FIRE to Colleges: Happy Constitution Day! Now Respect Free Speech Already

FireThe Foundation for Individual
Rights in Education celebrated Constitution Day by mailing letters
to 300 different colleges warning them that they are violating the
First Amendment—and could face lawsuits if they don’t reform
soon.

According to
FIRE
:

Colleges that wish to bring their policies into compliance with
the First Amendment are urged to contact FIRE. FIRE offers
resources such as its guidebook for college administrators,Correcting
Common Mistakes in Campus Speech Policies
, a
bound version of which is included in every certified letter sent
today. All consultations and resources are provided to colleges
free of charge, in keeping with FIRE’s charitable mission. …

As the letter details, lawsuits will be filed against public
colleges maintaining unconstitutional speech codes in each federal
circuit. After each victory by ruling or settlement, FIRE will
target another school in the same circuit—sending a message that
unless public colleges obey the law, they will be sued.

The letters are part of FIRE’s recent campaign, announced
in July
, which seeks to persuade colleges to rescind
policies that violate the First Amendment. The campaign is more
aggressive than FIRE’s usual tactics: The organization intends to
actively file suit against institutions that shirk their
Constitutional duty to protect the free speech rights of students
and faculty. FIRE already sued Ohio University, Citrus College,
Chicago State University, and Iowa State University.

FIRE President Greg Lukianoff is the author of an excellent new
short book, Freedom from Speech,
which argues that the American people are increasingly installing
buffers against inadvertent exposure to ideas that offend them
(trigger warnings, for instance). College campuses are at fault for
nurturing this unhealthiest of modern mindsets, and FIRE’s efforts
to combat them—in both the legal and philosophical senses—should be
celebrated by all truly progressive people.

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Tonight on The Independents: Obama Waffling, Benghazi Paneling, V.A. Stonewalling, Scottish Secession, Millennial Couch-Surfing, Biden Shylocking, Private Space-Taxis, and Anthony Fisher on ISIS Propaganda!

Got it. |||Tonight’s
episode of The
Independents
(Fox Business Network, 9 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. PT,
with re-airs three hours later) begins with President Barack
Obama’s latest
mixed-up messaging
regarding the War on ISIS. Party Panelists
Guy Benson
(Townhall Political Editor) and Rick Ungar (Forbes
columnist
) will deconstruct that, along with the
surprisingly sober
Day One of the Benghazi Select Committee
hearings. Later in the show, the pair will discuss why Millennials
are missing out on
important life milestones
, and whether Vice President Joe Biden
should feel remorse for using the insult “shylock.”

With all the noisy hearings today on Capitol Hill, it’s easy to
lose sight of the
latest
on the injurious Veterans Administration scandal, but
Concerned Veterans for America Issue’s Dan Caldwell will keep our
eye on the prize of real reform. The co-hosts will take on
Scottish independence
and
space taxis
, and beloved Reason TV writer/producer (as well as
former Independents stalwart) Anthony L.
Fisher
will make his maiden voyage on the program, talking
about the production values of ISIS’s
latest propaganda video
.

Follow The Independents on Facebook at http://ift.tt/QYHXdB,
follow on Twitter @ independentsFBN, and
click on this page
for more video of past segments.

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‘World War III Is a Very Important, Very Progressive War’

“Help Obama Kickstart World War III!” is a darling little video
made by improvisational comedy titans Second City. I was introduced
to it today via
Twitter
, but the video was made and released
in 2013,
 during President Obama’s push to use force
against the Assad regime in Syria. Perhaps it has new relevance now
that the U.S. House has voted
to train and arm Syrian rebels
in support of Obama’s advertures
in ISIS-slaying. Enjoy! (And remember: All WWIII crowdfunding
donations can be sent directly to the Internal Revenue
Service.)

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'World War III Is a Very Important, Very Progressive War'

“Help Obama Kickstart World War III!” is a darling little video
made by improvisational comedy titans Second City. I was introduced
to it today via
Twitter
, but the video was made and released
in 2013,
 during President Obama’s push to use force
against the Assad regime in Syria. Perhaps it has new relevance now
that the U.S. House has voted
to train and arm Syrian rebels
in support of Obama’s advertures
in ISIS-slaying. Enjoy! (And remember: All WWIII crowdfunding
donations can be sent directly to the Internal Revenue
Service.)

