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on Martin Niemöller, and Who First They Came ForI know: Columbia should appeal to the importance of the academy being a place where difficult ideas need to be wrestled with, not smothered.
on Martin Niemöller, and Who First They Came ForThe word that does the real work is "academically." I don't share what you describe, and I haven't bothered to check, as the political views of members of the Department. Because that's none of my f*****g business or the f*****g business of the federal government. I assume they have deplorable politics. Academic life is full of people who have deplorable politics, of all stripes. To take your own example, Columbia used to have eminent historians who held almost exactly the views you described. But their scholarship was first-rate and their status was never threatened. Probably because the government didn't have a problem with that particular set of views back then. Things got a little dicier when the weird political views of certain scholars pissed the government off. I'm sure I don't have to recite the history of the late 40's through mid 60's. Whatever the political views of some of the Department members, I have seen nothing from anyone competent to speak -- definitely not including anyone in the Trump administration, Chris Rufo, Barrie Weiss, or, to be blunt, you -- even suggesting that the Department needs an academic overhaul.
on Martin Niemöller, and Who First They Came ForAmong the things the administration doesn't understand is that every department is different. Different research interests across all of topic, framework, etc, shape things. And that pushes into which classes are taught, reading material, and all that. It's not like Calc I, where they're teaching language as much as anything, consistent across the needs of math majors, physics majors, engineering majors, history majors, and so on. My perception is that the administration wants there to be a single narrative about Middle Eastern history and current politics. No room for variance. Exactly the opposite of what universities are supposed to be.
on Martin Niemöller, and Who First They Came ForI have little respect for "process" arguments because we wouldn't apply them in other situations. Example: A professor who was openly a white supremist who publicly made an argument for bringing back slavery as a "solution" to various race issues would instantly be fired without the Feds needing to threaten budgets. We wouldn't have University Presidents claim "it depends" on whether the code of conduct is being broken, nor argue for the first AM and so on. Protesters backing him and his issues would be handled by the police and they wouldn't be allowed to shut down the university much less threaten black students. All of this would, correctly, be handled by the U calling in the cops if need be to enforce things that are normally illegal.
on Sunday Morning! A Working Man reviewedI read up until the spoiler warning and stopped. I'm definitely in for a good Jason Statham movie. He's got some stuff out on the streaming services that I'd never heard of (The Beekeeper comes to mind--another good Jason Statham movie). We did rewatch the first John Wick movie last night. I'd forgotten how near-perfect that movie was up to and including the soundtrack (which I purchased while watching the movie).
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25It is possible though I don't know if it's plausible. The Dems haven't really decided what the fish they're offering yet which is to be expected at this stage of the electoral cycle and Bezo's "personal liberty and free markets" lines are word for word republitarianism which is something Trump has coopted in word (though emphatically not in deed).
on Weekend Plans Post: Pantherine VandalsOK, that sounds a lot less interesting. Perhaps even less so than actual musical theater.
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25It occurs to me that, presuming the isn't bending the knee, what he might be doing is trying to present some kind of alternative to both Trumpism and what the Democrats are currently offering. Assuming the US survives this, some kind of reform will be needed, and that will involve some kind of new right as an alternative to Trumpism. Maybe Bezos is trying to fill that gap.
on Weekend Plans Post: Pantherine VandalsIt would be if it was like a movie theater, but it's more like a computer room (24 monitors, people use headphones) and the job is more like monitoring SAT test takers for cheating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_on_Film_and_Tape_Archive#/media/File:Theatre_on_Film_and_Tape.jpg
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25Right, we discussed this last month. It wasn't really clear what Bezos meant. One comment, whose brevity and tone imply that it was typed with one hand, characterized it as "another billionaire bends the knee." Bezos is getting on in years, and time is not kind to knees. Maybe it'll take him some time to bend his.
on Open Mic for the week of 3/24/25Kennedy pushes out top Vaccine doc at FDA, I bet we are about a year away from vaccine bans: https://www.wsj.com/politics/top-vaccine-official-out-at-fda-f39a5a16?st=Q3KkNZ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink "The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official has been pushed out, according to people familiar with the matter. Dr. Peter Marks, who played a key role in the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed to develop Covid-19 vaccines, stepped down Friday. A Health and Human Services official gave him the choice Friday morning to resign or be fired, a person familiar with the matter said. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote in a resignation letter referring to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The letter was addressed to acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner. His resignation takes effect April 5, the letter said."
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