The Man With the Golden Links

Along with all the other data it gathers, Equifax’s Work Number database collects job information right down to years of paycheck data. Some lawmakers are curious who Equifax sells to, and whether it includes debt collectors.
•Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been warning Iran will have nuclear weapons within five years. Trouble is, he’s been saying this since 1992.
•Corey Robin looks at the time-honored argument that free speech doesn’t extend to falsely crying “Fire!” in a crowded theater.
•Ruth Rosen shows how far feminism has come (reminding me of this League of Ordinary Gentlemen post) and how far we still have to go. I often wonder if one of the rationales for female anti-feminists is that they don’t remember when “I can’t give you a credit card without your husband’s approval” or “I’m not hiring a woman for that job” were not only legal statements but perfectly acceptable ones. That must make it easier to believe feminism hasn’t affected their lives.
•Speaking of which, here’s one man’s attempt to define a Sensitive Man, circa 1976.
•Do we have death squads in Afghanistan?
•For all the jokes about guns being phallic symbols, here’s an Illinois Republican who really does equate gun control to castration. And here’s a right-winger laments that while he knows how to shoot and throw a punch, he’s never actually had a chance to do it for real.
•Daily Howler applauds a Megan McArdle piece on how journalists (including herself) are completely out of touch with the average American. I must admit it’s a good piece despite my disdain for McArdle’s writing. Here’s some more reasons to disdain her (enthusiasm for violent attacks on anti-war protesters, for instance).
•More Repub outreach to women: A New Hampshire Republicans says getting “big government” involved in preventing domestic abuse is wrong because abused women obviously enjoy being slapped about. Another male pol asserts that he doesn’t think transvaginal ultrasounds are intrusive, but admits he’s never had one. And yet another Republican insists Todd Akin was right.
•LGM wonders why Republicans fought so hard against Chuck Hagel’s appointment as SecDef.
•Since I recently ripped into the idea that having a camera in your phone makes you a photojournalist, it’s only fair to admit that some cell-phone photos are awesome. And a professional-photographer friend TYG and I were hanging with Saturday can take absolutely amazing photos on her cell (of course, she is a pro).
•Supreme Court Justice Scalia really, really wants to get rid of the Voting Rights Act, to the point he cites overwhelming Congressional support as proof America should get rid of it. Of course, he’s a bitter old Republican white guy, so it’s only to be expected. ThinkProgress explains why protecting voting rights is not the same as affirmative action. Here’s a look at what some people were willing to do to establish those rights.
•Business Week suggests the real problem with the housing market is minorities.
•Digby critiques the insanity of the sequester. Oh, and after a White House official tells Bob Woodward he’ll regret blaming the White House for the sequester, right-bloggers freak out.
•Bradley Manning, alleged leaker, pleads guilty. New Republic argues that the Obama administration is taking its war on leakers to a new extreme.
•When the Iraq war was getting ready, columnist Tom Friedman said he wanted to sit down and watch the fun with a big bowl of popcorn.
•You may have already heard that Repubs in Washington state want to tax bicycle sales. One supporter of the tax argues that bike riders breathe out carbon dioxide, so they’re increasing global warming, so there, tax needed!