The Conversation -- August 10, 2025
RAS & Brian Tyler Cohen notice JayDee spends an awful lot of time on vacation. Cohen forgot to mention the four-day trip to India, including a stop at the Taj Mahal. And now they're off to Scotland. They're currently vacationing at a luxurious property in the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds have an extensive system of lovely canals, which of course operate through systems of locks. I hate to think what JayDee will do to wreak havoc upon the water levels throughout.
Marie: I have special schadenfreude schoes which I wear when I do my special schadenfreude dance. Today I'm doing the Lebanese version, which works as a robust line dance: ~~~
~~~ Ramon Vargas of the Guardian: “The owner of a Donald Trump-themed hamburger restaurant chain in Texas is facing deportation after immigration authorities under the command of the president detained him. Roland Mehrez Beainy, 28, entered the US as 'a non-immigrant visitor' from Lebanon in 2019 and was supposed to have left the country by 12 February 2024, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) spokesperson told the Guardian. Citing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Texas’s Fayette County Record newspaper reported that Beainy applied for legal status after purportedly wedding a woman – but the agency maintained there is no proof he ever lived with her during the alleged marriage.... In remarks to the Houston Chronicle, Beainy denied Ice’s charges against him, saying: 'Ninety percent of the shit they’re saying is not true.' He is tentatively scheduled for a hearing in immigration court on 18 November. Trump Burger gained national attention after Beainy opened the original location in Bellville, Texas, in 2020.... Replete with memorabilia paying reverence to Trump as well as politically satirical menu items targeting his enemies, Beainy’s chain expanded to other locations, including Houston.” Thanks to RAS for the lead. ~~~
~~~ There a photo of the chain's hamburger bun and fries. They both look quite awful.
~~~~~~~~~~
The lead article of today's New York Times, labeled an “analysis,” makes clear that Putin is playing Trump. I'd say it's mighty rare that the paper of record lets on that the POTUS* is one dumb oaf, who along with his envoy Steve Witkoff, has no idea what Putin's game is: ~~~
~~~ Paul Sonne of the New York Times: “For President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia..., after almost losing [control of] Donald Trump..., [the Alaska summit] is an opportunity not just to end the Ukraine war on his terms but to split apart the Western security alliance.” The link is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Francesca Ebel & Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: “Russian officials and commentators crowed about landing a summit between President Vladimir Putin and ... Donald Trump on Friday in Alaska, the first time the Russian leader has been invited to the United States outside the United Nations since 2007 — and apparently without the Kremlin having made any clear concessions over its war in Ukraine.... Sam Greene, professor in Russian politics at King’s College London, said the venue favored Russia. 'The symbolism of holding the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is horrendous — as though designed to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought and sold,' Greene said. 'Never mind that mainstream Russian discourse maintains a claim that Alaska should be returned to Russia.'” ~~~
~~~ Meanwhile, Europeans are backing Ukraine: ~~~
~~~ Samya Kulab of the AP: “European nations rallied behind Ukraine, saying peace in the war-torn nation can’t be resolved without Kyiv, ahead of a planned meeting between ... Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.... Saturday’s statement, signed by the president of the European Union and leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland and the UK, stressed the need for a 'just and lasting peace' for Kyiv, including 'robust and credible' security guarantees.... A White House official ... told The Associated Press that Trump remained open to a trilateral summit with both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, but for now, he will have a bilateral meeting requested by Putin.... Trump had earlier said he would meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with [Ukraine President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy.” ~~~
~~~ AND they are trying to explain the stakes of the Trump-Putin meeting to JayDee & Witkoff, evidently in hopes they will try to get through to Trump. Perhaps the Europeans don't fully appreciate how thick the American trio is. ~~~
~~~ Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “Worried about being sidelined at an upcoming summit meeting between ... [Donald] Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, European and Ukrainian leaders gathered on Saturday outside London with top American officials both to understand Mr. Putin’s position and to ensure that Mr. Trump understands what is at stake.... The Europeans, as they have done regularly, supported Ukraine’s positions, insisting that a cease-fire must precede talks on any territorial changes, that Ukraine will not hand over territory to Russia that Moscow does not occupy and that any deal would have to be accompanied by security guarantees, including from the United States, the European officials said. They also insisted that no deal can be made by Washington and Moscow over the heads of the Ukrainians or the Europeans, who Mr. Trump says must be responsible for the post-settlement security of Ukraine. And they insisted, as they have always done, that NATO will not shut the door to Ukrainian membership, even if that is not practical now.” A related AP story is here. ~~~
~~~ Nick Paton Walsh of CNN: “The conditions around Friday’s summit so wildly favor Moscow, it is obvious why Putin leapt at the chance, after months of fake negotiation, and it is hard to see how a deal emerges from the bilateral that does not eviscerate Ukraine. Kyiv and its European allies have reacted with understandable horror at the early ideas of Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, that Ukraine cede the remainders of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in exchange for a ceasefire. Naturally, the Kremlin head has promoted the idea of taking ground without a fight, and found a willing recipient in the form of Witkoff, who has in the past exhibited a relaxed grasp of Ukrainian sovereignty and the complexity of asking a country, in the fourth year of its invasion, to simply walk out of towns it’s lost thousands of men defending.... [The Alaska meeting] resembles slow defeat for Kyiv.”
