Blue Horseshoe

Few Americans say conservatives can speak freely on college campuses, an AP-NORC/UChicago poll shows ....Americans view college campuses as far friendlier to liberals than to conservatives when it comes to free speech, with adults across the political spectrum seeing less tolerance for those on the right, according to a new poll. Overall, 47% of adults say liberals have “a lot” of freedom to express their views on college campuses, while just 20% said the same of conservatives, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.....Debates over First Amendment rights have occasionally flared on college campuses in recent years, with conflicts arising over guest speakers who express polarizing views, often from the political right.....Stanford University became a flashpoint this year when students shouted down a conservative judge who was invited to speak. More recently, a conservative Princeton University professor was drowned out while discussing free speech at Washington College, a small school in Maryland.... .....Overall, Republicans see a clear double standard on college campuses. Just 9% said conservatives can speak their minds, while 58% said liberals have that freedom, according to the polling. They were also slightly less likely than Americans overall to see campuses as respectful and inclusive places for conservatives.....The protest at Stanford was one of six campus speeches across the U.S. that ended in significant disruption this year, with another 11 last year, according to a database by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech group.....About three in five Americans (62%) say that a major purpose of higher education is to support the free exchange and debate of different ideas and values. Even more U.S. adults say college’s main purpose is to teach students specific skills (82%), advance knowledge and ideas (78%) or teach students to be critical thinkers (76%). Also, 66% said a major purpose is to create a respectful and inclusive learning environment..... https://apnews.com/article/free-speech-college-campuses-0b2811fb35c9c6288b7517da7c9affd3

Photos: Turns out Black Lives Matter bought a $6 million California mansion ....Although it wasn’t reported at the time, New York Magazine has revealed that back in October 2020, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation — often abbreviated BLMGNF or just BLM — spent nearly $6 million in donated funds on a luxurious estate in Studio City, an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood....The all-cash deal closed five months after George Floyd’s murder sparked nationwide protests and widespread donations to various BLM chapters. In February 2021, BLM financial documents revealed the organization raised more than $90 million in 2020 alone, making the $6 million property splurge a drop in the proverbial bucket..... ....But the purchase has engendered criticism, both for the property’s scale and because BLM apparently took strides to prevent the transaction from becoming public knowledge. And it’s not the first time that the org has faced scrutiny over lavish real estate spending; back in April 2021, Dirt broke the story that BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors had purchased a residential compound in L.A.’s Topanga Canyon. The New York Post subsequently revealed that the Topanga property was just one piece of the $3.2 million luxury real estate portfolio Cullors had amassed while serving as an executive director of BLM....Cullors, for her part, characterized the reporting about her home purchases as “right-wing media disinformation and harassment.” She also stated that she was “currently in survival mode” in a May 2021 YouTube video that was filmed at the $6 million estate, which BLM hadn’t yet publicly acknowledged.... ....Grant deeds reviewed by Dirt seem to indicate that the Studio City property’s existence was deliberately concealed. Rather than being acquired outright by the BLM organization, the property was purchased by a man named Dyane Pascall, a little-known financial manager who has previously done work for Cullors and at least one other BLM executive. Pascall apparently wasn’t concerned with getting a discount on the big spread — he paid the sellers’ full $5.9 million asking price....Just three days after his big purchase, records show Pascall gifted the property to “3726 Laurel Canyon LLC,” a mysterious entity named after the property’s address. The LLC was established in Delaware, known for its corporate secrecy and one of the only states in which the managers and members of LLCs are not required to be publicly listed. In high-end real estate transactions, Delaware LLCs are commonly used by people seeking to disguise their ownership of luxury homes..... ... But it’s worth noting that the entity lists its mailing address as the Washington D.C. headquarters of Perkins Coie LLP, an international law firm that has previously represented BLM in various legal disputes. And this month, amid mounting media pressure, a BLM spokeswoman finally confirmed that the organization owns the estate, which is known internally as the “Campus.”... More than 300 TV commercials, episodes and films have been shot, all or in part, on the leafy premises....Billed as the ultimate “live/work compound,” the 1930s Colonial-style house is surrounded by a blacktopped driveway and dedicated parking spaces for 20+ cars....Behind the house, a big brick patio has space for dozens of folks dining al fresco; just beyond that stands an outdoor fireplace slathered in Italian marble....A white gate set into a towering hedge wall separates the main house and its grounds from the back half of the property, where there’s a guardhouse/caretaker’s studio....Also on the back half of the property is a 2,300-square-foot space that’s currently an extensively engineered sound stage but could also be a music or dance studio, per the listing. A separate control room monitors the filming from above....There’s also a lobby area for welcoming guests, plus a separate guesthouse with two bedrooms and one bathroom.... https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/07/photos-turns-out-black-lives-matter-bought-a-6-million-california-mansion/

