Critical thinking and brilliant minds are the enemies of dictators. It’s easier to control a population of gullible, uneducated and misinformed people who have been convinced that “woke” is the end of civilization. If you don’t believe that, how many world renowned universities are in Russia and Hungary - zero!! There is a reason for that. Wake up, America!
And, of course, the weakening of education in the USA has been going on for the past four decades which has led up to this current situation in the first place.
Right you are! The Theofascist right wants schools which teach no critical thinking skills, The oligarchs don't want to be taxed for education, and the rethuglicans in Congress and the Statehouses know on which side their bread is buttered and won't do anything to jeopardize their campaign funding. We'll be in a feudal economy in no time.
Stephen and RD, correct, and the dismemberment of the US educational system overall has been occurring since the Nixon admin. at least when he gutted the NSF grant program in 1970. Then, it was the "effete intellectual snobs" of the radical left, centered in the prestige universities who the far right claimed to be destroying the country from within. Now the bogeymen are the DEI programs and "radical left lunatics" who are poisoning the minds of our youth. This upheaval in higher education is no less than the Roman Inquisition of the 1600's when the clerics jailed Galileo for claiming that the Earth revolves around the Sun. With ogres like these retaining absolute power we would be headed for darker times indeed.
So disheartening- both my kids and my husband fall into this category. My husband studies microbial diversity and can’t use the word “diversity” in his grant proposals or they will be flagged and thrown out. Beyond outrageous. . .
It's not just higher education. Please be aware that the trans controversy has been concocted to lunch an attack on public education in general. Public schools are being accused of spreading "transgender ideology", an excuse for cutting funding.
I finally understand the Dark Ages. Perhaps we need to recruit monks now to start hand-copying precious manuscripts. They could start with the Constitution.
Be aware that Donald Trump wants to take possession of the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. I would not be surprised if he ends up selling it to MBS for a few million dollars.
Steve, as a retired public school teacher and current volunteer public school tutor, I have seen it too. First, charter schools were set up and anyone could make one, and in some states still can. They taught by rote and pretended they were soooo much better than the regular public schools, but rarely were and studies showed that over and over, but state legislatures, filled with paid-for members kept approving them. Then the arts were taken from the schools, only gradually reinserted, but not at the same levels. The district where I worked and work has no libraries, computers purchased only because the state testing will be conducted on computer this year. Most of the families in our district do not have wifi except on their phones which is not ideal for student studying. Only through new funding from the state did we finally get air conditioning in all of our schools. I could go on an on about the challenges, but you probably know them. The teachers in my district are excellent! They work so incredibly hard, but the students are already primed to hate school, to cause disruption, and refuse to even try. I know it is due to parental poverty and segregation, but it is not a positive. We have more students with special needs but insufficient staff to provide the services they require. And, yes, we depend a lot on funding from the Department of Education which a set of complete ignoramuses plan to wreck. It really is a disgrace that we all should be fighting.
Dr. Bandy Lee said they reduced social studies and emphasized S.T.E.M. Learning CIVICS should be mandatory. Starting with Betsy DeVos, they want to dismantle the public school system with your taxes going to private schools.
From Seattle Education, Noam Chomsky of MIT on public school privatization in a nutshell. "That's the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital"-Noam Chomsky, MIT.
Manufacture Crisis-Privatize Public Resources
1) Manufacture crisis: budget, edu-perfomance, and/or consequences of NCLB grant compliance failure. (often measured against known unattainable standards),
2) Fail,close / take over public schools.
3) Replace with charter schools linked to private CMO's (Charter Management Organizations), corporate eduservice providers (Pearson) and for-profit online learning. Staff with Teach for America temps who are indebted recent college graduates.
Joseph, this strategy has been working for them for decades: denigrate public services as failures, cut their funding so they fail, give the funds to the oligarchs through privatization - but make sure you’ve fired all the people who would know that private services are just another scam.
and of course corporate America much approves. Oreskes The Big Mnyth and how business taught us to loathe the government and love the free market. She finally wrote the book I felt should be written.