Max Boot of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s unhealthy obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize has driven him to make a series of rash decisions in pursuit of ending the war in Ukraine. The latest example is the scheduling of a premature summit with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska — an object lesson in how not to do diplomacy.... Eschewing his more realistic recent assessments of Putin’s perfidy, Trump was back to claiming [last week] that 'President Putin I believe wants to see peace.'... This turnaround appears to have been a product of the U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff’s meeting with Putin on Wednesday, where Putin reportedly proposed that Kyiv give up all of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in eastern Ukraine in return for a ceasefire.... A final end to the war would supposedly be negotiated later. In the real world, the odds of that happening are remote.... Putin is simply trying to achieve at the negotiating table what his troops have not been able to achieve on the ground.
“If Trump was to agree to Putin’s terms, it would be a reprise of the 1938 Munich Agreement in which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain handed over to Adolf Hitler the Sudetenland — a region of what was then Czechoslovakia that was heavily fortified and defended — without consulting the Czechs. In return, Chamberlain received nothing but empty promises of 'peace for our time.' 'You were given the choice between war and dishonor,' Winston Churchill said at the time. 'You chose dishonor and you will have war.'” Boot says that the reason there won't be “another Munich” is that the Ukrainians are not having it.
Jared Bernstein & Ryan Cummings in a New York Times op-ed: “... recently, a telling series of hard economic data rolled in that has rightfully raised alarm bells about slowing growth and increased inflation — a dreaded economic combination known as stagflation. Mr. Trump’s tariffs are now clearly fueling inflation, particularly in goods such as home appliances, cars and food.... Whether it’s historically high tariffs that never quite seem to stabilize, deportations that threaten to seriously disrupt labor supply in sectors like construction and health services, or a reverse-Robin Hood, budget-busting bill that takes money away from those most likely to spend it, Mr. Trump’s policies have pushed economic uncertainty to levels last seen during the onset of the pandemic. This uncertainty has damped investment, hiring and consumption, while the tariffs increase prices. In other words: stagflation.” Unlike today's situation, wherein Trump is causing inflation & stagnation and the Fed is paying attention, the infamous stagflation of the 1970s “was caused ... by 'exogenous shocks,' meaning big, unexpected disruptions originating from events outside the country and exacerbated by the inaction of the Federal Reserve to offset them.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Gosh, it's a shame the Times drove Krugman away, because he's been saying this for quite awhile.
About that Ballroom. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump is rushing to break ground next month on a giant White House ballroom, but has not yet submitted the project for a review that experts said is required by law and often takes years to complete[.] A security fence and a tennis pavilion — neither of which involved the White House itself — each took at least two years to move through the National Capital Planning Commission, which vets construction of and renovation to the region’s federal buildings.... A review of any exterior construction project at the White House is required by federal law.... Large projects undergo a rigorous, four-step review..., ending with a presentation at a public commission meeting. At each stage, commission staff and commissioners give feedback on details ranging from aesthetics to environmental impacts.... On Tuesday, the American Institute of Architects, citing the organization’s role as 'perpetual guardian of the White House’s architectural integrity,' urged officials to take the project through a more rigorous review process.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Uh, excuse me. What about those giant flagpole and the new Rose Garden parking lot? And now Trump is suddenly going to obey federal law? Ha!
Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump’s shocking take on a teenage rape victim has gone viral amid the summer-long uproar over sex criminal-turned-mystery corpse Jeffrey Epstein. Amid the heightened scrutiny of Trump’s past, a flood of unearthed recordings and quotes are being given new life and significance as critics try to paint the president as a longtime sex creep. This week, it was a stunning clip of Trump defending boxer Mike Tyson following his rape conviction during which he repeatedly suggested the victim bore some responsibility for enticing the attack by 'dancing.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I think this is the clip: ~~~
News About All the Best People
(1) Marie: Hmm. Maybe Billy Long -- the short-time IRS Commissioner -- got fired last week not because he was a serial screwer-upper but because he has a streak of decency. ~~~
~~~ Jacob Bogage & Kadia Goba of the Washington Post: “The Internal Revenue Service clashed with the White House over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants hours before Trump administration officials forced IRS Commissioner Billy Long from his post Friday.... The Department of Homeland Security sent the IRS a list Thursday of 40,000 names of people DHS officials thought were in the country illegally and asked the IRS to use confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses.... The Treasury Department, the parent agency of the IRS, and DHS agreed to an arrangement in April to facilitate such data sharing — over the objections of the tax service’s privacy lawyers.... On Friday, though, the IRS responded that it was able to verify fewer than 3 percent of the names immigration enforcement officials submitted.... White House officials ... [wanted to know] if any of them had claimed the earned income tax credit.... The IRS declined to provide that information, citing taxpayer privacy rights. Long had previously told agency executives that his agency would not furnish confidential taxpayer information outside of the confines of the IRS’s agreement with DHS.” A derivative Guardian story is here. ~~~
~~~ As Scott Lemieux puts it in LG&$: "Complying with the law is a fireable offense in the Trump administration."
(2) Christina Jewett of the New York Times: “Dr. Vinay Prasad, who led the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines and gene therapy division before resigning under pressure two weeks ago, is returning to the agency, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesman confirmed Saturday. Dr. Prasad left the F.D.A. in late July after being targeted by the right-wing activist Laura Loomer and others who criticized his decisions regarding certain medications and pointed out critical comments he had made about ... [Donald] Trump before joining the administration. A series of editorials published in the weeks leading up to Dr. Prasad’s resignation also appeared to have contributed to the pressure on him. Those editorials found fault with his decisions to deny drug approvals and to demand a pause on a medication linked to several patient deaths.
“Dr. Prasad’s return was an unusual instance of a federal official being allowed to rejoin the administration after being targeted by Ms. Loomer for being insufficiently loyal to the president. His rehiring also suggests that the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, [retain some clout] ... in the Trump administration.... In a post on X Saturday, Ms. Loomer called Dr. Prasad’s return 'another egregious personnel decision,' describing him as a 'Marxist.' She also pledged to ramp up her campaign against other health officials she deemed 'rabid Trump haters.'” A Politico story is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: You should not, of course, consider this a victory of reason over Loomer: “... Mr. Kennedy told an associate he wanted Dr. Prasad at the F.D.A. in part because of his approach to vaccines....” It's more along the lines of "Which lunatic has Trump's ear today?”
(3) It seems Personnel Director Loomer is at it again: ~~~
~~~ Dan Lamothe & Tara Copp of the Washington Post: “Far-right political activist Laura Loomer has opened an extraordinary new line of attack on the Pentagon, sharply criticizing Army Secretary Dan Driscoll for allowing the service to acknowledge the battlefield valor of Medal of Honor recipient Florent Groberg, who suffered catastrophic injuries saving the lives of fellow soldiers targeted by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.... Groberg, [Loomer] suggested [in a social media post], was undeserving of such recognition because he delivered remarks, as a private citizen, at the 2016 Democratic National Convention and was not 'US born.'... [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth’s silence, in particular, is notable.” Groberg is a Republican who told the Post in 2016 that he spoke at the Democratic convention “as a veteran. As an immigrant. As an American.”
