Free Republic

I get paid to listen to people (mostly politicians) talk at length while saying as little as possible. They often hide behind mind-numbing words to obscure what they really mean. When I hear a politician promise "transparency," he or she most likely means it as much as Barack Obama meant that his vaunted "most transparent administration in history" would be forthcoming and accountable. When candidates talk up "comprehensive immigration reform," they don't want to reform immigration law; they want to gut immigration law. When pols talk about leadership, they're usually telling voters exactly what they want to hear. At a...

Early this year, the University of California’s president, Janet Napolitano, asked all deans and department chairs in the university’s ten campuses to undergo training in overcoming their “implicit biases” toward women and minorities. The department heads also needed training, according to the UC president, in how to avoid committing microaggressions, those acts of alleged racism that are invisible to the naked eye. A more insulting and mindless exercise would be hard to imagine. But Napolitano’s seminar possesses a larger significance: it demolishes any remaining hope that college administrators possess a firmer grip on reality than the narcissistic students over whom...

Early this year, the University of California’s president, Janet Napolitano, asked all deans and department chairs in the university’s ten campuses to undergo training in overcoming their “implicit biases” toward women and minorities. The department heads also needed training, according to the UC president, in how to avoid committing microaggressions, those acts of alleged racism that are invisible to the naked eye. A more insulting and mindless exercise would be hard to imagine. But Napolitano’s seminar possesses a larger significance: it demolishes any remaining hope that college administrators possess a firmer grip on reality than the narcissistic students over whom...

With the number of UC applicants at a new high, California residents faced tougher odds of gaining acceptance into next fall's freshman classes. A record number of students from other countries and states, meanwhile, received offers of admission.. About 60% of the 103,117 California applicants were offered a spot on at least one of UC's nine undergraduate campuses, according to university figures released Thursday. That appears to be a record low acceptance rate, down from about 63% of the 99,955 applicants last year, and about 79% in 1999, the oldest available systemwide figures. However, Stephen Handel, UC associate vice president...

Welcome to the state of political correctness run amuck! In training initiated by UC president Janet Napolitano, provides new guidelines for the 200,000-student University of California system faculty. Inspirational phrases such as “America is the land of opportunity,” “Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough,” “America is a melting pot,” and “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” are now being labeled “microaggressions” – any “brief, subtle verbal or non-verbal exchanges that send denigrating messages to the recipient because of his or her group membership (such as race, gender, age or socio-economic status).”...

Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona and Department of Homeland Security head, now the President the University of California system, has launched a new faculty training initiative. Part of the curriculum is a document titled "Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send." And it's worth some further evaluation. Here's the introductory paragraph: "Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership (from Diversity in the Classroom, UCLA Diversity & Faculty Development, 2014). The first step...

That’s one of several phrases deemed a ‘microaggression’ at faculty leader training sessions initiated by University of California President Janet Napolitano “America is the land of opportunity,” “There is only one race, the human race” and “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” are among a long list of alleged microaggressions faculty leaders of the University of California system have been instructed not to say. These so-called microaggressions – considered examples of subconscious racism – were presented at faculty leader training sessions held throughout the 2014-15 school year at nine of the 10 UC campuses. The sessions,...

The standoff between state officials and the University of California over its finances and admissions policy grew tense Tuesday as the university threatened to limit enrollment of California students next year unless it receives more money from the state. UC President Janet Napolitano told an Assembly budget subcommittee that the university will cap in-state enrollment at current levels while continuing to increase the number of nonresident students. “We will not not be admitting students that we don’t know that we actually have funding for,” Napolitano said. UC will still increase the number of out-of-state and international students by up to...

Senator Ted Cruz, the boat-rocking limited government constitutional conservative Senator from Texas, provided another one of his patented cross examinations of a smoke-blowing government official at a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Cruz, the son of legal immigrants from Cuba, asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about border security measures – the so-called “triggers” – contained in the “Gang of Eight's” immigration bill. Specifically, Senator Cruz asked, “If there are no objective metrics, if it is simply the subjective assessment of a host of factors, how can we have any confidence that the border will be secured and that any...

A commentator for American Thinker is calling on supporters to contact campus officials to protest the fact that a Muslim call to prayer is being broadcast on the campus of UCLA – a “publicly funded institution.” “This in an act of Islamic supremacism,” writes Carol Brown. “If Muslim students at UCLA can’t figure out how to tell time or keep track of when they need to pray, that’s their problem.” Her column provides online links for a long list of UCLA officials, including President Janet Napolitano and many more, specifically including contacts for a list of corporate donors to the...

