Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Who Owns the University? By Victor Davis Hanson

  American Greatness

The megalomania of the current crop of students, faculty, and administrators at our radical universities blinds them to the claims of their generations of benefactors.

"The most recent shout-down debacle at Stanford’s law school, one of many such recent sordid episodes, prompts the question: “Who owns our universities?” 

The law students who are in residence for three years apparently assume they embody the university. And so, they believe they represent and speak for a score of diverse Stanford interests when they shout down federal Judge Kyle Duncan, as if he were an intruder into their own woke private domain. he most recent shout-down debacle at Stanford’s law school, one of many such recent sordid episodes, prompts the question: “Who owns our universities?” 

"The law students who are in residence for three years apparently assume they embody the university. And so, they believe they represent and speak for a score of diverse Stanford interests when they shout down federal Judge Kyle Duncan, as if he were an intruder into their own woke private domain. 

"After all, Stanford, like most of the Ivy League universities, is a private institution. Are then its board of trustees, its faculty, its students, and its administration de facto overseers and owners? 

"Not really. 

"In the case of public institutions of higher learning, there is no controversy: The people own the university and, through their elected representatives, pay for and approve its entire budget. Again, through their selected regents and overseers, the taxpayers adjudicate the laws of these universities.  

"But private universities, while different, are not really so different.  

"Take again Stanford as a typical example. It receives about $1.5 billion per year in federal taxpayer grants alone to its various faculty, labs, research centers, and programs. 

"Its annual budget exceeds $8 billion. If Stanford accepts such huge federal and state direct largess, do the taxpayers who provide it have some say about how and under what conditions their recipients use their money? 

"After all, Stanford, like most of the Ivy League universities, is a private institution. Are then its board of trustees, its faculty, its students, and its administration de facto overseers and owners? 

"Not really. 

"In the case of public institutions of higher learning, there is no controversy: The people own the university and, through their elected representatives, pay for and approve its entire budget. Again, through their selected regents and overseers, the taxpayers adjudicate the laws of these universities.  

"But private universities, while different, are not really so different.  

"Take again Stanford as a typical example. It receives about $1.5 billion per year in federal taxpayer grants alone to its various faculty, labs, research centers, and programs. 

"Its annual budget exceeds $8 billion. If Stanford accepts such huge federal and state direct largess, do the taxpayers who provide it have some say about how and under what conditions their recipients use their money? ". . .

Transgender Nation by Ann Coulter

 Transgender Nation - Ann Coulter

I’m not allowed to offer a professional opinion without conducting an examination, but based on the symptoms, there’s a good chance that Trump is a liberal white woman 


"Talk about bad luck! What are the odds of the Nashville school shooter being a transgendered person who is ALSO mentally ill?

"Arguably, there were hints.

"In a form of modern Lysenkoism, young transgenders overwhelmingly come from homes with signs that say: “In This House, We Believe: Black Lives Matter, Women’s Rights Are Human Rights, No Human Is Illegal, Science Is Real, Love Is Love, Kindness Is Everything.”

"Specifically, a study of adolescent and young adult transgenders found that the adults in the home who identify as “parents” were 91.4% white; 70.9% had a bachelor’s degree or higher and 85.9% favored gay marriage. Parent respondents were 91.7% female.

"This is a weirdly specific profile. Only about a third of Americans have B.A.s; a third of the population is white and female, and about a third supported gay marriage (until it was made a capital offense to oppose it — changing even Barack Obama’s mind!)

"How many other biological conditions are correlated with political ideology?

"I guess there’s “long-haul COVID.” So there are two biological FACTS where the main vector is: Liberal White Women. And of course, innumerable studies have shown that mental illness is far more prevalent in liberals than conservatives, which may be the umbrella condition.

"On the other hand, counterfactual self-identifications are popping up all over. For example, the media are currently self-identifying as purveyors of information, and Trump is self-identifying as a bad-ass tough guy who can get the job done.". . .

24 Hrs In The Trenches (WW1 Documentary)

 Just one day sounds dreadful, and this carried on for years "Have you ever wondered what life was like for a soldier on the frontlines during the First World War? In this video we explore what a typical 24-hour period of trench warfare was like on the Western Front."



Video: The Clash Of Empires | Trenches: Battleground WWI   "Experience first hand "the war to end all wars." World War I was the first war in history to affect most of the globe, with battles fought on land, at sea and, for the first time, in the sky. This series captures the experience almost a century after it happened, with rare footage, much of it never before released."

