Alan Colmes Dies: Fox News Twitter Followers Respond

You might compare these to the liberal responses when Tony Snow died. Twitter login required (we think).

Fox News contributor @AlanColmes has passed away at the age of 66. pic.twitter.com/14LQUYqJ1I

— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 23, 2017

Update

In contrast, the liberal online journal Slate posted a nasty obituary just hours after Colmes died.

Warrior Blogger Receives Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick Award

We are extremely honored to receive the Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick Award from the Bradley Foundation.

The award will be presented Friday night at CPAC (The Conservative Political Action Conference).

According to the Foundation:

McAdams was selected for his outspoken criticism of political correctness on college campuses.

Actually, one campus (Marquette) which led Marquette to attempt to fire us.

Bradley says:

“Professor McAdams is a fearless defender of free speech and open inquiry, and a martyr to political correctness,” said Richard Graber, President and CEO of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which supports the Kirkpatrick Award. “His dismissal from Marquette University flies in the face of the traditions of academic freedom.”

And now the really good part:

The award carries a $10,000 stipend and honors the memory of Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, who was known for her outspokenness in hostile environments, her clarity and determination in the midst of oppression, and her fierce dedication to American ideals and academic freedom.

Kirkpatrick earned the enmity of the academic left by being an anti-communist. Further, she claimed that “moderate autocrats friendly to American interests” were better than communist (or other totalitarian) regimes which entirely suppressed civil liberties and where hostile to U.S. interests. History has proven her right, but at the time, leftist academics claimed that any less-than-fully democratic government might as well be replaced by a communist (or Islamist) regime.

We, of course, are not nearly as important as Jean Kirkpatrick, having done nothing but defy an attempt by a nominally Catholic (but actually secular and politically correct) university to fire us.

But we’ll accept the award anyway.

Being Blunt About Being a Bigot

From (of course) The Huffington Post:

I don’t like white women.

Whenever I say that, white women look at me like I just decapitated Taylor Swift. If I’m being honest, their reaction is part of the reason I say it. But rest assured, it’s not the only reason.

I don’t like white women because I’m not particularly fond of the construct of whiteness or what it represents. I also don’t appreciate those who are complicit in my oppression and benefit from it. When I say I don’t like white women, it’s not in reference to any specific white woman (aside from maybe Taylor Swift). It’s a declaration that white women pose a very real threat to my existence, and I don’t have to embrace that threat with open arms. You have to earn my fondness. This goes for several other groups, obviously, but for some reason white women seem the most baffled by it. Whenever I meet a white woman who’s not baffled by it, we instantly become friends. Those are the white women I like.

We first were about to label this tirade “politically correct,” but it turns out it’s not.

It turns out the author rejects “intersectionality,” a term that means, roughly, you’ve got to make common cause with all the other politically correct victim groups.

That, of course, includes “women,” but not the women of the real world. In that real world, a majority of white women voted for Donald Trump in 2016. It only means feminists.

But even in the Trump-hating “Women’s March” this writer feels alienated.

There is a bit of wisdom here. The writer understands that the white feminists who claim to speak for all women don’t. But the wisdom is buried under a huge racial grudge.

You Have 75 Milliseconds to Fix It

The “Living Constitution:” Trashing the Social Contract

An essay from The New American, a rather questionable source, but the essay itself is spot on:

This brings us to the opposition to President Trump’s Supreme Court pick, Judge Neil Gorsuch, who The New York Times actually calls a “Nominee for a Stolen Seat.” In reality, the Times advocates a perversion of judicial philosophy that long ago had stolen Americans’ birthright.

The paper complains that like Justice Antonin Scalia, Gorsuch “is an originalist, meaning he interprets the Constitution’s language to mean what it was understood to mean when it was written….” Leftists prefer the Constitution be considered a “living document,” interpreted to “suit the times” (and the Times). This just guarantees a dying republic.

Why? Consider: Imagine I violate the language of a contract to which you and I are party. You take me to court, but the judge determines that the contract can be interpreted to suit the times. You may object and say the “times” are being interpreted to suit me, but the judge is in my pocket.

Oh, he justifies this by saying he’s a “pragmatist.” Feel better?

The analogy is apt because, in essence, the Constitution is the contract the American people have with one another. It specifies the rights (of the people) and powers (of the different governmental arenas) of those party to it. It does have one significant flaw, however.

For it to work as intended, people must actually abide by it.

When they don’t, our very rights are in jeopardy.

Another analogy was drawn by Chief Justice John Roberts when, during his confirmation hearings, he said his job was only “to call balls and strikes.” Expanding on this, judges can in fact be likened to baseball umpires, while the players are the people, the game’s ruling body is the legislature and the rule book the Constitution.

Now, if a rule is thought inadequate, it’s the ruling body’s role to change it. Of course, the players, umpires or anyone else may lobby passionately in that regard. What, however, if an umpire considered the rule book living and said, “With the great pitchers in these times, three strikes are insufficient; I’m giving the batter four strikes”?

He’d be fired. And would it help his cause if he added an intellectual veneer to his cheating, saying “You don’t understand! I’m not a radical like those originalists! I’m moderate — a pragmatist”?

No, he’s a bad umpire — and he’d be history.

Likewise, all the terms describing justices — constructionist, originalist, moderate, pragmatic — are part of a pseudo-intellectual rationalization obscuring a simple truth: There are only two kinds of justices, good justices and bad justices. Good justices rule based on the founders’ original intent.

Bad justices don’t.

They put a spin on the Constitution to prove “by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white,” as satirist Jonathan Swift put it, so they can impose their agenda from the bench.

Some will say we mustn’t be hamstrung by a 200-year-old document. This gets at the big lie. There is a lawful way to make the Constitution “live:” the Amendment Process.

Yes, it can be long and difficult. This ensures that before our national contract is altered, the vast majority of those party to it (the people) agree on the change. “Living-document” judges, with an intellectual veneer and a sneer, usurp this power. The people are to decide when and how the Constitution will live — not five unelected lawyers.

Those who trade the rule of law for the rule of lawyers, to facilitate an unconstitutional agenda, tread a dangerous path. Their corruption of the establishment has led to precisely the kind of anti-establishment movement we see today. After all, if a game is judged and won or lost fairly, both sides can accept the outcome. But what happens when the vanquished know the judges fixed the contest for the other side?

