YOU WANT MORE TRUMP? BECAUSE THIS IS HOW YOU GET MORE TRUMP:

It’s getting harder to hold schools accountable for performance writes Lane Wright on Education Post. The Education Department’s new ESSA guidelines don’t require states to give each school a single, overall score for performance.  Instead of a proposed A-F school grading system, Michigan will use a dashboard with different measures of school quality but no overall grade, reports Michigan Live.

but in California ... After three years without a school accountability system, California Superintendent Tom Torlakson lauded the California School Dashboard as “a high-tech report card for our schools.”  The new color-coded system “paints a far rosier picture than in the past,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

So they're just getting better at hiding failure.  But take some comfort: How Do Unschoolers Turn Out?

OH SHUT UP: Iowa High School Kids Attacked for ‘BLATANT Racism’ of Wearing Red, White, and Blue.

Colin Kaepernick update: some teams ‘genuinely hate him:’   If only the NFL had a commissioner who hadn’t tacitly approved of that clown show, he could have saved Kaepernick from himself.

“Here’s what a ‘socially conscious’ NCAA bracket looks like, explains sports journalist,” CNN tweeted earlier today.

How will America survive four to eight years not having a president who reveals his NCAA bracket?

Authorities charged a Hampshire College student with assaulting a member of Central Maine Community College's basketball team over a dispute about cultural appropriation. Really.  The Hampshire student, 20-year-old Carmen Figueroa, allegedly started a fight because the basketball player had braided her hair in a manner that upset Figueroa. She walked up to the visiting player—during a basketball game—and demanded that the player remove the braids from her hair, according to masslive.com.

I’M GUESSING SCOTT ADAMS WOULD UNDERSTAND: What if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Had Swapped Genders? A restaging of the presidential debates with an actress playing Trump and an actor playing Clinton yielded surprising results.

SURE, BUT IT’S NOT AS IF THEY’RE A REPUTABLE NEWSPAPER:Did the New York Times already tell us Trump was ‘wiretapped’?

HOW TO TELL WHEN A REPUBLICAN IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE: Violent threats against the president are OK now?

THIS IS CNN? CNN host Fareed Zakaria gets profane in uncensored Trump discussion. This is the same Fareed Zakaria who was once suspended from CNN for plagiarism. Given that his suspension only lasted a couple of weeks, it seems that CNN has a pretty high tolerance level for bullshit.

“SUPER-PRECEDENT” DIDN’T EVEN MAKE THE LIST? 4 Worst Moments For The Democrats From The Gorsuch Hearing.

re: Super-precident.  I'm reminded of the Gary Cooper quote.... "If you have to tell them who you are, you aren't anybody."

EXPLAINER: 5 Myths About Originalism, Neil Gorsuch’s Judicial Philosophy.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH! The Real Story About Neil Gorsuch and the TransAm ‘Frozen Trucker’

Little guy: NOAH FELDMAN: Democrats’ Misguided Argument Against Gorsuch.  But it was OK to side with the entire Federal Government against a sect of Carmelite nuns??!

Grassley: If you’d filibuster Gorsuch, you’d filibuster anybody.

Related: Chuck Grassley: Chuck Schumer ‘poisoned’ the well for Supreme Court nominees. Go the Reid Option and then some — get rid of the filibuster entirely.

ROLL CALL: A Brief History of Calls for an Independent Prosecutor.

On a personal note:  On this day in 1765, British parliament passed the Quartering Act. As you may recall from 7th grade social studies, this is why the Bill of Rights contains the Third Amendment, forbidding the quartering of troops without the permission of the owner. Radley Balko, writing in the ABA Journal, called the Third Amendment the “runt piglet of the Bill of Rights.”

On this day in 1944, R. Lee Ermey was born. His breakout role was in Full Metal Jacket as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (strong language warning, um, obviously).

Also on this day in 1944, 76 Allied prisoners of war broke out of Stalag Luft III. If that sounds familiar, yeah, it was the plot of the film The Great Escape. We mention it because of the inherent eroticism involved in Steve McQueen jumping the border fence on his motorcycle.

Next Indy Jonesmovie? Rabbit hole leads to incredible 700-year-old Knights Templar cave complex.

I vote for option #2.  MEGAN MCARDLE: Republicans Should Kill Obamacare or Let It Die.

as I said previously Charlie rocks. CHARLIE MARTIN: NARAL Misses the Point on Health Insurance.

QUESTION ASKED: Are You Really Worse Off If You ‘Lose’ Your Health Insurance?

What I would really like is to be able to do is pay cash for most of my healthcare needs from whomever offers the best deal, and to shop around nationally for an inexpensive catastrophic plan to cover major medical expenses — you know, actual insurance.

PSSSSSST, BERNIE, THOUSANDS WILL DIE ANYWAY:  It’s on account of humans being mortal, something they might have forgotten to brief you on in the mothership. Sanders Can’t Say Where He Gets His Info That ‘Thousands Will Die’ if Obamacare Is Repealed

Had fun teaching a finance class yesterday, discussing car finance, nature of a loan, time value of money.  Moved the needle a little.

CHARLIE MARTIN: No, ‘Shared Risk’ Is Not How Insurance Works.  Charlie’s explainers are invaluable.

SOCIALISM AS USUAL: Venezuela has a bread shortage. The government has decided bakers are the problem.

SOD OFF, SWAMPY: Senator Who Owns 3 Houses Rails Against Americans Who ‘Worship Wealth.’

Roots of the expression here, for those who have forgotten.

YOU KNOW, TRUMP JUST MIGHT HAVE A POINT: An Artist Against the NEA, Part 1: The Case of Karen Finley.

SELF-AWARENESS FAIL: Paul Krugman says America has a problem admitting when it’s wrong.

Hey, did I miss a Krugman apology for his egregious election-night market prediction?