Thursday, March 3, 2016

College President Cartoon


Oberlin College president appears to defend controversial professor in letter

Birds of a feather flock together.

The head of a prestigious Ohio school appeared to have defended a professor whose Facebook posts blaming Israel and Jews for everything from 9/11 to the creation of ISIS created an uproar earlier this week.
Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov said in a letter to the college community Wednesday that professor Joy Karega’s posts on social media affected him on a personal level and also challenged his professional beliefs, according to The Chronicle-Telegram.
“I am a practicing Jew, grandson of an Orthodox rabbi. Members of our family were murdered in the Holocaust,” Krislov wrote. “As someone who has studied history, I cannot comprehend how any person could or would question its existence, its horrors and the evil which caused it. I feel the same way about anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Regardless of the reason for spreading these materials, they cause pain for many people — members of our community and beyond.”
He didn’t mention Karega’s name in the letter, but said backing the right to freedom of speech was parallel to the college’s mission.
“Cultivating academic freedom can be difficult and at times painful for any college community. The principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech are not just principles to which we turn to face these challenges, but also the very practices that ensure we can develop meaningful responses to prejudice.
“This freedom enables Oberlin’s faculty and students to think deeply about and to engage in frank, open discussion of ideas that some may find deeply offensive. Those discussions — in classrooms, residence halls, libraries, and across our campus and town — take place every day here. They are a vital part of the important work of liberal arts education at Oberlin and in our country,” he added.
Karega is an assistant professor of “rhetoric and composition” at Oberlin College. She claimed on social media that the Jewish state secretly planned the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and that Mossad, Israel’s national security agency, former Islamic State.
Critics argued that Karega needed to be fired immediately.
“This is the worst kind of anti-Semitic rhetoric,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center, an Israeli-based civil rights organization. "It is not acceptable for the dean to hide behind academic freedom and claim this is freedom of speech.
“She (Karega) is not a tenured professor," she added. "She needs to be thrown off campus immediately.”
Karega received her Ph.D. from the University of Louisville in 2014. She said in a statement on her Facebook page, that she will use the push back she’s received for material for her new book. She also criticized the “anti-Semitism call-out culture.”
“… I can generate articles for days on what I can describe as "antisemitism call-out culture" and some of its accompanying practices. I don't have to tell some of you that these recent activities in my own professional life have handed me a LARGE body of data (emails, voicemail messages, tweets, Facebook inbox messages, etc.) that will shed light on and provide insight into how and to what extent anti-Blackness rhetorics show up in “anti-Semitic call-out culture and practices,” she wrote.

Trump unveils seven-point healthcare reform plan


Nearly one week after Sen. Marco Rubio skewered businessman Donald Trump on his healthcare reform plan, the Republican frontrunner Wednesday released his seven-point plan to repeal Obamacare and implement his own policy.
Trump posted the plan on his website. It slammed the Affordable Health Care Act, saying it has “tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and few choices.”
He assured voters that his policy "will broaden healthcare, make healthcare more affordable and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans.”
Trump offers several reforms in his healthcare plan and urges Congress to act. He also vows to restore Americans’ faith in the government and economic liberty to the people.
The first thing Trump touches on in his outline is to eliminate the individual mandate. Trump says no one should be required to buy health insurance if they don’t want to.
As he touched on in the last GOP debate while he was arguing with Rubio, Trump wants to modify a law that inhibits the sale of health insurance across state lines. By doing that, he says, will allow full competition in the market and “consumer satisfaction will go up.”
The third bullet point calls for individuals to deduct insurance premium payments from their tax returns under the current tax system.
“As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance. We must review basic options for Medicaid and work with states to ensure that those who want healthcare coverage can have it,” Trump added.
His fourth bullet point focuses on young individuals who can afford high-deductible insurance plans. He introduces Health Savings Accounts or HSAs.
“These funds can be used by any member of a family without penalty. The flexibility and security provided by HSAs will be of great benefit to all who participate.”
Trump wants “price transparency from all healthcare providers.” He says individuals should be able to shop around for the best prices for any sort of procedures, exams or checkups.
The sixth bullet point says state governments can manage the administration of Medicaid to residents without the “fear of federal overhead.” Under Trump’s plan states will receive incentives to eliminate fraud and waste.
In the final bullet, Trump calls on Congress to step away from special interests and “do what is right for America.” He wants to remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug companies that offer safe and affordable products.
Further, Trump also touches on illegal immigration and said that offering healthcare to illegal immigrants costs the U.S. $11 billion per year. He said if the immigration laws were enforced, “we could relive healthcare cost pressures on state and local governments.”
Reforming Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program and mental health programs are also on Trump’s to-do list as president.

