FOX BUSINESS: Learn from your tax filing mistakes.

I'm amused by the 'start early' advice: "If you thrive on the adrenaline rush of filing your taxes at 11:59 pm on April 15th, we suggest finding a less risky method of getting your kicks." Since I plan on always owing money, the adrelaline rush of filing at 11:59 pm comes from knowing that I've kept the final payment from that den of thieves until the very last instant.

One thing: the IRS 'credits and deductions' website is always worth a visit. Over the years I've used every one of the "poor man's loopholes" I could legitimately take; this year I'll add the 14 cents/mile in service of charitable organizations deduction, which I haven't had the opportunity to use in years.

BALTIMORE: parental guidance suggested. Strongly suggested. And here's the parent. She deserves 'Mother of the Year' and that's one very lucky kid.

WHERE'S THAT MEMORY HOLE WHEN YOU NEED IT? A global cooling reminder.

A LOT OF FOLKS can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in our country.

Well, there's a very simple answer. Nobody bothered to check the oil. We just didn't know we were getting low. The reason for that is purely geographical.

Our oil is located in Alaska, California, coastal Florida, coastal Louisiana, coastal Alabama, coastal Mississippi, Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.

Our dipstick is located in the White House.

Any questions?

FROM THE IEEE: Five technologies that should be extinct, but aren’t. Buggy whips are not among them....

MONEY TALKS, but ice cream sings.

One day I had lunch with some old friends. Jim, a short, balding golfer type, about 85-years old, came along with them; all in all, it was a pleasant bunch.

When the menus were presented, my friends and I ordered salads, sandwiches, and soups, except for Jim who said, "A large piece of home-made apple pie, heated please."

I wasn't sure my ears heard him right, and the others were aghast, when Jim continued, completely unabashed, "along with two large scoops of vanilla ice cream."

We tried to act quite nonchalant, as if people did this all the time, but when our orders were brought out, I didn't enjoy eating mine.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Jim as I watched him savoring each bite of his pie a-la-mode. The other guys just grinned in disbelief as they silently ate their lunches.

The next time I went out to eat, I called Jim and invited him to join me. I lunched on a white meat tuna sandwich, while he ordered a chocolate parfait. Since I was chuckling, he wanted to know if he amused me.

I answered, "Yes, you certainly do, but you also confuse me. How come you always order such rich desserts, while I feel like I must be sensible in my food choices?"

He laughed and said "I'm tasting all that is possible for me to taste. I try to eat the food I need and do the things I should in order to stay healthy, but life's too short, my friend. I hate missing out on something good. This year I realized how old I was. (He grinned.) I've never been this old before, so, while I'm still here, I've decided it's time to try all those things that, for years, I've been ignoring."

He continued, "I haven't smelled all the flowers yet. There are too many trout streams I haven't fished. There's more fudge sundaes to wolf down and kites to be flown overhead.

"There are too many golf courses I haven't played. I've not laughed at all the jokes.
I've missed a lot of sporting events and potato chips and cokes."

"I want to wade again in water and feel ocean spray on my face. I want to sit in a country church once more and thank God for His grace."

"I want peanut butter every day spread on my morning toast. I want un-timed long distance calls to the one I love the most."

"I haven't cried at all the movies yet, or walked in the morning rain. I need to feel wind on my face. I want to be in love again."

"So, if I choose to have dessert, instead of having dinner, then should I die before night fall, I'd say I died a winner, because I missed out on nothing. I filled my heart's desire. I had that final piece of pie before my life expired."

With that, I called the waitress over. "I've changed my mind, " I said. "I want what he's having, only add some more whipped cream!"

This is my gift to you - We need an annual Friends Day! If you get this twice, then you have more than one friend. Live well, love much, & laugh often. Be happy and enjoy doing whatever your heart desires. You only go around once on this crazy planet.

For Resan.

SOGGY COMPUTING: Liquid devices might match the brain's efficiency.

Just be aware that 'efficient' and 'intelligent' are not synonyms....

YA THINK? Appearance of propriety continues to elude the Clintons.

JEFF JACOBY on Politicians, 'Profiteers,' And Public Health. Yes, never let a 'crisis' go to waste ... especially when there's a chance to score political points by posing as a defender of the public against the very suppliers who are making available what the public needs.

THIS MAINSTREAM MEDIA 'news' rag can't tell the truth, but its readers can.

IEEE SPECTRUM: How much did early transistors cost? I was a junior engineering major when discrete transistors were first introduced to the undergraduate electrical engineering curriculum and a Master's degree candidate a few years later when integrated circuits were introduced to the graduate curriculum; the change -- to me at least -- over a mere 50 years is stunning when I think about it.

But then the Wright brothers first flew on December 17, 1903; the Boeing 707 made its first jet-powered flight 50 years later on July 15, 1954; and I took my first commercial jet flight 8 years later in January of 1963.

Equally stunning when I think about that as well....

AVIATION WEEK: Habitats could be NASA’s next commercial spacecraft buy. I was interested to see (in the comments) Nautilus-X being discussed again. I posted on the Nautilus-X concept a few years back; unfortunately the PowerPoint presentation has succumbed to link rot.

TO WHOM? Certainly not to me. Climate deal failure would be a 'big blow'.

THE SCOREKEEPER: "The 2014-2015 Riots Across America tour continues.

HILLARY: all about transparency. And protecting entitlement programs.

NOT EXACTLY THE BLUE ANGELS: Five Airbus A350's fly in formation.

SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT TRACKING suggests Baltimore and Ferguson were targeted by 'protest professionals' (read as violent thugs).

Jesus Christ, is this a surprise? This has been obvious to anyone with a a smattering of common sense and an IQ above room temperature (Centigrade) since well before the Occupy movement.

CONSERVATIVES, unleash the awesome power of “No.” Actually, I prefer the statement "You confuse me with someone who gives a shit" to a simple "No".

Linked from Instapundit.

KAZAKHSTAN RULER, lauded by Bill Clinton for democratic and human rights gains, wins re-election -- with 98 percent of vote. Obviously the Clintons have found their 'safe house'.

INSTAPUNDIT: "[Elizabeth] Warren will run, and her platform will be indistinguishable from Obama III." I fervently hope he's wrong.

