CREEPING GALLOPING SHARIA: German Headmaster Tells Christian Girl to Wear a Hijab to Avoid Beatings From Muslim Classmates.

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Can We Expect a Hollywood “Roseanne” Boycott Next?

SUSAN L.M. GOLDBERG: 10 Essential Life Skills to Pass on to Your Kids.

I’d add an eleventh, umbrella item: Firearms safety and maintenance, and basic marksmanship.

KIDS THESE DAYS: ‘Condom snorting challenge’ is the latest dangerous trend to go viral on the internet.

Videos posted on social media show people unwrapping a condom from the packaging, snorting it up one nostril, and then attempting to pull it through the pharynx and out of the mouth.

The challenge has been around for several years, but it is becoming popular again as people, mainly younger adults and teens, search for stupid trends to do during boredom that will go viral on the internet.

It’s dangerous because the condom could easily get stuck in the nose and throat, blocking breathing and causing the challenger to choke.

As near as I can tell, this story is not an April Fool’s prank.

ORANGE COUNTY BOARD MEMBER: We joined lawsuit against California because the state isn’t right.

Shawn Nelson, a Republican member of the Orange County board of supervisors, said on Sunday that California is trying to prevent the county from keeping its citizens safe.

Orange County recently joined the Justice Department in a federal lawsuit against California that opposes the state’s “sanctuary” laws.

California last October signed legislation making California a “sanctuary state” in part by blocking local law enforcement from complying with federal immigration officials on detainment requests for immigrants in the country illegally.

“What California’s law is requiring is our sheriffs not even cooperate, which is resulting in people that have committed crimes ending up on the streets of every county, but certainly Orange County,” Nelson told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace. “We got involved because we don’t think that’s right.”

“We are tired of the state trying to use these arguments to prevent us from keeping the citizens safe,” Nelson added.

Sacramento’s state-sanctioned lawlessness is incompatible with a republican form of government.

FEEL-GOOD ITEM OF THE DAY: Jimmy Buffett Presented Navy’s Top Civilian Award.

JUNK SCIENCE: All the Lies Fit to Print: The NYTimes supports EPA secret science. “The New York Times editorialized against EPA chief Scott Pruitt’s move to end secret science at the EPA. Here’s the line-by-line takedown of the Times’ lies.”

BLUE ON BLUE: Zuckerberg to ‘Frenemy’ Tim Cook: You’re ‘Extremely Glib.’

ANDREW SULLIVAN: Denying Genetics Isn’t Shutting Down Racism, It’s Fueling It.

Last weekend, a rather seismic op-ed appeared in the New York Times, and it was for a while one of the most popular pieces in the newspaper. It’s by David Reich, a professor of genetics at Harvard, who carefully advanced the case that there are genetic variations between subpopulations of humans, that these are caused, as in every other species, by natural selection, and that some of these variations are not entirely superficial and do indeed overlap with our idea of race. This argument should not be so controversial — every species is subject to these variations — and yet it is. For many on the academic and journalistic left, genetics are deemed largely irrelevant when it comes to humans. Our large brains and the societies we have constructed with them, many argue, swamp almost all genetic influences.

Humans, in this view, are the only species on Earth largely unaffected by recent (or ancient) evolution, the only species where, for example, the natural division of labor between male and female has no salience at all, the only species, in fact, where natural variations are almost entirely social constructions, subject to reinvention. We are, in this worldview, alone on the planet, born as blank slates, to be written on solely by culture. All differences between men and women are a function of this social effect; as are all differences between the races. If, in the aggregate, any differences in outcome between groups emerge, it is entirely because of oppression, patriarchy, white supremacy, etc. And it is a matter of great urgency that we use whatever power we have to combat these inequalities.

Reich simply points out that this utopian fiction is in danger of collapse because it is not true and because genetic research is increasingly proving it untrue.

“Party of Science.”

POLITICKING: Democratic Hopeful for Ohio Governor Hopes Pro-Life Stance is the Ticket. “If this works for O’Neill and he wins the May gubernatorial primary, Ohio Democrats are afraid he’ll wreck the party’s chances in November.”

Diversity of thought is unwelcome in today’s Democratic Party.

ALLIES: Turkey says France could become ‘target’ for backing Syria Kurds.

Turkey said on Friday that a French pledge to help stabilize a region of northern Syria controlled by Kurdish-dominated forces amounted to support for terrorism and could make France a “target of Turkey”.

French backing for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has angered Ankara at a time when it is fighting the YPG in northern Syria and considers it a terrorist organization.

President Tayyip Erdogan said France had taken a “completely wrong approach” on Syria, adding that he exchanged heated words with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, last week.

The split with France is the latest rift between Turkey under Erdogan and its NATO allies in the West.

Erdogan has accomplished in just a few years what the Soviets couldn’t manage to do over decades: Pull the rug out from under NATO’s southern tier.

AN UTTERLY PREDICTABLE CATASTROPHE: A debt crisis is on the horizon.

