SPACE: Meet The Virgin Galactic Pilots.

JEZEBEL BLOGGER GETS JUSTIFIABLY SLAMMED BY TATTOO COMMUNITY. “In the end, just know this ‘SeeJaneMarie’: Tattooing is my tribe. We will allow you to be a tourist, we will even welcome you to join, but don’t be surprised that in 2015 there are still some things that cannot be bought, just earned.” See, this is how you respond to entitled whiners.

WHY THE GOP won’t win this election on foreign policy. Well, that depends on what happens in the next year or so.

AFTER ALL, IT WAS WRITTEN BY A BUNCH OF OLD, DEAD ELITIST WHITE GUYS: Liberal law professor Thomas Ginsburg in the NY Times, “Stop Revering Magna Carta.”

One clause prevents Jews from charging interest on a debt held by an underage heir. Another limits women’s ability to bear witness to certain homicides. . . .

In reality, Magna Carta was a result of an intra-elite struggle, in which the nobles were chiefly concerned with their own privileges. When they referred to the judgment of one’s peers, for example, they were not thinking about a jury trial. . . . The reference to one’s peers meant that nobles could not be tried by commoners, who might include judges appointed by the king. . . .

Magna Carta has everything going for it to be venerated in the United States: It is old, it is English and, because no one has actually read the text, it is easy to invoke to fit current needs. . . .  Tea Party websites regularly invoke it in the battle against Obamacare.

So basically, in the eyes of liberals/progressives, the Magna Carta is just like the US Constitution: An over-revered document tainted, as liberal law professor Louis Michael Seidman asserted (also in the NY Times), by “archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions.”

With attitudes like this it’s little wonder we are presently experiencing a crisis in respect for, and concomitant stability of, the rule of law.

RELATED: Rand Simberg’s apt thoughts on the Magna Carta and its modern salience.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 768.

IN LIGHT OF JEB BUSH’S ANNOUNCEMENT, here are my thoughts.

MORE SOCIAL “SCIENCE” FROM THE WAPO: Ashe Schow: New campus sexual assault survey proves just one thing: The Washington Post believes in ‘rape culture.’

But it’s the Post’s definition of “unwanted sexual contact,” which is used interchangeably with “sexual assault,” that really dooms the survey. David French of National Review pointed out that these two words are not synonyms, and can actually include “behaviors that are not only not criminal, but may not — depending on the circumstances — even constitute unlawful sexual harassment (which the Supreme Court has said requires proof of conduct so ‘severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit’).”

Further, as French noted, “unwanted” is also not a synonym for “without consent.” . . .

The Post’s examples of possible conduct (which include “forced kissing, touching of private parts, grabbing, fondling, rubbing up against you in a sexual way”) are similar to the questions asked in two other studies used by activists to claim campus sexual assault is such a big problem that we must enact draconian measures to convict more men. The category is so broad that the 20 percent figure includes everything from a kiss born from a misunderstanding to a forced rape.

The Post also includes a broad category of being “unable to provide consent or stop what was happening.” The reasons listed for being unable to consent were “passed out, drugged, or drunk, incapacitated, or asleep.” Almost everyone agrees that sexual contact while passed out or asleep constitutes rape, but just being drunk or the loosely defined “incapacitated” don’t necessarily point to sexual assault. Adding “drunk” into the mix helps to bump up the numbers without actually giving an accurate picture of criminal activity.

With this in mind, the question about “sexual contact” (the actual questions didn’t even say “unwanted”) while “incapacitated” (which had been defined to include “drunk”), which 14 percent of women answered “yes” to, isn’t as powerful. It could mean that any portion of that refers to women who had sexual contact while drunk, and how many sexually active adults can say they’ve never had drunk sex?

Stigmatizing drunk sex as rape is an assault upon Dionysexuals.

And, seriously, the effect of all these bogus claims is to normalize rape. If 1 in 5 or one in 4 college women is raped — and parents keep sending their daughters to college anyway — then rape must not be such a big deal. And, if you increase the kind of conduct that’s treated as rape to include all sorts of trivial incidents, then just as many women will be guilty of rape as men. Yet it’s overwhelmingly men who are targeted, suggesting that the whole thing is sex discrimination, creating a hostile education environment for male students.

BUT HEY, THE ACLU REALLY, REALLY SUPPORTS PRIVACY: Patrick Howley at the Daily Caller reports that the ACLU uses tracking software to monitor Capitol Hill Staffers.

The nonprofit civil liberties group uses a software system called “Capwiz” to insert cookies onto the computers of Capitol Hill staffers who click on links in the emails, multiple Capitol Hill offices recently discovered.

Ironically, the ACLU actually puts surveillance software into its emails campaigning against government surveillance. . . .

