MAYBE NOT ALWAYS BORN THAT WAY? An untenured researcher at Brown University conducted a study of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria.” In it, she asked questions of the parents of teens and young adults who suddenly identified as transgender (after no previous history of such).  About 21% of those parents reported that their children had one or more friends who became transgender at around the same time, 20% reported an increase in their child’s social media use around the same time; and 45% reported both. The Left went berserk.   Brown University, which had published an article about the study in its news notes, caved and issued an apology.

ON THIS DAY IN 1833: William IV, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, signed the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 into law. There was an exception for possessions of the East India Company (which was removed in 1843).

The British ended slavery quite differently from the way the Americans did. First of all, they compensated slave owners. Second, actual emancipation for slaves came in stages, with most slaves being converted to “apprentices” for a few years before they were able to exercise their actual freedom. Full emancipation is said to have been accomplished by August 1, 1838 (a bit ahead of the original schedule set in 1833).

Modern commentators have sometimes called Britain’s decision to compensate slave owners shameful. Maybe. But America’s alternative method—emancipation by civil war—was one of the greatest catastrophes in human history. The death toll was approximately 620,000 (or more by some estimates).  I’m not enough of a Puritan to see the British method as a source of shame.  Find another blogger to read if you want that.

I once sat down to write a counter-factual historical novel in which Alexander Hamilton survives Weehawken and persuades George Washington to support a British-style emancipation.  In the novel, Hamilton was going to be blamed for every trivial thing that went wrong in implementing the plan (by people who had no idea how ghastly the alternative would have been.)  Alas, writing novels is hard.

You never know … I might get back to it one day.  Not today though.

CNN’S BLATANT DISHONESTY ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA’S SO-CALLED LAND REFORM: Analysis by Jerome Woehrle on Liberty Unyielding.

ORGANIZATIONS THAT PURPORT TO ADVOCATE FOR ASIAN AMERICANS FREQUENTLY DON’T: Janie Har reports in Race-Based School Criteria Roils Asian-Americans—Again on how discrimination against Asian Americans didn’t start with the Harvard case. Decades ago, Lowell High School in San Francisco required higher scores for Asians in order to be admitted. That was fine and dandy with so-called advocates for Asian civil rights.  They were more interested in maintaining their reputation with the Left than with actual Asian-American rights.

The monolithic nature of the class of professional Lefties really needs to be written about and discussed more. These days organizations that purport to serve the interests of a specific group seldom do so.

SAD NEWS FOR THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH: Glenn reported yesterday that the California Court of Appeal has denied UCLA law professor Rick Sander access to the California Bar’s data on bar passage. As a result, Sander and his ideologically diverse team of researchers will not be able to test for the mismatch effect in law schools. For those who give a damn about helping law students—specifically minority law students—to pass the bar, this is a sad result.

The data supporting the mismatch effect in STEM is strong. But some had criticized Sander’s previous research into law school mismatch on the ground that the database he was working from left something to be desired. Like a good and honest researcher, Sander responded by trying to obtain the best bar passage data in existence—the data kept by the California Bar (the nation’s largest). Litigation erupted.

Here’s the part that gets me: As I discussed in “A Dubious Expediency”: How Race-Preferential Admissions on Campus Hurt Minority Students, some of the very same people who criticized Sander’s first law school study on the ground that his database was inadequate were the ones who actively tried to prevent him from getting the California Bar data. The leftwing Society of American Law Teachers even subtly threatened to sue the Bar if they complied with Sander’s request. I can only hope that one day they will get what they deserve for this.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY—KRAKATOA: Beginning in May 1883, it had been throwing up steam and ash. By August 26, explosions were heard every ten minutes or so.   And on August 27, it blew its ever-lovin’ head off with what may have been the loudest noise heard in historic times. It punctured the eardrums of sailors 40 miles away and could be heard clearly more than 3000 miles away.

Dutch authorities put the death toll at 36,417, including many who died in the tsunamis. Tidal effects registered as far away as England.

Most of the island of Krakatoa disappeared. And, of course, GLOBAL COOLING: Average summer temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere dropped by about 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit in the year that followed. It is said that temperatures did not return to normal until five years later.

HA! GLENN SUGGESTS THIS “DRUNKEN SEDUCTRESS” IS A RAPIST: But under the peculiar standards of today’s colleges and universities, aren’t drunken women supposed to be incapable of consent (and hence always the victims)? If so, isn’t she right that the 14-year-old boy she jumped is the rapist?  It’s so hard for me to keep up with the modern world …

ON THIS DAY IN 1814:  The tiny hamlet of Brookeville, Maryland, was the “United States Capital for a Day.”  Madison camped out there while the British burned Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812.

ON THIS DAY IN 1805:  The main party of the Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass.  Lewis had scouted out the pass almost two weeks earlier, but this was the day they all crossed together.

At the time, Meriwether Lewis was 31 years old and William Clark was 35.

THE STORM THAT SAVED WASHINGTON:  On this day in 1814, it rained like hell in Washington, D.C.  Some historians say it was probably a hurricane.  Whatever it was, it saved the day.  Maybe.

In the midst of the War of 1812, the British had invaded Washington, D.C. setting the Capitol, the White House, the Treasury Building, the War Department, and other buildings afire.  (Yes, this was the time Dolley Madison saved Gilbert Stuart’s 8-foot portrait of George Washington as she fled the White House.)

