Last night, my torts class was briefly interrupted by the sounds of protests on campus over the appearance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, on campus. The large protest itself was not a problem. As the vice president of the Disabled Students Collective (DSC) stated publicly, the students were “using our own free speech to protest Kennedy’s presence on campus.” The problem was the petition circulated by the DSC, signed by hundreds at GWU, calling for Kennedy to be prevented from exercising his own free speech. Indeed, it calls for Kennedy to be barred from campus for spreading “misinformation.” It seems that, once again, the tolerance for free speech only goes so far.
The event, co-sponsored by the local College Republican and Turning Point USA chapter, resulted in a packed and enthusiastic crowd in Lisner Auditorium. Hundreds of students waited hours to get into the event. Kennedy later thanked the student groups for arranging the event.
The appearance of Kennedy on campus only strengthens the depth and breadth of discussions on our campus. Notably, he was not brought here by the university, but by student groups who wanted to hear his views on subjects ranging from his efforts to remove chemicals from our food to his past criticism of certain vaccines.
It is also valuable for students to exercise their rights in speaking against those views. For a night, GWU was a vibrant free speech forum with all sides represented on our campus, even if the university itself was not the instigator.
Yet, the petition drive is focused on the same demand for censorship and enforced orthodoxy that now characterizes so much of higher education. It is simply intolerable for many to have such opposing views expressed. The DSC and other groups want to prevent other students from hearing from Kennedy despite being one of the most important figures in health policy today.
The petition states, “We implore GW to bar RFK Jr. from speaking on our campus. Allowing him to do so would tarnish this university’s reputation, its commitment to science, and the promotion of health in this country and globally.”
So, they demand the right to protest against these views, but also demand that Kennedy and others be denied the right to express them.
The use of the ill-defined “misinformation” charge was telling. Rather than see these events as an opportunity to discuss and debate such issues, the protesters simply declare Kennedy to be the spreader of misinformation and call for him to be banned.
It is the same clarion call heard during the pandemic to silence dissenting voices.
Over the years, dissenting faculty members have been forced out of scientific and academic organizations for challenging preferred conclusions on subjects ranging from transgender transitions to COVID-19 protections to climate change. Some were barred from speaking at universities or blacklisted for their opposing views.
Many of the exiled experts were ultimately proven correct in challenging the efficacy of surgical masks or the need to shut down our schools and businesses. Scientists moved like a herd of lemmings on the origin of the virus, crushing those who suggested that the most likely explanation is a lab leak (a position that federal agencies would later embrace).
Scientists worked with the government in suppressing dissenting views. For example, The Wall Street Journal released a report on how the Biden administration suppressed dissenting views supporting the lab leak theory, as dissenting scientists were blacklisted and targeted.
When experts within the Biden Administration found that the lab theory was the most likely explanation for COVID-19, they were told not to share their data publicly and were warned about being “off the reservation.”
Universities and associations joined the crackdown citing disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation. (The Biden Administration defined malinformation as the use of facts in misleading ways).
Scientists questioning the efficacy of those blue surgical masks and the six-foot rule were suppressed. So were those arguing that we should, as in Europe, keep schools open. These experts were also later vindicated, but few were rehired or reestablished in universities or associations.
This intolerance for opposing views has continued as part of the culture of orthodoxy in higher education, as evidenced just yesterday with the petition.
It is to the credit of GWU that the school did not attempt to stop the event and ensured safety for all involved, from the speakers to the protesters.
What is chilling is the comfort that so many on this campus have with the open hypocrisy of demanding free speech in order to call for the denial of the same right to others.
RFK Jr. can give his free speech almost anywhere. He doesn’t have a right to do so on essentially private property. He has a government department at his disposal and they can host videos, documents, and podcasts to carry the conspiracy kooky nut job message that he dribbles out. This is a propaganda visit on behalf of the oligarchs that pay for TPUSA and TPA.
I expect that there is considerable overlap between the billionaire backers of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and Turning Point Action (TPA) , the billionaire backers of Project 2025, and the invisible hand of the oligarchs behind College Republicans (but which sect?) The main sect, College Republican National Committee (CRNC), has been disavowed by the Republican National Committee.
