LAW FACULTY SIDE WITH ANGRY, PRO-CENSORSHIP MOB: U.C. Hastings Faculty Send Letter To Concerned Students. “While the Administration’s statement mentions in passing the pain experienced by communities of color the past two years, it does not discuss the law school’s role in perpetuating the marginalization of our current students. We are aware from conversations with our students of color over the years, and particularly our African American students, that they do not experience UC Hastings as a welcoming learning environment.”

To the extent that this is true and not woke bullshit (probably small) it has nothing to do with Ilya Shapiro or the law school’s late and reluctant endorsement of free speech. If Hastings is really such a racist and unwelcoming environment, its existing faculty should resign en masse. Ultimately, that is their fault. They won’t do this, of course, because they’re not into sacrifice, they’re into posturing.

UPDATE: From the comments at the link: “These professors are backing students who violated the honor code. That’s pretty much incompatible with their position in the university.”

SARAH HOYT: Join The Cavalry. “We, who are not globalists are winning and will ultimately win. A great fracturing is taking place. And the big conglomerate of the left will try very hard to impose their nonsense on us and fail. But what comes next is not won.”

VIA DONALD SENSING:

OPEN THREAD: Now try to control yourself.

CAN I GET A MODEL THAT INJECTS A VIRUS INTO THE JAMMERS? Elon Musk says SpaceX focusing on cyber defense after Starlink signals jammed near Ukraine conflict areas.

THEY’RE NOT SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED? Why Sex Chromosomes Matter When It Comes to Heart Disease.

ASKING THE QUESTION: Is the Russian Air Force Actually Incapable of Complex Air Operations? “One of the greatest surprises from the initial phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been the inability of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) fighter and fighter-bomber fleets to establish air superiority, or to deploy significant combat power in support of the under-performing Russian ground forces. On the first day of the invasion, an anticipated series of large-scale Russian air operations in the aftermath of initial cruise- and ballistic-missile strikes did not materialise. An initial analysis of the possible reasons for this identified potential Russian difficulties with deconfliction between ground-based surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries, a lack of precision-guided munitions and limited numbers of pilots with the requisite expertise to conduct precise strikes in support of initial ground operations due to low average VKS flying hours. These factors all remain relevant, but are no longer sufficient in themselves to explain the anaemic VKS activity as the ground invasion continues into its second week. Russian fast jets have conducted only limited sorties in Ukrainian airspace, in singles or pairs, always at low altitudes and mostly at night to minimise losses from Ukrainian man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS) and ground fire.”

Related:

LIFE IN THE BLUE ZONES: The rat problem in D.C. is so bad, two people got hantavirus.

ECONOMIC WAR AT THE VERY LEAST: Putin says Western sanctions are akin to declaration of war. And honestly, we probably would have done less economic damage by bombing.

SO STAY TUNED:

Given how things are going in Ukraine, I think invading Finland or Poland would be suicidal. The Baltics are probably too much.

WAS THERE A MOON-SHATTERING KABOOM, THOUGH? Rocket section struck the moon, astronomers say.

HEH: Ukraine Museums Desperately Working To Preserve Priceless Hunter Biden Paintings.

“PREGNANT PEOPLE:” Study: Depression, anxiety linger in some pregnant people despite treatment.

BE PREPARED: Augason Farms Breakfast and Dinner Variety Pail Emergency Food Supply Everyday Meals 4 Gallon Pail. #CommissionEarned

I THINK PERKINS COIE NEEDS MORE SCRUTINY: Durham Rips Apart the Sussmann Motion to Dismiss and Lays out the Clinton Connection.

OLD AND BUSTED: Asian Murder Hornets.

The New Hotness? Big, Invasive Parachuting Spiders Will Begin To Cover Entire East Coast, Experts Say.

WAS IT OVER WHEN NATO BOMBED PEARL HARBOR? We have a winner! Actress Patricia Arquette scores the dumbest tweet of the week (screenshot):

IT’S COME TO THIS: Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne quitting Los Angeles for UK to avoid soaring tax rates.

DEAL OF THE DAY: CQR Men’s Tactical Pants, Water Repellent Ripstop Cargo Pants. You can get women’s pants also: 5.11 Tactical Women’s Stryke Covert Cargo Pants. #CommissionEarned

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: The Video Of The Fired Diane Feinstein Staffer Dancing In Her Office On Psychedelic Mushrooms While Smoking A Joint Is Must-See TV.

Video has emerged showing Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s former aide dancing in her office while smoking a joint and high on psychedelic mushrooms jamming out to “I Like It” by DeBarge after he was terminated from his role last month.

