HEH: Appeals court openly skeptical, borderline derisive of Bloomberg’s big-soda ban.

MORE ON the coming IRS as healthcare enforcer nightmare: An audit AND a colonoscopy?!

CINCINNATI: Clear our city's name!

TWEETS ARE FOR TWITS: Barbara Mikulski halts NSA hearing to answer a Twitter critic.

ARMEGEDDON is back; just about on schedule. The wind picked up suddenly at about 3:45 pm, and the radio is in full panic mode. This time, the cats took notice as well -- they're outside, watching.

More as time progresses....

UPDATE, 8:10 PM EDT: Uh, never mind ... clear skies, no rain, gusty winds, maybe reaching 30 kts tops.

TINY SUBMARINE for planetary exploration. What's interesting is that by the time we may be able to use it, it may be able to be printed onboard the spacecraft.

MSNBC: George Wallace a ... Republican? He must have changed his voter registration posthumously. Democrats like to do that....

Best comment: "I keep waiting for the punchline that MSNBC is a prolonged April Fool's Day joke perpetrated by the Onion."

OH, MY GOODNESS: the diversity establishment has a diversity problem. Who'd have thunk it?

WHEN SURFING THE INTERNET, have you ever had that feeling that those medical pop-up ads are coming awfully close to home? Well, there may be a reason.

ROBOT HELPERS: technologies to improve quality of life. I hope they hurry.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. A one-word definition of arrogant narcissism: progressive.

We don't share your knowledge, your common sense, your culture, your beliefs ... but we know what's best for you. And since you choose not to voluntarily accept our benevolent guidance, we're going to shove it down your throat.

Any questions?

MARK STEYN: on the NSA surveillance programs: The gist, in one sentence: "It's okay if we do it."

NEWT GINGRICH: Are big scandals too hard to fix? Answer: Not if you have the balls to start firing (and prosecuting) the malefactors.

STOP BLAMING ‘ROGUE AGENTS’: The myth is debunked, and key IRS officials in D.C. are quietly retiring just in time.

Retirement should not be a barrier to persecution prosecution.

PEGGY NOONAN: The era of metadata. It's not the data. It never is. It's the people who can access the data, and over at least the last 4-1/2 years, the Obama administration has proven itself to be corrupt, venal, vindictive, ruthless and petty.

As has been commonly observed, a fish rots from the head, and President Obama has directly (possibly) or indirectly (certainly) given license to his minions throughout government to lie to, cheat, bully, and steal from the citizens of the United States.

E.J. DIONNE: “Why are there no libertarian countries?” Well, perhaps it's because

every country practices it to one extent or another. This is the reason we experience progress, enjoy wealth, and have access to things like longer lives, food to eat, cities, smartphones, financial markets, useful websites, shoes, clothes, and the like. It’s why we can mostly say what we want, fall in love and act on that, and do what we want in a general way provided we don’t hurt others.

Dionne would be well-advised to open his window and look around.

I'M NOT A TRAITOR. In his own mind, perhaps. But 'traitor' is defined by law, not opinion.

OMG! IT'S PANIC TIME. Drenching rain, hail, lightning, thunder, raging winds, floods, plagues of locusts cicadas .... Oh, wait, ... never mind.

That was the forecast for this morning. It hit at 9:13 am, with one thunderclap, 30 mph winds, and 217 raindrops on my back porch (I counted).

But that's okay ... the 'end of times' is due back this afternoon about 4 pm.

JEFF JACOBY: A conservative's case for confirming Samantha Power.

I'm still not convinced.

SMILE! You're probably on candid surveillance camera.

OBAMA'S POWER GRAB: The common thread running through his scandals is an abuse of power.

BIG LABOR unprepared to battle new right-to-work laws. That's because they're busy battling the ObamaCare they voted for.

MORNING EXAMINER: The Schumer-Rubio-Obamacare (immigration) tax on employing Americans. If this is true, and I have no doubt that it is, then it follows that the ObamaCare mandate will encourage even more hiring of illegal immigrants if the comprehensive immigration bill fails (which it will).

Much more here.

Can politicians spell 'u-n-i-n-t-e-n-d-e-d c-o-n-s-e-q-u-e-n-c-e-s'?

IN THE OBAMA ERA, it’s not whether you’re paranoid. It’s whether your paranoid enough. "I really do not want to start wearing a tinfoil hat, but it’s seemingly more stupid every day to do otherwise."

NOW THAT Tim Tebow has become a Patriot, he's being audited by the IRS....

EXACTLY WHAT I need for retirement.

Well, I don't really need it; I just want Obama to give me one since he took my job (and about 40 others, I've since learned).

AN ASTUTE OBSERVATION: "When you're carrying water for the President, everything looks like a bucket."

Any excuse in an emergency....