IF THEY’D DONE THIS UNDER OBAMA IT WOULD HAVE BEEN RACIST AND THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN HITLER: Report: 180 Federal Employees Sign Up for Workshop on Civil Disobedience.

None of this is making me less enthusiastic about reforming the civil service laws.

MESSAGING: “One problem with hyperbolically calling it a ‘Muslim ban’: you end up with headlines like ‘Most Americans support Muslim ban.'”

Plus: “The poll referred to in that headline (by Reuters/Ipsos) asked the question in a way that tipped people more negatively than another poll. In that other poll, by Rasmussen, likely U.S. voters favored Trump’s policy by a 23-point margin.”

FAKE NEWS: Man lied about mom dying abroad after Trump’s travel ban. “A man who claimed his mom died abroad after she was denied entry to the United States under President Trump’s travel ban has lied about the details surrounding her death, according to a mosque leader close to the family. Mike Hager told a news station WJBK on Tuesday that his sick mother died in Iraq on Saturday after being barred from entering the U.S., but Imam Husham Al-Hussainy denied the story, claiming the woman died five days before the ban was enacted.”

THIS SORT OF BEHAVIOR SEEMS LIKE A CONSPIRACY TO INTERFERE WITH THE EXERCISE OF A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT, AND THUS A FEDERAL CRIME: Violent protests force cancellation of Milo Yiannopoulos appearance at Berkeley. I hope that Attorney General Sessions will have the Justice Department look into this.

MORE: MILO Berkeley Event Evacuated as Masked Protesters Light Fires, Storm Venue.

STILL MORE: Thousands of Students and Anarchists Swarm Berkeley Campus to Protest Milo Speech. “Thousands of anarchists and students are swarming the University of California, Berkeley campus to protest a planned speech by Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulous. There is currently a large fire blazing in front of the student union, which is surrounded by a ring of protesters, many of whom are clad in black.”

Related: The Left Holds Itself To Lower Standards Of Behavior. As is common with small children and adolescents.

MORE STILL: “Berkeley still has rent control, but it hasn’t stopped Milo Yiannapoulos from living rent-free in the heads of the left. So in another triumph for his ironic performance art, a mini-riot has forced the cancelation of his speech here tonight.”

ENGLISH HAS THREE THOUSAND WORDS FOR BEING DRUNK: Look. This is BBC click bait. But it’s interesting click bait, especially for the ‘ramsquaddled’, ‘obfusticated’ and ‘sozzled’ and those as sloshed as a posh hooligan.

SPENGLER ON FAKE NEWS, FAILED STATES, AND ‘AMERICA FIRST:’ “One would have thought that a 90-day suspension of immigration from seven countries with minimal economic ties to the United States would be minor news. It has to be the best thing an American president has done since Ronald Reagan told Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall, because all the people I dislike have gone bat-guano crazy.”

Heh, indeed.™

55 GALLONS WORTH: Augason Farms Emergency Water Storage Supply Kit.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Ex-Utah teacher who sexually abused three students denied parole. “A former Utah teacher convicted of having sexual relationships with three male high school students will remain behind bars, a parole board said Wednesday. Brianne Altice will remain in prison for at least two more years and must attend sex offender treatment before a rehearing in April 2019, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole said.”

KNOXVILLE’S MAYOR: Knoxville will not be a sanctuary city.

AT AMAZON, deals on Dishwashers.

Plus, save on Jewelry.

WHY DEMOCRATS ARE PANICKING: Gov. Walker: White House interested in Wisconsin union law.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that he spoke with Vice President Mike Pence about how the White House can implement on a federal level parts of the Republican governor’s contentious policy that all-but eliminated collective bargaining for public sector unions in the state.

President Donald Trump has talked about wanting to weaken collective bargaining protections for federal employees, most of whom can’t currently bargain over wages or benefits, to make it easier to hire and fire government workers and base pay on merit rather than tenure. Those changes would require an act of Congress.

Walker severely restricted union power in Wisconsin and is now talking with the Trump administration about “how they may take bits and pieces of what we did” with the union law and civil service reform and “apply it at the national level.”

The hits just keep coming!

CHANGE: Trump Vows to Ease Rules for Drug Makers, but Again Zeros In on Prices.

HEH: Today Is Milo Day At UC Berkeley.

CHEERS! Raise a Glass to the Smithsonian’s First Beer Scholar.

HEH:

IMPORTANT NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF MEDICINE: 9 Reasons You Should Eat Dark Chocolate Every Single Day.

REX TILLERSON CONFIRMED with three Democratic votes.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: ABA President-Elect Seeks To Strip All Non-Accreditation Activities From Section Of Legal Education.

REPORTERS DEMANDED TO KNOW WHERE HE WAS GOING: President Trump Makes Unannounced Trip To Dover Air Force Base To Honor Fallen U.S. Navy SEAL. Let me know if it leads the evening news, since they were so interested.

PROTECTIONISM: Indiana house bill appears to target Tesla’s direct sales model.

ENDORSED: “You are picking up your child! GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!!! Your child is happy to see you! Are you not happy to see your child??” Day care’s message to parents goes viral.

FATHER KNOWS BEST: 8 Encouraging Family Movies That Show Fatherhood in a Positive Light.

I’d have ditched any one of the children’s movies on the list and replaced it with Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up. It takes a while for Seth Rogan’s stoner character to get serious about being a dad — and a mate — but the slow windup makes the payoff at the end that much more worthwhile.

IS SPACE THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH? NASA twins study may provide clue.

Astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in space aboard the International Space Station while twin brother and former astronaut Mark Kelly stayed on Earth. Meanwhile, scientists studied both men for hints of how extended time in space might affect the human body.

The researchers have started to share some of the preliminary results from this unprecedented study and one tidbit in particular caught my attention. Scott Kelly’s telomeres, which are stretches of DNA that act as a “cap” at the end of chromosomes to protect them from deterioration, grew to be longer than his brother’s during his time in orbit.

What’s interesting about this is that telomeres are associated with aging and longer telomeres are associated with longevity. Stress is one of the things that can shorten telomeres over time. So it was surprising to find that the stress of long-term space travel did not seem to negatively affect Scott Kelly’s telomeres.

“That is exactly the opposite of what we thought,” Susan Bailey, a radiation biologist at Colorado State University working with NASA to study the effect of space on telomeres, told Nature.

The effect seems to be temporary, with telomeres returning to normal after returning to normal Earth gravity, but I wonder if short-but-frequent stays in microgravity could be used to treat aging.

OBAMA’S LEGACY: FBI Continues To Demand Far More Info Than It’s Supposed To With Its National Security Letters.

NANCY PELOSI: Republicans’ health care plan will make America sick again.

Remember the dead, stacked like cordwood in front of nearly empty hospitals and clinics, heedless doctors and nurses laughing at the suffering, before ObamaCare was signed into law?