The word disingenuous gives a gloss of intellectualism to what is referred to using a more vulgar word by those of us who aren’t members of the intellectual class. Bullshit.

As members of the Higher Education Council of San Antonio, we — the presidents of colleges and universities throughout this community, and supporters — feel it is important to speak out and make a distinction between diversity of thought and disingenuous misrepresentation of free speech. We further attest that hate speech has no place at our colleges and universities. Inappropriate messages, such as banners and flyers that are meant to provoke, spread hate or create animosity and hostility, are not welcome or accepted.

Aside from his redundancy issues, Northwest Vista College president Ric Baser‘s op-ed is, of course, bullshit. And this isn’t just Baser, but a position endorsed by some serious folks. Continue reading →

Fetus? The notion that Trump’s Health and Human Services department could dictate to the Centers for Disease Control that it was banned from using the word “fetus” was beyond outrageous. It was absurd.

The [Washington Post] article said that C.D.C. policy analysts were told of the forbidden words and phrases at a meeting on Thursday with senior officials who oversee the agency’s budget. Other words included “entitlement,” “diversity” and “evidence-based.”

In some cases, The Post reported, alternative phrases were suggested. Instead of “science-based,” or “evidence-based,” The Post reported, “the suggested phrase is ‘C.D.C. bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes.’’’

Unnamed sources, confirmed with other unnamed sources, named the list of banned words: Continue reading →

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is home to a unique monument called “the Rock.” Tradition holds that anyone can paint any message they like on the boulder. That tradition died Thursday when someone offended a student with their message.

Aleah Vassell noticed someone painted the Rock with the words “White Pride” and immediately told a classmate, McKinley Merritt. Ms. Merritt saw the offensive painting, took a picture of it, and twitted it to the University of Tennessee’s main account.

@UTKnoxville this was seen on the rock approx 30 minutes ago and is not okay.

Fortunately an adult with reason and a grasp of what “free speech” means saw the twit and responded with a perfectly logical, even handed message. Continue reading →

It’s all because of “toxic masculinity”? Tell that to Kansas Democrat Andrea Ramsey.

Democrat Andrea Ramsey dropped out of the race to take on Kansas GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder, after sexual harassment allegations surfaced against her — and, she claimed, national Democrats abandoned her campaign.

Ramsey announced she was pulling out of the race Friday, in a lengthy statement denying that she engaged in any harassment or retaliation against a former colleague.

Wait, what? A woman? A Democrat? Sexual harassment? That’s not supposed to happen. And yet, it did. Continue reading →

When a lawyer goes on a road trip from his home jurisdiction, he quickly learns that they do things differently elsewhere. Maybe just a little. Maybe a lot. But there’s almost always some local quirk. It may be the format used in papers. It may be special words. Whatever it is, it pays to know the distinctions.

With that in mind, a question was posed as to which state appellate courts used the word “plenary” as opposed to “de novo.” Both express pretty much the same thing, that the standard of review by the court would be anew, as if for the first time, without deference to the court below. This is a very big deal when it comes to appeals. It can spell the difference between success and failure.

But does a non-lawyer appreciate the significance of the standard of review? Does he even know what it means? Continue reading →

It’s hard, if not impossible, to explain the levels of quirkiness of living groups at MIT, but Wired does a surprisingly good job of it.

This was Senior House, the oldest dormitory on campus, built in 1916 by the architect William Welles Bosworth. For 101 years it welcomed freshman and returning students. Since the ’60s it was a proudly anarchic community of creative misfits and self-described outcasts—the special kind of brilliant oddballs who couldn’t or didn’t want to fit in with the mainstream eggheads at MIT. Some did drugs and dropped out. Some did drugs and graduated. Others were proudly “straight edge,” eschewing drugs and regarding their bodies and minds as pristine temples. Many went on to create startups, join huge tech firms, and change the technological world as we know it.

Senior House was the gravitational center of alternative culture at MIT, characterized by extremes. For example, since 1963 its courtyard was the site for an annual Dionysian festival that began with a whole steer being hauled atop a pit and roasted on an open flame. The bacchanal ended three days later when there was no more mud left to wrestle in or drinks to gulp. By the time the third dawn came, friendships had been forged, tire swings had been swung, meat had been devoured, some drugs had probably been snorted or smoked, jobs had been offered, and lives had been changed.

Continue reading →

Almost everyone is familiar with the aphorism, “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” I suspect vinegar manufacturers mutter to themselves at night, “what kind of idiot wants to spend his life catching flies,” but that’s besides the point. Everyone on the interwebz loves validation, so they will flock to those who either say nice things about them or, at minimum, confirm their bias.

And the people who do so, pander to their team, enjoy the love and support of others. It’s all nice, and reflected in their twitter followers, their likes, their supportive engagement.

So what’s my problem? Continue reading →

In a comment to my last post on what to do about Judge Alex Kozinski, with particular emphasis on calls from academia for his immediate impeachment and removal from the bench, Judge Richard Kopf provided an overview of previous judicial impeachments.

Judge Kopf concluded that, bad as the allegations then-known about Judge Kozinski may be, they did not rise to the level of misconduct reflected in the other judges who had been removed following impeachment. Mind you, there are also judges who prevailed after impeachment, including Wild Bill Douglas who was twice targeted for impeachment.

Unsurprisingly, this caught the attention of UC/Irvine lawprof Rick Hasen, who has been something of a stalker of Judge Kopf’s over the years. Continue reading →

Chief Judge Sidney Thomas has announced that a formal inquiry has been initiated into allegations of misconduct by Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski.

“In the past, when incidents of alleged misconduct have been reported in an accredited media publication, we have identified a complaint and initiated an inquiry,” wrote Chief Judge Sidney Thomas in an order issued Thursday afternoon.

The order indicated that Thomas was initiating a complaint himself based on a Dec. 8 report from The Washington Post that reported that six former clerks or externs at the court accused Kozinski of asking them to view pornography or subjected them to inappropriate comments. More women have since come forward with similar allegations.

C.J. Thomas has asked Chief Justice Roberts to transfer the complaint to another circuit “to ensure confidence in the impartiality” of the inquiry. This is both huge and proper. A wealth of allegations have been made, raising grave questions as to Judge Kozinski’s behavior, judgment and “handling” of the power and authority he wielded. Continue reading →

With a few minor shifts of the narrative, he might have been the hero of a sad story at the top of a deep dive into what it’s like to be fat, gay and alone in a place not known for its tolerance of these attributes. You would have cried, gushed, emoted for his welfare.

Instead, he’s a filthy pedophile who should be pilloried before prison, followed by a life of ostracism and disgust. Woke is such an ephemeral thing.

A 22-year-old college student at Ohio’s Youngstown State University was arrested after falling for a fictional 15-year-old boy created by local cops.

Austintown police officers used a phony dating-app profile for someone purporting to be an adult to lure in the student earlier this month. After chatting, the catfish “revealed” he was 15 years old. The college student, A.G. (not his full name), indicated he didn’t have a problem with his age. The conversation eventually turned sexual and A.G. sent the faux boy some nude photos of himself.

Continue reading →