WELL, GOOD: Fewer older Americans report feeling lonely.

LAUGHING WOLF: SVB And Other Thoughts. “My short take is: against every rule, law, and promise, the Federal Government has stepped in to make everyone right in regards SVB, including Democrat megadonors, the Brit Twits, and others including the Chinese economy which was seriously impacted by SVB; the Signature Bank action is interesting since the trigger(s) for such actions did not appear to be reached and even Barney Frank himself noted that it might be related to the creation of a Federal Cryptocurrency; and, we are not done yet.”

REP. JAMES COMER: Bidens Were Paid ‘Massive Amounts’ From Chinese Company Post 2016.

SBV AND SBF: Flashback: Uncle Sam is playing the same game as broke, disgraced crypto king.

NOT THAT THIS WILL LEAD THEM TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT: The urban doom loop could be bad news for Democrats.

A TRILLION HERE AND A TRILLION THERE…: Silicon Valley Bank and Joe Biden’s $19 Trillion Monday.

One bird has flown, and that’s moral hazard, or the idea that bailouts only encourage the behavior that makes bailouts necessary. Don’t buy the claim that bank shareholders and CEOs are being taught a lesson. By guaranteeing all deposits, government actually makes banks an even more attractive source of funding for swing-for-the-fences bets by politically adroit, high-rolling bank entrepreneurs and executives.

This problem regulation will then try to solve by dictating which bets banks can make with customer deposits. Somehow the necessary clairvoyance is never found and bank failures keep happening. In a weekend, dispensed with has been a guardrail that served the economy well. As the title of a 1986 paper by the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank succinctly put it: “Uninsured deposits [are] a source of market discipline.”

Market discipline provides too few opportunities for corruption and grift.

JUDGES IGNORE CHILD ABUSE EVIDENCE, KIDS DIE: That’s the summary of an investigation by The Epoch Times’ Alice Giordano, who found that more than 900 kids have been murdered by a parent since 2008. And the killer is typically the father, as was the case in all but four of the 53 cases in 2022.

A too-common element in these cases, according to Giordano, is judges who ignore evidence of patterns of child abuse that preceded the murders. This is the kind of investigative news reporting that is heart-breaking but absolutely essential in a civil society.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: San Francisco, Reparations, and the Racist Cruelty of Empty Promises. “San Francisco will never pay these reparations. Just to make the stipend happen, the city would have to raise 50% more revenue or cut services on everything else by the same amount.”

So much more at the link.

BE PREPARED: AKT1 Sport Sound Amplification Earmuff, Premium Ear Pro for Shooting. #CommissionEarned

OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY: Silicon Valley Bank Pledged Nearly $74 Million To Black Lives Matter Causes. “Time after time we see the same pattern: companies that are the most concerned with ESG scores and woke politics do the worst jobs serving their customers.”

“PUBLIC HEALTH:” Public Health prof tells students abortions are necessary because children cause ‘economic hardship’: The presentation came as part of UIC’s ‘Epidemics of Injustice’ lecture series.

I guess the Public Health people have to focus on stuff like this, after proving themselves so useless in the face of an actual epidemic.

TO BE FAIR, HE’S A CREEP: Biden Says Opposing the Mutilation of Children Is ‘Close to Sinful.’

I AGREE, CLOSE THEM DOWN ENTIRELY FOR EQUITY’S SAKE: Professors say Oscars, Academy still too white.

DO TELL: Inflation Isn’t Going Away.

Though Tuesday’s consumer price index report was in line with expectations, the Department of Labor’s data seemed once again to dash any hopes for a quick resolution to the inflation crisis that has strained Americans’ wallets for the past year. The annualized inflation rate for February fell slightly to 6 percent, but the underlying numbers show that prices continue to grow at a stubbornly high rate.

In February, overall prices increased by 0.4 percent and so-called “core inflation” (which filters out more volatile categories like food and fuel prices) showed a monthly increase of 0.5 percent. Rent continues to be a primary driver of overall price increases, climbing another 0.8 percent in February and up 8.1 percent over the past 12 months.

Driven in significant part by those rising housing prices, February was the third consecutive month where the core inflation rate increased. That could put more pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue hiking interest rates to combat rising prices—despite other signals, like this week’s rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, that rising interest rates come with their own costs.

“Every measure of CPI inflation is down from its peak over the summer, partly because some of that inflation was truly transitory and partly because the Fed’s rate hikes [have] kept the economy from getting much hotter and kept long-run inflation expectations anchored. That is good,” tweeted Jason Furman, a Harvard economist and former White House economic advisor. “But, still way too high and no sign of falling.”

