Overnight News: The stupidity of our would-be slavers is underwriting America’s manumission.

I had a run in with a Doctor of Education who could not reliably distinguish ‘affect’ from ‘effect.’ This is not rare, but it should be among people who think degrees matter. Plus, the answer is right there from the Anglicized Latin: A-, Ad- verbs are accusative in English; E-, Ex- verbs are ablative. I didn’t say any of that. Instead, I just said, “It’s easy. Just remember that ‘affect’ is accusative and ‘effect’ is ablative.”

That didn’t help. Probably didn’t help you, either, but my take would be that you can’t make sense without grammar and logic – the acquisition of either of which is likely to get you kicked right out of any American school of education.

Schoolteachers are dumb, as a rule – and dumber by the day in underfathered America. But wafting in on the breezes with all the imaginary coronavirus droplets is some good news: Because schoolteachers are too dumb to keep their jaws on the prey, some students are managing to escape their stultification.

You can lament that too many are still caught in the awful trap of public education, and I’ll join you in that. But I can celebrate that some slaves, at least, have made it to freedom.

In other news:

Zero Hedge: Home Prices Soar At 4.5 Times The Fed’s Inflation Target In All US Cities.

Housing Wire: Rising mortgage rates push applications lower.

CNBC: America’s top-tier malls were resilient, but values are now crumbling, down 45% from 2016 levels, Green Street says.

J.D. Tucille: As Teachers Unions and Bureaucrats Battle, Families Choose Alternative Schools.

City Journal: Narrative Before Facts: When will the media acknowledge their role in spreading false and inflammatory stories about police shootings?