HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY EDITION: Columbia trustees hang up phone, ignore question about president’s handling of protests amid criticism. “The trustees have been accused of being ‘missing in public action’ as the New York university faces scrutiny for its actions regarding antisemitism on campus.”
Author Archive: Glenn Reynolds
May 22, 2024
HIGHER EDUCATION’S CULTURE OF BIGOTRY AND HATE: ‘GO BACK TO THE GAS CHAMBERS’: Three California colleges face federal complaints over out-of-control anti-Semitism.
It’s a toxic industry, polluting society with toxic ideologies.
IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO, OF COURSE: The National Geographic ‘gender revolution’ has failed. “Seven years ago, National Geographic announced a “gender revolution.” In a special 2017 edition of the famous magazine and a corresponding TV special hosted by Katie Couric, Nat Geo declared that the black and white ‘binary world’ was crumbling, replaced by the exciting new world of transgenderism and gender fluidity. The magazine cover featured a 9-year-old “transgender girl.” The ‘experts’ Couric interviewed were mostly leftist political activists. It was an embarrassment.”
Well, anything involving leftist political activists generally is.
Do you like scary stories? How about this recent report from the United States Treasury, “Advancing Equity through Tax Reform: Effects of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2025 Revenue Proposals on Racial Wealth Inequality.”
That sleep-inducing mouthful of grade-A bureaucratese may seem anodyne, the sort of thing that requires a surgeon general’s warning. But even a cursory trip through this twelve pages of reader-proof gobbledegook will be enough to give any sentient being nightmares. For what this malodorous blueprint aims at is nothing less than the confiscation of your wealth and property.
Beginning with its title, this report bristles with loaded buzzwords —“equity,” “racial wealth inequality.” Behind those abstractions, however, is a malevolent plan to destroy middle-class prosperity by brandishing the chief shibboleth of the age: race.
Race! Ergo, we are going to demonize whites.
Race! Ergo, we are going to punish success.
Race! Ergo, we are going to fiddle with the tax code in order to figure out ways of penalizing those with wealth, most of whom turn out to be whites and Asians.
The first sentence gives the show away. “For generations, entrenched disparities in our society and economy, at times facilitated by the federal government, have made it harder for Americans of color to have access to opportunity.”
“Americans of color,” forsooth. I am an American of color — a pleasing pink, if you must know — and so, even if you are an albino, are you. To distinguish among citizens on the basis of skin color — preferring some hues to others — is not only invidious, it is un-American. It should also be illegal.
But here we have the Department of the Treasury telling us about how the Biden administration has plans to tax Americans differently depending on their race. It is disgusting.
Related: Why Team Biden might be purposefully grinding down the middle class.
THE WAR ON CIVIL RIGHTS: New York Thinly Disguises Another Gun Control Bill as Environmentalism.
BRADLEY THOMPSON: The Yudelman Affair, and Why It Matters.
On May 5, Jonathan Yudelman was confronted on a Phoenix street corner during a pro-Israel rally by a baying mob of masked, pro-Hamas counter-demonstrators. The hate-filled mob screamed in Mr. Yudelman’s face that the mass murder of over 1,100 Israelis on Oct. 7, did not occur, that the Israel Defense Force was responsible for raping children, and that Mr. Yudelman himself was a “butcher.”
Mr. Yudelman was justly outraged, particularly given that Jewish students at ASU have been repeatedly terrorized for months by pro-Hamas students. Moments later, when he encountered another group of protestors confronting a second Jewish man with the same hate-filled lies, he regrettably lost his temper. In the ensuing 25 seconds caught on video and posted online, Mr. Yudelman got in the face of one of the pro-Hamas demonstrators with his arms held wide and called her a “bitch.” He never touched her or said a word about her religion or national origin. He committed no crime. He walked away.
The ”Yudelman Affair” is a classic example of the important legal maxim, “De minimis non curat lex” [The law is not concerned with trifles]. This is a trifle. There is no crime, and the alleged “victim” has apparently disappeared.
