THAT’S NICE. TURNING TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM WOULD BE BETTER. Ashe Schow: Colleges turning to retired judges to adjudicate campus sexual assault.

Colleges and universities are increasingly looking to outside judges to help adjudicate accusations of campus sexual assault.

Under pressure from the Obama administration, schools in recent years have been adjudicating accusations of sexual assault. The results have been a disaster.

First, accusers insisted that the process was rigged against them, and that facing the accused was too traumatic. So the Department of Education mandated the “preponderance of evidence” standard and “strongly discouraged” schools from allowing cross-examination. It also provided no due process rights to accused students.

This, along with threats of lost funding, encouraged schools to expel more accused students based on nothing more than accusations. Accused and expelled students began fighting back. But they didn’t get the support and media attention accusers enjoyed.

Still, schools have begun to realize that severely altering a student’s future — by labeling him a “rapist” for life and hampering his future potential earnings — might need more than a “better safe than sorry” conclusion reached without due process.

“But that’s beginning to change at some colleges, where outside judges — typically retired state judges — are being hired to oversee hearings,” wrote Inside Higher Ed’s Jake New. “The hearings are still held under college rules, not state rules for courts.”

I welcome any attempt to make the hearings and investigations more fair. Outside adjudicators are a good start, as they are less likely to think of only the college’s interest. Given the current culture surrounding sexual assault, it’s in a college’s best interest to expel regardless of the evidence. Although, if the outside adjudicators are being paid by the university, that could compromise their integrity.

Of course, those who prefer to expel students based solely on the unsworn word of an accuser oppose outside adjudicators. Their main concern seems to be that a process that is too much like the criminal justice system (i.e., too fair and thorough) won’t result in more expulsions.

My advice to male students: Instead of being expelled, just don’t enroll.

ARE RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS REALLY A BIGGER THREAT THAN JIHADIS? The NYT says yes. After looking at its evidence, Megan McArdle isn’t so sure.

THAT’S NO STRATEGY. THAT’S A LIST. “Much of what passes for ‘big picture’ thinking in the White House is purely reactionary.”

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): A female teacher ‘seducing’ a boy isn’t just a laugh – it’s cruel abuse, says Rachel Johnson.

WEAPONIZING THE FEDS AGAINST GUN OWNERS AND TEA PARTIERS: Bill Would Create New Homeland Security Office for ‘Countering Violent Extremism.’

First, we don’t need new offices in Homeland Security. We need to get rid of that bureaucratic abomination, which has turned out to be even worse than I predicted when it was created. Second, the author of this stupid bill is Texas Republican Michael McCaul, who foolishly thinks this office will get the feds to go after jihadis. But all evidence suggests that the homeland security apparat views Americans peacefully supporting their constitutional rights as a bigger threat than jihadis.

WHAT HATH JOHN ROBERTS WROUGHT? Supreme Court’s Negatives Jump to All-Time High. “Negative views of the U.S. Supreme Court are at their highest level in nearly nine years of regular surveying. But positive opinions are also up to a less dramatic three-year high.” Roberts has pursued popularity with the punditocracy, so this breakdown makes sense.

I’M BEGINNING TO THINK THAT OBAMA DOESN’T REALLY MIND ISIS AT ALL: US blocks attempts by Arab allies to fly heavy weapons directly to Kurds to fight Islamic State. “The US has also infuriated its allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf states, by what they perceive to be a lack of clear purpose and vacillation in how they conduct the bombing campaign. Other members of the coalition say they have identified clear Isil targets but then been blocked by US veto from firing at them.”

ROBERT VERBRUGGEN: The Justice Department’s Hidden Race Data.

Back in 2010, Ron Unz of The American Conservative set off a debate by arguing that Hispanics didn’t have higher crime rates than non-Hispanic whites, and therefore crime shouldn’t be a concern when it comes to immigration from Latin America. He had to argue this using a variety of roundabout calculations and obscure data sources, however, because good, national data weren’t readily available.