"I was finance director for a large charter school for 8 full months. I have never been exposed to the education system until that job. It was the most corrupt experience of my life. We had five people make over 300K a year, had two COO's. Had zero financial accountability to the state. They refused to let me educate the various schools about their individual budgets. And they were stealing money through fraudulent student counts they submitted to the state. It was truly the worst career and environment I have ever experienced in over 20 years in my career. Thank god I don't have kids."
Joseph, I do hope you are wrong with this one, but unfortunately unless a whole lot of people stand up and say "no," we may lose our schools and our kids to the insanity of an old rich white guy who cares for nothing but himself and what he can accumulate and his sidekick who has absolutely no positive human character traits.
Many of those with "no positive character traits" are graduates of the best schools in the country. Schools can open our minds but cannot change our characters.
Thanks Ruth. My wife taught for 37 years in public schools and university. We know first hand the problems. Lucky for us we live in a Illinois where the Legislators and the Governor are working hard to keep us from falling into the Red states book banning and religious destruction of our schools. Not to say there aren't many of those folks here trying to pull us down. GH
Gary, Congrats to your wife for her service! It is a hard job, little appreciated, but life-changing for the students taught. I don't get people wanting their children to be ignorant or are people worried that what their kids might learn could challenge their closely-held beliefs and the children might mention it?
You are so right, Ruth. I am a retired teacher who started teaching in the early 70's. I went into special ed. when I saw the constraints placed on regular classroom teachers. I was able to use methods that worked for students--in the regular classroom the teachers were ordered to teach one method whether it worked or not. I taught morning SLD and gifted in the afternoon. I was able to specifically work on critical thinking skills. We needed the federal aid to help these students. What is happening now is shocking and very depressing. I currently volunteer with a program which lets me observe the current education--so many caring teachers who need support.
Diana, I taught Title I my first 7 years which meant struggling students. It was a challenge to find ways to motivate and educate. I, too, taught Gifted Support the last 19 years. It was assumed there would not be many Gifted students since I worked in a minority school district; there were many, often not identified. However, the classroom teachers knew most of the students who needed services and I took them anyway. Critical thinking was important in my work with them, with my Title I students too because that should be at the center of all of our education.
Ruth, thank you for sharing your valuable experience. Rich Americans have been "seceding" from the rest of the country for decades. MAGA is an outcome of this preventable breakdown of our country.
He can only be ousted by a counter coup, and for that to happen those who enabled his counter coup have to suffer the consequences of their behavior.
Both the oligarchs and the fearful, insecure, hater base.
In other words the economy has to go down the drain like a flushed toilet, and that means pain for everyone. Burn down the house to rid it of vermin and varmints.
If this were Europe I would say external and allied forces, but Europe has proven to be rife with the same forces that brought Trump to power, on top of which they are poorly led by timid and soft leaders.
Yo tambien. I will be 86 very soon, and my blood pressure has always been normal, to die for if a lad in his 20's, but since Trump I've gone hypertensive, and work to keep it under control. I count calories, eat a low sodium, low sugar diet, eat twice a day, exercise 20 minutes a day to no avail.
Maybe I should stay off the internet, and TV news. Spring is around the corner and I will be back outside mowing and weed whipping, this time I'll have a little garden for my habenero's, tomatoes and culantro.
So if the Republicans can woo the uneducated and the Democrats are smarter than the Republicans, then the democratic party should be working on how to sway them over to this side.
Camille, Republicans succeeded by using fear mongering and resentment. As long as they don't touch SS and Medicare before the election they are likely to remain in power. Fear and anger are powerful emotions; they usually overcome rational arguments.
I haven't seen any evidence that the Democratic Party leadership is any smarter in politicking than the RepubliMafia is in governing. Presently, they seem to be chasing themselves! Although they're battling hard in court against the offal in the Oval Office, it'll be burning through the funds they need for campaigning.
I second these recommendations-the vids are short but sweet-great stuff-and DZK,i'm not surprised-most foreigners have been oppressed-they know a scoundrel when they see one
I don't know about the first link. I kind of felt I was watching Ted Kuzinksi, but the second Cippoli's law of Stupid People is outstanding, it certainly explains the bipedal environment.
As is the 4th link, He nailed the Republican/Libertarian mindset, but as clever as they are they fit Cippoli's law of Stupid People, for while they set about destroying government, they are destroying the very source of their wealth, the productivity of a peoples living happy, healthy and secure thanks to government.
