THINKSPACE: A SAFE PLACE FOR REASON — McGill Professor Pat Kambhampati, who specializes in physics and chemistry has helped formed a chapter of  Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship at McGill, the elite Canadian University.

The point and purpose of the group is to maintain freedom in teaching, research and scholarship; To maintain standards of excellence in academic decisions about students and faculty and; To resist censorship and provide a convivial forum for critical thought about academic freedom at McGill University.

It’s good to see that people of all walks of life and professional backgrounds, like Greg Lukianoff, William Jacobsen and others are pushing back on what I call “The New Lysenkoism.”

PHYSICS AT THE WASHINGTON POST: “A Rock … — the More Mass, the Faster It Falls.” Galileo begs to differ.

PSYCHOPATHY IS EXACTLY RIGHT.

UPDATE: John Hinderaker: Smearing the Truckers. Despite all their talk over past decades, nothing scares the left more than a working-class revolt. My advice to the working class: If they don’t treat you with respect, stop working until they do. You’re less dispensible than any bureaucrat or associate dean.

“When I first saw the cartoon, I literally did not understand it. Someone had to explain that the Post’s cartoonist is calling the truckers who are demonstrating on behalf of freedom fascists. Freedom is slavery, after all. Liberals have hoped for the protest to turn violent, but it hasn’t happened, as the New York Times grudgingly acknowledges.”

Plus: “Liberals always try to imply that if someone draws a swastika it means that person is pro-Nazi. Actually, it means (in this context, at least) that the person is accusing the Canadian government of using Nazi-like tactics. I don’t agree, but let’s not smear the protesters by inverting the intent behind their signs.”

Also:

The Times story includes a video of the protest that I can’t embed here. You see hundreds, maybe thousands of Canadian flags. No Confederate flags that I could spot. No swastikas. No “far right” emblems that I recognized. Just a sea of Canadian flags. But misrepresenting the right is the principal business of the left.

The press is making a big deal out of the fact that Justin Trudeau and his family were moved from their residence as a precaution. I have no problem with that, although given the total lack of violence–you might have thought they were expecting a George Floyd riot–it was an unnecessary precaution. But I would note that there was no similar outpouring of press angst when the Secret Service moved President Trump and his family out of the White House during a violent George Floyd riot. The AP headlined, “Trump took shelter in White House bunker as protests raged.” But there was no sign of sympathy or concern about the propriety of the protesters’ violence.

The press takes sides when it comes to protests, violence, and pretty much everything else, even as it pretends to stand for decency.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From the comments: “The US and Canadian governments are more upset about this peaceful protest than they were from BLM street shutdowns (and looting, arson, and assault)…in fact, they’re more upset by this than by some terror attacks.”

They show you what they really care about, and what they’re really afraid of.

THEY ARE THEIR OWN DESTRUCTORS:

ELON MUSK ON THE CANADIAN TRUCKERS:

He’s right, you know. The small minority that rules most Western nations has always feared the normies figuring out what was being done to them and rising up. Now that appears to be happening, so it’s no surprise the response is over-the-top crazy.

OPEN THREAD: Elvis is Everywhere.

LESLIE EASTMAN: We Are All Canadian Truckers Now: Except the elites, who are blaming the Freedom Convoy on the Russians. Because of course.

I’M EXPECTING A MOON-SHATTERING KABOOM: Crashing rocket will create new moon crater: What we should worry about. Well, in the absence of an atmosphere it’ll be a silent kaboom. Some morons are apparently concerned that the resulting, rather small, crater will “disfigure” the Moon.

ROBBY SOAVE: Georgetown Should Not Fire Ilya Shapiro for a Bad Tweet.

The thing is, while the students at Georgetown Law may feel differently — and why, exactly, does that matter very much? — most Americans also oppose affirmative action in Supreme Court appointments, as this ABC/Ipsos poll makes clear: Majority of Americans want Biden to consider ‘all possible nominees’ for Supreme Court vacancy.

A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that a plurality of Americans view the Supreme Court as motivated by partisanship, while President Joe Biden’s campaign trail vow to select a Black woman to fill a high-court vacancy without reviewing all potential candidates evokes a sharply negative reaction from voters. . . .

During the spring 2020 presidential primaries, days before his set of big wins on Super Tuesday, Biden pledged to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, if elected. Now, with the chance to do so, just over three-quarters of Americans (76%) want Biden to consider “all possible nominees.” Just 23% want him to automatically follow through on his history-making commitment that the White House seems keen on seeing through. . . .

Although the poll’s sample size was not large enough to break out results for Black people, only a little more than 1 in 4 nonwhite Americans (28%) wish for Biden to consider only Black women for the vacancy. Democrats are more supportive of Biden’s vow (46%) than Americans as a whole, but still a majority of Democrats (54%) also prefer that Biden consider all possible nominees.

So, basically, people are talking about firing Ilya Shapiro for expressing a sentiment held by most Americans, most non-white Americans, and most Democrats, because it’s too right-wing I guess.

That’s absurd. I say we need a Georgetown Law that looks, and sounds, more like America.

Related: Eugene Volokh: Limiting Yourself to 7% of the Applicant Pool Is Usually Unlikely to Yield the Best Candidate. This is obvious, Americans of all races know it, but you’re apparently not allowed to say it at Georgetown Law.

VIA A FRIEND: “People who oppose government-run healthcare are poorly educated.” “Who runs education?”

K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: NYC teacher calls for vehicular attack on mourning NYPD officers. “In case you missed it, the funeral for slain NYPD Detective Jason Rivera was held on Friday. The procession route for the funeral was lined with thousands upon thousands of police officers and other first responders. They created a type of human wave as the hearse passed by, all raising their hands to salute their fallen comrade. Some of the aerial views of the tribute were truly stunning. Unfortunately, not everyone was feeling the spirit of paying tribute to the life of the officer who was murdered during a cowardly ambush. One New York City public school teacher took to Instagram and posted a suggestion that someone might want to take a vehicle and plow into the sea of police officers.”

