NO WONDER SHE’S SLIPPING IN THE POLLS:  Elizabeth Warren’s campaign slogan is “End Corruption in Washington.”  Alas, her own “scholarly” work is not exactly on the up and up.

ON THIS DAY IN 1968:  Johnny Cash performed lived at Folsom State Prison.

THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT FEELS THE BERN:  “Democrats No Longer Dismiss Sanders’ Odds.”

IS “PETTY CRIME” GETTING WORSE IN CALIFORNIA?: It seems that way to me. And it’s not just San Franciscans pooping on sidewalks. The guys helping me fix up my bathroom had the tools stolen from out of their truck recently. And the internet bulletin board for my neighborhood is full of posts about smash-and-grab crimes and the like. Many of them say, “I didn’t tell the police. These days they don’t do anything.” It makes me wonder how much FBI crime statistics on this sort of thing are worth.

The Commission on Civil Rights did a report a little while ago that was critical of an array of “police practices.” My colleagues viewed police efforts to prevent crime as anti-black.  This was my response.

THAR SHE BLOWS!: On this day in 1901, the Lucas gusher at the Spindletop Oil Field blew, thus beginning the Texas Oil Boom.

There had long been suspicions that Spindletop Hill in Beaumont, Texas had oil underneath it. But it took Anthony Francis Lucas (Anton Lučić), a Croatian-born, Austrian-educated engineer, to bring it forth. It wasn’t easy. At one point, he and his partner ran out of funds, and Lucas had to go scrounging for new investors. But, finally, at a depth of greater than 1000 feet, he found what he’d been looking for. The resulting oil geyser reached over 150 feet in the air and took nine days to be brought under control. Soon the well was producing almost 100,000 barrels a day—more than all the other oil wells in America combined.

During the 19^th century, oil had been used primarily in lamps and as a lubricant. Thanks in part to the massive quantities of oil produced at Spindletop, oil would go on to power the 20^th century. Despite “peak oil” predictions, it looks like it will be powering a good part of the 21^st century too.

LIFE IN THE LAND OF PLENTY:  On this day in 1964, LBJ declared the War on Poverty.  Alas, it turned out lack of money was not really the root of the problem.

NIKE, AN ANTI-AMERICAN COMPANY:  Powerline’s John Hinderaker reminds us that Nike actually cultivates its anti-American image.  And (alas) that image seems to pay off for it.

Almost 30 years ago, I had a (since deceased) leftie friend who insisted that he wouldn’t buy Nike shoes, because they were named for Nike missiles and therefore promote American militarism.  Nothing I could tell him about Nike, the ancient Greek goddess of victory, for whom both the shoes and the missiles were named, would change his mind.  He’d never heard of the goddess Nike, so he was sure nobody else had either (except his weird friend Gail, who reads too much).  This was pre-internet, so I couldn’t just Google it to prove my point.

Too bad I can’t convince everyone inclined to buy Nike shoes on account of the company’s anti-American image that they’d be promoting American militarism.

Related (From Ed): With Attack on U.S. Flag, Colin Kaepernick‏ Shifts the Goalposts.

GOOD POINT:  Voter Suppression, Iowa Style:  Why don’t the folks who always complain about “voter suppression” gripe about the Iowa caucus system?  It gives a lot of power to a bunch of students, college professors, party activists and people who don’t have to work evenings.

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION?: Even if 2020 doesn’t turn out to be the administration’s last year, officials need to act on the assumption that it might be.

A couple of years back I recommended that the Trump Administration take a close look liability for “disparate impact” under Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as well as few other statutes). So far there’s been no action.   And time is running out.  But these are serious issues that need to be addressed.

Here is why I believe disparate impact liability under Title VII is unconstitutional. For Title VI, no one claims the statute itself imposes liability for disparate impact; the claim is that the regulations made pursuant to Title VI do. Here is why I believe that this is a misinterpretation of the regulations and that if it’s not a misinterpretation the regulations are beyond the scope of the rulemaking power granted under Title VI and unconstitutional.

