So much for fairness
A candidate for Student Council president at the University of Virginia has been called "unsuited" to serve because of her support for President Donald Trump, according to Campus Reform.
A letter from "Concerned Students at UVA" to the university community suggested students not vote for Kelsey Kilgore because, based mainly on her support of the president, she "maintains views that are detrimental to the interests of minority students." It says she has failed to adequately address her support for the president and how his policies put marginalized communities personally at risk.
Why the view of a student council president on the U.S. president is relevant is the $1 million question.
"We are very disappointed (yet not surprised) that some of our peers seem to believe being a Republican is a demerit equivalent to inexperience and questionable campaign financing," a message from the College Republicans said of the incident.
Member Ryan Wilson went further.
It is "truly unbelievable," he said, "that we've reached a point where private support for the president of the United States is somehow made out to be a disqualifying view in a student election."
Life for a life message
Members of a Carmel (Ind.) High School pro-life club spent more than 25 hours last fall painting a poster display that exhorted adoption, but when one student complained, the poster was ripped down and thrown away by school officials without any consultation with the club.
Now, months later, after representation from the Liberty Counsel, the club has a new poster on the cafeteria wall that will be allowed to hang for 10 consecutive school days.
Upon the complaint, the gutless school officials said the poster expressed an "ideology" and was "not approved for display." The poster, however, had been approved, bore approval stamps on its multiple parts and complied to the letter with sign guidelines.
Further, administrators said club signs were not permitted to "interfere with what folks are thinking or feeling comfortable with." However, signs permitting ideologies such as pro-LGBT and pro-Young Democrats were allowed.
"Carmel High School officials engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination and undoubtedly violated the Carmel Teens for Life members' free speech by throwing away their sign," said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. "Not only did they censor protected speech, they threatened students with retaliation if they sought legal counsel. The school officials were clearly wrong in this case. We hope the school officials will now respect the free-speech rights of Carmel Teens for Life. Liberty Counsel stands ready to defend the students in the event they don't."
He went there
CNN's Chris Cuomo put his foot in his mouth over the gender bathroom issue last week, and he may never hear the end of it - not that he should.
Angered over a tweet that raised the issue of a 12-year-old girl seeing a grown man's private parts, he tweeted, "i wonder if she is the problem or her overprotective intolerant dad? teach tolerance."
That was the beginning. Hours later, he was still having to tweet responses to those who understandably assumed he was saying such a scenario was OK, the girl shouldn't have any problem with it, and her father shouldn't be concerned.
The discussion arose when President Trump reversed former President Obama's months-old federal pronouncement that transgendered persons could use whatever bathroom matched their current gender identity. Trump's move returned it to a state decision, where it should have been left in the first place.
Cuomo was called sick, a pervert, someone who lacked decency and worse.
Among his many responses: "The parent is saying if his daughter is offended and I am saying that he is the issue not her"; "No one is saying you must embrace LGTBQ. you have every right to say you disapprove but equal protection is not only about what you like"; and "My point was dead clear. This isn't about a scared girl. It is about an overprotective parent who is afraid without basis. Don't twist it."
He could tweet a dozen more explanations, but he's trying to defend a policy most people think is indefensible.
Obama for president
It might be the most appropriate match ever - Barack Obama as the president of France. A group of French left-wingers on the website OBAMA17 is trying to get 1 million signatures of people who'd like to see such an occurrence. Alas, French law says its presidential candidates must be natives.
Fortunately, similar to the U.S. in the November elections, the French electorate is turning away from Obama types. Polls in both France and Germany show that right-wing parties and candidates could be ready to win big victories this year.
Meanwhile, the website suggests: "At a time when France is about to vote massively for the extreme right, we can still give a lesson of democracy to the planet by electing a French President, a foreigner. [It's] because he has the best resume in the world."
Let's see: a weakened democracy, open borders, a poor economy. Actually, Obama would be perfect if there just weren't that law.