Without the recent banking turmoil, Furman predicted that the Federal Reserve would respond to the accelerating core inflation with another rate hike of 50 basis points. Now, however, it’s difficult to know how the central bank will respond to the dual threats of rising inflation and ongoing instability in the banking sector.

Somebody in the comments over at VodkaPundit reminded me that the Fed has two modes: Fighting inflation (with higher rates) and fighting recession (with lower rates). Soon they might get to do both at once!

IF YOU CAN AFFORD ONE AND HAVE SPACE, YOU SHOULD REALLY HAVE A GENERATOR: Widespread Power Outages Reported As Feet of Snow Fall in the Northeast.

LAWPROF WILLIAM JACOBSON: Something is wrong with the culture at Stanford Law School, and many (most) law schools. Let’s address that issue.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Mark Kelly Wastes No Time Revealing Himself to Be a Nightmare. “Kelly was able to sneak into a full term by essentially hiding under Kyrsten Sinema’s skirts for the first two years, doing nothing to call attention to himself. Conservatives here knew that there was a gun-grabbing nightmare just waiting to bust out if he was given six years.”

NEW ON MY SUBSTACK: Losing My Religion? Reflections on falling away from unbridled tech-optimism.

UPDATE: Jeffrey Carter has thoughts in response. “When Glenn writes about the 1990s, we assumed that most people in government were competent. We have seen a lot of upheaval and change since then. By the 2020s, we know those same people aren’t competent and have an agenda that is unconstitutional. They are the people Nietzche writes about.”

As always, if you like my essay, please subscribe.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Philips Norelco Shaver 3800. #CommissionEarned

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: S.F. bureaucrats gave woman a choice: Remove free library or pay $1,400 after one anonymous complaint.

For more than a decade, Susan Meyers’ front sidewalk proved a cheerful hub in her Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood — until one anonymous grump called 311. In this city notorious for giving tremendous credence to solitary complainers — who have the right to halt housing projects, foil their neighbors’ housing remodels and stall emergency transit projects — that one call compelled a visit from a Public Works inspector.

And soon, Meyers’ adorable little library had a notice affixed to it with bright blue tape giving her two choices: Remove the bench and the library or pay $1,402 for a “minor encroachment permit.”

Even though there’s plenty of space on the wide sidewalk for people to walk, push their strollers or pass by in wheelchairs. Even though the home’s front stairs stretch farther into the sidewalk than the bench or library. Even though legions of neighbors love the setup and want it to stay.

Meyers’ neighbors have offered to create a GoFundMe to raise the $1,402 for a permit, but she doesn’t want to go that route. The 79-year-old therapist and her husband, a retired lawyer, could pay the fee, but why should they?

Because the progressive city of San Francisco has empowered anonymous Stasi snitches to force them to pay.

ZOMBIES AMONG US:

We live in a world of political zombies. No matter how many times the “wage gap” is debunked, it comes back again, hungry for our brains. https://t.co/ARX91G0ilH

— Gail Heriot (@GailHeriot) March 15, 2023

The little girl who (supposedly) wrote the message can be forgiven.  Biden … not so much.

GET WOKE, GO BROKE: Federal Tech Arm Had Pattern Of ‘Gross Mismanagement’ Before ‘Equity’-Induced Cybersecurity Fiasco.

IMAGINE BIDEN STANDING NEXT TO AN ELEPHANT: He’s pointing at it and insisting “that is NOT an elephant.” Would you believe him? Joseph Simonson and Thaleigha Rampersad of the Washington Free Beacon report that almost nobody is believing Biden when he claims ‘that is NOT a bailout” regarding SVB and Signature Bank.

Not even The Washington Post, New York Times, Vox or NPR are buying Biden’s insistence that he’s not using federal tax dollars to bailout two huge banks that just happen to number among their investors, board members and depositors hordes of Democratic donors. You ain’t flyin’ when Post/Times/Vox/NPR ain’t buy-in’ is the bottom line here.

ARE YOU (OR DO YOU KNOW) A LAW STUDENT INTERESTED IN CIVIL RIGHTS LAW?:  The Center for Equal Opportunity is accepting applications for its Civil Rights Fellowship.  The program, which takes place August 7-11 in Washington, DC, is intended for law students interested in learning about civil rights law, policy and enforcement practices.   Lodging, meals, and travels expenses are provided as well as a $500 stipend.

There aren’t nearly enough young conservative or libertarian lawyers knowledgeable about civil rights law and willing to work in this area.  This program is intended to help solve that problem.  But while CEO itself has a proud history of advocating equal treatment for all, the program welcomes students of differing views.  The more we talk to each other, the more we learn.

I taught in the program last year.  I’m not sure if I’ll be teaching in it this year … but I might be.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Woke colleges are literally driving students mad.