THIS SHOULD MAKE FOR SOME GREAT A CAPELLA CONCERTS: Harvard’s student government wants to “audit” student group membership selection processes (called “comps”). “UC President Sruthi Palaniappan ’20 said she and UC Vice President Julia M. Huesa ’20 proposed that the committee consider the topic because they are concerned about the equity of students’ access to ‘exclusive’ extracurricular opportunities. Many undergraduate organizations require some kind of comp, which can take the form of an application, audition, demonstration of proficiency, interview, or required meetings.”

Sorry for two Harvard posts in one day, but the place has gone crazy enough to warrant it – and if it happens at Harvard, there’s a great chance it’s coming soon to a school near you.

FINALLY! An Energizer-branded Smartphone With Absurdly Long Battery Life: “The Power Max P18K Pop is, according to official specifications, 18mm or 7/10ths of an inch thick, storing a battery that can allegedly power two days of video playback and a standby time of up to 50 days. This is, of course, extreme almost to the point of parody, especially when you consider that the phone’s absurd physical dimensions will likely make it impossible to fit into plenty of reasonably-sized pockets. But! Despite the impracticality of this particular phone, in that it’s both physically absurd and offers battery life so extreme as to be practically useless in any normal usecase, it is at least exploring under explored territory in the world of phones, specifically one of the two areas in which phones have so far mostly failed to improve even as top-tier phones trudge on and get more expensive.”

Yes.

THE WORST GOVERNMENT FOR A SOCIALIST IS ONE CONTROLLED BY SOCIALISTS WHO ARE NOT HIS FRIENDS: Jorge Ramos Gets An Education.

(Classical reference in headline.)

WOW: Rare WWII color photos bring history to life.

FASTER, PLEASE: A cell-killing strategy to slow aging passed its first test this year.

AT LEAST ONE MORE THAN 4G: How Much 5G Could Cost Users. “Wireless carriers are still grappling with how much to charge consumers and businesses for this faster, next-generation service.”

Business are likely to begin paying for 5G networks as part of their capital expenditures, probably opting to build faster, private networks to power factories and stores, he says. The prices consumers pay for mobile-phone plans are less likely to change dramatically, he says, though some carriers may only offer 5G to clients in the higher tiers of their unlimited data plans.

“I pay $160; I don’t think tomorrow you can double that to $320” for a monthly mobile family plan, even if speeds are significantly faster, says Anthony Goonetilleke, who helps telecom companies with their network buildout and pricing models as chief technology officer of Amdocs , a provider of software and services to communications and media companies.

The cost of mobile wireless service has plummeted in recent years, with consumers growing accustomed to lower bills and unlimited data usage. U.S. mobile data cost roughly $3.33 a gigabyte at the end of 2017, according to consulting firm Recon Analytics, down from $11.12 a gigabyte three years earlier.

Where 5G really gets interesting isn’t increased download speeds on your smartphone, but rather the threat it will eventually create to traditional ISP’s “last mile” near-monopoly on consumers’ home access.

DISPATCHES FROM THE MUSEUM OF MODERN DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT:

● Shot:

All these years, along with countless kindred souls, I am certain, I had made my way into the galleries of Upper Madison and Lower Soho and the Art Gildo Midway of Fifty-seventh Street, and into the museums, into the Modern, the Whitney, and the Guggenheim, the Bastard Bauhaus, the New Brutalist, and the Fountainhead Baroque, into the lowliest storefront churches and grandest Robber Baronial temples of Modernism. All these years I, like so many others, had stood in front of a thousand, two thousand, God-knows-how-many thousand Pollocks, de Koonings, Newmans, Nolands, Rothkos, Rauschenbergs, Judds, Johnses, Olitskis, Louises, Stills, Franz Klines, Frankenthalers, Kellys, and Frank Stellas, now squinting, now popping the eye sockets open, now drawing back, now moving closer — waiting, waiting, forever waiting for … it… for it to come into focus, namely, the visual reward (for so much effort) which must be there, which everyone (tout le monde) knew to be there— waiting for something to radiate directly from the paintings on these invariably pure white walls, in this room, in this moment, into my own optic chiasma. All these years, in short, I had assumed that in art, if nowhere else, seeing is believing. Well — how very shortsighted! Now, at last, on April 28, 1974, I could see. I had gotten it backward all along. Not “seeing is believing,” you ninny, but “believing is seeing,” for Modern Art has become completely literary: the paintings and other works exist only to illustrate the text.

