Daily Archives: April 28, 2017

Alumni threatento withhold donations if not reinstated

Columbia University has capitulated to student protesters who demanded an end to a politically incorrect marching band tradition that some have deemed unsafe and triggering.

Alumni band members are having none of it, blasting the administration for shutting down their four-decade comedy tradition.

Orgo Night has historically been held at midnight the day of the organic chemistry (Orgo) final exams.

During the event, the marching band occupies a room in the library and plays music. It also performs a comedy skit, which often takes jabs at minority students, sexual assault, infamous students and cranky administrators.

The administrations decision followed more than a decade of student protests, sit-ins and demands to shut down the event.

MORE: Columbias marching band cares about free speech, not feelings

One notable op-ed from the 2014-2015 school year lamented that the comedy skit is a direct attack on marginalized populations at Columbia.

Every semester after Orgo Night, some students leave Butler feeling miserable and triggered and have to turn to one another for consolation while our peers celebrate, wroteColumbia students Tracey Wang and Dunni Oduyemi, calling the event an unsafe space.

We asked administrators to listen to us, to acknowledge us, and to protect us, they said. Their failure to do so is proof the administration does not care about its students of color, its queer students, or its trans students.

The administration gave a preview of what was coming during the fall 2016 finals, when it blocked the marching band from performing in the library, calling it a disruption to studying.

The band was forced to deliver its half-hour skit to an audience of hundreds outside the library on a freezing cold night, with some seen wearing double and triple layers to stay warm.

Since then, a shadowy group of alumni who call themselves Hamiltonius have published 10 open letters denouncing the administrations decision to shut the band out of the library.

MORE: Stanford students say band suspension cracks down on freedom

While not all of the letters have included the names of actual alumni, the most recent letter was signed by over 60 alumni from the 1960s through the second Obama administration.

The alumni demands seem to have fallen on deaf ears. They claim they have not yet received any meaningful response from the administration, and a university spokeswoman told The College Fix the no-library policy wont change.

President, a First Amendment scholar, is a hypocrite

Some alumni have attempted to raise the Orgo Night issue in personal conversations with university administrators, but have been politely rebuffed, Hamiltonius wrote in the most recent letter, How to interpret the silence from [the administration]?

It argues that Columbia clearly had political motivations for banning the tradition.

It is difficult for any observer not to conclude that the motivation for attempting to silence the Band is to avoid future controversy and appease the small number of individuals who periodically object to some portion of the content of the Orgo Night program, said Hamiltonius.

MORE: Columbia marching band tradition disses sexual respect program

It accuses President Lee Bollinger, a noted First Amendment scholar and fierce advocate for free speech, of hypocrisy:

You often say and do the right thing when that bedrock right is challenged on campus. Yet, in this case it appears that you have opted for censorship over student speech, and have adopted a heavy-handed approach totally lacking in due process over an open public debate.

The unnamed alumni claim they have continued to participate in Columbia, sending their children to the university, giving money and attending Columbia sporting events to cheer on the young.

And yet it seems none of that has value in your eyes, wrote Hamiltonius.

They conclude by demanding a response from Bollinger, threatening to withhold our support, our time, and our money if he continually refuses engaging with us on public matters.

Columbia band alumnus Dan Carlinsky, a 1965 graduate, toldThe Columbia Spectator that hes disappointed with the administration.

The unfortunate thing is that there has been no effort or no willingness even to sit down and talk about it, he said. Columbia prides itself in training its students in critical thinking, and then they turn around and treat us as if were not critical thinkers.

MORE: We dont need your benevolent sexism, marching band women say

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IMAGE: Columbia University Marching Band/YouTube

About the Author

Toni Airaksinen is a junior at Barnard College in New York City. She also contributes to Campus Reform, USA Today College, Red Alert Politics and Quillette Magazine. She formerly held a post with The Columbia Spectator. Her writing is regularly featured on Fox News andDrudge Report, among other websites. Her interests include free speech, due process and mens issues.

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Politically incorrect band tradition shut down by Columbia: It makes students feel 'unsafe' - The College Fix

Congressman Don Young brought his unique blend of political incorrectness and conservative assessment of current affairs to the Chugiak-Eagle River Chamber of Commerce yesterday and the packed house gathered to hear him speak was highly engaged with Alaskas long-time lone member of the federal House of Representatives.

