Prevent subversion of admissions by race ban

As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down race-conscious criteria for admissions into universities. Now it’s up to Louisiana to ensure it actually gets done in the state.

The Court issued a ruling in two cases today that using race as a general classification to make admissions decisions violated the Constitution. It granted more leeway to military institutions and said that colleges still can consider “an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise,” but that evaluation of experiences must occur “as an individual – not on the basis of race.”

Given Louisiana’s structure to higher education, in effect only a few state schools are affected that much. Community colleges are open admission, and the two lowest levels, regional and HBCU, have such low entrance requirements that (20 on the ACT or SAT equivalent, which is barely above the average nationally although Louisiana’s average was just 18.1, of which a large proportion of those below the 19.8 national mean won’t ever pursue tertiary study) that enrollment proportions by race in the aggregate probably won’t differ by much with those in the population, even though ACT data also show that only five percent of black and 11 percent of Hispanic test-takers are by its definition “college ready” according to their scores, while 29 percent of whites and 51 percent of Asians are.

BC Council hiring oversight legal and desirable

Once again displaying his talent for being blindsided, Republican Bossier City Mayor Tommy Chandler squawked as usual ineffectively as the city debated budget control and employee hiring.

At present, the city has Ordinance 76 of 2019 on the books, which (after recent amendment) mandates that except for public safety personnel the City Council give approval to anyone receiving any compensation from the city for employment or contracting. It’s the offspring of a series of ordinances dating back to 2010 that attempts to exert budgetary control to maximize the chances that overspending or spending on unauthorized positions doesn’t occur.

But after the recent exception made for public safety, Chandler wanted more, and apparently in the runup to the meeting went on an offensive to have the Council discard the restriction completely. So, he was flummoxed when councilors shuffled to its scheduled Aug. 15 powwow an agenda item for this week’s (postponed a week) meeting to do precisely this.

LA congressional map change not soon, if ever

Against all odds – and jurisprudential good sense – Louisiana finds itself having to revisit congressional reapportionment, although unlikely with any changes until after 2024, if even then.

Over a year ago, the chances of the state having to follow the dictates of special interest groups in drawing two majority-minority congressional districts rather than maintaining its one were about as likely as a football team succeeding with a Hail Mary pass at a game’s end. Yet with a Supreme Court decision since on an Alabama reapportionment case, it seems the ball actually got hurled with enough strength to reach the goal line and offensive players in position to catch it.

But the offense has to come down with it. Whether it does begins with the Court also declining to hear the state’s appeal of a district court decision a year ago that set the stage for drawing the two M/M map after the state legislated a one M/M map not too different from that of the present.

Liberalism promotes ideology over kids' welfare

What is it about liberalism that makes its adherents go to the mattresses to preserve the infrastructure that allows minors to have irreversible medical interventions performed on them that many children later will regret, an attitude in sharp contrast with medical practice worldwide outside the U.S.?

Currently, the fate of HB 648 from the recently-concluded Louisiana Legislature regular session hangs in the balance. The bill would disallow prescribing of drugs or surgery designed to alter the physical sex of a minor.

The state of science at present on the issue notes that of the small but growing proportion of all children who begin medical interventions to alter their sex about 30 percent within a few years want to stop, if not reverse, it. Unfortunately, the effects are irreversible, causing major psychological trauma for those who want to stop the transition and major physical trauma even for those who don’t that has significant psychological impacts as well.