Seeking Alpha on November 25, 2013 had the story Intel: Going After Low-End PCs Could Compound Concerns.

Intel’s (INTC) most recent investor meeting was going well until 2014 financials were forecast, and much of the bullish sentiment that had been building throughout the event turned bearish.

You may or may not be interested in this topic.  However, I have been “contributing” stories in the comments section of the article about my experience in the industry and how some of that history may be replaying itself.  The conversation has been getting interesting lately, so I want to record the link to this story on my blog.  After all, that is the real reason why I write this blog, to record information I want to remember.

New Economic Perspectives has the article The Kansas Regents (Casually) End Academic Freedom.

The chief executive officer of a state university has the authority to suspend, dismiss or terminate from employment any faculty or staff member who makes improper use of social media. “Social media” means any facility for online publication and commentary, including but not limited to blogs, wikis, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. “Improper use of social media” means making a communication through social media that:
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Kansas is trashing the only remaining jewel in the state, its superb university system.  The ideological purge that removed virtually all of the “moderate” Republican conservatives from the Kansas legislature has now set its assault rifle sights on the universities.  Their view of the glorious “harmony” made possible only through ideological purity perverts a “right” of free speech or “academic freedom” into an act of disloyalty.  The new “efficiency” regime founded on “truth” as it was revealed to the Koch brothers and the NRA will gradually sweep discordant views from Kansas’ universities.  The purge leaders will eventually celebrate the date, December 18, 2013, on which the Kansas university system was officially Koched and NRAed

Now, maybe people can understand why I am so dead set against MIT’s accepting money to build a building and name it after David Koch.

The follow on article to the one above is headlined The Kansas Regents’ (Unintentional) Honesty about Academic Freedom.

In thinking about the rule I realized that I had failed to make in blunt terms five points about how radical it rule it was.  I circulated these five points about an hour ago to a number of my contacts.

1. The Regents’ rule allows the CEO to terminate tenured faculty upon their arrest for a felony.  There is no requirement for a conviction and no provision for reinstatement if not convicted.
2. Truth is no defense.  The comment that tenured faculty makes can be accurate and the faculty member can still be fired by the university’s CEO.
3. Lack of ill intent is no defense.  The faculty member can make an accurate statement of fact or well-founded statement of opinion for exemplary purposes and can still be fired.
4. There are no meaningful “standards” so the statement by the faculty member could unknowingly subject him/her to dismissal because the faculty member did not know that the CEO was a global climate change denier (or partisan) and believes that those with the opposite view pose a grave threat.  The concepts are so vague and subjective (“harmony” and “efficiency”) that a faculty member’s only sure means of safety is to say nothing.
5. The rule creates different levels of (not very) protected speech.  The same statement by a professor in a traditional physically published journal – if not posted online (recall that most print publishers also make one’s article available on line) — enjoys greater protection that any comment published “online.”

You can tell that the Oligarchs really feel threatened and will go to any length they need to suppress dissent. I’d say that they will come after the internet next, if it weren’t for the fact that Congress has already passed laws attacking freedom of speech on the internet.