🇺🇸 Affirmative Action Axed

Good morning, and happy Thursday. Hopefully, everyone had a wonderful July 4th holiday. In case you missed it, here’s the picture we post every Independence Day. It’s the one we started this entire brand with alllll the way back in 2016. For those of you who have been with us since then, we friggen love you. No seriously, thank you for coming along for the ride.

Here are some other pictures (that we didn’t take) of how July 4th has been celebrated over the years. What an incredible country.

And as we switch gears, be sure to take a look at today’s partner who is highlighting how horizontal problems have vertical solutions…

TRENDING

Right: The Muddled Mindset of Progressivism J. Peder Zane, RealClearPolitics

Right: Taking on the ‘Woke’ Partisan Mob Peter Navarro, Washington Times

Right: Is My Favorite Dress Company the New Bud Light? Bethany Mandel, The Spectator

Left: The Right Is Racing To Shrink Our Freedoms Jill Lawrence, MSNBC

Left: Reclaiming Real American Patriotism Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

Left: Trump's Supreme Court Is the Court of White Backlash Toure, The Grio

QUICK CLICKS

Shooter’s Disturbing Messages, the Search for White House Cocaine, Protesters Disrupting Play

US: Philadelphia mass shooting suspect Kimbrady Carriker was 'weird' and dressed as woman for years: neighbors (NY Post) + Philadelphia mass shooting suspect posted 'disturbing messages' (Reuters)

World: Biden wants Sweden admitted to NATO now. What's the real reason for the delay? (NPR)

US: Trump pulled in more than $35 million in the second quarter (POLITICO)

US: Law Enforcement Expert Breaks Down Search For White House Cocaine Perpetrator (Daily Wire)

World: Fukushima water release plan from Japan approved by UN (USA Today)

Sports: Katie Boulter ‘shocked’ after Just Stop Oil protesters disrupt play at Wimbledon (The Guardian)

US: CDC issues controversial guidance on how biological males can 'chestfeed' newborn babies (Fox News)

POWERED BY THREE SIXTY SOLAR

Breakthrough Design Disrupts Industry - Gives Up to 90% Advantage

The drive towards energy independence and the shift away from traditional energy sources, such as coal and natural gas, is propelling solar into the spotlight as future-proof power generation.

There are a few major problems for most in the industry, one of which is land. Not only is land expensive, but traditional solar companies need a ton of it.

One company, however, has found the solution to the last big problem with solar: Three Sixty Solar.

Instead of covering excessive ground, they reached for the sky. The company’s innovation is creating vertical solar towers that need dramatically less land to produce industrial quantities of electricity.

Three Sixty also just signed a new distribution agreement that gives them access to over 500 sales operators, agents, and owners. This is a powerhouse in the making with the potential to thwart common concerns with solar.

Now’s the time to do due diligence, and you can start here

SCOTUS

Affirmative Action Axed

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions. They said race can't be a factor and that higher education institutions need to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

Reporting from the Right: Media, liberals attack Asian Americans as pawns, de facto White supremacists after affirmative action defeat David Rutz, Fox News

Reporting from the Left: Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson criticize each other in unusually sharp language in affirmative action case Devan Cole, CNN

From The Flag: For context, the Supreme Court had twice upheld race-conscious college admissions programs in the past 20 years, including as recently as 2016.

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

A Landmark Ruling That Rights a Big Wrong

• The Justices revived the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment in barring discrimination by race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

• With Thursday’s rulings on affirmative action in college admissions and workplace religious freedom, the Supreme Court triumphantly reaffirmed our nation’s fundamental values.

• The US Supreme Court has put an end to a genuine form of 'systemic racism'.

A Landmark for Racial Equality at the Supreme Court Editorial Board, WSJ: "In barring the use of race in college admissions, a six-Justice majority took a giant step back from the racial Balkanization that risks becoming set in institutional stone. ... President Biden denounced the decision, perhaps because he understands that its declaration of moral and legal principle jeopardizes his policies that divide by race. Corporate diversity and equity programs that divide and classify by race should also be on notice that they will face legal challenges. ... The U.S. still has much work to do to achieve a truly color-blind society. Above all it needs to liberate a K-12 education system that traps too many minorities in failure factories. But the attempt to discriminate by race in college admissions to make up for that failure creates other problems and judges individuals not by their talent or character but the color of their skin. As the Chief underscores, 'Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.'"

