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FEBRUARY 4,  2022

AND NOW THE WINNERS, OR LOSERS – OVERNIGHT:  We wait eagerly for these rankings, far more important than the Oscars.  Which colleges have the worst records for safeguarding the free speech of students and faculty?  I don't know how anyone can live without this knowledge.  From Legal Insurrection: 

Like our collective obsession with Wordle, censorship is spreading fast.

In the 11th edition of the “10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech,” released today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education pillories the worst campus censors over the last year. (And trust us, narrowing down the list was no easy task!) The 2022 “worst-of-the-worst” list features seven new campuses that haven’t made the cut before.

This year’s list includes other colleges guilty of many forms of censorship, including: suspending a student group for passing out stickers critical of China’s government; firing a Jewish professor for calling out the college president’s remark about “Jewish noses”; punishing a student for sending a satirical email; and using a former professor’s bogus lawsuit threat as a justification to censor (and then seize control of) the student newspaper.

The 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech, in alphabetical order, are:

• Boise State University (Boise, Idaho)
• Collin College (McKinney, Texas)
• Emerson College (Boston, Mass.)
• Georgetown University (Washington, D.C.)
• Linfield University (McMinnville, Ore.)
• Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.)
• Tarleton State University (Stephenville, Texas)
• University of Florida (Gainesville, Fla.)
• University of Illinois Chicago (Chicago, Ill.)
• University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

Detailed descriptions of each college’s speech-chilling misdeeds are available on FIRE’s website.

COMMENT:  It's sad that we should have to have a listing like this, but some of the greatest assaults on freedom in America today occur on college campuses.  These are the places that we've looked to for enlightenment and wisdom, and many have let us down.  Once again we learn that there is little connection between education and freedom.  The most highly educated have too often embraced the way of the totalitarian. Beware the institutional salesmen of the "college education."

February 4,  2022     Permalink

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

ANOTHER GENIUS AMONG US – OVERNIGHT:  THE DYING CNN NEEDS GREAT LEADERSHIP.  UH, YOU THINK THIS CHAP QUALIFIES?  FROM FOX:  The boss of CNN's new parent company said on Friday the network was "the leader in news to the left" – but his communications team soon scrambled to walk back the frank admission, insisting he wasn’t talking about politics.  Discovery CEO David Zaslav, whose media giant is set to close its merger with CNN’s owner WarnerMedia this spring, made the surprise remark during a discussion about the network’s future – days after the abrupt resignation of the network’s president, Jeff Zucker.  "We have this great entertainment menu, which should keep people in the home, from the kids to the grandparents. Why would they go anywhere else? And then we’re the leader in news to the left," Zaslav told CNBC on Friday.  I guess it's wishful thinking to believe that CNN will suddenly be raised from the ashes.  Any visionary would understand that there are actually ashes.  There used to be statesmen and stateswomen of journalism who could be called upon to save an institution.  Most of them are long gone.

February 4, 2022       Permalink

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FEBRUARY 3,  2022

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

THE LATEST FROM A ONCE-GLORIOUS CITY – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  The NYPD was forced to pump the brakes on the arrest of a dangerous ex-con wanted in a Harlem stick-up — the same week that two police officers were killed — after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office initially balked at cops’ request for a “no-knock” warrant, multiple law-enforcement sources told The Post.  Detectives were looking to nab Jaime Brown, who allegedly held up a bodega on Lenox Avenue with two handguns on Dec. 5 — whipping out one of the pistols when he decided the store clerk was taking too long to fork over the cash, according to the sources.  A senior law-enforcement source familiar with Brown’s arrest said this was a “textbook case for a no-knock warrant” because of the suspect’s violent past — notably that he was convicted in a 2018 shooting where he threatened to kill a cop.  But DA Alvin Bragg’s office punted on the Jan. 24 request, saying they didn’t believe they had a case for a “no-knock” warrant, and claiming a judge would never sign off on it — angering cops who said a “knock” warrant would have put their lives in danger.  DA Alvin Bragg declined to grant the “no-knock” warrant the same week two officers were killed in the line of duty.  Public safety will not improve with Bragg still in office.  He's a Soros-funded leftist, as are the D.A.'s in San Francisco Los Angeles, and Chicago.  Like them, he thinks the criminals are simply victims of oppression, and the police are the oppressors.  Good old Marxist stuff.  Hand it to the left – they hit the target when they started focusing on D.A. offices around the country, and hit it again when they further focused on school boards.  The media averted its eyes.

February 3, 2022       Permalink

ARE WE FINALLY GETTING TO THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THIS GROUP? – OVERNIGHT:  Black Lives Matter is, perhaps, the most famous "charitable" organization to emerge in this country in the last decade.  And yet, many complain that the public doesn't know much about it.  The organization raises millions, but who knows where the money goes?  Now, we find officialdom waking up to the information vacuum and asking questions.  It's about time.  From Daily Caller: 

Washington and California have both recently warned Black Lives Matter Global (BLM) to stop accepting donations due to a lack of transparency in their financial accounting, the Washington Examiner reported Wednesday.

According to a letter acquired by the Washington Examiner, the California Department of Justice has threatened to hold BLM leaders accountable if they do not hand over details regarding the organization’s $60 million it collected in donations within the next 60 days.

“The organization BLACK LIVES MATTER GLOBAL NETWORK FOUNDATION, INC. is delinquent with The Registry of Charitable Trusts for failing to submit required annual report(s),” a portion of the letter reads. “An organization that is delinquent, suspended or revoked is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds.”

The Washington Secretary of State Corporations and Charities Division sent a notice to the organization in early January warning that its registration with the division has been closed, according to the Examiner.

The letter told the organization to “immediately cease” all solicitations.

Charity experts sounded off in May 2021 on BLM’s potential self-dealing in regards to their charity donations, The Daily Caller reported.

BLM has had no recognized leader in command of its donations since its co-founder Patrisse Cullors departed in May, according to the Washington Examiner.

COMMENT:  Nice, huh?  And how many news organizations do you think will actually report this story?  It will probably be buried as quickly as possible by the mainstream – meaning left-wing – media. 

And who gets hurt?  Mostly black folks.  It's always the same story.  People, some well-meaning, some just protecting themselves, pour money into an organization thinking they're helping "the poor."  And the poor don't get helped.  And the donors just "move on" to the next fashionable thing.

February 3,  2022     Permalink