OF COURSE:  Cambridge U. to add signs contextualizing the “whiteness” its Roman and Greek statues.

RICHARD HANANIA:  The roots of wokeness lie in civil rights law.

(I missed this essay when it came out a couple of months ago.  But Hanania is right.  I am working on an essay that discusses how the Civil Rights Act of 1991, because it made Title VII lawsuits, especially harassment lawsuits, financially rewarding for the the first time, helped create our present Age of Wokeness.)

UH OH:  The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is apparently being sued for “illegally refusing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act.”   The plaintiff is seeking documents that arguably could relate to President Biden’s nomination of Catherine Lhamon to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights.  The Commission has allegedly been uncooperative.

(No, the lawsuit is not against me.  Alas, I’m not exactly in charge at the Commission.  I’m just one of eight commissioners.)

KENNY XU AT THE MARTIN CENTER:  “Asian Americans Debunk Critical Race Theory.”

Kenny’s book, An Inconvenient Minority, can be found here.

BUT VERY SMART PEOPLE HAVE ASSURED US THIS ISN’T HAPPENING:  Cars selling for more than their sticker price. 

IT HASN’T REALLY BEEN ALL THAT PRIVATE:  Privately, the Beltway Establishment Has Never Respected Biden.

CONGRESS HAS ANOTHER STUPID IDEA:  A bipartisan effort to eliminate the special wage program will throw Down Syndrome workers out of their jobs.  Why isn’t that obvious?

I wrote about this for the Commission on Civil Rights last year.  The parents of these workers were overwhelmingly against ending the special sub-minimum wage.  That should tell you something.

GEORGE LEEF ON ALL THE FOOLISHNESS COMING OUT OF LAW SCHOOLS:  “Progressivism Surges Through America’s Law Schools.”

NATURE ABHORS A VACUUM:  News from Afghanistan. Lots of it.  I’m not sure why anyone is surprised.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO IS “JOIN[ING] THE NATIONWIDE EFFORT TO DECONSTRUCT ANTI-BLACKNESS [AND] DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY”:  I received this invitation yesterday from my employer:

HUMC 294: Black Lives Matter: Interdisciplinary Perspectives Course

Course Description: Faculty across all academic units are invited to participate as instructors in an interdisciplinary 5-week class about the movement for Black lives. Drawing upon the expertise of scholars from the humanities, arts and architecture, business, engineering, education, and the social sciences, this course will consider this historical moment of social and political change. All USD faculty are encouraged to apply.

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. The collaborative and team-taught course will not only contextualize the complex histories of Black people in the US but also center Black wisdom, joy, and antiracist praxis. It is our intention to reorient canon to recognize Black contribution; to learn about Black networks across the world and throughout history; and to imagine futures that support Black excellence. Students will be exposed to a range of interdisciplinary analyses of the movement for Black lives and engaged in critical, transformative reflection.

…

Compensation: Each faculty participant will receive a $600 stipend. 

Could a course description be any clearer that it is about inculcating and supporting a fringe ideology? The course description literally states that the course is part of a “nationwide effort to deconstruct anti-Blackness [and] dismantle white supremacy.” The problem is that you couldn’t find a white supremacist in these parts if your life depended on it.  These folks are barking mad.

The suggested topics for the sessions include “Black internationalism,” “Labor and U.S. Racial Capitalism,” “Black Epistemologies and Education,” “Environmental Racism,” “Black and Womanist Theology,” “Anti-Blackness in Science and Technology,” and lots more.  It’s hard not to wince while reading through all the neo-Marxist jargon.

By the way, as a result of the pandemic, the University of San Diego is so strapped for cash that it initially stopped paying into the retirement accounts of its faculty and staff.  At this point, it has re-evaluated and is paying 50% of the retirement benefits it used to pay. In effect, everyone, down to the lowliest assistant gardener, has received a pay cut. And guess who is harmed the most? The lower you are on the pay scale, the more it hurts when it comes time to retire and your nest egg is insufficient.  Recently the law school announced that under its new “fiscally prudent” policy, faculty and staff will even have to bring “their own coffee mugs, cutlery, dishware and condiments (i.e. coffee pods, tea bags, sweetener/creamer, etc.).” But never fear: There is plenty of money—ridiculous sums—to hire someone into the newly created position of Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And there is plenty money for faculty stipends to “join the nationwide effort to deconstruct anti-blackness [and] dismantle white supremacy.”