That is the stuff revolutions are made of.

The living-document lie can be gussied up as “pragmatism” or something else, but it’s not a legitimate legal philosophy. We can have a living constitution or a living constitutional republic — but we cannot have both.

We don’t think the judges should literally always rule according to “original intent.” Sometimes previous Supreme Courts have made such a mess of the law that doing that would be like trying to unscramble an omelet. But what judges should not ever do is base their decisions on their policy preferences, violating each and every defensible rule of construction. That is indeed what most of the “landmark” decisions of the late 20th century did. We don’t need more of that.  We should, in fact, never vote for a presidential candidate who promises judicial appointees who will do that.

Finally, A Success!

The Utopia of the Politically Correct

From Quillette, an essay by Gregory Gorelik, which looks forward to future, successful presidential candidate:

She walked up the subway stairwell, smiling. Atop the Fifth Avenue sidewalk landing, a crowd had already gathered. Cheers broke out as the first glimpses of her were caught by the impatiently awaiting audience. Once on the sidewalk, she gracefully and confidently approached the prepared lectern and waived to the gathered masses. Her smile slowly faded.

“Our country is fallen,” she began. “The legacy of colonialism and racism still haunts our communities. From small towns to big cities, police brutality is destroying lives and ruining families. Hate crimes are on the rise. Our Muslim and LGBTQIA brothers and sisters are traumatized by hate speech on college campuses and in the media. White, straight, cisgender men are bringing racism, they’re bringing sexism, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.” These apocalyptic images were followed by a few more depicting rampant bigotry and oppression and the all-consuming fires of capitalism.

“But today,” she continued, her voice brightening, “we say no more! Today will be remembered as the day when we all came together and dealt the first blow to the heteropatriarchy! Just as the spirit of our movement has inspired people throughout the land to resist fascist oppression by violently opposing the Nazis who question the self-evident truths of affirmative action and affirmative consent, so today I announce that it has inspired me to run for the highest office in the land.”

This never-before-encountered brand of leftist politics was a breath of fresh air to many — especially the multicultural cosmopolitans living on the coastal areas of the country. Lately, it seems, they had been forgotten by a nationalist regime beholden to backward interests such as the religious right, gun owners, soon-to-be-obsolete polluting industries such as oil and coal, and, of course, garden variety “racists,” “sexists,” and “Islamophobes.” In their new candidate, the coastal masses, heretofore unheard by the right-wing power-holders, saw a savior who would clean up the nativistic, nationalistic infestation at the nation’s capital and in the country.

As time went on, once-unquestioned assumptions about free speech and due process were attacked into oblivion. The candidate insisted that not only will her administration punish racists and sexists themselves — it will also punish their family members if they do not report their bigoted siblings, parents, and aunts and uncles to the soon-to-be established “Department of Hate and Bias Reporting.” Universities were likewise threatened with the withholding of funds if they deigned to allow student groups to invite controversial speakers who might “microagress” against vulnerable students, faculty, and administrators. The Department of Homeland Security was called upon to create an “online harassment taskforce” that would monitor citizens’ private and public communications for hateful rhetoric directed at minorities, government officials, and even abstract concepts such as “intersectionality.” The candidate even went as far as shaming specific yoga studios and Asian restaurants run by non-Asians for “cultural appropriation.” Death threats were leveled and the businesses closed.

And yet, the more the candidate spoke, the more popular she got. Liberals, libertarians, and conservatives who seemed horrified by the implications of the candidates’ policies were quickly drowned out with rally chants such as “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, right-wing bigots go away,” to the smirking approval of the candidate. Journalists and correspondents who dared to question the candidate’s contention that the country is overrun by bigots by invoking actual statistics on the matter were either ignored or had their sources maligned as “fake stats.” The candidate, meanwhile, boasted her “Ivy League” credentials and insisted that her education and subsequent experience as an activist shielded her from any and all accusations of being illiberal and despotic.

The author goes on to take a swipe at the Trump movement, although he is fair minded enough to admit that:

. . . Trump’s support is to some extent undergirded by authoritarianism (though perhaps it is grounded more in nationalism and anti-elitism) . . .

But his main target is the authoritarian left.

As in any good dystopia, the picture he paints merely starts with current trends and takes them to their logical conclusion, which typically is not that far from where we are now. His ranting presidential candidate is not that far from Hillary Clinton raving about a “basket of deplorables” or Barack Obama talking about “bitter clingers.”

And the idea of a Stazi tasked to ferret out and punish any politically incorrect thoughts is almost perfectly representative of the bias incident reporting systems on college campuses. Indeed, college campuses, being dominated by the left, are the places most like the dystopia that Gorelik has described.

Taking Provost Myers to Task: Young Americans for Freedom

From The New Guard: An essay about Marquette Provost Dan Myers, whose bureaucrats have arranged an absurdly biased program of speakers on racial issues, and then hypocritically wrote an op-ed opposing the one conservative speaker who has been on campus this year:

Last week, the Young Americans for Freedom at Marquette held a wildly successful talk featuring Ben Shapiro. Two lecture halls were filled beyond capacity, even as Marquette staff attempted to sabotage the event behind the scenes.

The first time any Marquette administrator publicly addressed students about the Shapiro talk was in an editorial in the campus newspaper on February 14. Provost Dan Myers —who once carried a sign that labeled conservatives as homophobic, transphobic & biphobic—penned an op-ed pleading for “critical thinking” when considering conservative speakers like Shapiro.

His message was simple: the conservatives who came to hear from Ben Shapiro failed to think critically.

According to Myers, Shapiro’s visit “produced some controversy.” In reality, it was university staff that ginned up the controversy. Myers argues that campuses “should not avoid controversy.” Instead, he wants the campus to challenge “controversial” views. Myers, as the second in command at Marquette, has made it his duty to challenge exclusively conservative views the few times they are allowed to be heard on campus.

Interestingly, Myers did not even attend Shapiro’s lecture, but this did not prevent Myers from responding (presumably, he watched the video provided by YAF).

