Category: Academia

Academia, Constitutional Law

Utah Valley University Holds Major Conference on Free Speech

200px-UVU_SealI am in Orem, Utah after speaking at the Constitution Day celebrations at Utah Valley University and its conference on privacy in America. I will be returning today but hope to catch one of the panels today at this extraordinary event of the Utah Valley University’s Center for Constitutional Studies. Yesterday, I spoke twice on free speech issues. My first speech was on private actors limiting free speech, the “little brother” problem. The speech (and those of my panelists) was followed by a panel discussion with with New York University and University of Chicago professor Richard Epstein and UCLA professor Eugene Volokh. Later I spoke again on media and free speech followed by a panel with New York Times columnist Stanley Fish.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Society

The Yoo-Turley Debate: Two Antithetical Views Of Presidential Power

180px-john-yooturley_jonathanYesterday, I had a spirited debate with Berkeley Professor and former Bush Administration lawyer John Yoo at Christopher Newport University’s Center for American Studies (CAS). The debate was structured around the question of “Filling in the Gaps: Is Executive Prerogative Constitutional?”
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Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

D.C. School Assigns Homework Comparing Bush To Hitler

hitlerGeorge-W-BushRepublicans and independents often complain of being an outcast political minority in the heavily Democratic Washington, D.C. However, one parent was unprepared for the homework assignment that his child brought home from McKinley Tech Middle School: asking students to draw comparisons between Adolf Hitler and George W. Bush.

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Academia, Bizarre, Society

Grace Under Fire: 11-Year-Old Girl Banned From Using ChapStick At School For Her Bleeding Lips

ChapstickVirginia’s Augusta County school board is in deep deliberation this week after a request of an 11-year-old girl, Grace Karaffa, that she be allowed to circumvent a zero tolerance rule. What is the little demon trying to bring into Stuarts Draft Elementary School, you ask. Heroin? Crossbow? No, Grace wants to bring in ChapStick to keep her lips from bleeding. That’s right, the little Chaphead was caught red lipped in class by a teacher who confiscated the tube. Personally, I am thankful that one school is fighting chap heads who often use peer pressure to get other children to moisturize. ChapStick is a known gateway product to more dangerous products like hand lotion and Deep Pore Scrubs.

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Academia, Society

Study: Teenagers Who Smoke Marijuana Daily Are 60 Percent Less Likely To Complete High School; 60 Percent Less Likely To Graduate College, and 700 Times More Likely To Commit Suicide

marijuana_leafThere is a startling study out that shows that teenagers who smoke marijuana daily are over 60 percent less likely to complete high school and 60 percent less likely to graduate college. Even more startling is that these students are seven times more likely to attempt suicide. The study is published in the respected medical journal, The Lancet Psychiatry.

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Academia, International, Science, Society, Uncategorized

Egypt Rehires Company To Restore Ancient Pyramid After Allegedly Damaging The Structure in A Prior Project

Djoser_Pyramid_-_1900-1Last year, I wrote a column about how there appears to be little accountability in government for gross negligence, as shown by the response to the debacle over the rollout of the Obamacare website and billions wasted or lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Egypt has shown that this is not just a problem in the U.S. Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, is under fire after rehiring a company named Shurbagy for restoration of one of Egypt’s oldest pyramids after the firm caused damage and major deterioration to the very same structure in an earlier botched job.

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Academia, Environment, International, Politics, Science

Report: There is a 99.999% Certainty That Humans Driving Global Warming

earth-screensaver_largeThere is a new report on global climate change this week that addresses many of the claims being raised against the theory by critics. Despite the overwhelming agreement of the scientific community, people continue to cite anecdotal observations of cool temperatures to refute predictions. The new report crunches the climate numbers and concludes that there is less than 1 chance in 100,000 that global average temperature over the past 60 years would have been as high without human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Society

“The Hysteria is Far From Over”: Maryland Teacher Writes Futuristic Novel About School Shooting . . School Board Sends Him For Evaluation While Police Raid His Home and Distribute His Picture

mclawpatrick-mclaw-investigation-book-coverThere is a bizarre case out of Maryland where school officials sent teacher and novelist Patrick McLaw, 23, to an emergency medical evaluation for publishing, under a pseudonym, a novel about a school shooting. That’s it. A language-arts eight grade teacher at Lane Middle School writes a book about a school shooting and he is put on leave by the Dorchester County Board of Education, investigated by the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office, and sent away for evaluation. “The Insurrectionist” happens to be set 900 years in the future but the board couldn’t just wait for the shooting to occur and had to act. What is striking is that all of these steps have been taken and McLaw has been effectively treated as a danger to children but no one has said a thing beyond the novel that is the basis for the actions. Was there something else that raise the danger of a violent act by McLaw? Officials have not been shy about distributing McLaw’s picture, assuring parents that they will protect their children (presumably from McLaw), and generally portraying him as a possible threat to children. Yet, when it comes to the basis for these actions, no one is saying a thing.