Turns out there is a College Republicans of America (CRA) which was supposedly formed out of the CRNC in 2023 to support Donald J. Trump and is, surprise, connected to Turning Point Action, the sister to Turning Point USA. This allows the perception that multiple organizations support Trump when, in truth, it is the same small group of billionaires behind this propaganda effort to disrupt higher education in the USA.
“On January 4, 2021, Kirk announced in a tweet that Turning Point Action would be sending more than 80 buses to a January 6, 2021, Trump “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House in Washington, D.C, to protest the outcome of the election. They sent seven buses with approximately 350 participants. Turning Point Action also funneled money to several “Stop the Steal” rally speakers, including Kimberly Guilfoyle, but did not organize or take part in the march to the Capitol that erupted in violence. Kirk later deleted the tweet and said on his podcast that it was “bad judgment” and “not wise” to enter the Capitol but not necessarily insurrectionist.” ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Point_Action#2020_presidential_election
The connection to RFK Jr is common ground.: “In 2021, Kirk compared Biden’s vaccination efforts to an “Apartheid-style open air hostage situation”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Point_Action#COVID-19_vaccination_in_the_United_States
My book, “The Right to Rage” includes a chapter on how Conservatives use sock-puppet organizations to give the appearance of wide-spread grass-roots support for issues that only matter to billionaires or to serve as divisive distractions to ensure that their is warfare among those in the middle class and between the middle class and the lower class.
,,the Very Best Example of Allowing Free Speech is seen via Pro.f Turley giving pos crazies a space to spill out yr sick fake news and out-of-conext rubbish………….
You obviously live in your own rage bubble that is fed by democrat billionaires.
What Did Ted Danson Actually Predict?
In 1988, Danson said that within 10 years, “the oceans will be dead” and that humanity would suffer as a consequence.
According to later interviews, he described this as “hyperbole … as a means to draw attention to the issue.”
He also warned that 70% of the world’s fisheries were “at the point of collapse.”
It would appear that he prevaricated more than Larry Summers but he still has a job.
Ah, the little LORD OF THE FLIES wanna-bes’! Gotta love the d@uche bag college kids of today! Sterling examples of how wealthy fecal matter parents got it all wrong by telling these Abby Normal’s they should express any moronic thought that comes into the pea pod brain!
As I referenced in a responsive comment below, isn’t it interesting that the progressive view on vaccines is:
(a) “My body my choice” does not apply, and
(b) Huge international corporations with billions at stake, and who sponsor most of the news shows on the topic, should not be challenged in their domination of the narrative concerning the things they make money from.
And, of course, it’s not “my body, my choice.”
It is clearly the body of a completely separate and sovereign human being, causing abortion to be homicide.
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“And here are some bonus scientific facts that prove it’s not just an organ or part of the mother.”
“During its early stages of development, the placenta of the unborn child secretes neurokinin B-containing phosphocoline molecules, which protects the child from detection by its mother’s immune system, because it can be interpreted as a foreign body and is subject to attack. This is because the fetus is of non-identical genetic material to the mother due to their different DNA.
“Also present in the unborn child are lymphocytic suppressor cells which stop interleukin 2 (IL2) cells from signalling cytotoxic T cells to kill the child. The purpose of IL2 cells is to distinguish between self and non-self (parts of the mother and foreign parts). The lymphocytic cells would not need to inhibit the response of the cytotoxic T cells if the IL2 did not signal the feuts as a foreign body. This would not occur if it was one of her own organs because the response would not be initiated.
“An organ does not have its own organs. The fetal heartbeat begins at around 22 days after fertilisation as I said earlier, and brain waves are detected at about six weeks, which means the unborn child has a heart and a brain. At seven weeks, all other organs are present, although not fully developed, which would mean not only did the mother have an organ with different DNA to her, but this organ also has its own organ systems, and so the mother has an extra heart, brain, stomach, liver, etc.”
– Emma Greenland-Broadsmith
If it is separate, let it be on its own for a day or so and see how it does.
There is no fetal heartbeat at six weeks as there is no heart at 6 weeks. There are only pacer cells. There are no brain waves as there is no brain at six weeks.