Jeff Amy & Alanna Richer of the AP: “A Georgia man who opened fire on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, shooting dozens of rounds into the sprawling complex and killing a police officer, had blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for making him depressed and suicidal, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Saturday. The 30-year-old shooter also tried to get into the CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta but was stopped by guards before driving to a pharmacy across the street and opening fire late Friday afternoon, the official said. He was armed with five guns, including at least one long gun, the official said.... The shooting left gaping bullet holes in windows across the CDC campus, where thousands work on critical disease research. Employees huddled under lockdown for hours while investigators gathered evidence. Staff was encouraged to work from home Monday or take leave. At least four CDC buildings were hit, Director Susan Monarez said on X.
“'[HHS Secretary Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr] is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC’s workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,' said Fired But Fighting, a group of laid-off employees opposing changes to the CDC by President Donald Trump’s administration. Under Kennedy, CDC has laid off nearly 2,000 employees.... Kennedy has a history as a leader in the anti-vaccine movement, but he reached new prominence by spreading distrust of COVID-19 vaccines. For example, he called it 'criminal medical malpractice' to give COVID-19 vaccines to children.” ~~~
~~~ A Murder Waiting to Happen. Brandy Zadorzny of MSNBC: “A shooting outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Atlanta headquarters on Friday left a police officer dead and officials and scientists at the nation’s premier public health agency shaken. Many are now demanding answers from their health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long vilified the CDC and contributed to a culture of misinformation that they say makes them targets. Citing a senior law enforcement official, The New York Times reported the shooter, identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White, was fixated on the Covid vaccine, which he blamed for his health problems.... For years, Kennedy attacked the CDC. In videos from anti-vaccine conferences between 2013 and 2019, he likened the agency’s vaccine work to 'fascism' and 'child abuse,' called it a 'cesspool of corruption' and said it was filled with profiteers. At a 2013 conference, when asked about why the CDC had failed to acknowledge the autism epidemic (which he falsely linked to vaccines), Kennedy said it was like the Holocaust.... During the pandemic, Kennedy ... falsely suggested Covid-19 was a 'bioweapon,' and lied about the dangers of Covid vaccines, calling them 'the deadliest vaccine ever made.' 'The hatred RFK and his allies have spent their lives stoking puts a target on the backs of anyone in public health,' said one senior official....” ~~~
~~~ Marie: So Kennedy is perhaps partially responsible for the deaths of one innocent public servant and one disturbed man this week. But these unfortunate individuals are scarcely his only victims this week ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Cohn in the Bulwark: “On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Trump administration was canceling about half a billion dollars of federal contracts with companies and institutions that have been working to develop the next generation of mRNA vaccines.... Kennedy made the announcement in a two-and-a-half minute video and accompanying press release, in which he stated 'we reviewed the science' and 'listened to the experts.' [After trying for days to find out 'what science?' and 'what experts?', HHS linked to] a storage page on an open website where anybody can post data, coding, or other research tools for sharing. And what you’ll find on the website is exactly the sort of stuff you’d expect to find on a site with no gatekeepers.... [IOW, crap.] But you wouldn’t know any of this by listening to Kennedy speak. That’s because he has perfected the art of undermining public confidence in vaccines by leaning on a tiny handful of fringe researchers and then sounding 'sciencey' — throwing around bits of medical jargon — to give the impression he’s an expert himself.” Cohn debunks three of Kennedy's false claims about mRNA vaccines.
Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: “A federal appeals court panel shot down a Trump administration bid to make secret a public database of federal spending that researchers say is crucial to ensure the administration is not flouting Congress’ power of the purse. In an order issued Saturday evening, the three-judge D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted unanimously to give the administration until Friday to put the data back online. Two of the three appeals judges assigned to the matter also signed onto a forceful opinion declaring that the administration’s bid to conceal the data was an affront to Congress’ authority over government spending, one that threatened the separation of powers and defied centuries of evidence that public disclosure is necessary for the public good.... Judge Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee, wrote in support of the decision to deny the Trump administration’s request to keep the data under wraps while litigation over the issue goes forward[:] '... no Congress should be made to wait while the Executive intrudes on its plenary power over appropriations.”
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: “If Republicans succeed in pulling off an aggressively partisan gerrymander of congressional districts in Texas, they will owe the Supreme Court a debt of gratitude. In the two decades Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has led the Supreme Court, the justices have reshaped American elections not just by letting state lawmakers like those in Texas draw voting maps warped by politics, but also by gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and amplifying the role of money in politics. Developments in recent weeks signaled that some members of the court think there is more work to be done in removing legal guardrails governing elections. There are now signs that court is considering striking down or severely constraining the remaining pillar of the Voting Rights Act, a towering achievement of the civil rights movement that has protected the rights of minority voters since it was enacted 60 years ago last week. Taken together, the court’s actions in election cases in recent years have shown great tolerance for partisan gamesmanship and great skepticism about federal laws on campaign spending and minority rights. The court’s rulings have been of a piece with its conservative wing’s jurisprudential commitments: giving states leeway in many realms, insisting on an expansive interpretation of the First Amendment and casting a skeptical eye on government racial classifications.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I was thinking earlier this morning that the days when Roberts cared about the "image" of the Court are long gone. Experts used to argue that even though he was moving the Court to the right, he was doing so prudently and undramatically. Then again, there was his decision in Shelby County v. Holder which weakened the Voting Rights Act and Citzens United, which blew up campaign finance restrictions in favor of big spenders. Roberts is nearing 70 years old, he has a fairly reliable right-wing majority on the Court, and he seems to think that, like Trump, he has an Article (in this case III) where he has the right to do whatever he wants. So instead of being an umpire calling balls and strikes, he has the balls to strike out foundational democratic principles & procedures.
~~~~~~~~~~
Texas. Marcie Jones of Wonkette explains what-all is going on in Texas with that GOP plan where they will nab state house Democrats & chain them to their seats so the Democrats can witness their GOp colleagues Trumpimandering their Democratic districts away from them.
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al. Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times on how Britain, France & Germany tried to end the war in Gaza in what “amounted to a declaration of independence from the Trump administration on a major strategic issue that the Europeans have long tried to approach in tandem.... Officials familiar with the deliberations in all three countries said the flurry of activity was driven by evidence of widespread malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, growing demands from constituents for action and a conclusion that the United States had abandoned its efforts to push for peace or curtail Israeli military action. It is unclear whether the diplomacy will make any difference on the ground.... On Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu effectively rebuffed Europe’s calls for peace when his security cabinet approved an expansion of the war in Gaza.”
Share Article
Reader Comments (12)
Hey, whadaya know? Fatty hasnât entirely ruled out the possibility that he might let Zelensky attend HIS summit in Alaska. Well, thatâs mighty white of him.
âUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not named as a participant in the Alaska summit, to take place Friday between Trump and Putin. However, the White House has not completely ruled out including Zelensky in some meetings, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. One White House official stressed that anything involving Zelensky would likely happen after the Trump-Putin meeting.
The summit has come together very quickly, and details are still in flux. An exact location has yet to be announced.
A White House official said Trump remained âopen to a trilateral summit with both leadersâ but that âthe White House is planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin.ââ
Oh, so this is Putinâs show. Fat Hitler (Fat Neville Chamberlain?) is just an invited guest.
And maybe Zelrnsky will get clued in later after Trump sells him out for a trip to Sweden (a new kind of Stockholm Syndrome!)
The whole thing stinks like Drunk Peteâs breath after lunch.
Putin doesnât want Zekensky there to remind Fatty that Ukraine has a stake in this thing. Fatty doesnât want him there in case the Nobel people get the idea that the whole thing wasnât Fattyâs big peace plan.
Unbelievable.
