Kafkaesque Example of a College Title IX Prosecution Under the Obama Rules

I did not vote for Trump and I find him generally deplorable. However, the new Title IX college sexual harassment rules implemented by Trump and Betsy DeVos are well supported by the case law and are an enormous improvement over the version of the rules implemented by Obama.

What could possibly go wrong under the Obama version of the rules? Listen to this horrific miscarriage of justice described by attorney Lara Bazelon, speaking with Glenn Loury.

The proposed new Title IX rules by Joe Biden will be a catastrophically bad miscarriage of justice. FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) points out the many problems with Biden's proposed rules:

Rejecting the definition of student-on-student harassment set by the Supreme Court in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education.

Requiring institutions to police speech and sexuality worldwide, not just in programs and activities on and around campus.

Requiring institutions to issue gag orders on the parties and their advocates that prevent them from disclosing “information and evidence obtained solely through the sex-based harassment grievance procedures,” meaning institutions of higher education are now required to enforce prior restraint and content-based restrictions on students’ speech or the speech of those advocating on their behalf.

Revoking the current requirement that accused students must be offered an opportunity to have a live hearing to contest the allegations against them.

Eliminating the right to a live hearing to contest claims, and thus also eliminating the right to cross-examination.

Allowing a single investigator to both investigate and adjudicate complaints, dramatically increasing the odds that one person’s bias, subconscious or otherwise, permeates the process. Such a system increases the likelihood of error, thus increasing the likelihood that accused students will be unfairly deprived of their access to educational opportunities or benefits.

If finalized, these and many other proposed provisions will mark a new, and unfortunately familiar, era of Title IX hearings in which institutions of higher education fail to protect the First Amendment and due process rights of students and faculty, likely resulting in costly litigation for institutions to ensure these basic protections are met.

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FAIR Responds to AG Merrick Garland on Transgender Issues

I agree with the response by FAIR (Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism) to the recent letter sent by American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and Children’s Hospital Association to Attorney General Merrick Garland. Here is an excerpt from FAIR's letter:

The topic of best practices in gender-related healthcare is currently the subject of intense debate. In their October 3rd press release, the American Academy of Pediatrics cited a 2018 Policy Statement as the basis for evidence-based gender-affirming care. Now, in 2022, four years of experience has provided a growing body of evidence and patient experiences that do not support the safety and benefits of universal “gender affirming” care as medically established. Recent systematic reviews have concluded that gender affirming care to treat gender dysphoria for adolescence is based on low quality, experimental evidence; ignores underlying mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse disorders, borderline personality disorder, and eating disorders; and may result in irreversible harm—including but not limited to developmental, neurocognitive, psychological, hormonal, and reproductive damage. The Tavistock Gender Clinic in the United Kingdom was recently closed due to these concerns. Moreover, under the gender affirming model, a large new cohort of patients (including the young) are being placed on a lifelong path of medications and dependencies with unknown consequences. It remains unclear whether such treatments will lead to heart disease, cancer, chronic pain, or other serious effects, and whether our healthcare system will be equipped to treat that growing population. Furthermore, a growing cohort of patients are detransitioning and reporting superficial assessments, poor follow-up care, and misdiagnosis of root causes for their gender dysphoria. The opioid epidemic itself was created by “one-size fits all” regulatory mandates to measure pain and treat with opioids, and a political partnership between the AMA and Purdue Pharma which disregarded scientific evidence about the dangers of opioids and prioritized subjective assessments of pain. That approach contributed to the opioid crisis we still grapple with today. Open inquiry and consideration of dissenting voices are imperative to avoid repeating a similar tragedy with respect to gender affirming care.

Any violence or threats of violence should be fully investigated and addressed under the law. But investigating, prosecuting, or silencing those who question or disagree with the still very new and rapidly evolving field of gender affirming care will not only risk violating the First Amendment rights of all Americans, but will prevent the medical profession from determining and providing the safest and most effective treatments for gender dysphoric patients. Rigorous and open debate about the risks and benefits of any treatment—including gender affirming care—must not be suppressed, and to conflate this necessary debate with promoting violence against healthcare workers is deeply irresponsible.

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Tulsi Gabbard Leaves the Democrat Party

Here are Tulsi Gabbard's reasons for leaving the Democrat Party, based on a mass emailing I received:

I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution, are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents, and above all, are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.

I believe in a government that is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite.

I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party. If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.

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