That's Professor Hillary Clinton if you please.

Courtesy of the New York Daily News:  

Hillary Clinton is testing the waters on a return to academia. 

The former U.S. Secretary of State and presidential nominee is in talks with Columbia University to take on a formal role at the Ivy League — and potentially house her archives there, multiple sources told the Daily News. 

One option under discussion is an esteemed “University Professor” role that would allow Clinton to lecture across a range of schools and departments without the requirement of a strict course load, one source said. 

A former law professor, Clinton could maintain the vaunted but vague role indefinitely or decide at a later date she wants to settle at Columbia's celebrated law school or maybe the School of International and Public Affairs, the source said.

"It's all fluid. It could be a number of things. No decisions have been made, but there are talks,” a different source with knowledge of Clinton's thinking told The News.

"Professor Hillary Clinton," yeah I could see that. 

A lot of former government officials have already taken a similar path into academia, and she certainly has a wealth of knowledge to share.

I actually think that her husband, who President Obama once named "The Explainer-in-Chief," might be better suited to such a profession, but Hillary would be far more than competent.

I think I would personally enjoy taking a class from a woman with her vast experience, and I can only imagine how empowering it would be for young college age women to hear about her life and the lessons she has learned.

New study finds that the reason that Brexit passed is because Britain is full of uneducated morons. They needed a study for that?

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Britain would have likely voted to remain in the European Union were its population educated to a slightly higher level, a new study has found. 

Researchers at the University of Leicester say that had just 3 per cent more of the population gone to university, the UK would probably not be leaving the EU. 

The researchers looked at reasons why people voted Leave and found that whether someone had been to university or accessed other higher education was the “predominant factor” in how they voted.

The level of higher education in an area was far more important than age, gender, the number of immigrants, or income in predicting the way an area voted, the researchers found. 

Age and gender were both significant but not as important as education level, the researchers found. Income and number of immigrants in an area were not found to be a significant factor in how people voted.

You know just back about seven or eight months ago this would be the part where I would point and laugh, "Ha ha England your country is full of  idiots."

But then this happened.

Yep, no pointing and laughing for us.

Just another opportunity to reinforce the importance of improving our educational systems and in helping our children gain access to colleges and universities.

Remember, dumb people vote for dumb policies and even dumber politicians. 

Trump's Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is loudly booed during commencement speech at historically black university.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

Drawing shouts of "Liar!" and "Just go," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos powered through her commencement address Wednesday at a historically black university, even as many of the graduating students turned their backs to her in protest. 

"Let's choose to hear one another out," DeVos said, reading her prepared text in a measured tone despite continuing waves of boos, catcalls and scattered applause at Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. 

As the crowd kept trying to shout her down, university president Edison Jackson briefly took over the microphone to sternly lecture the class of 2017. 

"If this behavior continues, your degrees will be mailed to you. Choose which way you want to go," Jackson warned. 

DeVos alienated many African-Americans in February when she described historically black colleges as "real pioneers when it comes to school choice." After a storm of criticism, she acknowledged that these colleges were "born, not out of mere choice, but out of necessity, in the face of racism."

Look I am one who typically does not believe in publicly disrespecting people, or shouting over them when they are trying to speak, however the fact is that Donald Trump chose the people he chose to undermine and even damage the agencies that they now lead, and there is nothing to respect about that.

Betsy DeVos is criminally unfit for her job, and the damage she can do to the Department of Education, and the students who are still in the system is incalculable.

In light of that, she should expect to get booed and shouted down in virtually EVERY university, high school, and kindergarten class that she visits.

Ohio State conceal carry advocate shot dead. I'm just going to give up trying to fix my irony meter.

Courtesy of Slate:  

An Ohio State concealed carry activist was shot to death at his residence near campus early Thursday, authorities say. Tarak Underiner, 20, was an Ohio State undergraduate and the treasurer of a group called Buckeyes for Concealed Carry. He testified in favor of a "campus carry" bill at a state legislative hearing on Dec. 1, 2016.

