OF COURSE:  Professor says his course proposal on conservative thought was rejected at Portland State University because … wait for it … it wasn’t diverse.

FBI LOVEBIRDS:  UNDERCOVERS:  Had its (conservative) audience howling with laughter at its premiere at Washington’s Ronald Reagan Center.

IF EVER I BRING THIS MUCH HAPPINESS TO THE WORLD, I WILL BE SO VERY PROUD OF MYSELF:  On this day in 1903, Ruth Graves Wakefield was born.  Bless her soul:  She was the inventor of the chocolate chip cookie.

BABYLON BEE:  Not to be Outdone, Elizabeth Warren Promises to Cure Smallpox:  “‘We will fend off the smallpox attacks of the white man,’ she said while sipping ‘fire water’ in a live video posted to her social media accounts. ‘If I am elected, I will find a way to end this scourge on our people and send the white devils back across the great sea where they came from.'”

TECH DISASTER:  Massive power failure in Argentina and Uruguay.

HERE’S TO ANOTHER 80:  Today is the 80th birthday of Ward Connerly, the University of California Regent who, in 1996, chaired the successful Proposition 209 initiative. Happy Birthday, Ward!

Proposition 209’s core provision reads as follows:

The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

It is now, of course, part of the California Constitution.

This article, which was written a few years later, will give you a sense of how Proposition 209 was beneficial to minority students at the UC.

Later research (mentioned here) has found that between 1997 and 2003 Proposition 209 increased both the GPAs and the graduation rates of under-represented minority students at the UC. Plus it increased the rate at which under-represented minority students major in STEM. Not bad.

(Yes, I was one of three co-chairs of the campaign.  Yes, I’m proud of it.  Alas, since then, the UC has largely learned to get around Proposition 209.  I wish more resources had been and were being devoted its enforcement.)

WILL OBERLIN LEARN ITS LESSON?: Steven Hayward has evidence that it’s unlikely.

MAYBE RAISING MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 ISN’T SUCH A GREAT WAY TO GET PEOPLE JOBS: Even a few Democrats are worried.

Meanwhile at the Babylon Bee (yes, of course it’s satire, but it wouldn’t be funny if it weren’t fundamentally true):  “Walmart Self-Checkout Machine Wins Employee of the Month Award Again.”

CLOSE CALL:  On this day in 2002, a 73-meter asteroid came within 74,000 miles of Earth (approx. one-third the distance to the moon).

If you didn’t notice it, don’t feel bad.  Scientists didn’t see it either until three days later.

If it had hit us, it was capable of causing devastation on the scale of the Tunguska event, which destroyed about 800 square miles of forest in Siberia in 1908.

When the big one comes around–the one with Earth’s name on it–let’s be ready to spot it well ahead of time and deflect it.

BETO AND ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM: Beto O’Rourke recently argued, “Race is the No. 1 indicator for where toxic and polluting facilities are today,” and some in the media are saying he is right.  Here’s some counter-evidence:  The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights tried and failed to come up with empirical evidence that would support such a claim. Its study found that coal ash dumps are more likely to be found near whites. (Repost: Link is working better now.)

120 YEARS AGO TODAY:  They say there are 8 million stories in the Naked City.  The Ukranian-American photographer Weegee (real name:  Arthur Fellig) managed to document a lot of them in black and white.  He was born this day in 1899.

MEMO TO GEORGE SOROS AND CHARLES KOCH: FUND CAMPUS DEBATES:  My friend Richard Vedder wrote this last month, but I didn’t see it until today.  It’s not a bad idea.  A conspicuously well-funded campus debate program designed to bring real left-right engagement on campuses could be a good thing. Call it “Safe Spaces for Serious Ideas.”

BABYLON BEE SATIRE:  “Progressive Mom Proudly Declares Son to be Transgender After He Walks Through Barbie Aisle.”  (Naming the child in the story “Kale” is a nice touch.)

BACK ROW AMERICA:  Not everybody lives in Bethesda.

“RACIST, RACIST, RACIST, RACIST, RACIST, RACIST RACIST.  THAT IS ALL THIS IS”:  That’s an Alabama state representative describing legislation designed to ensure students’ free speech rights.

FIRST RONALD SULLIVAN AT HARVARD, NOW THIS WOMAN AT COLUMBIA:  “Black Student Activists Demand Columbia Fire Law Lecturer who Prosecuted the ‘Central Park Five.'”

I’M GLAD WE CLEARED THAT UP:  “Not everything is a micro aggression.”

UNREMORSEFUL EVEN AT THE END: On this day in 2001, Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing that killed at least 168 and injured 680, was executed at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute Indiana. He was the first federal prisoner to be executed since 1963.

DEPARTMENT OF UNUSUAL ARGUMENTS:  “Abortion Laws Are ‘Bad for Business’ Nearly 200 CEOs Say.”

Increasingly, CEOs want to be seen as persons of the left.  And to be seen as a lefty, one has to support the left on every single issue.

JOHN FUND:  “Biden’s Abortion Flip-Flop Reveals His Weaknesses.”

THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS “APPLAUDS THE PASSAGE OF THE EQUALITY ACT BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES”: The bill, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in various contexts, is unlikely to pass the Senate. Among other things, it seeks to force bakers with religious objections to gay marriage to bake wedding cakes for a gay couple. That seems needlessly extreme.

An earlier bill (called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act or “ENDA”) was aimed only at employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. I had problems with that one too, but at least its authors seemed to want secure its passage by attracting some Republican votes.

THE FIRST IN A RASH OF WITCH EXECUTIONS: On this day in 1692, Bridget Bishop was executed by hanging in Salem Massachusetts. Cotton Mather wrote, “there was little occasion to prove the witchcraft, it being evident and notorious to all beholders.”

About 200 people, mostly though not exclusively women, were tried for witchcraft during the period of the Salem witch trials. The number of executions was around 20.

In Europe, of course, over a longer period of time, the numbers were much worse, partly because Europe had a much larger population and partly because … well … when bad things happen here, worse things are often going on there.

NON-DIVERSITY AND THE SPELLING BEE:  Congratulations to the winners  of the National Spelling Bee!!!  An eight-way tie!  And, no, I am not in the least troubled that they don’t look like a cross section of America.

TRANSGENDER ATHLETE EASILY WINS NCAA TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP:  Glenn linked to this already, but note that the winner beat second place by more than a second.  The distance of second to third, third to fourth, etc. is always less than a second.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR DOUBLE JEOPARDY: As predicted back in 2009, federal prosecutors love to file federal hate crime charges in high-profile cases even when state authorities are handling the case just fine.  This practice is going to lead to mischief.