I SAY, PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: “The problem with free speech is that it’s hard, and self-censorship is the path of least resistance.”

NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY: Facts matter: Left sticks to ‘narratives,’ evidence be damned. That does seem to be the theme lately, from Zimmerman to Ferguson to UVA to Memories Pizza to the Hugo Awards. Of course, all of those “narratives” have blown up on them. . . .

DISRESPECT WAS EXACTLY THE RIGHT ATTITUDE WHEN FORCED TO ATTEND A POINTLESS, MAN-HATING POLITICAL EVENT: VT players accused of disrespect at sexual assault support event.

Members of the Virginia Tech football team have been accused of acting disrespectfully at a campus sexual assault awareness event.

Players were required to attend a Take Back the Night event on March 26. The event was organized by a campus female activism group and featured sexual assault survivors speaking about their experiences as victims. Multiple attendees accused the players of infringing upon the “safe space” the event is intended to foster, according to The Roanoke Times.

Take Back the Night is a national organization that seeks “to end sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual abuse and all other forms of sexual violence.”

Several attendees wrote letters to the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, complaining about the players’ behavior. The players arrived late, said they did not know why they were attending the event and spent much of the time looking at their phones, the letters said.

“[T]heir judgmental remarks made it very hard to feel safe,” one wrote. “When survivors took the stage, there was nothing respectful in the way the football team took it, especially in reference to transgender survivors. I am deeply offended and horrified by the disrespectful nature that the players displayed.”

Honey, you’re a caricature. Your pointless, politicized event got all the respect it deserved, and then some. Generally speaking, captive audiences aren’t especially appreciative. More here: “Womanspace at Virginia Tech, a campus organization for feminist activism, has coordinated the event at Tech for 26 years, with this year’s version featuring speakers from the transgender community as well as survivors of sexual assault.”

UPDATE: From the comments: “I was born and raised in Cuba. I have certain memories of staged rallies.”

ROGER SIMON: Munich, Anyone? Obama’s Iran Agreement in Translation.

SCIENCE: How Safe Are Hot Plates And Warming Trays?

SO ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY PUBLISHES A NASTY HIT JOB — Larry Correia Fisks it here — and without contacting any of the people it attacks, and then after publication, the author, Isabella Biedenharn, invites Larry to give the other side. After publication. What, did she come to Entertainment Weekly from Rolling Stone or something?

Correia responds with typical reticence: “You went to press with a bunch of asinine, obvious lies, and you’re happy to include my side AFTER YOU LIED?”

UPDATE: See, this is why you punch back twice as hard: Entertainment Weekly retracts claim of ‘misogynistic, racist’ Hugo Awards voting campaign.

CORRECTION: After misinterpreting reports in other news publications, EW published an unfair and inaccurate depiction of the Sad Puppies voting slate, which does, in fact, include many women and writers of color. As Sad Puppies’ Brad Torgerson explained to EW, the slate includes both women and non-caucasian writers, including Rajnar Vajra, Larry Correia, Annie Bellet, Kary English, Toni Weisskopf, Ann Sowards, Megan Gray, Sheila Gilbert, Jennifer Brozek, Cedar Sanderson, and Amanda Green.

This story has been updated to more accurately reflect this. EW regrets the error.

Bottom line: Entertainment Weekly listened to some Social Justice Warrior types, made the mistake of believing them, and humiliated itself. Here’s the corrected version. Props to Entertainment Weekly for correcting so swiftly and prominently.

UNHAPPY WITH ANGIE’S LIST? Amazon Home Services will be taking over.

AT AMAZON, deals galore at the Spring Outlet Event.

Also, big savings in Patio, Lawn & Garden.