 A local TV station is reporting that police found "illegal drugs and weapons" at Underiner's residence and that his death may be drug-related.

This is your brain on drugs.

This is your brain on drugs splattered all over the wall, because somebody was carrying a concealed weapon.

Any questions?

Liberty University to install nation's first on campus firing range. Jesus would be so proud.

Courtesy of Yahoo News: 

Liberty University is seeking a permit to build an on-campus shooting range, less than a year after the school’s board of trustees also approved a policy that allows students to carry concealed weapons in dorms. According to the proposal, the shooting range would be the first National Rifle Association-approved facility on a U.S. campus. 

A proposal filed earlier this week for a special use permit from the Campbell County Planning Commission states that Liberty wants to construct a “nationally recognized, full-scale shooting, training and competition center” on its Lynchburg, Va., campus. The outdoor space will include a pistol range, a rifle range, an instructional area, and a 3-gun competition range, with future plans for an indoor firing range. 

“The project was introduced to the NRA during [Executive Vice President] Wayne LaPierre’s visit to campus last spring,” Len Stevens, spokesperson for the university, told Yahoo News. “They have generously offered their expertise to help us develop it.

I'll bet they did. In fact I bet they were falling all over themselves to help set up a gun range on campus.

You may remember that it was just last year that University President Jerry Falwell Jr. was encouraging his students to conceal carry on campus, so it stands to reason that he would like his students to get a little practice in before they get stressed out and mow down a bunch of their peers.

You know I think I am going to have to go back and read that Bible again, because I totally missed the part where it said "Thou shall lock and load, and return fire until the infidel twitcheth at your feet."

Do you think that might be in Deuteronomy?  

Trump supporter Corey Lewandowski is asked how he can have so little self respect that he would support a bigot and a liar. The room erupted in laughter at his answer.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

The Oxford Union is a debating society that is located in Oxford, England, and its membership is drawn largely from the student body of the University of Oxford. While Lewandowski was speaking at the Union, members of the University of Oxford Student Union organized a protest outside, stating “fascists are not welcome here.” 

Lewandowski was asked by one young woman how he had so little self-respect that you can stand here and defend a candidate who’s not only a bigot, but a liar who doesn’t have the courtesy to follow through,” leading to the former CNN political commentator to provide the following answer. 

"Well, the good news is I’m seated doing that, so I don’t have to stand, so I appreciate that. But here’s what it comes down to: Mexico will pay for the wall, and it’s very simple."

At that of course the students began to laugh out loud, which is the response that you would expect from any person intelligent enough to be attending university.

You will also notice that he never actually answered her question about his self respect, probably because he does not possess any.

Let's face it if you are a Trump supporter you are either as dumb as a box of rocks, a racist POS, or you are being financially compensated for your loyalty.

I would imagine that Lewandowski falls into that last category, but I would not be surprised to learn that the other two pertain to him as well.

P.S. By the way the entire Q &A was stomach churning which you can see for yourself by clicking here.

Students walk out, start arguing, after Texas professor informs them that they are all descended from Africa. Update!

My Professor just said all living ppl are descendants from Africa and ppl got up and walked out and now their arguing 💀💀💀 pic.twitter.com/TNj6EDmybv

— Aj (@amvrion) October 18, 2016

Courtesy of The Tab:  

Some Texas State University students in Dr. McGee’s Cultural Anthropology class left the lecture hall after he said in a lesson that all living people originated in Africa. As the exiting white students left the classroom, some remaining in class reportedly called after them, “Black Lives Matter.” 

The lecture started out with a message from the professor that the day’s class would be a lesson on race and it would be particularly interesting so everyone should listen, said Justine Lundy, 20. The professor began talking about the Black Lives Matter movement and how it had come about before stating that all living beings descended from east Africa. 

“It was dead silent,” Lundy said, before a student retorted with a “sarcastic ‘sure.'”

