George Washington University is embroiled in a controversy over the posting of a racially insensitive picture on social media. The sorority snapshot picture shows two white Alpha Phi sorority women holding up a peeled banana with the caption “Name: ‘I’m 1/16 black.’” Media however is reporting that neither woman posted the photo, so it is not clear who posted photo or added the quotation. [For full disclosure, I am a full-time law professor at the university].
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We recently discussed the arrest of a 
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The Polish legislature has joined other Western countries in criminalizing free speech, including threatening to jail people who challenge the state-supported view of history. The legislature approved a bill 
There is a disturbing study by the
There remains an intense debate over the legal and ethical implications of former FBI Director James Comey removing FBI memos and leaking the information to the press. Despite serious allegations of unethical conduct, Comey has been chosen to 
Lawrence Lessig, the Roy L. Furman professor of law and leadership at Harvard Law School, offered hope recently for those still in denial over the 2017 presidential election. 
President Donald Trump made a reference in an interview yesterday about his “highest score” on his cognitive testing. He told 
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Just in case your New Year’s resolution has not already put you on the defensive . . . now we are being judged by the chickens. There is an interesting article in National Geographic with some surprising facts about chickens including that chickens favor good looking people over not good looking people. While it is unlikely that the the idea of fat-shaming poultry will get vegans to change their dietary preferences, it does raise the rather provocative idea of looks being a bona fide occupational criteria. Could Perdue join Hooters in looking for good-looking employees? Ok, probably not.
The erosion of free speech in Russia under Vladimir Putin has been an unfolding tragedy for Russia. As is often the case, the loss of freedom of speech often goes hand-in-hand with the loss of academic freedom. However, the arrest of a Russian historian, Yuri Dmitriev, 61, is particularly chilling and raises legitimate comparisons with the Stalinist period. That is fitting given the fact that Dmitriev is being forced into psychiatric testing after writing about the discovery of thousands of bodies from the 1930s — victims of Joe Stalin. Putin has ordered a revisionist history on Stalin to glorify his reign and downplay the millions killed by the bloodsoaked dictator.
Native American students at the University of Denver are demanding that the school drop the “Pioneers” — denouncing the nickname as a symbol of “genocide and oppression.” We previously discussed the controversial decisions to drop the “
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