THE LIMITS OF LIBERALISM: (1) Our property is my property; my property is my property. And (2) You are free to do whatever you wish somewhere else.

SORRY, it's been taken (by Obama).

FLEEING HILLARY: Top Democrat money man departs because Clinton hasn’t answered ethics questions. I'm surprised; it appears that there is at least one honest Democrat.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES, another Hillary edition is up. As usual, my favorite:

But the answer to "Are you drunk?" is a close second....

BALTIMORE 2015: The world Barack Obama and Eric Holder have made. “You voted for it, America. And now you’re going to get it, good and hard.”

AMMO GRRRLL'S ROAD TRIP: Weather.

Enjoy.

THEY'VE GOT SUICIDE DRONES. So do we. Ours aren't alive....

EARTH DAY UPDATE: President Obama emitted 5 times the carbon in a day that most of us do in a year - to make a speech on climate change.

ISN'T THAT TRUE of all the precious little progressive snowflakes? "... a woman who became famous for carrying a mattress around campus isn’t the picture of mental health."

LOCKHEED MARTIN doing well in 2015. As the colleague who sent this to me wrote, it "looks like pensions [are] safe for another year."

THE CALIFORNIA WATER APOCALYPSE is a cautionary tale of environmentalist-induced disaster. Minnesotans should be ready for an influx of California refugees....

DONATIONS TO THE CLINTON FOUNDATION weren't bribes, they were royal tribute.

BECAUSE MARIJUANA: Colorado businessman moves his company to South Carolina. Non-union; non-marijuana.

YA THINK? ObamaCare sharply divides Americans. It's time to ditch ObamaCare and start over, 'fixing' only the specific health care issues for which there is a bipartisan agreement that there is a problem that only federal government action can resolve.

GO AWAY, THEY EXPLAINED. Union looking to organize Boeing production workers cancel election after workers chase union bullies organizers off their porches at gunpoint.

Heh.

JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT HUMAN DOESN'T MEAN THEY DON'T HAVE HUMAN RIGHTS: A novel argument for keeping progressives out of mental institutions. Where by all rights they should be, since they're obviously, certifiably, no-doubt-about-it-whatsoever, looney tunes.

GRANDMOTHER: "You back off, or I'll blow your head off."

Proper gun control.

INSTAPUNDIT: "Maybe Republicans object to taxes because they actually pay them, and Democrats don’t mind taxes because, well, they don’t." Best explanation I've ever seen for Democrat 'tax & spend' policies....

HE'S NOT ALREADY? Does Obama want to be the pot president?

His legacy.

LEADERS OF THE FREE WORLD: Feeling warm and fuzzy yet?

From my email (naturally).

HEH: Dana Perino on Harry Reid.

AND FINALLY, Happy Earth Day, hypocrisy edition.

EARTH DAY, when Earth-firsters mourn the loss of the planet: "Environmentalism is a faith without joy, a religion lacking hope of redemption."

MY GOODNESS, now I'm anti-climate. It mustn't be long now till I'll be declared 'anti-weather'. The comments are great (which is why I linked). I have only begun to read them all, but my tentative favorite is this: "Jonathan Chait. Putting the "twit" in Twitter."

JEFF JACOBY: Death or life for Tsarnaev? Frankly my preference is for life without parole, simply because I think the death penalty is too light a sentence.

WHAT'S EATING OUR GALAXIES? Mysterious 'supervoid' in space is missing around 10,000 galaxies.

It's only about 3 billion light years away so we needn't worry just yet.

EMBOLDENED GREEN GROUPS bullish on 2016. No, they're not. They're scared shitless.

FUNNY, ISN'T IT, that tax scofflaws always seem to be of the liberal persuasion?

COSMIC FART: Europe's Rosetta probe has caught its comet quarry in the act of producing a huge jet of gas and dust.

IN HONOR OF EARTH DAY, last week I pulled out my fossil-fuel powered chain saw and destroyed some native habitat in order to assure an adequate supply of fuel for my wood-burning stove to use while it emits copious amounts of evil particulate matter into the pristine atmosphere next winter.

This morning, I drove my 13-mpg fossil-fuel powered pickup truck to the environmentally insensitive hardware store to buy a couple of hundred pounds of non-organic, native-vegetation-killing fertilizer to spread over my lawn and be washed down river to foul the Chesapeake bay watershed in order to force the non-native vegetation to grow high enough so that I can use my fossil-fuel powered lawn tractor to cut it back to an even height.

Next week I plan to continue honoring the planet by continue my destruction of native vegetation until I have a sufficient supply to bring in some more fossil-fuel powered equipment to further transform the native vegetation into pre-fossil fuel usable by my wood stove.

Then I will rest....

HAS WHITE PRIVILEGE gone extraterrestrial? New images of Ceres show more mysterious white spots.

MORE EARTH DAY: "I’ll believe it’s a crisis when the people who keep telling me it’s a crisis start acting like it’s a crisis."

DRONE PHOTOS of some of the most beautiful places on Earth. Idiots environmentalists may disagree, but these are also part of Earth.

IT'S EARTH DAY! Fuel up Air Farce Force One.

SYMBOLS: The Democrat jackass donkey is really a unicorn.

A NOVEL APPROACH to improving government efficiency....

THANKS, LIBERALS! Gun rights top gun control in major public opinion shift.

KURT SCHLICHTER: Sexy Conservatives will out-breed barren Liberals.

[A]s far as liberal men go, well, just look at them. It’s hard muster raw sexual energy when you think foreplay consists of sobbing to your life partner about how you can’t bear the weight of your undeserved phallocentic privilege.

Now that is what is known as 'punching back twice as hard'.

ANOTHER 'WIN' FOR THE FORCES OF DARKNESS? Hawaii telescope builders again extend construction timeout.

HUGH HEWETT: Where the West begins. Where dependence ends...

FCC'S NET NEUTRALITY RULES open door to new fee on internet service. And you thought 'net neutrality' was just about 'neutrality'?

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: New voices on the conservative scene. The times, they are a-changin'. For the better, I hope.

FINALLY: a clear explanation of why the Left loves the death tax.