At that point, students began to leave the class. A few disagreeing students who didn’t leave the classroom in a huff stayed behind to argue with each other. 

“A lot of people left,” said class attendee Karene Taylor, 19. “It was embarrassing.”

Of course the professor is right, but you can understand the frustration of some the students.

After all it is so much harder to hate a group of people once you learn that you are all related.

Besides how dare this professor not recognize what these students surely know to be the absolute and undeniable truth. Which is that the first people came from the Garden of Eden and that women are made out of an old rib that Adam was not really using anymore.

Pfft, and he calls himself a "professor."

Update: Snopes is not denying that a walk out took place, only that it was on a smaller scale than indicated by the original article. 

Still worthy of discussion in my opinion.

Once again California leads the way. This time on researching gun violence.

Courtesy of The Week:

Despite the fact that the United States has a very, very high rate of gun deaths compared to other developed countries, we actually know very little about the public-health threat posed by firearms. That's because Congress, working closely with the NRA, passed legislation in the 1990s barring the Centers for Disease control from spending money on any research that could be seen as pro-gun-control, and the CDC has interpreted this ban in a broad manner — the NRA's maneuvering has effectively choked off decades of would-be new research on an area of huge public importance. 

This has been a very big deal: There is a ton of stuff we don't know about the public-health impact of guns that we would know were it not for Congress and the NRA. But now, there's some welcome news out of California that will chip away at this knowledge deficit: The University of California, Davis, is launching the first-ever state-funded center on the study of gun violence. 

The center, notes a UC Davis press release, "will build on unique resources already in place at UC Davis for conducting transformative violence-prevention research and draw on the power of other UC campuses and beyond to provide the scientific evidence that informs the development of effective prevention policies and programs." It will be run by Dr. Garen Wintemute, an emergency physician and gun-violence expert who has spent $1 million of his own money on this sort of research, and who heads UC Davis' Violence Prevention and Research Program, or VPRP. California will be footing the bill — it has set aside $5 million to launch the center.

As with so many things, LGBT rights, moving towards renewable resources, innovative technologies, a lot of progressive policies and products seem to spring from California.

And here they are again starting a research project that will do what the government really should have been doing all along, and that is studying gun violence and its impact on the country and its citizens.

You would think that this would be the kind of research that the NRA and 2nd Amendment folks would rally around in order to get access to the best information available.

However I think we all know that will not happen because they already know that the findings will not support their bullshit about the importance of having more guns in the hands of more Americans.

Now even members of Congress are calling for the removal of Judge Aaron Persky.

Judge Aaron Persky

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Members of Congress are joining a growing chorus of people demanding the removal of the judge who handed down a six-month jail sentence to a former Stanford University student who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman. 

Over 1 million people signed a petition on Change.org asking the California legislature to start impeachment proceedings for Aaron Persky, the judge in the case. Meanwhile, more than 1 million people have signed separate petitions circulated by UltraViolet and MoveOn.org to ask the California Commission on Judicial Performance to remove Persky from the bench. Organizers spoke with with sexual assault survivors in San Francisco on Friday afternoon. 

As the petitions continue to rack up signatures, prospective jurors are also boycotting serving under Judge Aaron Persky, and elected federal officials are adding their support that Persky lose his job. 

Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California who sponsored legislation to reform how sexual assaults are handled on college campuses, told The Huffington Post this week that Persky should quit. 

“I think he should resign,” Speier said. She added, however, that it’s “a decision for the voters of Santa Clara County to make.”

Of course this is just the latest news in a case that has almost completely taken over social media outlets.