Anger over BLM's purchase of $8.1 million Toronto mansion grows as group's finances scrutinized ...Canadian Black Lives Matter activists are furious over the group's recent $8.1 million cash purchase of a mansion in downtown Toronto that once served as the headquarters of the Communist Party of Canada ....The U.S. charity that serves as the face of the BLM movement provided the bulk of the funding for the purchase of the 10,000-square-foot property in July. The purchase flew largely under the radar at the time, but anger has now reached a boiling point amid other revelations about BLM's management and its finances...."For BLM Canada to take money from BLM Global Network [Foundation] for a building without consulting the community was unethical," Canadian BLM activists Sarah Jama and Sahra Soudi said in a recent statement. "For BLM Canada to refuse to answer questions from young Black organizers goes against the spirit of movement-building." ....Jama and Soudi said they resigned from the steering committee of BLM's Toronto chapter after the leaders of BLM Canada refused to answer any questions about the purchase and tried to get them to sign exploitative nondisclosure agreements...."In other words, the NDA was designed as a constant threat of legal action against us, even though we were volunteering our time to a cause we believed in..." ...Real estate records obtained by the Washington Examiner show that BLM Canada, which also goes by M4BJ, purchased the property for $8.1 million on July 13, 2021. The purchase came just weeks after the group's co-founder, Patrisse Cullors, resigned amid scrutiny of her own personal real estate purchases across the United States....BLM Canada accessed a "restricted capital grant" from the movement's national arm to purchase the property.....Cullors' spouse, Janaya Khan, also serves as a director of BLM Canada, according to the group's Canadian charity registration.... ....A coalition of 10 local BLM chapters came out against the movement's national arm in late 2020, alleging that the group provided little to no financial support to local activists while simultaneously offering no acceptable transparency surrounding its finances and operations....Black Lives Matter transferred millions to a Canadian charity run by the wife (Janaya Khan) of it's co-founder (Cullors) to purchase a sprawling mansion that had once served as the headquarters of the Communist Party...M4BJ, a Toronto-based non-profit set up by Janaya Khan and other Canadian activists, snagged the 10,000 square foot historic property...Khan is the wife of Patrisse Khan-Cullors, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Global Foundation Network and a self-avowed Marxist....Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele told the newspaper that they didn’t know who was managing the group’s more than $66 million windfall from Thousand Currents, a non-profit that managed its donations....Thousand Currents transferred the cash to BLMGNF in Oct. 2020 when it broke with the group, according to public filings.... https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/anger-over-blms-purchase-of-8-1-million-toronto-mansion-grows-as-groups-finances-scrutinized https://nypost.com/2022/01/29/black-lives-matter-sent-millions-to-canada-charity-m4bj-for-mansion/

Flashback: Trump's border wall was called 'racist' and 'anti-immigrant' by liberal media for years ....The Biden administration will soon begin constructing a new portion of border wall along the US-Mexico southern border, a policy that members of the liberal media have claimed was "racist" and "anti-immigrant" under former President Trump's leadership.....The Biden administration announced last week it would waive 26 federal restrictions to accelerate construction of the wall along the Texas-Mexico border. President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have said their hands were essentially tied and their policy that walls don't work hasn't changed....."We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money, but it has not done so, and we are compelled to follow the law," Mayorkas said in a statement. Former CNN host Chris Cuomo criticized the Trump's plan as a solution to the problem. "But he only talks about that wall as a solution, as a cure-all as a panacea, the whole back the Brown menace that he wants you to believe in, like we're living in some bizarre ‘Game of Thrones’ drama, except the walkers are Brown not White of course," he said. Jason Johnson previously said on MSNBC said a wall at the southern border was a "monument to White Nationalism." ...."Anybody who agrees to give any money to this wall is foolish," he continued. Several pundits said in 2018 and 2019 that the wall was racist and declared Trump's administration was "anti-immigration." Rick Tyler, an MSNBC contributor said in 2018 that Trump's wall was all about keeping "non-White people" from crossing the border and that any fears surrounding the wall were "all race based." Tyler also wondered why Trump wasn't worried about Canadians, who he said had the "biggest Visa overstays." "Why aren't we concerned about the Canadians Visa overstays? Because they're White people," he said at the time. While discussing one of Trump's posts to Twitter in 2018, former GOP congressman David Jolly deemed the former president's administration "anti-immigration" and "anti-diversity," during an appearance on former CNN host Don Lemon's show. April Ryan, White House corespondent for the Giro, said during the segment that Trump's policies were about "controlling the browning of America." Futuro Media Group president and CEO Maria Hinojosa told MSNBC's Joy Reid in 2019 that Trump's wall was "racist." ......"What is this all about? This is about a wall that is to keep people like me and my students and their families out. It is a wall that is racist. So that’s why there is all of this human suffering," she said. Frequent "Morning Joe" guest Mike Barnicle said in 2019 that the wall was like a metaphor for Trump's presidency, arguing the foundation of it was "hate" and "fear." Another frequent MSNBC guest, Donny Deutsch referenced Trump's infamous campaign slogan while criticizing Trump's plans, saying it was not a wall it was a "lets keep America White again." The New York Times' Mara Gay deemed the wall a "$6 billion monument to hatred and division" in 2019 after the government reopened following a shutdown....."I think just pulling back and remembering that the government was shutdown and all of this pain to the economy, to these individual workers was felt, not for healthcare, right, but actually to allow the president to build a $6 billion monument to hatred and division and something we don’t actually have any practical need for. It would have been a huge tragedy. We have real problems in this country. We have an opoid epidemic, we have a housing crisis, we have infrastructure crisis," she said at the time. https://www.foxnews.com/media/flashback-trumps-border-wall-was-called-racist-and-anti-immigrant-liberal-media-years