After more than 40 years doing this, some say I am the old goat in the yard, Young quipped regarding his 23 terms of office beginning in 1973. But the best is yet to come. Under this news president, we are going to do great things for the State of Alaska.

Young wasted no time listing several Obama Administration actions that he viewed as negative for Alaskan interests that he sees the current Congress removing.

That includes retaining control of waters within the state, control of fish management and control of lands a huge issue for the states Native population as well as its hunters and outdoor recreationists.

Not anymore, he said.

We have the opportunity to return a lot of capability in this state to develop resources, Young said to a round of applause. This is a resource-oriented state, but it cannot be just on resource. It cannot just be oil. I want to stress that. We all know what a potentially precarious position that puts us into depend on just one source of income especially one so volatile.

Young wants to see greater development of the states mineral resources and hydropower.

He made note of the current economic downturn, but immediately within the same breath directed thoughts to the states economic future.

I am very optimistic about the future, he said. Some say we are in the doldrums now because supposedly we have a shortage of money. And there is a lot of debate down in Juneau now about this. But I hope you are optimistic about the future too. Keep this in mind: Old money does not solve our problems, Young said in reference to the states previous reliance on oil income. It only prolongs the agony. New money builds the future.

In his role as the federal Legislatures leading passer of bills signed into law by a sitting president, Young renewed his promise to fight for Alaskas interests.

Asserting that 90 percent of the federal legislation he helped craft has impacted Alaska, Young told the crowd, My job is to be your spokesperson.

He then turned the microphone over to Dana Thorp Patterson, executive director of the chamber, for questions from the crowd.

Curtis McQueen, CEO of Eklunta, Inc., which is the local areas largest landholder, was first up.

McQueen spoke of recently secured public recreational access to the Knik River Public Use Area specifically to allow travel between the popular Jim Creek area and the Knik Glacier brokered in an agreement among the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and Eklutna, Inc.

The agreement was announced in an April 19 press release from the state Dept. of Natural Resources documenting the agreement which conveys 31,000 acres to Eklutna from the BLM via the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

McQueen is aware of the dispute between the BLM and the State of Alaska regarding federal navigable waters, but said that Eklunta, Inc., opted to remain neutral regarding the issue in an effort to facilitate the agreement which now allows public access between Eklunta lands and state lands.

Oh, I love that, Young said with a broad smile.

Rich Young, co-owner of the Healthwise Physical Therapy in Eagle River, asked the Congressman about Medicaid and possible changes to payment to providers should Obamacare be repealed.

That bill (the recent failed federal legislation) would have hurt Alaska. Our premiums would go up, the Congressman said. I have offered a simple solution. We repeal Obamacare effective 2020 and we rewrite health care the right way. We give three years to write a correct bill.

Nicholas Begich, III, owner of FarShore Partners a global software technology firm based in Chugiak asked Young regarding the rollback of Environmental Protection Agency rulings that have been tagged as impediments to development in Alaska.

The Congressman began his answer with his well-honed tactic for recognizing the irony that Begich is a Republican among a family of Democrats.

His name is a little different, but he is a fine young man, Young joked with another enormous smile. I just want you all to know that. He is a Republican. Must make for some interesting family Thanksgiving dinners.

Young continued by describing the EPA as a challenge. He asserted that the agency went far beyond its original intent as he described it as being charged with protecting the environment while still taking economic impact in consideration.

They went well beyond their legislative authority by enforcing regulation on everybody in America that impeded economic growth, Young said. All of this regulation is killing our society economically. I see the tide turning on that under the Trump Administration. I am excited.

Eva Loken, a long-time realtor and local resident, mentioned the Janke familys effort to build a hydro-electric power plant on its private property bordering the upper Eagle River. The project took 45 years to be approved. She thought that was a timeline far too long. She would like to see such efforts by private property owners to take far less time.

I think we should encourage people that have small hydro-electric potential to develop that, she said.

The Congressman agrees, noting he has helped several similar projects located in the states Aleutian Islands.

Tonya Gamble, a local Rotarian also employed by Eklunta, Inc., asked the Congressman about potential changes in the federal tax code for individual taxpayers.

We are going to have some type of reform bill regarding this, Young said. I cannot tell you at this time what it is going to be, but I have been a flat-taxer for years.