Just in case you have been living in a cave and do not know the story, a Stanford University student, assaulted a female student on the ground outside of a frat party

During the trial the victim read an incredibly personal and heart churning statement to the court: 

On January 17th, 2015, it was a quiet Saturday night at home. My dad made some dinner and I sat at the table with my younger sister who was visiting for the weekend. I was working full time and it was approaching my bed time. I planned to stay at home by myself, watch some TV and read, while she went to a party with her friends. Then, I decided it was my only night with her, I had nothing better to do, so why not, there’s a dumb party ten minutes from my house, I would go, dance like a fool, and embarrass my younger sister. On the way there, I joked that undergrad guys would have braces. My sister teased me for wearing a beige cardigan to a frat party like a librarian. I called myself “big mama”, because I knew I’d be the oldest one there. I made silly faces, let my guard down, and drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college. 

The next thing I remember I was in a gurney in a hallway. I had dried blood and bandages on the backs of my hands and elbow. I thought maybe I had fallen and was in an admin office on campus. I was very calm and wondering where my sister was. A deputy explained I had been assaulted. I still remained calm, assured he was speaking to the wrong person. I knew no one at this party. When I was finally allowed to use the restroom, I pulled down the hospital pants they had given me, went to pull down my underwear, and felt nothing. I still remember the feeling of my hands touching my skin and grabbing nothing. I looked down and there was nothing. The thin piece of fabric, the only thing between my vagina and anything else, was missing and everything inside me was silenced. I still don’t have words for that feeling. In order to keep breathing, I thought maybe the policemen used scissors to cut them off for evidence.

Despite the fact that the statement left the courtroom in tears, the Judge Aaron Persky, a former student at Stanford himself,  only gave the attacker, Brock Turner, a six month sentence because "A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him."

Brock Turner

As you might imagine outrage has been sweeping the nation ever since, and it is only growing in intensity, and will likely see this judge lose his job.

Which seems more than fair.

Just yesterday the Daily Mail revealed that not only did this Brock Turner drug and rape this young woman, he also sent nude pictures of her to his friends:Stanford rapist Brock Turner sent a photo of his victim's breasts to friends after the attack outside a frat house party.

To be honest since this was receiving so much attention I was going to take a pass on covering it.

But the more I read, the angrier I became, and I eventually realized that it is a story that really everybody needs to publicize in order to help send a message to punk kids like this Brock Turner, and incompetent judges like this Aaron Persky, that the world is watching you.

And that world demands justice.

The return of the Graveyard of the Gods at the University of Wisconsin. A Halloween tradition.

Source

Courtesy of The Friendly Atheist:  

As they do every year, the Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison put together a fantastic “Graveyard of the Gods,” reminding students of all the deities who were worshiped, believed in, and eventually forgotten. 

The purpose is to get students thinking about when their God will join the ranks of the dead.

I hear there are still plots open for any new additions. 

Yesterday President Obama visited Oregon to meet with the survivors and family of the victims of that shooting last week. And yes there were protesters.

Courtesy of CNN: 

A week after a gunman killed nine people and himself at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, President Barack Obama met with survivors and grieving families behind closed doors on Friday. 

"There are gonna be moments as we go forward where we're gonna have to come together and figure out how do we stop things like this from happening," Obama said in brief remarks after meeting with families. "I've got very strong feelings about this because when you talk to the families you are reminded this could be your child ... or your mom or your dad or your relative or your friend." 

Even before the President set foot in Oregon on Friday, news broke of two other campus shootings — leaving one dead and three wounded at Northern Arizona University, as well as one dead in an apartment complex near Texas Southern University.

This was the President's attempt to express his sorrow at these seemingly constant tragedies and to reinforce his commitment to getting something done about it.

So as you might imagine the Ammosexuals responded aggressively:  

Gun-toting protesters gathered on Friday morning to await President Obama's arrival in Roseburg, Ore., where he planned to meet with the families of victims of last week's mass shooting at Umpqua Community College. 

But local residents planned to protest Obama's visit, saying he rushed to "politicize" the tragedy by pushing a gun control agenda. 

"My family, my friends, everybody down here is not happy about him coming," Michelle Finn, a Umpqua alumna and Roseburg native, told the Oregonian. "He already says he's going to politicize this — he's already going to push his agenda."

