THEY’RE NOT SMART ENOUGH TO BE NERDS, AND IT’S NOT A PROM: The Hill: It’s Time To End “Nerd Prom.” “In theory, the purpose of the dinner is to celebrate the value of a free and fearless White House press corps by setting aside one evening when those who cover the White House can sit down and break bread with the president, as reporters first did with President Calvin Coolidge in 1924, plus hand out a few scholarships. But today’s dinner is little more than an opportunity for out-of-town celebrities to strut their stuff.”

It does provide an instructive window into the Hunger Games-like culture of America’s capital though, and the participants are unself-conscious enough to let that really show.

MICHAEL A. COHEN: Bernie Sanders declares war on reality.

Instead of coming to grips with the overwhelming evidence that Democratic primary voters prefer Hillary Clinton be the party’s 2016 presidential nominee, Bernie Sanders continues to create his own political reality — devising new and creative excuses to explain why he’s losing to her and why he should be the party’s standard-bearer in November.

Don’t listen to the haters, Senator Sanders — keep making them feel the Bern.

TENNESSEE’S LIBERTARIAN BEACON CENTER files civil rights suit against Board Of Cosmetology. “Tennessee, along with just five other states, requires government permission to shampoo hair.”

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 1090.

MAKING THE RUBBLE BOUNCE: Hulk Hogan files a new lawsuit against Gawker.

SHIKHA DALMIA: Obama’s Cynical Games May Doom Immigration Reform: If he loses, he’ll only have himself to blame. It’s a safe bet, though, that he’ll do his best to blame Republicans.

YOU CAN ONLY ACCUMULATE FABULOUS WEALTH WHILE SUPPORTING REDISTRIBUTION FOR SO LONG: Taxpayers Eye the Ivory Tower.

There seems to be no safe haven for America’s wealthiest colleges these days. Congressional Republicans have been asking pointed to college presidents presiding over endowments in excess of $1 billion about how the funds are being spent; Connecticut legislators briefly pondered stripping the Yale endowment ($24 billion) of its tax-exempt status; and now, local taxpayers in Princeton, New Jersey, are trying to force their local university (endowment: $23 billion) to pay property taxes on its large swathes of real estate. . . .

Part of the impulse in Connecticut and New Jersey is the result of failed governance of these states, which have massive unfunded pension obligations and bloated public sector workforces that make it impossible to fund basic social services without squeezing taxpayers for more and more. But part of the impulse also stems from the failure of the elite higher education establishment, which seems to more and more Americans like an expensive luxury that primarily functions to perpetuate the privileges of the already-wealthy or the politically favored, all while reaping expensive tax subsidies from ordinary Americans who can never dream of an Ivy League education. Highly-endowed colleges, in other words, seem like an underperforming asset, whose wealth would better be put to use for other purposes.

And the notion that deciding what purposes other people’s wealth should be put to is a legitimate political choice — once anathema — has been mainstreamed by the academy.

MICKEY KAUS: Why is Trump Overperforming His Polls? “Certainly with David Brooks, George Will, and others banishing Trump voters (‘tainted forever after’ … ‘quislings’) and others vowing to maintain blacklists, there are plenty of reasons for at least upscale Republicans to not want to confess Trump symphathies to strangers. I’m not saying this means Trump will be competitive with Hillary in the voting booths. But it seems wise to increase your margin of doubt about his poll numbers.”

Related: Kurt Schlichter: Looking Back On How Trump Beat Hillary Clinton.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ ON THE HOLOCAUST: MANY VILLAINS, FEW HEROES:

There were also the countries that refused to accept Jews who might have escaped the Nazis had they been permitted to enter. These countries include the United States, Canada, and many other potential places of asylum that shut their doors. In the United States and Canada too, there were heroes who pressed their leaders to do more, but for the most part they failed.

Many Arab and Muslim leaders also played ignoble roles, siding with the Nazis and conducting their own pogroms against local Jews. The leading villain in this regard was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who joined Hitler in Berlin and played a hands-on role in sending Jews to their deaths and in keeping the doors of Palestine closed to Jewish refugees.

