WELL, SO FAR ALL THE CASUALTIES ARE ON THEIR SIDE: ISIS Declares War On Pam Geller. Seriously, guys, are you sure you want to be the focus of her attention?

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 727.

BECAUSE #DIVERSITY (TRANSGENDER VERSION)!:  Obama’s EEOC has ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964–which prohibits discrimination “based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin”–was violated by the Army when it refused to allow a transgender, male-to-female, civilian employee to use the women’s restroom.

The individual met with Army supervisors and discussed her transition from male-to-female, agreeing to a written plan that would allow him/her to use a single-user restroom rather than the general women’s restroom, at least until the individual had his external male genitalia removed. When he/she found the single-user restroom closed for repairs, he/she decided to use the women’s restroom, triggering understandable discomfort by other women in the office.  He/she then filed a civil rights claim with the EEOC, claiming he/she was being harrased “based on sex” due to a “hostile working environment.”

Obama’s EEOC agreed that the Army’s actions constituted discrimination based on sex, even though this individual was still, biologically, a man.  As Ed Whelan at NRO aptly observes:

But the EEOC has now ruled that an employer engages in discrimination on the basis of sex when it treats a man who thinks he’s a woman the same as it treats all other men—by barring all of them from using female restroom facilities.

What’s more, even though Lusardi did not complain about it, the EEOC goes out of its way in a footnote to opine that his employer unlawfully deprived him of the “use of common locker and shower facilities that non-transgender employees could use.” In other words, according to the EEOC majority, it’s unlawful sex discrimination to bar a man who thinks of himself as a woman from sharing locker and shower facilities with women.

There is a lot more of this craziness to come, and it will soon reach a work location near you. According to someone who is very well informed about the EEOC, the EEOC issued the decision because it has filed suits against employers about transgender employees and plans to file more very soon, and it wants its litigators to be able to cite something as legal support for its adventuresome claims.

Whelan is right–ladies had better get used to seeing male genitalia in their restrooms, because diversity! Personally, I would be deeply offended by this happening, prior to the “final” surgery of a male-to-female transsexual–talk about a hostile working environment!

A recent oped in Slate indicates that the progressives have the elimination of separate gender bathrooms on their target list:

But as a straight man, gender-neutral bathrooms matter a lot to me, too—in part because I want the trans community to enjoy the same privileges I do, but also because nothing irks me more than seeing a long line snake out from the women’s room while the men’s room sits vacant, or vice versa. This affront to queuing theory and common sense is never more irksome than when the bathrooms in question serve just one person at a time. In such spaces, the concepts of a “men’s room” and a “women’s room” are completely imaginary; the room belongs to whoever is in it, although that philosophy didn’t impress the two older women waiting for me when I exited “their” one-toilet restroom at a McDonald’s last summer, nor did it stay the manager they’d convinced to escort me Big Mac-lessly to the parking lot.

So there you have it:  It’s all about being “fair” to women, who have longer lines during intermission and the seventh inning stretch.  Right.  And the notion of “men” and “women” (and their respective restrooms) is far from “completely imaginary”– it is basic science.  What are they now, a bunch of science deniers?

Thank you very much for your concern about my waiting time for a private stall, but I’d still prefer waiting in a long line to having to see strange men lined up at a urinal, or worrying that some creepy dude is going to be trying to peep through the gap in the door.  And I know my teenage daughter (and my husband) would feel the same way as I do, so the oped writer’s attempt to dismiss opposition as generational is utterly ignorant.

I remember when, as a kid, my mom used to tell me that she didn’t support ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment because she believed it would result in the elimination of separate men’s and women’s restrooms.  I thought that sounded scary back then, and it still does.  But hey– no need for a constitutional amendment!–we can just pack the EEOC (and federal courts) with progressives and accomplish the same thing. 

NEWS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM: Oklahoma Governor Signs Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Reform Bill.

Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Mary Fallin has signed into law reforms that will allow judges some leeway and discretion from the state’s many mandatory minimum sentences.

