Monday Miscellany!

• AIPAC has given up the fight over Chuck Hagel. This is a good thing - Hagel, unlike some others in the Obama administration, has serious reservations about the neoconservative agenda. On the other hand, I am left wondering what promises AIPAC extracted from the Obama administration to step out of the way.


• Why nobody trusts the Steubenville authorities to prosecute the gang rape of a sixteen year old. Incidentally, there's a White House petition to move this out of the juvenile court system here.


• From USA Today's editorial pages, the beginning, kinda, of a discussion on the way we're bringing up boys, and how that leads to (for example) mass shootings, here. Hey, it's a start.


• What's the push for a ban on assault weapons really all about?


• Looser concealed carry laws have not led to more crime, part one million.


• "What about all those false rape accusations?" What about all the rapes that are never prosecuted?


• A California man claims that he should be able to drive in the car pool lane with corporation papers. And, in fact, he's going to test his theory in traffic court later, assuming the ticketing officer shows up.

David #Bowie releases his first new single in a decade

And his voice is still magic.

You can buy it on iTunes. I haven't, because I hate iTunes DRM, but there you go. His new album (!) is due out in March. Details here.