Related: Grrrl Power: Kansas teacher charged in DOJ complaint with leading all-female ISIS battalion.

NOT REALLY ANYTHING, TO BE HONEST: What you need to know about the fast-spreading BA.2 omicron variant.

SAME AS HERE: Hong Kong’s Politicians and Cops Use Pandemic Justifications To Do Beijing’s Bidding.

THE GENTRY CLASS HAS GOTTEN TOO FULL OF ITSELF AND NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT DOWN A FEW PEGS:

And this isn’t an excess of well-intentioned zeal. The intentions are bad, and selfish, and so are they people trying to put them into execution.

Related:

Instead of worrying about truck convoys, they should be worrying about the trucks not coming at all.

HELEN MENTIONED THE OTHER DAY that I got good use out of adjustable dumbbells during lockdown. The other thing I bought was this doorway chinup bar, which is easy to use. Chinups have always been my worst exercise, but I stuck this in the door and just did a few every time I passed. By my birthday I could do may age in chinups. Sadly, a non-trivial number!

ENDORSED: Please Make A Dumb Car.

Today’s cars are dumb where they should be smart, and smart where they should be dumb. Enough already. Make a car that’s pretty much all dumb and watch it sell — because what automakers are giving people is so bad, they’ll pay more to have less of it.

Cars now are like budget smartphones with wheels: loaded with bloatware, unintuitive and slow to operate. Carmakers have always struggled with user interfaces, but until recently the biggest problem we had was “too many knobs.” How I long for those days!

The proliferation of touchscreens and LCDs has made every car feel like a karaoke booth. Animations show reclaimed energy from braking, the speedometer changes color as you approach the limit, the fan speed and direction is under three menus. And besides being non-functional, these interfaces are even ugly! The type, the layouts, and animations scream “designed by committee and approved by someone who doesn’t have to use it.”

Not to mention the privacy and security concerns. I was dubious the first time I saw a GPS in a car, my mom’s old RX300, about 20 years ago. “Yeah… that’s how they get you,” I thought. And now, Teslas with missed payments drive themselves to be impounded. Welcome to the future — your car is a narc now!

The final indignity is that these features are being sold as upscale, not downmarket, options. Screens are so cheap that you can buy a few million and use them everywhere, for everything, and tell buyers “enjoy the next generation of mobility!” But in reality it’s a cost-saving measure that cuts down on part numbers and lets your dashboard team kick the can down the road as often as they want. You know this for sure because high-end models are going back to knobs and dials for that “premium feel.”

So here’s what I would like: a dumb car. This is what I think that looks like.

Like I said, endorsed.

YES, BUT THE POLITICIANS ARE IN BED WITH THE GANGS: One More Time: It’s Not ‘Gun Violence’ It’s Gang Violence.

DEAL OF THE DAY: TurboTax Deluxe 2021 Tax Software, Federal and State Tax Return with Federal E-file [Amazon Exclusive] [PC Download]. #CommissionEarned

THE DOCTOR IS NOW OPERATING ON A HIGHER PLANE: Howard Hesseman, Prolific Character Actor and Star of ‘WKRP in Cincinnati,’ Dies at 81.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Want to quit social media? Here’s how to delete your accounts.

WELL, GOOD: Intranasal flu vaccine with nanoparticles offers robust protection, researchers find.

THEY WON’T ATTACK PRIVATE JETS, THOUGH, BECAUSE THEIR DONORS FLY THOSE: Greenpeace fears 100,000 ‘ghost flights’ in Europe this winter will cause major climate damage.

TOP SELLER: New Balance Men’s 510 V5 Trail Running Shoe. #CommissionEarned

BELIEVABLE: Physical therapy may be better than steroid shots for arthritic knees.

I DON’T KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE SURPRISED BY THIS, RACIAL QUOTAS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN UNPOPULAR OUTSIDE THE ELITES: Majority of Americans want Biden to consider ‘all possible nominees’ for Supreme Court vacancy: POLL.

A new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds that a plurality of Americans view the Supreme Court as motivated by partisanship, while President Joe Biden’s campaign trail vow to select a Black woman to fill a high-court vacancy without reviewing all potential candidates evokes a sharply negative reaction from voters.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, comes days after the most senior member of the Supreme Court, Justice Stephen G. Breyer, announced his retirement at the end of the current term. Breyer’s announcement provides Biden the opportunity to change the demographic makeup of the conservative-leaning bench. . . .

Although the poll’s sample size was not large enough to break out results for Black people, only a little more than 1 in 4 nonwhite Americans (28%) wish for Biden to consider only Black women for the vacancy. Democrats are more supportive of Biden’s vow (46%) than Americans as a whole, but still a majority of Democrats (54%) also prefer that Biden consider all possible nominees.

Democrats hope that the nomination will re-engage Democrats, who are sorely in need of a boost in the run-up to what is shaping up to be a very challenging midterm election for the party.

Also, when it comes to assessments of the Supreme Court, 43% of voters believe justices rule “on the basis of their partisan political views” rather than “on the basis of the law,” a position held by only 38% of respondents. Eighteen percent did not know enough to express a view one way or the other.

And this new ABC/Ipsos poll shows high disapproval of Biden’s handling of a range of issues.

Well, to be fair, he’s terrible.

Plus: “A glaring weak spot for Biden is inflation, where 69% of Americans disapprove of his handling of this key issue.” Related: Democrats’ war on suburban women includes inflation-fueling reckless spending.

UPDATE: The link above seems to have stopped working. Try this one.