Yes he is going to politicize this because it is through politics that gun laws are beefed up.

We had three different shootings on three different college campuses yesterday, leaving nine injured and two dead. And yet people are blaming everything except the easy access to firearms.

At this point there does not seem to be any middle ground for reasoning with these people.

Update: It looks like Obama is considering doing something on his own about background checks, without involving the Republicans.

Hell why not? It's not like they could hate him any more.

Another shooting today. How many days has it been since the last one? Update!

Courtesy of HuffPo:

A shooter opened fire on Friday at Northern Arizona University's Flagstaff campus, the school said. One person was killed and three people were injured.

The HuffPo article reveals the name of the shooter, but in deference to my President's new executive order forbidding the media from revealing  the names of future shooting suspects, I will leave it off this post. (It appears that this link might be a parody site. Perhaps if I had been in such a hurry to finish this post so that I could leave for the movies I might have caught that. Oh well everybody has an off day.)

I am not technically "the media," and I don't always follow the rules, but I happen to agree with this one wholeheartedly.

Isn't it interesting that as you read this story you feel a sense of relief that only ONE person was killed?

We have become to desensitized to senseless murder that our reaction to the death of one person seems barely worth acknowledging.

And that should depress all of us.

Update: Oops it looks like I spoke too soon there was another one today as well, and this one had two victims shot by three suspects at Texas University.

Update 2: And there was yet another one an Arizona campus, this one had four shot one fatally. 

Multiple campus shootings in the same day. I guess THAT is what we've come to.

Suspect in Mississippi university shooting takes his own life. Motive for shooting may have been jealousy.

Mississippi shooter Shannon Lamb.

Courtesy of Fox News: 

An instructor at Mississippi's Delta State University suspected of killing the woman he lived with and a colleague -- possibly as the result of a love triangle -- died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound late Monday, authorities said. 

Local media, citing the Washington County Sheriff's office and other agencies, reported that Shannon Lamb, 45, was being chased by police in his black Dodge Avenger on Highway 1 near Greenville when he pulled the car over, bailed out on foot, and ran into some woods along the side of the road. Lamb had earlier spoken to police, telling them "he's not going to jail." 

Delta State University police chief Lynn Buford told the Associated Press that the pursuing officers heard a single gunshot before finding Lamb wounded. The suspect was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

....

Police believe that hours before Lamb shot and killed Schmidt, he murdered his domestic partner, 41-year-old Amy Prentiss, at the home the couple shared in Gautier, Miss., approximately 300 miles from Delta State's campus in Cleveland. 

Lamb, a geography and social science education instructor, allegedly believed Prentiss was also in a relationship with Schmidt. However, authorities early Tuesday declined to formally identify a motive for the crimes.

I said in an earlier post that the majority of the shootings that take place in this country have NOTHING to do with self defense and are usually the result of depression or anger.

However I obviously left out one motivation...jealousy.

These shootings were not due to mental illness as so many pro-gun folks would have us believe.

They were carried out by an intelligent, well educated individual who was temporarily unable to deal with his emotions.

Without an available weapon this would likely have been a case of one man punching another in the face. Everybody would have lived to someday put the incident behind them.

But when guns are readily available all it takes is one bad day, one bad hour, one bad minute, and everything changes forever.

Shooting at Mississippi university leaves one professor dead and one active shooter still at large. Update!

Professor Ethan A. Schmidt

Courtesy of Yahoo News:  

A professor was shot and killed on Monday at Delta State University in Mississippi, a county coroner said, and the school remained locked down as authorities searched for a possible active shooter on campus. 

The university, located in Cleveland, Mississippi, confirmed the fatality on its Twitter account and asked those on campus to stay inside and away from windows. 

The shooter remains at-large, the Bolivar County Sheriff's Department said, adding it had no immediate description of any possible suspect.

