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"What we want to do is give a voice to those who have been silenced." So said one Notre Dame student leading an effort to protest Vice President Mike Pence's upcoming commencement address on campus.

The irony of protesting an alleged attempt to silence some people by silencing another is obviously lost on this young activist.

"For many people on our campus," the student said, "it makes them feel unsafe to have someone who openly is offensive but also demeaning of their humanity and of their life and of their identity."

Word salad, fresh from higher education's farm of half-baked progressive hot takes.

To break the sentence down, this student is claiming offensive speech, and the so-called demeaning of people's humanity, lives, and identities, makes her peers feel unsafe. That charge could also be viewed as demeaning to people whose safety is in legitimate danger, rather than private school students who feel as though a mainstream political opponent's worldview poses a serious danger to their "humanities" and "identities."

Another student told the school paper that the school's decision to bring the vice president of the United States to campus for commencement "goes against certain Catholic Social Teaching," charging the university with "picking and choosing" which of those teachings it stands behind.

Picking and choosing? Like choosing to ignore teachings on marriage and abortion?

Certainly, it is fair for these students to disagree with Pence's perspectives on political issues. But their inability to present well-reasoned objections to his politics, instead cobbling together an incompatible assortment of half-formed arguments, is another unfortunate reminder that the campus Left is no longer interested in reason at all.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Trump on Thursday declined to answer a direct question from a reporter as to whether he ordered the strike.

04/14/17 11:20 AM

Continued here:
Some Notre Dame students think Mike Pence 'demeans' their 'humanity' - Washington Examiner

Quartz

Nearly 40% Americans lean toward Mike Pence on hanging with the opposite sex Quartz When a profile of Karen Pence revealed that US vice president Mike Pence never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and that he won't attend events featuring alcohol without her by his side, either the liberal world erupted in mockery and ...

Excerpt from:
Nearly 40% Americans lean toward Mike Pence on hanging with the opposite sex - Quartz

We remember the Puritans as the people with the funny hats and blunderbusses who supposedly invented shooting Turkeys for Thanksgiving. They are also famous for their obsession with avoiding sin and insistence on deciding who merited Gods approval.

This stereotype is not completely fair, but its got a lot of truth in it. Suffice it to say if you were a time traveler in search of a great time, you would want to steer clear of 1600s Massachusetts. And if you were a Native American back then, you might have been confused by the way such moral people were so adept at stealing land and hanging each other for heresy.

Nobody wants to be called a Puritan anymore, but the Puritans are still with us. And theyre not just fanatical English Protestants. They hail from all religions and ideologies. They are Republicans and Democrats, Muslims and Christians, the uneducated and academics; all ready to take to social media or the pulpit or the classroom and denounce heretics. These people are passionate about their causes, almost obsessed with them at times to the point of rigidity, ready at the drop of a hat to eviscerate those who disagree with them and pronounce them not just mistaken, but bad people whose opinions must be silenced.

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The recent tempest in a teapot over Vice President Mike Pences marital habits he accidentally revealed that he tries very hard to be faithful to his wife was an odd example of this. The people tearing into him on social media for being a Puritan revealed more than a little of this Puritan rigidity in themselves an impatience and disgust with anyone who violated their standards of how to live.

The Puritans werent all wrong, of course. Its with some bemusement that I listen to people who have no patience for the religious convictions of fundamentalists take their own no-compromise stances on other moral issues, like racism or womens rights.

Theyre right to take a stand on those issues. But if they were just a tiny bit more open minded, they might see what they have in common with the Puritans. Modern people think sexual assault is destructive and repugnant. The Puritans agreed, and also said adultery was destructive and repugnant.

Feminism, racial issues, abortion, poverty these are moral debates. And they divide people with strong moral passions. Even those who attack religion, it turns out, have their own moral orthodoxies, and need to guard against that little Puritan on their shoulder whispering in their ear.

Where some of the Puritans went wrong, like many have since, was to lose their balance on that awfully delicate high wire of living life with both passion and compassion, with conviction and tolerance; being firm in their beliefs and yet living amicably with those who arent; standing firm on core values but being flexible on others.

Many of us struggle with that high-wire act. And that should give us compassion, for each other, and for those darn Puritans.

Andrew Sharp is a producer at The Daily Times and delmarvanow.com. Email him at asharp@delmarvanow.com. Find him on Twitter @buckeye_201 and on Facebook @andrewsharp201.

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Mike Pence and the attack of the Puritans - Delmarva Daily Times

After a recent Washington Post profile of second lady Karen Pence noted that her husband never eats meals alone with other women or attends events where alcohol is served without her, ravenous liberals used that detail to smear Vice President Mike Pence as a sexist who reduces women to sexual temptresses and stalls their professional advancement. This week, however, Pence's policy received some unintentional backup from an unlikely source former Gov. Robert Bentley, R-Ala.

In a dramatic conclusion to the made-for-television sex scandal involving the governor and his senior political advisor, Bentley resigned on Monday and reported directly to the Montgomery County Jail where he is currently serving a 30-day sentence. Tracing Bentley's career-ending relationship with adviser Rebekah Mason to its origins, reports indicate that increasing occasions where the two spent time alone was an early signal to observers they were engaged in extramarital relations, or moving in that direction at least.

A report in Al.com claims the governor's wife, Dianne Bentley, began "having concerns about the amount of time her husband" spent with Mason in 2013, noting Mason "frequently [texted] her boss and [was] seen in close conversations" with him. Staffers also reported that Bentley and Mason were "often behind closed doors."

According to an ABC interview with Jason Zengerle, a GQ writer who published an investigative report on the affair last summer, sources close to the governor said they would "walk into a room where the governor and Rebekah Mason were together and both the governor and Mason would be startled as if they were doing something they didn't want other people to see."

