1

Thanks to a demand from the Justice Department last year, the public will soon lose access to thousands of college lectures. Inside Higher Ed reports that the University of California, Berkeley will “cut off public access to tens of thousands of video lectures and podcasts in response to a U.S. Justice Department order that it make the educational content accessible to people with disabilities.”

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As Reason noted, by effectively defining “equal access” as “no access for anybody,” the Obama Justice Department put itself in the role of “the Handicapper General” from the satirical and dystopian science fiction story Harrison Bergeron.

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The Obama administration viewed it as better to have no accommodation for the disabled rather than an imperfect accommodation.

(Hans Bader)

2

In Australia, a mom sent her three-year-old to kindergarten with a slice of chocolate cake in the lunch bag. Unfortunately, a slice of this kind falls within the school’s “Red Food Category,” which encompasses unhealthy foods “that may contain excess energy (kilojoules), saturated fat, added sugar and/or salt.” The list also includes sodas and deep-fried foods and is part of a full set of nutrition guidelines that all schools follow Down Under.

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An Australian mom sends a piece of cake with her daughter as part of that day’s school lunch. The school responds by scolding the mom for violating nutritional guidelines.

(R.J. Moeller)

3

“Adult” isn’t just a noun anymore. It has been verbed, as in, “Mom says I need to get a job and move out. I guess it’s time to start adulting.” And now there’s a school to teach just that. If you have Millennial kids, you might want to tell them.

Portland, Maine entrepreneurs Rachel Weinstein and Katie Brunelle just opened The Adulting School where students can gain access “to everything you need to lead a successful financial and personal life.”

(Stephen L. Antczak)

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“The truth is that the thing most present to the mind of man is not the economic machinery necessary to his existence; but rather that existence itself; the world which he sees when he wakes every morning and the nature of his general position in it. There is something that is nearer to him than livelihood, and that is life.” (G.K. Chesterton)

Some succinct standing advice on recurring themes.