Maryland has placed statues of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman in the State House -- in the very room where the post-Civil War state constitution banning slavery was adopted. Nice.

The statues are life-size and set at ground level rather than on pedestals, as if these American heroes were actually present in the room. They help clear the psychic stain of the statue of Roger B. Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision, placed on the State House grounds in 1872 and removed in 2017.

As Democratic partisans scream that we must "vote blue matter who!", it is worth pausing to consider how criminal the last "blue" POTUS was. This 2012 interview with Noam Chomsky is a good reminder.

Sanders is up, despite the best efforts of the Democratic leadership to deny him victory in Iowa, and Biden is in free-fall.

Senator Bernie Sanders has surged into the lead nationally as former Vice President Joe Biden has seen his support decline dramatically ahead of New Hampshire's primary...

The Japanese city of Nara is one of my favorite places in the world. I've visited the grounds of the Kasuga Shrine several times. If I had money to burn I would certainly jump on a plane and go see this.

Robert Pirsig's 1966 Honda Super Hawk, the motorcycle from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, has been donated to the Smithsonian.

Trump's whole brand is "I am fighting these Washington insiders and they hate me for it," and the Democrats just keep walking right into it.

You might think that if police stole your stuff, you'd have some legal recourse.

But the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled otherwise.

Via Forbes:

While exercising a search warrant in 2013, Fresno police raided and seized $50,000 from Micah Jessop and Brittan Ashjian, two businessmen suspected of illegal gambling (neither was ever criminally charged). Worse, the two claimed that police actually grabbed $151,000 in cash and $125,000 in rare coins, and “stole the difference” above what was reported on the inventory sheet. Critically, the $225,000 that was allegedly stolen wasn’t included on the inventory report for seized property or booked into evidence.

Arguing that the alleged stealing violated their constitutional rights, Jessop and Ashjian sued...

With BMC Toys adding "Green Army Women" to its icon "Green Army Men" plastic toys, militarism becomes a more gender-neutral phenomenon. Hooray.

Via NPR:

"My name is Vivian. I am six years old. Why do you not make girl army men?" wrote Vivian Lord to BMC Toys.

To Jeff Imel, the president of BMC Toys, which makes the iconic Green Army Men figurines, it was a worthy question and one he had mulled over for years.
...

From NPR:

British police have arrested a 66-year-old man in connection with the theft of a solid gold toilet from a palace west of London.

The toilet, titled America, is a work of art by the 58-year-old Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It had been installed for an exhibition at England's Blenheim Palace earlier this week.

My new Short Term Duration Person Savior...

Tevon Varlack, a 42-year-old truck driver from Dallas, bashed the heck out of the famous bronze Charging Bull statue with a banjo. Turns out a metal banjo can do some damage; he left a six-inch gash as well as other scratches.