JONAH GOLDBERG: What ‘War On Women?’

On Friday, the White House announced its “It’s On Us” initiative aimed at combating sexual assaults on college campuses. I’m all in favor of combating sexual assault, but the first priority in combating a problem is understanding it.

That’s not the White House’s first priority. Roughly six weeks before election day, its chief concern is to translate an exciting social media campaign into a get-out-the-vote operation.

Accurate statistics are of limited use in that regard because rape and sexual assault have been declining for decades. So the Obama administration and its allied activist groups trot out the claim that there is a rape epidemic victimizing 1 in 5 women on college campuses. This conveniently horrifying number is a classic example of being too terrible to check. If it were true, it would mean that rape would be more prevalent on elite campuses than in many of the most impoverished and crime-ridden communities.

It comes from tendentious Department of Justice surveys that count “attempted forced kissing” and other potentially caddish acts that even the DOJ admits “are not criminal.”

According to one Justice Department survey, more than half the respondents said they didn’t report the assault because they didn’t think “the incident was serious enough to report.” More than a third said they weren’t clear on whether the incident was a crime. But President Obama uses these surveys to justify using the terms “rape” and “sexual assault” interchangeably.

And yet critics of the alleged rape epidemic are the ones who don’t take rape seriously? I would think conflating a boorish attempt at an undesired kiss with forcible rape is an example of not taking rape seriously.

Well, I’ll think they take rape seriously when they start talking about what women do. And quit firing people for listing well-placed Democrats’ convicted-rapist family members on sex-offender registries.

WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Defend Your Home With Artificial Intelligence.

BUBBLEICIOUS: Money Is Pouring Into Tech Like It’s 1999—And That’s Not Good. Well, it’s good for somebody.

YEP: NC State sociologists say Michelle Obama’s healthy eating program is classist and sexist.

AT AMAZON, deals galore on new iPhone 6 cases.

Plus, the new Restaurant & Bulk Food Grocery Store. Popular with preppers, I imagine.

DAVID BARON, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Rutgers student believed killed by New Jersey’s first fatal bear attack in over 150 years.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Plantar Fasciitis Relief.

DAVE WEIGEL ON THE ASSET FORFEITURE SCAM: Don’t steal — the government hates competition. “If there is a post-Ferguson marriage of principles between progressives and libertarians, it is breaking out in Philadelphia. The Institute for Justice’s stated goal is the end of civil forfeiture. As thousands of Philadelphians work through the system every year, they must wonder whether the libertarians have it right.”

BUT IT STILL WON’T GO AWAY: 9 Absurd Edit Justifications By Wikipedia’s Neil Tyson Truthers.

WELL, WE KNOW HE LIKES GUNS FOR HIMSELF. Ex-Sen. Jim Webb Seriously Looking At 2016 Run. Hillary’s looking weak.

MOB RULE ON CAMPUS: Vandalism on Ivy League Campus Attacks Conservative as ‘Racist Rape Apologist.’

Related: University of Chicago Gets Its Own ‘Rapist List.’ All by unaccountable anonymous types.

ASHE SCHOW: Anti-rape activist to men: Tell your buddies a woman is ‘ugly’ to prevent rape.

RULING CLASS HYPOCRISY: When Journalists Commit Domestic Violence. “Lo and behold, it seems that the media itself has a domestic violence problem. Ten cases discovered at first Google. Which is twice as many, to be specific, as the five cases that have had the media in such a frenzy over domestic violence in the National Football League. Where are these ten cases to be found? Two cases at ESPN, with the rest spread out over affiliates of ABC, CBS, NBC and, yes, the New York Times. And there are others for television stations not affiliated with the major networks. With all this massive focus on what the Wall Street Journal calls ‘moral preening’ in the media about domestic violence in the NFL — isn’t it a tad curious that the same ‘moral preening’ is absent, that the camera never swings around to the media itself?”

DESPITE THE ADMINISTRATION’S BEST EFFORTS, Dinesh D’Souza Will Not Face Jail Time.

WELL, THEY’VE BEEN ACTING LESS TRUSTWORTHY AND — IN THE CASE OF MICHAEL MANN — LIKE THEY’RE HIDING SOMETHING: Scientists seen as competent but not trusted by Americans.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Now That Cars Have Black Boxes, Am I Being Tracked? Who gets access to the info in your vehicle’s event data recorder?

BLOOMBERG EDITORIALIZES: Keep The White House Open. “Making the White House even less accessible to the public than it already is — in reaction to an isolated intrusion by a clearly troubled man — isn’t just a matter of inconvenience. It’s a matter of serious symbolic significance.”

BUT HOW’S THE CREASE? THAT’S THE IMPORTANT THING. Hillary Clinton, an empty (pant)suit?

RICHARD EPSTEIN: The Vogue of “Social Responsibility.”

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: A rape epidemic — by women? CDC report reveals troubling equality when it comes to sexual assault rates.

WASHINGTON FREE BEACON: Politico’s Epic Fail in Their Lois Lerner Interview. I wonder if, when they assigned this story to Rachel Bade, her bosses warned her how such a fluff-job might harm her credibility as a reporter?

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 502.

TARGETING THE CONSTITUTION: “It is now well known that the IRS targeted tea party organizations. What is less well known, but perhaps even more scandalous, is that the IRS also targeted those who would educate their fellow citizens about the United States Constitution.” They’re against anything that might stand in the way of Obama’s agenda. That certainly includes constitutional literacy.

CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS: Feminism vs. Truth. “Women in America are the freest in the world, yet many feminists tell us women are oppressed. They advocate this falsehood through victim mentality propaganda and misleading statistics, such as the gender wage gap myth.”