The storm, which spawned at least one killer tornado, dispatched the Brits. They got out of Washington as fast as they could.  And the rain put out the fires.  It was providence …

Or else it didn’t quite happen that way.  The counter-narrative is that the British hadn’t intended to stay anyway.  They just came to burn the city.  And the storm actually damaged buildings that the British hadn’t burned.  I won’t try to resolve the controversy.  I don’t want to run the risk of spoiling everything.

REPUBLICANS BUY SNEAKERS TOO:  How the Left is Ruining Sports with Politics.

NOT A GOOD SIGN:  Netherlands prosecuting a man for insulting Turkish President Erdogan.

VICTIMS OF STUDENT WHO FALSELY ACCUSED THEM OF RAPE SPEAK OUT AT HER SENTENCING: “I lost my scholarship, my dream of continuing to play football and now I am in debt $30,000.”

Let justice roll down like waters.

CALIFORNIA IN ITS DEATH THROES: Alas for our hard-working seniors, the Freedom from Slavery Act has failed to qualify for the November 2018 ballot. If passed, it would have exempted everyone age 55 and over from state and local taxes. Next up: The Freedom from Child Slavery Act, which would exempt “youngsters” (age 0 to 55) from state and local taxes. We mustn’t let arithmetic get in the way of an idea whose time has come.

MORE EVIDENCE FOR MISMATCH EFFECT IN STEM: There’s a lot of evidence now.  For an explanation of the Mismatch Effect in STEM, see Want to Be a Doctor? A Scientist? An Engineer? An Affirmative Action Leg Up May Hurt Your Chances. Note that it’s not just affirmative action that can hurt a student’s chances of getting a STEM degree. Legacy and athletic bumps can hurt too.

JUDGE REVERSES HIMSELF, SAYS OHIO STATE OFFICIALS CAN BE SUED FOR ANTI-MALE BIAS: The College Fix has the story.

WHY DOES THE LEFT HATE TOLKIEN?  Because they think centralized, overbearing power is just ducky.  They are not about to destroy that ring.

TOM COTTON AND HUGH HEWITT DISCUSS “JAILBREAK LEGISLATION”:  Via Powerline.

MAKING A FEDERAL CASE OUT OF EVERYTHING: The Federal Commission on School Safety was set up in the wake of the Parkland massacre and has been meeting over the last several months. Until it issues its report, it’s unlikely we’ll see any movement toward returning school discipline policy back to the local schools where it belongs. So I’m waiting—as are many teachers. And I’m a slightly optimistic that things will turn out okay in the end. But it’s slow. Read this if you have the time: The Department of Education’s Obama-Era Initiative on Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Wrong For Students and Teachers, Wrong on the Law. The Obama Administration’s effort to assert federal control over school discipline practices was remarkably wrongheaded. It hasn’t gotten nearly enough attention.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DID WITHDRAW THE TRANSGENDER BATHROOM/LOCKER ROOM/SHOWER GUIDANCE, YOU KNOW: Politico doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge the Trump Administration’s position. The Administration’s view is that Title IX does not speak to the issue of how bathrooms, locker rooms and showers should be assigned. It is up to the individual school. Politico nevertheless seems to think that it’s news that the Trump Administration isn’t forcing schools to organize their facilities according to “gender identity” rather than anatomical sex.

This friend-of-the-court brief in Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., submitted by Peter Kirsanow and me, tries to explain the law as we see it (and as the Trump Administration now sees it). I think our argument is pretty strong. After the brief was written, the Obama-Era guidance was withdrawn. That made the case for our position even stronger, since the argument that courts should defer to the Obama-Era Department of Education’s view disappeared when the “Dear Colleague Letter” on the subject was withdrawn.

It’s entirely possible this issue will reach the Supreme Court again sometime in the future. It was remanded back down after the Dear Colleague Letter was withdrawn. If the case does wind up there, it will be interesting.

ON THIS DAY IN 1940: Leon Trotsky died from his wounds in Mexico City. He had been attacked with an ice axe (no, not an ice pick, an ice axe) the day before by Ramón Mercader, a Spanish-Catalan communist and NKVD agent, acting on orders from the top. Look, when Stalin wanted you dead, you were dead. It didn’t matter where you were.

WILL BACKING KAVANAUGH HELP OR HURT RED-STATE DEMOCRATS?:  It may depend on which state you’re talking about.  Or so say some polls.

ON THIS DAY IN 1940: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” Yes, he gave that speech.

DUELING POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: Don’t Ask College Applicants About Their Criminal Records Versus Colleges Are Cesspools of Rape.  

TSA TO THE RESCUE:  It was reported this week that a TSA agent in Austin missed a passenger’s loaded gun.  On the other hand, yesterday TSA agents took great pains to chemically analyze the small bag of kitty litter I had packed for the kitten I was transporting.  I honestly don’t mind.  They were nice.  It took only about five minutes.  And for all I know, there is some explosive substance that can be easily disguised as kitty litter.  (Maybe readers can enlighten me on whether this procedure made sense.)  But I couldn’t help but laugh my head off.  If somebody had told me 30 years ago that one day I would have to stand and wait while federal officers chemically analyzed my kitty litter, I would not have believed them.