• ·Baltimore Raven’s running back Ray Rice just got cut by his team and suspended indefinitely from the NFL after a video was released showing him punching his then-fiancée Janay Palmer and knocking her out in an elevator last February.  Women’s advocates are racing to the nearest cameras and microphones to denounce Ray and strike a blow (pun intended) against domestic violence.  Not defending Ray Rice, but for those who really pretend to care about Janay Palmer, who is now Mrs. Ray Rice, I pose this question:  What do you think makes her life worse:  That her fiancée punched her in a fight 7 months ago, or that her family has been stripped of their livelihood for the rest of their lives so she can be the poster-girl for domestic violence crusades?   And did TMZ really do her a favor by releasing this video? Or were they just being the tabloid whore that will get airtime at any cost?

• I’m not a big Obama defender, but I speak for a lot of Americans who are really tired of pundits throwing politicians under the bus for any and every problem in the world.  One can find enough actual problems tied directly to Obama’s presidency without resorting to demagoguery; it cheapens the legitimate points and turns off voters trying to sort through actual issues. I don’t know who will be president in 2046, but I’m pretty sure they will take a vacation sometime during their term, and I’m pretty sure somebody will say they are outraged that the President is [playing golf, fishing, biking, going to the beach, etc] while people are dying.  C’mon folks.  This isn’t helping us choose better leaders.

• ·        Greg Lukianoff had an excellent piece in the WSJ yesterday (9/09/14) entitled “Free Speech at Berkeley—So Long as It’s ‘Civil’.  He scolds University of California Chancellor Nicholas Dirks for his message last week to UC Berkeley faculty called ‘Civility and Free Speech’

Mr. Dirks writes that “we can only exercise our right to free speech insofar as we feel safe and respected in doing so.” But a right to freedom of speech that ends whenever someone on campus claims not to feel “safe and respected” is a right to little more than polite chitchat. Speech that’s free-with-some-qualifications means that students and faculty are left unable to take on the big debates and questions in a way that should be expected in an academic setting.

And while students should certainly feel “safe,” it is important to recognize that these days the word has wandered far from its literal meaning. Feeling “safe” on college campuses means something closer to being completely comfortable, physically and intellectually.

Well said.  Free speech is not necessarily what the UC Berkeley Chancellor tells us it is.

• Pre-spin thoughts in response to tonite’s presidential ‘s address on the ISIS terrorist threat:  Nice rhetoric:  I like the tone, “We will lead the charge to eliminate terrorism”.  Could have been a wimpier.  Now the proof is to see how much we will back it up.  Not a fan of a commitment to limited engagement of our military (clearly a bone tossed to his left wing base) – sends a mixed message.  Frankly, I don’t think our enemies believe Obama is willing to commit too many resources to the cause.  Expect political opponents on the right to criticize the President for too much equivocation. Expect the left wing to complain he is putting us back in the quagmire we just escaped.  I’ll wait to see actual results, which = dead terrorists.
• Not to let a good rage go unrewarded, CNN announced exclusive new witness testimony today regarding the shooting in Ferguson, MO.  These new, unidentified witnesses who were “contacted by CNN” claim they saw Michael Brown with his hands up over his head.  The CNN website shows chilling video that shows police taping off a scene where a shooting had taken place, and – perhaps most incriminating – the witness (who remains unnamed)  saw a police officer draw his weapon after shots had been fired-at the scene!!!  Well this is – without question- definitive PROOF that Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, MO on August 9!!!!!!   (see a previous post on the Media’s Non Sequitur fest in Ferguson, MO). CNN didn’t bother to tell us why this CONCLUSIVE EYEWITNESS VIDEO EVIDENCE didn’t come forward until a month after the shooting.  They also didn’t mention that the unnamed eyewitness is black.  They are trying  hard to relight that match that flamed the media bonfire for 10 days last month.