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Video of the Day: The Republic of Bill

I saw this video a couple of weeks back, but never got around to posting it. The Republic of Bill sounds like a pretty great place. Where do I sign up?

In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 1LefuVV2eCnW9VKjJGJzgZWa9vHg7Rc3r1

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Video of the Day: The Republic of Bill originally appeared on Liberty Blitzkrieg on September 17, 2014.

continue reading

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Goldman’s Yellen Press Conference Post-Mortem: “Few Surprises”

Via Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius,

BOTTOM LINE: There were few surprises from Fed Chair Yellen’s post-FOMC press conference.

MAIN POINTS:

1. Yellen made two slightly dovish remarks on labor market developments. First, she stated directly that she felt the slow increase in wages was indicative of labor market slack. Second, she said that her own personal view was that there was a “meaningful” cyclical shortfall in participation, when asked about a recent paper by some Fed authors indicating otherwise.

2. On the topic of “considerable time,” Yellen declined to provide any specificity on what the phrase means with regard to calendar duration, and instead noted that the guidance should not be viewed as calendar-based or mechanical in nature. She stated that in her personal view, it was not “completely clear” that there was a gap between market pricing and participants’ projections for the fed funds rate apparent in the SEP. For example, the discrepancy could be due to the difference between modal forecasts (reflected in the SEP) and average expectations (reflected in market pricing).

3. Yellen also took the opportunity to downplay the move up in the SEP dots, stating that she “would describe the change in the projections as quite modest.”

4. Finally, she stated that two dissents was not an “abnormally large number,” suggesting that she is not particularly uncomfortable with the current degree of dissention on the Committee.




via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1uI6YID Tyler Durden

Goldman's Yellen Press Conference Post-Mortem: "Few Surprises"

Via Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius,

BOTTOM LINE: There were few surprises from Fed Chair Yellen’s post-FOMC press conference.

MAIN POINTS:

1. Yellen made two slightly dovish remarks on labor market developments. First, she stated directly that she felt the slow increase in wages was indicative of labor market slack. Second, she said that her own personal view was that there was a “meaningful” cyclical shortfall in participation, when asked about a recent paper by some Fed authors indicating otherwise.

2. On the topic of “considerable time,” Yellen declined to provide any specificity on what the phrase means with regard to calendar duration, and instead noted that the guidance should not be viewed as calendar-based or mechanical in nature. She stated that in her personal view, it was not “completely clear” that there was a gap between market pricing and participants’ projections for the fed funds rate apparent in the SEP. For example, the discrepancy could be due to the difference between modal forecasts (reflected in the SEP) and average expectations (reflected in market pricing).

3. Yellen also took the opportunity to downplay the move up in the SEP dots, stating that she “would describe the change in the projections as quite modest.”

4. Finally, she stated that two dissents was not an “abnormally large number,” suggesting that she is not particularly uncomfortable with the current degree of dissention on the Committee.




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House Votes To Fund Arms To Moderate – For Now – Syrian Rebels (And Ex-Im Bank) – Live Feed

UPDATE: *HOUSE HAS VOTES FOR U.S. AID TO SYRIAN REBELS; VOTE CONTINUING

Those sneaky politicians… The House has just begun voting on whether to amend the US Spending Bill to enable funding for Obama’s grand strategy of training “moderate Syrian rebels.

  • *SYRIAN REBEL AID IS PROPOSED AS AMENDMENT TO U.S. SPENDING BILL
  • *HOUSE BEGINS VOTE ON U.S. AID TO SYRIAN REBELS SOUGHT BY OBAMA

However, what few have also noticed is that the bill also includes an extension for funding the Export-Import bank.

As The NY Times reports,

The House will vote on Wednesday on whether to grant President Obama the authority to train and equip Syrian rebels to battle the Islamic State, but Republicans will insist on a detailed accounting of how the program fits into a broader strategy to defeat the militants, Republican leaders said Tuesday.

