Nikki Haley got 21% of the vote yesterday in Indiana. Ironically, she's a more successful presidential candidate out of the race than she was when she was in it...

And so my 34th year as a full time university teacher — 30 of them at ISU — has come to an end.

Oh the things I could tell that young whippersnapper who first walked into a classroom at the University of Alabama-Huntsville in Fall 1990.

But knowing myself at that time, I probably wouldn’t have listened.

A staggeringly large amount of political news coverage consists of reporters trying to get politicians to say a specific set of words, politicians refusing to do so, and then the reporters throwing their hands in the air, frustrated that the politician didn’t say the exact words the reporter wanted them to say…. All while the politician’s supporters know exactly what was meant. The only people afraid to tell the truth are the reporters who insist that only one specific set of words “counts” as “news.”

Dear students:

I appreciate that in your ideal world you are adults when it comes to choices/opportunities/freedom, but children protected from consequences when it comes to results of the adult decisions you make.

I appreciate that a substantial amount of the university's architecture has been built to sustain this childlike state of being, an infrastructure created to ensure your retention (and thus your tuition), or to address the endless claims of mental health stress, or other dynamics that shape student life today.

But I am more an adult/adult kind of person. If you're an adult on one side of the ledger, you're an adult on the other side of the ledger.

Just fyi.

"Going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction."

Judge Merchan, to Donald Trump.

But don’t hold your breath.

Yes! All protestors have to do is become majority stockholders in defense companies and then destroy the companies. And their money.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I find myself, for some utterly incomprehensible reason, pondering the question, “when, exactly, did those in power like protests against the existing power structure “?

For some reason.

So SD Governor Kristi Noem now says that her biography, “written” by her *and* “narrated” by her, was actually written by a ghostwriter, and it was that ghostwriter who made all the errors in her book. That she wrote and she narrated.

It’s sort of like how most nasty Republican policies are slightly altered versions of Koch Brothers fever dreams ventriloquized by various empty suits in elected office.

But since fake teeth and fake book Kristi is an “authentic” American, I’m sure it’s all fine.

You know who doesn't care *at all* about the actual, real people of Gaza? I.e., the real human beings trying to feed and protect their families and trying to build some semblance of a decent lives amidst dire conditions?

1. Hamas and its allies.

2. The Netanyahu government and its allies.

3. The Congressional Republicans exploiting college protests for political advantage.

4. The semi-professional leftist revolutionaries seeking to use the college protests as the foundation of an effort to undermine American empire (or whatever).

None of them give a crap about the actual people of Gaza.

It's a nightmare.

Republicans in many states have passed legislation requiring “both sides” be taught at colleges and universities regarding controversial issues. Indiana just passed a law requiring even tenured faculty be regularly reviewed to assess their unbiased teaching.

Republicans are universally calling for pro-Palestinian protests — even peaceful ones — to be shut down on college and university campuses. Faculty are being punished for defending the rights of even peaceful protesters to state their concerns.

It’s almost like these Republicans aren’t good faith actors trying to address serious issues in a thoughtful way, but are instead politically motivated hacks seeking to use colleges and universities as tools to divert attention from their real, horrible agenda while scoring points for being “tough” with their supporters.

Almost.

As a practical matter, it is probably the case that any article written about the power and importance of AI was written by AI.

Which is kind of like when your brain tells you that the brain is the most important organ in your body.

Self-fulfilling prophecy much?

So, having built a society where we make elementary students take active shooter drills in fear of armed attackers, universities like Ohio State and Indiana are allowing police snipers to be stationed on campus buildings in response to student protests.

Thank the saints guns make us so free.

Do remember everybody: if a president asks you to wear a mask during a pandemic, or forgives some college loans, the Supreme Court thinks that that’s a gross abuse of presidential power. Ordering the assassination of a political opponent? The Court isn’t sure whether that’s okay or not.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Samuel Alito theory of constitutional interpretation is, “if I want it, it’s constitutional. If I don’t want it, it’s not constitutional.” Now we just have to see how many fellow “Justices” agree with his powerful “analysis.”

Free speech

Of all the perversions of the notion of free speech that have harmed US society over the last decades, the notion that if I say something you don't like I have threatened you, or made you feel unsafe, has got to be among the worst.

Threats are threats. Stochastic, "wouldn't it be nice if something happened to that person" statements are a threat. Being an asshole is not a threat.

It'd be nice if our society was capable of understanding the difference.

If we’ve learned anything from history, it’s that sending in the police to arrest student protesters always turns out for the best.