When a Phrase Drops like a Bomb

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH This passage is from a “breaking news” update from the Huffington Post: The Trump administration intends to continue diplomatic efforts with North Korea “until the first bomb drops,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday. Tillerson said that President Trump “has also made clear to me that he wants this solved…

Born Lucky and Unlucky

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH On this past Friday, LiveScience’s entire daily newsletter was devoted to Friday the 13th and the concepts of good and bad luck. The linked articles included “Why Do We Fear Friday the 13th?, ”Statistically Speaking, Is Friday the 13th Really Unlucky?,” What is the Origin of Friday the 13th?,” “Why Are…

Very Selectively Applied Norms

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH In an article for Salon titled “Freedom of Speech Only Goes So Far on College Campuses,” Charlie May reports: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wants the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to investigate one of its professors after she strongly criticized President Donald Trump and the consequences of…

Mind Games

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH For most diehard American soccer fans, there is little consolation for the men’s team’s failure to qualify for the next World Cup. But for those of us in higher ed, particularly those of us in the humanities, the following Monty Python skit titled “Philosopher Football” may not make the U.S. team’s…

Different Kinds of “Locker-Room Talk”

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH If you voted for Donald Trump, even after the Access Hollywood tape was released, you can have no credibility if you not only claim to be outraged by Harvey Weinstein’s behavior but also feel compelled to denounce Progressives for not denouncing him. Likewise, if you were not outspokenly outraged by the…

Why the Surreptitious Recording of Teachers Does Much More Harm than Good

POSTED BY MARTIN KICH At the beginning of September, Jonathan Zimmerman wrote an article for Salon titled “Don’t Tape Our Teachers: Why Surreptitious Recording in the Classroom Isn’t OK.” Zimmerman surveys a number of recent instances in which teachers have expressed strong political opinions that have surreptitiously been recorded by students, that have then been…