How Dems Screw Themselves

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I am highly critical of Authoritarian Donald Trump. He plays to people's darkest fears and their ugly side. I am also deeply concerned that he will refuse to leave office if he loses the next Presidential election, or that that he will suspend the election because he claims it is rigged. But he is a President who was legitimately elected. In that capacity, he has had an opportunity to appoint two Supreme Court justices. Both are arch conservatives who will actively dismantle established individual liberties while pretending to be strict constructionists. Both are impeccably qualified.

If we wanted someone more liberal, we should have worked harder to elect a Democrat as President. Shame on us.

The most recent nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, went through his confirmation hearings unscathed. That's when Diane Feinstein got ugly. She released an accusation that Kavanaugh traumatized a fellow high school student at a party some 36 years ago. She received this accusation in July, but sat on it. She never sought an investigation then. Instead, she unleashing it at the midnight hour in an obvious bad-faith attempt to derail the nomination.

It is logically impossible to prove a negative. So matter what Kavanaugh says or does, Feinstein has permanently stained him. She has also stained the woman who leveled these accusations and obviously has her own issues. She has also permanently stained the #metoo movement and women who have very real complaints.

Thode: Is "Interpersonal Violence" Really a Problem at LU?

Blogger's Note: Dr. Stephen F. Thode has been director of the Murray H. Goodman Center for Real Estate Studies since the center's creation in 1988. From time to time, he makes the mistake of sharing his thoughts with me.

Yesterday, the entire Lehigh community (students, faculty and staff) was informed that all must complete mandatory training on interpersonal violence. The training is entitled, "Not Anymore." Let us all agree that any violence against persons is a terrible thing.

But, how big a problem is interpersonal violence at Lehigh?

Today, the Lehigh Police Department released its annual report on crime at Lehigh. I have reproduced the Federal Campus Crime statistics from that report below:

As you can see, for all of calendar year 2017, the Lehigh community experienced a grand total of five (5) reported violent crimes against persons (2 rapes, 1 fondlings, 1 robbery, and 1 dating violence). Additionally, the "Hate Crimes" data is on the same page. Not a single "hate crime" has been reported in the last 3 years. Given the report also says that there are more than 8,400 persons in the Lehigh community (students, faculty and staff), that means that less than one-tenth of one percent of persons in the Lehigh community were the victims of violent crime, and, even if every perpetrator was a member of the Lehigh community, less than one-tenth of one percent of persons in the Lehigh community were perpetrators of violent crime.

Put another way, 99.9%+ of the Lehigh community was not a victim of a (reported) violent crime. And, 99.9%+ of the Lehigh community was not a perpetrator of a violent crime against a member of the Lehigh community.

Even if violent crime is underreported by a magnitude of 10 (doubtful it's that great), 99%+ of the Lehigh community was not a victim of a violent crime (reported and unreported). And, 99%+ of the Lehigh community was a perpetrator of violent crime against a member of the Lehigh community (reported and unreported).

Those of you old enough may remember The Great Swine Flu Scare of the mid '70s. The Federal Government urged everyone to get vaccinated. Some got vaccinated. Most did not. Turns out, far more people got sick from the vaccination than from the swine flu itself.

Johnny Carson aptly observed that the vaccine was, "a cure for which there is no known disease."

Looks like we haven't learned much in the past 40 years.