THE AUTOMATION OF McJOBS?: I just saw these statistics on Wikipedia: In 2013, McDonald’s had 35,429 locations, a net income of $5,586 million and 440,000 employees. In 2019, it had 38,695 locations (more locations!), a net income of $6025 million (more profit!), and 205,000 employees (less than half as many employees!). (Update:  A reader tells me that much of the decrease comes from McDonald’s selling off company-owned locations.  Still at the location near my mother’s home in Virginia, the advent of “tablets” for ordering soon resulted in a very significant decrease in workers.  It wasn’t subtle.)

THE NINTH CIRCUIT IS NO LONGER RELIABLY PROGRESSIVE: “Ninth Circuit Panel Rejects District Court’s Covid Takeover of Immigration Detention Facilities.”

(When the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights visited immigration detention facilities a few years back, my progressive colleagues were shocked to see that they were not the hell holes they had been led to believe. It was almost funny.)

K.C. JOHNSON:  “The Return of Catherine Lhamon Is Another Biden Betrayal.”  (She was confirmed as head of the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights today with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the tie vote.)

DEAR ATTORNEY GENERAL GARLAND:  The four conservative members of the U.S Commission on Civil Rights (including me) wrote a letter to Garland about his infamous memo:   “We have combed the internet for signs that parents petitioning school boards are anything approaching a national problem. Nearly all of what we have seen so far makes us proud to be Americans: Parents care about the education of their children, and they are not willing to allow them to be indoctrinated into a radical ideology.   It is always possible that a few of these parents have gotten out of hand and made threats that they should not have. If so, law enforcement is entirely appropriate. But is there evidence that local law enforcement is not up to the job? Why is federal intervention needed here and not in the thousands of other unrelated cases of overheated exchanges that occur regularly across the country? Why does this case call for federal intervention? Is it surprising to you that concerned parents across the country view your memorandum as an endorsement of the [National School Boards Association]’s description of their protests as comparable to ‘domestic terrorism’?”

I hope Garland gets thousands of letters.

“WE LIVE SUBMERGED AT THE BOTTOM OF AN OCEAN OF AIR”:  On this day in 1608, Evangelista Torricelli, physicist, mathematician, and inventor of the barometer was born.

DO YOU OWN STOCK IN LOWE’S?:  Do you want to stop Lowe’s from discriminating against small business owners on the basis of race?  Please help the American Civil Rights Project.  Our organization is having success in reminding “woke” corporations that anti-discrimination laws protect all of us, not just some.  But we need actual shareholders to make this work.  If you own Lowe’s stock (or even if you’re just curious), please click.  

WATCH OUT!  HERE COMES PAUL TAYLOR!:  For twenty years, Paul worked as a Republican counsel on Capitol Hill, mostly for the House Committee on the Judiciary, where he specialized in civil rights, civil liberties and constitutional issues.  On a couple of occasions, I had the pleasure of working with him.  Now that he’s off the Hill, he will be speaking his mind on Substack. His first post is a 50-minute video debunking in detail the false narratives promulgated by some of the most popular “critical race theory” books.  It’s been a hit with many of the heroic parents who have been challenging corrupt school boards about the efforts to indoctrinate their children into a radical ideology religion.  (Yes I’m talking about the parents that the National School Boards Association compared to domestic terrorists.)  You can sign up there for his Substack if you feel so inclined, including for the free version.  Paul also has a series of essays on the same topic.

PUTTING POLITICS IN POLITICAL SCIENCE:  The APSA cancels the Claremont Institute.

JUSTICE GORSUCH AND THE TRANSGENDER BATHROOM ISSUE: The transgender bathroom issue has made it into the (conservative) news again—this time in a case involving an alleged sexual assault in at a Loudoun County school.

I don’t understand why so many people assume Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) requires schools to allow transgender girls (anatomical boys who “identify as female”) to use the girls’ toilets, locker rooms, and showers. Whether you’re a fan of Justice Gorsuch’s reasoning or not, Bostock doesn’t go that far. Indeed, the opinion denies that it is intended to apply in that context.

I would go further: Bostock’s logic actually strengthens the case for school discretion in dealing with the transgender bathroom, locker room, and shower situations.  Its logic suggests that individual school districts should have the option of dealing with the issue as they see fit.

The Bostock opinion is hyper-textual.  Its logic goes something like this:

• The plaintiff—a man who revealed that he was going to wear skirts and make-up and use mannerisms that are generally thought of as feminine—was fired from his job at the defendant’s funeral home.
• A woman who wears skirts and make-up and who uses mannerisms that are generally thought of as feminine would not have been fired from that job.
• That’s sex discrimination! A man and a woman behaving in the same way were treated differently.
• Because Title VII bans sex discrimination (and no exception to that ban applies here), this is a violation of Title VII.

Note that Justice Gorsuch did not subscribe to the notion that transgender women are women or that transgender men are men. Indeed, if he had done so, it would have ruined the plaintiff’s case. Title VII does not outlaw discrimination between different kinds of women or between different kinds of men. To win a case, the plaintiff needs to be able to show that a male is being treated differently from a female. In Gorsuch’s view, that’s the key to liability.