The state’s Justice Safety Valve Act, HB 1518, will allow judges to give shorter sentences or divert some offenders to mental health or drug treatment programs for many nonviolent crime convictions if they deem it more helpful than prison. . . .

Under the bill, judges would not be able to apply their discretion for violent crimes, sex crimes that would require offender registration, repeat crimes, or for crimes in which the defendant was a “leader of others in a continuing criminal enterprise.”

But that’s not the only criminal justice reform recently passed in Oklahoma. At the end of April the governor signed into law a bill that altered the state’s occupational licensing rules to assist former offenders. Alas, HB 2168 doesn’t eliminate occupational licensing in fields like architecture, cosmetology, surveying, athletic training, and several others. What it does do is allow the state to still license people in these fields who had been convicted of crimes, as long as said crimes are not connected to the fields in which they work. That’s still a significant improvement.

Yes. Jail is punishment. When you’re out of jail, the punishment should be over, and any restrictions that remain should be legitimate precautions, and no broader than they need to be.

WELL, TO BE FAIR, HILLARY DID ORDER CHIPOTLE THE OTHER DAY: With Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Are Republicans Having a Latino Moment?

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HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: We Would Be Better Off If 30 Law Schools Closed.

ANNALS OF THE .01 PERCENT: Hillary Favorite Candidate Among Millionaire Voters.

ISIS GATHERING ON MEXICAN BORDER?:  According to Judicial Watch, ISIS is operating a camp in Mexico, just a few miles from the El Paso border.  Judicial Watch contends:

During the course of a joint operation last week, Mexican Army and federal law enforcement officials discovered documents in Arabic and Urdu, as well as “plans” of Fort Bliss – the sprawling military installation that houses the US Army’s 1st Armored Division. Muslim prayer rugs were recovered with the documents during the operation. . . .

According to these same sources, “coyotes” engaged in human smuggling – and working for Juárez Cartel – help move ISIS terrorists through the desert and across the border between Santa Teresa and Sunland Park, New Mexico. To the east of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, cartel-backed “coyotes” are also smuggling ISIS terrorists through the porous border between Acala and Fort Hancock, Texas. These specific areas were targeted for exploitation by ISIS because of their understaffed municipal and county police forces, and the relative safe-havens the areas provide for the unchecked large-scale drug smuggling that was already ongoing.

Mexican intelligence sources report that ISIS intends to exploit the railways and airport facilities in the vicinity of Santa Teresa, NM (a US port-of-entry). The sources also say that ISIS has “spotters” located in the East Potrillo Mountains of New Mexico (largely managed by the Bureau of Land Management) to assist with terrorist border crossing operations. ISIS is conducting reconnaissance of regional universities; the White Sands Missile Range; government facilities in Alamogordo, NM; Ft. Bliss; and the electrical power facilities near Anapra and Chaparral, NM.

Politifact rates Judicial Watch’s claim as false.  But then again, Politifact is dishonest and partisan, as has been noted here before.  When Judicial Watch was not willing to offer up the identity of its sources, telling Politifact it “would get them killed,” Politifact asked the Department of Homeland Security and FBI, which denied the claim.  Politifact then called the Mexican government, which “categorically” denied the claim.  And hey, who wouldn’t believe the Obama Administration (they never lie), or the Mexican government, whose President recently called Americans who oppose amnesty racist?

Move along.  Nothing to see here.  There’s no need to build a fence or anything– that would be racist.

At least Texas Governor Greg Abbott is doubling down on former Governor Rick Perry’s commitment of Texas National Guard troops for border security.

UPDATE:  An astute InstaP reader corresponded with the Politifact author, asking “Wouldn’t you agree that a lack of ‘on the record’ corroboration doesn’t determine whether a statement is false?,” to which the Politifact author, Gardner Selby, replied, “Our editors took the absence of on-the-record corroboration to indicate the claim was False.”

So apparently, according to Politifact, “false” doesn’t mean what most of us think it means– i.e., untrue. It means it cannot be corroborated by direct evidence. By this standard, the existence of God, extra-terrestrials and much of history is “false,” since it cannot be corroborated by anyone with first-hand knowledge, and not just “uncorroborated.”