"this is a very good account, excellent detail and footage. '

Controversial group behind 'Trans Day of Vengeance' raised money for firearms training - as other trans protestors pose with guns ahead of march in DC on Friday

 Controversial group behind 'Trans Day of Vengeance' raised money for firearms training | Daily Mail Online

"Despite three nine-year-olds being gunned down by a transgender shooter at a private Christian school in Nashville, activists are still rallying the troops to protest for a 'Trans Day of Vengeance' - months after raising money for firearms training. 

"Transgender shooter Audrey Hale opened fire on the Covenant School in Nashville at 10.30am on Monday, killing Hallie Scruggs, William Kinney and Evelyn Dieckhaus during her rampage at the school.

"But despite rising political tensions across the country, which saw a press secretary for Arizona Democrat Governor post a Tweet about shooting transphobes, the Trans Radical Activist Network (TRAN) is pushing forward with their protest in DC.

Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley Expose the Biden Team in Brilliant Grilling of Mayorkas

 RedState

“ 'You’ve simply lost all credibility, Mr. Secretary,” Cornyn said. Amen, he needs to go."


"Department of Homeland Security head Alejandro Mayorkas testified, on Tuesday, before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding how the Biden administration has been dealing with the border crisis. I think it’s fair to say that it did not go well.

"He testified a couple of weeks ago before the House and he got caught in a lie there. It didn’t go any better before the Senate.

"Mayorkas was ripped apart by the committee which, at this point, has rightfully lost patience with the Biden team’s inability and lack of desire to do anything to deal with the crisis at the border.

"Indeed, as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) exposed, Mayorkas’ head is so buried in the sand, he refuses to even acknowledge that the border crisis is a “crisis.” Listen as Cruz questions him and he won’t even acknowledge what we all know to be true, with a record number of illegal aliens flooding across the border.". . .

"Cruz, in disbelief, then said how that showed that Mayorkas was incompetent for not knowing that the wristbands indicate how much the illegal aliens owe the cartels and there are thousands of them littered along the border. He pointed out how the Biden policies have helped turned the cartels into multi-billionaire organizations when each illegal alien has to pay thousands to get across.

“ 'These are modern-day leg irons!” Cruz thundered. “There are children being sold into sex slavery, and you don’t even know what they are! That is astonishing.” Cruz said children were being sold into slavery, being raped with these actions by the cartels, and that if Mayorkas had “any integrity” he “would resign.” He decimated Mayorkas, saying the officers of the border patrol despised him because he would allow children to be raped, “to follow political orders.' ”. . .

Don’t Let Biden’s All-Time Offensive Response To The Nashville Shooting Get Buried

 Don’t Let Biden’s All-Time Offensive Response To The Nashville Shooting Get Buried | The Daily Wire

 Biden’s embarrassing behaviour is now ‘sickening and infuriating’

After the video, scroll down through the comments to see a cross-section of opinions.

"While his behavior is autocratic and lacks sensitivity, his lies, misinformation and total falsehoods are repulsive."

"Sky News Contributor Kristin Tate expresses frustration and disappointment with the President's insensitive remarks, stating, "this man does not know how to conduct himself as President of the United States." "It was embarrassing for a long time, and now it's just sickening and infuriating," she told Sky News host Chris Kenny."

Joltin’ Joe should leave and go away | Power Line . . ."President Biden turned up in the briefing room with a few remarks about the devastating mass murder in Nashville yesterday. The White House has posted the transcript of Biden’s remarks here.

"Biden added remarks on the Nashville tragedy to his prepared text, but he found it an appropriate moment to perform his usual shtick. There was never anything remotely good about this shtick, but under the circumstances it was indecent.". . .

"His heart was broken despite the chocolate chip ice cream and the prefatory yuk-yuks.

"The facts are still coming to light (as Biden acknowledged in passing) and the victims have yet to be buried, yet Biden sought to exploit the tragedy for his own political purposes. He seems to have omitted any concern about the mental health issues troubling “trans” people such as the perpetrator was, according to Nashville Police Chief John Drake. It was time for the “gun violence” routine:. . ."

Tucker: The trans movement is targeting Christians  'They turn to violence because silencing didn't work"

American Left Grew More Violent While FBI Was Hunting Soccer Moms


  PJ Media   . . ."Ever since Joe Biden and his handlers decided to turn the Federal Bureau of Investigation into the American Stasi, we’ve been hearing that the real threat to America is coming from “right-wing radicals” or some such nonsense. The FBI has been targeting soccer moms at school board meetings and pro-lifers who pray outside of abortion clinics.

"You know, the scariest people among us.

