K.C. JOHNSON: The Fallout From Weaponizing Title IX.

In April of 2011, the Obama administration changed Title IX policy, pressuring colleges to adopt procedures that dramatically increased the chances of a guilty finding in sexual misconduct cases. Justice for accused males became so rare that many turned to the courts, filing suit for loss of due process. Since then, universities and colleges have suffered 97 setbacks in these suits, few of them as dramatic as the ruling last Monday in a lawsuit against Johnson & Wales University of Providence, Rhode Island.

After an hour-long oral argument in which Judge John McConnell (an Obama nominee) peppered JWU’s lawyers with skeptical questions, the judge ruled from the bench that the Title IX claim would proceed. “On the pleadings,” he said, he could “find no reason at all why the result was Mr. Doe’s expulsion. The only inference [is] . . . gender played a role,” in violation of Title IX.

Even among the wave of dubious campus sexual assault adjudications, the JWU case was particularly problematic. The accused student, identified only as John Doe, had a short-term sexual relationship with a female student. Months later, the female student’s new boyfriend told JWU officials that she had been sexually assaulted. When Doe wanted to question the boyfriend about why he came forward, JWU cited university procedures to deny the request. (Incredibly, the university allowed the boyfriend—despite his status as a witness in the case—to serve as the accuser’s “advocate,” thus shielding him from questioning.) The school also refused to provide Doe with a written copy of his accuser’s complaint. (Instead, a JWU administrator orally read the document to the accused student.)

This procedure ended with Doe found guilty, and JWU expelled him. The lawsuit resulted. University lawyers opened the hearing by conceding that the accused student’s breach of contract claim could move forward. But they alleged that there was no plausible gender discrimination in the case.

This is disgraceful, and these officials should face personal ruin for their misconduct.

ANDREW FERGUSON: REEDUCATING THE BARISTAS IS A STUPID AND FUTILE GESTURE FROM STARBUCKS.

The world that the diversity trainers will usher the baristas into has a pristine, seamless wholeness to it. It is a world unto itself, unblemished by contact with reality, built from pure ideology: untutored trainers instructing blameless subjects in bogus science to cure a psychological defect that can’t be shown to exist, all at a staggering expense of time and money. Only a capitalist country as rich as ours could survive what its capitalists are doing to it.

That last sentence has been an evergreen observation for at least half a century.

THE INSTA-WIFE: “It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

AT AMAZON, Save on Top Rated Products.

Plus, Shop Amazon Outlet – Clearance, Markdowns and Overstock Deals.

And, Shop Amazon Warehouse Deals – Deep Discounts on Open-box and Used Products.

Also, Today’s Kindle Deals.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Trump Administration maximum pressure targets Iran’s violent ayatollah regime. My latest Observer essay.

WHY ARE DEMOCRAT-RUN CITIES SUCH CESSPITS OF CRIME AND VIOLENCE? Crime Plague in the Alamo City — San Antonio is ill-served by activists posing as law-enforcement officials.

The last Republican mayor of San Antonio left office in May of 2001.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: In Politicized Justice Department, Desperate Times Call for Disparate Measures.

It has now been confirmed that the Trump campaign was subjected to spying tactics under counterintelligence law — FISA surveillance, national-security letters, and covert intelligence operatives who work with the CIA and allied intelligence services. It made no difference, apparently, that there was an ongoing election campaign, which the FBI is supposed to avoid affecting; nor did it matter that the spy targets were American citizens, as to whom there is supposed to be evidence of purposeful, clandestine, criminal activity on behalf of a foreign power before counterintelligence powers are invoked.

But what was the rationale for using these spying authorities?

The fons et origo of the counterintelligence investigation was the suspicion — which our intelligence agencies assure us is a fact — that the Democratic National Committee’s server was hacked by covert Russian operatives. Without this cyber-espionage attack, there would be no investigation. But how do we know it really happened? The Obama Justice Department never took custody of the server — no subpoena, no search warrant. The server was thus never subjected to analysis by the FBI’s renowned forensics lab, and its evidentiary integrity was never preserved for courtroom presentation to a jury.