In his contradictions of Shapiro’s assertions, Myers leans heavily on fallacies. When Shapiro remarked that “institutional racism” is no longer the norm, Myers wrote that targeting “legacy” students is racist. He continued, asking whether the legacy advantage “replicate[s] that racism in the next generation.” That is, Myers believes recruiting students who are more likely to attend Marquette because of a prior family connection is racist. Surprisingly, Myers never mentions Marquette’s expressed desire to slant the admissions process in favor of Hispanic students, despite the fact that he himself supports a policy which would require Marquette’s racial demographic to reach at least 25% of all enrollments.

A quick recap of Myers logic reveals a troubling conclusion:

To recruit legacy students, those whose parent or sibling attended Marquette University before them (regardless of race), is institutional racism. But to set a goal of creating a Marquette where 25% of the population is Hispanic (potentially at the expense of other qualified minority students) in order to seek federal funds is not institutional racism.

That’s right Marquette alumni: The provost of your alma mater does not want to recruit your kid, younger sibling, or grandkid in the name of some warped version of Jesuit social justice.

Marquette’s desire to welcome more Hispanics is laudable – but not through this scheme. Skewing numbers to fleece the feds and pander to progressive pieties will throw off other diversity metrics, including socioeconomic status, religion, sex, and many more. Note that intellectual diversity is never part of any initiative promoting inclusion on the campus of Marquette University.

Doubling down on his accusations, Myers argues that Ben’s promotion of the Brookings Institution’s Three Simple Rules to Join the Middle Class is also racist: Graduate from high school, avoid early pregnancy, and get a job. Myers says not all races have equal opportunities to finish high school, get into college, or, evidently, avoid unwanted pregnancies.

Myers offers no solutions to address this broad institutional charge of racism. For decades, conservatives have advocated school choice that would benefit minority students. Yet progressives dramatically opposed Betsy DeVos for the Department of Education, despite her plan to expand to expand choice for impoverished children.

Milwaukee Public Schools (serving the residents who live around Marquette) have been run into the ground by progressive unions for decades. Perhaps left wing unions are the example of institutional racism Myers was seeking?

Myers writes, “Healthy skepticism is at the very foundation of active learning.” If Myers is genuinely interested in interaction with active learning, perhaps the Young Americans for Freedom might bring Shapiro back for a debate.

In fact, Young America’s Foundation has a strong reputation of supporting dialogue on Marquette’s campus. The Foundation has sponsored Attorney General John Ashcroft, Speaker Newt Gingrich, John Stossel, Michelle Malkin, S.E. Cupp, Allen West, Steve Forbes, Herman Cain, Christopher Horner, and many more.

Additionally, the Foundation has sponsored two debates at Marquette. Marquette’s own liberal theologian Dan Maguire backed out of a debate on pro-life issues with conservative Mike Adams.

The Foundation also paid for Liz Cheney to debate Howard Dean prior to the 2012 election. Marquette was one of only a handful of campuses to host such a debate. The Foundation paid for both speakers.

Non-progressives are left to wonder if Myers is planning to write a similarly scathing op-ed after Shaun King appeared on campus this week, or well-known domestic terrorist Angela Davis appears next month. We won’t hold our breath. As Myers pointed out in his op-ed, a “variety of speakers” were on campus last week. Myers singled out the conservative.

What does it say that, on the Marquette campus, it is usually conservatives who arrange debates, but the Marquette administration arranges only one-sided programs? It must mean that, deep down, the people running Marquette sense that they would be at a disadvantage in an open, balanced debate.

If they were confident of their views, they would welcome having those views be shown to be superior in head-to-head competition.

No doubt they are confident of their moral righteousness. But somewhere deep down they know that there are things they don’t want aired, else people start having doubts about the “social justice” agenda.

[Update from YAF]

YAF-Marquette chairman and adviser reached out to Provost Myers for a meeting. Through his chief of staff, Myers denied the request because he was too busy. Myers’ office said they could direct the YAF chapter to another person on campus. At this point, Myers is unwilling to defend his actions directly to conservative students.

We can’t imagine Myers refusing to meet with representatives of any politically correct victim group. But he refuses dialogue with conservative students. That’s the Marquette version of “inclusion.”

Coming Out

Marquette Provost Touts “Critical Thinking,” Then Repeats Politically Correct Clichés

That Marquette’s administration is dominated by politically correct leftists is shown by the fact that Provost Dan Myers took to the Marquette Tribune to argue against conservative speaker Ben Shapiro, who appeared on campus last week.

Myers claims to be making a plea for “critical thinking,” but in fact simply demands that people not critically examine politically correct shibboleths. He focusses on the notion of “institutional racism,” a notion that Shapiro challenged.

There is a lot to address there, but let’s focus on three critical questions before we express agreement. First, has the institutionalized racism of yesteryear really disappeared? Take one instance in our own world of higher education. It is widely accepted that back in the bad ol’ days, universities had racist recruitment and admissions practices that severely disadvantaged African Americans. That disadvantage is gone in our new enlightened era, Shapiro says.

But is it? Consider this: Almost all universities have long had recruitment and admissions practices that target legacy students (the children and relatives of its alumni). If the parents or grandparents were admitted using a racist standard, then doesn’t the legacy advantage replicate that racism in the next generation? Haven’t these legacy practices built racism into the access to higher education? Maybe it’s possible that racial advantages still exist more than we think.

Does Marquette target legacy students? If so, Dan Myers, you are the Provost, why don’t you stop it?

But of course, targeting legacy students is not racial discrimination, even if it has a differential racial impact. Universities target good athletes too, and (at least in “revenue sports”) this benefits blacks. But that’s not racial discrimination either.

Then there is the huge advantage racial minorities have with affirmative action. It typically is (as Shapiro reported) in the range of 250 SAT points (Verbal plus Quantitative).

School Choir

Myers then offers an example of a bad person: a choir director who systematically excluded black students from a highly desirable program.

Myers seems not to understand that this simply isn’t “institutional racism.” There was nothing about the “institution” of the choir that discriminated against blacks, but rather one bad person who did.

And Myers admits he is now dead. So much for this as any sort of example of contemporary racism, institutional or otherwise.

