AT THIS POINT, I’M UNCONCERNED: Do you have high-quality sperm? What it can tell you about your health — and why it’s key to a healthy pregnancy and kid.

HMM: Malva nut residue could help heal wounds, improve medical devices, study shows.

ENDING DISCRIMINATION: CU Boulder ends ‘underrepresented minority’ med school scholarship after being sued.

CHANGE: Iowa state legislature considers bill cutting off tuition grants to private colleges and universities that promote DEI.

CHANGE: Trump DOJ Declares Multi-Layered Protections for Administrative Law Judges Unconstitutional, Dismantling Longstanding Shield for Unelected Bureaucrats. “The DOJ’s position aligns with the Supreme Court’s 2010 Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Bd. decision, which struck down similar ‘multilayer protection from removal’ for executive officers. The Court ruled that such barriers were an unconstitutional infringement on the president’s authority to oversee executive officers.”

This has been coming for a while. If the president can’t remove them they’re not executive officers. If they’re not executive officers, they can’t be in the executive branch.

CHANGE: Top Law Schools Are Dropping ‘Diversity’ From Their DEI Branding.

RELIGIOUS ATROCITIES THE WESTERN MEDIA DON’T CARE ABOUT: 70 Christians Beheaded In Congo Church: “We don’t know what to do or how to pray; we’ve had enough of massacres.”

If you’ve had enough, arm yourselves and kill the offenders.

DUMB: Pete Buttigieg, Whose Mayoral Admin Held Diversity Trainings Lecturing Cops on ‘Sizeism,’ Now Takes Aim at ‘Portlandia’ Diversity Trainings.

LIZ TRUSS: Britain Is A Failed State.

MATT TAIBBI: Trump is Trolling the AP: The once-great AP became journalism’s word police, and humorously is now claiming to be a victim of censorship.

IF ISRAEL TREATS GAZA LIKE THE ALLIES TREATED DRESDEN OR TOKYO, HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL REALLY CARE?

The Grand Mufti of Dubai, Ahmed al-Haddad, reportedly stated after watching the scenes of dead Israeli babies being paraded in coffins in Gaza:

‘Hamas has brought shame to Islam on a level never seen before.’

🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/orR58GuM7d

— Dr. Maalouf ‏ (@realMaalouf) February 20, 2025

Related:

🔴 Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia:

"What we saw today in Gaza is a disgrace to Islam, an act of blasphemy against Allah." pic.twitter.com/hPKi7T8QNN

— 𝗡𝗶𝗼𝗵 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗴 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) February 20, 2025

I think these reactions are basically a go-ahead.

A FRIEND WRITES:

I have to assume Kash Patel is taking all precautions to keep himself from being set up by the premier set-up law enforcement agency on the planet.

Anything from straight-up assassination to some kind of golden showers child porn fakery, whatever.

You know they aren’t just thinking about it. Someone’s working on it.

You’d be crazy to think otherwise at this point. But I think Kash knows that better than we do.

OPEN THREAD: Happy Thursday.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Blue Ghost moon lander lowers its orbit to fly closer to the lunar surface (video).

EVERY DAY IS CHRISTMAS (CONT’D):

🚨BREAKING🚨

ATF’s Chief Counsel Pamela Hicks has been fired and escorted out of the Washington, D.C. headquarters.

Hicks oversaw the enforcement of every Biden infringement of the Second Amendment since taking the position in 2021. pic.twitter.com/Cvg8HN2gvP

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 20, 2025

SAVE US, ELON: Here Are Our Defense Options Against Potential ‘City Killer’ Asteroid Impact.

EVERY DAY IS LIKE CHRISTMAS: Feel Good Story of the Day: He Was Suspended for Helping DOGE; Now He Runs the Agency. “Leland Dudek learned that lesson the hard way: he decided to work with DOGE despite his boss’s opposition, and he was suspended for doing so. But a funny thing happened in Trump’s federal government: Dudek wound up with the top job while the bosses who were impeding him were shown the door.”

SAVE US, ELON: Will Asteroid 2024 YR4 Strike Earth? NASA Revises Impact Probability. “Initially, the chance of impact was a mere 1%, but recent observations have raised the probability to 3.1% — the highest level ever recorded for a potentially dangerous asteroid.”

IN THE TRUMP ERA, ALL THE PREFERENCES ARE CASCADING: What Happened to the Stigma of Wearing Fur? After years of protests and strides in fake skins, vintage furs are popping up all over.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Franklin Armory and FRAC Defeat ATF, Judge Rules Words Mean Things. Quoth the court: “It is not for ATF to redefine the terms because it thinks Congress didn’t intend a certain outcome.”

HISTORY: Don’t Tread on Me: The Gadsden Flag and What It Really Means.

FREE RANGE KIDS FOR THE WIN: Children found to perform cognitive tasks faster on their own than with supervision.

SPOILER: THEY NEVER REALLY WERE BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Trump order declares independent US agencies aren’t independent anymore.

CUTTING OVERHEAD PAYMENTS ISN’T “CUTTING FUNDING FOR SCIENCE.” IT’S FREEING UP MORE MONEY FOR SCIENCE INSTEAD OF BUREAUCRACY. Cutting funding for science can impact economy, U.S. technological competitiveness.

And this has nothing to do with funding science: “Trump’s first wave of executive orders caused chaos at science agencies as they struggled to interpret the directives. Much of the anxiety involved excising language and programs relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.”

NATURE IS HEALING: RFK Jr. issues guidance on ‘restoring concept of biological truth’ of 2 sexes. “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday issued guidance ‘restoring concept of biological truth’ of two sexes after President Donald Trump’s executive orders defined two sexes as male and female and only allows biological females to participate in the gender’s sports. The directive supports ‘defending women and children.'”