Author: nick

When I studied the First Amendment circa 2007, we struggled to reconcile two Establishment Clause cases decided on the same day. In McCreary County, the Court held that a display of the Ten Commandments posted on the wall of a courthouse was unconstitutional. And in Van Orden v. Perry, the Court held that a large stone monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol could remain. Justices O’Connor and Breyer cast the deciding votes in each case. In the latter decision, Justice Breyer worried what would happen if the people saw a large edifice on state property being…

Maximillian Alvarez TRNN In 2024, at the height of Israel’s US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, one of the most widespread waves of college campus protests since the Vietnam War exploded across the United States. Then came the repressive backlash. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a harrowing assault on free speech and the right to protest from the federal government and Zionist organizations, and universities themselves have ramped up their own internal surveillance and repression machines, weaponizing them against their own students, grad students, and faculty. Life, learning, and activism on American college campuses looks very different…

They Should Be Weeping, Not Cheering in Massachusetts Source link

By Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt This article was originally published by Truthout Administrators treat their universities like businesses — that’s why they’re failing. If education is indeed the great vehicle of social and economic mobility, then higher education is no longer delivering the promise of the “American dream.” In fact, this “dream” has become a fiscal nightmare. Colleges and universities saw 9,000 job cuts and buyouts in 2025, and several college closures, mergers, and looming budget crises have already been announced in 2026. Portland State University is one of the most recent casualties, with a projected deficit of $35 million.  How…

Trust no one… Are UFOs inspiring a new religion? The quest to understand the forgotten psychedelic: One of the first scans of mescaline in the brain suggests it travels a different path. (Archived page link) Eating potatoes reshaped the DNA of Indigenous Andeans. New research finds that pilots and flight attendants are at increased risk of cancer from being bombarded with cosmic radiation.. The most underappreciated achievement in theoretical physics: Many view the development of fringe, alternative theories as a useless waste of time – but when they can be tested, it shows what reality is. It’s official: No human…

We store up assets we ought to savor while we can – so pop your corks and raise your glasses Source link

GOP officials are willing to accept the FBI’s crime statistics as legitimate, but only when a Republican is president. Source link

Robert Inlakesh MintPress News Yemen’s Ansarallah launches deadly precision strikes on Saudi Arabia’s proxy forces as the blockade on Saudi Ports tightens the noose on an already suffering global oil market. In the latest episode of The Target stream, Mint Press News’ Robert Inlakesh presents the evidence that is being hidden from the public of the damages inflicted on US strategic targets by Iran and how the wider war is rapidly spinning out of control. US President Donald Trump has been adamant that the Strait of Hormuz is open, issuing statements that run contrary to the reality imposed over…

The Flying Burrito Brothers were a classic country rock band that was at its best in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Evidently, later configurations persisted for years afterward even without the participation of key original members.  There is now a new reason for the band, in whatever form it currently exists, to retire the name: It more accurately describes members of the very online conservative movement in the year of our Lord 2026. Having anticipated the great burrito debate many months before the meat, beans, and cheese went flying across social media, I had little interest in reheating and…

Chief Justice John Roberts faces a critical stay decision on the D.C. Circuit’s order blocking Trump’s White House East Wing construction project. Source link