Individual Agency

Myers continues:

By denying institutional racism, Shapiro can boil racial differences down to individual agency: if Black people just tried harder and made better choices, they’d do just as well as Whites. Simply finish high school, avoid early pregnancy and get a job. If you do, you’ll be OK. Seems reasonable, but let’s pause again. Does everyone (regardless of race, income, where they live and family circumstances) have the same chance to finish high school? Does every high school produce the same results (learning, skills and chances of getting into college)? Does everyone have the same chance of getting a job? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” we must rethink whether individual agency is the only thing that matters.

Myers is oblivious to the fact that he is demeaning black people. They are, he seems to be saying, so beaten down that they are unable to make good decisions. For example, today about 72% of all black kids are born out of wedlock. Poor beaten down black folks can’t make good decisions about sex, birth control and marriage, according to Myers.

But in 1955, only 20% of black babies were born out of wedlock. Why could blacks make good decisions in the 1950s, before the civil rights legislation of the 60s, but can’t now? The generation of blacks that had kids in wedlock in the 50s was the generation that marched with Martin Luther King. What has happened in the black community? It hasn’t been the rise of “institutional racism.”

That blacks are, on average, in poorer schools than whites is certainly true. But it is leftists like Myers that are the staunch defenders of poorly performing public school monopolies in central cities, and the opponents of charter schools and vouchers schools.

It is, in other words, the people who whine about “institutional racism” who are defenders of the clearest form of institutional racism that harms black kids: the inner city public school monopoly.

Unemployment

Myers goes on to talk about unemployment, and claims that if the “jobs were there” black people would take them. He points to the fact that the black unemployment rate is consistently higher than the white unemployment rate.

But is this “institutional racism?”

In the first place, because blacks tend to have less human capital than whites (because of poorer education), they are at a disadvantage.

Secondly, because blacks tend to have less human capital, they are more likely to be lured into dependency on government programs, which compete too well with actual employment. (The same thing happens with poorly educated whites, but it is less noticed.)

Here are the data on dependency on means-tested programs, by race.

Here are the data on dependency and family structure. Married couple families are quite unlikely to be dependent on government programs.

One of the many things that politically correct types won’t talk about is the fact that the black/white gap in unemployment was, in an era where “institutional racism” was undeniable, nonexistent. This chart, from the linked article, tells the story:

Hypocrisy on Critical Thinking

But the most blatant, bizarre thing about Myers and his bureaucrats is that, instead of promoting critical thinking, they have promoted one-sided political correctness.

Critical thinking involves confronting diverse, often conflicting ideas. But the programming coming out of Myers office (and offices under his control) this year has consisted of nothing but leftist indoctrination.

And Myers, uncomfortable with Shapiro challenging his one-sided programming, goes to the Tribune to try to debunk Shapiro.

Not a Good Place for That

Warrior Blogger on Vicki McKenna

This is from last Tuesday, where we discuss:

• Free Speech (or the lack thereof) on the Marquette campus
• Our court hearing on the previous Thursday

Breaking: Condoms Being Handed Out In Front of Marquette Library

This is, in fact, the second time it has happened. It was on the public sidewalk (not Marquette property) but obviously targeting Marquette students.

Ben Shapiro on Trangenderism and Abortion

Called on the Carpet

GLENN MCCOY © Belleville News-Democrat. Dist. By UNIVERSAL UCLICK. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Pro-Israel Program at Marquette

Seeing a pro-Israel event at Marquette is a bit unusual, since there have been numerous programs bashing the Jewish state. For example:

• Arab Heritage Celebration in 2005
• A Manresa program titled “Jews of Conscience: Voices for Justice and Peace, Hope and Obligation.” Jews of “conscience” were all anti-Israel Jews.
• A Soup With Substance presentation by one Julie Enslow, an anti-Israel activist.
• Israeli Apartheid Week in 2014.
• Same event, 2015.

The striking thing about these events is that they have been either organized by Marquette bureaucrats, or supported by cosponsorship or money from Marquette offices. From the notice about Israeli Apartheid Week:

Students for Justice in Palestine (a registered MU student organization), Intercultural Engagement in the Office of Student Development, Marquette University Student Government, and the Office of International Education will be having the following speakers on campus for a series of programs to raise awareness about Israeli apartheid and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

The Voices of Israel program, in contrast, appears to be entirely student organized.

Which is typical of Marquette. Programs organized by the university are leftist and propagandistic, and it falls to student organizations (like the Young Americans for Freedom inviting Ben Shapiro) to provide a tiny bit of balance to the campus discourse.

Following is a promotional video for the program:

Ben Shapiro Talk at Marquette

Compare what Shapiro said at Marquette to the deranged, bigoted politically correct version of his views in a letter circulated by the campus feminist group Empowerment.

Stunning Success: Ben Shapiro at Marquette

It was an event the campus left hated: Ben Shapiro, an actual conservative speaker at Marquette.

Not only did a staffer from the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies attempt to sabotage the event by advising leftists to get tickets and not show up (depriving a student who wanted to see the speech of admittance), but the campus feminist group Empowerment circulated a deranged letter accusing Shapiro of racism, xenophobia and hateful rhetoric.

But in fact, the event went off without a hitch.

Given the history of leftist mobs disrupting Shapiro events, it seemed that extra security would be needed. Initially, Marquette suggested that the Young Americans for Freedom, the group staging the event, would have to pay for the extra security. A terrible idea, this tactic (often used by universities hostile to conservative speech) amounts to a tax on any speech the campus left dislikes. Happily, Marquette backed down.

There were private security people at the event (paid by Marquette) and several of the campus police. Further, Shapiro has his own body guard. And the security people were instructed to remove anybody who caused any major disruption — in marked contrast to many universities where leftists are allowed to shut down events with impunity.

So far, two news outlets have published stories on the talk:

• Marquette Wire
• Channel 6 Milwaukee

Shapiro addressed various bogus liberal themes. For example, poverty. If you don’t want to be in poverty, he said, do three things: (1) don’t have babies until you are married, (2) finish high school, and (3) get a job. Sound social science, but not things the left wants to hear.

But according to Shapiro “facts don’t care about your feelings.”

Invited Questions from Leftists

Shapiro answered questions for an extended period, and especially invited questions from leftists. Several leftists challenged him, all in a civil way. And Shapiro, who is often caustic in his speeches, responded in an earnest and respectful way.

