CHANGE: California’s diversity undermining effort to reinstate college affirmative action policy. “Three Asian-American state senators killed an effort to reinstate affirmative action for college admissions in California. On Monday, Assembly Speaker John Perez announced he was shelving a bill that would have rolled back Prop 209, the 1996 ballot initiative that banned the practice, after the three legislators switched their votes to oppose the bill. The three lawmakers — San Francisco’s Leland Yee, and Ted Lieu and Carol Liu, both of Los Angeles County — said they were reversing their stances after hearing from Asian-American constituents who worried that undoing Prop 209 would harm their children’s chances regarding college admissions.”

IF YOU’RE A WOMAN AT A TECH FIRM, AND YOU’RE OFFENDED BY THE WORD “MERITOCRACY,” THEN YOU SHOULDN’T BE THERE.

AT AMAZON, Spring markdowns in Home & Kitchen.

Plus, new coupons in Household Supplies.

POINTS AND FIGURES: “Inflation is starting to really mean something when it comes to food and energy.”

MEDIA INCEST: Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie marries Clinton/Gore operative Mike Feldman. He’s the one who advised Al Gore to pursue a recount after conceding (though this story says in 2004, not 2000 — oops!), a strategy that did enormous damage to the nation. But he’s “a super-successful businessman!” And he’s married to a woman who’ll play an important role in telling women to vote for Hillary!

FIRST IT WAS EZRA KLEIN’S DIVERSITY PROBLEMS, NOW THIS: The awful gender optics at FiveThirtyEight. Though all the editors at, say, The Frisky are white women and nobody complains about diversity or “optics” there.

AT AMAZON, roll into Spring, with Lawn & Garden Essentials.

Plus, deals on Electric Lawn Equipment.

NEW YORK TIMES’ MICHAEL SHEAR: The Panic Is Beginning To Set In Among Democrats.

LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: ‘Most transparent’ White House ever rewrote the FOIA to suppress politically sensitive docs.

It’s Sunshine Week, so perhaps some enterprising White House reporter will ask press secretary Jay Carney why President Obama rewrote the Freedom of Information Act without telling the rest of America.

The rewrite came in an April 15, 2009, memo from then-White House Counsel Greg Craig instructing the executive branch to let White House officials review any documents sought by FOIA requestors that involved “White House equities.”

That phrase is nowhere to be found in the FOIA, yet the Obama White House effectively amended the law to create a new exception to justify keeping public documents locked away from the public.

Perhaps Americans should start “effectively amending” laws themselves.

DENIAL AIN’T JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT. IT’S ALSO A KEY MEDIA TECHNIQUE: The Big Story–the Global War–Goes Mostly Unreported.

LIFE AS A FEMALE STUNT DOUBLE.

WHITE HOUSE PASTRY CHEF RESIGNS OVER MICHELLE OBAMA’S ANTI-FOOD CAMPAIGN: “I don’t want to demonize cream, butter, sugar and eggs.”

WHERE’S THE FUN IN THAT? A startlingly simple theory about that missing Malaysian Airlines jet.

STUDY: Female Academics More Strict About Hierarchy. “Women of different social or professional ‘ranks’ within academic departments collaborate less than men do, according to a new Harvard study, suggesting that female full professors prefer to work on academic papers with other female full professors rather than assistant professors. When the pool was narrowed to women of the same rank, collaboration was equal to that of men.”

It is really not surprising that women are more rank-conscious.

WASHINGTON: Nancy Pelosi Admits That Congress Is Scared Of The CIA.

A few months back, the ACLU had posted something questioning whether or not the intelligence community might be blackmailing Congress. And, quite frequently when we write about the intelligence community, we see suggestions in the comments that certain politicians probably cover for the NSA and CIA because they know what those agencies “have on them.” I’ve always dismissed those kinds of claims as being a bit far-fetched, even if they have plenty of historical precedent. So far, there’s certainly been no direct evidence of that happening.

And yet… Pelosi’s comments certainly seem to hint at even more nefarious activity by the intelligence community against politicians who dare to actually do the job of oversight.

Well, to be fair, she’s probably got more to hide than most. Related item here.

ETHICS: Incoherent ethical claims that give philosophers a bad rap. Well, those, and the drinking. And the calls to criminalize scientific dissent.

FASTER, PLEASE: Microbes And Metabolites Fuel An Ambitious Anti-Aging Project.

UGH: Shooting Starts in Crimea as Putin Defends Annexation.

THE FACE OF EVIL: New legislation will ban the Jaguar E-Type from downtown London.

IS IT A PARODY? WHO CAN TELL THESE DAYS? 5 Things Women Need To Do In Their 20s, Or Else The Suffragettes Died For Nothing.

7 AMAZING THINGS you can do with sound.

INDEED: On Russia, Mitt Romney gets to say ‘I told you so.’ “Snark isn’t a foreign policy.”

Related: Lapdogs, unite! Obama’s ‘team of merry manchildren’ mocks Romney Russia op-ed.

HEY, THEY DON’T CALL OBAMA PRESIDENT GOLDMAN SACHS FOR NOTHING: Eric Holder Gives Pass to Banking Criminals at Credit Suisse. “When it comes to the Tea Party, Obama’s IRS probes private citizens beyond the legal limits. But when it comes to Swiss banks engaged in widespread criminal conduct, Eric Holder’s Justice Department turns a blind eye.”

PHILOSOPHY PROFESSORS SOMETIMES WONDER WHY THEIR PROFESSION HAS LOST PUBLIC RESPECT. THIS GUY’S A PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR: US college professor demands imprisonment for climate-change deniers.

A MILITARY WITCH-HUNT SO BAD THE NEW YORK TIMES HAS NOTICED: “The deal followed a stunning ruling by a military judge last week suggesting that by holding out for more severe punishment, and by rejecting an earlier plea deal, the senior Army officer overseeing the prosecution might have been improperly influenced by political considerations in bringing the most severe charges against the general because of a desire to show new resolve in the military against sexual misconduct. The prosecution had also been badly shaken by revelations that the general’s accuser may have lied under oath. . . . In the Sinclair matter, the commanding officer appears to have ignored his colleagues’ reservations in an effort to look tough on sexual assaults and avoid criticism at a moment when the military is under pressure to address its sexual assault crisis. Yet tilting the scales of justice to look tough is no less reprehensible than tilting them against victims of abuse by senior officers.” In this Administration, politicized justice has become the norm. It’s a big deal when someone even notices.