Jamarcus Purley, who holds degrees from Harvard and Stanford, was fired last month from his role as a legislative correspondent at Feinstein’s office, according to Latino Rebels. In an act of rebellion, Purley decided to have one last hoorah at the office.

In the video posted to Youtube, Purley is first seen lounging at a desk with a suit on, beginning to dance as he smokes a large blunt. Purley then pulls his feet onto the chair and begins dancing again before almost falling off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzyYkVqfCbM&feature=youtu.be

Isn’t the real news here that people are still listening to DeBarge in 2022?!

BUGS, BUGS, BUGS:  In the Chinese calendar, today is the first day of “the Awakening of Insects.”  Here in San Diego, insects know no season.  But just in case San Diego arthropods decide to celebrate, I’ve positioned a can of Raid near at hand.

I’M OFF TO FLORIDA TO HUNT THE DEADLIEST PREY OF ALL — THE IGUANA: People are shelling out hundreds of dollars in Florida to hunt iguanas with air rifles.

F FOR FAKE: Orson Welles and Search for the Real Self.

Welles had high standards and he distinguished between what he considers to be a good and bad film. If he didn’t have such discipline and power, he wouldn’t have made films that exude human capability toward greatness. But the questions he poses in F for Fake aren’t that we should doubt Mozart, Beethoven or Picasso but we should think for ourselves, that we should be free of someone else’s opinion about Art. He knows that de Hory and Irving were scoundrels but the immorality of their actions is accidental for what he wants to accomplish. What’s more fascinating than the fact that both forgers are unethical is the idea of authenticity, and whether someone like de Hory was capable of being authentic. De Hory’s masks were duplicating with every fake that he painted, and we have to ask how much will trickery (that has serious consequences) change the evolving person over the course of their lifetime?

For Welles, the search for authenticity in art is the search for the authenticity of the self. Don’t ask him to reveal himself, because as he says in F for Fake, quoting Picasso, “Art is a lie. A lie that makes us realize the truth.” Welles’ concealment of himself is an illumination of the other. By concealment, he lifts the veil of existence and becomes the aesthetical vessel through which we’re humanized and invited to explore what  makes us human.

Welles never intended F for Fake to be his last movie, but sadly, it was — at least until the long delayed posthumous 2018 Netflix release of Welles’ self-indulgent The Other Side of the Wind, shot off and on over many years in the 1970s. As Kyle Smith wrote at the time of its release, “You’d be better off watching instead the movie about the movie: They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (the title refers to one of Welles’s mordant self-observations) explores the relentless, almost purposeful squandering of talent that is the Welles tragedy.”

OKAY BUT I’D JUST MOVE TO TEXAS: Drama: Elon Musk Dares UAW to Hold Union Vote in California.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has invited the United Auto Workers (UAW) to hold a union vote at the company’s facility in Fremont, California. While this may fool you into believing the executive has had a change of heart in regard to unionization, Musk seems to be inviting the labor group into a trap to dunk on his political enemies.

It’s no secret that there’s been bad blood between Tesla and the Biden administration. The White House has repeatedly left the automaker out of its discussions pertaining to industry regulation and proposed additional financial incentives for automakers using unionized labor to build electric vehicles. As the world’s largest purveyor of EVs by far, Musk believes his organization deserves some acknowledgment and has noted that the UAW is one of the Democratic Party’s staunchest allies. He’s asking for the vote in Fremont because he clearly thinks it will fail.

Well, it should.

AN UPRISING IN KHERSON: “Putin’s theory of how Russia would pacify a conquered Ukraine appears to have been that Ukrainians would … just sort of pacify themselves. Russia can’t mount an effective long-term occupation of a country this large but it wouldn’t need to, provided that Ukrainians placidly accepted their fate and welcomed their integration into Russia. . . . That theory was tested today in the southern city of Kherson, the site of Russia’s most significant victory to date. The Russian military seized it days ago and moved in to occupy it. If Putin is right that Ukrainians will reconcile themselves to their fate once they fall under Russian control, the first evidence should emerge in Kherson. His theory looked shaky yesterday. Today it looks shakier. . . . How will Russia ever defeat these people? No one doubts that Putin is sadistic enough to kill every last resister in order to assert his dominance over Ukraine. A ceasefire agreement between the two sides to allow civilians to evacuate from besieged Mariupol has already fallen apart, in fact, with Ukraine accusing the Russian military of attacking residential areas. No matter how ruthless Putin is willing to be, though, many observers increasingly doubt whether he has the ability to impose his will on Ukrainians.”