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characters anonymized for no good reason

to: moot court coordinator, copied to heads of the school and university

Hello [moot court coordinator]:

I recently judged at the Moot Court Competition. I have been involved with the competition for 36 years give or take. I was the coordinator in the 1993-1994 school year. I was also an Editor on the Environmental Law Review and published Hearsay.

My vehicle has certain signage on it. One side says “Happy Happy Birthday United States of America 250” with a second line saying “Honor Our Constitution,” and a third “Respect Our OffICErs.” On the upper right corner it has ב''ה. On the other side it has 2+2≠5, XY≠Girl, D≠Prosperity. That is the fixed signage. It also has a chalkboard element. On those elements were written “Go Bobby, Go Lee” on one side and “CO2 is plant food, not a pollutant” on the other.

I am an Orthodox Jew. I keep kosher. There wasn't anything for me to eat at lunch (I didn't request anything either), so I went back to my vehicle to grab some coffee I had there. I was approached by campus security and told I couldn't have my vehicle on campus. It was campus policy.

First, I'd like to see the policy.

Second, I'd like to know how this comports with your mission, reproduced below. You don't prepare your people for the world by telling them that some messages aren't welcome here. You might prepare them by teaching them to engage.

And if you want to put DEI spin on it, you don't foster diversity when you treat the only openly religious Jew as if his voice is not welcome.

I did move my vehicle off-campus, I left after the next round of judging instead of going to the reception because it is only two hour parking and frankly I was a little, maybe a lot, disgusted.

Please clarify your policy so I can clarify if I will be returning.

Your stated vision:

Vision
X University will be recognized as the premier student-outcomes centered institution in the New York metropolitan region, preparing students for lifelong success in the future of work and to be tomorrow's leaders and changemakers in solving challenges in our society.

Mission
X University provides to its undergraduates a powerful combination of knowledge in the professions, real-world experience, and a rigorous liberal arts curriculum, giving them the skills and habits of mind to realize their full potential.

We impart to our graduate students a deep knowledge of their discipline and connection to its community.
Firmly rooted in the University's founding identity and mission of Opportunitas, this unique approach will enable all X graduates to realize their full potential as innovative thinkers and active problem solvers who are uniquely trained to make positive and enduring contributions to our future world.

I would appreciate the courtesy of a reply.

Yours Truly,

Herz

dean's response

Dear Mr. Herz:

Thank you for your message. We apologize for the inconvenience you encountered on the day of the event. Haub Law is committed to creating a welcoming community and implementing inclusive policies, practices, and programming. We looked into the two concerns noted in your email and will review our practices (and adjust as appropriate) to ensure they continue to promote our professional and academic mission. Thank you for your long-time involvement in our Moot Court Competition, and we hope this incident will not foreclose your future participation.

Regards,

Y

“It ain't where you're from, it's where you're at.”

R. Allah

and mine

Dear [dean]:

First thank you for personally respoding.

Maybe your commitment “to creating a welcoming community and implementing inclusive policies, practices, and programming” is the problem.

A classical liberal education is not about welcoming. It is about the pursuit of truth. It is about confronting unfamiliar ideas and testing them for their truth value. It is about the challenges to our suppositions and biases and the conversations that help us grow and function better in the world. The inclusion comes from the dialogue, from a growing respect for other ideas because that is what is privileged, not skin color, or political affiliation (I am aware of [university]'s problem with this), or sexual preferences.

It is when we fail to train our children/students/future lawyers for the challenges that we end up with an overanxious, bubble-wrapped generation that has only a limited ability to negotiate the world.

If the world is becoming divided, it is because of the change in narrative. You are in a unique position to either create a working society or to continue to foster division. I hope you choose the former.

Yours Truly,…

and again

I realize your return message was not responsive.

The first thing I asked for was the policy. Where is the written policy that gives any official on campus the authority to ask someone to remove from campus a personal vehicle to which political messaging is permanently attached?

And then there is the question of how this policy is applied. Are all vehicles with political bumper stickers excluded from the campus?

And as to your last point, if I can’t park my vehicle on campus, this will affect my future participation.

Yours Truly,…

Above is the sign from the right side of my car, the left is below.

I went to the theater on Saturday night. It was at the Westport Country Playhouse. I suppose flavor enough is given in the fact that it has a large land acknowledgment on the wall in the lobby.

On Friday, before I chose to go, I tried to reach out to the performer. I asked if gay was a feature of his show or just a circumstance of his life. He hasn't replied yet. It was a feature of the night, there being a LGBTQ+ wrap by way of a reception before the show for an upcharge. I did not take that option. It took a little something just to get there after Shabbat.

The thing is that the left seems to think that the right is somehow offended when a queen says “did I mention I am gay.” and laughs in recognition of that charicature, at least that's my analysis. I guess they're still stuck in the last century. It was a decidedly older crowd.

This is my message to the performer after the show: “I came. If all you want is to make fun of ridiculous charicatures of the right and screech how fucked up the world is for a few laughs from people who think exactly like you do, then you might as well respond with some blow me off emoji. I am smart enough not to reply to that with another four paragraphs.

“You said you are energized by the haters. Whoop de do. How about being energized by those who might actually challenge your world view but share a commitment to a world that works?

