Archive for 2016

SOCOM’S ARMORED SUVS: “The military calls these armored vehicles NSCVs (Non Standard Commercial Vehicles).”

THE COWRA BREAKOUT: Aussies still talk about the mass escape attempt by Japanese prisoners. 2:00 AM, August 5, 1944.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Tougher Bar-Passage Standard For Law Schools Sparks Objections.

Bar-exam passage rates and racial diversity are two flashpoints in the legal industry. The two are now bumping against each other as the legal establishment weighs a proposal to tighten law school accrediting standards. …

The ABA is considering a plan that would require 75% of a law school’s graduates who sit for a bar exam to pass the test within two years. The proposal has been floated amid a perplexing trend of declining bar exam scores nationwide and increasing attention on the racial make-up of the profession.

A number of law school deans and the largest nationwide black law student association are objecting to the proposed standard, expressing concern about its potential impact on schools with larger minority student populations.

Related: Raising The Stakes In The Fight Over The LSAT:

The LSAT may not be the rite of passage all lawyers share much longer, but LSAC, the organization that administers the exam, is not going to take that lying down.

You may recall Arizona Law has decided to accept the GRE in lieu of the LSAT. They claim it is a move designed to increase diversity, but some see increasing the school’s applicants as another nifty benefit. While most schools aren’t ready to make the move to the GRE just yet, the LSAT’s dominance may be in jeopardy. The first move LSAC made to stem the tide was to threaten to take away Arizona Law’s membership (and the application data that comes with it), but that move was wildly unpopular with law school deans, and LSAC backed off.

Now LSAC has announced another ramification of moving away from the LSAT.

In a letter sent to admissions professionals at all law schools yesterday, LSAC announced it intends to stop certifying matriculant admissions data. Amid concerns about the accuracy of law school admissions data, beginning in 2011, LSAC began certifying the accuracy of the data (i.e., average LSAT scores). Now LSAC intends to stop that.

What law schools want is to be able to accept warm, tuition-paying bodies without taking too much of a hit in accreditation or U.S. News rankings. That’s all this is about.

MY MILITARY COUPS PAPER JUST GETS MORE TIMELY: ‘Military coup’ wins poll of troops in a landslide.

A poll of active duty and recently retired members of the armed services suggests that an overwhelming majority would prefer an armed overthrow of the government rather than see the election of either major party candidate. The poll was conducted by Quinnipiac University in the days following the Democratic convention.

When asked whom they would vote for during the 2016 campaign, 78% of servicemembers picked “other.” Nearly all then chose “military coup” from a list of options that also included Joe Biden, Ted Cruz, Jill Stein and “a massive earthquake that wipes out life in North America.”

When retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis was included on the list, he was the most popular write in. However most of those who selected him also called for him to lead the armed rebellion against the United States government.

Yes, it’s a parody site, but still, the zeitgeist is the zeitgeist.

EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE BAGMAN:

While Democrats beat their breasts over Trump’s attack on the Khans as somehow an attack on member of the military who died honorably fighting for the country, James Taranto reminds us of a prominent Democrat who publicly criticized honorable American servicemen and has never apologized.

But do you remember John Kerry?

He launched his public career in 1971 by testifying to a series of outrageous slanders against American servicemen. Subsequently he was elected lieutenant governor of, and U.S. senator from, Massachusetts. He was the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, when he presented himself as a war hero.

Kerry has never apologized for his calumnies against his fellow Vietnam veterans, which the liberal media played down as he was pursuing the Democratic nomination. When a group of vets eventually called him out on it, Democrats and journalists smeared them.

In 2013 Kerry left the Senate after the president nominated him as secretary of state. If by Obama’s standards Trump is unfit to serve because of his obnoxious comments, how is Kerry fit?

It gets worse — $400 mil in cash to Iran worse. Read the whole thing.

(Classical reference in headline.)

FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMED: Wearing “Don’t Tread on Me” insignia could be punishable racial harassment.

On January 8, 2014, Complainant filed a formal complaint in which he alleged that the Agency subjected him to discrimination on the basis of race (African American) and in reprisal for prior EEO activity when, starting in the fall of 2013, a coworker (C1) repeatedly wore a cap to work with an insignia of the Gadsden Flag, which depicts a coiled rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t Tread on Me.”

Complainant stated that he found the cap to be racially offensive to African Americans because the flag was designed by Christopher Gadsden, a “slave trader & owner of slaves.” Complainant also alleged that he complained about the cap to management; however, although management assured him C1 would be told not to wear the cap, C1 continued to come to work wearing the offensive cap. Additionally, Complainant alleged that on September 2, 2013, a coworker took a picture of him on the work room floor without his consent. In a decision dated January 29, 2014, the Agency dismissed Complainant’s complaint on the basis it failed to state a claim . . . .

Complainant maintains that the Gadsden Flag is a “historical indicator of white resentment against blacks stemming largely from the Tea Party.”

I seem to recall the Tea Party being founded to protest taxes and spending, not as a racial grievance group.

YOU ROLL THE DICE AND TAKE YOUR CHANCES: Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal Is Closing After ‘Losing Multimillions a Month’

Atlantic City’s Trump Taj Mahal casino and hotel will close its doors permanently after Labor Day, less than seven months after the establishment exited bankruptcy as a subsidiary of billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Management at the casino, which is now a unit of Icahn Enterprises IEP -4.87% and is run by the Icahn-owned gaming company Tropicana Entertainment TPCA 0.00% , cited massive financial losses and a recent workers’ strike as the reasons why the Trump Taj Mahal will soon be closing. Tropicana’s president and chief executive, Tony Rodio, said in a statement, “Currently the Taj is losing multi-millions a month, and now with this strike, we see no path to profitability.”

Previous bankruptcies had whittled Trump’s stake in Trump Entertainment Resorts down to just 10%.

EDUCATION APOCALYPSE UPDATE: College Students Wear ‘Three Blind Mice’ Halloween Costumes, Bias Response Team Leaps Into Action.

The incident took place at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, according to records reviewed exclusively by Heat Street. The offending students had posted pictures of themselves in costume on Facebook.

The documents, which Heat Street obtained under open records laws, reveal that a member of the Bias Incident Team reported the students herself: “There was concern about their choice as it makes fun of a disability,” says the team’s meeting minutes.

The Bias Incident Team decided to follow up directly with the costume wearers, noting that “this incident is being considered a personnel issue in Residence Life” because the students were also staffers.

What would we do without Bias Response Teams?