He was also asked about reports that physicians affiliated with the federal Veterans Administration are guilty of over-prescribing.

We are going to have to refine this so that veterans are properly taken care of, Young said. This drug issue whether it is over-prescribing of medications or the pushing on the street of illegal drugs is the biggest issue we have in this nation.

True to his well-known unwillingness to remain politically correct, Young showed no trepidation in telling the audience at the Eagle River Alehouse that he wants dealers punished even more severely than currently being done.

He thinks the best way to get to dealers is through their pocketbooks and would like to see the Internal Revenue Service more empowered to go after drug money.

He also has no personal tolerance for drug dealing.

This is not right for our society he said. But for some reason, we accept it. We have to say no more to this. I have lost two nephews to it. I have two grandkids that have become drug addicts. If I could catch their dealer, you are going to see me behind bars.

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Politically Incorrect but Fighting for Alaska - Echo NEws (press release) (registration)

Topeka Capital Journal

Kansas revenue agency's new dress code bans short skirts, tight ... Topeka Capital Journal The secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue authorized implementation on Monday of a new employee dress code banning politically incorrect writing ... and more »

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Kansas revenue agency's new dress code bans short skirts, tight ... - Topeka Capital Journal

In 1941 the U.S. declared war on Nazi Germany. By 1945 that regime, and its adherents, had been wholly wiped away.

It is interesting, then, that in 2017 the question has come up: Is it OK to punch a Nazi? The answer for many has been Yes, it certainly is OK.

However, the fundamental issue with this logic falls in line with the fact that because there are no longer any real, official Nazis anymore, then simply applying that label to anyone you disagree with gives you carte blanche to use violence to silence that persons views.

The topic itself came up when white nationalist and head of the National Policy Institute Richard Spencer was assaulted on Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C. While giving an on-the-street interview with ABC, a member of the Antifa black bloc ran up and sucker-punched Spencer.

Now, for those unfamiliar with the group, Antifa stands for Anti-Fascist and is a group that has been operating as a far-left protest and riot organization that has grown considerably in the United States.

A fair amount of the destruction caused in recent protests on college campuses has been due to the actions of Antifa.

So when an Antifa member hit Richard Spencer, the conversation that ensued was not one of condemnation, but one in which people legitimately questioned whether the blow was socially acceptable. Organizations like the Guardian published videos advocating for this kind of behavior.

The fact of the matter is that for a representative Jeffersonian democracy to work, political violence must be shunned at every level, no matter how ignorant or misguided an individuals views are.

To be certain, I have disagreements with Richard Spencer and do not advocate his style of holistic identitarianism. However, if I met him in a crowd, I would much rather have a debate, rather than a fight.

Richard Spencer aside, however, let us assume the position of the left that implicitly or explicitly justifies political violence if it is targeted at a Nazi.

What in 2017 constitutes a Nazi? The SS has been a defunct organization since 1945, and even George Lincoln Rockwell has been dead since the late 1960s. How, then, would someone identify a modern Nazi?

Critics might cite Neo-Nazis who come out of prison gangs, of course, but lets be honest with ourselves those guys arent the people who are in any threat of being targeting for political violence. They are not the individuals that Antifa and those supporting the group are advocating violence against.

No, Antifa and the authoritarian left is decidedly bringing back the label Nazi as a way to justify violence against those they deem politically incorrect.

The punching of Richard Spencer was just one of many assaults on supposed Fascists though certainly a well-documented one due to his prominence.

Many dozens, if not hundreds, of other assaults have taken place at an alarming rate over the past year or so, and the trend does not seem to be letting up.

Make no mistake, this is the degeneracy of the American political system, and it is being spurred on by turning something that was once a well-defined, and frankly archaic, political party into a catch-all for those deemed conservative or on the political right.

These people do not want to listen and debate; they want to brutalize and punish.

In a sense, they are forgoing their civic duty as it was visualized by our Founding Fathers. Every enfranchised person should, theoretically, be an informed advocate of his or her political opinions.

These people are using the privilege of protest allotted by this country to silence opposition.

As we continue to move forward, there will no doubt continue to be more such events. To save the American political process, we must unmask these Antifa rioters and hold accountable those who grant their implicit support.

Only then will we be able to once more stand united and strong.

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Erick Werner: Never OK to use political violence - Santa Clarita Valley Signal