The Left loves the death tax not because it’s good policy, but because they want to stick it to both capitalism and perceived capitalists.

Translation: They hate success and the successful; they want everyone to be as impoverished, morally and financially, as they.

Read the whole thing.

YOU HAVE TO ASK: Where did the 'we are not complete loons' party go?

TO BE PRESIDENT? What does Carly Fiorina really want?

HOW LONG UNTIL INDIVIDUAL SAMPLING? Smart sewers will reveal what’s in Cambridge citizens' guts.

PAYBACK'S A BITCH: If the President can ignore the law, so should I....

It's called 'punching back twice as hard'.

SHOWDOWN WITH IRAN? US aircraft carrier sent to block Iranian shipments to Yemen. Has the President finally found his balls? Or is this just another red line (in the sea rather than in the desert)?

POPULAR SCIENCE: Where to achieve radio silence. I'm reminded of Robert A. Heinlein's Red Planet (1949), where one of the major characters always wore 'lead underwear' because of a concern with health effects of low-level radiation. Was he prescient?

MICHAEL BARONE: Was 2007 a flexion point, when everything started going downhill? Keep this in mind: the Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006 and the Presidency in 2008; until 2014 they held at least one house of Congress and the Presidency; and until 2016 they will continue to hold the Presidency.

Do you see any pattern there?

INSTAPUNDIT: "the real point of immigration is to bring in a generation of docile Democratic voters." Yes.

THE NEW PRO-LIFE LITMUS TEST: ban abortion after 20 weeks.

I know this is a big issue for social conservatives, but if I were a Republican presidential candate, my message would be for them to calm down, quiet down, quit goading the Liberals. The increasing use of modern technology (the ultrasound) has already won the debate for them.

Now it's time for social conservatives to move on to something equally important -- encouraging adoption. Adoption agencies, particularly those who are religiously-oriented, are in need of their help.

AS IF WE DIDN'T ALREADY KNOW: Gyrocopter stunt shows government incompetence.

Read it all.

AVIATION WEEK: Close, very close, but no cigar.

A VARIATION ON THE 'FEATURE, NOT A BUG' PRINCIPLE: Philadelphia VA official promoted just hours after Inspector General said his department manipulated data.

NASA’S DAWN SPACECRAFT sends back stunning new picture of Ceres after a month on the dark side. (Of Ceres, not the force.)

A MODEST PROPOSAL: A better health insurance exchange model for the private and public sectors. Hint: it's not government funded, operated, or controlled.

NASA’S MULTI-UTILITY TECHNOLOGY TESTBED (MUTT) drone looks like an airplane crossed with a stingray, and will test how 'wobbly parts' (i.e., flexible wings) work on aircraft.

It looks 'mean enough' that we should arm it and send it out to hunt terrorists....

DEMOCRATS' FREE SPEECH LAWFARE: Hillary PAC harasses activist for campaign parody.

Free speech for me, not for thee.

MICHAEL RAMIREZ: Obama rises to his level of (in)competence.

REALITY MAY BE OPTIONAL: Just not in the progressive 'reality' world.

NEW YORK TIMES: all the hypocrisy that's fit to print.

THE PROGRESSIVE APPROACH TO PROBLEMS: Political correctness + ignorance + crony capitalism = 'solution'.

A REMINDER that Hillary Clinton is behind the times:

People all over the country are reminding each other, this Hillary Scooby-Doo Tour thing sure looks familiar. We're flattered the liberals think the idea is really keen!

[I]t's also pretty keen to thank the democrats for taking a page out of our playbook, and also to share the picturesque, sincere, no-media "One Nation" RV trek of ours a few years ago.

From way up North in the natural resource-rich state of Alaska down to the inspirational, loud and patriotic Rolling Thunder Rally in DC to a calm clambake on a cool New Hampshire night, it was a blast to introduce American people and places to folks who crave the reminders of what makes our nation exceptional and free!

This was from my email, but National Review also took notice.

SHOE on my kind of diet.

CLIMATE SCIENCE: "a ghetto that is the scientific equivalent of gender studies..."

If you are a talented graduate, bursting with intellectual potential, would you like to work in an intolerant field of research, where new ideas are punished by name calling, ostracism and financial hardship, or would you prefer to apply your talents to a field where new ideas are welcome, and innovation is rewarded?

I think the converse is also true: if you're a second-rater, wouldn't you prefer a field where there's less competition from the first-raters?

A REASON FOR SOME OPTIMISM: The odds against a presidential three-peat.

GIVING IN? Obama suggests possible compromise on Iran sanctions.

What's next? Giving 'em a few nukes from our own inventory?

ANOTHER HILLARY BUMPER STICKER:

TODAY I'M YOUNGER than I was last week....

FIRST OBAMACARE, now this....

JUST TRYIN' TO FIT IN: Navistar pickup hides military secrets.

CHRIS CHRISTIE wants to find “the right balance” on gun control. The "right balance" on gun control is that I control my own weapons.

AL GORE: "Let them have solar panels." And carbon credits....

LET'S WORK TOGETHER to grant this dying grandfather his last wish.

POWERLINE: cleaning up a coal myth.

DELUSIONAL NONENTITY totally serious about presidential run. Oh, wait....

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is up. This time it's the Democrat primary edition. My favorite by far:

It lacks only the exclamation point.

JOBS, AND 'JOBS': 'Jobs' belong in the 'reality' world; jobs are part of the real world. Follow the link to the full post.

WHAT OBAMA doesn't understand....

CLICKBAIT WEBSITE BOING BOING tweets silly cat joke.

And you won't believe what happens next....

The progressive idiot Left trashes Boing Boing for being transphobic.

Boing Boing apologizes to the idiot Left and trashes those who defend them...

And Rusty laughs (as he identifies as a King of Beasts, which I guess isn't transphobic).

FIRST YOU HAVE TO HAVE ONE: Reid relieved he didn't suffer brain damage in 'freak accident'.

SEVEN REASONS to hate 'free-range' parenting. All misguided, bad, or outright wrong.

SO WHAT'S NEW? The New York Times goes know-nothing on immigration.

They've gotta, you know, keep the price down on maids and gardeners.

