JOEL KOTKIN: “It took the Roman Republic five centuries to devolve into a centralized despotism. It may take ours roughly 240 years to get to the same place, but with decidedly less upside.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: The Most Under-Represented Groups In Law Teaching Are Whites, Christians, Republicans, Males.

THIS IS WHY PEOPLE LIKE HIM: Little Is Off Limits as Donald Trump Plans Attacks on Hillary Clinton

“FOR WHO? FOR WHAT?”

WHY SO RACIST AT VIRGINIA TECH? Jason Riley and the Left’s conservative minority problem.

Jason Riley must be suffering from whiplash. This spring, the Wall Street Journal columnist and scholar with the prestigious Manhattan Institute was invited, then disinvited, and now finally re-invited to give a lecture at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business as part of its Distinguished Lecture series.

The controversy stems from the fact that Riley is a conservative in an era when conservative viewpoints are unwelcome on many college campuses. Riley, thus, joins a long list of right-leaning analysts and policymakers – including George Will, Greta Van Susteren, Ann Coulter, and Scott Brown to name just a few — whom activists have sought (with mixed results) to “disinvite” from campus speaking engagements around the country.

But Riley’s politics are only partially to blame for his “disinvitation.” If politics alone were to the issue Virginia Tech would not have hosted a lecture by earlier this year by conservative scholar Charles Murray.

To be sure, student protests of Murray’s lecture made administrators skittish about bringing Riley to campus — one conservative is more than enough! But Riley’s real offense is not that he is a conservative, it is that he is a black conservative who not only expresses conservative viewpoints on economics and foreign affairs, but who dares to challenge the prevailing liberal orthodoxy on race.

Yep.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: For Obama, an Unexpected Legacy of Two Full Terms at War, Longer Than Any Other President. This is what happens when you wage war half-heartedly, by committee, and on the cheap. ” President Obama came into office seven years ago pledging to end the wars of his predecessor, George W. Bush. On May 6, with eight months left before he vacates the White House, Mr. Obama passed a somber, little-noticed milestone: He has now been at war longer than Mr. Bush, or any other American president.”

Of course, it’s “little noticed” because the press didn’t want people to notice it, because he’s a Democrat.

ANOTHER RUBE SELF-IDENTIFIES: Sorry, We Don’t Take Obamacare.

AMY MOSES and her circle of self-employed small-business owners were supporters of President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. They bought policies on the newly created New York State exchange. But when they called doctors and hospitals in Manhattan to schedule appointments, they were dismayed to be turned away again and again with a common refrain: “We don’t take Obamacare,” the umbrella epithet for the hundreds of plans offered through the president’s signature health legislation.

“Anyone who is on these plans knows it’s a two-tiered system,” said Ms. Moses, describing the emotional sting of those words to a successful entrepreneur.

They were warned.

YEP: Japanese 3D Galaxy Map Confirms Einstein Was One Smart Dude.

I’VE BEEN RUNNING INTO A LOT OF FALSE DICHOTOMIES: Cake or Death, the Grudge Match.

NOT ENOUGH REPORTING ON VENEZUELA: Millennials Embrace Socialism, but Do They Know What It Is?  If they went to public school their teachers just told them how wonderful it is.  The kids will grow out of it, but before or after they take all of us screaming down to Venezuela?

I FOR ONE WELCOME… A Major Law Firm Will Soon Be Using A Robotic Lawyer.

FROM JOHN VAN STRY: Portals of Infinity: Kaiju.

END STAGE SOCIALISM: Dying Infants and No Medicine: Inside Venezuela’s Failing Hospitals.

FROM MARY CATELLI: Winter’s Curse.

AND RUMORS OF WAR: Pentagon: China Restructures for War.

FROM ALMA BOYKIN: Alexi, Ivan, and the Hidden Heart.

BEFORE WE GO VENEZUELA: Reflections on Venezuela’s “Economic Miracle”.

WHAT PART OF FIRST AMENDMENT DON’T THEY UNDERSTAND? Environmentalist Group Warned Against Federal Charges for ‘Deniers’

SJWs THAT WHICH SUCKS JOY OUT OF LIFE: Ghost In The Shell, Again.