Columnist.
You can't be singing Rihanna's "Umbrella" if you happen to be a white fella. That's what kids learned during a lesson on "privilege" and "microaggressions" in a human relations theory class at the University of Oklahoma. Ah, yes. There's nothing quite like a bit of white-shaming courtesy of the American taxpayers.
There will not be a Kentucky Derby party at Dartmouth College this year because some students allege that one of the nation's most prestigious horse races is racist. And fair warning — before reading further you might want to make a batch of Mint Juleps. You're going to need it. Back in 2015, a group of Black Lives Matter protestors targeted an exclusive Kentucky Derby party hosted by the ladies of Kappa Delta Epsilon — calling the event overtly racist and "recreating an Antebellum South atmosphere on the Ivy League campus."
PayPal, the website known for processing online payments, believes grown men have a constitutional right to use the same bathrooms as little girls. So when North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill that banned people from using bathrooms not assigned to their birth sex, PayPal became enraged and retaliated. They canceled plans to open a new operations center in Charlotte – a facility that would've employed more than 400 workers. "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture," CEO Dan Schulman wrote in a memorandum on the company's website.
Kids at Monroe Middle School in Florida got a lesson on privilege the other day — in their Spanish class. "How much privilege do you have?" That was the name of the survey administered to seventh and eighth grade students. It wasn't quite as bad as the white-shaming exercises we've seen on university campuses and in the Armed Forces. But it was certainly inappropriate for a bunch of 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds.
Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a religious freedom law Tuesday that will protect people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. The Religious Freedom Law will "protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government or its political subdivisions, which would include counties, cities, and institutions of higher learning."
There are a lot of gun-toting, Bible-clinging patriots in my home state of Tennessee. So it was not all that surprising when lawmakers recently named the Barrett M82 as the official state firearm. Nor was it all that surprising when they launched an effort to make the Holy Bible the official state book. The proposed language is pretty straightforward: "The Holy Bible is hereby designated as the official state book." State Sen. Kerry Roberts told The Tennessean that the legislation is meant to commemorate the historical nature of the Good Book — referencing George Washington's inauguration.
Youngsters at the Volunteer State's flagship university are about to engage in all sorts of debauchery ranging from lessons on male sexual fluidity to a lecture on "butt stuff" from an amateur porn star. Sex Week at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville kicks off April 4 — five days of depravity that makes Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street look like a Sunday school picnic. The star of the show is Sophia St. James, a self-described "queer diesel femme." St. James will be teaching the boys and girls on Rocky Top how to "explore all the titillating crevices and protrusions of your body."
As we say in the South — it's time for a "Come to Jesus Moment." The 2016 Republican presidential race has been one of the most rancorous in recent history. The behavior of the candidates and their followers has been downright repulsive. There are no clean hands among this bunch. Instead of focusing squarely on the issues at hand, they have chosen to engage in ugly personal attacks.
Imagine that you are an out-of-work performer looking for a job. You discover an advertisement for "Hamilton" — the hottest show on Broadway. The producers are searching for cast members for nationwide productions. You can sing. You can act. You can dance. You're a triple threat. But there's just one problem — you are also black. And the casting notice stipulates the producers are only hiring "WHITE ACTORS."
The city council in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma was in a bit of a pickle. The city was in the middle of a growth spurt and needed high ground to build a one-million gallon water tower. But the property they needed was owned by the First Baptist Church. So they made a deal with Pastor Nick Garland and the congregation. "We donated the land and the easements for the tower," Pastor Garland told me. "In kind, they said they would paint our name on the water tower." It was a fair trade — all on the up and up.
Georgia's Republican governor stunned the state's religious community Monday by vetoing legislation that would have protected preachers who refuse to perform LGBT marriages. "It's open season on people of faith in our state," said State Sen. Josh McKoon, the author of the 2014 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. "It's a slap in the face to conservatives, to evangelicals and to the broader faith community," he told me. Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed the bill under tremendous pressure from major corporations who threatened to take their business out of the state should he side with Georgia's religious community.