Nobody knows exactly when or how the affair began, but, as Al.com reported, Dianne Bentley started noticing changes in her husband in 2013, around the time Mason was selected to run communications for Bentley's re-election campaign and the two started "spending more time together." Again, it is not clear if meals the two shared, or mutual attendance at alcohol-fueled events, ultimately lead to the affair the only occasions Pence's policy actually prevents.

But, of course, if Bentley had committed to refraining from increased one-on-one time with staffers of the opposite sex, he likely would not be behind bars today.

That goes for Mason, as well.

To be clear, people of the opposite sex need to be able to spend time alone together professionally, and it is important for men to respect women enough to make that possible without sexualizing the circumstances. Any restrictions on those interactions should probably apply to working people of both sexes in a marriage as well. (We do not know if the Pence's rule also applies to Karen.)

This is not to say the Pence policy is right for every marriage, but in politics, where rising powers such as Bentley and Pence work odd hours, often with female staffers, the temptations are unique.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Trump on Thursday declined to answer a direct question from a reporter as to whether he ordered the strike.

04/14/17 11:20 AM

It is not unreasonable, then, to erect unique boundaries either.

Bentley's affair is a case study in how the dynamics of political life can combine to form a perfect storm of variables that swirls around even the happiest of marriages, claiming victims unprepared for the impact.

Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

Read more here:
What disgraced Gov. Robert Bentley could have learned from Mike Pence - Washington Examiner

Donald Trump with Mike Pence, left, and Paul Ryan, at a Congress.

The Trump administration is considering economic sanctions and military options if North Korea goes forward with a ballistic missile or nuclear test, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Vice President Mike Pence will discuss the U.S. response to a North Korean provocation on a visit to South Korea and Japan as part of a 10-day tour of Asia beginning this weekend. Hell arrive in Seoul on Easter Sunday, one day after the April 15 anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, North Koreas founder. White House foreign policy aides who requested anonymity to discuss the vice presidents travel say North Korea has telegraphed the possibility of a nuclear or missile test to coincide with its national holiday.

Tensions are rising between the North Korean regime and President Donald Trumps government, and the U.S. is ratcheting up pressure on China to contain its neighbor and ally. Pences trip follows Trumps dispatch of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle group to the waters around the Korean peninsula. Commercial satellite imagery of North Koreas Punggye-ri nuclear test site obtained by 38 North, a program devoted to analysis of the country at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, showed activity at the site suggestive of preparations for a nuclear test.

Hundreds of foreign journalists have been invited to Pyongyang in conjunction with the anniversary celebration.

North Korea is a problem, Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. The problem will be taken care of.

The White House is thought to be discussing the possibility of a limited missile strike in North Korea if concerns over the progress of its nuclear program intensify.But public opinion in the South does not favor a U.S. strike that could provoke a North Korean counterattack against its neighbor.

"This threat is growing, and our presidents first strike or left-of-launch options and his strategic decision space and time are becoming limited, because of these advancements," Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, said earlier this month at a forum hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

White House aides have said it is the administrations policy not to publicly outline definitive consequences for certain behaviors. But such a move would certainly draw concern in South Korea, which would most likely face the brunt of any retaliation.

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The White House expects South Korean officials to raise the issue during the vice presidents visit, and Pence also plans to discuss possible military steps with Army General Vincent Brooks, the commander of United States Forces Korea. Pences team also expects South Korean leadership to raise the possibility of tightening economic sanctions against North Korea and firms that do business with the country, the officials said.

QuickTake: North Koreas Nukes

Trump administration officials say they have seen progress after urging China to help constrain North Koreas antagonism.

Trump on Wednesday highlighted Chinas move to ban coal imports from North Korea, noting that a fleet of cargo ships had turned around to return to their home port of Nampo during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week at Mar-A-Lago.

Thats a big step, and they have many other steps that I know about, Trump said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Separately, the Global Times, a Communist Party-affiliated Chinese newspaper, argued in an editorial that Beijing should support stiffer UN sanctions against North Korea, including the limit of oil exports, if the country conducts another another nuclear test.

North Korean state media said the government was prepared to respond to U.S. aggression.

"Our revolutionary strong army is keenly watching every move by enemy elements with our nuclear sight focused on the U.S. invasionary bases not only in South Korea and the Pacific operation theater but also in the U.S. mainland," the Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

While in South Korea, Pence is expected to meet with U.S. troops and promote the deployment of the U.S. Thaad missile-defense system in the region.

Explaining Thaad, and Why It So Bothers China: QuickTake Q&A

The Lockheed Martin Corp. system has unnerved China, split South Koreans and become an issue in the campaign to replace impeached President Park Geun-hye. Moon Jae-in, the candidate for the left-leaning Democratic Party of Korea, initially called for a review of the decision to install the system but has softened his objections in recent weeks.

If North Korea continues with its nuclear provocations and China fails to restrain it, Thaads deployment will be inevitable, Moon said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

His main rival, Ahn Cheol-soo, of the centrist Peoples Party, has supported deploying the missile system. Pence is not expected to meet with either candidate during his time on the peninsula.

China has taken retaliatory steps for South Koreas acceptance of the Thaad system, including ordering travel agencies to stop selling tour packages to the country and suspending the business licenses of four South Korean superstores operating within China over alleged safety violations.

After visiting South Korea, Pence heads to Japan, where hell continue his North Korea discussions and engage in trade talks. While there, hell tour the USS Ronald Reagan and deliver a speech to U.S. and Japanese service members.

Read more:
Trump Rattles Saber at North Korea as Pence Dispatched to Seoul - Bloomberg