How come? Well, you see, there was an ongoing election campaign, so the Obama Justice Department figured it would be a terrible imposition to pry into the Democrats’ communications. So, yes, the entire “Russia hacked the election” narrative the nation has endured for nearly two years hinges on the say-so of CrowdStrike, a private DNC contractor with significant financial ties to the Clinton campaign.

In Investigations 101, using foreign-intelligence authorities to spy on Americans is extraordinary, while taking custody of essential physical evidence is basic. By the way, the government’s failure to ensure the evidentiary integrity of the DNC server by taking possession of it and performing its own rigorous testing on it makes it practically impossible to prosecute anyone for “colluding” in Russia’s cyber-espionage. It’s tough to prove that anyone conspired in something unless you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the something actually happened the way you say it happened. To do that in a courtroom, you need evidence — a confident probability analysis by your intelligence agencies won’t do.

They covered for Hillary. They spied on Trump, and then when he unexpectedly won they panicked. Now, you’ll notice, all the mad leaking to the NYT and the WaPo is defensive in nature: Smoke-blowing to try to cover their tracks. In fact a lot of people involved in this should be in jail, and I’m beginning to think some of them might actually wind up going to jail.

WELL, GOOD: Surge In Armed Police At Schools.

YANNY, LAUREL, OR…

BAD NEWS FROM THE SOUTH CHINA SEA: China lands long-range bombers on artificial island in disputed zone.

LET’S HOPE THEY’RE MORE TOGETHER THAN THEY WERE LAST TIME: CDC prepares to join Ebola fight in Africa. “Rollin said the new Ebola vaccine, first shown to be effective during the tail end of the West Africa outbreak in Guinea, will be a critical new tool to fight this outbreak. Health-care workers will be the first to receive the vaccine. Then workers will vaccinate those who have come into contact with the infected, as well as those who have come into contact with the first set of contacts, a practice known as ring vaccination.”

Flashback: CDC multitasking hurts Ebola fight: Disease control shouldn’t extend to playground safety and occupational hazards.

THE HOMELESS HOLE THAT ATE LOS ANGELES: What’s a few billion more for social justice?

All the plans to fight homelessness only attracted more homeless. That’s the reality behind the mysterious massive increase in the homeless population. Whether it’s in Los Angeles or New York, when lefties begin a major campaign to fight homelessness, the number of homeless suddenly increases.

Fox Butterfield could not be reached for comment.

THIS WON’T GET 1% OF THE ATTENTION OR OPPROBRIUM THAT GITMO HAS GOTTEN: Shocking details emerge from China’s re-education camps for Muslims.

While estimates of internment numbers remain speculative, the available evidence suggests that a significant percentage of Xinjiang’s Muslim minority population, likely at least several hundred thousand, and possibly just over one million, are or have been interned in political re-education facilities. . . .

The internment program aims to rewire the political thinking of detainees, erase their Islamic beliefs and reshape their very identities. The camps have expanded rapidly over the past year, with almost no judicial process or legal paperwork. Detainees who most vigorously criticize the people and things they love are rewarded, and those who refuse to do so are punished with solitary confinement, beatings and food deprivation.

Sort of like a Muslim-focused version of the Cultural Revolution.

MARK PULLIAM ON TEXAS: The Snowflakes Take Charge at UT Law School: Political Correctness Trumps Pedagogy in Constitutional Law I.

Case in point: At UT law school, Professor Richard Alpert gave his 1L Constitutional Law I students a final exam consisting of half multiple-choice questions and half an essay responding to a prompt. The prompt asked students to assume they were advising the Governor of Kansas regarding the legality of segregated schools, prior to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Students were asked to write a memo, no more than 1,000 words, raising the best legal arguments. Given the sensitivity of matters relating to race, it is unlikely that a white professor would have used such a prompt for an essay exam. Professor Alpert, however, is African-American.