In an epic exchange, one leftist challenged Shapiro about “institutional racism.” Shapiro responded by demanding to know what that means, and offered to fight it, if the questioner could specify exactly what should be fought. The questioner could not, an implicit admission that he had accepted vague rhetoric in the absence hard facts or analysis.

To his credit, this same leftist told Channel 6 that “By the end of the back and forth, I think we both had been respectful. I think we both learned something.”

Extremely gracious, Shapiro accepted requests from questioners to shake his hand and even to have a selfie made with him.

Conclusion

All this, of course, is exactly the sort of discourse that ought to take place on a college campus. But it is significant that a conservative student group, and not the Marquette administration, arranged it.

All that the Marquette administration has produced is the dour, race baiting moralists.

The contrast is stunning.

Marquette’s Stunning Hypocrisy on “Hard to Hear” Opinions

From an article by Jerry Bader in Media Trackers:

The Winter Edition of Marquette University’s “Marquette Magazine” includes what appears to be a self-congratulatory piece where open expression on campus is concerned, through its yearlong Marquette Forum series. The column chronicles the university’s fall semester efforts to generate discourse on the topic of racial justice and inequality:

During the fall semester the university seized the moment when issues of racial justice and inequality were central in the national and local consciousnesses to launch a conversation format designed to inspire thinking — together. Those efforts included hosting a conversation with Sam Pollard about his film Two Trains Runnin’, which was featured at the Milwaukee Film Festival and a panel discussion “Segregation in Milwaukee: A Conversation with Leaders on the Near West Side.”

The sub-headline for the article was:

This is about talking and listening even when opinions may be hard to hear. This is about being a university.

The irony of that sentiment was not lost on suspended MU professor John McAdams. McAdams, you may recall, was suspended for a blog post about an instructor who wouldn’t allow debate over same sex marriage in her philosophy class. In January, McAdams received a letter telling him his suspension would continue until he apologized. Media Trackers asked McAdams for his opinion on the Marquette Magazine piece:

It’s absurdly ironic, since Marquette only wants to hear opinions from the hard left.

There are plenty of voices who would dissent from the uniform leftist slant of these programs. One thinks of Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell. On criminal justice issues, there is Heather McDonald. I could name a dozen more. But nobody who at all dissents from the notion of blacks as entirely innocent victims of white oppression is allowed to speak.

The notion that any of these issues should be debated seems never to have crossed the minds of the Marquette bureaucrats. There is only one “social justice” position, and every person of good will agrees on it, and only evil people refuse to sign on.

This is radically at odds with what discourse at any university should be, but it’s all too typical of academia today. There is no “engagement” with diverse ideas, but only one-sided indoctrination.

The only saving grace is that few people who don’t already think this way will attend. That is unless their instructors bribe students with extra credit or require attendance.

It is not “hard to hear” opinions you agree with. Marquette is happy to serve up ideas “hard to hear” for conservatives (typically “hard to hear” because they are absurd) but unwilling to allow anything that the politically correct liberals would find “hard to hear.”

In fact, the whole year of Marquette-sponsored programs has been entirely devoid of anything but standard leftist indoctrination.

Infrastructure of Indoctrination

Consider, for example, a faculty program “Faculty Conversations on Learning: Sparking Curiosity in our Students.” The point, as we have noted, was not at all to spark curiosity, but rather to encourage faculty to indoctrinate students into the standard politically correct view of racial issues.

Then there is the Center for Intercultural Engagement. How politically correct are they? Each staff member lists his or her “preferred pronoun” on the assumption that some “transgender” or “gender queer” or such person might dislike “he” or “she.” One of the staff (Enrique Tejada III) wants to be referred to as “they,” even though there is only one of him.

Not surprisingly, the list of events sponsored or supported by this office is a smorgasbord of politically-correct identity politics, with lots of gay and lesbian events, “dreamers” (read: young illegals) events, and a “Dining in Drag” event.

Catholic teaching on homosexuality is nowhere to be found. Why? That opinion is “hard to hear.” So is the opinion that we should control the border and stop illegal immigration. Those opinions aren’t allowed at Marquette, at least so long as campus bureaucrats are controlling the discourse.

Mission Week

Marquette’s Mission week is merely more of the same. Titled “Black, White and the Call of the Church,” there is not the slightest mention of the problems that most afflict the black community: illegitimacy, a high crime rate, drug use and poor urban schools.

Rather, it’s all about white racism. The video about the event gives the full flavor:

Angela Davis

And of course, Marquette is bringing Angela Davis to campus. Of course, having extremist speakers (and Davis is a communist) as part of a diverse menu of provocative and even extremist opinions is perfectly fine at any university. But there is no diversity in the events Marquette has scheduled. It’s all about leftist indoctrination, with Davis merely being the most extreme of a uniform slate of leftists.

Hypocrisy: Is it OK to Want the President to Fail?

From MRC NewsBusters:

The Democratic Left is trying to pretend that Donald Trump wasn’t really elected President last year, with an unprecedented 67 U.S. Representatives boycotting Trump’s Inauguration after Congressman John Lewis told NBC that Trump was not “a legitimate President.”

But instead of scolding this divisive and unhelpful repudiation of a new President, the news media are enabling the sore-loser Left.

After Lewis announced his rejection of Trump, NBC’s Chuck Todd prodded him for more extreme action: “You believe this President is not legitimate. What would you tell young folks, young activists to do?”

And even though Trump hadn’t yet been inaugurated, Todd also pressed Lewis about impeachment: “Are you one of those that believe the impeachment process should begin?”

Contrast that with the news media’s hysterical reaction eight years ago when Rush Limbaugh said of incoming President Barack Obama and his ardently liberal agenda: “I hope he fails.”

It was a sentiment Limbaugh repeated a month later when he spoke at the annual CPAC conference: “What is so strange about being honest and saying, ‘I want Barack Obama to fail,’ if his mission is to restructure and reform this country so that capitalism and individual liberty are not its foundation? Why would I want that to succeed?”

Liberal reporters freaked out. CNN political analyst Bill Schneider said Limbaugh’s CPAC speech had “sinister” tones and had “crossed a line.” During a CNBC interview, host Mark Haines lectured Limbaugh that it was a “stupid and mean spirited thing to say,” an exchange that so tickled MSNBC host Keith Olbermann that he re-played it that night on his Countdown program.