Report: Clinton campaign 'reminded' of election law after Bill strolls into polls


The Clinton campaign was “reminded” of Massachusetts election laws Tuesday after the former president wandered into a Boston school and began shaking hands with voters and polling workers.
According to The Boston Globe, Bill Clinton strolled into the Holy Name Parish School in West Roxbury alongside Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. But state law restricts electioneering (soliciting for or against any person, party or ballot question) within 150 feet of a polling place.
A video shows Clinton shaking hands inside the school gym where the voting was taking place, and reports say he was glad-handing everyone -- even kissing an old woman on the head - and stopped at a bake sale near the entrance and bought a cup of coffee. At one point, according to MassLive.com, he was asked by a woman inside to pose for a picture.
“As long as we’re not violating any election laws,” he said. The report said he spent 45 minutes at the West Roxbury location. It was one of several stops he made in Massachusetts, where his wife was locked in a Super Tuesday primary battle with opponent Bernie Sanders. Massachusetts is one state where the Vermont senator has given the former first lady a fight, according to the polls.
MassLive.com said Bill Clinton did not take press questions, nor did he appear to mention the election. At one point a woman told the former president that she had voted for Republican Ted Cruz, but that her 98-year-old mother voted for Hillary Clinton. He then took a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote the mother a note.
While the Boston Globe confirmed with the Secretary of State’s office that the campaign had been “reminded” of the 150-foot rule, it was not clear when or where the reminder took place.
When asked by by Fox News whether the ex-president was violating election rules, a spokesman for Secretary of State Brian McNiff said simply, “I don't know. He was just in there shaking hands and there's no law against that."
He did mention that there were problems with traffic being obstructed and "quite a crowd in New Bedford" when Clinton stopped there earlier, but it did not shut down the polls.

DOJ reportedly grants immunity to former State Dept staffer in Clinton email probe


The Justice Department has reportedly granted immunity to a former State Department staffer who worked on Hillary Clinton’s private email server.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official told The Washington Post on Wednesday that the FBI secured the cooperation of Bryan Pagliano, who worked on Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the private server at her New York home in 2009.
Current and former agents told the newspaper that agents will likely want to interview Clinton and her senior aides about the decision to use a private server, and whether any of the participants knew they were sending classified information in emails as part of the ongoing investigation.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called the latest developments on the Clinton investigation "ominous" in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly on "The Kelly File," and that it meant the process was moving to "a whole other level." "That suggests the legal jeopardy is getting greater and greater," he said Wednesday.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday in an interview with Fox News that the Justice Department has no deadline for concluding the Clinton email investigation and that it’s being handled “like any other review,” even with the presidential election just months away.
Lynch said on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the investigation is being handled by the agency’s “career independent lawyers” and that they will “review the facts and the evidence and make a determination in due course.”
Lynch, nominated by President Obama to the attorney general post in 2014, also said the agency would look “efficiently, fairly, thoroughly, without any kind of artificial deadline” into whether Clinton broke any laws as secretary of state by using a private email server for official communications.
Lynch was steadfast in declining to discuss specifics about the Clinton case -- including whether Clinton has been interviewed, if a grand jury had been convened, which departments within the agency are involved and whether she would ultimately decide whether the case will go forward.
“We handle it in the same way, and that's what I'd like to convey to the American people,” she said. “We owe it to the citizens and we owe it to anybody who may be involved in the matter.”
She also declined to comment on Clinton's then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills maintaining her top secret security clearance despite sending information that's now being classified to the Clinton Foundation.
"That suggests the legal jeopardy is getting greater and greater," he said Wednesday.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Monday in an interview with Fox News that the Justice Department has no deadline for concluding the Clinton email investigation and that it’s being handled “like any other review,” even with the presidential election just months away.
Lynch said on "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the investigation is being handled by the agency’s “career independent lawyers” and that they will “review the facts and the evidence and make a determination in due course.”
Lynch, nominated by President Obama to the attorney general post in 2014, also said the agency would look “efficiently, fairly, thoroughly, without any kind of artificial deadline” into whether Clinton broke any laws as secretary of state by using a private email server for official communications.
Lynch was steadfast in declining to discuss specifics about the Clinton case -- including whether Clinton has been interviewed, if a grand jury had been convened, which departments within the agency are involved and whether she would ultimately decide whether the case will go forward.
“We handle it in the same way, and that's what I'd like to convey to the American people,” she said. “We owe it to the citizens and we owe it to anybody who may be involved in the matter.”
She also declined to comment on Clinton's then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills maintaining her top secret security clearance despite sending information that's now being classified to the Clinton Foundation.

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