President Trump’s recently released budget is a wake-up call. It projects that this year, a year of relatively strong economic growth, low unemployment and continued historically low interest rates, the deficit will reach $870 billion, 30 percent greater than last year.

For years, economists have warned of major increases in future public debt burdens. That future is on our doorstep. From this point forward, even if economic growth continues uninterrupted, current tax and spending patterns imply that annual deficits will steadily increase, approaching the $1 trillion mark in two years and steadily rising thereafter as far as the eye can see.

Unless Congress acts to reduce federal budget deficits, the outstanding public debt will reach $20 trillion a scant five years from now, up from its current level of $15 trillion. That amounts to almost a quarter of million dollars for a family of four, more than twice the median household wealth.

This string of perpetually rising trillion-dollar-plus deficits is unprecedented in U.S. history.

Anything which can’t go on forever will stop.

HIT & RUN: Sheriff’s vehicle hits protester at Stephon Clark vigil.

A Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy struck a protester with his patrol SUV as she and others gathered in the street to denounce the killing of Stephon Clark, then left the scene, according to video of the incident.

The incident Saturday night threatens to exacerbate an already tense relationship between police and protesters in California’s capital. Observers say the deputy struck the woman at a high rate speed of speed, while authorities say the vehicle was moving slowly and the deputy was responding to a dangerous situation created by some of the demonstrators.

During a vigil, a woman carrying a “Stephon Clark Rest in Power” sign walked in front of a sheriff’s vehicle and motioned the driver to stop, according to a video from the National Lawyers Guild Legal Observers. The deputy then drove away, said Guy Danilowitz, a legal observer who recorded the video.

“The vehicle accelerated and struck her, accelerated very fast and struck her violently and she fell to the ground,” Danilowitz said. “It was a very fast acceleration, not the way you would move with people around.”

The woman suffered only minor injuries, but in the video the SUV did seem to suddenly accelerate while the woman was directly in front of it.

SENATOR MIKE LEE: Federal Government Has ‘Done Substantial Harm’ Making Opioid Crisis Worse.

“We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”

BETHANY MANDEL: The Troubling Connections between Scientology and the Nation of Islam.

And now, Scientology and the Nation of Islam are working together even more closely. An independent Scientology news service, @IndieScieNews, first tipped me off to the connection. On October 20, the Church of Scientology honored the Nation of Islam’s Tony Muhammed with its Freedom Award in Inglewood, Calif., in recognition of his “humanitarian” efforts. What, exactly, are those efforts? Muhammed travels the world showing a documentary on vaccines, claiming they cause autism. Just this week, Nation of Islam members held a blessing and naming ceremony for Tony Muhammed at the Scientology Land Base Chapel in Clearwater, Fla.

The individual behind IndieScientologyNews told me:

The extent of the integration of Scientology into the Nation of Islam is demonstrated by the fact that members of the Nation of Islam are not only practicing the religion of Scientology, they are also becoming Ministers and Ministers-in-Training of the Church of Scientology.

The connection between the two groups goes far deeper than just a gala or a naming ceremony. One of the stars of Leah Remini’s docuseries, Aaron Smith-Levin, laid out the financial connection and the incentive for Nation of Islam members to become involved in the Church of Scientology, and vice versa.

Read the whole thing.

SHOE, MEET OTHER FOOT: ‘Extremely dangerous to our democracy’: MSNBC’s Joe and Mika shame Sinclair anchors for reciting pro-Trump propaganda.

The “Morning Joe” hosts played a video montage showing anchors warning viewers about a “deep state” conspiracy they claimed was out to destroy President Donald Trump, and one after another told viewers this was “extremely dangerous to our democracy.”

Scarborough and Brzezinski agreed this was indeed “extremely dangerous to our democracy,” and bashed the right-wing broadcast company for “shoving propaganda down local anchor’s throats.”

“The president has no problem calling the media enemies of the state, has no problem constantly lying about them,” Scarborough said. “He has no problem being angry when they call him out on his own lies. What’s so interesting is, as those news anchors from around the country were saying that this weekend, you know, and they were instructed to recite words that legitimize the president’s agenda, it was Donald Trump who was lying.”

The Journolist — or whatever they’re calling it now — keeps the Left marching in near-perfect lockstep, every day, over the complete spectrum of major news outlets, entertainment, and social media. But they totally lose their cool over a clumsy, one-time effort at messaging by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN: A gun ban is not ‘feasible right now.’

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) said on Sunday that he does not support an assault weapons ban and does not believe a gun ban can pass Congress right now.

Asked by “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos whether he would support an assault weapons ban like his colleague Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jones said it’s not feasible and they should instead focus on policy goals that can be accomplished.

“We’ve got to get done what I think can be done right now. Let’s reach across and within our own party to do those things that we can do, and that to me is where I want to focus,” Jones said. “I really don’t believe that a gun ban is feasible right now.”

“When then?” is the natural followup question, but doesn’t appear to have been asked.

