The Telegraph – Student Union Bans Conservative Society From Speaking Out – Because They Challenged Its Position On Free Speech
Lincoln University’s Conservative Society has been censored by its student union after it posted an image online showing that the university had been ranked “very intolerant” on free speech in a recent survey.
In response, the Students’ Union swiftly suspended the society’s social media accounts, on the grounds that highlighting the university’s ranking had brought it into disrepute.
If you think we’re intolerant now, just wait to see how intolerant we get when you point out our intolerance!
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The Guardian – Jeff Sessions Urges Prosecutors to Target Drugs in Push Against Violent Crime
The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is advising the federal prosecutors under his authority across the US to re-intensify the nation’s drug war as part of a Department of Justice initiative to target violent crime. Citing a 10.8% increase in the number of murders nationwide, and a decline in federal prosecution for violent crime, Sessions has issued a memo advising US attorneys “to employ the full complement of federal laws to address the problem of violent crime in your district”, including the use of prosecutions under the Controlled Substances Act.
Government at its finest. Violent crime is a problem, so in order to combat it they’re focusing on non-violent drug offenders!? A bigger crackdown on drugs will only lead to higher drug prices, which will lead to higher profits for drug dealers. This inevitably leads to more violent people getting into the drug trade in search of massive, quick profits. Couldn’t we just focus on prosecuting the individuals who are actually committing violent crimes?
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The Blaze – Democrat Who Blasted Betsy DeVos Over School Vouchers is a Big Fan of School Choice For His Own Kids
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was one of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ biggest critics during her confirmation hearing. One major point of contention Franken had with DeVos was her support for a voucher system for middle-class families. This, in part, led him to claim that DeVos was “fundamentally unqualified to lead the Education Department.”
and
However, information has surfaced that shows Franken isn’t opposed to school choice at all — at least not when it comes to his own family. According to the Daily Caller, Franken sends his own children to one of the most prestigious schools in New York, where tuition is more than the yearly salary of those Franken claims he’s looking out for.
I’ve got no problem with Franken sending his kids to a prestigious school, no matter the cost. It’s his money after all. But to blast someone who advocates for a path to get kids out of the failing, and often times dangerous, public school system while at the same time refusing to send his own kids there, is abhorrent.
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The Daily Caller – Pelosi on Obamacare Replacement: We Have To Find Out What’s In It Before We Pass It
The American people and Members have a right to know the full impact of this legislation before any vote in Committee or by the whole House.
That was Pelosi last week. Of course we all know what she said in 2010 about Obamacare: “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.” Amazing how much difference that little “R” or “D” next to someone’s name makes.
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Inside Higher Ed – U of California, Berkeley, to Delete Publicly Available Educational Content
Today, the content is available to the public on YouTube, iTunes U and the university’s webcast.berkeley site. On March 15, the university will begin removing the more than 20,000 audio and video files from those platforms — a process that will take three to five months — and require users sign in with University of California credentials to view or listen to them.
The Justice Department, following an investigation, in August determined that the university was violating the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. The department reached that conclusion after receiving complaints from two employees of Gallaudet University, saying Berkeley’s free online educational content was inaccessible to blind and deaf people because of a lack of captions, screen reader compatibility and other issues.
“In many cases the requirements proposed by the department would require the university to implement extremely expensive measures to continue to make these resources available to the public for free,” Koshland wrote in a Sept. 20 statement. “We believe that in a time of substantial budget deficits and shrinking state financial support, our first obligation is to use our limited resources to support our enrolled students. Therefore, we must strongly consider the unenviable option of whether to remove content from public access.”
Now the university has settled on that option.
I truly wish for a world where everyone has equal access to everything. But today we live in a world of limited resources. It’s unbelievable to me that Berkeley was providing this free service but because they don’t have the extra money and time to subtitle thousands of video and audio files, they have to deny everyone free access to it. So now blind and deaf people still don’t have access to the content, but neither does anyone else. Are we really better off?
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This Week In Hypocrisy comes out every week from Mike. You can get it in your inbox, along with all his blog posts by signing up here. It’s free and we don’t spam or give or trade your email address. Or you can view his blog levelheadedlibertarian.com.