"Every time I write about the rogue FBI and its goon-squad priorities, I conclude by worrying about what the Bureau might be missing in the way of people who might actually commit violence. Thus far in the Biden era, it’s been a fairly steady stream of leftists who are snapping and killing.

Keep seeing this

"The parents at school board meetings have yet to amass a body count.

"The tragedy in Nashville this week has shed even more light on the continued violent radicalization of the American left. Matt reports that, prior to the shooting at The Covenant School, a trans activist group coordinated something that seems like it might be worth some investigation by law enforcement:

The primary Day of Vengeance event is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Supreme Court in D.C., with additional events planned for March 31. LGBTQ activists specifically targeted Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was previously the target of an assassination attempt by a far-left activist last year.

The group purports to seek revenge for what they term “trans genocide,” a conspiracy theory that claims that transgender people are systemically targeted with violence. However, an examination of FBI statistics by the Daily Wire shows no proof to corroborate this claim. In 2021, only two of the 271 recorded hate crimes against transgender individuals resulted in murder. These figures are substantially lower than those of other groups and insufficient to substantiate allegations of “trans genocide.”

 North Korea Unveils New Nukes as U.S. Argues about ‘Misgendering’ – PJ Media

Meanwhile, back in America, mainstream media outlets, including New York Times, USA Today, and CNN, are apologizing for referring to a female murderer as a woman because she called herself “he/him,” and President Joe Biden cracks jokes about ice cream before discussing the shooting of six people, including three young children. Somehow, that’s not encouraging.

 FBI Isn’t Treating Nashville Shooting As Domestic Terrorism | The Daily Wire

A transgender radical group run in part by a former staffer for a Virginia Democrat lawmaker is planning a “Trans Day of Vengeance” for Saturday, to avenge a “trans genocide.” The event, on whose web page organizers discuss Molotov cocktails, is set to occur at the Supreme Court. Justice Brett Kavanaugh is a target of trans radicals and survived an assassination attempt last year. 

Biden’s Empty Suit Presidency Is Resetting The World Order, And Not In A Good Way

 Biden's Incompetence Is Helping China Reset The World Order (thefederalist.com)

With Biden in office, Xi Jinping smells an opportunity to further Red China’s global ambitions.

. . ."Biden’s presidency has ushered in an era of American weakness Beijing seeks to exploit. His administration threw the U.S.’ longstanding record as a buffer against the CCP’s global ambitions into the garbage. Rather than pursue policies strengthening America’s economic security and military readiness, Biden and his administration have implemented measures achieving the exact opposite.

"On the economic front, Biden’s monetary policy — which includes spending trillions of taxpayer dollars on useless Democrat pet projects — resulted in decades-high inflation, causing everyday Americans to struggle to afford basic necessities such as gas and groceries. Rather than curb federal spending or increase domestic energy production, the Biden administration spends its time championing expensive electric vehicles made with Chinese batteries.

"The situation isn’t any better on the national security front, either. Up until January, the administration depleted U.S. military ranks by removing servicemembers who didn’t receive the experimental Covid jab. Despite the shot’s inability to stop viral transmission and its significant risks, the Defense Department denied the vast majority of religious and medical exemptions filed by un-jabbed soldiers. Combined with forcing servicemembers to undergo racist DEI training, it’s no surprise the military is facing major recruiting problems."



Incredible Body-Cam Footage of Nashville Shooting Destroys the Uvalde PD and Its Left-Wing Apologists –

Any group of well-trained officers is going to have a very good shot at taking down an active school shooter if they do one important thing: Try. 

Hero Nashville cop who took down transgender school shooter is
 Marine Corps vet | Daily Mail Online

I thought Democrats had defunded these police. TD

 RedState "Within minutes, they had located the shooter, with one officer taking down the self-identified “transgender man” with a precision that only comes from actual training and the courage to use it. Another officer finished the ordeal after the shooter again tried to go for her gun.

"The footage is incredible but also somewhat graphic so discretion is advised.

"But while the sequence is harrowing, what stuck out the most about the video was the contrast it drew with what happened in the now-infamous school shooting in Uvalde. For months, the left-wing media have been running an apology campaign for the Texas town’s police department, claiming that the presence of a semi-automatic rifle made it essentially impossible for the hundreds of present officers to take down the shooter. As the story goes, the gun was so incredibly overpowering that the police shouldn’t have even been expected to try.

"To illustrate that, a reporter for the Texas Tribune recently published a lengthy excusing of the Uvalde PD, claiming that the AR-15 the shooter had was simply far too dangerous for officers to confront.". . .