Here is a comment that ended up in yesterday's thread, but it's mighty nice, and I'm proud to share it:
"As a disabled veteran, I have been reading Marie Burns's and other contributors' postings here, almost from its inception. I cannot thank you all enough for the voice(s) of sanity and reason, and shared reportage that clarifies so much from our news media. You are a most trusted source of truth and seekers of justice, for me and I'm certain for many others. Many thanks for your great service to our country in fighting against the GOP-fully-sponsored Fascist dictatorship-in-progress. We sane combat veterans stand together with you."
s/Michael Toner
Note to the Pretender:
I don't believe Neville Chamberlain won the Nobel Peace Prize
Bi-weekly sermon:
FACTS ALA TRUMP
.
Itâs no surprise universities are in Trumpâs crosshairs. A man who doesnât read his presidential briefings (politico.com), who has said repeatedly and incorrectly that countries exporting goods to the United States will pay the cost of tariffs, and who when he recently met with Liberia's president didnât know that English was that country's national language, clearly doesnât wake each morning thirsting for knowledge. Instead, he and his administration want less.
Firing the the Bureau of Labor Statisticsâ Commissioner because he didnât like the employment numbers her office reported was only the latest Trumpian assault on fact (nbcnews.com). Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is meeting the challenge of climate change by firing the scientists studying it and by expunging from EPA policy the 2009 âendangerment findingâ that acknowledges fossil fuel induced climate change harms public health (nytimes.com).
For Trump, the uncomfortable facts of history also need to be eliminated. His administration apparently believes that reminders of imprisoned Native Americans in Florida or of slaveryâs brutality in Philadelphia (nytimes.com) may be so upsetting to national park visitors that those stories must be erased. Most uncomfortable of all, perhaps, were Trumpâs two first-term impeachments. The Smithsonian recently removed the placard referencing them from its presidential history displays (cbsnews.com).
But itâs not just bothersome facts that stick in the Trump administrationâs craw. Itâs also some opinions those facts support, many of them associated with freedoms we have long taken for granted. Universities exist to transmit, explore and expand fields of knowledge. Honest scholarship requires minds not blunted by incuriosity and fear. When certain areas of study are declared off limits, universities cannot fulfill their commitment to honest inquiry, to asking tough questions that have no easy answersâor answers that some might not like.
And thereâs a lot the Trump administration doesnât like. It is demanding universities join them in their wide-ranging game of âLetâs Pretend,â excising Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies from their admission and governing practices, as if all DEI issues can be banished with the stroke of a pen.
It also doesnât like free speech if itâs uttered by Palestinians and others who strongly object to Israelâs violent Gaza occupation. In the Trump administration's eyes, criticizing the slaughter of 60,000 Palestinians, most non-combatants, is antisemitic. When Harvard took the administration to court over its antisemitism charges, the administrationâs response was revealing. Those charges were clearly cover for other demands, among them that the university support something called âviewpoint diversity,â which, while the administration lawyer didnât identify those viewpoints, likely means ideas about race, economics and politics that support its agenda (nytimes.com).
The agreement Columbia University recently forged with the federal government to keep the federal money flowing says even more about the administrationâs intentions. It wants more control of faculty governance and even student admissions. Because of its dependence on federal money, while admitting no wrongdoing, Columbia capitulated. It agreed to allow an administration-appointed overseer of its admissions process (nytimes.com). Iâm guessing that in the foreseeable future, Muslims need not apply.
Because of education's multiple roles, the relationship between education and society is often uneasy. Schools exist to transmit accumulated knowledge to the next generation, but learning also has an exploratory arm whose reach lengthens as we mature. In addition to expanding their studentsâ knowledge, universities teach their students to experiment and question. Is what we know true? Are we doing things in the right or best way? What more can we learn?
In an open, democratic society universities are simultaneously conservative and liberal. By passing on what we know to be true, they conserve the past. By continual questioning and experimentation, they welcome the future. âLiberalâ and âlibertyâ are both rooted in âfreedom,â and when educationâs freedom to explore is curtailed, its democratic and creative roots die.
