StreetScooby

In practice, what does "strict scrutiny" mean? This phrase is used in context in the article shown below. Curious to see how it's applied in the real world. =========================================== From the 17-Jul-2014 WSJ Racial Preference Rewind UT and the Fifth Circuit show what they think of Justice Kennedy's ruling. Email Print 74 Comments Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn smaller Larger July 16, 2014 7:28 p.m. ET Anthony Kennedy, call your office. Last year the Supreme Court Justice wrote a 7-1 majority opinion narrowing the use of racial preferences in Fisher v. University of Texas and sending the case back to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration. On Tuesday a three-judge panel of that court ruled 2-1 that UT's program is still fine and dandy. In Fisher Justice Kennedy blinked from ending racial preferences but said admissions policies were subject to strict scrutiny and that universities were entitled to "no deference" from the courts on the means they use to create diversity. The Justices ruled that a school using racial preferences had to show that its program was narrowly tailored and that the school had failed to achieve adequate diversity through race-neutral means. So much for that. UT's automatic admissions policy, which admits the top tier of high school seniors across the state, already creates diversity on campus without racial preferences. But according to the two judges in the Fifth Circuit majority, Texas can still use race in pursuit of enriching the educational environment with students from different experiences and backgrounds. Enlarge Image Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy Associated Press In his dissent, Judge Emilio Garza wrote that while the university has said it is seeking to achieve a "critical mass" of diversity, it "has failed to define this term in any objective manner." Thus it is impossible to substantiate whether the school's use of preferences is narrowly tailored or not. "By holding that the University's use of racial classifications is narrowly tailored, the majority continues to defer impermissibly to the University's claims," Judge Garza writes, "This deference is squarely at odds with the central lesson of Fisher." None of this should surprise anyone, especially not Justice Kennedy. The use of racial preferences is so deeply embedded in the habits of universities, and for that matter liberal legal culture, that schools will look for any excuse to allocate admissions by skin color until the Supreme Court clearly rules it out. If Abigail Fisher's next appeal reaches the High Court, perhaps Justice Kennedy will rediscover the courage of his convictions. We are all engines of karma

It's never been an issue before. I'm just dealing with a young guy who doesn't know what he's doing. This will work itself out. We are all engines of karma

What kind of place do you work? We are all engines of karma

Wow. That's got to be tough. At least your bosses are aware of the situation, and seem to be supportive. I have no idea how to deal with a situation like this, and it's not something that happens in my environment. When my PC breaks, I am extremely polite and deferential to the guys that come to fix it. Invariably, I learn something and develop a good rapport with them. It's fun, and these guys always find time to help me with related questions. Can't imagine it being any other way. I did encounter a new situation today that I've never experienced before. As a habit, I always ask for a copy of the background report submitted for my employment. It's never been an issue with any other employer, until today. I'm dealing with a younger guy who wants to know why I want it . I had to explain it to him nicely, without pointing out to him that I'm entitled to full disclosure of such things, if my knowledge is correct (...again, every other time I've asked it's been in my hands within two days). He's a budding bureaucrat in the making, and I'm really thinking about giving him a polite full dose of me

LOL, ... no, my office generally doesn't have those kinds of "issues" We are all engines of karma

We are all engines of karma

Went to a BOSE store on Saturday to look at the QC-15s. Only sale for $260 right now. Wonderful pair of headphones. Extremely comfortable, and the noise cancellation demo was impressive. Definitely going to get a pair in the near future. We are all engines of karma

Latest update, the "mouse clacker" found a better job, and has moved on. Monday was his last day in the office. Tuesday was a very different day ;-) Best of luck to this guy. We are all engines of karma

My understanding is it's worth the effort. We are all engines of karma

For a second, I thought she was one of the hooker's that Italy is using to boost their GDP number... We are all engines of karma

We are all engines of karma

The best way to deal with this is for their father to stay at home in a stable 2-parent family. It's fundamental to creating and maintaining a civil society. We are all engines of karma

HaHa. Was the pun intended? We are all engines of karma

How many of those immigrants went on government assistance? We are all engines of karma

Compared to several papers I've read, Hansen's papers don't impress me. He's more of a salesman these days, IMO. We are all engines of karma

Thanks for the feedback!

They're incredible pilots, too!

Attempted??? . Those people hate each other. And western democratic leaders actually think they'll be able to sing Kumbaya with these people... It's laughable, IMO. Utterly detached from reality, and insane with their repeated attempts thinking that the outcome will be different. Ain't going to happen. We are all engines of karma

Shame on me, you're probably right... Had to be a marine...

I figured it was a BS reason, also, at the time. There's enough money floating around with "extremists" now that they soon should be able to buy a kiloton range atomic weapon, without their Saudi master's permission. I'm still going to work but having a rough answer of what to do in a really bad situation doesn't seem like paranoia to me anymore. We are all engines of karma

thedailybeast? ah, please.... Good article. As it states, the area "conquered" by ISIS is a mainly Sunni area. The "Iraqi" forces there were Sunni, and they simply left their posts to join the ISIS movement because Sunnis are sick of Maliki. The main point you should be seeing, IMO, is this: There is no Iraq anymore. Never really was, without a dictator to keep it together. You've got Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. Borders aren't clear yet, but it's pretty set now they don't want to live together. The Sunni guys have a lot of money, relatively speaking, and a lot of free-will about how they want the world to look. They should be taken seriously on these points alone, IMO. *** At this stage, while it appears that there is no immediate and direct threat to Israel’s security from the events in Iraq, the resulting atmosphere could strengthen global jihadi elements operating in countries near Israel. Agreed, we really don't need to worry about Israel. They've proven more than once they are adults who can take care of themselves. It's the people elsewhere, e.g. the rest of the Western democracies, that don't seem able to take care of themselves anymore. ISIS and their funds are going to challenge the way of life against whom they deem to be infidel. And, that has the potential to be far more effective than most may realize, IMO. Western democracies are essentially broke, both financially and wrto free-will. I do not think this is going to get better anytime soon, if ever. About the only way left out for Western democracies, who have unbelievable unfunded liabilities, is a major world war. The reign of the US dollar in world markets is rapidly coming to an end. Our way of life, and those folks that rely on the dollar, is going to be significantly impacted. We are all engines of karma

