Earlier, I wrote about a recent letter from the Justice and Education Departments demanding that the University of Montana define as a reportable “sexual harassment” offense “any” speech on sexual topics that is “unwelcome” to any listener, even if most listeners do not find it “unwelcome,” and it would not offend the “reasonable person.” This pretty obviously violates the First Amendment, as I explain here in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
War on Women
Racism comes full circle for liberals
What goes around, it is said, comes around. And liberals, their ears ever pricked for that elusive dog whistle, have become what they claim tediously often to despise. Two stories from the headlines demonstrate the alacrity with which the left have embraced the twin evils of stereotype and the politics of exclusion.
First, a headline from Mother Jones: “GOP Food Stamps Proposal Would Discriminate Against African-Americans.” The first paragraph neatly summarizes the article’s grievance:
University holds workshop on sculpting genitals from Play-doh
If there is anything positive that can be said about a workshop held at the University of Central Florida last month it is that you cannot contract gonorrhea by touching sex organs made out of Play-doh.
Campus Reform reports that the workshop was conducted by a “sex expert” (sexpert?) from a local adult toy store called Fairvilla. It is not clear what educational value is to be derived from learning to carve genitals out of modeling clay, but the event, titled “Finals? That blows,” also included a condom hunt.
Women protest giant Barbie dollhouse that ‘objectifies women’ … by stripping
Making a clean breast of it
The most optimistic reading one can lend the story is that these women are fighting fire with fire. Yahoo! News reports that women’s rights protesters in Berlin, Germany, disrupted the opening of a giant pink doll’s house — called the Barbie “Dreamhouse Experience” — claiming that it exploits women.
IRS investigated groups for teaching about the Constitution or opposing deficit spending
The IRS didn’t just investigate groups based on their perceived political views, but also targeted groups for “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights” or advocating limits on government or deficit spending, reports the Washington Post. Meanwhile, the Obama Justice Department is demanding that colleges adopt sweeping unconstitutional speech codes that ban even speech that would not offend a “reasonable person,” but only hypersensitive people, notes a prominent law professor. The Post describes the additional groups targeted by the IRS:
Obama Administration demands unconstitutional campus speech codes, defines college dating and flirting as ‘sexual harassment’
The Justice Department and the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights have now effectively defined dating and flirting as “sexual harassment,” in addition to demanding that colleges adopt unconstitutional speech codes.
The definition is found in a May 9 Title IX Letter of Findings and Resolution Agreement involving the University of Montana.
Senate resolution to prevent ‘more Gosnells’ is blocked
Even defenders of the mainstream media, which have underreported the trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, will have trouble explaining why a Senate resolution aimed at preventing future Gosnell-type atrocities was blocked Monday evening. Caroline May at The Daily Caller writes:
Native Americans offended by billboards, Catholics by naked female pope
Two separate stories on Monday from geographically remote parts of the country serve as a litmus test for the limits of the First Amendment and the bounds of taste.
First, from Greeley, Colo., comes a report of two billboards, bought and paid for by residents, that have other locals up in arms … er — unhappy.
Will undercover video of Bronx abortion clinic horrors stir the media pot?
The murder trial of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell continues to receive no more than lukewarm attention from the mainstream press — a reality acknowledged even by the New York Times’s ombudsman Margaret Sullivan on Apr. 15. In fact, Sullivan’s column was the last word the newspaper of record had on the case despite the fact that closing arguments begin today.
One of Batgirl’s characters comes out of closet: Transgendered, bisexual
Another possible sign of a hard-left cultural shift…
Proving that Batman isn’t the only DC Comics character with a little extra equipment below the belt, Batgirl has emerged from the closet, as reported by Breitbart.com.
Albeit a lesser player, Batgirl (aka Alysia Yeoh) reveals to her roommate during a rather poignant chat in Batgirl Number 19 that she’s both transgendered and bisexual.