“I mean, you're gay! (like anyone cares). Edgy would be if you got on that stage and made a comment about how the trans-activists are cutting off all the beautiful schlongim and kisim of the next generation, how you still wouldn't be attracted to a girl with a simulated penis cut from her forearms and nipples that have no erotic sensation because the nerves have been cut, and no real voice because the overgrown vocal chords of the testosterone are too big for her larynx.

“I was going to write more, but I am not going to waste the energy. I have made it to four paragraphs. If you are interested in a conversation for a better world, come for Shabbat. I am in Stamford for Shabbat, or Israel for holidays. I prefer when my wife is here, but I'll cook if she's not. ”

That was his other theme, “I am so scared,” “the world is so messed up,” or something to that effect with a lot of F-bombs. The four paragraphs was in relation to one of his takes on communication in this age.

Cancellation

So someone on NextDoor, an usher at the show, took issue with my display of bigotry. She mentioned she went outside, only to see my car and asked “Who is this David Herz…” She inadvertently suggested that I had humiliated the band members, so that's what the next paragraph was about. To her credit, she recognized the issue and clarified that she left when the performer was introducing the band. He was ragging on them in his queenly way. I did not actually think on that, a little vulgar, but part of the show.

Anyway, here's what I wrote in the first round of clarification. Actually, I am just going to run the three messages together. My main beef was about the TQ+ of the LGBTQ+ reception on the flier.

Just for clarification, I didn't say anything last night except that I asked my seat neighbor if she was a fan. I mentioned that I do like my birthday. (another reference to the show. the performer asked if anyone liked his birthday; I discovered that I did) I also asked the security person where the bathroom was.

Attached is what is on my car. Yesterday the “TQ+ and Islam are Death Cults!” was not yet there. It said instead “keep the Sabbath Shabbat Shalom!” While I grew up in Stamford, and still maintain a house there, my residence is in Bridgeport.

I am against the sterilization and mutilation of our children in the name of “health care,” especially when that healthcare makes people sicker, more likely to commit suicide (contrary to what the activists tell you), and medically dependent for life. I actually write more about that at transisrael.org. It is against science. It is an affront to G-d.

Even more, if you actually care to think on the subject, the whole trans thing is an outgrowth of “queer ideology“ which seems to have as its main focus the undermining of society's institutions.

I also believe in following our laws, and dialogue. If you want to have a conversation, let's do it. Reach out. We'll put it on.

I won't show the picture here, but browse the gallery at California's Gender Confirmation Center, and this is mild, complete with loss of sensation, which affects ability to be intimate, menopause in the twenties when ovaries are removed. Incontinence, infection and a shortened medicalized life. You spend some time with parents whose children are going through this, often autistic, many would just turn out to be gay. The guy who developed lobotomy got a Nobel prize in medicine. This is worse. Don't take it from me. Check out LGB Courage Coalition https://www.lgbcouragecoalition.org/ or Gays Against Groomers. https://www.gaysagainstgroomers.com/

Did Isaac mention that he is gay. Ask him about a world where all the young gay people have been castrated. Seems the worst kind of conversion therapy to me.

And for those calling me a Nazi (I had family on both sides of that conflict), you might want to note that the first guy to do one of these surgeries went on to conduct hypothermia experiments at a concentration camp.

Call me a bigot if you will. Then go ahead and stick your self-righteous head back in the sand. I pray you never have to wonder if your beautiful child is going to be coming home one day telling you about a plan to start cutting off his or her sexual organs.

On whether there was anything Trans about the show

No not to the concert itself. There was an LGBTQ+ reception surrounding this. I assert, and I am not alone, that the TQ+ is of a different kind than the LGB, that it is sinister and destabilizing, mostly the Q part.

Most of the right has made its peace with the LGB. That's between you and G-d. I found it particularly laughable that the crowd found it so funny that Mr. Mizrahi kept reminding us he is gay, like that is some edgy thing that might bother the people the left so likes to despise (flyover country, basket of deplorables, clinging to guns and religion).

But that lumping together of the LGB with the TQ+ is enough to do a lot of damage. I am labeled a hater here because I don't think a boy should be called a girl, that I think we should “Respect Our OffICErs” and that I don't think Democrat policy is what brings prosperity, and that we should “keep the sabbath” and “Arm every Iranian!”

I am amending that last statement though, I think it should be “except the Shia.”

Here is a list of some of the crises, panics, movements, and fads over the last two centuries (circa 1825–2025). It was generated through a dialogue with Grok.

My point is that we've been crying that the world is about to end for a long time. The fact is it has gotten better, but has always done so in the face of the voices that would tear us down. I didn't know all of these myself. I haven't exhaustively analyzed every point to determine its authenticity, but it's educating:

Read more »

Got to love Grok.  I asked it to “unpack for me the crimes inherent in providing medical treatment without consent, particularly as it relates to minors and life changing surgery.”

Providing medical treatment without consent is a serious ethical and legal issue, rooted in the principle of bodily autonomy and the right to self-determination. When it comes to minors and life-changing surgery, the matter becomes even more complex due to questions of capacity, parental authority, and long-term consequences. Let’s break it down step-by-step.

Read more »