WELL, YES: Emory student Amelia Sims says calling campaign slogans ‘hate speech’ is a threat to our democracy.

In response to the recent Trump 2016 “chalkening,” the Emory College Republicans chair writes:

Shortly after the incident, several student groups sent out a petition demanding Trump support be recognized as hate speech.

Many see President Wagner’s email as a harmless appeasement of the protesters’ demands. However, one should not underestimate the kind of precedent his response sets.

While the chalkers may have violated some parts of the vague chalking policy, the remedy for these violations is stated to be a clean-up fee, not a conduct hearing.

Additionally, the president’s statements seem to implicitly contradict support of free speech on campus. Conceding to campus loud-mouths is not a way to have respectful dialogue.

“Respectful dialogue” is hardly the aim of today’s campus crybullies.

THE GIPPER WINS ANOTHER ONE.

FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: Why Does the Walt Disney Co. Prefer Communists to Christians?

DEANS MINOW AND TACHA SAY OBAMA HAS A DUTY TO NOMINATE A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, but that’s not what Chief Justice Marshall said. And here’s what Bill Clinton’s Justice Department said: “The Constitution thus calls for three steps before a presidential appointment is complete: first, the President’s submission of a nomination to the Senate; second, the Senate’s advice and consent; third, the President’s appointment of the officer, evidenced by the signing of the commission. All three of these steps are discretionary.”

Thus, says Seth Barrett Tillman: “In short, for over two centuries, the received wisdom—based on the highest legal authorities—has been that the President has no duty to nominate anyone to a vacant office, and the Senate has no duty to consider any of the President’s nominees. Why Deans Minow and Tacha would assert otherwise is a mystery.”

Well, it’s not exactly a mystery. . .

WHY ARE LIBERAL INSTITUTIONS SUCH CESSPITS OF SEXUAL PREDATION? Assistant Professor Sues Columbia For $20 Million, Says Senior Professor Sabotaged Her Work After She Rejected His Sexual Advances. Seriously, though, these charges sound especially sketchy.

ANSWER: BECAUSE HE HAS A PENIS. Why Emily’s List is spending big to defeat a progressive Democrat.

HE’S POPULAR IN THEIR DISTRICTS: House Republican: Many lawmakers supporting Trump ‘quietly.’

“In fact, pretty much on the House floor people know he will be our nominee. With very few exceptions, four or five individuals, everyone’s saying they will support the nominee. [Speaker] Paul Ryan has said that,” he said.r.

Collins said people needed to support Trump to beat Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton in a general election.

“And if it’s Donald Trump, they’re gonna support him, as we all need to do to defeat Hillary Clinton and the progressive liberal campaign.”

My prediction is that if Trump gets the nomination — and he probably will — the GOP will fall behind him because they have no real choice.

TEACH GIRLS NOT TO PINCH: Florida girl, 12, arrested, charged with battery after pinching a boy’s butt.

Twelve-year-old Breana Evans was arrested after pinching a boy’s butt at an Orlando-area middle school and charged with misdemeanor battery for the cheeky attack.

“I regret it because I didn’t know it would lead to this,” Evans told WKMG. “I feel like it’s just stupid — just a stupid charge that shouldn’t have to happen.”

Her victim, a fellow classmate at Milwee Middle School, didn’t want to press charges, but his mother jumped in and told police he wanted the preteen prosecuted for battery.

The boy’s mother ought to be facing charges for abusing a minor.

MORE, PLEASE: Screaming campus garbage babies at USC protest David Horowitz talk by duct-taping mouths shut.

(Classical reference in headline.)

DEEP IN THE RED, CALIFORNIA PENSION FUND PULLS POLITICAL STUNTS.

California’s in the very best of hands…

THE CURSE OF SANTAYANA, THE REVENGE OF KARL MARX: “As you look around at the wreckage that has followed in our footsteps since 1968, you’d do well to research how we got here in the first place,” Michael Walsh writes. His article is a great place to start; read the whole thing.

