We have been discussing the rising intolerance on our campuses and the repeated cancelling of events by shouting down or obstructing speakers. The latest such example comes from Virginia Commonwealth University where pro-choice students obstructed a pro-life event. Continue reading ““Fascists Go Home”: Students Shutdown Pro-Life Event at VCU”
Month: March 2023
Below is my column in Fox.com on the Trump indictment. There is a report of 34 counts against former President Donald Trump, which may be count stacking based on individual payments or documents. We will have to wait to see. In the meantime, the prosecution came about in the most overtly political way from Bragg campaigning on charging Trump to a public pressure campaign to indict from his former lead prosecutor.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “The Trump Indictment: Making History in the Worst Possible Way”
I have often discussed in columns what I call our “age of rage.” There may be no more defining moment of that age than what unfolded today in the Capitol as Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., screamed about gun control. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md, tried to calm Bowman. However, after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, asked him to stop yelling, Bowman shouted “I was screaming before you interrupted me,” which could now go down as the epitaph for our age.
I recently wrote a column on how Democrats in California are being challenged to put their money where their mouth has been on reparations. For years, Democrats have insisted that reparations are a moral imperative. Now, however, the bill has come due and advocates in a Wednesday hearing confronted members of the California Reparations Task Force in asking “where’s the money?” Some are now demanding more than $5 million per resident as Reparations Board member Lisa Holder of the Equal Justice Society promised that the committee’s “recommendations will be breathtaking.”
Columbia University law students and alums are in an uproar over an Instagram post that showed students in the Federalist Society meeting with Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the Court. It would ordinarily be a singular experience for law students to spend time with one of the nine justices. That is not how it went over at Columbia where some are outraged by the meeting and Columbia’s posting the picture on its social media account. The Empowering Women of Color group announced it was “withdrawing our participation from Columbia Law School recruiting events.” Columbia’s own Center for Engaged Pedagogy, simply declared “WTF is wrong with you.” Continue reading ““WTF is Wrong with You”: Columbia Center and Law Students Protest Meeting With Justice Kavanaugh”
Aaron Edwards, a theologian at Cliff College in England, has been reportedly fired after he declared homosexuality a sin on Twitter. He was also threatened with being reported to authorities as a “terrorist” for his views. It is the latest attack on religious and political speech in Great Britain. Continue reading “Sins of the Father: Theologian Fired by Bible College for Calling Homosexuality a Sin”
Over 600 people have signed on to a petition calling for conservative commentator Matt Walsh to be banned from speaking at Washington and Lee University on March 30. That is hardly surprising given the regular cancel campaign on our campuses. However, what was striking was how many faculty signed the petition, including a number of law professors, despite its anti-free speech sentiments. The petition notably does not even contain the customary homage to free speech before eviscerating its underlying premise. Indeed, free speech is not mentioned even once. Continue reading “Washington & Lee Professors Join Students in Seeking to Ban Conservative Speaker” 
A professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, has been suspended after posting threatening statements on social media posts that suggested that people would be justified in killing speakers who hold opposing views on issues like transgender policies. Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson released a statement saying that an unnamed professor in the school’s English department made a social media post that is “at best, morally reprehensible and, at worst, criminal.” College Fix identified that professor as Steven Shaviro, who writes in the areas of film, music videos, and science fiction literature.
Below is my column in the Hill on why Trump’s future may come down to the calendar rather than the evidence. This could get pretty twisted in the election season.
Here is the column: Continue reading “Could Trump Win By Losing? Sometimes ‘Nothing’ is ‘a Real Cool Hand’”
We have discussed the cancellation of federal appellate Judge Kyle Duncan by Stanford Law School students, a disgraceful attack on free speech that led to an apology from both the law school dean and the university president. However, as I discussed earlier, many faculty support such anti-free speech measures. One is Professor Jennifer Ruth, who teaches film studies at Portland State University. In a column in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Professor Ruth commends the law students for preventing Judge Duncan from being heard on campus. Continue reading ““Something Existential is at Stake”: Professor Defends Silencing of Federal Judge at Stanford Law School” 
New emails uncovered in the ongoing Missouri v. Biden litigation reportedly show that the Biden Administration’s censorship efforts extended to Facebook to censor private communications on its WhatsApp messaging service. In recent months, the Twitter Files revealed an extensive and secret effort by the FBI and other agencies to censor citizens on social media. I testified on that effort. Democratic members oppose efforts to investigate the full scope of this effort and even denounced those calling for greater transparency as “Putin lovers” and apologists for insurrectionists and racists. Yet, the evidence of an extensive censorship and blacklisting effort by the Administration continues to mount.
Continue reading “New Documents Expose Government Censorship Efforts at Facebook and WhatsApp”
Joseph E. Foreman, a rapper also known as “Afroman,” is the subject of a filing in Ohio (below) by seven police officers alleging that he has misused their images to sell merchandise and place them in a false light. The images, however, were taken during a raid on Foreman’s home, which failed to turn up any evidence of criminal conduct. I am skeptical of the claims, but there are novel elements that could lead to some important clarifications under Ohio tort law.
Continue reading “Police Officers Sue “Afroman” for the Use of Their Images from Raid on his Home”
This week, the University of Pittsburgh was under fire from State Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes, who objected to conservative speakers, including competitive swimmer Riley Gaines, Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles, and Daily Wire podcast host Cabot Phillips. Mayes’ objections reflect the growing anti-free speech movement, and its rationale of “speech-as-harm” that is sweeping the nation. Continue reading ““How Does This Keep Transgender Students Safe?”: Pittsburgh Under Fire for Allowing Conservatives to Speak on Campus”
Yesterday, Res Ipsa passed the 69,000,000 mark in views on the blog. We have used these moments to give thanks for our many regular readers around the world and share our traffic data to give you an idea of the current profile of readers around the world. We do not have a running data page so these periodic postings allow our community to see the traffic profile of our blog. So let’s get at it. Continue reading “Res Ipsa Hits 69,000,000”
Below is my column in the New York Post on the continued drama in Manhattan over the possible Trump indictment. Alvin Bragg may still secure an indictment, but the reports of divisions on the grand jury have captivated the press. Donald Trump remains Bragg’s political manifest destiny even if there is no legal landfall in sight.
Here is the column:
Continue reading “Manifest Destiny: Alvin Bragg Searches for His Criminal Kailasa”