'Insanely chilling': Academic freedom suit targets new California college diversity mandates

  Just The News

Colleague who got in trouble for using phrase "Cultural Marxism" means plaintiff professor won't recommend new Ted Cruz book with verboten phrase in the title, he says

A legal complaint filed by a history professor in Bakersfield says his community college’s performance and tenure reviews are being used to force faculty to adopt woke progressive values in their classrooms.https://t.co/E0i3m9wraw

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) July 22, 2023

"The threat to academic freedom from antiracism orthodoxy is expanding beyond one rural community college district to the entire California Community Colleges system, according to new filings in a professor's First Amendment retaliation and chilling-effects litigation.

"Last month, Daymon Johnson joined his history colleagues Matthew Garrett and Erin Miller in suing Bakersfield College and the Kern Community College District for allegedly weaponized investigations into their roles in the Renegade Institute for Liberty, a right-leaning campus think tank with nearly two dozen "committed faculty."

"A 30-year veteran of the Bakersfield school and a "Person of Color," Johnson took over as RIFL's faculty lead from its founder Garrett, who is now appealing his firing by KCCD in a secret board vote based on charges including the "dishonesty" of disagreeing with colleagues. Both are tenured.

"The five-month investigation on him – for "criticizing and questioning a colleague’s views on RIFL’s Facebook page" –was itself the punishment and source of his ongoing self-censorship, Johnson claims. 

"His July 13 declaration notes that KCCD deemed the term "Cultural Marxism" an example of "hate speech" in Garrett's termination notice. Johnson has often used the term but now refrains for fear of termination, including by not recommending Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz's forthcoming book "Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America.' ". . .

Alvin Bragg Slowly Realizes His Trump Indictment Is Going to Backfire, and He's Getting Desperate –

  RedState

Let me translate that for you: Out of all the Trump indictments, filed or soon-to-be filed, Braggs is by far the dumbest and most likely to fail. Given that, he does not want to be the first prosecutor to hand the former president a massive PR victory so he’s now desperately looking for a way to let the DOJ’s cases go to trial first. 

That's called "Gaming the system". 

Women’s US Soccer Team Just Got Smacked With Some Much-Deserved KARMA |

No sweat, Megan; Stephen Colbert loves you

 Washington Engager   "The U.S. women's soccer team just broke a record, but it's certainly not one to celebrate. For the first time in eight years, the United States has been really stinking up the field and has won ZERO matches at Women's World Cup this year.

"At least their loss can't be blamed on their rampant patriotism, as the players were shown standing stone-faced during many different matches when the U.S. national anthem was played." . . .

. . ."Seems like many players are overly focused on making political gestures rather than simply playing their sport.

"Honestly, it's not too surprising that they're flailing all over the field."             

IT NEVER GETS OLD HEARING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM AT THE FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP 🇺🇸🫡 pic.twitter.com/1WjdUfxJcQ

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 27, 2023

Biden's Inaugural Address was a big, fat lie

  American Thinker   . . ."President Biden pledged "Unity" in his Inaugural address, but see his call immediately following the words "uniting our people": "uniting to fight the common foes we face."  Now, two and a half years after the Biden inauguration, the Biden/Garland persecution by prosecution of former president Donald J. Trump makes it obvious that for the incumbent regime, the major "foe" is political opposition.  Further, an administration that respected diversity of

political viewpoint would not pressure social media platforms to censor conservative opinion under the false label "disinformation."  For the incumbent regime, "disinformation" is the term used to silence dissent.

"For the incumbent regime, a second presidential term for Donald J. Trump is intolerable for fear that it will prove to the American people that the founding concept of liberty is in the best interest of the country, not the repressive totalitarianism that the incumbent regime would impose on the American people.

"A few days following the Biden inaugural, the House of Representatives brought a second impeachment charge against former president Trump.  (How does Congress try to remove from office a president who, days before, peacefully let office?)  Mr. Biden did nothing to stop this bizarre abuse of legislative power.  Nor did he stop Speaker Nancy Pelosi from trashing House rules and due process to create a select House committee consisting of fiercely anti-Trump members.  Nor did Mr. Biden deter his Justice Department (never was it President Trump's Justice Department) from weaponizing its powers to hold perceived political foes for lengthy, intolerable periods of pre-trial detention." . . .