Note also that Gorsuch’s logic would presumably also apply to a male who isn’t transgender, but who just wants to wear a skirt and makeup (or to the more common situation of a woman who isn’t transgender and who wants to wear pants and not wear makeup). It’s all about treating males and females differently.

Title IX applies to federally funded schools and covers not just employees but also students. Like Title VII, it bans sex discrimination. It also authorizes the President to promulgate regulations that allow for separate living facilities. President Gerald Ford did so. The regulation explicitly authorizes the separation of toilets, locker rooms, and showers by sex.

So let’s try the Bostock hyper-textual logic in this context:

(more…)

WOKE UNIVERSITIES CAN’T BE TOO CAREFUL ABOUT WHOM THEY HIRE: New job postings at the University of San Diego reflect the university’s plunge into wokeness. Just to get an interview for a job as a philosophy professor, a communications studies professor, or an architecture professor, you must submit “a diversity statement in which you address A) your values with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion; B) your experience working with minoritized populations and/or on issues that disproportionately affect diverse populations, and C) your plans related to diversity and inclusion in your teaching and research.”

Similar requirements have popped up at other colleges and universities. USD used to be a little better than the average school at avoiding such nonsense. But that was then, and this is now.

YES, BUT MAKING EVERYONE ELSE PAY FOR STUDENTS’ BAD DECISIONS ISN’T THE ANSWER:  George Leef reviews “The Debt Trap.”

PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO NOTICE WHAT IS HAPPENING AT MY CUTE LITTLE UNIVERSITY:  “The Woke Blob Swallows the University of San Diego.”  (Alas, if anything, this article understates the problem.)  If you’re a USD parent, student, donor, or alum, it’s time to speak up.  We’re a small enough institution to where you might actually have an effect.

IF YOU’RE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, DON’T MISS THIS: On November 3 at 5:30 p.m., Greg Lukianoff, author of Unlearning Liberty:  Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate,  co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind, and president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), will be delivering a public lecture at the University of San Diego.  You’re invited!

(Yes, thanks to a generous donation from Mrs. Joan E. Bowes, the University of San Diego hosts a talk each year from a prominent conservative/libertarian/classical liberal each year.  That’s better than some universities.)

JOHN FUND:  When will someone hold human-rights hearings on Australia?

A HORSE! A HORSE!! MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE!!!:  On this day in 1452, Richard III of England was born.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, 1910:  A bomb ripped through the Los Angeles Times Building, killing 21 and injuring more.  Two brothers connected to the Iron Workers Union were later arrested for the crime.

ONE MORE UNIVERSITY IN DISARRAY: In August, I posted something about the University of San Diego’s Black Lives Matter course currently being taught in the college. Here is the course description students were given:

“Heeding the call of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and global network, this course joins the nationwide effort to deconstruct anti-Blackness, dismantle white supremacy, center Black resistance and build solidarity movements that support the wellness and self-determination of Black communities. This collaborative, team-taught course will contextualize the complex histories of Black people in the US and center Black wisdom, joy and antiracist praxis. Students will be exposed to a range of interdisciplinary analyses of the movement for Black lives and engaged in critical, transformative reflection.”

As you can see, the course is not about education; it’s about “the nationwide effort to … dismantle white supremacy.” Put differently, it’s about fear mongering and indoctrination.

At the time of my August post, USD was seeking 25 faculty members to fill all the slots on the panels needed to teach the course. Given that I am the only person on the USD faculty with almost 15 years experience as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as well as many years’ experience teaching and writing about civil rights, I figured that I was more than qualified to be on a panel. I applied, because it was obvious to me that the course needed a large dose of ideological diversity.

Faculty members were requested to propose a topic or two in a few sentences. Here’s one of mine: “Labor and U.S. Racial Capitalism: I would discuss Nobel prize-winning economist Gary Becker’s work on race discrimination. Becker showed that competitive markets have tended to eliminate race discrimination, while protected markets (government jobs and jobs with heavily regulated or unionized industries) have tended to foster racial preferences. The empirical evidence tends to bear him out. For example, during the Jim Crow Era, jobs with government and public utilities went disproportionately to whites. Labor unions were often openly anti-black.   Competitive industries were usually more inclined to hire African Americans.”

As the pessimists among you might have expected, they thanked me and declined. Instead, they chose 26 other faculty members.

A comparison to the Federalist Society is worth making here: The Fed Soc’s Civil Rights Practice (more…)

A PLACE FOR US … ÀPRES LE DÉLUGE: For years, I’ve been teasing my conservative and libertarian friends that we should colonize Baffin Island before things get worse here in the USA. They point out that Baffin Island is cold and that it’s already inhabited by fierce Canadians who might take a dim view of our invasion. And polar bears … we mustn’t forget the polar bears.

I’ve therefore been scouting out—via the miracle of the internet—uninhabited islands with better weather (and smaller predators).

Scratch Clipperton Island off the list.

