TWEET OF THE DAY: "With this Apple thing I keep being told that the govt can't force you to work for them, unless it's to bake a g*ddamned cake, right?"

THE SCOREKEEPER: Life is too short to talk to liberals.

POTUS -- A new definition:

Just as our basic vocabulary grows and evolves on an almost daily basis, so too does our usage of technical terminology and acronyms.

For example, the president of our once-great Nation has been identified by the acronym "POTUS," which used to stand for "President Of The United States.”

However, during the past 7 years, many may not be aware of the subtle change in meaning that has come about with that term. The current occupant of the Oval Office is still referred to as the POTUS, but the term has become much more descriptive of the man presently holding this once revered position:

POTUS now means: "Piece Of Totally Useless Shit." No need to thank me for this enlightening message.

From my email.

WHY I'M GLAD I no longer live in the D.C. environs. Click back to Feb 22nd for more.

PANDEMIC: SJW, STD, whatever.

AGREED: "I think social-justice activism is a sign of pre-existing mental illness."

IT'S ABOUT TIME: Officer calls out violent gang members.



Cowards and thugs all.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES. Here's my favorite.

But go see them all. Especially the ones honoring Supreme Court Antonin Scalia.

CLASS ACT (FOR PETULANCE): President Obama refuses to attend Scalia funeral.

JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA: "What is a 'moderate' interpretation of the text? Halfway between what it really means and what you'd like it to mean?"

More here.

JONAH GOLDBERG takes on the Democrat debate, among other topics.

MORE ON THE IRON LAW of unintended consequences: Sen. Chuck(les) Shumer hoist on his own petard.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG mourned the late Antonin Scalia, her ideological rival but best buddy on the court, in a statement Sunday.

Read it all.

I'LL BE SURPRISED if future releases don't contain more classified emails: State Department upgrades 84 new Clinton emails to 'classified'.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Supreme Court block is payback for nuclear option.

Pesky unintended consequences ... you're not supposed to use our playbook against us!

LESSENING THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GRAFT: House Panel Defeats Effort To Keep Air Traffic Control At FAA.

I'm surprised, but it looks like the grifters Congresscritters and their lobbyists are getting their butts kicked by us mere citizens.

HE'S RESELLING USED TOILET PAPER: the lights go out in Bernie Sanders' utopia.

As I've noted earlier, and will certainly again as campaign season progresses, rainbows and unicorns are expensive.

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG: Urgent calls begin for Scalia autopsy. Faster than I had expected, as a matter of fact. That said, though, autopsies should be routine in the event of unexpected deaths of government officials for the sole purpose of dispelling conspiracy theories as soon as possible.

Authorities need to remember that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" but they rarely do -- especially if the burden of prevention falls on them.

HEH: Let us help you pack!

RESPECT: Could someone please send President Obama a necktie?

APOLOGIES to drunken sailors.

CHARLES MURRAY: Trump’s America. And mine. And we won't go away.

More thoughts here.

A NEW COLD WAR: This is what 'flexibility' brings.

IN DEBATE, Sanders dodges answering how much he'd expand the federal budget. The safe bet is as far as he can reach; rainbows and unicorns are expensive. And there's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

SEE MY SHOCKED FACE: Sen. Harry Reid calls on Rep. Alan Grayson to drop out of Florida Senate race.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Friday called for U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson to drop out of the race for a Senate seat in Florida, but Grayson angrily denounced the move and said he has no plans to follow Reid's suggestion.

Reid said in a statement that Grayson claims to be progressive but seems to have "no moral compass." He said Grayson used his office to unethically promote a hedge fund that until recently had been based in the Cayman Islands.

"His actions aren't just disgraceful to the Democratic Party, they disgrace the halls of Congress."

I never dreamed I'd ever agree with Harry Reid on anything.

YEAH, RIGHT: Judge forces State Department to publish Clinton emails before Nevada & South Carolina primaries.

What's the judge going to do when State demurs? Hold John Kerry in contempt? That worked so well with former Attorney General Eric Holder and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

POWERLINE'S Week in Pictures is up. Finding a favorite was hard this week, but I finally settled on this one:

Now go and see the rest.

THE DEMOCRATS' DILEMMA: Bernie’s making promises he can’t keep and Hillary’s making promises she won’t keep.

Choices, choices....

GOING FOR THE MORON VOTE: Bernie gets Harry Belafonte endorsement.

ONE GIANT LEAP FOR WOMANKIND: NASA's new class of astronauts is officially 50 percent female.

Since when has being female a qualification for being an astronaut? About the time that Muslim outreach became NASA's 'highest priority'?

WHAT WILL I MISS ABOUT BARACK OBAMA? Not a single damn thing.

IF BLOOMBERG RUNS FOR PRESIDENT, Jim Geraghty has his bumper sticker.

HEH: Al Sharpton is trying to negotiate a tax repayment plan with Bernie....

THEY'RE LEARNING: Boeing to reduce executive and management jobs in cost-cutting drive.

Would that government would do the same....

