Posted on 03/11/2017 6:49:15 PM PST by grundle
This is the YouTube channel for University of California, Berkeley: https://www.youtube.com/user/UCBerkeley/videos
It has (or used to have) 13,800 hours of free educational content.
On August 30, 2016, the Justice Department sent this letter to the school, which criticized the videos for not being closed captioned, and for not having audio descriptions of content that was visible on chalkboards.
The school responded by issuing a statement which said it might have to remove the videos because of this. Specifically, the school’s statement said:
“… we might not be able to continue to provide free public content under the conditions laid out by the Department of Justice to the extent we have in the past.”
“In many cases the requirements proposed by the department would require the university to implement extremely expensive measures to continue to make these resources available to the public for free…”
The same letter from the Justice Department also ordered the school to pay “compensatory damages” to deaf people because these free educational videos were not closed captioned.
However, the Justice Department did not explain how it was possible for the school to pay “compensatory damages” for something that the school had given away for free.
So now, here we are in March 2017. Donald Trump has been president for well over a month. And now the Justice Department is enforcing Obama’s order for UC Berkeley to remove the videos.
As President, Trump could have reversed this order, just as Obama, early in his presidency, had reversed a Bush action regarding the New Black Panther Party. (In May 2009, the Obama administration dismissed charges that had been filed by the Bush administration against members of the New Black Panther Party who had been videotaped intimidating voters and brandishing a police-style baton at a Philadelphia polling station during the November 2008 election. In August 2009, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights demanded that the Justice Department explain why it dismissed the charges. In July 2010, J. Christian Adams, a former lawyer for the Justice Department, testified before the Commission on Civil Rights that the case was dropped because the Justice Department did not want to protect the civil rights of white people.)
But Trump did not reverse this order. Instead, he went along with it.
So once again, here’s another reason why I’m glad I voted for Gary Johnson in the 2016 Presidential election.
Berkley could burn to the ground and I am not sure I would even care.
I’d be leery about any “educational videos” from Berkeley. Probably a good move.
Suspect this is pretty far down on President Trump’s priority list. Didn’t know there was a law so stupid even Obola enforced it, though.
“...he would become no better than Obama was.”
Very good point. We can’t have it both ways. Checks and balances are not perfect nor is the law. Instead of searching for political answers and finger pointing at every angle, let’s problem solve. I know for a fact that technology exists to make videos compatible for hearing impaired. In this case I believe government has become part of the problem but to blame the President is absurd.
Caption them. Problem solved.
I would not comply. I would continue to offer these videos free.
Oh I’m sure President Trump personally investigated this and decided to enforce it./s
What a stupid article. Will everything that happens down to county courts be his fault?
It seems that everything that Obama did in his first four years was Bush’s fault and everything he started in his last four years is Trump’s fault.
Really, grundle, if I never see another piece on this forum from that ahole 'Dan from Socialist Hill', I'd be very happy.
Well Laz, "grundle" is closely related to, but not exactly an ahole.
This particular Paultard Liberturdian has chosen to name himself after his own gooch.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=grundle
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Grundle
His opinions, like his chosen name, TAINT worth nuttin'.
“So once again, here’s another reason why I’m glad I voted for Gary Johnson in the 2016 Presidential election.”
That’s way crazy.
But, I agree it seems a wrong decision.
BTW, it would take a deranged conservative to have anything particularly nice to say about GHW Bush, whose legacy, besides the ADA, includes his import ban on assault rifles, appointing David Souter to the supreme court, leading the charge for NAFTA, and Ted Kennedy's Immigration Act of 1990.
TRUMP’S FAULT (that Obama wrote this edict) < /s >
“So once again, here’s another reason why I’m glad I voted for Gary Johnson in the 2016 Presidential election.”
Hillary would have enforced it too...so why was voting for her better?
The incredible reach of Gary Johnson would have fixed this problem, just like his stunning depth of knowledge of all things, “What’s Allepo?”
Gee - a #NeverTrump Libertarian loser fan thinks he found the real reason Trump shouldn’t be President. Belongs with all the other concern troll articles.
Are these educational videos or left wing socialist propaganda videos?
Ignore the DOJ. Free speech.
That costs money. These videos were given away for free.
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