Biplab Deb, who is the chief minister of the north-eastern state of Tripura, has become an international clown after claiming that the Internet was invented thousands of years ago by ancient Indians. He now competes as the world’s least intelligent person with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan who claimed that Muslims discovered America.
Continue reading “Indian Minister Claims Ancient Hindus Invented The Internet”
We recently discussed the bizarre statement from D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) that Jewish bankers controlled the weather. White’s stupefying stupidity became an international sensation, which he did not help with his apology: “I have spoke [sic] to leader and my friends at Jews United for Justice and they are helping me to understand the history of comment [sic] made against Jews.” Putting aside the need for a refresher, White sought to mollify his critics with a visit to the Holocaust Museum which has made the situation only worse with bizarre questions and an early departure.
Today I will have the pleasure of joining my former student Michael Avenatti for an event moderated by Dean Blake D. Morant. The event at 3-4 pm is open to the public (though pre-registration guarantees a spot) at the Jack Morton theater at 805 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052. The event is being co-sponsored by the law school and the School of Media & Public Affairs.
Continue reading “Turley and Avenatti To Appear At GW Event”
We have been discussing the rising intolerance and violence on college campuses, particularly against conservative speakers. (Here and here and here and here). Berkeley has been the focus of much concern over mob rule on our campuses as violent protesters have succeeded in silencing speakers, even including a few speakers like an ACLU officials and James Comey. Both students and some faculty have maintained the position that they have a right to silence those with whom they disagree and even student newspapers have declared opposing speech to be outside of the protections of free speech. At another University of California campus, professors actually rallied around a professor who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display. In the meantime, academics and deans have said that there is no free speech protection for offensive or “disingenuous” speech. Now, CUNY Law Dean Mary Lu Bilek has a different approach. When conservative law professor Josh Blackman was stopped from speaking about “the importance of free speech,” Bilek insisted that disrupting the speech on free speech was free speech. It reveals the twisted logic overtaking our schools on both tolerance and free speech.
Continue reading “CUNY Law Dean: Students Shutting Down Speech on Free Speech Was Free Speech”
Ok, I admit that I am a Bears fan and this could be the only way to get Tom Brady out of the next session, but doesn’t this picture look a tad familiar? Check out this picture: Tom Brady Or here in his hoodie: Tom Brady. With our new young quarterback scheduled to face the Patriots this year, it is close enough for me.
Continue reading “Did Stormy Daniels Just Implicate Tom Brady?”
I will be speaking this morning at the plenary session of the Sixth Annual Executive Branch Review Conference of the Federalist Society. The panel on The Deregulatory Landscape will be composed of myself, the Hon. W. Neil Eggleston, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP (and former Obama White House Counsel); Todd Gaziano, Director, Center for the Separation of Powers, Pacific Legal Foundation; Philip A. Hamburger, Maurice and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; and Prof. Jonathan Turley, J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law, George Washington University. The panel will be moderated by the Hon. Greg Katsas, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. The panel will be held from 9:30 to 10:30 at the Mayflower Hotel and will be live streamed.
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This incredible picture is from NOAA and shows the sun which is going through an extremely low activity period — the lowest since 2009. The picture is breathtaking. There is a discussion of whether we are into what scientists call a “grand minimum,” which could cause global cooling.
McKinley cannot catch a break. First, they took off his name from Mount McKinley during the Obama Administration on what is now known as Denali. Now towns like Arcata, California are moving to remove his statue as offensive to Native Americans. The use of Denali as the name for the mountain is understandable given its long usage by natives. However, the action in Arcara is the latest example of cleansing public areas of any historical images or figures deemed offensive by any group instead of placing these monuments into historical context.Continue reading “California Town Votes To Remove Statue Of William McKinley As Offensive”
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, yesterday sought to elicit a modicum of sympathy for his position after a raid upon his office, home, and hotel room. However, Cohen is not known for such empathy in his treatment of others in his controversial career. Cohen is known as a bully who threatens to ruin anyone who he deems to be a threat or impediment to Trump. A new example of such allegations surfaced this week where a Harvard student said that Cohen threatened to have him expelled from the university over a successful prank orchestrated by the Harvard Lampoon.
My son Aidan ran across this item below on the website for Fairfax schools in signing up for its economics course. Aidan has come face to face with, as he noted, “proof that there really is no free lunch.” He has now learned the first central tenet of economics.
Continue reading “No Such Thing As A Free Lunch? Fairfax County Schools Offer $14 “Free Lunch””
For a number of years, I have been writing about the lack of due process for our students and faculty in cases of alleged sexual harassment or assault in colleges or universities. (For prior columns, click here and here and here). This problem grew far worse under the Obama Administration when Russlynn Ali, then assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, issued a “Dear Colleague” letter that effectively forced schools to strip away basic due process protections from internal proceedings. Various faculties objected, though they were largely ignored by administrators who feared losing federal funds or appearing “soft” on sexual harassment claims. Now, 23 Cornell Law School law professors have signed a letter denouncing such failures in a recent case. Unfortunately, some 41 law professors at Cornell opted not to join in the effort.
There is an interesting controversy in New York where people are irate that Brooklyn Museum selected a distinguished academic as curator over its African art collection. Kristen Windmuller-Luna, 31, holds a Ph.D. in African art history from Princeton University and has been a lecturer at Columbia University and Metropolitan Museum of Art. That is a pretty stellar resume but people are focused on one other aspect about Windmuller-Luna . . . she is white. Rather than respond that it does not select curators or artists on the basis of the race, the Museum issued a pleading response that it is seeking to address the complaints. However, the complaint is that, no matter how qualified Windmuller-Luna may be, she should have been barred due to her race from consideration.
Continue reading “Brooklyn Museum Under Fire For Hiring White Curator For African Art Collection”
Bates College is one of the oldest colleges in New England (and the first to grant a degree to a woman). It has a great legacy and reputation. As is unlikely to surprise many on this blog, one of my favorite things about Bates is its annual AESOP experience, or the Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program. The Outing Club takes first-year students into the gorgeous Maine wilderness for a 4-day, 3-night trip. I was saddened therefore to see an editorial by Justice Geddes in The Bates Student, where he attacked the tradition as an exercise of “white privilege. The article has caused a backlash among conservatives.
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Despite national outcry over the blind application of “zero tolerance” rules, school and police officials continue to throw kids into the criminal justice system without any logic or judgment. The latest example is Zach Cassidento, a high school senior at Amity High Regional School who suspended and arrested after simply posted a picture of his birthday gift — an “Airsoft gun,” on Snapchat. He was not charged but was suspended for a day from school.
We have previously discussed the national trend in colleges and universities to require faculty to use an increasing number of different pronouns for students. Faculty questioning such alternative pronouns have been subject to discipline or condemnation. There is even a move in states like California to criminalize the failure to use alternative pronouns. Now, the women’s college Mount Holyoke has ordered faculty to avoid calling its students “women” since some students may identify as non-genders or different genders.
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