The ACLU’s method is similar to the practice of “spearfishing,” a tactic employed by the Chinese military.

But hey, their “heart” is in the right place, so that makes the ACLU’s surreptitious surveillance okay, just like the NSA.

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING A PENSION:

The outlook is not good, and it’s not clear what happens if states genuinely can’t pay what’s owed. Eventually, presumably, taxpayers and pensioners are going to have to split the bill, and the worse the funding levels, the more retirees are probably going to have to take the hit.

That said, assuming no payout at all is pretty extreme. KPERS is far from the worst offender on this front, and its managers are taking steps to make up their funding gap (though politicians may toy with the idea of reversing some of those steps as they begin to crunch the budget). Even if the worst happens, pensioners will not get nothing; they just won’t get as much as they were promised.

However, it’s still a good idea to diversify. Open up some IRAs, traditional or Roths, and once you’ve maxed those out, a taxable mutual fund account. That will ensure that if cuts do come, you will not suddenly see your income expectations dramatically reduced just at the time when you are least able to absorb the blow. Shoot for 10 percent of your income in non-pension savings, and then if you get your full pension, you’ll have that much more money for a fun retirement and spoiling your grandchildren.

Good advice. I don’t get a state pension — I have a defined-contribution plan — but if I did have a pension, this is exactly what I’d be doing.

SO BASICALLY EVERYTHING IS A MICROAGGRESSION: It’s official. The University of California, headed now by former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, has gone insane with political correctness. The confirmation comes via its new “faculty training guide,” which has conveniently listed some microaggressions to be avoided in the classroom, including:

• “I believe the most qualified person should get the job.”
• “Affirmative action is racist.”
• “Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough.”
• “When I look at you, I don’t see color.”
• “I don’t believe in race.”
• “Gender plays no part in who we hire.”

Alumni of the UC system should immediately cease wasting their charitable dollars on such an anti-intellectual, fascist institution. And any intelligent young person should avoid it like the plague. The system has clearly been captured by individuals with micro-brains possessing micro-tolerance and micro-confidence. It is–like too many institutions of “higher” learning–a place where critical thinking goes to die.

LIZ SHELD: Get Off My Lawn: Americans Prefer Living Among Armed Neighbors. “An impressive 68% say they would feel safer in a neighborhood where guns are allowed and only 22% say they would prefer to live in area where no one was allowed to have a gun.”

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NEW ROGER SIMON VIDEO: Let the Iowa 2016 Games Begin! Roger Simon Goes Hawkeye.

BECAUSE THEY’RE WRONG: “Why Are Democrats Losing The Debate Over Voting Rights?”

ABANDONED IS PUTTING IT LIGHTLY: Israel’s former Ambassador to the US: “How Obama Abandoned Israel“:

Mr. Obama posed an even more fundamental challenge by abandoning the two core principles of Israel’s alliance with America.

The first principle was “no daylight.” The U.S. and Israel always could disagree but never openly. Doing so would encourage common enemies and render Israel vulnerable. . . . And yet, immediately after his first inauguration, Mr. Obama put daylight between Israel and America. . . .

The other core principle was “no surprises.” President Obama discarded it in his first meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, in May 2009, by abruptly demanding a settlement freeze and Israeli acceptance of the two-state solution. The following month the president traveled to the Middle East, pointedly skipping Israel and addressing the Muslim world from Cairo.

Israeli leaders typically received advance copies of major American policy statements on the Middle East and could submit their comments. But Mr. Obama delivered his Cairo speech, with its unprecedented support for the Palestinians and its recognition of Iran’s right to nuclear power, without consulting Israel. . . .

The abandonment of the “no daylight” and “no surprises” principles climaxed over the Iranian nuclear program. . . .

Finally, in 2014, Israel discovered that its primary ally had for months been secretly negotiating with its deadliest enemy. The talks resulted in an interim agreement that the great majority of Israelis considered a “bad deal” with an irrational, genocidal regime. Mr. Obama, though, insisted that Iran was a rational and potentially “very successful regional power.”

The daylight between Israel and the U.S. could not have been more blinding. And for Israelis who repeatedly heard the president pledge that he “had their backs” and “was not bluffing” about the military option, only to watch him tell an Israeli interviewer that “a military solution cannot fix” the Iranian nuclear threat, the astonishment could not have been greater.

 Obama has been an unmitigated disaster for US-Israeli relations. 

TODAY ONLY AT AMAZON: iRobot Roomba 780 Vacuum Cleaning Robot for Pets and Allergies, $399.99 (33% off).

BYRON YORK: Jeb stresses compassion, ‘showing his heart’ in campaign rollout.