After the exam was over, leftist students began to whine. One student, a white SJW, wrote an email to the class objecting that the question left him “shocked and disgusted.” The student encouraged his classmates to complain to the law school’s administration, asserting that “No one should have been forced to write an essay defending segregation.” Another white student defended Professor Alpert’s essay question as a legitimate pedagogical exercise.

A student of color admonished her classmates, asking that they “remember the amount of privilege that each of us sit in as we work towards solutions to mitigate or, possibly, remedy these concerns.” Continuing, this student scolded the initial objector with these words: “If you are not a person of color and you felt triggered by the exam question, I would encourage you to actually talk to a person of color in the class because, to be frank, the question did not address your experience. And because it is not your experience, it is not you [sic] place to take charge of the dialogue without consulting the individuals who are actually impacted.” Nevertheless, the student of color indicated that the Thurgood Marshall Legal Society, a student organization at UT affiliated with the National Black Law Students Association, “has been made aware of this exam question.”

The UT administration quickly assumed the fetal position. Within days, Professor Alpert sent an apology to the class, reproduced in full below.

This isn’t going to make Texas grads more appealing on the job market.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR: Former Playmate Jumps From Penthouse Suite With 7-Year-Old Son.

Former Playboy model Stephanie Adams tragically killed herself and her young son after she jumped from the 25th floor of a New York City hotel, taking the seven-year-old boy with her.

Adams, 47, allegedly wanted to take her son, Vincent, on vacation to Europe, but a custody battle with her ex-husband, Charles Nicolai, stopped Adams from traveling with her son, the New York Post reported Friday. It was the fourth custody battle Adams and Nicolai had scheduled in a year. . . .

According to The Post, “Adams came out as Playboy magazine’s first lesbian centerfold in 2003. But she was later married to an investment banker for two years before becoming engaged to Nicolai in 2009.” Nicolai is a Wall Street chiropractor. . . .

One of Adams’ close friends told the Post that the ex-playmate model loved her son, whom Adams homeschooled, and had been close with him “her whole life.”

Ugh.

IN THE EMAIL FROM KAL SPRIGGS: Valor’s Duty.

Duty is heavier than a mountain; death is lighter than a feather.

Jiden’s life at the Century Military Academy is forever changed when she is asked to volunteer for a special program.  They want to implant her and other cadets with a special, prototype neural computer.  It will make them smarter, more capable, and able to split their attention between dozens of activities.  Her friends jump at the opportunity… but Jiden isn’t so certain.

She sees it as her duty to volunteer. Despite all of her doubts, it’s a duty she owes to her world and to her friends.  But as things begin to go wrong, as her life is put in danger once again, Jiden quickly realizes that she may have shouldered a duty that she can’t bear.  The implants might be driving her fellow cadets violently insane… and Jiden may be next.

She will need to muster every ounce of courage, every bit of intelligence, in order to save her friends.  Even then, her own survival might be too much to ask.  But Jiden doesn’t know how to back down, and she’ll do her duty no matter the cost.

FEATHERED:  ‘Beautiful’ dinosaur tail found preserved in amber.

IT APPEARS STARS WERE COLLAPSING AND PRODUCING OXYGEN EARLIER THAN WE THOUGHT:  Old oxygen sheds new light on the beginning of the universe.

DANGEROUS ONES:  Yes MS-13 Gang Members Are Animals. Here’s Why.

THE MEDIA HAS NO CREDIBILITY ANYMORE:   American Voters Aren’t Buying Hamas.

TIRESOME IS WHAT IT IS:  The Invincible Mendacity and Hypocrisy of the Liberal Media.

THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HEADS SHE WINS, TAILS HE LOSES:  Rise of breadwinner moms means more women are paying spousal, child support.

THEN AGAIN, SO DO SOME FEMALES:  Lady poops on restaurant floor, flings it at cashier.

THAT’S BECAUSE THEY THROW THEIRS AT PEOPLE:  Chimpanzee nests have less fecal matter than human beds.