Yes, Mr. Yudelman’s words and deeds were imprudent and indecorous. He forgot a simple rule adhered to by campus administrators around the country: pro-Hamas demonstrators are permitted to spew vile antisemitic hatred and sometimes commit acts of violence, while Jews are expected to engage politely with those who wish them dead.
Mr. Yudelman’s life has been subsequently turned upside down. Following Saul Alinsky’s thirteenth rule for radicals, the Intifada Left has picked its target, frozen it, personalized it, and polarized it.
Since the altercation, Mr. Yudelman has been the object of a high-tech lynch mob. . . . It gets worse.
The day immediately after the incident, ASU put Mr. Yudelman on paid administrative leave for allegedly having engaged in discriminatory harassment. But the university’s discriminatory harassment policy does not apply to the facts of this case. . . . To make matters worse, ASU refuses to tell Mr. Yudelman who his accusers are other than to tell his counsel that the university has received “thousands of complaints,” which suggests a coordinated effort. Nor has the university identified the specific policies under which they are investigating Mr. Yudelman other than to say the allegation concerns protected-group harassment!
Time to sue. And to pointedly, and publicly, ask ASU administrators why they are siding with anti-semitic lynch mobs.
SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER! Erie County, PA Awards Huge Grants to Non-White Businesses Only.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Fed Report: 65% of Americans Said They Were Worse Off Last Year Because of Inflation.
STANDING UP AGAINST SEGREGATION AND BIGOTRY: Straight, White Female Alleges King & Spalding’s Summer Associate Diversity Fellowship Violated Title VII.
CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Appeals Court overturns UNC gun possession conviction. “The State failed to demonstrate that regulating Defendant’s possession of firearms, which were kept within a vehicle that was parked in the university hospital parking lot where Defendant was seeking emergency medical care, is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
May 21, 2024
WELL, YES:
Totally predictable https://t.co/UIVQZQECnZ
— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) May 22, 2024
OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.
THE NEW SPACE RACE: China to expand commercial spaceport to support upcoming launch surge.
WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? Smoking Fentanyl Linked to Toxic Brain Damage in First Reported Case.
HEH:
Feminists Warn Young Girls Against Marrying Rich, Muscular Football Stars Who Love Them And Take Care Of All Their Needs And Praise Them In Speeches https://t.co/Zi3KmLrERC pic.twitter.com/fz65OsHnQH
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) May 21, 2024
Related: A harbinger?
ELECTED HATE: “Over a dozen Democratic elected officials criticized a parent group that asked for a review of rules that let students play on sports teams that align with their gender identity.” “In a letter made public on Monday, a coalition of 18 Democratic elected officials from New York called the proposal “hateful, discriminatory and actively harmful” to the city’s children…. The officials argued that while some parents say they were ‘simply asking for a conversation,’ the resolution ‘was based in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.'”
WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE IDIOTS: The Elite Are Discrediting Themselves.
Last week, the Secretary-General of NATO felt the need to tweet about transphobia. Millions of people in NATO countries find no use for that sort of thing. These people are winning elections and wondering if NATO is relevant anymore. The Secretary-General helped them answer the question negatively. . . .
The Senate Chaplain yesterday prayer for the people of Iran as they grieve the loss of their president, which they are not doing. The State Department issued a statement of condolence on the death of the butcher of Tehran. The BBC noted the monster’s complicated legacy.
The government covered up COVID data that did not conform to guidance, refused to change guidance as data changed, and collaborated with businesses to fire people who refused the COVID-19 vaccine, which did not stop people from getting COVID-19.
Now, the post office is so busy making sure Amazon packages get delivered on time that it refuses to perform its basic constitutional duty to deliver mail on time.
Nobody wants to do their actual job.
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION OF LAW, RESOLVED: Indiana Court Rules Burritos and Tacos Qualify as Sandwiches.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Single brain implant gives paralyzed man bilingual communication.
THAT’S JUST BECAUSE THEY HATE US AND WANT US KEPT IN OUR PLACE: Does CBS News Really Not Want Guns Sold To Law-Abiding Citizens?
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: New device helps paraplegics regain partial use of hands.