Republican politicians were pressed to denounce Limbaugh. ABC’s Diane Sawyer asked John McCain to say he was “offended” by the remark (McCain demurred), while then-MSNBC anchor Norah O’Donnell scolded then-Indiana Representative Mike Pence: “Why don’t you feel like you could denounce something like that?”

On MSNBC in 2009, the failure to appreciate Obama was seen as treasonous, as Hardball host Chris Matthews asked viewers: “Does Rush Limbaugh hate this country?”

But last week, before Trump was sworn in, Matthews pressed Democratic Representative Maxine Waters if she would consider impeaching the not-yet-President. During Friday’s inauguration coverage, Matthews described Trump’s speech as “Hitlerian” and suggested Trump could use “Mussolini” tactics if he wanted to jettison his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a White House advisor.

And over the next few days, ABC, CBS and NBC all provided heavy and positive coverage of an anti-Trump protest march that included speakers like Madonna seeming to suggest assassination: “I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”

The news media are obviously not demanding a consistent respect for the office of the U.S. Presidency. The most obvious explanation is that eight years ago most in the so-called “news” media wanted Barack Obama’s left-wing policies to succeed and were appalled by dissent.

Now, the media see themselves as part of the opposition to President Trump and his agenda to roll back Obama’s policies — and they hope he fails.

Of course, the two most common elements in Washington (and this includes the Washington press corps) are hydrogen and hypocrisy. So none of this is a surprise.

As we write this, the media are in a frenzy about Trump’s criticism of a Washington state judge who put a hold on his immigration pause. But attacking conservative Supreme Court judges over Citizens United or Heller or Hobby Lobby is just fine.

It’s not that only liberals are hypocritical, but in any subculture that is overwhelmingly dominated by liberals it is liberal hypocrisy that is going to run riot. And the people in that subculture, being so entirely surrounded by people who think the same way, can’t see it.

It’s much like academia, where one of our colleagues in Marquette’s Political Science Department told us he did not know what “political correctness” means.

Fish don’t know they are wet.

In the News: Marquette Staffers Plot to Sabotage Ben Shapiro Speech

We have already blogged about media coverage of a plot, by a staffer in the Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies, and an (unidentified) “director of diversity” to sabotage a speech on campus by Ben Shapiro by having leftists each grab one of the limited number of tickets, and then not show up, depriving an interested student of an opportunity to see the speech.

It seems the issue continues to have “legs.”

A search of Google News now turns up the following stories:

• Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. The article notes, with irony, “They told me if Donald Trump were elected, voices of dissent would be shut down by fascist mobs. And they were right.”
• Washington Times.
• PJ Media. Notes: “Students at Marquette University really don’t want conservative Ben Shapiro to speak at the school later this month. Really, they don’t want conservatives to be allowed to speak anytime, anywhere — but since it’s February, they’re going with “no opposing viewpoints during Black History Month.”
• The College Fix.
• MacIver Institute. The author notes the irony of a statement from Marquette President Michael Lovell who said the university “welcomes and benefits from the diversity of seekers within our ranks.”
• Accuracy in Academia.
• Independent Journal Review.
• National Review.
• Fox6Now. Good (but short) interviews with Mark Seeberg of the Young Americans for Freedom, and Ethan Hollenberger (advisor to the group).
• Marquette Wire.
• The College Fix.
• Heat Street.
• Marquette Wire. Opinon piece seems to come down in favor of free speech, asking “If we start taking away people’s ability to have an audience for their opinions, like, for example, the controversy with the Ben Shapiro event being hosted at Marquette this week, then how can compromise or the exchange of ideas ever happen?”
• Watchdog.org. James Wigderson established that one staffer will be “reprimanded.” Yes, that’s all. Just reprimanded.

Of course, these are all conservative outlets. Why aren’t liberal outlets interested? One explanation is that they don’t like publishing stuff that makes the left look bad. But it may be worse. A lot of mainstream media people, in their hearts and hearts, don’t really, really mind having conservatives shut up.

The Politically Correct Version of Tolerance

Deranged Leftists at NYU Riot Over Conservative Speaker

With a hat tip to Reason (although this is all over the place): a video of violent leftists at New York University protesting a speech by conservative speaker Gavin McInnes.



Particularly appalling is a segment starting at the 10:20 mark, when a woman who identifies herself as a professor screams at the cops, attacking them for protecting the conservative speaker. From Reason:

“You are fucking assholes!” the professor shouted at the New York Police Department (NYPD). “You’re protecting the Nazis!”

The NYPD had arrived on the scene to prevent violence and escort McInnes out of the building safely. But the professor seemed to think the cops’ job was to shut down a speaker she didn’t like—by engaging in explicit violence against him.

“You should kick their ass!” the professor declared, referring to McInnes and his entourage. “You should!”

Note that the professor—a dead ringer for Melissa Click, by the way—considered violence to be beneath her and her own students.

“These are kids who are trying to learn about humanity!” she said. “They’re trying to learn about human rights and against racism and xenophobia, and LGBTQ rights, and you’re letting these fucking neo-nazis near here! It’s not up to these students to kick the ass of a neo-nazi! They don’t have to raise their fist! They were taught to be peaceful! Fuck you!”

So according to the professor, it’s college students’ job to contemplate humanity and practice tolerance, and it’s the cops’ job to beat up people with whom the left disagrees.

Actually an NYU Professor?

We contacted the Public Affairs office at NYU, and a spokeswoman told us that the office knew about the video, and had not been able to identify the “professor” as NYU faculty. She also stressed that they had not ruled that out.

And of course, there are many colleges and universities in the New York area, so this deranged woman could have come from any of these.

What is clear is that college faculty are probably the most intolerant occupational category in America. While the average steamfitter may disapprove of certain speech, and may tell pollsters it should be shut up, he’s not going to sign a statement demanding that it be shut up. Professors, in contrast, have produced an elaborate ideology for shutting up speech they dislike.

They are staunch “anti-fascists” who condone, and sometimes engage in, fascist tactics.

