JOHN FUND:  California’s Coming Recall Election.

IT BLAMES TRUMP, OF COURSE: “Report: 40% of US COVID deaths could have been avoided.”

What this Fox News article doesn’t point out is that the “experts” involved in this study–Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David Himmelstein–are the authors of a string of outlandish, highly politicized “studies.”

Jeff Jacoby wrote about their rent control study back in 1995. He quotes Woolhandler:

“‘If rent control vanishes, dozens will die,’ said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an internist at Cambridge Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School….

“‘One-third of our heart attack patients at Cambridge Hospital live in rent-controlled apartments. By allowing landlords to force them out, the governor and state Legislature are implementing the death penalty—a social policy sure to kill.’”

Jacoby also quotes Himmelstein:

“As doctors,” pronounces Dr. David Himmelstein, “we don’t have the power to change the law or get a person another apartment. But we do have the power to appeal to the moral consciousness of politicians as well as landlords.”

As Jacoby put it in 1995: “If only conservatives could be as sensitive and morally refined as Drs. Woolhandler and Himmelstein. Then they would realize how massive the death toll can be when liberals don’t get their way.”

Woolhandler and Himmelstein were also the authors (along with then Prof. Elizabeth Warren) of an over-hyped study of bankruptcy that wildly claimed that half of all bankruptcies stem from illness or injury. My response to that one is here.

It’s surprising to me how these folks manage to get so much attention for their work.  But they definitely do.

WILLIAM JACOBSON:  Exposing Critical Race Training in Higher Education.

IMMIGRATION REPORT: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is more or less shut down for a while. Our Chair, Catherine Lhamon, resigned on Inauguration Day to take a position at the White House as Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council for Racial Justice and Equity. Given that Trump had appointed two new commissioners in the last year, that has made our normally eight-member Commission majority conservative (4-3). Nevertheless, since a quorum is five and the progressive caucus is determined not to allow us to conduct a business meeting at which they could be out-voted on something, nothing is likely to happen before Biden fills the vacant seat.

Our state advisory committees are, however, still in business. Recently, our California State Advisory Committee released a report entitled, “Understanding the Impact of Immigration Enforcement on California Children on K-12 Schools.” The interesting thing about this report is that it contains a vigorous dissent from the three conservatives on the committee—Maimon Schwarzschild, Nancy Eisenhart, and Velma Montoya. Here are some comments from the dissent:

“The Committee document dwells largely, if not primarily, on an emotionally inflammatory claim that children are victimized by immigration law enforcement.”

“Regrettably, many of the Committee’s ‘findings and recommendations’ are based on dubious and controversial academic research and exaggerated testimony from politically-motivated advocacy groups—testimony that was challenged by other official and expert testimony as well as by thoughtful and cogent statements at the SAC Community Forum … only to be virtually ignored by the Committee.”

“Nearly 90% of the public comments to the SAC supported consistent and effective enforcement of the immigration laws, and expressed deep concern about the erosion of public order, and of the rule of law itself, from failure to enforce the law, and in particular from ‘sanctuary’ policies which obstruct enforcement of the law.”

This is a new (and healthy) Commission policy to permit state advisory committee members to file dissents that are longer than one page.

JOHN ROSENBERG: “Equity”?

As Rosenberg points out, Lani Guinier (Bill Clinton’s ill-fated nominee to head DOJ’s Civil Rights Division) was a reasonably respectable academic.  Like many academics, she had succumbed to the desire to say something completely novel.  That’s how you get ahead in academia.  The problem with novel ideas, however, especially in overcrowded fields like law, is that they are usually novel only because they are silly ideas.  So it was with Guinier’s cumulative voting idea.  It was silly and entirely unsuited to the real world.  On the other hand, I had a conversation with Guinier years ago and found her to be quite insightful on some of the issues facing legal education.

Biden’s nomination of Kristen Clarke for the Civil Rights Division is a different thing.  She is literally a racist.

Related (From Ed): ‘Neo-Racism’ in the Justice Department. “Will Clarke enforce civil rights law, or does she share the ideological commitments of what John McWhorter has called neo-racism, which rejects color-blindness in favor of destructive racialism? Expressing regret for one’s youthful radicalism is expected for a nominee facing a potentially tough Senate confirmation process. But what Ms. Clarke has shown with her behavior as a lawyer and an activist is that she is an untrustworthy champion of American civil rights.”

JOHN FUND:  Reagan:  The Movie.

JOHN FUND:  Undecided Congressional race in NY shows what’s wrong with how we conducted elections in 2020.

