HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Law School Applicants Increase 3%; Applicants Refusing To Reveal Their Race/Ethnicity Increase 112%.

LAURENCE JARVIK: To Stop Mass Shootings, Read The Califano Report.

EURO-CHICKEN: Doubts Rise Over Europe’s Readiness for a No-Deal Brexit.

Until recently, few European officials believed a no-deal Brexit would happen, as their governments set in motion preparations. Now, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s rising threats to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal by the Oct. 31 deadline is prompting EU officials to dust off plans ranging from information campaigns to fast hirings of customs officers.

European leaders aim to boost Brexit awareness among smaller and midsize enterprises, officials say. Big companies are preparing by hiring consultants, shifting headquarters, stockpiling merchandise, preparing alternate transport methods and determining tariff rates or customs procedures that would apply to products traded with Europe.

But smaller EU and British firms are still unprepared, warned the Confederation of British Industry in a recent report. “For hundreds of thousands of small companies, diverting precious resource—both human and financial—to Brexit preparedness measures is out of reach,” the report said.

As an EU member, the U.K. operates within the bloc’s customs union. In the event of a no-deal exit, tariffs for goods would default to World Trade Organization levels that are used among countries with no trade deals between them.

This is all on Brussels. They’ve played hardball this whole time, apparently expecting to be able to bully the UK into remaining. And perhaps that might have worked — under Theresa May. But now Boris Johnson is PM, and the EU’s backup plan has been revealed to be “What are we supposed to do now?”

UPDATE: Link was bad before. Fixed now — sorry!

WEIRD HOW STUFF ADVERTISED AS HELPING THE DISADVANTAGED SEEMS TO WIND UP CEMENTING THE POSITION OF THE ADVANTAGED: Need Extra Time On Tests? It Helps To Have Cash.

From Weston, Conn., to Mercer Island, Wash., word has spread on parenting message boards and in the stands at home games: A federal disability designation known as a 504 plan can help struggling students improve their grades and test scores. But the plans are not doled out equitably across the United States.

In the country’s richest enclaves, where students already have greater access to private tutors and admissions coaches, the share of high school students with the designation is double the national average. In some communities, more than one in 10 students have one — up to seven times the rate nationwide, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data. …

Students in every ZIP code are dealing with anxiety, stress and depression as academic competition grows ever more cutthroat. But the sharp disparity in accommodations raises the question of whether families in moneyed communities are taking advantage of the system.

Yes, they are.

STARTING WITH “WHAT THE HELL?”: Canadian lab’s shipment of Ebola, Henipah viruses to China raises questions.

IF SUNDANCE SAYS THIS IS A MUST-WATCH, YOU CAN BE SURE IT IS: “It” being Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday conversation on Fox News with former Rep. Trey Gowdy, who drops a bombshell regarding why the public has not seen the FBI transcript of George Papadopoulos and informant Stefan Halper.

I must admit that, having met Halper, briefly, during the 1980 Reagan-Bush campaign, I never would have guessed at the time where he was then headed. Just another one of the Bushies. Maybe that should have told me something???

JOHN FUND:  “We Should Fear Free-Speech Curbs More Than Exposure to Racist Manifestos.”

I HAD SOMEHOW MISSED THIS: Ex-aide pleads guilty in Senate hacking case. “A former Senate staffer has pleaded guilty to aiding computer hacking and evidence tampering attempts for helping a fired co-worker enter a Senate office at night and wiping down computers so the colleague wouldn’t be caught. Samantha Davis, 24, a former staff assistant to Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), appeared in U.S. District Court just a few blocks from the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon to admit to two misdemeanorss for her role in events that culminated in the release of personal information of Republican senators backing the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.”

SO MUCH FOR THE NARRATIVE: Ohio gunman described himself as pro-Satan ‘leftist’ who supported Elizabeth Warren.

That makes stuff like this look not just indecent, but also silly:

IF YOU ASK TO ASK… How much would ‘Medicare-for-all’ REALLY cost the middle class?

If “Medicare-for-All”’s total cost for the first 10 years is in line with projections produced by the American Action Forum, Mercatus Center, and Urban Institute—roughly $32 trillion to $38 trillion—I estimate 40 million to 60 million households would end up paying more in new taxes than they would receive in health care benefits. Millions of these households would lose more than $10,000 annually, even if it is assumed they would otherwise need to pay a full health insurance deductible and some out-of-pocket expenses under a private health insurance model.

Contrary to the claims made by the leading Democratic candidates, millions of middle-class earners would be hit particularly hard under “Medicare-for-All.” For example, filers earning $50,000 to $75,000 would likely need to pay on average $7,773 to $9,171 more in new taxes. Those families earning $75,000 to $100,000 would pay $12,612 to $14,880 more. Most households with more than $100,000 income would pay close to or more than $20,000 in additional taxes.

Left unsaid? When Washington controls virtually all health spending, instead of just fighting with your insurer over coverage, you’ll be fighting against everyone from the lowliest welfare recipient to giant defense contractors over a common pool of tax dollars.

WHOSE MORALITY ARE YOU IMPOSING TODAY? It’s the response everybody who has ever debated social issues with lefties hears, sooner or later: “Don’t impose your morality on me!”

Listen to cross-examined.org’s Dr. Frank Turek for two minutes on HillFaith this morning and it becomes abundantly clear just how shallow, evasive and projectionist is that familiar warning.