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: No More DACA?, No Background Checks for Awan Family and Much, Much More. “44 Dems waived background checks for Pakistani Awan family.”

LONG MARCH THROUGH THE INSTITUTIONS: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Changes Definition Of ‘Assault Rifle’ After Parkland Shooting.

The entry for “assault rifle,” which was updated March 31, 2018, reads as follows:

noun: any of various intermediate-range, magazine-fed military rifles (such as the AK-47) that can be set for automatic or semiautomatic fire; also : a rifle that resembles a military assault rifle but is designed to allow only semiautomatic fire

After 17 people were shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, activists have been using the tragic events to make the sale of so-called “assault weapons” illegal.

An Internet archive search shows the Merriam-Webster entry for “assault rifle” appears to be different now than it was before the shooting.

Blurring definitions is always intended to blur people’s thinking.

GUN CONTROL: Leaving the most vulnerable defenseless.

The people who are the most likely victims of crime are the very ones who benefit the most from being able to defend themselves. While gun control may stop some criminals from getting guns, it is the most law-abiding who obey the law and are disarmed. Taking guns away from drug gangs is about as difficult as stopping them from getting illegal drugs to sell.

Mr. Johnson claims that Australia’s 1996-1997 gun buyback produced supposedly amazing benefits: “gun-related homicides and suicides dropped by 59 percent and 65 percent, respectively.”

If only reducing crime and suicides were so easy.

Australia’s buyback resulted in more than 1 million firearms being handed in and destroyed, reducing gun ownership from 3.2 to 2.2 million guns. But since then there has been a steady increase in the number of privately owned guns. Since 1997, guns ownership grew over 3 times faster than the population (from 2.5 to 5.8 million guns).

Looking at simple before and after averages is extremely misleading. Firearm homicides and suicides were falling from the mid-1980s on, so you could pick any year from the mid-1980s on, not just 1996-97, and the average firearm homicide and suicide rates after the year you picked would always be lower than the average before it. The question is whether the rate of decline changed after the law went into effect.

Unfortunately, the rate of decline in both firearm homicides and suicides actually fell more slowly after the buyback than it was beforehand.

What gun control advocates should have predicted was a sudden drop in firearm homicides and suicides after the buyback and then an increase as the gun ownership rate increased again. But that clearly didn’t happen.

For other crimes, such as armed robbery, the exact opposite of what was predicted happened. The armed robbery rate soared right after the buyback and then gradually declined.

Gun control is a protection racket preying on disarmed civilians, with government officials playing the role of mob enforcers.

WELL, YES: Paid maternity leave? Your baby will get the bill.

YOU DON’T SAY: Germany Struggles With an Unfamiliar Form of Anti-Semitism.

The police registered 1,453 anti-Semitic incidents in Germany last year, more than in five of the previous seven years, and organizations including the American Jewish Congress say fewer than a third of such incidents get reported. Their stubborn persistence in the country where the Holocaust was plotted and executed is raising concern that decades of work to eradicate anti-Semitism are slowly being undone as prejudice against Jews spreads beyond its traditional home in the far right.

“I fear that a new generation of anti-Semites is coming of age in Germany,” Josef Schuster, head of the country’s chief Jewish organization, told journalists on Wednesday.

German police attribute more than 90% of cases nationwide to far-right offenders. But Jewish activists and victim representatives say the data is misleading because police automatically label any incident where the perpetrators aren’t known as coming from the far right.

The problem goes beyond Germany. The murder of an elderly Holocaust survivor in Paris earlier this month in what prosecutors said was an anti-Semitic attack has fueled a perception that anti-Jewish acts—from casual insults to brutal violence—are on the rise across Europe and that governments appear unable to do much about it.

You have to get to the seventh paragraph before the word “Muslim” is used, which might reflect part of why European governments are “unable to do much” about the problem.

FASTER? PLEASE! Navy Seeks to Rev Up to Building 3 Attack Submarines Per Year.

The Navy hopes to increase its current submarine construction op-tempo and build as many as three Virginia-class submarines per year to more rapidly address the services’ attack submarine deficit.

The previous status quo had been for the Navy to drop from building two Virginia-Class boats per year to one in the early 2020s when construction of the new Columbia-Class nuclear armed submarines begins. The service then moved to a plan to build two Virginia-class submarines and one Columbia-class submarine concurrently, according to findings from a Navy assessment.

The proposed idea now, currently being explored by the Navy, is to jump up to three Virginia-class per year when Columbia-class production hits a lull in “off years.”

There’s a coming “submarine deficit” because current Virginia-class production isn’t fast enough to make up for Los Angeles-class retirements.

A PORN-BLOCKER BY ANY OTHER NAME: Take My Name Off R.I. Smut-Blocking Bill, Elizabeth Smart Demands. “‘Elizabeth is not connected with this organization,’ Chris Thomas, a spokesman for Smart, told the AP. ‘There was absolutely no authorization to use her name’.”

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Here’s How John Bolton Should Handle Iran.