Somebody tell Ken Livingstone.

LIFE IN THE ERA OF HOPE AND CHANGE: Secret TTIP Docs Leaked: ‘Corporations At The Heart Of EU-US Policy Making.’

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN features some thoughts on politics, special interests, and societal collapse.

THE TSA WILL HAVE TO FIGHT THIS TOOTH-AND-NAIL, SINCE IT UNDERMINES ITS ENTIRE REASON FOR EXISTENCE: CEI Sues over TSA’s Body Scanners. “CEI et al. argue that TSA’s final rule fails to consider one important factor related to the deployment body scanners: a potential increase in highway injuries and deaths. If that sounds crazy, let me explain. Past research suggests that post-9/11 airport security policies were so invasive that a number of would-be air travelers decided to drive instead. Given the fact that auto travel is far more dangerous than air travel, three Cornell University economists found that TSA’s invasive, time-consuming airport screening policies resulted in about 500 additional highway fatalities annually in the years following 9/11—more than a fully loaded 747 per year.”

I think I wrote a column making this point over a decade ago.

RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: Afghan boy’s family flees Afghanistan in wake of viral Lionel Messi photos.

“Life became a misery for us,” said Ahmadi, speaking to The Associated Press over the telephone from Quetta. He added that the family didn’t want to leave Afghanistan, but the threats were just getting more and more serious.

Ahmadi said he feared that his son, Murtaza Ahmadi, would be kidnapped after becoming an Internet sensation after pictures of him wearing a Messi shirt made out of a striped plastic bag went viral.

The family first traveled to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, but couldn’t stay there long because of the high cost of living. They later moved to Quetta.

“I sold all my belongings and brought my family out of Afghanistan to save my son’s life as well as the lives of the rest of the family,” the father said.

Over a soccer jersey.

IT PASSED BOTH HOUSES OF THE LEGISLATURE BY VETO-PROOF MAJORITIES AND THE GOVERNOR LET IT PASS INTO LAW BECAUSE HE DIDN’T WANT TO BUCK ITS POPULAR SUPPORT. BUT IT’S “CONTROVERSIAL.” Faculty can carry handguns on public college campuses under controversial new Tennessee law.

CALIFORNIA VEGANS ASSEMBLE THE CIRCULAR FIRING SQUAD: Top L.A. Vegan Restaurant Owners Receiving Death Threats for Slaughtering Animals:

“People have taken up the mob mentality,” says Matthew. “It saddens me that the choices we made in the privacy of our home would lead people to feel so betrayed that it’s elevated to threats on our lives. I’m very discouraged.”

The trouble began last week when animal rights activists discovered and then widely circulated a 14-month-old blog post written by Terces on the Engelharts’ Be Love Farm website, which mixed an announcement of their transition back into a meat diet again after nearly 40 years of vegetarianism (they had been vegan since 2003) with posted pictures of strained beef broth and a freezer full of pastured beef from their own dairy cows. Matthew tells THR they have kept chickens on the farm for seven years “for eggs only,” along with the cows for five years for milk, cheese and butter that’s for sale. (He claims they’ve “harvested,” or slaughtered, several cows in total and never sold the meat, only shared it with “our friends, neighbors and community.”)

The news has come as a shock to many vegans, who have been regular customers of the restaurants and claim the Engelharts have built their brand on not just serving vegan food but clearly wrapping themselves in the righteousness of the vegan cause — which they argue has now been undermined. “The reason we’re so upset is that veganism is a belief system,” says Carrie Christianson, who started the Facebook boycott group. “You are patronizing a restaurant that you think has that philosophy, and it turns out it doesn’t. Vegans should know that this restaurant has a farm that slaughters animals.”