Emory University in Atlanta is under siege at this hour from a chalk-wielding Donald Trump supporter who caused a massive outbreak of micro-aggressions among frightened students. Terrified collegians are hunkered down in their safe spaces – traumatized by whoever wrote "Trump 2016" and "Accept the Inevitable: Trump 2016" on campus sidewalks. "That was a bit alarming," one panicked student told The Emory Wheel. "What exactly is inevitable? Why does it have to be accepted?"
I was noshing on a juicy cheeseburger on my lunch break the other day when I came across a fascinating story in the Washington Post written by Eugene Volokh. The story involves a New Jersey sixth-grader who ran afoul of the state's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act after he poked fun at a vegetarian classmate. (For you folks on the professional barbecue circuit, a vegetarian is someone who abstains from pork butts.) "Vegetarians are idiots," the youngster declared. "It's not good not to eat meat."
If you need more proof that the Obama administration has turned the greatest fighting force on the planet into a social engineering petri dish, just consider what's about to be forced upon the Marine Corps. Marines will soon be forced to attend "unconscious bias" training in advance of the women joining the infantry. The seminar will focus on how people prejudge others based on factors like race and gender, and principals of institutional change, Miltary.com reports. "There's no doubt we're leading cultural change," Brig. Gen. James Glynn told the website. "It's not the first time for the Marine Corps, but we like a challenge." That could be a mighty big challenge.
Lifelong atheist Patrick Greene has a huge problem with a giant cross under construction alongside Interstate 37 in Corpus Christi, Texas — a city whose name literally means "Body of Christ." "It's tacky as hell," Mr. Greene told me. The 230-foot tall cross is being erected on property owned by Abundant Life Fellowship — paid for by donations. Pastor Rick Milby said it will be the largest cross in the western hemisphere. So tall, in fact, that the church was required to install a lighted beacon on the top.
Violence broke out over the weekend at several Donald Trump campaign rallies. Left-wing thugs battled with police in Chicago and St. Louis. One unhinged lunatic tried to storm the stage at a rally in Dayton, Ohio. He was stopped by Secret Service agents. Heaven only knows what he would've done had he gotten ahold of Mr. Trump.
There's a witch hunt underway for conservatives at the University of Southern California — and Jacob Ellenhorn appears to be Public Enemy No. 1. Ellenhorn is a student senator at USC and president of the College Republicans. He is also an outspoken conservative. And that's a big problem among his fellow student lawmakers at USC. Ellenhorn is facing possible impeachment — accused of all sorts of tawdry behavior, like publicly expressing his conservative opinions and (brace yourself) inviting high-profile conservative speakers to campus.
The "American Diner" in Liverpool, NY, may be the most politically incorrect diner in the Empire State — and possibly the nation. The "American Diner" is a gun-toting, beef-eating, Constitution-loving establishment owned by Michael Tassone. Mr. Tassone is a no-nonsense God & Country fellow who takes pride in Old Glory and his signature "Animal Burger" — made from 24 ounces of "American Love." "We talk religions and politics and we encourage people to carry their guns," Mr. Tassone told me. "The Second Amendment protects all the rest of them."
A Bible and Bible verse were removed from a POW/MIA display inside an Ohio Veterans Affairs clinic after the notorious Military Religious Freedom Foundation complained. The religious artifacts were part of a "Missing Man Table" recently erected by volunteers at an outpatient clinic in Akron. MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein alleged the inclusion of the Bible was a violation of the U.S. Constitution. He said he intervened at the request of nearly a dozen, mostly Christian, military veterans who utilize the clinic.
A small town bakery owned by a Christian family is under siege after they declined to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. Edie and David Delorme own the Kern's Bake Shop in Longview, Texas, known around town for their petit fours and sugar cookies — and also their custom-made wedding cakes. The Delormes are also devout Christians — faithful members of a nearby Baptist church — and they run their bakery according to the tenets of their religious beliefs. That became a problem on Feb. 17th when Ben Valencia and Luis Marmolejo requested the bakers make a cake for their upcoming wedding.