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Academia, International, Science, Society

International Team Publishes Breakthrough Research Sequencing Ebola Strain Despite the Deaths of Five Team Members

ebolaThere is a chilling international report out of this week on the origins of the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Researchers from the United States and Africa were able to trace the origins of the outbreak to a funeral in Guinea. The report expanded the data on Ebola by 400 percent. However, the standard listing of authors on the study have a chilling notation, a “‡” designation for “Deceased.” Five team members died in the effort to trace this Ebola stain and the release of the report honors their extraordinary sacrifice.

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Academia, Media, Society

Southern California Football Star Suspended After Hero Claim Debunked

Screenshot (YouTube)
Screenshot (YouTube)
There is an interesting, and sad, scandal at the University of Southern California. Football star and NFL prospect Josh Shaw has been indefinitely suspended after admitting he made up a story that turned him into a national hero after he claiming to have injured both ankles jumping off a balcony to save his drowning nephew. He was heralded by the school and national media until the Los Angeles Times debunked the story in a scandal reminiscent of Manti Te’o controversy.

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Academia, Bizarre

Now In Cartoon Form . . .

Professors-JonathanTurleyDr. G. Tod Slone, Founding Editor of the The American Dissident (aka P. Maudit), has sent us this cartoon. (I never realized that I looked so much like Ted Cruz in cartoon form). It is a response to the blog on the “Yield For Sneaker’s Bacon” sign controversy. The cartoon shows, in addition to my need for better fitting suits, that academics make for lousy cartoon characters because we can only speak in 100 word increments. It does contrast the pro-free speech statement with a caution posting about George Washington University’s policies by The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) that I was not aware of.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Professor Miller-Young Sentenced To Probation and Anger Management Classes For Attack On Pro-Life Advocates

milleryoungincident2 We have been following the controversy surrounding the confrontation of Feminist Studies Associate Professor Mireille Miller-Young with pro-life advocates on campus. Miller-Young led her students in attacking the pro-life display, stealing their display, and then committing battery on one of the young women. Thrin Short, 16, and her sister Joan, 21, filed complaints and Miller-Young was charged with criminal conduct including Theft From Person; Battery; and Vandalism. To the surprise of some of us, faculty and students rallied behind Miller-Young. She remains employed as a faculty member. Miller-Young initially pleaded not guilty but later entered a guilty plea with an apology. She has now been sentenced to sentenced to three years of probation, 108 hours of community service, 10 hours of anger management, $500 in restitution and a small fine. While her actions (and absence of serious university punishment) remain highly disturbing, some of the letters written on her behalf raise new questions over the commitment of University of California faculty to free speech and core academic principles. Miller-Young has been defended by faculty as the victim of a media campaign to portray her as “an Angry Black Woman” and her seemingly happy demeanor on the videotape has been dismissed as a “mask” that she wears as part of a “cultural legacy of slavery.”

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Academia, Constitutional Law

School District To Require Students To Wear Heart Rate Monitors In Gym Class

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

dubuque-schools-logoBeginning this school year, Dubuque, Iowa public school students in middle and high school are to be required to wear heart rate monitors to determine their activity levels in gym class. The heart rate will apparently be part of the grade they receive.

In an almost unbelievable new standard of measuring grades, the public school district in Dubuque believes that their cardio-vascular knowledge is of such expertise, that they can fully translate it somehow into a measure of a student’s progress.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

University of Illinois Rescinds Offer Of Professor After He Posts Anti-Israeli Tweets

dJZiSXft_400x400There is a controversy at the University of Illinois over the right of faculty to express views on social media outside of their positions. Steven Salaita had already been offered a tenured position in the American Indian studies program on the Champaign-Urbana campus and was just waiting for approval by the university’s Board of Trustees, usually a perfunctory stage. However, Salaita posted strongly anti-Israeli sentiments after the start of the recent war in Gaza. After those postings, he was informed that the university was rescinding its offer due to opposition on the board.

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