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Andrew Kaczynski of Buzzfeed discovered this little gem of a video, in which then-law student Barack Obama spoke at a protest in favor of Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell. Kaczynski explains what the protest was all about. Bell was the first black tenured professor at the school, and a pioneer of "critical race theory," which insisted, controversially, on reading issues of race and power into legal scholarship. His protest that spring was occasioned by Harvard's denial of tenure to a black woman professor, Regina Austin, at a time when only three of the law school's professors were black and only...

Shortly after Anders Behring Breivik carried out his one-man killing spree of his fellow countrymen Friday, the media began to speculate about the killer’s possible motivations. The terrorist’s disturbing “manifesto” (much of it borrowed from Unabomber Ted Kaczynski) prescribed a race-based revolution across Europe against what he considered the elite, “multiculturalists” and “enablers of Islamization.” To the New York Times, this seething hatred all apparently sounded familiar: [Breivik's] manifesto, which denounced Norwegian politicians as failing to defend the country from Islamic influence, quoted Robert Spencer, who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times, and cited other Western writers who...

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marshals Service said personal items belonging to "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski are being auctioned to benefit some of his victims. The service said the General Services Administration is handling the online auction, which runs through June 2, and items being sold include personal documents, typewriters, academic transcripts and "more than 20,000 pages of written documents, including the original handwritten and typewritten versions" of Kaczynski's manifesto, CNN reported Wednesday. Kaczynski, 68, is serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison for killing three people and wounding 23 in a string of bombings from 1978 to...

Earlier today I heard a news flash that the Unabomber's possessions were being auctioned off and that was the first thing that came to mind. I've since looked at some of the things that're being auctioned, but I didn't see that book among the things listed.(though it seems reasonable that if Gore's book is among the items, the media wouldn't mention it)

Pilot error cause of Smolensk crash, say Russian investigators 12.01.2011 10:55 Tatyana Anodina, head of the Russian investigative team into the Smolensk air disaster (Interstate Aviation Committee - MAK) has blamed pilot error in the resubmission of the report into the death of President Kaczynski and 95 others in Smolensk last April. The main conclusions to the revised, 210 page report – after Prime Minister Donald Tusk asked for clarifications and corrections to the original document handed over to Poland last October – are that: * the crew failed to take the decision to land at another airport, as suggested...

He killed and maimed victims during a decades-long bombing spree, but what keeps Ted Kaczynski up at night in his Colorado prison cell is the fear that federal officials are doing an inadequate job copying reams of his documents in advance of the material’s sale at auction. The convicted Unabomber is distressed at the haste with which he thinks government officials are moving to reproduce tens of thousands of pages of material--much of it handwritten by Kaczynski--seized from the murderer’s Montana cabin. Originals of the documents will be sold off, with the proceeds going to victims of Kaczynski’s bombing campaign....

Now that someone with mental illness has shot one of Washington's own, maybe Congress will start to pay attention to its abysmal failure to provide care for the most seriously mentally-ill Americans. We'll see. Lawmakers took a brief lunge in that direction after mentally-ill John Hinckley shot Ronald Reagan in 1981, and an even smaller step in 1988 when Russel Weston, another mentally-ill man, entered the Capitol and shot two police officers. But most mentally-ill people are not violent -- and Congress seems content with ignoring those who are. I fear legislators will react to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' shooting by...

It took less than 24 hours for the political Left to seize upon the attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the murder of six people on Saturday to blame the political Right for the shooting. Perhaps the most egregious example came from Paul Krugman of the New York Times, who wrote "We don't have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was." (The newspaper that published plagiarized and fabricated accounts of the "D.C. sniper" by affirmative-action hire Jayson Blair in 2003 is still publishing unsubstantiated suppositions without "proof," eh?) "[Giffords'] father says that ‘the...

On 3 December 2007 a curious item appeared in the Russian media. It concerned Igor Ivanovich Sechin, a Russian political figure close to then President Vladimir Putin. Kommersant [2] featured a quote from Oleg Shvartsman, head of the Financial-Industrial Group: "For us, the Party is represented by the power bloc headed by Igor Ivanovich [Sechin]." This statement was offered in response to a journalist's question about Shvartman's strategic task of velvet re-privatization. "Who set this task for you?" asked the journalist. Shvartsman's extraordinary answer slipped inadvertently from his post-Soviet lips: "The party! (laughing)." On 3 December 2007 a curious item...