I’m not taking any position on whether Judicial Watch’s sources are good ones or not (who knows?).  But I do see a material difference between calling something “false” versus “uncorroborated.”  Politifact thinks they are synonymous, which is interesting.

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: IRS Scandal: I Was Targeted and I’ve Got Proof it Was a Democratically-led Conspiracy. “I was targeted by the IRS in a coordinated attack at the highest levels of government…and we now have the proof. My IRS files, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, clearly implicate the IRS and a Democratic U.S. senator.”

HOW BUREAUCRATS BUILD EMPIRES: Ashe Schow: Surprise, surprise: Campus sexual assault hysteria led to more reporting, now they want more money.

After years of claiming that large swaths of American college students will be sexually assaulted — and passing laws and directives to “solve” the problem — incident reports are up. And because of that, activists in Congress predictably want more money.

Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Tim Kaine of Virginia are calling for more money now that their campaigns have helped increase reporting. Of course, they don’t acknowledge that more reports doesn’t necessarily equal more assaults.

“This new data makes clear why the Education Department must step up its efforts to address the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses, and why Congress must ensure it has the resources it needs to protect students,” Senator Boxer said in a press release emailed to the media.

Gillibrand echoed this sentiment: “These figures still don’t reflect even conservative estimates of the actual incidence of sexual assault and rape on campuses, and still the Department of Education lacks the resources to promptly investigate the few complaints against schools that are filed.”

These senators have been major proponents of getting colleges more involved in adjudicating sexual assault. That effort has led to kangaroo courts and colleges are being sued by both accusers and the accused over the lack of a fair process. For accusers, the best a campus court can do is expel a rapist, meaning he remains free to prey on others. For the accused, the Department of Education and activists have helped foster a “guilty until proven innocent” mentality that forces colleges to find against the accused without providing them a way to tell their side.

Because of the constraints put on colleges, more students are suing and filing complaints with the Education Department. And because of that, Sens. Boxer, Gillibrand and Kaine are asking for increased government spending.

Kirsten Gillibrand hasn’t even apologized for continuing to smear a Columbia student, who was cleared by the university and the police, as a rapist.

FREE SPEECH HERE? BUT THIS IS A UNIVERSITY! Charlie Hebdo censorship controversy at the University of Minnesota.

NEWS IN FEDERAL LAW-ENFORCEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY: Roll Call: GOP Leaders Not Briefed on Bodyguards’ Lost Guns.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., might never have known their bodyguards left guns in the bathroom without CQ Roll Call’s report, which has launched a Capitol Police investigation into the source of the leak.

Spokesmen for the two GOP leaders on Tuesday made their first comments on the security lapses that were revealed May 1, in a report featuring a photo of the Glock a member of McConnell’s detail allegedly left hanging out of a toilet seat cover dispenser in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Senate office space. A CVC worker found the gun on Jan. 29, resulting in a recommendation of six days of unpaid suspension for the officer.

“Leader McConnell learned about these incidents last week,” Michael Brumas said in an email to CQ Roll Call. “He takes these security breaches seriously and he awaits the results of a thorough review of the incidents by the Capitol Police Board.”

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel also confirmed his boss was not aware until last week of the March 24 incident, when a child visiting the Capitol with his parents allegedly found a loaded Glock lost by a dignitary protection officer in the bathroom of the Speaker’s Suite.

Remember, the Obama Administration — and Al Sharpton — think more federal control of police is a good idea.

THE HILL: Republicans pass a budget, flexing power of majority.

Congressional Republicans scored a major legislative victory on Tuesday as the Senate adopted the first bicameral GOP budget agreement in a decade.

The 51-48 vote capped weeks of work by Republican leaders in the House and Senate, who shepherded the blueprint through a messy debate over defense spending that at times threatened to split their conferences.

The blueprint passed the House last week, and will not require a signature from President Obama.