Victim's family says judge went easy on teacher who helped teen escape to Texas .....A school teacher has been arrested for helping one of her former students escape custody. The juvenile was found over 300 miles from where he was being held, and his former teacher allegedly helped him get out of the state..... In 2019, Darrelle Scott was walking along this stretch of Morrison Road when Lynell Reynolds approached him. Lynell Reynolds ended up shooting Darrelle in the back. Darrelle is now paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. 18-year-old Reynolds escaped from a juvenile halfway house in Louisiana on September 13. He was captured in San Antonio, Texas Monday afternoon. Police also arrested his former teacher, 31-year-old Angela Filardo. She's accused of helping him after he got out. Authorities tracked Reynolds through his phone, finding nearly 100 communications between the duo. Detectives report she drove him to Texas and dropped him off in Houston. Filardo was booked on one count of accessory to simple escape. "She's for Lynell. She is wrong. I hope she never ever, ever in life, gets to be around any children or ever teach again," White said, New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams issued his warning last week about anybody caught aiding and abetting Reynolds. Williams said, "If they assist or aid this escapee in any way, they're committing a crime. And if they have help, they need to let this office know, let the authorities know when they were in contact with him, where he was headed next. Because anyone found to have assisted him, however slight, will be prosecuted."....On Tuesday, prosecutors pushed for Filardo's bond to be $500,000. Instead, it was set at $5,000 and she has to wear an ankle monitor. White says that's far too lenient, saying, "You're going to get out, walk away like you did nothing, and that's the look she had on her face. I did nothing." Filardo faces up to six months in prison if convicted. https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/victims-family-says-judge-went-easy-on-teacher

'Too woke’: Starbucks faces backlash for new ad in India; here’s why .....Multinational coffee chain, Starbucks, that released a new advertisement in India, is being slammed online for the subject of the said ad...... The ad starts with two parents, who are waiting for their son, Arpit, at a Starbucks cafe. It is evident that something is plaguing the minds of the two people, when the wife asks the husband to not be angry “this time” as he tries to get his son on a call. The camera then pans to a woman, clad in a maroon dress, who approaches them and gives a warm hug to the wife, and an awkward one to the husband. By now it is clear that it is the son they are waiting for. She thanks her father for meeting her and says that it has been a few years since they last met but he still means the world to her. The father then goes to place an order for coffee. When the coffee is prepared, the barista calls for an ‘Arpita’. In a show of support, the father tells his daughter that she is still his kid and that only a letter has been added to her name.... “Can’t they just market their coffee and service to India? Their service is the best in the world. Who designs such campaigns to guilt trip people which don’t appeal/apply to even 0.1 % Indians. .... Starbucks is popular among teens, so it will directly target the Gen Z. Since Starbucks is encouraging it, people will find it posh & try to copy without telling their parents. Will create rifts between parents & children…Starbucks. Coffee is their other product. Main product of Starbucks is wokeness. Supporting LGBTQ, Trans activism, Same Sex marriage, immigrants is part of corporate philosophy of Starbucks. Now they started their woke agenda in India....” The ad has been directed by Gaurav Gupta, conceptualised by Edelman India, and features transgender model and actor Sia. The campaign ‘It Starts With Your Name’ aims to focus on personal relationships and individuality. But social media has not taken the advertisement well. https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/trends/story/too-woke-starbucks-faces-backlash-for-new-ad-in-india-heres-why-381024-2023-05-12