Named for an 18^th century English pirate, Clipperton Island is about 700 miles southwest of Mexico. The two square-mile atoll is not close to anything but the Pacific Ocean. With the exception of a few coconut palms and some grasses, it is pretty barren. Technically its lagoon is full of “fresh” (i.e. non-saline) water, but it’s filthy, very acidic, and undrinkable except on those occasions when your next-best option is death from dehydration. Oh … and the island is home to lots of nasty little land crabs.

None of that’s a deal killer for me. I’m that desperate.

Alas, the island’s history gives me the creeps, so I’m reluctantly going to have to give Clipperton a pass.

Here’s the story as I understand it: In 1906 a British company in cooperation with the Mexican government started a settlement on the island to mine guano. Guano mining had been a huge industry worldwide in the 19^th century—often involving slave labor. The guano (yes, I’m talking about bird poop) was used for fertilizer before the rise of more modern agricultural methods.

The Clipperton mine came well after the industry’s heyday and was not particularly lucrative. The British soon lost interest. Mexico chose to keep the operation and stationed a number of military men there with their families. By 1914, there were about 100 men, women, and children on the island, all or almost all of them Mexican nationals. Every two months a ship would arrive from Acapulco with provisions—food, water, medicine, and whatever else was needed.

Then things went to hell. As the Mexican Revolution raged, the supply ship stopped coming. There was no food.  The 100 inhabitants were faced with the possibility of starvation. One by one, they began to die from scurvy. The military leader of the settlement, Ramón Arnaud, and three soldiers attempted to get help by pursuing a passing ship in a canoe. The canoe sank, drowning all four of them.

By 1917, all the men had died.

Except one—the lighthouse keeper. His name was Victoriano Álvarez and previously he’d been a bit of a recluse. He could have been the hero of the story. Instead he chose to be the villain. He confiscated the women’s guns and declared himself “king” of the island.

By that time there were only 15 women and children left. The self-anointed “king” raped and murdered a mother and daughter when they refused to cooperate with him. He brutally beat and raped most of the others.

If there is a hero to the story, it was 20-year-old Tirza Randon, one of his favorite victims. She bashed his royal head in with a hammer. Sic semper tyrannis.

Very shortly thereafter, the USS Yorktown came by looking for German U-boats.   Eleven half-starved women and children (the youngest one suffering severely from rickets) were rescued and returned to Mexico.

Álvarez’s unburied body was left to the crabs.

At least that’s the way the story is told.

Please find me a different island.

FBI STATISTICS SHOW UNPRECEDENTED SPIKE IN MURDERS NATIONWIDE IN 2020: And African Americans are disproportionately victimized. But you’ll still be accused of racism if you point out that defunding the police is a bad idea.

I wrote about this issue a couple of years ago. It goes back decades. Gunnar Myrdal—hardly a conservative—understood it in the 1940s. Alas, today’s intellectual elites (of all races) don’t seem to.

MARTIN CENTER:  Critical Race Theory is even taught in the music schools:  Arizona State hires its first CRT music professor.

I’M HOPING FOR PERSONAL LIABILITY ON THE PART OF THE UCLA ADMINISTRATORS IN THIS ONE:  UCLA Professor Sues After Being Suspended for Refusing Preferential Exam Treatment for Black Students.  This was one of the worst (if not the worse) of the cancel culture episodes on campuses in 2020.  Such idiocy.

VACCINE PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS HAVE A DISPARATE IMPACT: Yes, of course, they do. Everything has a disparate impact on some group. That’s why I wrote Title VII Disparate Impact Liability Makes Everything Presumptively Illegal. Our laws are utterly incoherent.  Sometimes I wish we could just start from scratch.

SOME PEOPLE REALLY HATE “STAND YOUR GROUND” LAWS:  In Ohio, a lawsuit has been filed.  It claims procedural irregularities in the passage of Ohio’s “Stand Your Ground” law.  Evidently, legislators didn’t “debate and consider” the bill three times before passing it.  At issue is whether that was actually required. Also at issue is whether the law flunks Ohio’s single-subject rule.

(Some historical background on “Stand Your Ground” laws can be found here.)

AND SO IT BEGINS: The Commission on Civil Rights released a report last week that asserts women are 50% more likely to die as a result of childbirth today than they were a generation ago. In my dissent, I explained why that assertion is false. Nevertheless it is being repeated in the press (as this item from the Tampa Bay Times shows). I guess it’s now officially a meme.

Here’s the weird part: At the bottom of the Tampa Bay Times piece, it says, “The Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg provides partial funding for Times stories on equity. It does not select story topics and is not involved in the reporting or editing.” What the heck is that? Are progressive 501(c)(3)s really funding “stories on equity” in supposedly independent newspapers? What would happen if a newspaper announced that a conservative foundation was funding “stories on the plight of working whites”?

THE MARTIN CENTER INTERVIEWS WENYUAN WU: Wenyuan is the Executive Director of the Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (I am Executive VP.) CFER Foundation is the organization that grew out of the 2020 campaign to defeat Proposition 16.