KJP's Typical Comments at the July 27, 2023 Press Briefing; "Thee President has been very clear". . ."I don't", "I'm not". . .

 Karine Jean-Pierre: 'The Entire Biden Presidency Is A Private Family Matter And I Won't Comment On Private Family Matters.' | Babylon Bee     "White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who both is black and gay, declared she will no longer be answering questions from reporters during the press briefing. She cited the importance of protecting private family matters, which she claimed the Biden presidency technically qualified as.

"I'm just not going to speak to any private conversation that the President has with his family, especially as it pertains to possible felonies or acts of light treason," Jean-Pierre clarified. "It just wouldn't be appropriate."

"Because they're a family."

"Members of the media who attempted to limit their questions to matters of policy were also shut down.

"So look, the President is a man. And that man has a family. Therefore, the entire Biden presidency is a family matter. I won't comment on private family matters,"

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre | The White House

Opening remarks, then reporters' questions. Only KJP's initial responses are reproduced here

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I’m really not going to say anything more than what I shared yesterday. This is a personal matter for Hunter Biden. This is, you know, a personal issue. And as you know, this has been done in an independent way by the Department of Justice. It has been led by a Trump-appointed prosecutor. And I’m just not going to comment beyond — beyond what I said yesterday.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So I’m not going to get into the medical condition of — of — of the Republican Leader in the Senate.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I’m just not going to speak to the politics of this. I’m not going to speak to — characterize any of this for the President.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I’m just not going to speak to any private conversation that the President has with his family.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I just don’t have anything additional to add. Is — the President spoke — was very candid when asked that question, and I believe his word still — still stands today.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, a couple of things. So, the U.S. Embassy released a se- — a security alert on July 26th advising U.S. citizens — which was yesterday, as you all know — to limit unnecessary movements and avoid the affected area until further notice as the situation develops.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t have anything — I don’t have any comment on that at this time.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I don’t want to get ahead of the conversation that they’re going to have. As you know, they’re going to be meeting fairly shortly. As it relates to the Belt and Road, I — I presume, is that what you’re speaking to — towards?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: What I can say is they both agreed to meet in the United States later this year. Both teams are working through what that’s going to look like, the timing. I — I don’t have anything else to share beyond that — beyond —. . .

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I just want to be very clear: It was a conversation that they both agreed that it would be in the United States. Don’t have anything further. Both teams are indeed talking and going — and working —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I think I just did with Seung Min when she asked that question. Basically, you know, the — the senator mentioned that the President called. And certainly, you know, the President and the senator have known each other for some time and have — as I mentioned to Seung Min — have — have had a lot of disagreements but have found common ground to move forward with the American people. I’m not going to go beyond what the — what the senator has said — Senator McConnell has shared.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I’m — I’m not going to characterize or speak to Prigozhin’s appearance or, you know, participation in the Summit. That’s something for the Russian government to speak to.

And I’m just not going to get into what has been common when it comes to ICC specifically.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I mean, I’m not an expert in climate change, so I can’t speak to it — what — what — what it’s going to look like. But we know — we know climate change exists, right?. . .

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don’t have any updates for you at this time.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I’m not going to speak to leaders in Congress about age or about anything like that. That is for them to speak to.

And it all continues in this same vein...

Hunter's plea deal

 Takeaways: What the spectacle of the collapse of Hunter’s plea deal showed us - American Thinker   "The drama that unfolded at the Wilmington, Delaware Federal Courthouse yesterday, where courageous Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected the plea deal purportedly agreed to by Hunter Biden and Delaware US Attorney David Weiss’s prosecutors, has taught the nation several important lessons.  

First of all, for Americans dependent on the bigfoot media, it was probably news that Hunter Biden, the president’s son, faces any serious legal jeopardy for serious crimes. The corporate media blackout is over, as Newsbusters reported:

All three networks ABC’s World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News kicked off their newscasts with the Hunter news. On ABC, justice correspondent Terry Moran fretted that “Hunter Biden came to the federal courthouse in Wilmington this morning expecting to put his legal troubles behind him, but it was a day of unexpected courtroom drama and an unforeseen twist.”   

