and a series of last-minute showdowns over fiscal matters, Congress is now less popular than root canals, NFL replacement referees, head lice, the rock band Nickelback, colonoscopies, carnies, traffic jams, cockroaches, Donald Trump, France, Genghis Khan, used-car salesmen and Brussel sprouts.

Public Policy Polling (a PDF) 

Turns out…

…we have not just one but two spare Senators here in the Bay State.

Former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank amped up his push to be appointed interim senator Wednesday night, arguing that his experience made him uniquely qualified for the position.… 

“That’s why I volunteered,” he said. “And I did have people say, ‘Well, you’re not supposed to volunteer.’ And, frankly, my view is that’s kind of junior high school stuff. The difference between me and a number of other people who want to be the interim senator are I’ve said so publicly and the rest are being coy.” 

Roll Call

(Somehow the idea of a coy New Englander cracks me up.)

The trillion-dollar coin trick…

…everybody's talking about is a cute idea but my guess is if we all sent in the bowls, jars, and boxes of pennies we have lying around the house somewhere we have plenty of cash to run the country for another century or two.

Oh, and…

So let's mint The Coin out of platinum!Though objections there be, we may flatten 'em.There are ways besides cash'Round the Debt Ceiling clash,But there's nothing as clever as that in 'em.

…new to our Work Avoidance List, Limericks Économiques. 

And how about a tax on this article?

Should We Tax People for Being Annoying?

Wait. Payback? Can they do that?

Apparently they can:

The skill required to carry out attacks [on U.S. banks' computers] on this scale has convinced United States government officials and security researchers that they are the work of Iran, most likely in retaliation for economic sanctions and online attacks by the United States.

New York Times

Then again…

American officials have not offered any technical evidence to back up their claims, but …

Ahhhhhh. 

Nothing to worry about here – move along

Inserted into the Affordable Care Act at the request of pro-gun, NRA-backed Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), the Obamacare subsection titled “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights” makes it illegal for wellness and better-living programs to require “the disclosure or collection of any information relating to… the presence or storage of a lawfully-possessed firearm or ammunition in the residence or on the property of an individual; or… the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm or ammunition by an individual.” The provision also prohibits insurers from using a patient’s gun possession status in order to determine premium rates.

Think Progress

Nobody promised you forever

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A former beauty queen who was one of the highest-profile suspects in the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots has pleaded guilty.… 

Reports quickly identified her as the winner of Miss Congeniality at a Vancouver beauty pageant.

Salon

Can you spell "chutzpah"?

(Reuters) - American International Group Inc (AIG.N), the insurer rescued by the U.S. government in 2008 with a bailout that ultimately totalled $182 billion, may now join a lawsuit against the government alleging the terms of the deal were unfair, the company said on Tuesday.

Reuters

Dude. Really?

There's that

Sam Smith - It's only a hunch, but it looks like Chuck Hagel's first assignment may be to run interference for John Brennan. The Hagels of the world come and go, but really good hit men are hard to come by. If Hagel gets blown out of the water by the right, he will have still served the noble assignment of keeping liberals from noticing what a rotten guy Obama has named for the CIA.

UNDERNEWS

It's 9 AM. Do you know where your wallet is?

The Obama administration spent nearly $18 billion on immigration enforcement last year, significantly more than its spending on all the other major federal law enforcement agencies combined, according to a report published Monday by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.

New York Times

So what's on the menu then?

Thirteen Safe Bets for 2013

The Obama administration will sell out the environment, reaching a “compromise” to allow fracking and tar sands projects to continue. This is akin to reaching a compromise with your assassin, asking him to put off your murder until after lunch.

Stems  

iPhone abstract: Phil Compton

Oh go ahead, tell us what you really think

The worst show of its generation, a mash-up of radical left, anti-religious values and High School Musical aesthetics, Glee has used its bubbly pop persona to cram down its shockingly perverse morality.

Ben Shapiro in National Review Online