OF COURSE: Biden Civil Rights Chief To Speak at Columbia Law Commencement Amid Anti-Semitism Scandal.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Notes on the Asylum Where I Was Raised: In Which I Visit the Harvard Protests, Among Other Things.

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CORN, POPPED: A Massive Scandal Is Brewing in Los Angeles After DA George Gascon’s Number 3 Is Charged With 11 Felonies.

Unlike many alleged felons in Los Angeles County, the Diana Teran scandal has the potential to topple the county’s power structure, or to put a severe dent in it.

That potential exists because of the sheer volume of personnel and criminal cases Teran was involved with that might now be challenged in court, and because her actions at issue in the criminal case allegedly involve coordination with high-ranking county officials, such as Inspector General Max Huntsman, District Attorney George Gascón, and current and former members of the county Board of Supervisors.

According to a press release from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Teran “accessed computer data including numerous confidential peace officer files in 2018, while working as a Constitutional Policing Advisor at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and, after joining the LADA in January 2021, impermissibly used that data at the LADA.”

That sounds rather vanilla, but additional details on what Teran is alleged to have done demonstrate that there’s nothing vanilla about it at all. It’s more convoluted than any script Hollywood could come up with.

Read the whole thing.

BLUE ON BLUE: ‘Blood Libel’: ADL Rips Ilhan Omar for Calling Jewish Students ‘Pro-Genocide.’ Of course, ADL has stood idly by while so many otehr people have been similarly smeared by lefty politicians.

DO THE LETTERS “F O” MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU? Shocking moment pro-Palestine protester tells counter-demonstrator ‘You’re just a white person, we don’t like white people’ at UCLA.

Oh, we know.

THEY’RE COSPLAYING A REVOLUTION:

Moral authority only inheres to those actually willing to risk their future for deeply held beliefs. Only pretending to risk mocks those who did.

This is a form of stolen valor.https://t.co/poNHP7Pir5

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) April 28, 2024

HAHA: “Mastectomies for cancer patients but not for trans women? Don’t they mean mastectomies for cancer patients but not for trans men?! The Washington Post is having trouble keeping up, just like the people it looks down on.”

FROM THE BIRTHPLACE OF ENGLISH LIBERTY: Iranian Arrested in UK for Calling Hamas ‘Terrorist’ Praises Israel, Jews.

JESSE SINGAL: So Columbia Really Screwed This Up, Huh? Plus some other thoughts on the protests, including the anti-Semitism debate.

WHAT ABOUT? The problem of evil. How can evil — like, just to cite one obvious example, the October 7 Massacre of 1,200 Israelis — happen if an all-powerful, all-good God exists? Cold-case detective J. Warner Wallace takes on that challenge this morning on HillFaith.

WHY DID THEY HAVE TO CALL IT “OPERATION MINCEMEAT”?:  On this day in 1943, a British submarine surfaced off the coast of Spain.  As the captain read the 39^th Psalm, the body of a Welsh homeless man, dressed up to appear to be a military courier, was gently cast adrift.

It was all part of an audacious plan.  Attached to the body was a briefcase containing documents—false ones—that suggested that the Allies would soon be invading Greece and Sardinia and that the upcoming attack on Sicily was merely a diversion.  In fact, the real Allied invasion was going to be Sicily.

The hope was that the body would wash ashore and that the Spanish authorities would assume that the man had been the victim of an air crash.  With luck, they would deliver the documents to German intelligence, and the Germans would be fooled into shifting reinforcements to Greece and Sardinia. Sicily would be left relatively undefended.

The British worked hard to make the whole thing seem believable.  The body was given the name Captain (Acting Major) William Martin.  He carried a wallet with a photograph of a fictitious girlfriend “Pam”.  Also in the wallet were two love letters from “Pam,” a receipt for the purchase of a diamond engagement ring, and a notice of overdraft from a bank.  The overdraft notice was a nice touch.

The scheme worked.  The Germans did indeed beef up their positions in Greece and Sardinia at the expense of Sicily.  The Allied attack on Sicily was no picnic, but in the absence of Operation Mincemeat, it would have been a lot worse.

And, of course, they made a movie out of it.  How could they not?  The 1956 thriller starred Clifton Webb and was given a wonderful title–The Man Who Never Was. (This had also been the title of the book written about the operation by Ewen Montagu, who had played a leading role in the scheme.)  I just love that title.

Here’s the part I can’t understand.  In 2021, Warner Bros. did a new movie about Operation Mincemeat, which they named … Operation Mincemeat.  What?  Shouldn’t they have come up with a better title?

A few years back, the BBC did a documentary about the operation, which is available on YouTube.  Some of the players are interviewed in it—including “Pam” (or rather the woman in the picture).  I recommend it.

OPEN THREAD: Because I love you and want you to be happy.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY: Notes on the Asylum Where I Was Raised: In Which I Visit the Harvard Protests, Among Other Things.

If you enjoy these essays, please subscribe.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Advisory committee recommends moving FAA commercial space office out of the agency.

PLUTO WILL ALWAYS BE MY PLANET NINE: ‘Strongest Statistical Evidence Yet’ For Planet Nine Has Been Found, Scientist Says.

#NeverForget

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA still doesn’t understand root cause of Orion heat shield issue: “When we stitch it all together, we’ll either have flight rationale or we won’t.”

Well, that’s comforting.

SO YOU MEAN MILK DRINKERS PREFER ACTUAL MILK? More people prefer cow’s milk over plant-based milks, new Yahoo/YouGov poll finds. Here’s what nutritionists think about that.

MEANWHILE, IN GEORGIA:

Anti-Israel protesters tried to set up an encampment at the University of Georgia but it didn't last long after police arrested protesters who refused to leave for criminal trespassing.

Protesters can be seen screaming and resisting arrest while others shouted at the police. pic.twitter.com/NdC5Fqonc3

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 29, 2024

Criminal trespass is still a criminal act in some places.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Georgia Governor Kemp Signs Law to Protect Financial Data of Gun Buyers.

“FAILURE MCFAILED STATE” SHOULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS: Gavin Newsom Asked the Internet to Submit Designs for a New Coin Honoring CA’s Innovations, and Hoo Boy…

ESCALATION: Columbia Squatters Ignore 2PM Deadline to Clear Camp.

THE HIGHER EDUCATION IMPLOSION: Go State U! Why pay a premium for a ‘polarizing’ degree? “He imagines a hiring manager looking at resumes from a recent graduate of Columbia and a recent graduate of the University of the North Carolina. The Columbia graduate, the manager thinks, is ‘more likely to be coddled, more likely to hold strong political opinions that will distract from their work’ and ‘more likely to have benefited from grade inflation and perhaps dubious admissions policies.'”

All is proceeding as Glenn has foreseen.

UPENDING THE VEEP STAKES: I’m a law professor and admittedly don’t have my finger of the pulse of the American public. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine that “She didn’t hesitate to kill her own pet dog when it was disobedient so think of what she will do to the deep state” is a politically winning slogan.

BLUE ON BLUE: You Love to See It: Left Goes Memes-Out Against ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden.

READER FAVORITE: HexClad Hybrid Nonstick 6-Piece Fry Pan Set. #CommissionEarned