 

 

The bipartisan effort to aid Mr. Obama’s campaign against the group, also known as ISIS, is colliding with a separate fight among Republicans over the Export-Import Bank, which guarantees loans to overseas customers of American exporters but which conservatives denounce as crony capitalism. Some conservative Republicans in the House are eager to oppose any measure that extends the agency’s life but reluctant to vote against the ISIS measure. They had hoped the two issues would be broken into separate bills.

 

But Republican leaders, eager to get their candidates back on the campaign trail, rebuffed their conservative colleagues. They argued that Senate Democratic leaders would have rolled the authorization for the Syrian rebels into the funding and Export-Import Bank bill anyway, then sent the package back to the House for yet another vote.

*  *  *

Live Feed via C-Span (click image for link – no embed)

* * *




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Scottish Independence: Politicians Love Democracy So Much They’re Trying To Subvert It

Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog,

The polls in Scotland will close this week on one of the more important elections in recent history… perhaps one of the only elections that actually matters.

Rather than a typical vote to see who the captain of the Titanic will be, Scots are deciding whether they want to be free and independent from the UK.

Every eligible voter has a say, and a simple majority decides the outcome for everyone else.

By definition, this is the PUREST possible form of the democratic process.

What’s ironic here is that ‘democracy’ is typically held up as the hallmark of free society.

Western nations have spent years (and trillion of dollars) force-feeding representative ‘democracy’ down the throats of developing countries at gunpoint.

Opening his second Presidential term in 2005, George W. Bush famously told the world that “it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture. . .”

Given the west’s big love for democracy, you’d think this instance in Scotland– the most fundamental example of the democratic process– would be able to take place free, unfettered, and uninfluenced by government.

Government, in fact, is supposed to be the responsible steward to protect and champion democratic rights. At least, that’s the BS they’re constantly selling us.

But that’s not what’s happening.

British politicians are scared to death that Scotland will file for divorce. So they’re doing everything they can to influence the outcome of this supposedly impartial democratic process.

They’ve spent an incalculable amount of money trying to influence the outcome, effectively subverting a democratic election.

Their claim is that the government knows better than you do. They say they’re doing this for your own good. If Scotland breaks away, your children and grandchildren will suffer immeasurably as a result.

In other words, you NEED US TO TAKE CARE OF YOU. You cannot function without us being in charge of you.

The British government is spreading untold fear, paranoia, and propaganda to drive this point home, all in an effort to influence the outcome of a supposedly free and fair election.

It’s incredibly hypocritical. And the government’s desperation drives home how fragile this system really is.

They know how much weaker and impotent they’ll be if Scotland becomes independent. And they’re terrified of it.

But here’s the thing– this isn’t even the real story. The outcome of the election is irrelevant.

The real issue here is that this election is even happening at all.

Bear in mind that human nature is highly resistant to change. This is the way of the universe.

Sir Isaac Newton told us that an object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force of sufficient enough to overcome the object’s inertia.

In chemistry, activation energy is defined as the minimum energy needed to be input in order to produce a chemical reaction.

A wooden log in a fireplace doesn’t spontaneously combust. You must first add sufficient energy (heat) to the system before the wood will burn.

Until that activation energy is reached, no reaction will occur.

Humans are the same. Our natural state is to remain at rest. Overcoming our inertia is incredibly difficult. Doing so requires tremendous energy. And motivation.

The fact that millions of people in Scotland are even considering rocking the boat and radically change is very telling.

It shows there is a deep, deep dissatisfaction with the status quo. People are sick and tired of the way things are. The system has completely failed them. And they want change.

This is huge. And it’s a sign of things to come.

The dissatisfaction is growing worldwide. As I reported yesterday, the latest Gallup numbers show that only 23% of Americans are satisfied with the direction of the country.

Change is coming. And not just any change. Deep, radical change– a fundamental reset in the way we do business, the way we organize ourselves as societies, and the way we view money.

There’s tremendous opportunity for people who understand this trend and stay in front of it. And frankly I think this makes it a very exciting time to be alive.

I invite you to spend some time with me this afternoon exploring this incredibly important issue in our latest Podcast episode. (click  image for link)




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