Update

From the American Spectator:

The woman yelling four-letter words at NYPD officers was not alone in thinking she was “standing up to Nazis,” she was just a bit more worked up about it. What struck many who watched the video of her hysterical tantrum, however, was that amid her screeching torrent of obscenities, she twice yelled: “I’m professor!” Internet sleuths soon identified her as Rebecca Goyette, an adjunct professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey. She describes her work as “a largely queer, fantasy paradigm,” exploring “the remotest ranges of the subconscious mind.” Professor Goyette last year staged an exhibit that included her fantasies of castrating Donald Trump.

Such are the “remotest reaches of the subconscious mind” of one academic. America used to put lunatics in mental institutions, but now we have turned our universities into asylums and put the lunatics in charge of them.

Free Market of Ideas

GLENN MCCOY © Belleville News-Democrat. Dist. By UNIVERSAL UCLICK. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

Mere “Reprimand” for Marquette Staffer Who Encouraged Fraud to Undermine Ben Shapiro Speech

It is yet another example of intolerant political correctness at Marquette: a staffer of the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies encouraged fellow leftists to go online and get tickets to the upcoming Ben Shapiro speech, and then fail to show up, to “take away a seat from a student that would be interested in going.”

In fact, she encouraged people to lie about their student status, since “they can’t tell, quite honestly.” This was after the staffer had talked to a “director of diversity” who recommended that tactic.

The Young Americans for Freedom, who sponsored the talk, found out about this on Thursday, January 26, and brought it to the attention of Corey Lansing of the Office of Student Development. Neither Lansing nor anybody else in the Marquette administration did anything about it until Young Americans for Freedom went public this past Monday.  Thus, Marquette allowed the post, urging fraud to sabotage an approved event, to remain up for four days.

Marquette finally went into damage control mode, with Brian Dorrington (Marquette PR guy) issuing a statement claiming “We have addressed this issue internally and will work to make sure that interested attendees have an opportunity to see Ben Shapiro on February 8.”

Slap on the Wrist

James Wigderson, a reporter for Wisconsin Watchdog, got a statement from Angelique Harris, director of the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies:

“She [the staffer] does not at all speak for the center or for the university,” Angelique Harris, the director of the center where Nelson is employed, told Wisconsin Watchdog. “That is not at all what we’re doing at the university because we do feel and do believe in freedom of speech, etc. And so she’s being reprimanded and we’re dealing with her internally.”

That’s right. Reprimanded. Not fired. Not suspended or expelled from Marquette. Just reprimanded.

This is no surprise, given the absurdly light punishment given to members of the feminist group Empowerment when they vandalized an anti-abortion display on campus. They were required to write a three page paper confessing how they had acted “irresponsibly” in vandalizing the display. Two members who flatly refused were given probation (not suspension) for a semester.

Marquette’s failure to impose any significant punishment on people who sabotage and undermine free expression on campus speaks volumes. The university is unwilling to hold the forces of intolerant political correctness accountable when they attack free expression. How much of this is rooted in fear of leftist faculty and students, and how much flows from the fact that a lot of campus bureaucrats share the intolerance of the left is unclear. But the results are perfectly clear.

Apparently, the “director of diversity” who suggested the scheme has gotten off scot-free. At least, Harris claimed that she “had ‘no idea’ who gave Nelson the idea.”

Really?

Marquette ought to know. But if they do, don’t expect them to admit it.

Center of Intolerance

In spite of Harris’ pious words about free speech, the Center she runs has been a source of intolerance on campus. Not only was the staffer involved in this scandal working for the Center, but a student who vandalized the anti-abortion display was on the staff of the Center during the 2015-2016 school year. Even more scary is that this staffer, who bragged about her vandalism on Facebook and to a faculty “workshop” on racial issues was on the Presidents Taskforce for Diversity and Inclusion.

That’s right. “Diversity” and “inclusion” at Marquette means shutting up speech you dislike.

Thus the Center for Gender and Sexualities Studies is part of a large infrastructure of politically correct intolerance at Marquette, as the Administration adds more and more offices and staff to pursue identity politics, pandering to each and every group with a claim to victimization.

Marquette may be no worse than a lot of other universities. But it is also no better. And any notion that Marquette is a “Catholic university” is a transparent, fraudulent marketing ploy.

Empowerment: Intolerant Marquette Feminists Demand Ben Shapiro Be Shut Down

Empowerment is the Marquette feminist group that believed it had the right to vandalize an anti-abortion display on campus. Their Facebook page, and their page on Collegelink, show them to be the kind of stereotypical shrill leftists that have given feminism a (justified) bad name.

So it is not surprising that they want to ban conservative speaker Ben Shapiro, who is coming to speak on campus this coming Wednesday. A leftist staffer from Marquette’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies has already been conspiring (under the guidance of a “director of diversity”) to have leftist students get tickets to the event in order to deny them to students who might want to hear Shapiro, and then not show up for the event, leaving empty seats.

Thus is is not surprising to find Empowerment circulating a letter demanding that President Lovell ban Shapiro from campus. The letter reads as follows:

President Lovell:

As we are sure you are aware, Ben Shapiro is scheduled to speak on campus on February 8, 2017. Shapiro is a well-known political commentator who has built a career around perpetuating racism and xenophobia and actively fighting against human dignity, a core principle of Marquette University. Not only does the presence of Shapiro at our university threaten the values we strive to uphold, but it also undermines the theme of this year’s Mission Week, “Racial Justice: Black, White and the Call of the Church” as well as Black History Month, both of which are interrupted by Shapiro’s talk.

While we recognize and respect the variety of political opinions at Marquette, we also recognize that this is not a political issue: it is an issue of basic human rights and dignity. The Marquette University Mission Statement states, “Precisely because Catholicism at its best seeks to be inclusive, we are open to all who share our mission and seek the truth about God and the world,” and continues to say, “We welcome and benefit enormously from the diversity of seekers within our ranks, even as we freely choose and celebrate our own Catholic identity.” The allowance of Shapiro and his hateful rhetoric on campus tells us, Marquette students of all races, genders, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds, that we are not important and that our differences make us undeserving of respect and care.

Ben Shapiro believes Muslim people should not be able to immigrate or seek asylum in the United States. How will you explain to Muslim students that their religion does not disqualify them from deserving a safe and secure place to live?

Ben Shapiro believes racism is no longer an issue for People of Color. How will you explain to Students of Color that the discrimination and microaggressions they experience daily is not an illusion?

