No money and no job reinstatement for Chief Running Mouth. PirateBallerina has the story (as always) and the “hoist on his own petard” updates are priceless. Speaking of priceless, this is probably the last time I’ll get to use the graphic below the fold. [Mild profanity warning.]
Why this graphic? Here’s why.
The final numbers were not the announced $4,000 speaking fee, it came to over $12,000 of taxpayer and student money, all for an anti-American bigot to speak to a room full of students.
And worth every penny, in my opinion, because this guy is an embarrassment on every level. It’s very instructive to see who supports him and what their stated reasons are for doing so.
It’s not about the free speech, which he has enjoyed all along. Free speech means “right to speak freely” not “right to speak, free from consequences of everything you’ve done your entire life.” Having made his “Look at me!” offensive statements, he should not have been surprised that he was scrutinized and all his misdeeds became public as well. I can deplore what he said about the victims of 9/11 getting what they deserved and still not think he deserved to lose his job over it. And I do; as I wrote in 2006:
As offensive as those statements were, it is a thousand times better that he is being fired for research misconduct, including plagiarism, fabrication, and falsification. Were many people motivated to fire him because of his statements? Of course. But if Churchill had been an honest and dedicated scholar, he would have been untouchable because he has the right to make offensive statements.
To explain – no, there is to much, let me sum up his offenses (details linked here), he lied repeatedly about his military service, trained domestic terrorists to build bombs, ripped off other’s artwork, committed academic fraud, promoted violence, and consistently attacked his own country every way he could his entire adult life. Of those offenses, the only one at issue here was his academic fraud, and he was rightfully fired for it. The fact that he exposed himself as a deplorable person is just lagniappe.
Hey, Chief, if you don’t like it here, don’t let the door hit ya, etc. I bet there’s a lot of universities in Europe who think you’re just keen, and if you’re tired of being a wacademic, Hugo Chavez could probably use another staffer. Why not send your CV?