For my part, the first link nicely connects ignorance with evil - if you accept there can be any such thing as moral good and evil that's >not< some kind of moronic, absolutist, black and white, binary proposition and that exists in spite of religion, rather than as some kind of slogan driven religious dogma. Destroying the education system - which is what we're actually talking about today - promotes such evil and is therefore in itself evil.
I don't see that link as promoting religion, if that's what he's attempting to do. If he is, I think it blew up in his face - but brilliantly! That's why I include the caveat: "Don't let the title of the clip mislead you."
My only problem with the concept of good and evil is that is subjective and conditional.
That which is good for one or in one instance is perceived as evil in another.
For most, the idea of good and evil is rooted in Abrhamaic religion, and defined by some book written thousands of years ago by men with their own agenda.
The antelope perceives the leopard as the apothesis of evil, yet the kits upon whose carcass they feed she is the definition of good.
The Jihadi's that slaughtered the 1,200 Jews were, in the eyes of the Muslims, the epitomy of hero's, worthy of martyrdom, and in the eyes of the Jews they are the apothesis of evil.
Martyrdom in Islam is to be desired, it is a fast track to paradise., to be celebrated never mourned.
I'm an atheist, yet I recognize a moral good and evil. I'm not prepared to treat on it - and frankly I doubt I have the intellect to do so - while anything less would place me in the trap I intend to avoid. I will say if you review that first link you may notice he establishes a >process< or >interaction< that includes everything we've ranted and railed about on this forum, and packages it as a process resulting in something I'll accept as a kind of evil.
Never tell a man his fly is open, never tell a woman her slip is showing.
Don't tell the Emperor bad news, or the daimyo that his samurai have lost the battle. Don't tell co presidents Trump and Musk that they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg,or Putin that his army got the shit beat out of them.
So maybe the oligarchs are among the “stupid”? Actually, I think they’re in the third group - doing harm to others while profiting themselves - in the short term anyway!
We mistake equating stupidity with intelligence. Ever heard the phrase "educated idiot". Common sense, involves forward thinking. It is playing chess,"what are the ramifications of my next move, and what is the cascade effect of that move, what are the alternatives.
Musk, Bezon's, Zuckerberg, all of them are incapable of assessing the long term effects of their actions, all they can see and thus are interested in is the immediate effect., and that goes for most people, especially the immature mind., "I want it, I want it now, whatever the cost or consequence"
And once you have it, you have to do anything and everything to hang on to it . In India they catch monkey's by putting large nuts inside of coke bottles.
The monkey inserts hand, grabs the nut, but won't let go, even though now his fist is to big to withdraw from the neck of the bottle.
If Joe shit or Jane Bumbles along, lose their jobs how far do they fall? Especially socially. Not far at all, but if Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezons, Dimon, et al are wiped out, how far do they fall, the height of the WTC.
They will do anything, they will kill anyone, to maintain their position.
Odd. I just came across the term "stupid genius" earlier this morning. Indeed, your conclusion - "They will do anything, they will kill anyone, to maintain their position." - essentially comes right out of the first link you expressed a certain skepticism toward.
It's because they are viewers from afar! What they are doing is sickening me on so many levels. There is NO reason for ANY of this stuff happening like it is. AND no matter what "HE" thinks it's NOT going to happen everywhere in this country. There are enough people who can see it here as well.
My late mother-in-law escaped Nazis in 1939. She says her father, a prominent Jewish doctor, did not want to leave. Oh, yes, he had noticed the young “BROWNSHIRTS” roaming around, but he dismissed it. Her mother had relatives already living in New York. She flew to visit. In NY, the relatives showed and told her what was really going on. She flew back to Germany, and told her husband, “We’re LEAVING NOW.” They packed and boarded a ship. Their very upscale home …on a hilltop in Stuttgart, Germany…was seized by the Nazis. But they all escaped.
What I saw of Millennials’ public high school in the ‘90s was worrisome: so superficial, so many teacher planning days, so many videos, so little homework. Minimal expectation to apply oneself.
I now see this again in the grandkids.
I don’t know when/where this trend started, but it’s dangerous. It’s now on the good parents to assure that literature, science, history, arts, humanities (and more) are part of their kids’ life. Do something mental every day; learn a second language; discuss current events. Bring up morality and ethics. We have great access to tools on the web. Use them.