Here is more from NBC News:

Bolivar County Deputy Coroner Ted Ray identified the victim as Dr. Ethan Schmidt. The school's website lists Schmidt as a professor of American history.

I have been watching this for much of the morning. So far no motive has been identified, and the identity of the shooter remains unknown.

I will update as more information becomes available.

Update: Okay now we are learning that there is another victim linked to the shooter, and that she works at the university as well.

Update 2: They now have a suspect.

Son confronts father and father's bimbo about their affair on video. As it turns out father is, sorry was, president of Baptist college.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

The footage starts with the man identified as Paul Epting pointing the camera at himself and saying, “Here we go. It might be a bad day” before entering a house by unlocking what the News called a rear door. 

“Oh, hey buddy” Jimmy Epting says, only for Paul to reply, “What are you doing, Dad?” 

Paul then walks into a bathroom, asking, “Where is she?” before confronting the woman and asking “What are y’all doing? What are you doing?”

Jimmy Epting is seen coming into the bathroom, before Paul says, “No, no, I know exactly what you’re doing. Why? It’s over, dad. It’s over.”

The footage reached the attention of  the North Greenville University leaders who did not take kindly to learning that the president of their university was a sleazebag:

In the statement released Thursday afternoon by the school’s board of trustees, Chairwoman Beverly Hawkins said, “North Greenville University’s leaders are expected to lead Christ-centered lives and abide by all campus policies and procedures.” 

“The administration and faculty on campus today reflect our legal, moral and ethical expectations. We take our responsibilities as leaders of a Christian institution seriously and hold each member of our community to the highest of standards,” the statement said.

As it turns out Epting has been the president of Greenville university for 24 years.

You know until he got caught with his pants down.

Literally.

You considering what we have learned from years of watching evangelicals fall from grace, the Ashley Madison hack causing pastors to scramble like headless chickens, and this video outing a Christian university professor wetting his wick, one might tend to think that the folks who talk the most about morality are the people the least likely to be practice that self same morality themselves.

But that can't be true? Can it?

Unmarried female professor asks for maternity leave, instead told to marry the father, break up with him, or risk losing her job.

Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal: 

A former instructor at a Christian university in Oregon is taking the school to court after it allegedly fired her for planning to have a baby out of wedlock. 

Coty Richardson was working as an exercise science teacher at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Ore., when she notified school officials that she was due to give birth in November and wanted to know if her maternity leave would create scheduling conflicts. 

She claims in a lawsuit filed in state court on Tuesday that the school’s administration told her that her lifestyle was inconsistent with the university’s “faith-based standards.” She was given a choice: If she wanted to keep her job, she would either have to break up with the father or marry him. 

Ms. Richardson, who is 35, said in her complaint she was “mortified and crushed” by the ultimatum and “refused to cut ties with the father of her child and her partner of twelve years.”

The university gave her a week to make up her mind. 

So to be clear this woman was given a choice to marry her partner of twelve years (Probably some very personal reason why that has not happened yet.) or leave his ass which would make her the sole breadwinner left to support herself and her newborn child.

Or, on the other hand, lose her position at the University which would leave her as an expectant mother going on a job hunt in an economy where those jobs are not exactly easy to find.

And yet the people who run this school without a doubt consider themselves to be pro-life.

Usually I am adamantly against teaching Creationism in a science classroom, but if you follow this professor's approach it might just be a good thing.

 Canadian University Professor P. Lynne Honey has an interesting method for introducing Creationism to their students.

Here is how she does it: 

"When I began teaching I did not teach creationism, as I focused instead on my areas of expertise. Over time it became clear that students had questions about creationism, and did not understand the difference between a scientific approach to knowledge and non-scientific approaches. This led me to wonder whether ignoring supernatural views allowed them to remain as viable ‘alternatives’ to scientific hypotheses in the minds of students... I began to explain creationism in my classes, and to model the scientific thought process that leads to a rejection of creationism." 