HERE'S A MATH PROBLEM that's been stumping the internet.

When you're finished beating your head against the wall, the solution (I believe) is here. But if you don't like this one, look through the comments; there are several more to choose from.

DESPITE OBAMACARE GOALS, buying health insurance remains confusing. That's not a bug, that's a feature. The whole purpose of ObamaCare was (and is) to make it so complex that only health care 'professionals' can understand and administer (e.g., control) it.

BUT IT'S ONLY $70,000: MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry doesn’t like tax cuts ... or paying taxes.

AMMO GRRRLL describes her travels through the real-people world. Part I, which I missed, much to my chagrin, is here.

DEMOCRATS: the party of times past. Say, 19th century....

ANOTHER USE for Hillary's campaign logo.

It is, after all, the Astroturf Party.

IF YOU HAVE A BRAIN and know anything about the global warming controversy, you are a skeptic. Which explains why climate alarmists are brainless....

PSALM 23 UPDATED: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Spot is with me....



For our soldiers. Soon, I hope.

MOST PEOPLE IN PUBLIC LIFE feel a need at least to keep up the appearance of humility -- but not the Clintons.

FULL SPEED AHEAD. Three cheers for Arizona PD’s ‘front-bumper takedown’ of crime spree suspect.

We're not gonna take this sh*t any more....

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Why is Hillary even running?

Answer: so that Chelsea can become the next President in 2024....

INSTAPUNDIT on Jeff Jacoby's 'Armenian genocide' post: "The way you stop a genocide is, you kill the genocidaires until they not only give up, but shrink from the very thought."

HOW TO KEEP YOUR JOB DURING A RECESSION: live in a state with a stable -- and probably Republican -- government.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS build 3,421 mpg car. It's a good (i.e., positive) news item, but what I enjoy most about these Fox News stories is the comment snark from the "don't think/can't do" liberals.

I would wonder if the same is true in the comments on MSNBC's web page, but there's nothing ever there worth reading in the first place.

PEGGY NOONAN:

Hillary Clinton’s announcement followed by her dark-windowed SUV journey into deepest darkest America was the most inept, phony, shallow, slickily-slick and meaningless launch of a presidential candidacy I have ever seen.

And that's only the beginning; read the rest.

EXCESSIVE FORCE? Arizona cop stops armed perp by hitting him with his squad car.

Not unless the squad car was too damaged to return to service....

KEEPING UP with the Kardashians “Hill-dashian”.

THE CLINTON FLORIST SHOP REOPENS: The Return of Hillary’s Plants.

HARRY REID COMPLAINS: John McCain threatened to ‘kick the s***’ out of me. Too bad he didn't carry through....

SAD: Congress ... giving the President its lunch money. Read the comments as well.

FOR BETTER OR WORSE, meet eco-modernism, the new face of 21st century environmentalism.

I'VE GOT MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO: Oregon sheriff says proposed gun background-check law won't be enforced.

We need more people punching back like this.

SUSTAINABILITY STUDIES: A new college fad with fangs. Identity Studies has almost ruined the college experience. Will this be the coffin nail?

SMOKIN' DOPE:

The day after Obama removes Cuba from the terror sponsor list, the terror group FARC sponsored by Cuba kills ten.

SELF DEBUNKING: ‘No way there’s a pro-Hillary media bias...’

YOUR MONEY, NOT OUR MONEY: The First Amendment belongs to us, not you right-wing hatemongers.

ON JACKIE ROBINSON DAY, let’s remember when he was fired from the New York Post for being too Republican. In response to his firing (1960), Robinson wrote this:

No one will ever convince me that the Post acted in an honest manner. I believe the simple truth is that they became somewhat alarmed when they realized that I really meant to write what I believed. There is a peculiar parallel between some of our great Northern "liberals" and some of our outstanding Southern liberals.

Some of the people in both classes share the deep-seated convictions that only their convictions can possibly be the right ones. They both inevitably say the same thing: "We know the Negro and what is best for him."

He was right then, and still right today.

'BIG BLUE' is killing upstate New York. I'd be more than happy to let the 'big blue' cities destroy themselves, except for the fact that they could take the rest of us with them.

JACK DUNPHY: Why I’m Not Convinced Michael Slager Is a Cold-Blooded Killer. "Unlike many people you have heard opine on the Walter Scott shooting, I have been in Slager’s shoes."

HAH! A juxtaposition worthy of Drudge.

GUN-GRABBERS fail at attempt to stop Wal-Mart from selling firearms.

They should have let the proposal go to the shareholders for a vote -- it would have been shot down in flames (pun intended) instantly. I vote in stockholder elections all the time and I've never seen one of these silly shareholder proposals go anywhere beyond the shareholder's individual ego.

FROM PRO TO CON: from now on, it's Nerf football time.

STOP WORRYING, your electric car will have plenty of range. Unless you want to go that 'one more mile'. Or don't care about resale value of an automobile with a dying (and expensive)battery.

EVERYDAY IOWAN gets to see Hillary. (Hillarious - pun intended)

EXPERIMENTS TO SHOW if robocar technology will make us too lazy to drive safely. Of course it will, just as seat belts and air bags have increased the frequency, if not the severity, of accidents.

JEFF JACOBY: The Armenian genocide was also a jihad.

A history lesson. And those who fail to heed it (President Obama, you are warned) will be condemned to repeat it.

WELL, MAYBE: Crowdsourcing smartphone GPS could improve earthquake warnings.

GOOD LORD, there's even a federal definition of 'healthy' food.

Another federal agency that desperately needs to have its budget slashed.

NEW HORIZONS sends back its first color image of Pluto and Charon. Still tiny, but getting bigger (at 31,000 mph) by the day.

TED CRUZ:

I don't think it's any coincidence that the month of April begins with April Fools Day, and then two weeks later Tax Day comes.

April Fools Day is the day we all try to fool each other. And Tax Day is the day the government tries to fool all of us into thinking we're getting a good bang for our buck.

From a campaign email (of course).

EVERYDAY IOWAN gets to see Hillary. (Hillarious - pun intended)

IT'S TAX DAY!



Enjoy....