Schools are too easy. Too uninspiring. Those traveling soccer teams are sucking up all free time & effort.
I agree. I did my BA and graduate work in Britain and then taught a Master program here in the US. The difference in expectations between universities in the UK and universities here was quite an eye opener.
Parents are also being systematically dumbed down by the stresses of surviving in a nation with permanently low wages, a tattered social safety net, corporate demands to do more with less, inadequate health insurance, etc etc. Prolonged stress does have cognitive consequences.
We took over at home with our kids. Our kids took over with our grandkids. At least, they have critical thinking skills and understand things like math and science. It's one way around it, but it's not easy.
You are right, R D! Our education system use to be very good but has taken a nosedive. We no longer have the capacity to compete with China, Japan and other countries. We have raised gullible, uneducated and misinformed citizens!
Just like the adults, the students need to turn off their cell phones. The parents, not the schools, and the Republicans undermining public education are to blame for most of it.
Agreed, Pamela. It is also removing Civics from the curriculum and other subjects that were important. It seems they have dumbed down the curriculum as well as letting parents and kids dictate what happens in their school. I'm not saying parents and kids should not have a voice, but I am saying that parents that have raised their kids to feel entitled, to never take the blame for their behavior and to scream 'teacher abuse' any time they disagree with their kid's marks. All of it has crumbled our education system.
Peggy, something I have noticed over the years I taught, when teachers find a curriculum that works and helps the children achieve, it is pretty sure that curriculum will disappear within a year or two in favor of something far less workable and teachers are being forced to follow it exactly as it is written and at exactly the same time as the other teachers in the district. That is insanity, but teachers have little to no say about this, and teachers are being monitored in our district nearly all the time to see that they are "on task." It is an insult to the highly qualified teachers and to the students. Why we are permitting this bad behavior on the part of districts is incomprehensible. One would think the administrators would want children to succeed. Maybe they are being paid to accept inferior curricula. I don't know but have been lucky to be considered of low importance as I taught Title I and Gifted support in my 26 years on the job, so I usually had to develop my own curriculum, and my students thrived because I could select materials that addressed their actual needs. Every couple of years, I had my students read through and discuss the "?Declaration of Independence" and its context and do the same with the Constitution, grades 5-12. I gave them all pocket copies of both documents. They were very interested.
Ruth, I am a retired teacher as well and I can totally relate to what you are saying! I retired because it became more paperwork than actually being able to work with my kids! When I left teaching, they had not become such nazi police as monitoring teachers; however, I could see it was coming. I loved working with my kids and seeing their faces light up when something finally clicked for them! I hurt for those trying to teach in this climate. No wonder so many young adults are saying "No, thank you" to becoming a teacher!
Well, there is Moscow State University, but most Americans are unaware (or as in your case, misimformed) of it. In hard sciences it is world renowned. The Russian population is neither gullible nor uneducated, but they are misinformed.
Like Putin, Trump is going after the "informers" like the free press and academic institutions. Compared to European countries, including Russia, Americans are, on average, more gullible and undereducated (which is probably the most serious criticism of our education system). Trump and his 70 million followers only need to control information to take control of the country.
According to one (subjective no doubt) ranking of the best 100 universities in the world, Moscow State University ranks 94th. And while I'm sure they have brilliant scientists, it's probably also true that very few, if any, students or faculty dare speak out against the Putin regime. Stifling the critical thinking piece of the equation does not make for a great university and that really is the point.
When their source of info is the state, and the flow of info is controllled, there is nothing to convert J Barrer.
Have we not learned the lessons of history. Goebbels took control of the Ministry of Propaganda and virtually the entire Deutsches Volk were enthusiatic NAZI's.
Ranking scores when it comes to universities are also 'the problem', while they are no more than like rich lists, while being 'the outcome' of a neoliberal abacus mentality.
Russia indeed has great minds but they have excelled perhaps of necessity with the notable exception of space exploration in less catalog intensive intensive achievements..the Russians were terrific mathematicians and excel at computer hacking. Engineering. First in space but they still can't build a reliable sedan.
can we build a reliable sedan? It is a funny thing, but quality control is evidently extremely difficult. When it comes to cars Toyota and Honda remain unequaled.