 —Tom Wolfe, The Painted Word, 1975.

● Chaser:

Do bear these things in mind as you thrill to the video embedded below, in which Ms Tsoli unleashes a fearless, selfless and terribly radical “intervention” at a crossing on Michigan Avenue, Chicago. Said intervention, titled Attempting to Reach Equilibrium in Times of Dystopia, is of course crammed with aesthetic value. A particular highlight occurs around 2:30 when a passing police car stops, resulting in a need to explain that what is happening is actually art.

—David Thompson, “The Dunning-Kruger Diaries, Part Two,” yesterday.

SO, YOU THINK JESUS SURVIVED THE CROSS AND DIED IN INDIA? There’s even a shrine in Kashmir where Jesus allegedly was buried decades after the crucifixion. But cold-case expert detective J. Warner Wallace and Dr. Sean McDowell explain on HillFaith why the water nobody understood for centuries means Jesus really did die on the cross.

DEAR USAA INSURANCE: My law student Chris Davis had his house and car flooded in this weekend’s Knoxville floods. USAA, despite its generally excellent reputation, seems to be dropping the ball on him. Here’s what a reliable classmate of his writes on Facebook: “Chris Davis does not want your sympathy, however, as his friend and as someone who has been with him through this emergency, I can tell you that this has been one of the more trying times in his life stateside. The greatest challenge, however, has not been the water damage, the news crews, the disruption of his routine as he tries to finish law school and prepare for the bar exam in July, or the fact that he has been homeless for almost a week. The greatest challenge has been dealing with his insurance company, USAA. This active-duty Marine officer and veteran of the war in Afghanistan has been the recipient of some of the worst customer service I have ever seen. I have witnessed it firsthand. USAA prides itself as the insurance company for veterans, however, USAA has failed Captain Davis at every step. While his neighbors (none of whom have flood insurance), are having their claims processed, approved, and handled in a compassionate manner, Chris gets hour long hold times, indifference, and rejection. This is unacceptable. Chris never thought he would face this. He doesn’t live beside an ocean, lake, river, or even a creek. Chris is a law student and someone who has spent the majority of his life in service to our country and cannot afford to bear this financial burden on his own. USAA should strive to find a way to help Chris, instead trying to find a way to not. If you want to help Chris I ask that you share this post and ask USAA to do the right thing for my friend and a good soldier. #ShameonUSAA”

Maybe look into this, USAA?

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: “Blaska agreed with the idea of accountability and ran with it when it was his three minutes to address the school board. He further suggested that parents and students should also be held accountable. This drew loud opprobrium from the masses behind me, to the effect that such a sentiment evinced white supremacism.”

WE HAVE THE WORST POLITICAL CLASS IN OUR HISTORY.

Related:

SUNSHINE IS THE BEST DISINFECTANT: California keeps a secret list of criminal cops, but says you can’t have it.

Their crimes ranged from shoplifting to embezzlement to murder. Some of them molested kids and downloaded child pornography. Others beat their wives, girlfriends or children.

The one thing they had in common: a badge.

Thousands of California law enforcement officers have been convicted of a crime in the past decade, according to records released by a public agency that sets standards for officers in the Golden State.

The revelations are alarming, but the state’s top cop says Californians don’t have a right to see them. In fact, Attorney General Xavier Becerra warned two Berkeley-based reporters that simply possessing this never-before-publicly-released list of convicted cops is a violation of the law.

The State looks after its own.

ANOTHER ANTI-TRUMP HATE CRIME: Man, 81, Wearing Red MAGA Hat Assaulted Inside New Jersey Shop Rite, Prosecutors Say.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA BLACKS OUT THE DEMOCRATS’ INFANTICIDE VOTE: There’s no good way to spin the Democrats’ vote. So many in the MSM simply ignored it.

Unexpectedly:

Though Iowahawk’s related quip is, sadly, far too close to the mark to be satire:

NONE OF THIS SOUNDS GOOD: India Pakistan: Kashmir fighting sees Indian aircraft downed.