There are a variety of things—large and small—the Trump Administration could do about this.  I hope they will have the time and the inclination to act.

DEKULAKIZATION: On this day in 1929, Joseph Stalin announced the “liquidation of the kulaks as a class.”

Who were the kulaks? They were “rich peasants” (a bit of a contradiction in terms). Kulaks were peasants who had a little more land than their neighbors … or maybe a couple more cows … or maybe they just weren’t as keen on collectivization as their neighbors.

Soviet leaders called them bloodsuckers and hyenas. (Here in America we might have called them yeoman farmers.)

Dekulakization meant that they would be killed or their property would be seized and they would be sent to prisons or labor camps in Siberia or elsewhere. Some were resettled on inferior land.  Robert Conquest, who was pretty meticulous about these things, wrote that as many as five million may have died between 1929 and 1933.

I MISSED THIS INTERESTING NEWS WHEN IT WAS REPORTED LAST WEEK: Southern Poverty Law Center employees vote to unionize. (More on the SPLC and its history here.)

IT’S A ZOMBIE: The last thing 21^st century feminists should want is the Equal Rights Amendment.   It would make various female-friendly government policies a lot harder to defend in court. But that’s what they say they want.

A not-so-odd fact:  In 1996, when feminist organizations had the chance to support an amendment to the state constitution that prohibited California from discriminating on the basis of sex, they went crazy in opposition. “It will destroy affirmative action!” they cried. They even ran a television ad in opposition to the measure in which a women in a white coat with a stethoscope was stripped down to her underwear by male hands. Are we now supposed to believe they think a Constitutional amendment banning discrimination is a great idea?

OVERINCARCERATION VERSUS UNDERINCARCERATION:  Maybe I’m just a mean old Scrooge to think so, but it seems to me Paul Mirengoff has got a point here.

(Here’s what I’ve written in the past about the notion that modern police practices and high incarceration rates are a nefarious plots to hurt African Americans.)

TRUMP EXPECTED TO SIGN “BAN THE BOX” LEGISLATION: Alas, the law of unintended consequences is likely to step in here. A number of empirical studies have found that when the law makes it difficult to ask applicants for low-skilled jobs about their criminal records, employers sometimes resort to stereotypes and decline to hire young African American males. I discussed those studies in Part IX of this article about disparate impact liability. It’s a pretty long article, but I hope it will be worth your time if you have any kind of interest in employment discrimination law (one of our most messed up areas of the law).

NOT SO BRIGHT: Boston has changed the name of Dudley Square in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood to Nubian Square. Why? Some people were concerned that Gov. Thomas Dudley (1576-1653) had “something” to do with slavery. In fact, there is no evidence Dudley owned any slaves and, according to the Boston Globe, “his role in the promotion of slavery is somewhat murky.” On the other hand, as Jeff Jacoby points out, the various ancient Nubian kingdoms honored by the square’s new name were centers for slavery. Slaves were a vital part of their economy; they were the kingdoms’ main export.

My late mother was a New Englander and tended to think of New Englanders as better educated than the rest of the country. (We all have our biases.) She must not have been thinking of Boston.

MORE CAMPUS SEPARATISM, MORE SPECIAL STEM PROGRAMS FOR WOMEN AND/OR RACIAL MINORITIES: Of course, it remains true that the easiest way to increase the number of African Americans and Hispanics in STEM is for colleges and universities to eschew race-preferential admissions policies. Sorry to sound like a broken record on this, but it’s easy peasy.

A BROTHER’S CHRISTMAS GIFT OF LIFE: On this day in 1954, the first successful kidney transplant in history was performed at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now called Brigham and Women’s Hospital) at Harvard University. The recipient—23-year-old Richard Herrick—was dying of chronic nephritis. The donor—Ronald Herrick—was his identical twin brother.