ON THIS DAY IN 1943, FOUR ARMY CHAPLAINS SACRIFICED THEIR OWN LIVES TO SAVE THE LIVES OF OTHERS: In case you’ve never heard of them, they’re usually referred to by their admirers as “the Four Chaplains.” They were: Lt. George Fox (Methodist minister), Lt. Alexander Goode (Reform rabbi), Lt. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed minister), and Lt. John Washington (Roman Catholic priest).

On January 23, 1943, the SS Dorchester, which had been converted for wartime use to a troop ship, left New York harbor bound for Greenland. About 900 men, including Fox, Goode, Poling and Washington, were on board.

During the pre-dawn hours of February 3, a German torpedo hit the ship, leaving a gaping hole below the waterline and knocking out the ship’s power. In the darkness, panic ensued, which the chaplains did their best to quell. When the supply of life preservers ran out, they gave their own life preservers to the men. “It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven,” one survivor later said.

The last that was seen of them, they were locked arm in arm in prayer as the Dorchester began to sink beneath the waves.

The whole thing took only about 20 minutes.

The sad part of the story is that, even with life preservers, most of the men on the Dorchester died. There weren’t enough lifeboats, and the Atlantic waters were frigid. The other ships in the small convoy rescued as many as they could. But the sinking of the Dorchester was the single worst loss of American lives in a convoy of WWII.

When I was a girl, my mother and father would always attend an annual service in honor of the Four Chaplains. A nation that fails to honor its heroes—of all kinds—is liable to have fewer of them when they’re needed.

ON THIS DAY IN 1925:  Balto and his fellow sled dogs saved the day in Nome, Alaska by delivering life-saving serum during a diphtheria outbreak.  In total, about 20 human “mushers” and about 150 sled dogs participated in this heroic, 674-mile, mid-winter relay.

NOT THE BEE:  Stacey Abrams nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

THE LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT’S WEB SITE:  You may want to take a look at this.  Really.

GOT AN HOUR?:  This documentary on Thomas Sowell, hosted by Jason Riley, was definitely worth my time.  Maybe yours too.

PREJUDICE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE:  Does the popular race Implicit Association Test stand up to careful scrutiny?

THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRAISES THE MASSACRE OF ISRAELI ATHLETES AT THE MUNICH OLYMPICS:  Alas, that’s a dog bites man story.  For decades, Palestinian children have been taught in school that they should hate Israel.   When they grow up, they still do.  But John Hinderaker makes a useful point about it at the end of his Powerline Post.

TRANSGENDER DÉJÀ VU: I am waiting to see if (or rather when) the Biden Administration re-issues the Obama Era transgender Title IX bathroom guidance. My amicus brief in the Gloucester County School Board v. G.G. case still demonstrates why that guidance misstated the law and why, under the actual law, school districts have the discretion in this area. Bostock v. Clayton Co. (2020) does not conflict with my analysis. Its hyper-textual analysis arguably bolsters it.

THAT WAS FAST:  Minutes after Biden took office, the Report of President Trump’s 1776 Commission (on which my colleague Peter Kirsanow served) was taken off the White House website.  I am told a Biden Executive Order has abolished the 1776 Commission already.

This afternoon I got an email from Pete.  As he put it,  this “tells you everything about the Left’s priorities–can’t have the truth about America out there for even a minute” and “I’m sure the Fahrenheit 451 crowd is tracking down every copy they can.”

NOT THEIR PILLOW ANYMORE:  “My Pillow CEO says Bed, Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s to stop selling his products.”

A QUICK WAY TO COUNTER BIG TECH CENSORSHIP?:  It’s worth considering.  North Dakota appears to be already doing so.

NEW NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOLARS REPORT:  Freedom to Learn:  Amending the Higher Education Act.

JOIN US:  On Friday, the Pacific Legal Foundation is sponsoring a webinar entitled, “Was 2020 a Turning Point for Identity Politics?”  It will feature Anastasia Boden, Wen Fa, Glenn Loury, and me.

HENRY FORD WAS GREEN WHEN GREEN WASN’T COOL: On this day in history, 1942, Henry Ford patented a car made of soybeans. Sort of.

TUCKER CARLSON:  Meet Biden’s nominee to be Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.  Unbelievable.

THOMAS SOWELL:  “Is Truth Irrelevant?”  Evidently, yes.

ARKANSAS IS CONSIDERING A “STAND YOUR GROUND” LAW; OHIO NOW HAS ONE: In truth, it surprises me that these laws create as much controversy as they do.