Da! Boris excels at Chess, a centuries-old game of strategy. But we've got Deep Blue. And SpaceX was the first to put a Tesla sedan into solar orbit. Yeah, we showed them!
What percentage of the Russian population is educated J Barrier. I submit that those that live within the commuting bounds of Moscow are educated, in the hard sciences, but as you move away from Moscow the education tapers off, and as you arrive in the Asiatic part of Russia, the Stans and Siberia you encounter ignorance.
Russian soldiers are by and large conscripted and recruited from these Asiatics and Turkomen, and just like they did when they ran around Berlin and Germany, they rip faucets and sinks off the wall believing that they will provide running water back home.
The plunder they value are things that Europeans wouldn't give a second thought.
A good friend of mine was raised in Novosibirsk and graduated first in his class from Moscow State in electrical engineering. Even so, he was required to serve in the Russian army for, i think, 2 years. He is now a professor here in the US. I don't know the actual statistics on academic performance in Russia, but I know that people from all over their country can make it to Moscow State if they excel in their local schools. Also, based on my interactions with native Moscovites, the average Russian highschool-equivalent graduate knows more about Amerian history than the average American.
And yet Russians rip faucets and sinks and toilets out of Ukrainian homes to send home to Siberia and the Stans.
As regards Muscovites knowing more about American History than we do, they know the Russian version, just as we know the American version.
Because after WWII America became an economic powerhouse, the engine of Democracy so to speak, the world has become very interested in America and English is spoken all over the world.
I served in Sams Service and often found myself arriving in a country via parachute, and never ever had problems getting around because I could always find someone who spoke English. Sometimes flawlessly.
I suggest all Ruscists to emigrate and enjoy the benefits of a Moscow university and life.
of course, the older we get the more we discover that the "American version" isn't always true, and sometimes the Russian version is closer to the truth.
American hegemony will likely end this century and speaking only English (as do most Americans) may become a liability. Russian is actually a beautiful language and some of the greatest literature in human history was written in Russian, not to mention some of the greatest scientific achievements. Pazhalsta.
He moving at break neck speed to sow in long lasting damage. Can we afford to wait for 2026?
Is there going to be a massive far left response, a social revolution? Will a far left leader shout, our revolution is coming and it will remain bloodless if the radical right allows it?
Kevin Roberts, the lead on Project 2025 said that the (fasicst revolution) will be bloodless if the "if the left allows it to be", meaning that we should go quietly into the long dark night. Bret
This will likely be the spark that ignites fires of protest among college and University youth and young adults. We were wondering what will motivate the Gen Z zoomers to wake up and join the Resistance. Remember, it was the “Free Speech Movement” in Berkeley CA ignited our generation into action.
The anti Viet Nam war movement often created a split between students and their parents. The New Resistance will be a multi-generational movement. Ronald Reagan’s response to the movement only threw fuel on the fire. Decades of activism began with a sit-in in the UC Berkeley Administration building. The movement then spread like wildfire.
But Vietnam was different ! Young men were under imminent threat of dying for a bogus cause altho noone then knew exactly how bogus it was. Today they will not have to die in Israel or Gaza but they know colonialism and terrorism and genocide and they are protesting. I hate that some students rally under an anti Semitic rhetoric. They are wrong - Israel is a political state, not a casual gathering of Jews. This government’s reaction, tho perfectly indicative of it’s vindictive heart, is going to be totally destructive of vitally needed research on all scientific fronts.
Your conveniently ignore history. Palestinians frequently attacked Israel before the 1967 war and before there were any settlements because they have never accepted Jews in Israel. Prior to 1967, Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza. The Palestinians never demanded their own state; they and the Arab countries which supported them wanted to destroy Israel.
As President Clinton noted during the recent election, he was astonished that Arafat rejected an Israeli offer of 96% of the West Bank, 4% of Israel to make up for 4% of the West Bank Israel was to keep for security reasons, all of Gaza and a capital in East Jerusalem. Arafat responded with the second intifada which killed 1000 Israelis in bombings in buses and cafes. The Palestinians again rejected their own state in 2005. Hamas expected Hezbollah to simultaneously attack Israel and the Iranian general in charge of its proxies in Syria admitted that Iran begged Syria to allow it to open a third front against Israel. Hamas has made it clear that they will repeat October 7 again and again if allowed. Israel has done what any state would do when attacked by genocidal terrorists. You should read Col. John Spencer, an expert in urban warfare at West Point who has opined that the ration of civilian deaths to fighters' deaths in far less than the norm in urban warfare.
