THANK YOU, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS:  The NAS is stating something publicly that would have been uncontroversial even a few years ago.  In “Against Transgenderism,” it declares what everybody knows but is afraid to say out loud:  Thinking you’re a woman is not the same as actually being a woman.  Ditto for thinking you’re a man.  It’s utter lunacy that it takes cojones (of the metaphorical sort) to say so, but that’s where we are today.  One day people will look back on our era and wonder what the heck with wrong with us.

Please support the NAS in any way you can.  They stick their necks out in so many ways so you don’t have to.  (Yes, I have a bit of a bias here.  I’ve been a member for about 30 years and a board member for about 20.  I’m darn proud of it, too.)

PURR:  Pizza guy rescues children from burning building.

ABOLISH EVERYTHING:  “Joe Biden Urged to Abolish ICE as Agency Reportedly Runs Out of Money.”

(FWIW, when I toured immigration detention facilities a few years ago they turned out to be much nicer than I had been led to believe.)

INFORM, ENCOURAGE, ENGAGE:   Californians for Equal Rights Foundation proudly presents our first ever Annual Conference:  Fighting Preferences and Indoctrination in Education.  If you’re going to be in Southern California on Saturday, September 3, come join us.  Speakers include Williamson Ever, Wen Fa, Rick Sander, Eli Steele, and me.  Early Bird registration is $50 for this day-long event and includes breakfast and lunch.

THE AMY WAX SAGA:   Professor Wax stands accused of making minority students feel bad.  Alas, a lot of what she has to say is simply the obvious and true:  Minority students who receive preferential treatment in admissions (or any students who receive preferential treatment) will, on average, do less well than students who weren’t given preferential treatment. Duh.  That’s why schools established admissions standards in the first place.

Penn law dean Ted Ruger is seeking to impose a “major sanction” on Wax.  In fact, he been trying to get her to resign for a while now.

Yesterday, the Academic Freedom Alliance (of which I am a founding member) sent a letter defending Professor Wax.

This story continues to develop.

DEVON WESTHILL KNOWS FROM EXPERIENCE:  “Going Soft on Black Children’s Misbehavior is the Wrong Policy Prescription.”

IN DEFENSE OF THE LSAT:  Those who oppose the LSAT argue it is not an objective measure of aptitude.  But the truth is the opposite.  They oppose the LSAT because they don’t like objective measures.  They prefer to be able to manipulate admissions criteria according to their political preferences.

HARVARD SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED:  The Harvard University web site refers to Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which is currently pending before the Supreme Court, as a “politically motivated lawsuit.”  Well … I guess … if Harvard means that in the sense that Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a politically motivated lawsuit, then yes.  The web site also states, “Harvard College does not discriminate against applicants from any group in its admission processes.” This is simply false.

(Here’s my amicus curiae brief supporting Students For Fair Admissions.  After reading the Harvard web site, I’m all the more happy that I had the time to write it.)

COOLEST DAY IN HISTORY:  On this date in 1902, Willis Haviland Carrier completed his design for the modern air conditioner.  God bless him.  I still remember the day the house where I grew up in Virginia got air conditioning.  I was probably about nine years old.

Here’s a reminder of how much difference air conditioning has made:    In 1900, Phoenix’s population was 5,544; today the Phoenix metro area has 4,652,000 people–an unthinkable number without Carrier’s invention.  This afternoon, the temperature in Phoenix is expected to reach 110 degrees.

SOMEWHAT HARSH:  But that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

I’M HOPING TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT THIS:  “Excusing Misbehavior Is Bad for Kids and Schools, But That’s What Biden Admin Want to do for ‘Equity.‘”  (Here’s my argument.  Oh, and here’s more … I’ve been hammering on this nail for a while.  It’s important.)

SAN DIEGO MAYOR TAKES SIDES IN A LABOR DISPUTE:  I wouldn’t have thought this is a great way to keep business in San Diego.

CHURCH DESECRATED AND SET ON FIRE IN BETHESDA, MARYLAND:  Mostly peaceful, no doubt.  For the record, “Bethesda” or “beth hesda” means “house of mercy” in Hebrew.

NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT:  Efforts to amend the law to increase the caps on Title VII monetary damage awards (on account of inflation) must be resisted.  This article explains why this matters.

COMET!:  On this day in 1801, French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons sighted his first comet.  By the end of his career he had discovered 37 of them–more than anyone in history using visual methods.

Pons was not your average scientist.  He was born to a poor family and had little in the way of formal education.  He was hired to be the caretaker of the Marseille Observatory.  At first, he was not taken seriously by the credentialed scientists Pons assisted.  But after a while, they had to admit that he had a knack for finding comets.  By the end of his career he had been awarded the Lalande Prize three times.

VOTE KEMI BADENOCH for CONSERVATIVE LEADER:  She’s brave.

I CAN EXPLAIN IT:  HE HAS SOMETHING TO HIDE:  Court orders the University of Delaware to explain its refusal to release Biden’s senate papers.

BILL JACOBSON:  The green agenda will lead to (more) populist revolts.

JONATHAN ADLER:  “Will Chevron Get the Lemon Treatment?”

BARI WEISS:  “The New Founders America Needs.”

SHE’D HAVE MY VOTE … IF HAD A VOTE:  “Anti-Woke Warrior Princess Enters Conservative Leadership Race.”

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, WYOMING–ARGUABLY OUR MOST BEAUTIFUL RED STATE:  The Wyoming Territory’s constitution was the first to guarantee women the right to vote.  When Wyoming applied for statehood, Congress initially balked, with some members fearing that admitting Wyoming would lead to demands for women’s suffrage in other states. But the Wyoming legislature stood its ground and cabled back to Congressional leaders, “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.”

Congress eventually relented, and on this day in 1890, Wyoming was admitted as our 44^th state. Those who feared that Wyoming’s example would lead to pressure for women’s suffrage were, of course, right.  Before the turn of the century, there were four women’s suffrage states—Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho—and many more soon thereafter.  Good-o (except for the part about women being more likely to vote for progressives … there’s not a lot of that in Wyoming, y’know).

I ASKED MY GENTLEMAN FRIEND FOR A GENERATOR FOR MY BIRTHDAY … in case of rolling blackouts … or brownouts or whatever.  I’ve been working on a report for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights about Hurricane Maria and the yearlong power outage it caused in Puerto Rico, and it’s got me wound up.  (Yes, I know that Puerto Rico’s grid was old and rickety, but California’s is not so great either.)  I want something that I can lift and plug into the wall to store up electricity in anticipation of temporary outages … but also something with solar panels to use in case things really go south.  I live on the rim of a canyon where fire hazard is very real.  I could never store fuel on this property.  So is this what I want?  Advice, please.

RICH IS BETTER:  For years now, Israeli kibbutz have been moving away from utopian socialism and toward something more like a market economy.  In the process, they’ve gotten richer.  But did that make them hard-hearted toward the less fortunate?  A new study suggests their attitudes toward market mechanisms have gotten more positive now that they’ve had experience with them, but their support for redistribution to the poor has not changed.  And it’s easier now that they’re richer.

SRI LANKA:  Bird’s eye view of storming the Presidential Palace.  Another view.