FUNNY, THE POLITICAL CLASS SEEMS TO FEEL VERY MUCH THE OTHER WAY: Poll: Yes to more aggressive deportations, no to welfare, citizenship for kids of illegals. “Despite President Obama’s efforts to cool the nation’s views on illegal immigrants storming over the U.S.-Mexico border, Americans have reached a new level of anger over the issue, with most demanding a more aggressive deportation policy — and reversal of a law that grants citizenship to kids of illegals born in the U.S. A new Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday also finds Americans questioning spending tax dollars on government aid provided to illegal immigrants. A huge 83 percent said that anybody should be required to prove that they are ‘legally allowed’ to be in the country before receiving local, state or federal government services.”

JAZZ SHAW: The Rolling Stone rape hoax story pulls back the curtain on narrative journalism.

ED DRISCOLL: From Watergate To The Pizza Wars. “The lamps are indeed going out all over the world.”

RETALIATION: Barry University suspends Project Veritas student journalist. Video — deeply embarrassing for Barry University — at the link. More here.

TWEET OF THE DAY: We still know more about a rape that never happened at UVA than Obama’s college years.

ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS: Pope Calls on World to Defend Modern Christian Martyrs.

FASTER, PLEASE: A Perfume That Makes You Smell Better The More You Sweat.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Tuitions Being Slashed:

Small- and medium-sized private universities have been slashing tuition for all students in an effort to reverse sliding enrollment numbers. And while these schools are not as prestigious as Stanford, their willingness to cut prices could signal a shift in the cost of higher education.

Nearly a dozen private colleges reduced tuition for the current academic year. Southern Virginia University, for instance, cut tuition and fees 23 percent from $18,900 to $14,600 a year, while Converse College in South Carolina brought down its prices by 43 percent to $16,500 a year.

All is proceeding as I have foreseen.

NICK ROSENKRANZ: “Now that a federal judge has enjoined President Obama’s unilateral amnesty, immigration reform will have to be achieved the old-fashioned – and constitutional – way: by compromise with Congress.”

SOLYNDRA II: 75,000 Solar Workers to Be Trained Under New Federal Program.

AT AMAZON, big savings on Spring Cleaning gear and supplies.

Also, get money back with Amazon Trade-In.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Freezing my eggs restored my sanity. “I was 30, single and working as the wedding reporter for The Washington Post. A few months earlier I’d gone through a breakup on the same day I was hired for this most amorous of newspaper beats. It was a perfect cliche-and-Chardonnay-filled storm.”

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Prudie counsels a black woman who can’t connect with her white boyfriend on matters of race.

WHEN ACADEMIC JOURNALS FIGHT: “A psychiatry journal, the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (JNMD), has just published a remarkable attack on another journal, Frontiers in Psychology. . . . The back-story here is that a group of researchers wrote a letter to JNMD alleging several errors in a 2014 paper about psychotherapy for psychosis. One of the authors of the letter was psychologist Daniël Lakens, and these authors cited one of Lakens’ papers from 2013, which appeared in Frontiers in Psychology. Now the Statistics Editor of the JNMD seems to be implying that Lakens effectively bought off the peer reviewers, and that this is why his paper was accepted.”

READER BOOK PLUG, From William Stroock, Israel Strikes: War of the Red Sea.

HEALTH: Maternal exercise, at any age, reduces the risk of heart defects in offspring.

NOT EXACTLY A SHOCKER: Fraternity pursuing legal action against Rolling Stone. “The fraternity at the center of a now-discredited Rolling Stone rape article says the story was defamatory and reckless and they are pursuing legal action against the magazine. Phi Kappa Psi said Monday in a statement that the article was viewed by millions, led to members being ostracized and there was vandalism of the fraternity house. The fraternity’s statement came as the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism released a report, saying the magazine’s shortcomings ‘encompassed reporting, editing, editorial supervision and fact-checking.'”

But note the pro-Obama spin from the AP at the end: “Nonetheless, the article heightened scrutiny of campus sexual assaults amid a campaign by President Barack Obama. The University of Virginia had already been on the Department of Education’s list of 55 colleges under investigation for their handling of sex assault violations.”

Note that the CJR report shows that “activist” Emily Renda, who served at both the White House and the UVA President’s office, was the instigator here. Instead of giving this the “nonetheless” treatment, how about asking some tough questions? You know, journalism?