Supreme Court affirmative action ruling rights a big wrong Editorial Board, New York Post: For decades, elite universities public and private ... have used race as a key admissions criterion. Ostensibly, it’s to diversify student bodies and redress past wrongs. But in practice, it means a massive new wrong done, mainly to Asian American students who were disproportionately denied admission despite far better grades and standardized test scores. It was the same ugly story of Jews in American higher ed in the early decades of the 20th century: Hard-working, high-achieving kids (often children of immigrants) excel by the proclaimed standards of our elite institutions, only for those institutions to drop those standards once “too many” of the wrong kind of student starts getting in the gate. ... Naturally, lefties blame this too on racism (not realizing that it’s their racism at fault). ... [This decision is a blow] for liberty and real equality — not the specious kind progressives fight for."

One more opinion piece from the Right: There's Nothing Racist About Ending Affirmative Action Wilfred Reilly, Spiked

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

The Court’s Conservative Trajectory Charges On

• The high court just acted to end affirmative action, but the fight for equal opportunity and pluralism goes on.

• If the experience of California and Michigan – where voters ended affirmative action programs years ago – is any indication, we can expect that the representation of Black and Latino students at top-level universities will fall.

• The court's conservative trajectory didn’t start with abortion — and it won’t end with affirmative action.

Supreme Court Ruling Requires New Diversity Efforts Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg: "The Supreme Court decision doesn’t mean that diversity on campuses must suffer. It just means we must act more boldly. One way we can do that is by increasing financial aid — public and private — to increase need-blind admissions. ... Colleges and universities must increase their outreach and their commitment to enrolling more deserving students who might otherwise — because they don’t have the same level of support from their high schools or families — fall through the cracks. The court’s decision cannot be an excuse for regression. It must be a rallying point for higher-education leaders to build student bodies that more fully reflect America’s communities — and our highest ideals."

“‘Race neutral’ replaces affirmative action. What’s next?” Zachary B. Wolf, CNN: “If the experience of California and Michigan – where voters ended affirmative action programs years ago – is any indication, we can expect that the representation of Black and Latino students at top-level universities will fall. ... In California, half of the college-age population – 18-24 – is Latino, according to data from the Public Policy Institute of California. Compare that with just 27% of enrollees for 2022 at the University of California’s nine undergraduate campuses who the UC system categorizes as Hispanic/Latinx. On the other hand, less than 13% of the college-age population is Asian, compared with 38% of UC enrollees. ... Meanwhile, even though race is off the table as a determinative factor, schools like Harvard University can and still will very much take into account whether an applicant’s parents went there, how much their parents might be able to donate and whether an applicant can help their sports teams."

One more opinion piece from the Left: Affirmative Action Decision Confirms Our Worst Fears Jessica Levinson, MSNBC

FLAG THIS

Majority Back Decision

A new survey from ABC News/Ipsos showed 52% of Americans approve of the Supreme Court’s decision, 32% disapprove, and 16% don’t know.

By Party: 75% of Republicans and 58% of independent voters approve the 6–3 Supreme Court decision, compared with 26% of Democrats.

By Race: 60% of white respondents, 58% of Asians, 40% of Hispanics and 25% of black respondents favored the landmark ruling.

FLAG FINDS

Vertical Solutions, Expanding Universe, Snap Happy

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WATERCOOLER

Gibson Grabs First Victory, Mindblowing Biologist, JFK’s Pre-Embargo Cigar Order

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claims the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon and becomes the first African American to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

CN Traveler: 32 Free Things to Do to Make the Most of Your Summer Travels

Nautilus: The Biologist Blowing Our Minds

Lifehacker: You Don't Need to Separate Your Laundry (With One Common Exception)

Today I learned JFK ordered 1200 of his favorite cuban cigars the night before he signed the cuban trade embargo.