GREAT MOMENTS IN SECURITY KABUKI: Flight attendant accused of smuggling cocaine through LAX hopped flight to NYC from same airport.

SO THIS PIECE ON SPACE PROPERTY RIGHTS ISN’T BAD, EXACTLY, but it would have benefited from a bit more research. (Via Larry Solum.)

EVERYTHING OBAMA TOUCHES: AAUP Slams Education Dept. and Colleges Over Title IX Enforcement.

Both the U.S. Education Department and college administrators are fighting sexual harassment and assault on campuses in ways that trample faculty members’ rights to academic freedom, due process, and shared governance, the American Association of University Professors argues in a draft report released on Thursday.

Moreover, the report warns, colleges’ current focus on eliminating sexual harassment may be contributing to other campus inequities, and may actually be hindering broader efforts to fight sexual discrimination under the gender-equity law known as Title IX.

The report says “the singular focus on sexual harassment has overshadowed issues of unequal pay, access, and representation throughout the university system.” It raises concern that Title IX enforcement could “perpetuate race-based biases in the criminal-justice system, which disproportionately affect men who are racial minorities.”

Gee, if they’d been reading InstaPundit they’d have known this years ago. Ashe Schow has much more.

HILLARY IGNORED MANDATORY ANNUAL CLASSIFIED INFO SECURITY UPDATE BRIEFINGS: She sat for one – on her first day as Secretary of State – then ignored them for the rest of her tenure at Foggy Bottom, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group’s Richard Pollock. TheDCNF and Pollock had to take the State Department to federal court to force release of the documents involved.

A former very senior State Department executive with direct knowledge of State Department classified information security protocols was astonished, according to Pollock, saying  “If there is only one instance of her being briefed and nothing for the next four years, then I would consider that to be a lapse in security protocol, even at that level. Even the secretary needs to be reminded from time to time.”

Late Thursday, State Department spokesman  Mark Toner confirmed that all State Department employees are required to take cyber-security training. The lone certificate that Hillary had the briefing on her first day was the only evidence of her being informed about the growing threats to the security of classified secrets. Those threats evolve continually, which is why the mandatory updates are done every year. She missed them.

BBC: Trump vs. Hillary is about class war.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: The science of dating: Opposites DON’T attract, appearance DOES matter and playing hard to get NEVER works, says psychologist.

LIFE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: This $99 device transforms any smartphone into a 3D printer.

SURE IT WOULD BE BAD FOR THE COUNTRY, BUT IT GIVES DEMOCRATS A TALKING POINT: Australia’s Gun ‘Buyback’ Created a Violent Firearms Black Market. Why Should the U.S. Do the Same?

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MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Bill Clinton’s inadvertent truth: From San Bernardino to Brussels, we’re seeing the ‘awful legacy’ of Obama’s presidency.

HEY, MAYBE NOTORIOUS ROBOPHOBE MATTHEW YGLESIAS IS RIGHT: Microsoft deletes ‘teen girl’ AI after it became a Hitler-loving sex robot within 24 hours.

UPDATE: Of course, Yglesias might not mind that:

HEH: Feminist picnic falls apart after no-one makes any sandwiches. “‘I brought a communal picnic hamper for us to all throw in the food we’d brought. I was expecting the usual picnic fare: sandwiches, crisps, a nice fruit salad, and so on – but no-one else brought a single thing. Not so much as a sausage. I was even more furious about my lot in life than usual. I ended up storming off and shame eating three Big Macs from the nearest McDonalds. I’m a vegetarian so it was particularly galling for me to have to do that,’ said picnic organiser Rachel Queen.”

I READ THIS POLICY AS AN INDICATION THAT NORTH CAROLINA IS SHORT OF FUNDS: NC Highway Patrol Will Now Ticket People Going 1 MPH Over Limit. It’s basically just a tax, applied to randomly selected motorists. But then, that’s true of virtually all traffic fines.

FLASHBACK: Biden Also Gave ‘Biden Rule’ Speech in 2005; Reid, Podesta Were All For It.