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September 2016

Last week, we posted a story about Clemson University in which a student and a man who was not a student were stopped while praying on campus. The administrator who stopped them claimed they weren't in a free speech area. The story went national because free speech is an ongoing issue on college campuses and also because Clemson is a public university, meaning the whole campus is a free speech zone. Campus Reform reports that some students organized to speak out:
Clemson students rally against ‘free speech zones’ Several dozen students and local community members gathered at Clemson University Friday afternoon to protest against the administration for not allowing a man to pray with students.

There have been two BIG changes that took place yesterday. The first was the creation of the Quick Take section at Legal Insurrection, and the second was the consolidation of higher ed coverage at Legal Insurrection.

Quick Takes

You may recall that on December 12, 2015, I announced that we were creating a new section of Legal Insurrection, and invited readers to Help name our new section.
I love this video. Brilliant. It’s also an excuse to tease out that we’re *likely* to have a new section of Legal Insurrection sometime early in the new year where we can do more spontaneous, shorter posts in addition to the full posts in the main column

The controversy over the disinvitation of Shimon Dotan, an Israeli filmmaker and NYU professor whose film was to appear at a conference next year at Syracuse University, continues to reverberate and grow. The background is set forth in prior posts: Syracuse Symposium Place of Religion in Film w border

Former UCLA law student and Graduate Student Association (GSA) president Milan Chatterjee has left the school after constant harassment from the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and anti-Israel hate. All because he decided to remain NEUTRAL. The Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has led numerous smear campaigns against Chatterjee, even bringing in the ACLU and Palestine Legal (PL) to bring him down. Chatterjee has had enough, especially since UCLA administrators have done nothing to help him.

In July, former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, the company's former CEO. She claimed he fired her after “she complained about a hostile working environment” and refused to sleep with Ailes. Ailes denied the allegations, but today Fox News settled with Carlson for $20 million. Vanity Fair also reports that the company will "offer Carlson a public apology as part of the settlement."

While he was running for Senate in the 2012, Ted Cruz spoke extensively on the virtues of portable health insurance -- insurance not associated with any particular employer, but insurance that works more like vehicle insurance or homeowner's insurance. Though the idea is not unique to Senator Cruz, in a world where Obamacare is causing premiums to sky rocket, coverage to lessen, and government-sponsored co-ops to flop, portable health insurance is becoming a frequent visitor in health insurance reform circles. "More insurance plans will move with the person, not the job. That's real health security," said Speaker Ryan recently, explaining his new health care proposal. "This is not the twentieth century where you have the same job for your entire career, your entire life. You move around, you bounce around. We want to have a twenty-first century system that's portable with the person."

Greta Van Susteren suddenly left Fox News on Monday after 14 years. Brit Hume will now host her show "On the Record" at the 7PM time slot starting on Tuesday and through the election. It is unknown if Fox News will change their schedule after the election.

Microaggressions are apparently a big problem at the University of Iowa, especially for black students. That's the only conclusion one could reach based on a new support group offered at the school. The Daily Caller reports:
Iowa Offers Black Students Support Group To Deal With Microaggressions This fall, the University of Iowa is offering black students a weekly support group to help them deal with microaggressions and “deepen their resilient qualities.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a devastating defeat in her own home turf as voters in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern rejected her open-door immigration policy. The otherwise tame German press was scrambling to find the right words to describe Merkel’s latest defeat, with the leading German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung calling it to the “chainsaw massacre." Anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany  (AfD) finished in second place with 21 percent votes in the state assembly, ahead of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU). The leader of AfD, Frauke Petry, declared her party’s latest election victory as the “beginning of the end of Merkel’s era."

A leading candidate for President of the United States has a documented history of serious health issues, including a blood clot on her head. She has had at least two fainting episodes, including one in which she fell and broke an elbow bone. During this campaign season, she has been plagued by numerous coughing fits including two just this past weekend. The candidate, of course, is Hillary Clinton. Yet Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were very reluctant even to raise the issue on today's Morning Joe. When Scarborough announced they were about to show a clip of one of Hillary's coughing fits, Mika declared "I don't want to show it!" Scarborough apologetically said "I thought you wanted to! I wasn't even going to bring it up." But not to worry. As to Hillary possibly having a health issue, Mike declared: "No, she doesn't. That's just BS." And Scarborough was right there to second her: "she doesn't have one," later explaining "we all cough."

#NeverHillary...