Hillary Wants to be President, She Just Doesn’t Want to RunPosted By Daniel Greenfield On December 15, 2014 @ 12:30 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments Ready for Hillary, the campaign before the campaign which has churned out some creepy t-shirts and a terrible country song, is $11 million in debt, and Hillary still isn’t ready.While Hillary was delivering six figure speeches at heavily indebted universities, Ready for Hillary was burning through a giant pile of money trying to stir up Obama level enthusiasm for their uncharismatic candidate by selling fifty dollar champagne glasses emblazoned with a giant H,...

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson testifies before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about Secret Service security protocols following a September 19 White House intruder breach. Hearing starts at 10am Eastern. C-Span Live: http://www.c-span.org/live/ Fox News article: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/30/white-house-intruder-made-it-to-east-room-officials-say/ Committee on Oversight and Government reform: http://oversight.house.gov/ Chairman Issa Preview Statement: http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Chairman-Issa-Preview-Statement.pdf

As for the short list to replace Attorney General, here are the top names our sources are giving us: Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of New York Outgoing U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan of Seattle U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano Current Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson Labor Secretary Tom Perez No longer on this list is Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who was once considered the favorite. The reason why: “On Thursday, Patrick denied rumors that he is next in line for the job. According to an aide, he said at...

Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Monday that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant was on the “radar screen” when she served in the Obama administration ... in September 2013. “Yes, they were on everybody’s radar screen.” ... the biggest concern ISIL presents for national security is the so-called foreign fighter problem, in which citizens of the United States and United Kingdom have traveled to the Middle East to join the militants. “The No. 1 threat to the homeland,” Napolitano said, “are Americans or Europeans who have passports who have been over there and who are...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

Laney College students marched in protest and some heckled University of California President Janet Napolitano as she gave a commencement address at the community college's graduation ceremony Saturday. Booing and at one point turning their backs on her, dozens of students, faculty and supporters in the audience objected to remarks by the former chief of Homeland Security, who has been faulted for her stance on immigration issues during her time with the Obama administration. Many pumped their fists as a gesture of defiance. "No one could hear her as she was speaking, the whole time," said Yvette Felarca, one of...

The Obama administration doesn’t have watchdogs. It has whitewash puppies. The president’s Chicago bullies have defanged true advocates for integrity in government in D.C. from day one. So the latest report by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Operations Committee on corruptocrat Charles K. Edwards, the former Department of Homeland Security inspector general, isn’t a revelation. It’s confirmation. Investigators found that Edwards compromised the independence of his office by socializing and sucking up to senior DHS officials. “There are many blessings to be thankful for this year,” the sycophantic Edwards wrote to the DHS acting counsel on Thanksgiving 2011, “but...

The acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose appointment to the post raised eyebrows because of his scant law enforcement experience, told agency employees he will resign Friday, FoxNews.com has learned. John Sandweg, a former defense attorney who knew former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano from their days as political allies in Arizona and came to Washington with her, gave his notice just six months after taking the reins in August. In a letter Friday to coworkers, Sandweg said he will return to work in the private sector but gave no explanation for his departure. “Over...

Despite the sequester, the Department of Homeland Security has just completed a hiring blitz of attorneys to oversee and manage immigration litigation. Almost all of these new civil service attorney hires hail from an activist pro-amnesty and pro-asylum background. Sources within the Department of Homeland Security report that the process for hiring these new career civil service lawyers was unconventional and was conducted by an Obama political appointee within DHS. The new attorneys have activist backgrounds with a variety of pro-amnesty groups such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the Advancement Project, and open borders groups...

As Worries Over the Power Grid Rise, a Drill Will Simulate a Knockout Blow MATTHEW L. WALD, August 16, 2013 WASHINGTON — The electric grid, as government and private experts describe it, is the glass jaw of American industry. If an adversary lands a knockout blow, they fear, it could black out vast areas of the continent for weeks; interrupt supplies of water, gasoline, diesel fuel and fresh food; shut down communications; and create disruptions of a scale that was only hinted at by Hurricane Sandy and the attacks of Sept. 11. This is why thousands of utility workers,...