GETTING THESE WOMEN ELECTED WAS ROGER STONE’S CROWNING POLITICAL DIRTY TRICK: PAC for ‘The Squad’ Launches Facebook Ads Hitting DCCC Over Diversity Fiasco. “The new ads from the PAC, Justice Democrats, follow recent efforts by the DCCC to hide internal conflicts between the progressive and moderate wings of the party. . . . The ad is referring to the forced resignation on Monday of DCCC executive director Allison Jaslow, a white, gay veteran who had once been deployed to Iraq. Five other staffers eventually suffered the same fate, mainly due to demands from two Hispanic Texas congressmen who wanted a ‘person of color’ to be made executive director.”

CAPITALISM: The Cost of Air-Conditioning Fell by 97 Percent Since 1952.

AMERICA’S LONGEST WAR: Trump Wants to Pull All US Troops Out of Afghanistan by the 2020 Election.

That would be nice.

JOEL KOTKIN: The regression of America’s big progressive cities.

If there’s anything productive to come from his recent Twitter storm, President Trump’s recent crude attacks on Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings have succeeded in bring necessary attention to the increasingly tragic state of our cities. Baltimore’s continued woes, after numerous attempts to position itself as a “comeback city,” illustrates all too poignantly the deep-seated decay in many of our great urban areas.

Baltimore represents an extreme case, but sadly it is not alone. Last year our three largest urban centers — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — lost people while millennial migration accelerated both to the suburbs and smaller, generally less dense cities. These demographic trends, as well as growing blight, poor schools, decaying infrastructure and, worst of all, expanding homelessness are not merely the result of “racism” or Donald Trump, but have all been exacerbated by policy agendas that are turning many great cities into loony towns.

Take tech rich San Francisco, where decades of tolerance for even extreme deviant behavior has helped create a city with more drug addicts than high school students, and so much feces on the street that one website has created a “poop map.” In Southern California’s far more proletarian city of Los Angeles, we have a downtown filled with overbuilt, overpriced apartments and is, like Baltimore, being overrun with rats. A UN official last year compared conditions on the city’s Skid Row to those of Syrian refugee camps.

One would think such nasty problems would spark something of a political rebellion, as seen in previous decades with the rise of successful, pragmatic mayors — Bob Lanier and Bill White in Houston, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg in New York, and Richard Riordan in Los Angeles. But so far, at least, many of today’s big city mayors seem more interested in bolstering their “resistance” bona fides than governing effectively. . . .

The new urban politics threatens the future of family neighborhoods, local entrepreneurial ventures as well as an apolitical, exuberant diversity. Immigrants and aspiring minorities want good schools, safe streets and less onerous regulation. Resolutions on sanctuary cities, condemnations of Trump tweets, social justice demands and boasts about combating climate change do little to improve tangibly reality that cities like Baltimore or even superstars like San Francisco, Washington, and New York.

Only when grassroots people and concerned businesses decide to challenge the urban status quo and the virtue-signaling political class can decay and the relentless bifurcation of our cities be reversed.

The problem is that our cities, like many of our institutions, are run by people who care more about their standing with their peers than about the state of the institutions they’re in charge of.

IN THE EMAIL FROM PETER GRANT:  Taghri’s Prize.

Taghri has left the Sultan’s army to seek his fortune – and he seizes opportunity when it knocks. In the confusion of a pirate raid on a trading caravan, he kills their leader and captures their ship. The vessel is now his prize of war… but some prizes may be more trouble than they’re worth!

Nestled among the gold coins in the captain’s cabin is a stolen Temple sacrificial knife, whose Goddess is now paying close attention – too close! – to its new owner. Among the slaves he’s freed is a princess, formerly being held for ransom, who comes with political and personal intrigues all her own. Even if he survives the attention of both, there’s also a pirate lord out there, hell-bent on avenging the death of his son.

It’s going to take all of Taghri’s skill, experience and cunning to survive winning this prize!

BECAUSE THE DEVIL SHALL NOT BE MOCKED?  Here’s Why Liberals Fear The Babylon Bee.

“WE HATE YOU, BUY OUR PRODUCT” SHOULD BE AS EFFECTIVE AS “WE HATE YOU, VOTE FOR US”:  Hollywood Demands Open Borders, Trashes Trump’s Wall.

THE LEFT’S ASSUMPTION OF UNEARNED SUPERIORITY IS GOING TO BE THEIR UNDOING. BUT THEY MIGHT TAKE US DOWN WITH THEM:  The Dream Team Loses to the Nobodies.

SHE’S RIGHT, YOU KNOW?  Bookworm Room Podcast: The Second Amendment, Morality, and Kindness.

OH, I UNDERSTAND THE PRESSURE HE WAS UNDER.  BUT TELL THE TRUTH, OR AT LEAST DON’T LIE IS A SAFETY MEASURE. IT KEEPS THEM FROM DESTROYING YOUR INNER SOUL. ANYONE WHO GREW UP WITH DOUBLE THINK KNOWS WHAT IT DOES. YOU SELL PIECES OF YOUR SOUL, A LIE AT A TIME:  The Machine Coerces A Retraction From Mario Lopez.

IF TRUE THIS IS … NORMAL MEDIA PROCEDURE THESE DAYS:  Left tries dishonesty in bid to turn El Paso shooter into a Republican.

THE MAN HONEYMOONED IN THE PLACE RESPONSIBLE FOR HOLODOMOR, AND YOU’VE ONLY NOW REALIZED HE’S DESPICABLE?  The Contemptible Bernie Sanders.