"Do you know what I noticed about the body-cam footage from the Nashville shooting? I noticed that none of them had ballistic shields, something that Uvalde PD officers claimed they needed. In fact, only one of them had a helmet. Some only had pistols. Yet, they rushed in to do their duty.". . .

Prog icon Cenk Uyger tells trans people to ‘get guns’ because ‘right wing lunatics are going to attack them’ - American Thinker

Biden Has 'Hot Mic' Reveal Instructions, Gets Loose From Handlers, Makes Bizarre Gun Comments

Biden also tried to talk about the law, and argue that the Second Amendment wasn’t absolute. Yet, everything he said in this clip is wrong. So not only doesn’t he know anything about guns, but he doesn’t know anything about the law either.

 RedState   There was more sign on Tuesday that Joe Biden is deteriorating rapidly and needs guidance for every little movement.

I’ve written before about how he can’t even deliver the simplest remarks without notes. So when he was meeting in Canada with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trudeau was greeting him and making perfunctory remarks, Joe was desperately searching for his notes to know what to say because there was no teleprompter. But he also needs guidance for every little step. I’ve written before about how they appeared to be having him stand on marks to know where to stand (and not just wander off).

But on Tuesday, they got caught on a hot mic as Biden was visiting a semiconductor plant in Durham, North Carolina. You could hear a guide telling Biden how to move every step, including going “down the ramp” in front of him. The handler tells Biden who is there, “union leaders and workers,” and that his mark is going to be a blue mark to stand on."

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Federal Judge Kyle Duncan Says His Piece

 - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics 

Let’s say the quiet part out loud: The mob came to target me because they hate my work and my ideas …. None of this spectacle, this obviously staged public shaming, had the slightest thing to do with free speech. It had everything to do with intimidation. And, to be clear, not intimidation of me …. The targets of the intimidation were the protesters’ fellow students.  

"The culture war is usually a cold one. Conservatives and liberals have been facing off on social issues for generations, fighting proxy wars in the courts or newspapers. And as secular progressivism becomes increasingly dogmatic — you’re a bigot, a racist, and a threat to democracy if you so much as question the premises of their ideology — it seems that our culture war is careening toward a mutually assured destruction, sans the atomic bomb. 

"But the Left has found a weapon that the Right fears to wield: the suppression of speech. It might not be a nuclear warhead, but whether used by the Global Disinformation Index or local troublemakers wearing black masks, suppression of speech helps the Left and hurts the Right. 

"This suppression is especially dangerous in the age of the internet, when everything can be controlled by a search algorithm or blacklisted behind the scenes. But, luckily for us, neophyte progressives can be clumsy in their fledgling attempts to prove themselves to be true believers. 

" 'Take, for example, the recent events at Stanford Law School. Student protesters and a DEI dean prevented Judge Kyle Duncan of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from delivering his invited lecture for the law school’s chapter of the Federalist Society. The events at Stanford Law School sparked a national conversation on free speech, stirring up commentary and launching op-eds — including one by the judge himself.

"This intimidation is a rather classic tactic for campus culture wars. By isolating an ideological opponent, the Stanford protestors sought to humiliate Duncan for “refus[ing] to enlist the federal judiciary in the project of controlling what pronouns people use.” But they moreover wanted to show their fellow classmates just how unwelcome their conservative beliefs are. If your fellow classmates are willing to shout down a federal judge, just imagine what they’ll do to you.

"But, as Duncan discussed in his lecture, such behavior is unbefitting of a lawyer or a lawyer-to-be. Our legal system operates almost entirely on the basis of sustained, reasoned argument, and, as Duncan said, “To be a lawyer, by definition, means that you have to occupy the same room with people that you seriously disagree with.” America might be a litigious society, but we seem to have forgotten that key element of the legal system.". . . 


PICTURED: Hero schoolgirl, 9, who died trying to pull fire alarm to stop trans shooter Audrey Hale

 PICTURED: Hero schoolgirl, 9, who died trying to pull fire alarm to stop trans shooter Audrey Hale | Daily Mail Online

"A schoolgirl who was shot and killed while trying to pull the fire alarm to stop a transgender shooter from opening fire on her classmates has been pictured for the first time.

"Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9, was one of the victims shot by Audrey Hale, 28, after she opened fire at the private Christian school on Monday.

"Her family has described her as a 'shining light' and said that they are 'completely broken' by her death.". . .

After shooting her dead, the officers approached Hale. Her weapons are
 clearly shown, along with what appears to be an armored vest