ASHE SCHOW: ‘Safe spaces’ have become about exclusion, not free expression.

Over at the Washington Post, Brown University President Christina Paxson argues that safe spaces are about free expression, not its exclusion.

She’s not entirely wrong, and as she points out, there have essentially become two types of safe spaces on college campuses in recent years. One is perfectly acceptable — groups of students with similar interests or backgrounds joining together to share experiences and ideas. These are otherwise known as friend groups.

The other is clearly designed to excude, and that’s the kind that turns adult students into toddlers. Paxson noted one such instance of this, and tried to make it seem like it doesn’t happen often. The incident Paxson described occurred at Brown University several years ago, and included a room with “cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies, as well as students and staff members trained to deal with trauma.”

The reason such a room was necessary for these students was because Wendy McElroy was speaking during a debate and suggesting that the “rape culture” narrative permeating colleges and universities across the country is not accurate. Students so wrapped up in this narrative regressed to children and needed a room similar to what would be found at a preschool.

Paxson described this room “as a resource to support survivors of sexual assault.” Even in that context, it was crummy. Does this mean Brown thinks survivors of sexual assault are no longer adults? That once a sexual assault has occurred, a victim can never — or should never — move on with their life?

They’ll turn us all into childlike victims ’cause they’re easier to please.

GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Even Worse Than Hillary Clinton’s Emails — The civil service was missing in action.

The most disturbing aspect about the FBI dump may not be fresh evidence of another Clinton lie. The most disturbing thing about Mrs. Clinton’s continuing email drama may be where she’s telling the truth.

Or at least a half-truth. Mrs. Clinton told the FBI it was “common knowledge” at State that she used private email. Agents further quote her as saying she “could not recall anyone raising concerns with her regarding the sensitivity of the information she received at her email address.”

However unseemly the cashing in of the Clinton family, whatever the trampling of the ethics accord the Clinton Foundation had signed with the White House, even apart from the walking conflicts-of-interests that were Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, the much larger stink here is this: Mrs. Clinton was allowed to spend her four years as secretary of state off the grid.

Clinton’s sense of entitlement comes from her virtual entitlement.

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Cal State LA offers segregated housing for black students.

Yes, the housing will be separate — but I’m sure it will be entirely equal, as well.

DISPATCHES FROM THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE: Oberlin President Marvin Krislov To Step Down — Krislov’s resignation will take effect at the end of this academic year, and follows a tumultuous year of protest and anti-Semitism scandals on campus.

SEMI-RETIRED PRESIDENT TALKS ABOUT HIS RETIREMENT: Obama Hints at Post-Presidency Plans During Laos Visit.

Continuing his historic trip to Laos, where he’s the first American president to visit, Obama shed new light on his agenda after he leaves office, discussing some of the goals of his presidential center, as well as future work for first lady Michelle Obama.

“In my own work as an ex-president I’m hoping to continue working with young people through my presidential center,” Obama said during a Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative town hall meeting at Souphanouvong University in Luang Prabang, Laos. “And so one of the components I’ve discussed with my team is how I can continue to interact with the YSEALI alumni and we can share ideas and I can continue to meet with you and we can work on projects together.”

You can be sure that no matter what the Obamas decide to do after they leave the White House, it will prove highly lucrative.

SAFE SPACE CENSORSHIP: Banned From Campus: Northwestern orders professor to stay away. She says she is being punished for her activism. Some professors defend university, saying she made them fear for safety.

Northwestern University has banned a full professor from campus, saying that her presence could raise safety concerns for some of her colleagues. The professor in question — Jacqueline Stevens, a political scientist — is an outspoken critic of the university’s leaders and some of her colleagues.

Last week, Stevens created a website on which she charged that she is being punished unfairly, in retaliation for her political views and campus activism. The website quickly attracted interest from many academics nationwide, and they posted numerous criticisms of Northwestern to social media.

But some professors in Stevens’s department at Northwestern say the university needed to act, and that they feared for their safety. They say that Stevens’s politics and activism are irrelevant to what is going on and that it is Stevens who is denying faculty rights (those of her colleagues).

I’d like to know exactly what sort of threat to their “safety” they think she poses. On the other hand, it’s a case of the biter, bit:

The website also notes that Stevens was among the faculty members who led opposition to the appointment of Karl Eikenberry, a retired Army general teaching at Stanford University, to lead a new global studies institute at Northwestern. Stevens and other faculty critics questioned Eikenberry’s military ties and lack of a Ph.D. The Faculty Senate backed the appointment. But amid vocal criticism from some faculty members, students and others, Eikenberry withdrew. In a long feature article on the controversy, The Washington Post called Eikenberry’s withdrawal “a significant embarrassment” for Northwestern.

Northwestern has had one embarrassment after another lately. Look at their treatment of Laura Kipnis. And Alice Dreger. Hmm. Maybe it’s a hostile environment for women scholars?

I’M SURE IT’S NOTHING, JUST ONE OF THOSE QUAINT MIGRANT CUSTOMS: Gas tanks found in unmarked car by Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral spark terror fears.

“Several people” are being held in Paris after police found an unmarked car containing gas cylinders next to Notre Dame cathedral, according to French reports, sparking fears of a fresh terrorist plot.

An anti-terror investigation has been launched following the discovery of the suspicious vehicle containing seven gas cylinders on Sunday yards from the cathedral, one of Paris’ most visited landmarks where thousands of tourists congregate every day.

Between this and the strikes, French tourism is taking a big hit.

ELAN KRIEGEL, HILLARY CLINTON’S INVISIBLE GUIDING HAND: Meet the little-known, highly paid statistician masterminding the Democratic candidate’s campaign strategy.