I wonder when boards of trustees, parents and donors are going to get wise to the foolishness on college campuses these days. While I’m not what you’d call optimistic, I’m not willing to give up the fight.  I’ve been told I have an abnormally long attention span ….

MICHAEL BARONE:  “The first test of government is to provide a stable order in which people can live their lives. California’s liberal Democrats seem to be flunking that test.”

SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY WANTS AN EQUITY-BASED “HONORS” PROGRAM FOR ITS “BIPOC” STUDENTS:  There’s a good chance that whatever it comes up with will violate Proposition 209. 

I MISSED THIS STORY ABOUT BARBARA BOXER GETTING ROBBED WHEN IT HAPPENED: I guess that’s the point: It’s easy to miss a story the media aren’t interested in telling you about. But these days it’s getting harder and harder to avoid stories about rising crime  (Yes, perceptions of newsworthiness tend to be corrupted by a political usefulness bias … I bet you’re not surprised.)

PARKING TICKETS ARE RACIST: Or something like that.  (A favorite progressive theme these days is that the enforcement of fines and fees is “criminalizing poverty.”  I would have a bit more sympathy for that position if progressives didn’t oppose all efforts to prevent bad behavior—from executions on down to reprimands from the teacher.)

GO, JUDGE HO!:  “Judge Defends Equal Justice Against Tide of Critical Race Theory, Disparate Impact.”

(For a primer on just how ghastly disparate impact liability is and how it got started in the law, try my article here.)

JOHN FUND:  “How Do Democrats Handle a Problem Like Gavin Newsom?” 

FROM THE ALOHA STATE:  STOP COMING HERE:  The Hawaii Tourism Authority wants fewer tourists.  Careful what you wish for.

CHARLES LIPSON:  “When Confidence in Our Institutions Collapses.”

JOHN FUND:  “Is New York City’s Vaccine Passport Scheme Racist?“

GOOD NEWS ABOUT A BAD NEWS NOMINATION:  “Lhamon Fails to Advance Out of Committee; Full Senate Should Not Allow Her Nomination to Proceed Further.”

SCOTT YENOR AT THE MARTIN CENTER:  “Academic Freedom Doesn’t Shield Universities from Oversight.”

PLAINLY ILLEGAL RACE DISCRIMINATION: The City of Portland, Oregon plans to spend millions in federal funds on “struggling artists of color.” Note that Portland isn’t talking about giving money to just any struggling artist. Whites don’t count, no matter how much they are struggling and no matter how artistically gifted.

This kind of blatant race discrimination isn’t going to stop until lawsuits—lots of ‘em—are brought. To do that here, we need a struggling artist of pallor in Portland who might be willing to be the plaintiff.

Instapundit is not exactly the place I expect to find a lot of struggling non-POC artists living in Portland, so this is a long shot. But if you are such a person and might be willing to help us fight this, please contact me via email. I will pass your info on to the lawyers who are hoping to mount a lawsuit. Alternatively, if your best friend from high school or your daughter-in-law’s mom lives in or near Portland and might know a struggling artist or two, please find out if they can help.

EVEN THE L.A. TIMES MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THE MOVEMENT:  Orange County Board of Education gets an earful from parents and panelists about the indoctrination of children through CRT.

ANOTHER NEW “STAND YOUR GROUND” STATE: It’s North Dakota this time.

(Here’s my contribution to the literature on this much-misunderstood doctrine.)

THE GERMANS CALL THE STRATEGY “WANDEL DURCH HANDEL” (“CHANGE THROUGH TRADE”): But doing business with China seems to be changing the wrong countries.

(Why am I reminded of the Rolling Stones’ 19^th Nervous Breakdown? “On our first trip, I tried so hard to rearrange your mind. But after a while I realized you were disarranging mine.”)