jpedmd2025-04-14T14:41:51-05:00April 14th, 2025|

Thank you, Harvard, for holding fast and refusing to submit to the spiteful demands of the current administration.
President Garber’s response is here. An excerpt:

“The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community. Freedom of thought and inquiry, along with the government’s longstanding commitment to respect and protect it, has enabled universities to contribute in vital ways to a free society and to healthier, more prosperous lives for people everywhere. All of us share a stake in safeguarding that freedom. We proceed now, as always, with the conviction that the fearless and unfettered pursuit of truth liberates humanity—and with faith in the enduring promise that America’s colleges and universities hold for our country and our world.”

jpedmd2025-04-09T18:03:24-05:00April 9th, 2025|

Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary: “Any reporter who chooses to put their preferred pronouns in their bio clearly does not care about biological reality or truth and therefore cannot be trusted to write an honest story” (I mean, sorry, but WTF) … A spokesman for The NY Times said: “Evading tough questions certainly runs counter to transparent engagement with free and independent press reporting. But refusing to answer a straightforward request to explain the administration’s policies because of the formatting of an email signature is both a concerning and baffling choice, especially from the highest press office in the U.S. government.”

Which universe do you want to live in?

• Vance is clever, but an unlikeable and maladroit liar with a moral compass that twists in the wind.  Jamelle Bouie puts Vance’s flaws on full display in his NY Times opinion piece This Is How Far Vance Will Go to Sell a Lie.  An excerpt:

“During the presidential campaign, Vance defended his decision to slander the Haitian immigrants of Springfield, Ohio — to disparage and lie about them for political gain — by telling reporters that he would “create stories” if that’s what he had to do to get the news media’s attention. And here he is again, creating stories. In this case, however, it is less to get the attention of the press and more to defend the administration’s open contempt for the rule of law.”

• Well, given the competence of the current administration in Washington (outlined here by Matt Yglesias), there’s not much optimism for the future of US as a representative trading partner (and perhaps not even as a global financier).  See David Wallace-Wells must-read NYT opinion piece It’s Not Hard to Imagine a Chinese-Led Global Economy – and for a small depressing aside, Daniel Piketty’s blog post Rethinking the world without the US.

• Tom Friedman weighs in, and he’s not optimistic.  Read his I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future in the NYT. A relevant excerpt:

“This whole Trump II administration is a cruel farce. Trump ran for another term not because he had any clue how to transform America for the 21st century. He ran in order to stay out of jail and to get revenge on those who, with real evidence, had tried to hold him accountable to the law. I doubt he has ever spent five minutes studying the work force of the future.”