This is an article from the weekend Wall Street Journal. The ISIS boys are ready to rock. And they are very well funded, all by themselves. Seem they've hit all the major banks along the way. I need to figure out what to do if I survive a nuclear explosion in NYC... Like, how to get back to Westchester County? Stuff like that. Any suggestions out there? ======================================================================== The Caliphate Rises Osama bin Laden's political project begins to form in Iraq. June 27, 2014 6:34 p.m. ET The jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS) continue to consolidate their grip on Sunni Iraq. They control most major cities, they took over the border crossings with Jordan this week, and now they're re-opening banks and government offices and establishing political control. Welcome to the new Middle East caliphate, a state whose leader is considered the religious and political successor to the prophet Mohammed and is thus sovereign over all Muslims. The last time a caliphate was based in Baghdad was 1258, the year it was conquered by the ravaging Mongols. Now the jihadists aim to do the ravaging, and it isn't clear that the Obama Administration has a plan to depose them. Enlarge Image Jordanian soldiers on their tanks at the Ruwaished Iraq-Jordan border crossing on Monday. EPA It's important to understand how large a setback for American interests and security this is. Establishing a caliphate in the Middle East was the main political project of Osama bin Laden's life. Current al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri once said a new caliphate would signal a turning of world history "against the empire of the United States and the world's Jewish government." In 2005, a Jordanian journalist named Fouad Hussein wrote a book on al Qaeda's "second generation," which focused on the thinking of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed by U.S. forces in 2006. The book described a seven-phase plan, beginning with an "awakening" of Islamic consciousness with the September 11 attacks. Among other predictions, it foresaw an effort to "clear plans to partition Syria, Lebanon and Jordan into sectarian statelets to reshape the region." In phase four, timed to happen between 2010 and 2013, the Arab world's secular regimes would be toppled. And then? Phase five would see the "declaration of the caliphate or Islamic state" sometime between 2013 and 2016. This was to be followed by "total war," or "the beginning of the confrontation between faith and disbelief, which would begin in earnest after the establishment of the Islamic caliphate." *** None of this means that events over the past decade have been dictated by an al Qaeda master plan. But you might forgive a legion of current or would-be jihadists for thinking as much. Al Qaeda is a movement driven by a combination of fantasy and fanaticism. Events that appear to corroborate the former will inevitably fuel the latter. The plan of phases should also serve as warning that ISIS will not be content running a shambolic rump state in the desert. The group now sits on a large arsenal of weapons along with a horde of cash and gold bullion, potentially making ISIS the world's deadliest and richest terror organization. Though there are conflicting reports on whether ISIS has captured Iraq's largest oil refinery at Baiji, ISIS clearly intends to seize economic assets to operate them. With oil and tax revenue, ISIS can dispense services and finance a jihadist army. The Journal reported this week on an ISIS recruitment video that shows armed militants speaking with British and Australian accents and extolling the virtues of jihad in Syria and Iraq. ISIS now controls territory from western Syria to the suburbs of Baghdad. Even if it doesn't try to take the Iraqi capital, it can reinforce existing positions and make any counterattack by Iraq's army costly and dangerous. A jihadist state will also put more pressure on America's allies in Jordan who are already under siege by refugees from Syria. The same goes for the Kurds in northern Iraq, though the Kurdish peshmerga are professional fighters who ISIS would be wary of challenging now. But as the years go on, the oil in Kirkuk would be a tempting ISIS target. One question is whether ISIS has learned from its failed reign of terror in Anbar province in 2005 and 2006, when it alienated local Sunni sheiks through sheer brutality and drove them into an alliance with the U.S. military. From Afghanistan to Egypt to Algeria, the Islamists' political Achilles' heel has always been their penchant to go too far. But it would be reckless for the Iraqi government or Obama Administration to count on them self-destructing one more time. Then again, it isn't clear President Obama has any strategy at all. In his comments last week, we heard a lot about the need for political reform in Baghdad, along with his trademark admonition to "ask hard questions before we take action abroad, particularly military action." At no point did the President speak of "defeating" ISIS as a U.S. goal. Perhaps Mr. Obama imagines there is no point in playing "Whac-A-Mole," as he put it, "wherever these terrorist organizations may pop up." But the core contention of all jihadist groups is that supposed superpowers like the U.S. always weary of a long fight, and that powerful weapons are of no use in timid hands. Perhaps the government in Baghdad will pull together politically and militarily to halt ISIS and take back the cities it so swiftly seized. But hoping to get lucky is not a strategy. Meantime, brush up on your Islamic history and terminology. A mere 13 years after the U.S. chased al Qaeda and the Taliban from Afghanistan, and a mere three years after bin Laden's death, the terror master's political project is returning to life on President Obama's watch. We are all engines of karma

Agreed, fully. What an excellent idea. Let me cogitate on this... We are all engines of karma

I've heard F-18s land at 150+ mph. They are as big and heavy as a fully loaded 18-wheel truck, IIRC. Blows me away... I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that thing... We are all engines of karma

Fixed it for 'ya... BTW, Navy pilots are incredible, IMO. We are all engines of karma