HILLARY CLINTON represents everything Democrats say they oppose. Well, yes, but only because they oppose it for everyone else, not themselves.

SEATTLE BOSS raises entire company's minimum wage to $70,000. I wish him well, but if I worked there, I'd be starting my job search for new employment....

UNANIMOUS: Senate panel passes Iran bill giving Congress a say on nuclear deal. President Obama, bowing to political pressure, agreed to sign legislation giving Congress the right to reject any nuclear agreement with Iran caves.

THE VOLOKH CONSPIRACY: How the IRS repeatedly rewrites ObamaCare tax credit provisions.

Yes, why bother with Congress and the 'will of the people' and all that other crazy stuff when all you need is a pencil?

PUNCHING BACK: 'Free-Range' Parents Will Sue CPS for Grabbing Their Kids.

Good for them.

SPACEX LANDING ATTEMPT: Close, but no cigar.

JEEZ, LOUISE, SENATOR ALAN GRAYSON? Rubio Senate retirement catches both parties unprepared.

NEVER ATTRIBUTE TO MALICE THAT WHICH CAN BE EXPLAINED BY MERE STUPIDITY: The Willful Ignorance of Dana Milbank.

FOX NEWS' BRET BAIER interviews Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Here's how Abdullah compares with our President:

SORT OF RELATED:

Obscure former NY senator announces surprise bid for presidency.

Hillary went unrecognized at an Ohio Chipotle.

Not a good omen.

HILLARY! Are Democrats having buyer's remorse?

SEEING THE LIGHT: Safety official calls for revamp of pilot training to include more hand flying. To view the whole article go here and select the WSJ link.

EXCELLENT ADVICE: "Draw sabers and charge."

IT’S NOT RED STATE VS BLUE STATE. It’s city vs country.

RELATED: Maybe 'one man, one vote' isn't the best way.

MICHAEL BARONE: A very fluid race for the Republican nomination. I know I'm still watching a number of candidates and potential candidates.

ADDED: Rubio came off well tonight.

POWERLINE checks out Hillary's new logo: Hillarious.

BEST IDEA YET: Bake your own damn cake.

Mallard Fillmore gets it.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

TECHNOLOGY: Dianne Feinstein's Quixotic suggestion to 'scrub' the internet.

What worries me is not Feinstein's suggestion; it's utter nonsense. What worries me is the Democrats' unwavering belief in their 'reality world' bubble: that if they declare something to be so it will be so, with no unintended consequences.

WHY HILLARY CLINTON'S campaign will be a trainwreck. With luck the trainwreck will occur on the path to the Democrat nomination; but we probably won't be that lucky.

THE ONLY RACISTS LEFT ARE PROGRESSIVES: Race relations in America have never been better.

OBAMA TACKLES THE HARD STUFF: No, not Iran -- transgender bathrooms in the White House.

In the Oval Office?

POWERLINE ON HILLARY: "My guess is that 19 months from now, the thought of having to listen to Mrs. Clinton for another four years will make most people shudder."

I've already reached that point.

HEH: Hillary campaign posters are popping up all over. Must be those Hillary 'Super Volunteers' at work.

WEATHER could delay today’s SpaceX launch.

WELL, BAD PRESS IS BETTER THAN NO PRESS: "So, basically, my butt refuted the New York Times."

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: Start-Up NY program spends $28 million, creates a total of ... 76 new jobs. From the linked New York Post article: "Touting this as 'economic development' is like saying you’re going to fight hunger in India by sending Mumbai one box of Minute Rice."

ARE PEOPLE getting more health care because of ObamaCare? No, it's just costing more. The 'bright side' is that they're not getting less health care, or worse health care, both of which I expected.

ANDREW KLAVAN: Obama's clown-car diplomacy.



Obama's subtly subtle nuanced nuance.

HEATHER MACDONALD: Practical thoughts on immigration. Deterrence via deportation.

REPUBLICAN RALLYING CRY: "Oh, Hill, No! No, no, no, nooo..."

OBAMA: partisanship wrangling over Iran nuclear deal 'needs to stop'. I agree; but my interpretation of 'needs to stop' is just a wee bit different from his.

Mine is realistic.

IF OBAMACARE CONTINUES, this should become a big seller.

LIKE A MOTH TO A FLAME ... Rev. Al Sharpton expected to make visit to North Charleston. Where he's not wanted.

WEEKLY REPUBLICAN ADDRESS: stopping tax abuse.



For Democrats, tax abuse isn't a bug, it's a feature.

IT'S ALL THEY KNOW: The Alinsky way of governing. It's behind a paywall, but you should be able to find the complete article by going to Google here (click on WSJ link).

IT'S NOT ABOUT HEALTH, it's about protecting his gay supporters.

MEET THE largest aircraft on earth.

What's interesting about this is that the vehicle shown is a prototype for a much larger concept vehicle I worked on just before I retired. Had that vehicle ever been built, it could have easily landed directly on top of a two-story house with plenty of ground clearance beneath it.

MAYBE 'ONE MAN, ONE VOTE' isn't the best way.

THE SCOREKEEPER: Oakland raises its own unemployment. Best comment:

Fascists don't like small business because they are too independent. The like big businesses because [they] ... are easily threatened into submission.

It's about control; it's always about control.

I'M A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT, but PowerLine's Week in Pictures is up. As usual, the choice of a favorite was hard, but here it is:

insert Hillary

Making it into a campaign bumper sticker should be easy.

IF YOU LIKE BIASED BULLSH*T, you'll love this piece on modern Southern racism.

Clearly the author needs to get out of his Manhattan-DC bubble for a while....

DOES INDIANA signal the end of liberalism?

My 'extreme' view is that it is time to get rid of affirmative action and discrimination laws in all forms and let the marketplace decide. If a Christian baker doesn't want to cater a gay wedding, let him. Similarly for a Muslim baker who doesn't want to cater a Jewish wedding. Or if I don't want to rent out my basement to a progressive activist, I should have that right.

The precious progressive little snowflakes need to learn that their world of unicorns-and-rainbows doesn't really exist, nor will it ever exist. Moreover they need to be warned that sometimes you do get what you demand:

TownHall columnist Mike Adams agrees.