 . . ."Second, the official Biden narrative (repeated by hapless Karine Jean-Pierre at yesterday’s press briefing) that Hunter is just a “private citizen” was blown to smithereens by the six-car convoy that delivered Hunter Biden to the courthouse:"

. . .More.

America: Biden & Biden

Like John Fetterman, Biden is ridiculously easy for the Left to manipulate. He can also be easily blackmailed. Paul Gottfried 

 Todd Schowalter Productions.

The Undumpable Biden › American Greatness  "Listening to Republican media pundits counting the days until the Dems abandon a scandal-ridden president, I have to wonder what kind of fantasy world these Pollyanna types inhabit. Biden is exactly the kind of figurehead his handlers, whether woke ideologues or Deep State operatives, want as their frontman. Why should they care if Jim Jordan, James Comer, Chuck Grassley or the head of a Ukrainian gas company think that Joe or his ne’er-do-well son is a criminal slimebag? Our corrupt demented titular head of state serves the needs of those who put him in power and who right now are keeping him there. These would include the MSM, all leftist constituencies everywhere and, lest I forget, “world opinion.” Why exactly would I believe that the revelations of whistle-blowers and the overwhelming evidence of a weaponized Justice Department, IRS and FBI are going to change existing ideological divisions in this country?

"There’s little on network TV about Biden’s sins but lots about the legal problems that Donald Trump has brought on himself by being such a horrible person. . ."

The Seventh Granddaughter and Other Realities Dodged by Joe Biden - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  "The president consistently presents the family story that flatters over the true one."

 "Joe Biden, who infamously expropriated British Labour Party Leader Neil Kinnock’s family story as his own, now edits one of his grandchildren out of the narrative." . . .

Hunter Biden gets a six-car Secret Service motorcade to take him to courtrooms in Delaware and Arkansas, where doors are opened and closed for him as if he were a prince. The Secret Service even rented a house next to his in Malibu for $30,000 per month. But Joe Biden has refused… https://t.co/8XMAkSB2NP

— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) July 28, 2023

 DOJ Indicts Whistleblower Just Days After He Made Bribery Allegations Against President Biden - Analyzing America   "A disturbing realization has set in quickly for 57-year-old Gal Luft: He’s been indicted by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on eight counts.

"What exactly did he do? Luft claims this is a politically motivated indictment because he’s responsible for providing the FBI with bribery allegations about the Biden family’s overseas business dealings." . . .

Turley: Hunter Biden's Judge Raised The Question The White House Most Fears, Was He A Foreign Agent And For What Purpose? | Video | RealClearPolitics

Jill Biden’s Ex-Husband Says ‘Very Dangerous’ Biden ‘Crime Family’ Has Targeted Him | The Daily Caller  . . ."Stevenson discussed his divorce from the first lady, alleging that he was the victim of a shakedown by the Biden family.

“ 'Frankie Biden of the Biden crime family comes up to me and he goes, ‘Give her the house or you’re going to have serious problems.’ I looked at Frankie and I said, ‘Are you threatening me?’ and needless to say, about two months later, my brother and I were indicted for that tax charge for $8,200.' 

Did Hunter Biden's Admission in Court Prove That Joe Biden Lied? – PJ Media    "On Wednesday, when Hunter Biden’s plea deal fell apart and he was forced to plead not guilty to tax evasion and enter into a diversion program, the embattled first son also make an important admission to the federal judge that may prove that Joe Biden lied.

"Hunter admitted that he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company supported by the Chinese Communist Party — directly contradicting Joe Biden’s previous statements that his family never “made money from China.”

"According to court records obtained by Fox News, prosecutors revealed that Hunter Biden had received a sum of $664,000 from a “Chinese infrastructure investment company.” During the court proceedings, Hunter Biden confirmed to Judge Maryellen Noreika that the money came from a company he established in 2017 with the chairman of the CCP-supported CEFC Energy conglomerate, who has since disappeared.

“ 'I started a company [in 2017] called Hudson West, your Honor, and my partner was associated with a Chinese energy company called CEFC,” Hunter Biden said in court." . . .

