"The Citizens’ United decision makes it easier for a third-party candidate to raise large sums of money from corporations."

-- Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight

If there's a bright side to January's Supreme Court holding in Citizens United v. FEC, this is probably it. A legitimate third-party candidate in 2012 would make the two other mainstream candidates address a whole host of issues that they'd otherwise be able to easily ignore.

Don “Moose” Lewis, a former wrestling promoter, has filed paperwork for a whites-only basketball league, and it is our editorial opinion that he is a racist and a maniac. But regardless of all that, would such a thing even be legal?

Probably not, assuming the league got off the ground far enough to have its legality seriously questioned in the first place. Legal Blog Watch, which resists the urge to question Lewis's ability to read, has some thoughts to that effect:

Presumably, Commissioner Moose has already deconstructed the oral argument transcript of last week's Supreme Court battle between the NFL and spurned team apparel manufacturer American Needle, in which that league's single-entity status, and attendant antitrust immunity, was seriously questioned by the justices.

The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, which broke the story this week, reported, “Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of 'street-ball' played by 'people of color.'” Follow-up coverage has established that the spectacle, which began with a press release issued on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, might be a publicity stunt but isn't an all-out hoax.

If fundamentals are what he's after, then one could quite easily enter into evidence Derrick Rose's amazing line from today's Bulls vs. Suns game -- 32 points on 15 for 21 from the field, with three rebounds, five assists, three steals, and one turnover -- to refute this ridiculous league immediately.

Related:

Because of one too many delayed bags and a distaste for wasting time after landing, I am One Of Those People who refuse to check bags before flying. Instead, I stuff all of the things I need for a given trip into an aesthetically insulting silver Adidas gym bag.

So I appreciate this CNN listicle on carry-on bag etiquette, especially as more travelers will probably start doing this after two three airlines raised checked-bags fees again this week.

Sarah Palin to Contribute to Fox News Embattled Ex-Governor to Contribute Partisan Wailings

WikiLeaks is a web site which provides the useful public service of willfully publishing, confidentially and without fear of prosecution, material that 1) people aren't supposed to be reading, and 2) courts can prevent newspapers and broadcasters from running with. It's like meth for conspiracy theorists, but it's pretty useful for the well-informed, and anyone who wants to be, as well.

Anyways, it has suspended service until Jan. 11 because of bandwidth issues and general difficulty funding its operations. Supporters can make donations on its homepage via PayPal, bank transfer, or check.

"While the overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding people, on the other hand 100% of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims."

Quoth Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who fails to observe that, indeed, 100 percent of Catholic terrorists are practitioners of Christianity too.

Please either ignore or make fun of this post. I'm attempting to register this blog with search engine Technorati and it's telling me to display this sequence: NRF83QKYXYT8.

So first, Jack Bauer sells out to do a freaking Bank of America commercial, and now, he's unable to successfully interrogate Santa Claus? How's he going to even deal with New York cabbies next season?

(Video created by the fine folks at Rebel Christmas Cards, via)