Marc Trump is hoping for a nation wide protest, it will give him the excuse, especially if he can use some Proud Boy provacteur to pull of a Reichstag moment, to declare a national emergency initiate the 1798 Alien Sedition and Insurrection Act, and declare martial law.
That which made America great is it's productivity, and it's productivity was driven by it's morale, Trump has broken the morale of America, at present we are living off the accumulated fat, but I doubt that it will last 2 years.
William, it is next to impossible to predict what Trump is hoping for. He is impulsive and acts without thinking ahead to the consequences of his actions. Nationwide protests are already beginning but not yet in a coordinated fashion. Actually, worldwide protests are occurring spontaneously so we are not alone in this. I do not see that Trump has broken the morale of America, instead I see him waking up the call to activism. He and Musk are angering so many people at once by taking away their livelihoods for self enrichment that I think the blowback will be quite forceful once it is unified and coordinated. People have learned not to depend on the Democratic Party for leadership so we make it up as we go along. We are experiencing unprecedented challenges so there is really no playbook yet for the resistance.
You jest Marc. Hard to predict Trump? Really? Maybe his next move, but he self corrects and comes at it from a different angle. He doesn't care about consequences because he has never suffered consequences. He built a casino, bankrupted it and walked away wealthier than before, with other peoples money.
Yep we do have scattered protests, here and there, but are they really forcing him and Musk to change course? Not that I have seen.
Law suits are filed, minor courts rule for the plaintiff, until they reach SCOTUS, and the incredibly naive and gullible liberal sees hope in the unsigned ruling(and that is important) that the Supreme court upheld the law of contracts, which is the basis of their ruling on USAID,
Previously, the court rejected Trump’s request to immediately fire the head of a government watchdog agency, Hampton Dellinger, in a decision that temporarily left him in place.
Take note of the word temporary.
It seems that you are stretching for hope, like maybe the whole nation will rise up against Trump. (I doubt it, because 37% of the nation loves Trump, is heavily armed and is standing by, ready to engage in a civil war against the hated libs, the blacks, the browns, the queers,the trans, the atheists.
But just as in Portland, Ore or Seattle, when a large protest breaks out, they activate their men in black, like the umbrella man, to break windows and start looting, so he can declare a National Emergency, Invoke the Insurrection Act and declare martial law.
Trump pulled of a top down coup, by using the forces of propaganda (like Fox, OANN, News Max, Joe Rogan,) to convince the bottom to support the top, and we are caught in the middle like a vise.
Now he has total control of the military forces (police, local and federal and army).
Yeh we the people are pissed, yes we are noisy and fed up, yes we express our gear, anger dissatisfaction, but to what avail.
What brave souls are going to stick their head above the crowd?
Mao Tse Dung said, "Let a thousand flowers bloom". Does anyone know what he meant?
When a thousand flowers bloom, he can then cut them off. Like snipping blooming roses.
Trump is aching for an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare Martial Law, he tried to do it on Jan 6th, blaming BLM and antifa for the Capitol Riot.
Those who had faith in the military, should have learned better by now. The Armed forces are falling into line with directions of Hegseth. And Generals with honor that obey their oath to the Constitution are fired, making way for Generals and officers that will be loyal to Trump.
The word sabotage comes from the French word for foot. during the Franco Prussian war, the Prussians occupied a French Shoe factory and forced the workers to make shoes for the Prussian Army.
Wait -- I have an idea. I see a million swimsuit-wearing hippies armed with nine irons and other implements of destruction marching on Maralago. We can camp on the golf course and bathe in the swimming pool. We will liberate the enslaved immigrant employees so someone can make us lunch. If we can hold out for a month King Donald will surely fall. He can't go more than a week without a game of golf.
