THE COLLEGE FIX  REPORTS ON LAST WEEK’S 50-47 CONFIRMATION OF KEN MARCUS AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF EDUCATION FOR CIVIL RIGHTS:  In a saner world the Marcus nomination would have been uncontroversial, but … well … we may not be in the best of all possible worlds.

A conservative asked me recently why Trump bothered to nominate someone for this job at all.  Why not just leave it vacant?  I was a bit surprised at the question.  But let me explain:

The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights heads the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education.  OCR’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget was $108.5 million; it has 12 regional offices around the country and employs armies of lawyers and investigators.  This is the office that gave us the transgender locker room guidance, the sexual assault on campus guidance that denies due process to accuseds, the disparate impact in school discipline guidance, and much more.  Even many liberals understand that OCR’s actions during the Obama Administration were counterproductive.

Leaving the political positions there unfilled doesn’t mean that nothing will happen at OCR.  It means that the policy preferences of civil service employees will reign supreme.  When a left-of-center President is elected, this may not be a disaster for his supporters, since civil service employees tend to be left-of-center (and civil service employees in civil rights offices are often very left-of-center).  When a right-of-center President is elected, leaving positions unfilled means the election has been effectively nullified in a hugely important area of the law.

OCR has very few political appointees in charge of a huge number of civil service employees.  It’s hard enough to ensure that elections will have the consequences when all those positions are filled.  It is impossible when the Senate sits on nominations for extended periods of time.

BTW:  If you want to know why OCR has such a large budget, despite its tendency toward overreach the answer is this:  During the Obama Administration, Congressional Republicans were alerted many times to OCR’s overreach.  But, despite being in the majority and despite the urgings of many (including mine), they were too timid object to large increases in its budget.

BUT THE NARRATIVE! Trump Approval Rating Better than Obama and Reagan at Same Point in their Presidencies.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Is President Trump looking to win over African American voters?

Speaking at a rally near Lansing, Trump said, “Look how much African American communities have suffered under Democratic control. To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new, like Trump? What do you have to lose?”

He didn’t lose Michigan. He carried that state and others with the help of voters who broke with their history of reliably voting for Democrats.

Democratic politicians who contemptuously refer to Trump by an assortment of synonyms for “idiot” may be surprised when they find out that his plan to win the vote of every single African American is still an active project.

Trump’s skillfully executed plan is visible in front of everybody, if you just tune in and watch him.

On May 30, Trump met with reality TV star Kim Kardashian at the White House. She wanted to make the case for commuting the prison sentence of Alice Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother who had served over 20 years of a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense.

Trump’s a busy man and he could have spoken with Kardashian on the phone, or even on Twitter, but instead he held an Oval Office meeting with the popular celebrity. Why?

So you would see it.

This isn’t dumb. Most of the 2016 GOP candidates spent their time taking stands which played well in states the GOP was going to win anyway. The trick isn’t to run up the tally in safe states — from now on we’ll refer to this move as “The Hillary” — but instead to peel away Democrat voters in potential swing states.

And as I’ve written here before, if Trump can deliver on jobs and wages to the Obama voters he won in 2016, he’ll likely improve his margins in PA, WI, and MI in 2020.

READINESS: The Air Force Has Grounded All Of Its B-1Bs Over A Fault In Their Ejection Seats. “An investigation into an in-flight emergency in May 2018 turned up the issue and the service doesn’t know when the jets will be back flying sorties.”

U.S. Air Force General Robin Rand, head of Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all of the service’s combat-coded bombers, ordered the so-called “stand-down” on June 7, 2018. On May 1, 2018, a B-1B bomber assigned to the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base made an emergency landing at Midland International Air and Space Port in Midland, Texas after declaring an in-flight emergency. The incident involved a fire in one of the aircraft’s engines and resulted in an emergency exit hatch coming off in mid-air.

“During the safety investigation process following an emergency landing of a B-1B in Midland, Texas, an issue with ejection seat components was discovered that necessitated the stand-down,” Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees all over the service’s combat-coded bombers, said in a brief statement on June 8, 2018. “As issues are resolved aircraft will return to flight.”

Maybe the announcement could have waited until after the Singapore Summit.

LARRY KUDLOW: Trump Lashed Out at Canada as Show of Strength to North Korea.

FROM MARTIN L. SHOEMAKER, NOW WITH KINDLE EDITION!  Blue Collar Space.

The future doesn’t just happen… Somebody has to build it.

Martin L. Shoemaker, author of “Today I Am Paul”, presents stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work. Planning, exploring, constructing… living and growing and dying… across the Solar System.

THE WORST IS WHEN THEY INTERSECT:   Never mind distracted drivers – how about preoccupied pedestrians?

AN ANCIENT ENEMY:  Oldest bubonic plague genome decoded.

NOT SURPRISING. IT’S BEEN POLITICIZED:  The Mental Health Profession is Failing.

BOORISH? BORING!  Robert De Niro Yells ‘F*** Trump’ at Tony Awards, Gets Standing Ovation.

Also, “Do you want more Trump? Because this is how you get more Trump.”

SO, THIS IS FAMILIAR:  Liberals Go Full Monty:Trump=Hitler!

OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE SEX, BUT NOT TO MARRY:  My grandmother would not have understood this one at all.

AND LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE WORKED REALLY HARD TO MAKE SURE OF THAT:  Race, Gender and Trump: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong.

IT’S NOT THAT THEY’RE IGNORANT. IT’S THAT THEY KNOW SO MANY THINGS THAT JUST AIN’T SO:  Explaining Monogamy to Vox.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: It’s Always About Power.

SHOCKED! SHOCKED!  Bill Maher, a Compassionate Liberal, Wants You To Suffer.

COPYCATS AND TRENDS:  Going Postal Revisited.

THAT’S NOTHING. ON VISITS ABROAD HE’S PLANNING TO HAVE HIS EYEBROWS WEAR ETHNIC OUTFITS:  Eye on the news.