"The pilots ignored all the warnings by the aircraft autromatic safety systems and took excessive risk. Why? They had been taught to do so", says Mr. Klich, the head of the Polish investigative committee. The airport near Smolensk had no guidance system for the aircraft ILS. They should have quit landing when seeing not the runway at altitude 100 m - the missed approach minimum. (MAM) Mr. Klich revealed that the voice recording show that the pilots were deliberately lowing the plane below MAM. There are commands: "90 meters", "80 meters". Klich emphasized that the crew received automated warnings from...

As Polish President Lech Kaczynski's plane streaked toward disaster, at least two passengers visited the cockpit, others may have chatted on cellular phones that can obstruct navigation instruments and an under-trained crew faced heavy fog over challenging terrain.

Russia was last night facing claims of a cover up over the Polish presidential air crash after a series of shocking allegations emerged concerning the doomed Tupolev-154 in which head of state Lech Kaczynski died. Most extraordinary was the emergence of confusing footage which claimed to show the shooting of survivors by armed Russian-speaking men minutes after the crash. The video, posted on the internet in recent days, has fuelled conspiracy theories suggesting that the crash was not an accident.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the brother of the late president Lech and himself currently a presidential hopeful, has started off his campaign run with a video message… to the Russians. The video was released at a press conference which was not attended by Jaroslaw Kaczynski himself, however. The release of the video coincided with the VE parades in Moscow, where Jaroslaw Kaczynski's brother, Lech, was due to attend. “The reaction of feelings and sympathy of millions of Russians has been acknowledged and felt by Poles. Thank you for every tear shed, every candle lit, for every word of comfort,” Kaczynski says in...

The twin brother of Poland's former president, who was killed in a plane crash in Russia this month, says he will run to be elected in his place. Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he would stand in the 20 June presidential election despite his "personal pain", in order to continue his brother's mission. Lech Kaczynski was killed in a plane crash in western Russia on 10 April, along with many Polish dignitaries. The two brothers founded the Law and Justice party in 2001. Possible sympathy vote In a statement on the party's website on Monday, Mr Kaczynski said: "Poland is our common,...

Poles draw strength from tragic past By Oana Lungescu BBC News, Warsaw Although in mourning for the loss of life in the Russian air disaster, young Poles are philosophical about Poland's ability to pull through this crisis. It was late in the evening, but in a scruffy building in south-west Warsaw, groups of young people - some holding babies - were huddled in urgent meetings. Polish scouts from the local district organisation were preparing for another day of national mourning. I had noticed them since the weekend of the fatal crash. In their distinctive green uniforms, they stood guard outside...

Reaction to tragedy showcases changes in Polish-Jewish relations By Ruth Ellen Gruber · April 20, 2010 ROME (JTA) -- The Jewish reaction to the death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other senior Polish officials in an air tragedy highlights a remarkable change in how the Jewish world views Poland. The prayers, public statements and personal tributes, including a special remembrance during the March of the Living, were normal expressions of grief and solidarity for a close friend and ally -- in short, heartfelt sentiments that probably could not have been made 20 or even 15 years ago....

The volcanic ash that brought European air travel to a standstill forced the cancellation of President Barack Obama's weekend trip to attend the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski. As understandable as Mr. Obama's inability to travel to Krakow was, his choice of alternative activity boggles the mind. Seeing the sudden opening in his schedule, he and three companions headed to the links for a round of golf. This is just the latest in a growing list of missteps, inappropriate behavior and downright odd choices by a president who seems to not only lack basic social graces when it comes...

Eastern Europe comes together to mourn Poland’s President Roger Boyes, Krakow At precisely 17.07 today, the 18-tonne bell of Saint Sigismund pealed out and Poland fell silent. The 16th-century bell is rung only at moments of national joy or national tragedy. Today it marked the end of a week of mourning for President Lech Kaczynski, long days of public grief that have set Poles thinking about their future in Europe and their uneasy relationship with Russia. “Today the bell knells for the reconciliation of Pole with Pole,“ said Bronislaw Komorowski, the Speaker of parliament, addressing dozens of leaders at the...

Poland says goodbye to president 18.04.2010 Around 90,000 gathered in Krakow for the funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and First Lady Maria. After the funeral ceremony at St Mary's, which began at 14.00 CET, the funeral procession will begin at 15.30, making its way to Wawel Castle where, at 16.30, the coffins will be put into the specially built tomb. Though president’s from the US, Germany and top European officials cancelled their trips to Poland following the persistence of the ash cloud over Polish air space, leaders from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Morocco and Azerbaijan are in the southern Polish city....

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