The procedure was, of course, dangerous for both brothers, and Ronald, a perfectly healthy young man, had a lot to lose. According to Ronald’s wife, “Ron got a note from Richard the night of the surgery telling him to get out of there and go home.” “Ron sent a note back saying I’m here, and I’m going to stay, and that’s it.”

The surgical team included J. Hartwell Harrison, Joseph Murray, and John P. Merrill. Murray received a Nobel Prize for this and his subsequent work in furthering the science of organ transplantation. He recounted the surgery in his autobiography: “There was a collective hush in the operating room as we gently removed the clamps from the vessels newly attached to the donor kidney.” “As blood flow was restored, the patient’s new kidney began to . . . turn pink. There were grins all around.”

Ronald’s gift gave Richard an extra eight years of life. And they were years of happiness. Richard went on to marry one of the nurses who cared for him and fathered two daughters before dying at the age of 31. Ronald lived with one kidney until 2010, when he died at the age of 79 of unrelated causes.

The Herrick brothers’ pathbreaking surgery is now routine. Ronald thus benefited not just Richard, but all the rest of us too.  In 2018, over 35,000 organ transplants occurred in the United States, of which 81% came from cadavers and 19% from living donors. Of the total, about 21,000 were kidney transplants (which obviously dominates the living donor category). About 8000 were for liver, 3400 for heart, and 2500 for lung.

Alas, the most significant problem today is getting donors who can be matched to recipients. It is estimated that 20 die each day waiting for a transplant.

NOW AND THEN IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO:  A judge changes his mind.  

DECEMBER 20TH:  On this day in 1902, philosopher Sidney Hook was born.  Once a Marxist himself, he became one the world’s fiercest critics of communism and totalitarianism in all its manifestations.  Of his change of heart, he wrote:  “I was guilty of judging capitalism by its operations and socialism by its hopes and aspirations; capitalism by its works and socialism by its literature.” 

PREDICTABLE:  “Mainstream Media Ignores FISA Court Slamming FBI over Trump-Related Surveillance Applications.” (Not just predictable, “science” hath predicted it.)

IT’S HARD NOT TO GET DISCOURAGED WHEN YOU READ STUFF LIKE THIS: “Beware of anyone who means to suggest, either implicitly or explicitly, that Black students are more likely to misbehave than their white peers, because bigotry, as always, boasts of an extraordinarily limited bibliography. Such a perception has been disproved time after time.”  I’ve seen similar statements in lots of places. I wish they were true, but wishing won’t make it so. And believing falsehoods leads to bad public policy.

If the statement were true, it would mean that elementary school teachers (a very Democratic leaning group) are among the most racist people in the universe. Pacific Islander, African American, and American Indian children really are disciplined much more often than white children, who in turn are disciplined much more often than Asian children; if it’s not due to differences in behavior than it must be racism.

But there are differences in average behavior.   And, contrary to the above statement, the “bibliography” is extensive.

FAKE EDUCATION NEWS: Both the UVa education school dean and Washington Post fact checkers didn’t realize we spend much more on education per student in constant dollars than we did in the late 1980s. They really thought it sounded plausible to say we spend less.

For some reason, misinformation about education spending seems to be especially common. I wrote about it here.

ON THIS DAY IN 1878, JOSEPH STALIN WAS BORN: But that’s a bit of a downer, so I’m going to go with Betty Grable instead.  She was born on this day in 1916. Unlike Stalin, she was not responsible for the deaths of millions.

BLACKS WHO DON’T TOE THE PROGRESSIVE LINE DON’T HAVE IT EASY: Black conservatives who oppose school discipline “reform” get ridiculed by Progressives, who can’t understand why anyone—especially parents—would object to a “forward thinking” school superintendent’s proposals to making school discipline “fair.” Maybe, just maybe the parents have a point.

KITTY HAWK:  On this day in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright got their flying machine into the air for a successful 12-second flight.