WHY IS OUR GENTRY CLASS SO WEDDED TO RACIAL DISCRIMINATION? Texas university claims affirmative action vital to national security, prepares for ban: Rice University in Texas recently released a statement stressing its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion regardless of what SCOTUS decides on the future of affirmative action.

Affirmative action now, affirmative action tomorrow, affirmative action forever!

IN OKLAHOMA? What the devil is going on in the Sooner state, long one of the last preserves of political normalcy in this country? Bills now moving in the state legislature would grant illegal aliens the opportunity to get driver licenses, according to The Epoch Times’ Michael Clements.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, a conservative Republican who won re-election last November, appears to be backing this proposal. Clements quotes Don Spencer, head of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association as saying, “Giving Illegal aliens a driver’s license is beyond absurd” because today, driver licenses, tomorrow voting rights.

LEFT’S WAR ON CHILDREN: How many times have we all heard some lefty defend another proposed expansion of federal bureaucratic power as needed because “it’s for the children”?

But an editorial today in Issues & Insights suggests that, between the Pandemic, masking, virtual classrooms, incessant indoctrination about racism and sexuality, and transgenderism, it’s becoming clear to everyone that the Left is waging ideological war on the children.

“According to ​​an online medical journal, the University of Calgary has determined there was a spike ‘in emergency department visits for attempted suicide and suicide ideation among children and adolescents’ during the period of ‘social isolation’ that coincides with the pandemic lockdowns. The university conducted a meta-analysis of 42 studies representing more than 11 million pediatric emergency department visits in 18 countries, and compared ‘the data on visits prior to the pandemic with those that took place during the pandemic, up to July 2021.’

“Researchers found ‘a 22 percent increase in children and adolescents going to emergency departments for suicide attempts, and an 8 percent increase in visits for suicide ideation,’ even though there was ‘a 32 percent reduction in pediatric emergency department visits for any health-related reasons during the pandemic.’”

And that’s just on the negative effects of the Pandemic! This piece, by the way, is yet another great illustration of the superb commentary and analyses published daily by the folks at Issues & Insights. It is a too-little appreciated gem among Right media efforts.

LIGHTNING DEAL: Zitahli Wallet for Men. #CommissionEarned

EUGENE DEBS RAN FOR PRESIDENT FROM PRISON, IN THE FACE OF SIMILAR PERSECUTION: Trump’s Attorney: Trump Will Surrender To Authorities If He Is Criminally Charged.

BUT SINCE HE’S A DEMOCRAT, CRITICIZING HIM IS PROBABLY HOMOPHOBIA OR SOMETHING: If Barney Frank Were a Republican, He’d Be the Media’s Banking-Crisis Villain.

ROLLBACK: Iowa suspends new DEI policies in higher ed, launches probe into current ones.

FROM LAWDOG:  The LawDog Files: Revised and Expanded.

#CommissionEarned

The entire sworn personnel complement of the department consisted of the Sheriff, the Chief Deputy and two patrol deputies.
That was it.
I miss that county.
To me, law enforcement is tracking an Alzheimer’s patient for four hours through the boonies after he wandered away from home; answering a 911 call because a rattlesnake is about to eat a nest full of baby birds; and scaring off ghosts because the lady of the house lost her husband ten years ago, her children live out of state, and you are the only outside contact she gets.
For me, being a cop is about keeping an eye out for a black-and-white dog of indeterminate ancestry, red bandanna, whose 9-year-old owner is crying his eyes out.
Most new officers will start out in medium-to-large cities/counties and never know what it’s like to patrol when your only back-up is 45 miles away as the cruiser drives – and asleep in bed, to boot.
So, I tell stories and hope that through those, the Gentle Reader can get a glimpse of what it’s like to be a Western small-town, rural Peace Officer.

ULTIMATELY, THE CHINESE ARE PROBABLY BEHIND THIS: Joel Kotkin: The rich are eating themselves: The oligarchs are playing a dangerous game by pouring trillions into woke causes.

The recent ‘Great Awokening’ of our elites reflects a long-standing shift among executives in terms of priorities and perspective. The capitalist class first arose out of the middle orders, and even from within the peasantry, as the industrial revolution, particularly in the Netherlands and Britain, challenged the autocracy of both the church and the monarchical state. These were often tough, ruthless entrepreneurs embodying values of hard work, thrift, family and faith.

But with the managerial revolution of the 1950s, the nature of executive elites changed. As sociologist Daniel Bell first identified half a century ago, business leaders were no longer upstarts and thus the natural opponents of state power. Instead, they reflected a new type of individualism, unmoored from religion and family, a worldview which transformed the foundations of middle-class culture. The goal of this new executive class, as Bell saw it, was not so much building great companies, but gaining accolades from their peers, the press and the public – a trend also set out in Alvin Toffler’s 1980 book, The Third Wave.

And, as I have noted, the fact that our ruling class is a monoculture makes it much more vulnerable to fads and mass hysteria.

AND AGAIN, ABOUT TIME:  Renewable Fail: Britain to Now Class Nuclear Power as “Sustainable Energy”.

IF IT WERE ONLY NEW YORK, IT WOULDN’T WORRY ME HALF AS MUCH:  Countdown To New York’s Rendezvous With Energy Impossibility.

AS SOMEONE WITH WEIGHT PROBLEMS, IT’S NOT AN IDENTITY, IT’S A CURSE:  Why Dove Soap tried to cross sword with Brendan Fraser.

WE DON’T NEED NO THOUGHT CONTROL:  It’s grandstanding, but it should be common sense.

EQUAL OUTCOMES ALWAYS REQUIRE REDUCTION TO THE LOWEST POSSIBLE DENOMINATOR:  Harrison Bergeroning.

AGAIN, ABOUT TIME:  Dutch farmer protest party: from nowhere to shared largest party in the Senate; meanwhile, France, Italy.

This is a worldwide fight.

SO POPULAR! VERY LET’S GO BRANDON!  Foul Play: Vice President Kamala Harris Booed By Crowd At Alma Mater’s March Madness Game.

NOTE THERE IS NOTHING AGAINST GAS EXCEPT THEIR DESIRE TO HAVE US FREEZE IN THE DARK:  Bay Area Regulators Will Not Allow New Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters After 2027.

THE CITY’S VERSION OF ROLLING LEFT BEFORE DYING:  Boston Mayor Focuses on ‘Green’ Construction as City Struggles to Answer 911 Calls.

I REMEMBER THIS WHEN THEY TRIED TO DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM “SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR”:  Woke Twitter Claims “Woke” Doesn’t Exist If You Can’t Precisely Define It.

They name themselves,t hen try to escape the stigma when everyone hates it…  The cause the terms become an insult is discoverable when they look in the mirror. But they won’t look.

AND AGAIN ABOUT TIME:  Dutch Farmers’ Party Emerges as the Biggest Force in Regional Elections, Upsets Government’s Plan to Enforce Radical Climate Laws.

ABOUT  TIME!   House Oversight Wants to Hear From the Hunter Biden Associate Who Distributed Chinese Money to Biden Family.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Assoc. Prof. Buynevich: I grew up in the Soviet Union. Even those universities valued merit more than some American schools do today.

OPEN THREAD: It’s for you.

SPACE: Rocket Lab launches 2 satellites to orbit on 2nd Electron mission from US soil.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Liver Regeneration: The Surprising Importance of Gut Bacteria.