Derb's Screed  —  Needless to say, no one at National Review shares Derb's appalling view of what parents supposedly should tell their kids about blacks in this instantly notorious piece here.

Uncorrected: Charles Blow Finally Returns To The Scene Of His Journalistic Crime  —  When last he wrote on the subject of Trayvon Martin Charles Blow focused, appropriately, on the grief of a family in shock.  In so doing, however, he emphasized the implausibility of George Zimmerman's self-defense claim …

On Ryan Apologists  —  In my next life I want to be a conservative policy scammer.  Think of how much nicer it would be.  Instead of constantly being accused of having evil motives, I'd be presumed to have noble intentions no matter how much the actual content of my policy proposals was at odds with such claims.

A sorry spectacle  —  Jay Cost takes a look back at Obama's public performances this week, as I did in “Twice in a lifetime,” and explains exactly what is happening: … Cost absolutely nails the Obama scenario and what it portends for our future in this terrific column.  —  UPDATE: Robert Stacy McCain comments here.

The Talk: Nonblack Version  —  There is much talk about “the talk.”  —  “Sean O'Reilly was 16 when his mother gave him the talk that most black parents give their teenage sons,” Denisa R. Superville of the Hackensack (NJ) Record tells us.  Meanwhile, down in Atlanta: “Her sons were 12 and 8 …

Isn't it “marvelous?”  Obama seeks to define Romney for voters  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When President Barack Obama criticized Mitt Romney by name this week for embracing a controversial Republican budget proposal, he worded his attack carefully and with bite.

ANOTHER CREDIT AGENCY DOWNGRADES US  —  Credit rating agency Egan Jones downgraded the United States Thursday on concern over the sustainability of public debt.  Egan Jones is one of the most important ratings firms in the world; they lowered our credit level from AA+ to AA.