Harvard Yard Line, End of Rules
It’s gonna be a while before we experience a blue wave in America. But we may be witnessing the beginning of a crimson wave (yes, it’s reddish, but a little added purple is a start). Breaking a dangerous and depressing trend led by Columbia, Harvard rejected the demands of the Trump administration. NYT (Gift Article): Harvard’s Decision to Resist Trump Is ‘of Momentous Significance.’ “Harvard University is 140 years older than the United States, has an endowment greater than the G.D.P. of nearly 100 countries and has educated eight American presidents. So if an institution was going to stand up to the Trump administration’s war on academia, Harvard would be at the top of the list. Harvard did that forcefully on Monday in a way that injected energy into other universities across the country fearful of the president’s wrath, rejecting the Trump administration’s demands on hiring, admissions and curriculum. Some commentators went so far as to say that Harvard’s decision would empower law firms, the courts, the media and other targets of the White House to push back as well.” The fact that Harvard’s refusal to kowtow to a budding dictator is described as a choice of momentous significance tells us just how fast and far our institutions have fallen. How momentous the decision will prove to be depends on how many other institutions and individuals follow suit. This is a fight the sharks in the administration want and they smell blood in the water. To win, Harvard and the rest of us are gonna need a bigger boat.
+ “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect.Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.” Obama and Yale faculty back Harvard.
+ Trump administration freezes more than $2.2 billion after Harvard rejects its demands. And, Trump threatens to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
+ Life’s Capitch and Then You Die. “Harvard is changing course, perhaps because it grasped the true takeaway from Columbia’s cautionary tale: Appeasement doesn’t work, because the Trump administration isn’t really trying to reform elite higher education. It’s trying to break it.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): What Harvard Learned From Columbia’s Mistake. “If cooperation and even capitulation don’t get you anywhere, why give in to the Trump administration’s demands?”
Control, Halt, Delete
Why settle for the consequence-free breaking of rules when you can delete the rules altogether? NYT (Gift Article): Inside Trump’s Plan to Halt Hundreds of Regulations. “Across the more than 400 federal agencies that regulate almost every aspect of American life, from flying in airplanes to processing poultry, Mr. Trump’s appointees are working with the Department of Government Efficiency…to launch a sweeping new phase in their quest to dismantle much of the federal government: deregulation on a mass scale.” (We need political Metamucil on a mass scale: a return to regularity.)
Due Time
One of the sad ironies of this era is that due process gave Trump enough time to become president and take due process away. Yesterday, I led with the Trump administration’s defiance of the Supreme Court, refusal to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home from an El Salvadorian prison, and plans to try to send American citizens to prisons abroad. What’s important to remember is that there’s more than one innocent person who was sent to that prison under an act that hasn’t been used since WWII. Maybe a lot more. NYT (Gift Article): ‘Alien Enemies’ or Innocent Men? Inside Trump’s Rushed Effort to Deport 238 Migrants. “Most of the men do not have criminal records in the United States or elsewhere in the region, beyond immigration offenses, a New York Times investigation has found. And very few of them appear to have any clear, documented links to the Venezuelan gang. As they were being expelled, the detainees repeatedly begged officials to explain why they were being deported, and where they were being taken, one of their lawyers told the courts. At no point, the lawyer said, did officers indicate that the men were being sent to El Salvador or that they were removed under the Alien Enemies Act. The Alien Enemies Act gives the U.S. government broad powers to detain people during times of war, but Supreme Court rulings make clear that detainees have a right to challenge the government, and are entitled to a hearing, before their removal.”
+ Why is the Kilmar Abrego Garcia getting all the attention? Because one Justice Dept lawyer told the truth. These days, even for a lawyer who has defended Trump policies, that’s a firing offense. This Lawyer Defended Republicans and Democrats. His Candor Cost Him His Job.
+ As they usually do, Reveal went a little deeper into this story. The Real Reason El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele Cozied Up to Trump. “If the trial in New York proves Mr. Bukele’s deals with them, it could potentially be very damaging since it would mean that he had illegal deals with a terrorist organization and also illegally freed some of the terrorist organization leaders.”
+ Returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia wasn’t the only judicial decision being flouted by Trump during Monday’s Oval Office presser. Despite a court order, White House bars AP from Oval Office event.
DEI Hard
After much outrage, the webpage was restored, but “on the morning of March 19, those three letters [DEI] were added to a URL for an article on the U.S. Department of Defense website about baseball icon Jackie Robinson—and that article was then surreptitiously taken offline … Rachel Robinson—the 102-year-old widow of one Jack Roosevelt Robinson—woke up to an affront on her dead husband’s legacy by the very country he served with honor, only to rise a few weeks later and witness not just the utter silence of the league he integrated, but her husband’s old employer specifically fawning over the brute who ordered the whole thing.” The Ringer: Jackie Robinson Would Be Appalled.
+ “A female Army Ranger for the first time competed in the annual Best Ranger Competition, and her two-soldier team finished the grueling three-day event over the weekend … White, 25, is a Black infantry officer assigned to the maneuver captains career course.”
Extra, Extra
Welcome Splat: We’re landing many self-inflicted blows to the economy. I keep harping on one in particular because I think the problem will continue to grow. “The US economy is set to lose billions of dollars in revenue in 2025 from a pullback in foreign tourism and boycotts of American products, adding to a growing list of headwinds keeping recession risk elevated.” And from Quartz: Tourists are ditching America. “The biggest declines came from Western Europe, which registered a 17% year-over-year decrease in arrivals by plane. Luxembourg residents stayed away in droves, leading the way with a 44% decline. Denmark, Austria, and Iceland weren’t far behind.”
+ Back Burner: Meanwhile, Europeans who are required to come are taking new precautions usually reserved for their rivals. “The European Commission is issuing burner phones to officials traveling to the United States amid fears of espionage in Trump’s America.”
+ Magnetic Repulsion: “China’s decision to retaliate against President Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs by ordering restrictions on the exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets is a warning shot across the bow of American national security, industry and defense experts said.” NYT (Gift Article): China’s Halt of Critical Minerals Poses Risk for U.S. Military Programs. (Do we need better trade deals with China? Yes. But we needed a longterm strategy. Not whatever it is we’re seeing now.)
+ Tinder Box: “Two Belgian teenagers were charged Tuesday with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser known species.” Ants too small to concern you? Spanish police arrest two people linked to cat smuggling ring based in Mallorca.
+ Parent Company: “A young generation is taking a bigger interest in joining the family business, spurred by a cooling labor market that is making it more difficult to land entry-level jobs, economists and business analysts say. At the same time, their parents and grandparents—baby boomers and Gen Xers who own the vast majority of America’s businesses—are feeling more urgency about making succession plans as they look toward retirement.” WSJ (Gift Article): A Young Generation Goes to Work for Mom and Dad Inc.
Bottom of the News
“If you pay attention to AI company branding, you’ll notice a pattern: Circular shape (often with a gradient). Central opening or focal point. Radiating elements from the center. Soft, organic curves. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s also an apt description of… well, you know. A butthole.” (I still hold out hope that my butthole will reach the singularity before AI does.)
+ While we’re on the topic… JD Vance dropped Ohio State’s college football trophy during a White House celebration.
