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A months-long Watchdog.org analysis of political influence on the admissions process at UT Law found there’s some truth, after all, to the old line about who you know mattering more than what you know. We found dozens of Longhorns who don’t know enough to be lawyers but know somebody important in the Legislature.

Two of those mediocre students are legislators themselves.

Some have connections to the leadership circle of House Speaker Joe Straus, others to powerful state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who’s already been caught three times trying to pull end runs around the admissions process.

Wallace Hall, a University of Texas regent, cited dozens of emails and letters that he obtained in a records review to support claims that some members of the Legislature abused their positions to influence admissions decisions.

Barely two weeks after Hall began his investigation of influence peddling last June, the Legislature launched proceedings to impeach him. The correspondence Hall saw has been kept from the public, as have the conclusions of an inquiry into favoritism conducted by Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa.

This Watchdog.org review of the record is meant to shine the available light on a process shrouded in secrecy by education privacy laws and by top school officials reluctant to embarrass powerful politicians, some of whom happen to be their friends.

Watchdog.org found a pattern of overlapping political influence and underwhelming performance on the bar exam. Any single one of the cases we describe could have an alternate explanation, such as personal problems that derailed studies.

Taken as a whole, however, they offer clear evidence that political influence is the reason dozens of students who are unable to pass the bar are getting into the state’s top law school.

Wherever it’s possible to tell this story without using the names of people who are one or two degrees removed from public life, we’ll do so, for reasons of privacy. We will provide a complete list of names to any university official interested in a review.

Until now, the most striking piece of evidence for the favoritism charge is the result of the February 2014 bar exam, published by the state Board of Law Examiners. UT is usually near the top of the list, with a passage rate for first time takers of about 95 percent. In February, UT’s 59 percent pass rate was dead last in Texas.

That could be a fluke. But we’ve found two dozen reasons to think it’s not.

Read more at: http://watchdog.org/144169/ut-law-school-hookups/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Watchdog%20Newsletter

"Are you a flake?" "Are some of the things you say flaky?" These are actual questions that Chris Wallace of Fox News asked of Michelle Bachmann, a woman with at least twice his IQ and qualifications.  Why Mr. Wallace did this is inexplicable, but he got a big shiner as Mrs. Bachmann and the Fox viewers punched back.  He will probably never recover.

This was an attempt at a clever rhetorical trick by Mr. Wallace which associates a person with a word.  The less cerebral among us, Liberals, children, will turn that word into an image and superimpose it onto the name and persona of the individual that has been thus labeled.  So Chris Wallace (clever trial attorneys, and virtually all of the disingenuous interviewers that prowl the main stream media) attempted to use that psychological ruse to create the impression that Michelle Bachmann is a flake, despite the total absence of evidence that she is anything other than a highly accomplished, educated, intelligent, righteous, devoted mother, wife and American.  He invented it, but when he put her name in a sentence with the word 'flake,' ending with question mark, he created a trick of word association.  The imprint of image to which mobs and Liberals are so susceptible.

So I will do the same for Chris Wallace. "Does Chris Wallace look at porn?" I have no idea. There have been no reports that he looks at porn. It's a stupid question.  But I've associated the name of Chris Wallace with PORN. Chris Wallace, PORN. PORN, Chris Wallace. Have you heard that Chris Wallace looks at porn? Of course not, I haven't. But this if this trick lie, shielded from libel laws by a little curved punctuation mark, is repeated often and broadly it will stick. No matter how innocent Chris Wallace is of viewing porn, if the lie is spread, and the word becomes paired with his name often enough, he will become, in the media consumer psyche, "Chris Wallace, "Pornman."

Social media and passionate Conservatism combined with a fedupness by Americans of a schoolyard  bully approach to news and politics interrupted Mr. Wallace's gotcha moment.  It didn't sneak past like he hoped.  The insult was stinging, and totally undeserved by a dignified an serious presidential contender.  Michelle Bachmann pushed back. We pushed back, and we pushed back hard.  An American activist class has emerged.  They are politically savvy, sophisticated in history, debate, and human nature, and always on high alert for trickery and hypocrisy.

Sorry about your epic fail Mr. Wallace.  Your name will forever now be associated with the word 'flake." Just like Weiner and TWEET, Weiner and WEINER, and Weiner and IGNOMINIOUS RESIGNATION, will always be paired in water-cooler talk forevermore. Chris Wallace, FLAKE? Chris Wallace, PORN? Chris Wallace, UNEMPLOYED? We'll see.