That’s the key line in this article: “The reason we’re so upset is that veganism is a belief system” — in other words, like radical environmentalism and radical feminism, veganism is one of many alternate religions that are subsets of the holistic New Age Left. (Nietzsche killed God, but man is hardwired to believe in a cause higher than himself. When traditional religion is rejected, the odds are pretty good that something cultish will be chosen to replace it.) The restaurant owners chose to cater to them, apparently without pondering the jihad they would face if and when they were discovered to be apostates by their core customers. Or as a wise social critic once described the nihilistic alternative lifestyles of California, “You can checkout anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

Related: Speaking of alternate religions, as Ace writes, “I am indebted to Christina Hoff Sommers for pointing out that every identity politics cult is just a conspiracy theory with a racial (or gender) edge.”

(Via Mickey Kaus.)

THEY’RE CALLED “ENABLERS:” The village that helped Hillary Clinton move past Bill’s infidelity.

THE GREEN WAR AGAINST THE WORKING CLASS: “To the left, the families whose lives are ruined are collateral damage to achieve their utopian dream of saving the planet. The Stalinists who now run the green movement believe the ends justify the ruthless means.”

Related: Hillary Flip-Flops on Coal, Now Wants Coal to Prosper.

FIGHT IT OUT ALL THE WAY TO THE CONVENTION FLOOR, BERNIE! Is it too late for Bernie Sanders to convince superdelegates to choose him?

On Sunday during a press conference to commemorate the first anniversary of his announcement for the presidency, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders indicated once again that he would be seeking to peel away superdelegates from his rival Hillary Clinton.

Sanders currently trails Clinton by 327 pledged delegates plus 481 superdelegates. If Sanders could convince the vast majority of Clinton’s superdelegates to defect to him, he could in theory win the nomination.

The notion is not unheard of. In 2008, Clinton also won the overwhelming support of superdelegates, but they started breaking away from her and supporting then-Sen. Barack Obama around the time she barely squeaked out what was supposed to be an easy win in Indiana.

The difference in 2016 is that Clinton is also winning primaries, and convincingly so. Sanders has won 17 primaries and caucuses across the country, but even when he wins, Clinton oftentimes gets more delegates because of superdelegate support.

Also, Bernie’s not black, so superdelegates won’t be called racist for backing Hillary.

BEGUN, THE TRUMP WARS HAVE: Democrats Plan to Pound Trump Before He’s Nominated.

ROGER SIMON ASKS: WHO WILL BE TRUMP’S VEEP?

Feel free to spin the wheel yourself in the comments below.

YEAH, HER RECORD’S AWFUL, WHICH IS WHY SHE’S RUNNING ON HER VAGINA: Trump rips Clinton’s ‘bad judgment.’

Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton’s judgment on Monday, foreshadowing an attack line that he could use in a general election showdown.

Trump argued that while suggesting Clinton isn’t qualified to be president is a “big stretch,” it’s fair to say the former secretary of State “suffers from bad judgment.”

“Emails, bad judgment. Iraq, voted yes, bad judgment. Libya, bad judgment. All bad judgment,” the GOP presidential front-runner said during a rally in Carmel, Ind., on the eve of the state’s primaries.

The attack is drawn from criticism offered by Clinton’s Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, who has criticized Clinton’s judgment and argued the former secretary of State was not qualified to be president. Sanders eventually backtracked on the latter remarks.

Trump signaled last week that he would be using Sanders’s attack lines on Clinton, saying during a television interview, “When he said ‘bad judgment’ I said, ‘sound bite!’ ”

“He said she suffers from bad judgment,” Trump said Monday, referring to Sanders. “It’s true.”

Yes, it is.

SOCIALISM: IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL LEAVE:

● Survey says: 34 percent of Bay Area residents are ready to leave.

● Black Residents Matter: They’re fleeing the most progressive cities—why?

Because unless you’re a One Percenter yourself, you can only stay on the front line’s of the left’s self-admitted mission to “rid society of the dictatorship of the middle class,” for so long.

THEY CHOSE POORLY: A Year Later, Baltimore Freddie Gray Rioters Get Serious Prison Time.