Lisa Murkowski Threatens to Leave Republican Party and Join Democrats, Several Republican Senators Including Thune, Romney, Cornyn and Young Agree -

They may dislike the Republican Party, but by what distorted line of thinking can they prefer the Democrat Party; the party of Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters, AOC and her three dwarfs, Nancy Pelosi, MSNBC, CNN, Joy Reid and the scowling Democrats in the House chamber? The Tunnel Dweller

Murkowski

The Last Refuge (theconservativetreehouse.com)    For those of us who have been trying to awaken people to the true nature of Republicans in the senate, aka “the Decepticons”, the latest self-admissions are very welcome.

According to interviews conducted by The Hill, several Republican senators are now saying they just cannot be members of the Republican Party if they are forced to represent the interests of the base voter.  These very specifically named Republicans have always been members of the UniParty in DC; however, now they are saying “populism” amid the commonsense, America First voting base is not going to be acceptable.

The senators are openly warning that if putting American interests first is going to be demanded by the voters, these Republicans will just become Democrats.   There is no reason for Americans to distrust the institutions the Republican senators support, and there will be no compromise or discussion.

What is making these Republican senators angrier is that who they consider to be intellectual and professional people are also demanding a more populist approach toward a government that represents the people.  This is just not going to be allowed according to Lisa Murkowski, John Thune, John Cornyn and the other names outlined." . . .

Michigan Could Put You in Prison for ‘Misgendering’ –

PJ Media 

 Make no mistake about it: the radical left will keep trying things like this, and if we don’t fight like hell to preserve a conservative majority on the Supreme Court, free speech will be a relic of the past.

Michigan Could Put You in Prison for ‘Misgendering’ – PJ Media  "In Canada “misgendering” an individual is considered a hate crime ever since the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code were amended in 2017 to include “gender identity” and “gender expression” as protected classes. In 2019, a father in British Columbia was found guilty of “family violence” for not referring to his daughter by her preferred pronouns.

"We can’t write this off as Canadian craziness anymore. A recently passed bill in Michigan, HB 4474, seeks to make it a felony to “intimidate” someone by using the “wrong pronouns,” also known as “misgendering.”

"According to the bill, “‘Intimidate’ means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.”

"The bill does not define harassment but defines gender identity or expression as “having or being perceived as having a gender-related self-identity or expression whether or not associated with an individual’s assigned sex at birth.”

"In other words, the state literally wants to force citizens to “affirm” the gender identity of transgender people. If the bill becomes law and you don’t affirm the gender identity of transgender or non-binary people, you risk a fine of $10,000 or as much as five years in prison.

"Those accused of misgendering people could potentially get their sentence reduced if they submit to woke re-education. The bill states that a sentence can be reduced by no more than 20% if the defendant agrees to community service “intended to enhance the offender’s understanding of the impact of the offense upon the victim and wider community.” . . .

Disney's 'Snow White' Dwarf Changes Are a Lose-Lose Scenario

 Disney is being mocked for changing the "seven dwarfs" in its "Snow White" remake. (insider.com)   

"On Friday, the Daily Mail published set photos from the upcoming live-action remake of Disney's first animated feature film, "Snow White." The photos appeared to show that the new movie had swapped out its seven dwarfs in favor of seven diverse individuals, and mockery quickly ensued." . . .

Woke Businesses Are Starting to Feel the Heat from Consumers and Competitors (townhall.com)   "Numerous prominent corporations have taken big hits to their bottom lines and stock prices this year in the wake of political controversies they have brought on themselves with woke and sexual agendas.

"Leftists used to mock censorship complaints by saying, “Build your own Twitter if you don’t like it!” They are starting to get their sarcastic wish as consumers and investors vote with their pocketbooks against corporate wokeism.

"The Disney corporation’s stock price is down 55 percent from its most recent peak. The company lost nearly $900 million on eight movie box-office bombs between June 2022 and June 2023, American Military News reports. The losers include big franchise items such as Lightyear, Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Little Mermaid, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

"The independent film Sound of Freedom, by contrast, brought in more than $130 million in its first three weeks after costing a minuscule $14.5 million to produce.