Passing a budget, which is always a heavy lift, was particularly important for Senate Republicans, who are seeking to demonstrate their ability to govern in a difficult 2016 election cycle — they are defending 24 seats.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had ripped Democrats for years over their failure to pass a budget, and said Tuesday’s vote shows his GOP majority is getting the Senate working again. . . . Democrats, who voted in unison against the budget in both chambers of Congress, said Republicans would come to regret calling for trillions of dollars in cuts to federal spending.

It’ll be interesting to see how Obama responds.

WELL, NOW THERE’S A REPUBLICAN SENATE. New Congress, New Round in Senate Fight Over Obama’s Judges. Given Harry Reid’s behavior when Dems were in the majority, I think I’d simply refuse to vote on any Obama nominees. But what do I know; I’m not a slick Washington operator like Mitch McConnell.

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S GROWING EMBRACE OF ANTI-SEMITISM:

Last night at a public hearing on the budget in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a flyer with the following headline was circulated:

From Baltimore to Jerusalem It’s the Same Game. In 10 years Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin sent 1.2 billion dollars of Maryland Federal taxpayer money to the Apartheid state of Israel to build schools, roads and other infrastructure while saying Maryland doesn’t have the money to help develop our communities.

The flyer goes on to attack the “Israel lobby,” which allegedly is using Black politicians to split the African-American vote so as to “ensure that Blacks don’t get political power in the Senate.” It also accuses “apartheid” Israel of training U.S. cops in how to “set up paramilitary police armies in minority neighborhoods. . .all across the [United States].” And it accuses Israel of sending Black Jews to prison camps and suppressing the birth rate of Black Jews. . . .

Who circulated the flyer? Surely, it was supporters of Donna Edwards, the African-American congresswoman who is running against Van Hollen for the Senate. It would be interesting to hear what Edwards has to say about this attack on her rival and a sitting Democratic (Jewish) Senator.

When you elect a racist hatemonger, you get racist hatemongering.

EUGENE VOLOKH: Why Elton Simpson, one of the Texas shooters, had been acquitted of an earlier terrorism-related offense.

REPUBLICAN, ERIC GARNER PROSECUTOR, wins in Staten Island special Congressional election.

IN A REYNOLDS ADMINISTRATION, THEY’D BE RAISED AS JANISSARIES: The Coming Summer Border Surge of Illegal Immigrant Children. Okay, actually that’s more like what a Schlichter Administration would do. I’d just bill Mexico for their care, via a brutal tax on remittances.

COWARDS AND CENSORS LOSE ONE: Charlie Hebdo Receives Free Speech Award, Standing Ovation at PEN Gala. But don’t forget who the cowards and censors were. They revealed themselves.

SPACE: SpaceX to test manned Dragon spacecraft May 6. “What makes SpaceX‘s Launch Abort system different is that it’s integrated directly into the walls of the spacecraft, instead of consisting of a separate rocket tower on top. Rather than becoming useless just a few minutes into ascent, as the rocket tower would, SpaceX’s new system protects the crew and spacecraft all the way into full orbit. Thanks to the use of the craft’s eight SuperDraco rocket engines, the system is powerful enough for 120,000 pounds of axial thrust in under one second, and can launch the Dragon craft over 300 feet in two seconds.”

More here: “The test window will open at 7 a.m. May 6 and extend until 2:30 p.m. EDT. NASA will provide updates about the test on our Commercial Crew Blog and air the test live on NASA Television.”

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WHEN LEFTIES EAT THEIR OWN: Did feminists chase Joss Whedon off Twitter? “The going theory is that Whedon quit after heavy backlash from feminists about the portrayal of women in ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Among the complaints were Black Widow’s heart-wrenching monologue about not being able to have children and Laura Barton (Hawkeye’s wife) being pregnant in the kitchen.”

MIKE HUCKABEE: The Anti-Libertarian.

Yeah, Helen and I talked with him a while back, and he was pretty anti-libertarian then, too. Bonus — watch Helen’s facial expressions. Extra bonus: Huckabee’s reference to how he looks in a teddy. Extra-extra bonus: Huckabee doesn’t actually appear in a teddy.