A BILLION HERE, A BILLION THERE: The Obama administration provided some states with $1 billion in disaster 'prevention' money as part of the president's efforts to stave off the worst effects of climate change.

So we waste more taxpayer money chasing a chimera that will have no verifiable effect on the state of the climate.

BACK TO THE FUTURE by going back to the past: NASA proposes X-plane revival.

DEMOCRATS prepare to fight privatization of air traffic control.

Obviously -- privatization means fewer chances for graft and corruption.

MY LAST JOB at Lockheed Martin was working on something very similar to this. It may not seem like it at first, but just identifying the engineering tasks is challenging.

AMMO GRRRLL opines on the Republican primary campaign:

I WILL vote for Trump if he is our standard-bearer. I will also vote for Cruz, Rubio, Carly, or even Christie. I will vote for almost anyone against Hillary or Bernie or, for that matter, Gun Grabber-in-Chief, Bloomberg. I initially preferred Rick Perry, but for whatever reasons, he faded fast. This is a long slog. And very very important. Let’s try to keep it as convivial as we can.

This was written before the New Hampshire primary, but the message remains. Read it all.

THE GAME IS RIGGED: "After defeating Hillary Clinton handily in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders could leave the Granite State with just as many delegates as the candidate he beat by 22 points."

Of course the game is rigged, but not -- as Bernie claims -- in favor of millionaires and billionaires, it is rigged in favor of our bureaucratic 'ruling class', both Democrat and Republican.

TRUMP: Sanders may be a closet communist.

So where's the surprise? The only significant difference between socialism and communism is the difference between control and ownership -- Bernie's stance on single-payer healthcare tells you all you need to know about on which side he stands.

I DON'T KNOW ABOUT LIFE, but Shoe is certainly correct about voting age.

OOPS! The North Korean satellite launched over the weekend “is tumbling in orbit, rendering it useless.”

Panic averted....

GROUNDING AIR FORCE ONE would be sufficient: U.N. panel proposes historic cuts to aircraft emissions.

POPULAR MECHANICS: The Pentagon announces development of an 'arsenal plane'.

ELECTRONS ARE DEMOCRATS: Fastest light pulses show electrons are sluggish (just not thuggish).

I'M WAY BEHIND on PowerLine's Week in Pictures. Here's my favorite this week:

Now don't miss the rest.

FIGHTING BACK: Bosch haptic pedal can save you 7 percent on gas.

NEW YORK TIMES now calls Russia a 'threat' four years after mocking Romney's 'reckless' warning.

A bit late, don'cha think?

BORDER PATROL: "We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether."

Immigration laws today appear to be mere suggestions. There are little or no consequences for breaking the laws and that fact is well known in other countries.

There are no aliens, illegal or legal, just 'undocumented Democrats'.

HEH! Supreme Court puts global warming on ice. Now the globe will stop warming.

BERNIE SANDERS dines with Al Sharpton in Harlem. The connventional wisdom is that Bernie is sucking up to Al to enhance his chances with the black vote. I'm skeptical; I think the rat is preparing to desert the sinking ship.

We'll know when/if Rev. Al endorses....

REMEMBER that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

It's not gold....

TECHNOLOGY: One-eyed bug vision helps drones land.

NOT VERY LIKELY: A Tesla in every garage?

SOME HISTORY: Does Hillary's résumé make her the 'best-qualified' candidate?

Umm ... Maybe not.

REGULATION NATION: Feds cash in with 'aggressive' workplace lawsuits, raise cost of doing business. Legal graft and corruption.

Guess who pays....

RANDOM THOUGHT on Hillary vs. Bernie: Nope vs. Dope.

ATTACK EAGLES: Dutch Police Training Eagles to Take Down Drones.

Granted, you have to feed the eagle, but it would be a fun way to take down snoopers over your property....

WHAT GOOD IS A REVOLUTION WITHOUT DANCING? Sanders' last New Hampshire rally turns into hippie music festival.

THE DEMOCRATS' DILEMMA:

Heh.

THE PERFECT DAY - if we're lucky....

President Donald Trump and Vice-President Marco Rubio are sworn into office. President Trump rescinds all executive orders and presidential memorandums signed by previous office holder.

In a rare event on inauguration day, Congress convenes for an emergency meeting to repeal the illegal and unconstitutional Socialist healthcare farce known as Obamacare. The new Director of Health and Social Services Dr. Ben Carson announces that an independent group of healthcare management professionals is hired to handle healthcare services for poor and low income people. They are also assigned the duty of eliminating Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Government's costs for public healthcare are reduced by 90%. Healthcare insurance premiums for working Americans are reduced by 50%. The move saves billions of taxpayer paid dollars. Healthcare service in the U.S improves 100%.

Newly appointed department of Homeland Security Chief, Carly Fiorina, announces the immediate deployment of Troops to the U.S. Mexico border to control illegal immigration and the immediate deportation of illegals with criminal records or links to terrorist groups. New bio-encrypted Social Security ID's are required by every American citizen. Birthright is abolished. All immigration from countries that represent a threat to the safety of American citizens is terminated indefinitely. The move saves American taxpayers billions of dollars. Several prisons are closed.