Honey's methods, which she has refined over many years, are simple, yet powerful: 

"Creationism is presented as a sociopolitical controversy rather than a scientific controversy. I emphasize that there is no question about the validity of evolution as an explanatory model, and I present creationism as a political or ‘denialist’ movement rather than a competing theory with its own strengths and evidence. I then present several common assertions from creationism (e.g., that there are no transitional fossils), and refute them using scientific evidence. At the same time, I explain several of the common logical fallacies that are evident in creationist arguments. I encourage students to ask questions, and force me to defend my statements. I then ask them to attempt to generate hypotheses and tests of creationism. Their struggles with this task lead them, logically, to the conclusion that many creationist assertions are unfalsifiable and therefore nonscientific."

Brilliant, and yet incredibly obvious if you think about it. 

If you introduce Creationism as just another scientific theory and then expose it to scrutiny and watch it fall apart.

Of course unfortunately this might work well in a university setting but perhaps not so well in an elementary or high school science classroom, which of course is where the Creationist insist that this should be taught.

Because let's face it, they know full well that indoctrination works best when the subject is young and full of trust.

Woman takes flag from protesters because she feels they are desecrating it, then fights with police who try to return it. Update!

Courtesy of The Valedosta Daily Times: 

A military veteran was detained but not charged by Valdosta State University police after she approached a group of protesters on campus who were walking on an American flag and took it from them. 

Michelle Manhart, an Air Force veteran, said she was not planning to take the flag from the group, but she had heard about the group’s recent campus demonstrations and wanted to take action. 

“I did not want anything like this, but I got a call from a student who told me that the flag was on the ground, and they were walking on it,” said Manhart. “I was just going over there to pick up the flag off the ground. I don’t know what their cause is, but I went to pick it up because it doesn’t deserve to be on the ground.” 

Manhart said she was taken into custody by VSU police officers who then returned the flag to the demonstrators. She admitted to The Valdosta Daily Times that she resisted arrest after seeing the flag being returned. 

The group reportedly declined to press charges against Manhart. The officers attempting to detain her also declined to press charges for resisting.

The minute I saw the video up above I thought, "publicity stunt."

And I think my instincts are probably right, because as it turns out this "military veteran" is also a former Playboy model.

She is already getting quite a bit of coverage, and I have little doubt that Fox News is reaching out to her right now.

Like I said I highly doubt that her response to the protesters was fueled by patriotism, but if somebody was offended by what they saw the proper thing to do would be to file a complaint or even respectfully express your feelings to the protesters themselves.

But stealing the flag from them and then fighting with the cops who are simply trying to defuse the situation is ridiculous.

But like I said it will play well with the Fox News crowd who will undoubtedly be sufficiently outraged.

(H/T to Raw Story.)

Update: Well it looks as it Manhart has a history of disrespecting the flag, and her uniform, as well:  

Manhart, a sergeant in the Air Force at the time, appeared in Playboy in 2007, posing in uniform, out of uniform and while draped with the American flag. She was reprimanded and demoted and quit the military the next year.

Can you say "hypocrisy?"

University of Michigan cancels showing of "American Sniper" after 300 sign letter of protest. Update: I spoke too soon.

Courtesy of The College Fix:  

A scheduled movie screening of “American Sniper” at the University of Michigan was abruptly cancelled Tuesday after nearly 300 students and others complained the film perpetuates “negative and misleading stereotypes” against Muslims. 

“The movie American Sniper not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim … rhetoric and sympathizes with a mass killer,” according to an online letter circulated among the campus community via Google Docs that garnered the signatures. 

The signers were mostly students, but also some staff, as well as the Muslim Students’ Association and the president of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, a Palestinian solidarity group at UMich. 

The online memo, titled a “collective letter from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Muslim students on campus,” accused the public university of “tolerating dangerous anti-Muslim and anti-MENA propaganda” by showing the movie, the highest grossing film of 2014. 

