PUBERTY BEFORE AGE 10: The New Normal? “For many parents of early-developing girls, ‘normal’ is a crazy-making word, especially when uttered by a doctor; it implies that the patient, or patient’s mother, should quit being neurotic and accept that not much can be done. . . . Now most researchers seem to agree on one thing: Breast budding in girls is starting earlier. The debate has shifted to what this means.”

Plus: “Bruce Ellis, a professor of Family Studies and Human Development at the University of Arizona, discovered along with his colleagues a pattern of early puberty in girls whose parents divorced when those girls were between 3 and 8 years old and whose fathers were considered socially deviant (meaning they abused drugs or alcohol, were violent, attempted suicide or did prison time). In another study, published in 2011, Ellis and his colleagues showed that first graders who are most reactive to stress — kids whose pulse, respiratory rate and cortisol levels fluctuate most in response to environmental challenges — entered puberty earliest when raised in difficult homes. Evolutionary psychology offers a theory: A stressful childhood inclines a body toward early reproduction; if life is hard, best to mature young. But such theories are tough to prove.” Read the whole thing.

FINALLY! An Emergency Pizza Button.

STALLED? GM delays production of Chevy Volt for another week.

CHINA’S DRIVERS stick it to the police.

JACOB SULLUM: The Times Keeps Shouting ‘Stand Your Ground,’ While Reporting That the Real Issue Was Probable Cause. “Zimmerman’s injuries seem consistent with his claim that Martin punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground, and repeatedly banged his head against the pavement. But they do not demonstrate that he met the requirements for self-defense under Florida law. If Zimmerman started the fight, for example, he would have been justified in using lethal force only if he reasonably feared death or serious injury and there was no feasible way to escape. That is in fact the essence of Zimmerman’s self-defense claim, although he says Martin started the fight. Either way, if Martin was on top of Zimmerman, smacking his head on the ground, and trying to grab his gun, it did not matter that Florida’s law protects the right to ‘stand your ground’; the analysis would be the same under the old ‘duty to retreat’ standard. Although the Times uses the phrase ‘stand your ground” or variations on it half a dozen times, it’s clear from the article that the decision not to charge Zimmerman, which was made by State Attorney Norm Wolfinger after Sanford police requested an arrest warrant, had to do with another aspect of the law.”

THREE CHEERS FOR SPICY FOOD: “The component that gives cayennes, jalapenos, habaneros and other chili peppers their heat, capsaicin already has an established role in medicine in rub-on-the-skin creams to treat arthritis and certain forms of pain. Past research suggested that spicing food with chilies can lower blood pressure in people with that condition, reduce blood cholesterol and ease the tendency for dangerous blood clots to form.”

PRIVACY: Police Are Using Cellphone Tracking As A Routine Tool.

Some related thoughts here.

IS THE TRAYVON MARTIN WALKBACK becoming a stampede? “Heckuva job by the media. We may have race riots in Florida so I hope they enjoyed their time on the fashionable side of this story.” Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Reader James McNash writes:

I was wondering if there are possible legal ramifications against news agencies if they are found to have selectively edited the evidence that they have broadcasted. If Zimmerman is found innocent, can he file a lawsuit (for libel and/or slander) against these agencies especially if the intent was to do harm to Zimmerman? Or is the news media immune to these cases?

It seems to me that Zimmerman’s reputation is destroyed, all because of the media, and it would be a shame if the media can walk away with no accountability.

Much of what they have done — for example, using the middle-school picture of Trayvon Martin almost exclusively in their coverage — isn’t actionable. The deceptive editing of the 911 call, however, might rise to the level of “actual malice,” thus supporting a libel action even though Zimmerman is a public figure.

INDEED: “Mr. Breitbart, who died March 1, was on to something.”

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD ON THE LEGAL EDUCATION BUBBLE: First, let’s indenture all the lawyers.

In other words, for many young Americans, going to law school will mean literally signing away their financial independence for the rest of their adult lives. They will spend the next twenty-five years of their lives (if they never earn more than their Income-Based Repayment amount) — ten years if they work in public service — servicing debt they incurred for a skill that didn’t pay off. They might spend even longer before they are ever in the clear if they took those federal loans out before 2009 (when IBR kicked in), or if they have high interest private loans.

This isn’t just a problem for the people involved. The result is a situation no one wants: young people who aren’t in a financial position to make major steps in life — marriage, purchasing a home, having children, or saving for retirement — because they spend the majority of their life financing a decision they made at 22.

Read the whole thing — especially if you’re considering law school. I wouldn’t advise people not to go to law school, necessarily, but I would advise almost anyone to avoid taking on significant debt to do so.

IS CHINA Africa’s Other Kony?

MICKEY KAUS: Green GM Stumbles Again. “Car & Driver compared six family sedans, including the Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, Toyota Camry, plus the new Chevy Malibu and a VW Passat, the GM-killer sedan built at a non-UAW factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Results: The non-union VW came in first. The new Malibu came in last.” But wait — it’s the “Eco” model. Released first because of Administration pressure? “This is the sort of issue where unsophisticated people think the company just crudely caves to what it thinks the President wants. More sophisticated people know it’s much more subtle and complex than that. And real insiders think the company crudely caves to what it thinks the President wants.”

RADLEY BALKO: Illinois Traffic Stop Of Star Trek Fans Raises Concerns About Drug Searches, Police Dogs, Bad Cops.

Plus, is a drug-sniffing dog capable of producing probable cause when it’s usually wrong?

AT AMAZON, bestsellers in Sports & Outdoors.

Plus, today only: A sale on high-speed SD memory cards. Including a 64GB card for $57.99.

SCIENCE AND SKEPTICISM: I’ve got a column on trust and trustworthiness in today’s New York Post.

THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED OVER THE WEEKEND:

My Sunday Washington Examiner column: Don’t blame Verrilli: It’s hard to defend the indefensible.

Kinde Durkee, once a trusted treasurer to dozens of California Democrats, pleaded guilty in the biggest campaign embezzlement case ever to hit U.S. politics.

Despite reports, No IRS investigation of Nikki Haley.

More cost-raising political regulation for higher education.

Obama Campus Fervor Losing to Apathy as Students Sour on 2012.

Washington Post altering coverage at White House insistence?

EPA Backpedals On Fracking Contamination.

Vaccine to stop heart attacks could be here in five years. Faster, please.

Middle-aged borrowers piling on student debt.

Libya War looking more expensive in retrospect.

Top Obama Campaign Donor Accused of Fraud.

Tim Geithner TAX CHEAT sightings.

HEH: Spike Lee Puts The “Twit” In Twitter.

SALENA ZITO: It’s The Economy, Mr. President. “That may not be entirely fair. Yet it is at the root of why the president hasn’t moved forward in Pennsylvania polls for years. . . . Pennsylvania voters are more a combination of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian ideals and values than they are Democrats or Republicans. And that’s why Barack Obama is tied in the Keystone State with Republican Mitt Romney. The national media narrative is that things look better for Obama. Yet drive across the state and talk to Jeffersonian and Jacksonian voters who supported him in 2008 and you’ll find today’s environment is nothing short of toxic for Democrats, especially Obama.”

They know it’s the economy. That’s why they’d rather have everyone talking about hoodies and birth control.

Related: 49% to 38% — voters trust Republicans over Democrats on the economy (which they consider the most important issue).

PROF. RICK SANDER: Rational Discourse and Affirmative Action.

Brodhead’s remarks neatly stood reality on its head. The university’s policy of giving large preferences based on race had created a large academic preparation gap across racial lines (e.g., an average 150-point SAT gap, on the old 1600-point scale, between blacks and whites) and thus large differences in academic outcomes across racial lines; but careful research on the effect of academic preparation on these outcomes was offensive? Academic freedom was vital to the university’s life, but factually baseless slander against accurate research was understandable? And it was especially “insulting” to use such research in an amicus brief – i.e., a debate about public policy? . . .

Brodhead’s message was pretty clear: we won’t try to fire people who engage in honest research that identifies problems in affirmative action; but we will ostracize them, and thus strongly discourage such research. Other parts of the record suggest that Duke’s substantive response to the controversy will consist of providing additional funding to race-based student groups, and showing greater “sensitivity” to student complaints.

One might be tempted to put this behavior down to a particularly high level of intolerance at Duke or on Brodhead’s part (many Duke officials and faculty, including Brodhead, took political correctness to disgraceful lengths during the “lacrosse” scandal several years ago, when a number of white students were falsely accused of raping a black woman and Duke officials led the invidious attacks against them, even long after the prosecution had been discredited). But all of the facts of this latest episode at Duke, including Brodhead’s behavior, actually capture perfectly the dynamics of affirmative action discussions at all major universities.

They don’t want discussion. They want you to shut up and go along with the program. Read the whole thing.

WHY ARE THE FED AND SEC keeping Wall Street’s secrets?

IT’S ALL JANET NAPOLITANO’S FAULT:

It figures.

Trayvon Martin was reportedly targeted by community watchman George Zimmerman because he was wearing a hoodie.

So how did Zimmerman ever get the idea that someone in a hoodie might be suspicious? From the Obama Administration, of course.

President Chaos Umpire! “Chaos Umpire sits, And by decision more imbroils the fray. By which he Reigns.” Video at the link.

UPDATE: Related: CBS Miami: Crowds Smaller Than Predicted At Bayfront Trayvon Rally.

TOM MAGUIRE: The NY Times Quietly Takes Its Thumb Off The Scale Of Justice. “I am serious – if the Times is correctly telling us that Zimmerman was roughly Martin’s size, that changes the whole theme of the scary large man stalking the overmatched boy. Do I need links to document how widespread that meme is?”

BUSINESS PLAN FROM HELL: Goal of Al Gore’s Current TV? ‘Compete with MSNBC from the Left.’

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: What’s wrong in California? “The huge investment by students, parents and taxpayers made in colleges to provide a foundation of knowledge and critical thought has already or is in process of sinking into the hole of politicized instruction that is one-sided indoctrination. The California Association of Scholars details this in a just published 87-page report, A Crisis Of Competence:The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California.”

More here: University Echo Chamber Drowns Out Diverse Voices.

Political activism has drawn the University of California into an academic death spiral. Too many professors believe their job is to “advance social justice” rather than teach the subject they were hired to teach. Groupthink has replaced lively debate. Institutions that were designed to stir intellectual curiosity aren’t challenging young minds. They’re churning out “ignorance.” So argues a new report, “A Crisis of Competence: The Corrupting Effect of Political Activism in the University of California,” from the conservative California Association of Scholars.

The report cites a number of studies that document academia’s political imbalance. In 2004, for example, researchers examined the voter registration of UC Berkeley faculty. They found a ratio of 8 Democrats for each Republican. While the ratio was 4:1 in the professional schools, in more political disciplines, the ratio rose to 17:1 in the humanities and 21:1 in social sciences.

Over the last few decades, the imbalance has grown.

All this might be forgivable if graduates were still emerging with first-rate educations, but not so much.

The analysis begins from a nonpolitical fact: Numerous studies of both the UC system and of higher education nationwide demonstrate that students who graduate from college are increasingly ignorant of history and literature. They are unfamiliar with the principles of American constitutional government. And they are bereft of the skills necessary to comprehend serious books and effectively marshal evidence and argument in written work.

Higher price, lower quality.