"Disney’s streaming platform Disney+ lost four million subscribers in the first quarter of 2023, after 2.4 million people exited in the last quarter of 2022. These are the first subscriber losses for Disney’s streaming platform, ever. I predict the trend to continue." . . .

Woke Disney: 10 families who are swearing off Disney due to its left-leaning politics | Fox News    . . ."Added Garibay, "It's no longer a safe haven for families to promote good over evil, but rather an environment without a moral compass."

"Garibay also said, "Christians should wake up to the fact that this isn't your grandmother's Disney. In fact," she said, "Disney is now devoted to confusing your children."

"A Tennessee father of a 10-month-old daughter told Fox News Digital, "As a new father, I have decided not to expose my baby to any of Disney's products — anything they stream, or the theme parks. There are so many other wholesome options for her.' " . . .

Highlights of the week - Don Surber (substack.com)

‘Out of control’ fire aboard a massive car-carrier ship spotlights the calamitous consequences of electric vehicles

 Olivia Murray - American Thinker

Are these little “eco-friendly” batteries the catalysts for massive environmental calamities? I’m not a gambler, but if I had to wager, I’d suspect…yes. 

"There were 3,783 vehicles on board, including 498 battery electric vehicles, a Tokyo-based

spokesperson for K Line (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha), which had chartered the vessel, said."

. . ."Update via CBS News:

The Dutch coast guard said Thursday that the cause of the fire was unclear and that only about 25 of the vehicles on the ship were EVs, but in the audio of an emergency call released by Dutch broadcaster RTL, someone can be heard saying "the fire started in the battery of an electric car."

"Given the details of this specific incident and what we know about EVs, all signs point to the culprit being…an electric vehicle! When EV batteries catch fire, they burn hotter and longer than most fires and the fire is “impossible” to snuff out, so mitigation strategies instead focus on “cooling”  (instead of extinguishing) the vulnerable or burning apparatuses. A prominent blog on fire science gives us the working knowledge of an EV battery blaze:

A high-voltage battery is made up of many cells packed tightly together inside a watertight, fire-resistant box. When a single cell fails, it is essentially a small explosive that produces a tremendous amount of gas and heat (1,200 degrees F) in tenths of a second. The failure is an exothermic chemical reaction that does not require oxygen from the atmosphere to sustain itself. The heat released from each individual cell is transferred to the neighboring cells, which causes them to fail as well.

Once a battery cell fails, it is impossible to extinguish the failed cell as the chemical reaction inside the cell happens far too quickly. The only way to stop a thermal runaway is by directly cooling the cells involved to ensure that the failed cell does not cause the cells around it to also fail.

 Don Surber (substack.com)  "ITEM 2: Tech Crunch reported, “Ford slashes the price of the F-150 Lightning EV pickup.”  Oddly enough, there is not a big market for battery-operated trucks. I bet they are great for hauling Bud Light to Gay Parades and Drag Queen Story Hours."

Maureen Dowd can't seem to figure out who the liar-in-chief is

Jack Hellner - American Thinker  

Anyone who believed the Russian collusion story probably still believes that Biden never talked to Hunter about his business dealings. They must be toting off the same bong as Hunter’s friend and benefactor. 

 "Whenever I see a column in the New York Times by Maureen Dowd, writing about our liar-in-chief, I assume that she is talking about the current commander-in-chief who has been a congenital liar his entire life. The Moment of Truth for Our Liar in Chief. . .

. . ."Would Trump have authorized National Guard troops to the Capitol if he really wanted to overthrow the government? Sadly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't do her job to secure the Capitol and sadly, the media never cared about the truth.  

A Capitol Police timeline of the days and weeks surrounding Jan. 6 shows former President Donald Trump’s Department of Defense (DOD) offered the National Guard’s assistance in the days leading up to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol, validating claims from Trump administration officials that were said to be false by liberal fact-checkers.

"Would Trump have told the people at his January 6 rally to march peacefully and patriotically if he wanted the rally to be violent? The media and other Democrats, along with some Republicans, also bury that truth.

"I do not recall the media saying that Democrats wanted to overthrow the government when they challenged the 2000, 2004, and 2016 election and supported riots." . . .