AMERICAN SNIPER CENSORSHIP at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. But look what else they're watching.

Frankly I thought that this progressive idiocy couldn't exist at a well-know engineering school, but clearly the rot is spreading throughout academia.

APRIL 15TH APPROACHES: time for ObviousMan.

Courtesy of Non Sequitur.

CALIFORNIA officially bans hunters from using lead bullets. There. Fixed.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: Rand Paul unmasks the media on abortion.

THE NO-NONSENSE GOP presidential primary ranking. A very interesting analysis.

SPACEX WILL ATTEMPT another launch and (potentially historic) landing of its Falcon 9 rocket onto a platform floating offshore in the Atlantic. The launch is scheduled for 4:33 pm on Monday, weather permitting, and can be viewed real-time at the link above.

HILLARY CLINTON announces a 'listening tour' to find out why she's running for President.

PUNCHING BACK TWICE AS HARD: Rand Paul unmasks the media on abortion.

THINKING BIG: Log cabin stolen off its foundation.

THE SCOREKEEPER: Indians [known by the politically correct term 'Native Americans'] have reservations about gay marriage. From the comments:

Liberals for years have portrayed Indians as being holier than we and at-one with nature. Indians are saying gay marriage ain't natural.

Mother Nature insists on a father....

OF COURSE: President known to enjoy smoking cites ‘climate change’ as possible cause of daughter’s asthma attack. Don't you know Obama is always blameless ?

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Is the modern American university a failed state?

Yes. Next question?

FROM MY EMAIL, A DEFINITION: Political Correctness is a doctrine, recently fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and promoted by a sick mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end.

Handle (progressives) with kid latex gloves.

BLACK CONSERVATIVE LEADERS discuss how the NRA was created to protect freed slaves.



The NRA is on your side, folks.

LOCKDOWN LIFTED: US Capitol Building reopens after shooting suicide on western steps. We miss all the 'good stuff'; instead of going down to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms, we went for a hike through the Manassas battlefield instead.

OUTGOING ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER has a message for Department of Justice employees: Please stop banging prostitutes.

Translation: Only I have the discretion to choose which laws to ignore....

ENJOY: Californians may drink more toilet water in 2015.

NEW YORK TIMES’ EDITORIAL on the NRA convention was as accurate as you’d expect: not just wrong; it was idiotic.

SPACE TECHNOLOGY: NASA's low density flying saucer decelerator for Mars landings.

AND THEY CALL REPUBLICANS ANTI-SCIENCE: Protest against Thirty Meter Telescope spreading worldwide.

HA! DANA PERINO ON DATING IN DC: Pajama boy[s] in Joseph A. Banks.

WHAT IT MEANS to be an environmentalist....

AN ENGLISH LESSON ON GRAMMAR:

On his 70th birthday, a man was given a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate was for consultation with an Indian medicine man (on a nearby reservation) who was rumored to have a simple cure for erectile dysfunction. The husband went to the reservation and saw the medicine man.

The old Indian gave him a potion and, with a grip on his shoulder, warned ‘This is a powerful medicine. You take only a teaspoonful, and then say: ‘1-2-3.' When you do, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life, and you can perform for as long as you want."

The man thanked the old Indian, and as he walked away, he turned and asked: “How do I stop the medicine from working?" "Your partner must say ‘1-2-3-4,' he responded, "but when she does, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon."

He was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, took the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom. When she came in, he took off his clothes and said: "1-2-3!" Immediately, he was the manliest of men.

His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes, and asked: "What was the 1-2-3 for?"

And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition, because we could end up with a dangling participle.

From my email (obviously).

DESPITE A TERRIBLE LOSS, this family responds with grace and dignity: Walter Scott’s family asks Al Sharpton to keep his ‘circus’ away from the funeral.

SCIENTISTS SEEK source of giant methane mass over Southwest.

Have they tried Google?

NO SURPRISE: Reporting actual facts destroys 'The Narrative'.

INSTAPUNDIT: A "sort of metaphor for the Obama presidency." Heh.

SCOREKEEPER: Why did the Texas DMV reject the vanity license plate 370H55V (#9)?

Back in my day, I remember seeing a car enter the Pearl Harbor Naval Base with the vanity license 'NAVSUX'.

OBAMA DEAL with Iran in trouble.
Could that be because Iran has already explicitly told the world it won't accept it?

THEY WILL: If robotic "nanny cars" lull us into complacence, things could turn ugly fast. Look what robotic airplanes (e.g., autopilots) have done to commercial pilots' flying skills....

UPDATE &BUMP): Instapuntit confirms.

IT'S ABOUT THREATS. AND CONTROL: School district releases sensitive student data and parent ‘cooperativeness’ ratings.

Will the parents punch back? Stay tuned.

ANOTHER GOVERNOR TROLLS FOR DOLLARS: And wins. In my state. That's two in a row. Dang.

RAND PAUL'S 'War on Washington' is the fight America needs.

Paul/Fiorina for President? Or Cruz/Fiorina? Or either ticket in reverse, which would be my choice?

INNOVATION: Drones are turning into flying billboards. Next step: Burma Shave. (And if it pans out, I want full credit.)

OBAMA'S WORLD: the State of Fiasco.

FEMINISTS CLAIM TO CARE ABOUT EQUALITY. They’re lying.

ON CLIMATE CHANGE, Obama fights public opinion.

No, he's not fighting public opinion; he's fighting for the moron vote.

What's disturbing is that the moron vote is large enough that in order to win, a Republican candidate is going to have to bring a few to the polls as well. Educating them has proven to be a non-starter; that 'reality world' bubble is thick indeed.

CARLY FIORINA: Government is a hammer looking for a nail.

If we want a woman President, this is the woman.

APPOMATTOX: Today marks the sesquicentennial of a most remarkable and pivotal event in American history: Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

It is a demarcation point in the American timeline. Before April 9, 1865, America was a country that had slaves. After that date, it did not.

This 150th anniversary comes, however, with little fanfare, which is odd considering we now have our first black president. There should be joy. There should be celebration. Instead President Obama pays no attention to the sacrifices that made his presidency possible because he cannot use the event to divide the American people along the color line, Indeed, Appomattox undermines his narrative of inherent white bigotry for in the Civil War, as Jesus died to make men holy, white men died to make men free.