When Clinton operatives talk about their “data-based” campaign, it’s invariably Kriegel’s data, and perhaps more importantly his models interpreting that data, they are talking about. It was an algorithm from Kriegel’s shop — unreported until now — that determined, after the opening states, where almost every dollar of Clinton’s more than $60 million in television ads was spent during the primary.

The tool bypassed the expertise and instincts of her traditional media buyers by calculating the “cost per flippable delegate,” in the words of one senior Clinton official, and then spat out what states, television markets, networks and shows to buy. Obama veterans were wowed by its advancement; internally, some Clintonites saw it as their secret weapon in building an insurmountable delegate lead over Bernie Sanders.

Now, with Donald Trump investing virtually nothing in data analytics during the primary and little since, Kriegel’s work isn’t just powering Clinton’s campaign, it is providing her a crucial tactical advantage in the campaign’s final stretch. It’s one of the reasons her team is confident that, even if the race tightens as November approaches, they hold a distinctive edge. As millions of phone calls are made, doors knocked and ads aired in the next nine weeks, it is far likelier the Democratic voter contacts will reach the best and most receptive audiences than the Republican ones.

If Big Data can propel a weak candidate with an aversion to truthfulness like Hillary Clinton to victory, then it has already become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

TOO GOOD TO CHECK: Now the burka is banned… by ISIS! Terror group outlaws the Islamic garb from their buildings because they are a security risk.

Nice of ISIS to make everybody else’s burka bans much more palatable.

BUT OF COURSE: Obama’s Pivot to Asia Fails to Deter China.

All of this is to say that despite the patient work the Obama administration has done in building Asian alliances, it has yet to turn this diplomacy into a policy that actually deters China. This point was driven home during the G20 summit, when Chinese boats were spotted at Scarborough Shoal, another waterway claimed by the Philippines where the U.S. has warned China not to stake out more artificial islands.

There are many reasons China has not been deterred, but one of them is likely that Xi took the measure of Obama when he shirked his own “red line” in Syria back in 2013 after evidence showed the Bashar al-Assad regime had gassed its own people.

Obama speaks loudly and carries no stick.

There’s more discussion of the President’s bogus journey at BillWhittle.com.

FROM JOHN HINDERAKER, AN EXPERIMENT: How Left-Wing Is Facebook?

GANGSTER GOVERNMENT: Judge gives State until after election to release some Clinton docs.

A federal judge on Tuesday gave the State Department until February 2017 to release the full 1,600-page file of records about official events during Hillary Clinton’s tenure, assuring that the full batch is not public by Election Day.

Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia declared that the State Department will have to release at least 300 pages of the records per month to the Republican National Committee (RNC), which has sued the Obama administration over the materials.

The order is nonetheless a setback for the RNC, which had pleaded with the court in August for the entire slate of records to be made public well before the November election.

“The RNC believes that State should produce all the responsive documents no later than October 15, 2016,” it said in an August court filing.

At issue are details about official functions held in the State Department’s ornate Diplomatic Reception Room during the time that Clinton was secretary of State, including guest lists.

The RNC had filed a lawsuit seeking the information under the Freedom of Information Act, presumably to see whether a disproportionate number of non-governmental associates of Clinton’s were invited to the events.

I’m beginning to lose faith in the independence of the judiciary.

WELL, IT IS TEAM USA: Team USA Hockey Coach Will Bench Any Player Protesting the National Anthem.

ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE “SUMMER OF HATE:” “And so many of those salvos were about how hateful Trump supposedly was. I hate hate, but I heard a lot more hate against Trump than from him.”

WE’RE ALL TERROR-SPONSORING STATES NOW: U.S. Transferred $1.3 Billion More in Cash to Iran After Initial Payment.

The cash payments—made in Swiss francs, euros and other currencies—settled a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal dating back to 1979. U.S. officials have acknowledged the payment of the first $400 million coincided with Iran’s release of American prisoners and was used as leverage to ensure they were flown out of Tehran’s Mehrabad on the morning of Jan. 17.

The revelations come as Congress returns from a summer recess with Republicans vowing to pursue charges that the White House paid ransom to Tehran, a charge President Barack Obama has repeatedly rejected. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would bar such payments to Iran in the future and seeks to reclaim the $1.7 billion for victims of Iranian-backed terrorism.

The arms deal “failed” because the government we had signed it with ceased to exist, toppled by the Ayatollah Khomeini — whose supporters attacked the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

IT’S COME TO THIS: The Flight 93 Election.

OF COURSE SHE DID: Clinton Turned Away High-Level Chinese Defector to Assist Beijing Leaders.

THE PROBLEMS OF PEOPLE WITH NO PROBLEMS: Cats are bird killers. These animal experts let theirs outside anyway.

BUT IT’S NOT EVEN GOOD KABUKI: Clinton’s campaign manager kept blacklist of potential hires.

OH, OF COURSE HE DID: Clinton’s campaign manager kept blacklist of potential hires.

WHO KNEW GRESHAM’S LAW APPLIED TO HEALTH CARE? New York’s ObamaCare death spiral.

AND SPEAKING OF AWARDS AND CULTURE WARS: Who are these puppy kickers?

LONG LIVE THE DRAGON: Dragon Award Update.

DIRT WORK, AND THEY’RE NOT DIRT CHEAP: A look into the teachers union ties with EpiPen.

BAD WEATHER OVER CANAL CUTS OFF CONTINENT: Brexit ‘shock’ threatens to do far more damage to the European economy than to Britain.