But to a number of Republican strategists, some associated with other presidential campaigns and some not, the video shows a GOP politician ignoring the challenge of winning his own party’s primaries before running a general election campaign. In addition, the video stresses Bush’s goodness so heavily that the strategists wonder whether even a positive attribute, like compassion, can be overdone. And finally, the video raises the question of whether an appeal to women voters can be taken so far that it gives a campaign ad an almost feminized quality.

Well, to be fair, that’s what’s selling this year. In 2016? Who knows? On the other hand, he’s trying to avoid Romney’s mistakes:

In a visit to May New Hampshire last month, Bush suggested that Romney’s problem was that he did not stress his own compassion and generosity before offering his campaign’s platforms. Romney “was a successful, loving, caring, generous man — and he never showed it,” Bush said. Voters, Bush continued, try to figure out whether a candidate understands their concerns before they consider the candidate’s programs: “Does he care about me? Do you like him? Does he have a sense of humor? Does he understand the fight I’m in? There’s some really basic questions you have to get to first before you get to the five-point plan to help people out.”

Of course, if you want to do better than Romney, you should take my advice. And really should have taken it two years ago.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: IRS Finds 6,400 New Lois Lerner Emails, Gives DUMBEST EXCUSE YET For Not Releasing Them. “Department of Justice lawyers Geoffrey J. Klimas and Stephanie Sasarak, acting as counsel for the IRS, submitted a U.S. District Court filing June 12 in the case Judicial Watch v. Internal Revenue Service. The court filing, provided to The Daily Caller, claims the IRS received new Lerner emails from the Treasury Department’s inspector general (TIGTA) but can’t fork over the emails to Judicial Watch, a nonprofit group suing to get the emails. Why? Because the IRS is busy making sure that none of the emails are duplicates – you know, so as not to waste anyone’s time.”

CHARLIE MARTIN solves the Mass Transit problem.

IDEA: REMAKE OF AIR FORCE ONE, BUT WITH HARRISON FORD PLAYING RONALD REAGAN. Ronald Reagan ‘Carried His Own Gun’ While President. “Meltzer was not able to determine if Reagan carried the gun from day one of his presidency, or if he began carrying after the failed March 30, 1981, attempt on his life.”

DEMOCRATS IN DISARRAY: McCarthy: Trade Vote Reveals ‘Civil War’ in Democratic Party.

Following last week’s failed vote on Trade Adjustment Assistance, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was more than happy Monday to point his finger at the other side of the aisle and say, “Look at the dysfunction inside the Democratic Party!”

“It’s almost like a civil war in the Democratic Caucus,” McCarthy said during a pen-and-pad briefing with reporters.

Specifically, McCarthy was referring to House Democrats voting down the TAA program, which they favor, in an effort to stymie President Barack Obama’s trade deal with Pacific countries. On June 12, Democrats overwhelmingly voted down TAA, which they were expected to carry, so that Trade Promotion Authority, which would “fast-track” a long-awaited Pacific trade deal, could not make its way to the president’s desk.

Democrats simply blocked Obama from securing a pathway to finalize the trade deal. And while Republicans by-and-large support Obama finishing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, they aren’t exactly against the #DemsInDisarray narrative.

Just hours after Obama left a closed-door meeting with Democrats and just minutes before the House was to vote on the trade authority legislation, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made a rambling, seemingly off-the-cuff speech where, after 13 minutes, she finally revealed that she would be voting against TAA to block the overall fast-track authority — a position at odds with Obama but in accordance with the majority of the House Democratic Caucus.

Related: How Pelosi Broke With Obama.

SO JEB BUSH IS GETTING SOME SKINNY SHOULDERS CRITICISM. Well, see, he’s lost a lot of weight, and you tend to lose quite a bit of muscle when you do that. I recommend that he pay Mark Rippetoe a visit. Besides, iron-pumping video always looks good. Reagan used it!

MAN OF THE PEOPLE: White House defends private Prince party.

The White House on Monday defended a private concert over the weekend featuring Prince and Stevie Wonder, saying the Obamas paid for it themselves.

Around 500 people attended the event, which was not disclosed on the president’s public schedule. Press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed the first couple hosted a private party for their friends and said they “did it on their own dime.”

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, singer Ciara, and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those in attendance. The guest list reportedly also included powerful business figures such as Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and American Express CEO Ken Chenault.

Given the size of the party and the influential guest list, Earnest was asked why the event was not made public. The spokesman said hosting a private event, while an “appropriate thing” to do, is “not part of the responsibilities of the president and first lady.” . . .

He said the White House would not release a guest list.

Well, okay then.

FALLEN ANGELS WAS JUST A SCIENCE FICTION STORY, RIGHT GUYS? RIGHT? GUYS? America’s Most Advanced Climate Station Data Shows US In A 10-Year Cooling Trend.