For example, the federal government’s National Crime Victimization Survey, which asks people about their experiences with crime, didn’t allow interviewees to identify their attackers as “Hispanic.” And the racial and ethnic offender breakdowns stopped being published in routine reports after 2008, though the raw numbers were still available in the full data sets.

It turns out the Justice Department has been holding out on us. It fixed the way it asked about offenders’ races, but this went unnoticed because the data were no longer publicized.

Here’s the chart:

Read the whole thing.

MARK STEYN ON “GOING WITH THE FLOW:”

I don’t want to wind up with a choice between the twin totalitarianisms of soulless state-regulated hyper-sexualized semi-tyranny and sharia — because, if that’s what it comes down to, I know who’ll win. But conservatives have spent the supposed “end of history” winning a zillion elections, and losing everything that matters. To most of the so-called millennials, conservatism is entirely invisible except as a Jon Stewart punchline — and that invisibility was largely our choice. Instead of launching another radio show or news aggregator or think-tank, never mind obsessing over whether Jeb or Jindal or Christie will play better in Iowa, we need to make like the Islamic mullahs and the sex mullahs and start competing for the space where people actually live.

Read the whole thing.

GOOD FOR HIM: Ex-CNNer Lynne Russell’s husband kills robber in wild motel shootout. “De Caro was shot twice in the abdomen and once in the leg — but managed to kill the gunman with his return fire. The intruder fled the motel room and collapsed in the parking lot, where cops later found him.”

Related: Famous Ex-CNN Anchor Says Her Husband Is Her ‘Hero’ After He Takes Out Armed Robber With Several Well-Placed Bullets.

THEY DON’T CALL IT the “unexpected martial art” for nothing. 95-year-old veteran fights off would-be robber with cane.

READER DAVID MONTGOMERY WRITES:

With regard to the abusive Chisholm investigation, the GOP isn’t exactly powerless. It controls all three branches of Wisconsin government.

Where is the investigation by the legislature? Subpoenas to all of the people on Chisolm’s team? Televised hearings!

The GOP could hit back really really hard if it wanted to.

At the end of the day, power belongs to those with the guts to use it. Obama completely gets this.

The GOP needs to wise up.

I agree. Punch back twice as hard.

ACE: Bill DiBlasio Vs. Mike Flynn on Freedom and Humility in Government.

MARK RIPPETOE: Deconstructing the Deadlift: A Deep Analysis of Proper Deadlift Mechanics.

FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT, ANCHORWOMAN SURVIVE MOTEL GUNFIGHT:

[Former CNN-Headline News anchorwomen] Lynne Russell told Action 7 News she and her husband were robbed at gunpoint at the Motel 6 near Coors and Iliff around 11:30 p.m.

Her husband, Chuck de Caro, worked as a correspondent for CNN as well.

Russell said they were exhausted Tuesday night and decided to go to a motel to rest. She went out to the car to get something when a man put a gun to her head, dragged her back into the motel room and demanded her valuables.

Her husband grabbed his gun and the two exchanged gunfire. Russell said the suspect fired first.

Police said both men fired multiple rounds.

Russell said her husband was hit three times. He underwent surgery at University of New Mexico Hospital and is expected to recover.

Officers found the other man in the parking lot. He died at the hospital.

A former CNN correspondent who was armed? Piers Morgan could not be reached for comment. (On the other hand, I don’t recall Russell or her husband being all that vocal during Morgan’s nightly screeds railing against the Constitution.)

PROGRESS: IF IT’S RACISM, IT’S PROBABLY FAKE RACISM: Black Man Arrested For Posting KKK Signs Outside Black Church.

FASTER, PLEASE: Blood Test IDs Pancreatic Cancer in 250 of 250 Patients.

DON’T TURN AROUND — DER KOMMISSAR’S IN TOWN: De Blasio: We’re Reviewing Trump’s NYC Contracts over ‘Disgusting’ Comments. Freedom of speech is like a bus — when you reach your station, you get off.