That is a truth Obama and the Left do not wish to acknowledge.

Read the rest.

SUPPORT THE 'Assault Firearm Elimination and Education of our Streets Act', newly introduced in Congress. Turn in your weapon, get a $2000 tax credit, buy a new firearm for $1200, and take home the extra cash (or upgrade). Gun manufacturers will thank you.

UPDATE: The Scorekeeper agrees.

SUPPORT ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: order your steaks well-done.

TWITCHY: Comment of the day.

NASA PROMISES to discover alien life within 20 years. Obviously they've been looking in the wrong places. I'd suggest Washington, D.C. Or New York City.

WET BASEMENT? It's global warming.

PRESERVE THE STATIST QUO: support mandatory voting. Scroll back in time for more.

PUNCHING BACK: The University of Michigan reverses decision to cancel showing of 'American Sniper'.

There's no right to not be offended in the Constitution.

WHOA! THE SCIENCE IS IN: Government food nannies now recommend you eat vegan.

Didn't you know the only legitimate science is 'political' science?

HO-HUM, ANOTHER RED LINE: Kerry warns Iran US 'not going to stand by' as Yemen conflict worsens.

TOWNHALL: The 5 dumbest ideas to take root in America. All from liberals progressives.

NEXT ON CABLE: the Space Weather Channel.

THINK: It's not illegal yet.

But Democrats are working on it. Because fairness.

THE BUCK PASSES HERE: Obama admits Iran deal passes off weapons threat to future presidents. So let's impeach him now and let the next President start early....

FREEDOM OF WHAT? Should wedding-related businesses be able to refuse participation in a gay wedding?

ONCE WAS ENOUGH: Our once-in-a-lifetime president.

If only Americans had the sense not to grant him a second term and made him truly a once in a lifetime president....

THOMAS SOWELL: Comparing Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain is unfair -- to Chamberlain.

If you look back through history, you will be hard pressed to find a leader of any democratic nation so universally popular -- hailed enthusiastically by opposition parties as well as his own -- as was British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain when he returned from Munich in 1938, waving an agreement with Hitler's signature on it, and proclaiming "Peace for our time."

Who cared that he had thrown a small country to the Nazi wolves, in order to get a worthless agreement with Hitler? It looked great at the time because it had apparently avoided war.

Now Barack Obama seems ready to repeat that political triumph by throwing another small country -- Israel this time -- to the wolves, for the sake of another worthless agreement.

Back in 1938, Winston Churchill was one of the very few critics who tried to warn Chamberlain and the British public. Churchill said: "The idea that safety can be purchased by throwing a small State to the wolves is a fatal delusion."

After the ruinous agreement was made with Hitler, he said: "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." Chamberlain's "Peace for our time" lasted just under a year.

Comparing Obama to Chamberlain is unfair -- to Chamberlain. There is no question that the British prime minister loved his country and pursued its best interests as he saw it. He was not a "citizen of the world," or worse. Chamberlain was building up his country's military forces, not tearing them down, as Barack Obama has been doing with American military forces.

At least Chamberlain loved his country.

ISRAEL TO AMERICA: "You would have to be to be a sociopath to believe [the president's promises]." They're right.

“ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDIN ME!!!?!” Utah city threatens fines over kids' cardboard castle.

We had something similarly stupid happen to us when we lived in California, but we didn't have Facebook then. This family is punching back, and the neighbors have apparently joined in. Good for them.

QUIETLY, NASA is reconsidering the moon as a destination on an eventual path to Mars. It would be nice to see the Armstrong Lunar Colony established by the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing.

WHAT? GOP group's super-PAC mostly funded by unions. Blue-collar workers, at least, are finally getting the message. Not so the government employee unions (which never should have been allowed in the first place).

WITHIN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, it seems like contempt of Congress has been replaced by contempt for Congress.

HEH: How about 'Cooties'?

BUT WILL HE STAY THERE? Leonardo DiCaprio buys an island.

GAY MARRIAGE ISN’T ABOUT JUSTICE, it’s about Selma envy: "My generation willfully ignores the real debate about gay rights and religious freedom because we want halos without sacrifice."

AMERICA SHOULD BE SO LUCKY: Michael Bloomberg reportedly 'considering' running for mayor of London.

RIFT OPENING: Cracks appear in Democrat-Jewish alliance in wake of Iran deal. About time the Jews woke up to face the fact that Democrats are not their friends.

'ABC' RETURNS -- Anybody But Clinton.

LET THE LAWSUITS BEGIN: Judge orders IRS to release list of targeted conservative nonprofit groups.

A billion dollar judgement sounds about right to me....

NANNIES AREN'T CHEAP: The real reason college tuition costs so much.

I WOULD SAY you've gotta be kidding, but this is the Obama administration: Federal program would fly in Central American children to join parents in U.S.

On your nickel.

WHY COLLEGE CAMPUSES are insufferable.

YOU LEARN SOMETHING EVERY DAY: Yoga is a religion.

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect.

MISS ME YET?

Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind.

MORE PLEASE: Cowardly flesh-eating parasites attack brave ISIS mujahideen in Syria! "Islam: improving the lot of humanity since the 7th century."

Next stop: Iran.

A REMINDER: He is risen!

I'm neither Catholic nor particularly religious, but I found this post to be worthy of serious thought.

POWERLINE: The Shanker Scenario.

Random thought: reading this, one is hard-pressed to believe there is a single coherent thought in the entire Obama administration (unless Obama is planning to retire in Tehran).

BILL WHITTLE'S FIREWALL: "Sir, I will not obey that order."

IT'S EASTER.

TRUE STATEMENT: California's real water problem. When we lived in Lancaster (desert north of Los Angeles) our water bill was negligible, despite watering our lawn twice a day and having a swimming pool that needed refilling every night due to daytime evaporation of one inch or better.

But, as Instapundit noted, "pricing water fairly [wouldn't] produce sufficient opportunities for graft".

ANCIENT IRAQI CITY that withstood Roman invasions now faces ISIS. It is now time for the United States, leading again, to declare a state of war exists with the Islamic State and start killing them and their allies, wherever they be.