Ben Shapiro believes that the plague of sexual assault is a political scam. How will you explain to Survivors on campus that their experiences are not a sign of a personal flaw but of a larger systemic issue?

Ben Shapiro believes that the killings of many Black People by police are justified because they are criminals. How will you explain to Black students that walking or sitting in your car does not make you deserving of being shot seventeen times?

Ben Shapiro questions the truth that every person is deserving of dignity and respect. How will you maintain the values of Marquette University while hateful rhetoric against certain students is being perpetuated at University-sanctioned events?

The current social landscape in the United States calls each of us to a renewed sense of duty to work for the common human dignity of all individuals despite the fear and hatemongering of those who would wish to continue a cycle of oppression. We hope you, as President of Marquette University, will use your position to stand up for those who are marginalized. It is not enough to claim to be the difference.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,

_______________________

Members of Marquette Empowerment Executive Board composed these words with the hope that you would take action to voice your views and demand our university take responsibility. Feel free to sign your name and deliver this message to our administrators. We also hope our words empower you to discover your own and share your story and your voice, without fear.

In solidarity and love.

One leader of a student organization which has no political agenda, but was nonetheless urged to sign on to the statement, responded with a rather testy e-mail explaining that he or she had no intention of signing on. Indeed, the leader promised legal action if an anti-Shapiro protest disrupted their own meeting, held nearby.  The response, from an officer of Empowerment, was as follows:

SHOW ME YOU HAVE 0.00004% OF THE RESPECT, PASSION, CONCERN, AND CARE FOR THE REAL LIVES OF MY BLACK, UNDOCUMENTED, MUSLIM, TRANS, AND NONBINARY FAMILY WHO FACE THE ALL TOO REAL VIOLENCE AND ACTION BEHIND THE WORDS AND IDEOLOGIES OF BEN SHAPIRO AS YOU DO FOR [redacted], AND THEN WE’LL TALK, HOW BOW DAH?

REALITY/HUMANITY CHECK:
A WORLD WHERE THE COMFORT OF THE PRIVILEGED IS VALUED MORE THAN THE LIVES OF THE OPPRESSED SHOULD ALREADY FEEL LIKE A CRISIS! IF IT DOESN’T, YOU ARE GROSSLY OUT OF TOUCH AND YOUR SILENCE ON THE MATTER IS VIOLENT.

P.S. I’ve never received a more presumptuous and patronizing email. I acknowledge your concern for [redacted] at your meeting if students are to gather in protest of this event, but you have misdirected that concern. Before you try to delegitimize and silence my voice because of my use of CAPS, or because of my tone, or language, remember that ANGER has always had a place in this conversation, whether overt or under the thin guise of passive aggression and legal threat. It has a place during a “Racial Justice” themed Mission Week.

Thus, when informed that the leader of a non-political group did not want to sign a political statement, the officer of Empowerment turned abusive.

Empowerment, and the faculty who mentor and nurture them in their intolerance, are part of the Axis of Grievance at Marquette. With no respect for any opinions that differ from their own, they feel free to shut up people with whom they disagree.

Unfortunately, they are not the only intolerant people at Marquette. A small army of staff with “diversity” or “inclusion” or “multicultural” in their titles feels the same way.

Legs: Story of Marquette Bureaucrats Attempt to Sabotage Ben Shapiro Speech

The attempt of at least two Marquette bureaucrats (and quite possibly more) to sabotage a speech on the Marquette campus by conservative Ben Shapiro was revealed Monday by the campus Young Americans for Freedom.

It resulted in media stories in:

• National Review
• Heat Street
• The College Fix
• Marquette Wire

It also got attention of local talk radio, being discussed by Jay Weber, Dan O’Donnell and Vicki McKenna. McKenna interviewed Young Americans for Freedom Chairman Mark Seeberg. Here is the audio of that interview.

Tomorrow: Our Day in Court

Tomorrow we go into court to ask for summary judgment in our lawsuit against Marquette. It will be in Judge Hansher’s Courtroom (412 in the Milwaukee County Courthouse at 2:00 p.m. Open to the public). Of course, we have a very strong case, given the contractual guarantees of academic freedom that Marquette provides to all faculty (but doubtless regrets having provided to us).

Marquette claims to be firing us under a “discretionary clause” for supposed “conduct which clearly and substantially fail[s] to meet the standard of personal and professional excellence which generally characterizes University faculties.” But as our lawyers have pointed out, Faculty Statutes (incorporated into our contract with Marquette) hold that:

“[i]n no case, however, shall discretionary cause be interpreted so as to impair the full and free enjoyment of legitimate personal or academic freedom of thought, doctrine, discourse, association, advocacy or action.

Further:

dismissal will not be used to restrain faculty members in their exercise of academic freedom or other rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

Marquette has not charged us with any misconduct other than blogging.

What were they thinking? Probably that they could offer us some money and get us to walk away. But that hasn’t worked, and they have doubled down on a very poor legal case, having incurred lawyer’s fees which must now be well into six figures.

All the while increasing tuition, and continuing to beg alumni for money.

Background

For more details on the case, see James Wigderson’s article on Right Wisconsin.

An incisive take on the entire issue can be found on PJ Media. The author, one Tom Knighton, notes that Marquette, at one point, claimed it was firing us for violating Marquette’s “Guiding Values.” The notion that a vague statement of “values” can override black letter contract provisions is bizarre.

But note two of the supposed “Guiding Values:”

• Nurture an inclusive, diverse community that fosters new opportunities, partnerships, collaboration and vigorous yet respectful debate
• Live as servant leaders with a commitment to the Jesuit tradition and Catholic social teaching for all people, beliefs and faith traditions (emphasis in original)

Knighton asks:

Please, someone, explain to me how forbidding an opinion shared by a great many Catholics and Jesuits — the faiths Marquette is founded upon, after all — fosters “vigorous yet respectful debate”?

Sure sounds like Marquette has blatantly violated its own Guiding Principles.

He could have added: How can you claim to nurture a commitment to Catholic social teaching when you forbid it being expressed in the classroom.

Marquette has blundered badly in this case. But it’s not a random bit of incompetence. It’s a reflection of the intolerant political correctness and suffuses the Marquette administration.