Newly appointed Secretary of Business and Economic Development Ted Cruz eliminates more than half of the Government agencies operating under the Obama administration saving taxpayers billions of dollars. Stocks rise 100%.

Newly appointed Director of Government Finance Rand Paul announces the abolition of the IRS and displays a copy of the new Federal Tax Return form. It consists of one page. The instructions consist of two pages. The Federal Reserve is audited. The move saves American Taxpayers billions of dollars and increases tax revenue.

Thanks to our new Attorney General, Trey Gowdy, Hillary Clinton is in jail, where she belongs. Her cell is directly across from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who are serving time for 'Hate Crimes" & Tax evasion. She bitches at them constantly from behind the bars of her cell in what some might call cruel and unusual punishment.

Bernie Sanders is in the nuthouse, where he belongs. His room is directly across from Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Chris Matthews and Al Franken. They meet for tea every day at ten and discuss the success and benefits of Communism and Socialism throughout the world. They also wonder when the "Mothership" is going to pick them up and return them to their home planets.

Barack Obama flees the United States under cover of darkness and returns to his homeland of Kenya before his trial for treason begins. He deplanes on a remote jungle airstrip. It was reported that he was last seen wandering through the jungle singing "Hakuna Matata" with a chimp named Commie.

A committee is not established to determine what is causing global cooling. Billions of taxpayer dollars are saved.

Dead people are no longer allowed to vote in Chicago, a huge blow for the Democrat Party in the State of Illinois.

From my email.

BERNIE SANDERS: 'We will raise taxes, yes we will'. (But only on those who don't vote for us.)

Feel the Bern burn.

HMM: Trump tramples core conservative belief in property rights. Trump responds: So should (could?) the Keystone XL pipeline be completed without eminent domain?

He has a point -- where is the boundary between public and private good?

IT'S SO COLD the ducks on our pond are using ice skates....

I JUST WATCHED BERNIE'S SPEECH. That man is so aggressively ignorant it is astounding.

THE RIGHT WAY to back a trailer.

OPEN CARRY: Much ado about nothing. Isn't it time to stop listening to the naysayers, doomsayers, nanny-staters, et al., and tell them to take a flying leap up a well-known creek?

THE SUPERBOWL AD you didn't see....

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Social Justice Warriors, combining in new and stupid ways every day."

FIVE QUESTIONS women should ask before they get a gun.

OBAMA'S VISIT TO A MOSQUE on Wednesday shows he's okay with some Americans clinging to their guns and God.

Heh.

SUPER BOWL PREDICTION.

POWERLINE: Obama defends the (his?) faith. I started to watch his speech, caught two strawman arguments lies in two minutes and turned the TV off. Obama can't open his mouth without lying.

Much more here (if you can stand it).

THE CANCER OF PROGRESSIVISM: it metastasized.

I ALMOST WISH he had moved to Manassas. Luckily we escaped to Georgia just in time....

THEY RAN OUT OF PIPE: Expedition to drill to the center of the Earth ends without success.

THE DOG keeps eating the IRS hard drives.

How many dogs are there? It's not just the IRS that keeps having computer 'mishaps'.

ASTRONAUT SCOTT KELLY plays water ping-pong at the International Space Station.

THE FIRE OF CONSERVATIVE VOTER ANGST: Why Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are surging. Case in point: Iowa.

HOW STUPID AND VICIOUS do elites think 'we' are?

I think the Iowa caucus results are the beginning a valuable lesson for our elite 'ruling class'.

SHE ALMOST WON IN IOWA:

Free money appeals ... until it runs out.

TRUE: Youths’ attraction to Sanders shows education failure. I heard one of the morning newscasts this morning that millennials tend to equate 'socialism' with 'social media'; I tend to agree with that assessment given the progressive domination of education.

MUDDLED THINKING: Today's outstanding academic gibberish.

It's not muddled thinking; it's downright incoherent. Maybe there's a parallel universe where this makes sense, but I doubt it.

CONSERVATIVES: Be wary of Trump. My thoughts as well, though I'm still giving Trump serious consideration. My personal choice is still Carly Fiorina, though it's increasingly clear that she hasn't caught on.

The Republican 'establishment candidates' are non-starters in my mind.

LOBBYISTS AND LOBBYS: First, Amazon ($9M) and Uber ($470K), then Boeing ($21.9M), Lockheed Martin ($13.7M), Northrup-Grumman ($12.3M), United Technologies (11.3M), General Dynamics ($10.3M), and Raytheon ($5.8M).

All are significantly higher than previous years, typically by a factor of two. Does anyone seriously think these companies would spend so much if they weren't trying to protect themselves from government? [Nice little company you've got here; too bad if something were to happen to it....]

MEDIA MISSES AGAIN: Palin press mockery failed to recognize that she was quoting from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The media is well-versed in liberal cant; outside their bubble, not so much. With respect to the liberal press (I repeat myself), a Reagan paraphrase is appropriate: "Mistrust, then verify."

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION pushes 'Youth Misery Index' to all-time high. Any wonder why millenials are abandoning Obama Hillary in droves?