COLLEGIATE 'SAFE SPACES': "Ignore the activists, and fire the administrators, and colleges would be much better places." Cheaper, too.

PUNCH BACK: Identify the real haters and marginalize them.

SO EXPEL HIM: It's time to fight intolerance with intolerance.

TOWNHALL: Make progressives live by their own rules.

They seem to like violence....

HEH: "You're an inspiration to greed and entitlement across the globe!"

"BECAUSE I’VE GROWN CYNICAL, I assume that Duke’s concern for privacy means the student isn’t a white fraternity member."

Instapundit's cynicism is well-founded.

CAROLINE GLICK: The diplomatic track to war.

RANDOM THOUGHT: At the very beginning of the Obama administration, do you remember Rahm Emmanuel's "Never let a crisis go to waste" comment? Well, think about this: for the last 6-1/2 years, the progressives dominating the Obama administration have been moving from one manufactured crisis to the next, with each new one built on the errors, omissions, and sins of the 'solution' the progressives created for the prior one.

We could stop this from continuing by listening very carefully to each of Obama's proposals, then doing the exact opposite.

MANHATTAN MOMENT: Returning sense and security to pensions with cash balance and defined contribution benefit plans.

Mostly because they offer less opportunity for graft, corruption, and government meddling.

AT LEAST ONE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE has big brass ... ovaries?

COSTA RICA runs on renewables for 75 days. And if it doesn't rain? Or rain enough? Not every country on Earth gets an average of six feet of rain every year.

Costa Rica is to be admired for efficient use of their renewable resources, but let's not get carried away into believing that renewables are the cure-all for every ailment.

LET US HELP FRIGHTEN YOU: Why pilotless planes aren’t the answer to preventing air disasters. It's articles like this one that exacerbate 'societal (mis)trust'.

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE finds ‘ghosts’ of galaxies past. The photos, though small, are striking.

NASAL-VOICED SYRACUSAN, CARPETBAGGING VIRGINIA GOVERNOR attacks southern gun culture.

Not my description of McAuliffe, though it's accurate. Don't bother clicking on the link to the MSNBC post -- the goofballs there seem to think he was elected in 2013 and 'reelected' in 2014 (instead of being inaugurated). McAuliffe's gun control efforts died in committee in January 2015.

HOW, UH, ... INTERESTING: Energy Department shifts blame to White House for energy plan delays.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures (Deal of No Deal edition) is up. I couldn't pick a single favorite this week, so here are my two favorites:

Now go and see the rest.

LOST IN SPACE: Rosetta spacecraft “confused” by comet 'droppings' following recent flyby.

The ESA [European Space Agency] said the Rosetta spacecraft is experiencing “significant difficulties in navigation” following Saturday’s close flyby of the comet. The spacecraft became “confused” by the comet’s dust, which prevented it from orienting with other stars. While it resumed normal status on Monday, operators stated that it would be a while longer before scientific observations continue.

Like driving in heavy fog without fog lamps.

BUT ACCOMODATION IS NOT IN THE LIBERALS' LEXICON: Indiana religious freedom act in accord with traditional American toleration. Best part:

Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy has banned state employees from traveling to Indiana, even though Connecticut has a similar law even more favorable to claims of religious objectors. Perhaps he should ban state employees from remaining inside Connecticut.

Perhaps Connecticut should ban stupid hypocritical Democrats from public office....

NEW YORK TIMES to Menendez: Time to go. Yes, we can't have any sensible Democrats in Congress.

Despite my anathema towards liberals and progressives in particular, I'm with Menendez on this one until proven guilty in a court of law. Menendez is a Democrat, but he is a moderate and sensible one, of which there is a dire shortage these days.

DUCK HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER: The Navy is building a "flimmer", a flying, swimming, submarine-hunting duck drone.

RANDOM THOUGHT from my earlier post on Sen. Bob Menendez' opposition to the Iran 'deal': Just because I'm a crook doesn't mean I'm wrong, and just because I'm Obama doesn't mean I'm right.

Just to be perfectly clear, I'm not convinced Menendez is a crook. Obama, on the other hand, ....

HANDS UP, DON’T NUKE: The US surrendered to Iran on nuke deal, says ... France. Even the cheese-eating surrender monkeys are backing away from this one.

A GUY WALKED INTO A MUSLIM BAKERY and ordered a gay wedding cake ... and there were crickets chirping from the LGBT community. I wonder why....

LADY MACBETH, er, Hillary gunning for Martin O'Malley.

There is no reason — zero — that Hillary Rodham Clinton, a woman of no accomplishment, should ever be president. Besides, we already have a man of no accomplishment in that job and look how well that’s turned out. But apparently the Democrats think the White House is an affirmative-action post, to be given first to a minority and now to a woman. Time for them to learn otherwise, the hard way.

The Democrats would be better off long-term if O'Malley loses to the Republican rather than Hillary.

I'LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT: U.S. to pursue an aggressive energy agenda as it takes over major Arctic group. Despite the Obama administration's claims to the contrary, I suspect the 'aggressive action' will be to try to deny drilling rights to everyone.

TOLD'JA SO: Shortsighted coastal elites bear most of the blame for California’s water woes. I'm older, smarter, and have more common sense than the average California coastal environmental elist.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HARRY REID? Punched out by his brother, apparently.

ROUND AND ROUND WE GO. Liberals believe America is capitalist and greedy -

And yet half of the population is subsidized. Half of the population is subsidized -

And yet they think they are victims. They think they are victims -

And yet their representatives run the government. Their representatives run the government -

And yet the poor keep getting poorer. The poor keep getting poorer -

And yet they have things that people in other countries only dream about. They have things that people in other countries only dream about -

And yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

From my email.

YOU NEED TO ASK? Did Iran get the better of the U.S. at the nuclear poker table?

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ (D-NJ): "I will not be silenced."

IS THE OBAMA LEGACY built on quicksand? I certainly hope so.

JUST IN TIME: the Easter Bunny delivers a nuclear egg.

MASS MURDERERS AGREE: gun control works.

HILLARY: rules are for everybody else.