It follows U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, who served four combat tours in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was awarded two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, two Navy and Marine Corp Achievement Medals, and one Navy and Marine Corps commendation, according to his official Facebook page. But the protestors see him differently. 

“Chris Kyle was a racist who took a disturbing stance on murdering Iraqi civilians,” the collective letter stated. “Middle Eastern characters in the film are not lent an ounce of humanity and watching this movie is provocative and unsafe to MENA and Muslim CollectiveLetter students who are too often reminded of how little the media and world values their lives. … The University of Michigan should not participate in further perpetuating these negative and misleading stereotypes.”

No wonder the Right Wing is always attacking institutions of higher learning, apparently these students are learning empathy and respect for people who are different from them and living in other countries.

How un-American of them.

Update: Well it looks like football trumps empathy at the University of Michigan. 

Michigan Football will watch "American Sniper"! Proud of Chris Kyle & Proud to be an American & if that offends anybody then so be it!
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) April 9, 2015

That tweet was from Michigan's head football coach Jim Harbaugh. And that seems to have changed everything: 

Shortly after that tweet was posted, the school announced they had backtracked on their original stance and will allow the film to be shown as scheduled. 

The school put out a statement at 10:45 Wednesday night announcing the decision. 

"The initial decision to cancel the movie was not consistent with the high value the University of Michigan places on freedom of expression and our respect for the right of students to make their own choices in such matters."

Well that is more than a little disappointing. 

James Carville apologizes for calling Grover Norquist "pond scum." Well kinda.

So a couple of days ago James Carville wrote a letter to the editor of The Daily Reveille, the Louisiana State university's student newspaper.

Here is what he wrote: 

The news from the Governor’s office and the State Legislature has attained a level of buffoonery and comedy before unseen; in a state with a long history of both. Our beloved university is being systematically dismantled and as a result of our Governor and a significant portion of our Legislature (twenty-six) pledging allegiance to a Washington lobbyist with the long history of shady dealings. Your future earnings and the quality of your education is being adversely affected by the fact that a pledge was signed to a Washington operator by the name of Grover Norquist that under no conditions could taxes be raised. 

Three things you need to know about Grover Norquist: 

1-The anti-tax fanatic founded Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 and his shady dealings was linked by a congressional committee to Jack Abramoff. 

 2-Norquist was described by fellow conservative, Tucker Carlson, as a, “cash-addled, morally malleable lobbyist.” Norquist is the human equivalent of pond scum. He was a fellow traveler of pond scumite Abramoff and according to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, Norquist’s organization served as a “conduit” for funds from Abramoff’s clients and conservative lobbying campaigns. 

 3. Our elected officials have allowed him to become the most powerful person in our state. Proposed legislation is routinely sent to him by the Governor to seek his approval. Trust me its true. 

Now for the comedy part, the Governor and Legislature constantly refer to how can they maintain their purity, or as it is sometimes referred to, their “tax virginity.” You have to be kidding me. This reminds me of two over-sexed teenagers dry humping in a backseat of car parked behind a levee wondering how far they can go while maintaining their purity or virginity. We are literally at the mercy of buffoons and comedians. While they’re humping, our university burns. Our only recourse is to stand up and fight for ourselves. Geaux Tigers. 

James Carville 
Political consultant, political science professor of practice 
Tulane University

Apparently after writing that Carville received quite a lot of blowback from outraged conservatives over the fact that he called Grover Norquist "pond scum."

This was his response:

"Since the publication of my Letter to the Editor yesterday, I have received a considerable amount of comments on my comparison of Grover Norquist to pond scum. As someone who has spent so much time in the public square, I understand how words and characterizations can be hurtful and unfair to those involved in the comparisons. After prayer and deep reflection and consultation with my spiritual and ethical mentors I am forced to take a step I rarely approach in my public life and that is to apologize to- pond scum."

I am not always in agreement with Carville, but considering the damage that Norquist has done to this country due to his ridiculous "no raising taxes" pledge,  I agree that pond scum should be angered at the comparison.