Our governmentâs recent comments on Artificial Intelligence (A. I.) speak to the same issues with its same conservative, anti-democratic voice. While encouraging the development and use of United Statesâ A. I. capability, âMr. Trumpâs order bars the U. S. government from buying, using or promoting A. I. models that contradict the views of the president or his supportersâ (nytimes.com).
When political correctness verges on suppression of speech, the Right has properly criticized the Left for its overreach. But in the real world of universities and the virtual world of A. I. there is little doubt that by imposing their version of education, conservatives are using the power of government to outlaw facts and opinions that donât fit into their world view, one policy change and executive order at a time.
Much like the Marxism they pretend to hate.
.
@Ken Winkes: No, nobody got the Nobel Peace Prize in 1939 (the year after the Munich Agreement). But according to Wikipedia, Chamberlain was greeted in Great Britain as a hero for having secured it:
"Chamberlain returned to London in triumph. Large crowds mobbed [the airfield], where he was met by the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Clarendon, who gave him a letter from King George VI assuring him of the Empire's lasting gratitude and urging him to come straight to Buckingham Palace to report. The streets were so packed with cheering people that it took Chamberlain an hour and a half to journey the nine miles (14 km) from [the airfield] to the Palace. After reporting to the King, Chamberlain and his wife appeared on the Palace balcony with the King and Queen. He then went to Downing Street; both the street and the front hall of Number 10 were packed....
"King George issued a statement to his people, 'After the magnificent efforts of the Prime Minister in the cause of peace it is my fervent hope that a new era of friendship and prosperity may be dawning among the peoples of the world.'... Most newspapers supported Chamberlain uncritically, and he received thousands of gifts...."
As for Hitler, he said to Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop of the agreement, "... That piece of paper is of no further significance whatever."
So however "successful" Donald may appear to be later this week, I will not be greeting him with flowers in my hair.
Jasmine Crockett
"60 years after the Voting Rights Act, voter suppression is still targeting our communities.
Thatâs why I introduced the SWIFT VOTE Act and the POLL Act. These bills cut the lines, expose the delays, and give folks real power to fight back when states play games with our right to vote."
Trump didn't get his cut.
"The co-owner of a Donald Trump-themed burger chain in Texas was arrested and is facing deportation after allegedly overstaying his visa and orchestrating a âshamâ marriage. Roland Beainy, 28, is one of the masterminds behind Trump Burger, a viral MAGA eatery whose locations feature American flags, buns stamped âTRUMP,â and even an impersonator of the presidentâwho went round asking Latino customers if they had green cards.
A spokesperson for DHS claimed that Beainy had staged a âshamâ marriage in an effort to obtain a green card."
Will Fat Hitler bring his own interpreter this time or will they just be using Putin's guys again?
Peter Wehner and Robert P. Beschel Jr., in The Atlantic, urge Democrats "to highlight, with laser-like focus, [trumps] failure to deliver on his own promises.
Incompetence: Trumpâs Unforgivable Sin
"...a politically toxic impression is hardening. Trumpâs approval rating in the most recent Gallup poll is 37 percent, the lowest of this term and only slightly higher than his all-time low of 34 percent, at the end of his first term. (Among independents, Trumpâs approval rating is down to 29 percent.) Americans already understood Trump to be corrupt, and proved themselves willing to tolerate that. But now they are coming to believe that he is inept. In American politics, that is an unforgivable sin."
"JD Vance = Just Does Vacay"
Does anyone in the White House do any work?
In the NYT Sonne article (above) about Putin getting the edge over DiJiT, there is an archived photo from Helsinki 2018 - DiJiT and VeePee at lecterns in the Finnish palace.
That room is awash in gold leaf .
Look at DiJiT's eyeballs eyeing the rococo-co-co-co-co ... Telling himself "when I get back, Im going to corner the market on gold leaf." He must have been itching with jealosy.
Any act that militates against an individual's right to vote or the relative value of that vote is obviously anti-democratic by definition.
While none is perfect, some ways to uphold those rights and values have proved to be better than others. The problem we have is that the current Supreme majority has no interest in upholding democracy.
Quite the contrary. They like the minority government they've forged....which is why the majority doesn't much like them.