Plus: India, Pakistan claim to down each other’s jets as Kashmir conflict heats up.

Also: India-Pakistan crisis disrupts international flights: All international commercial flights to Pakistan are suspended with some airlines forced to reroute transit flights.

And: GLOBAL MARKETS-Impact of India-Pakistan tensions spreads from Asia to Europe.

Just armed conflict between two nations with nuclear weapons. If it comes to cases, I’m on India’s side of course, and the United States should be too — Pakistan has been effectively an enemy for years. But much better for everyone if there’s no war here.

ANSWERING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: Americans Vote on Which 2020 Candidate Would Make the Best 2020 Oscars Host.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION POURS NORTH KOREA A POWER COCKTAIL: The article is titled “American Coordinated Coercive Diplomacy Operations to Denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, 2017–2018.”

This is the operation that brought Kim to Singapore in 2018 and to Hanoi in 2019. “Subsequent events will determine the effectiveness of this particular multi-dimensional operation.” We’re in the midst of a subsequent event.

Read the whole thing.

MICHELLE MALKIN: I’ve Been Silicon Valley Sharia’d.

Read the whole thing.

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Clarence Thomas is right: Here’s why Supreme Court should revisit libel law overreach.

ROBERT SPENCER: Sludge Magazine Tries to Shut Down Opposition to Jihad Terror. “Crushing dissent is all the rage on the Left these days.”

These days?

UPDATE: Had the wrong link. Fixed now — sorry!

NEW SOCIALIST “IT GIRL” CONTINUES TO PAY DIVIDENDS: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is furious at these photos of her and a staffer eating a hamburger and killing the planet.

ADAM MILL: How Forcing Michael Cohen To Divulge Attorney-Client Communications Damages The Rule Of Law.

Let’s start at the beginning with a British judge serving under Queen Elizabeth, who wrote, “Thomas Hawtry, gentleman, was served with a subpoena to testify his knowledge touching the cause in variance; and made oath that he hath been, and yet is a solicitor in this suit, and hath received several fees of the defendant: which being informed to the Master of the Rolls, it is ordered that said Thomas Hawtry shall not be compelled to be deposed” (Berd v. Lovelace Anno 19 Eliz. 1576-77).

Cut to 2018 when the left sacrificed this sacred principle of Western civilization in the name of getting Trump. The New York Times titillated Trump-haters with the public airing of a recording of a discussion between Donald Trump and Cohen concerning the payment of two women who were essentially blackmailing then-candidate Trump. The FBI seized the recording during a raid of Cohen’s office. The New York Times did not say where it obtained the recording.

Subsequent to the release of the recording, the president chose not to assert attorney-client privilege. Those familiar with attorney-client confidentiality understand that the public release deprived him of any meaningful opportunity to make that choice. Nobody can un-hear the recordings.

It’s bad that an attorney maintained secret audio tapes of conversations with his client. Such information has a way of ending up in the wrong hands, and secretly making these tapes impairs the spirit of the attorney-client relationship. But it’s really bad that the American Civil Liberties Union posted an article cheerleading the raid. The government doesn’t need a cheerleader, and certainly not from the ACLU.

Sadly, this kind of partisanship is exactly what we’ve come to expect from the ACLU.

PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: Judge approves anti-male bias lawsuit against University of Colorado. “The University of Colorado-Boulder’s use of ‘trauma-informed’ practices in sexual misconduct investigations are ‘plausible’ evidence of bias against males, a federal court ruled last week. It denied the taxpayer-funded university’s motion to dismiss Title IX and due process claims by William Norris, who was suspended and banned from campus after two disputed encounters with ‘Jane Doe’ over a lengthy relationship.”

VANDALS STRIKE DORM OF HARVARD LAW PROF REPRESENTING HARVEY WEINSTEIN: “Winthrop House was vandalized with graffiti reading ‘Down w/ Sullivan,’ ‘Your Silence is Violence,’ and ‘Whose Side Are You On?'” This and other charming facts in my colleague Samantha Harris’ article on Prof. Ronald Sullivan in the New York Daily News.  And of course Harvard admins (last seen setting up a McCarthy-style blacklist of evil sorority sisters) are joining the pile-on by conducting a “climate review” of the dorm. Gee, I wonder how that’s intended to come out.