Donald Trump is a form of human mold that absorbs the wealth which others have earned. He refers to the collection process as the necessary procurement of taxes and tariffs. He loves ripping off the public because these funds represent monies that basically are untraceable and rip for the picking. Trump looks at the Presidency as a license to steal.
Who would find any satisfaction in presiding over a population of automatons and morons? Only a moronic automaton who is not particular about who he has under his little thumb.
Prof. Reich is merely stating the obvious concerning dictators, while cosi fan tutte: Purge those who have the ability to think critically, and silence those who are perceived to be elite on the basis of, in this revised anti-intellectualism age, them being too allied with that pejorative manufactured spook ideology nowadays termed woke. Although its indices are currently on more cogent display in your US in this time of Trump and Vance, it has its roots as far back as Alan Bloom's 1980's seminal tome on the so-called 'Closing of the American Mind', while in reality that was a cheerleading tract intended then to be a courtier to the newly spawned (albeit revised!) and truer ideology called neoliberalism. That said, Bloom may also have been - with the benefit of hindsight - trying to walk both sides of the street, with at least Reagan and the neoliberals in his cabinet not trying to ban the Education Dept.! In the end, it is the universities who are to blame for this situation further to them willingly transforming into no more than degree factories (despite their research cohorts) following them having drunk (and continuing to drink) the neoliberal cool-aid., while what is more scandalous is how they've nihilistically acquiesced to an acceptance of Trump's acts, and this apparently, with little or no genuine resistance, while the universities (or 'colleges' as you in the USA call them) will soon start protesting if Trump attacks their funding and/or privilege's.
Yes, I remember Bloom's book. And I agree about the neoliberal part as well. The thing is, universities were already trending toward elitism well before the current regime came in--what with tuitions and fees becoming increasingly out of reach for ordinary people. For example, I attended a fairly well-known private university in the Midwest, graduating in 1982. Tuition at that time was around $6K per year. Between a National Merit Scholarship, a financial aid package which included work-study, and family help, I got a great education for a reasonable price, and had relatively little debt afterwards. The tuition there has now increased by a factor of ten. The buildings on campus are a lot fancier now, but I'm not sure what else a student gets for that money. I'm sure it's a lot more difficult for ordinary working people to get into this type of institution than it used to be, which is of course exactly what the wealthy Republicans want. They desire docile slaves, not critically-thinking troublemakers. And they've successfully steered working people's minds against higher education. Look at the hostile reaction to Biden's student-loan-forgiveness program. Its biggest detractors, as far as I could tell, were working-class people."No fair!" they cried. Who did they think was meant to benefit from that program? People just like themselves! People like J D "Hypocrite" Vance himself, who rose from humble origins and is now trying to deny to others what he gained for himself. Unbelievable!
Authoritarian regimes always go after the educators, professors and teachers. Too threatening. They tend to tell the truth. That doesn't work for this administration either.
I had several Russian colleagues, mostly still in Russia but one in my department and another at Stanford. They were well educated in Russian universities and they produce interesting research.
However, my Russian colleagues knew not to quetion their supervisor's opinions. This retards the progress of their field in Russia, but they are smart, creative, and well trained. The problem is that Russian culture also trained them to respect authority.
Does South Africa have any renowned universities? They produced the richest man. Now he wants to pretend he's the smartest man. What happened to smart Americans? Articles in my local newspaper seem to be getting more Trump compliment day by day, from Post articles, and from local opinions (which sounds like rehashed Fox News, which I don't listen to). If DEI is a deal brought up by JFK, are folks starting to demonize him. Let's suggest we remove his image from the 50¢ piece. Has the populace aged out and now most don't even remember him?
Sad but true. Woke needs to wake up and not just protest what is, but work to develop an alternative platform that has broader appeal combined with a compelling candidate who can rival and surpass the appeal of the current occupant of the White House. Coalesce and identify this candidate soon and very soon. Politics has become more marketing than messaging, more posturing than doing. Keep promoting reading and education initiatives aimed at leveling-up the intelligence level of all Americans. Time to unite!!!
It’s more than the universities. Fascists took over our K-12 schools decades ago and despite how hard we try, teachers like me have found it impossible to get this investigated. That’s what paved the way for a con man to rise to power. Listen to whistleblowing teachers at WhiteChalkCrime.com. Read my memoir, A Graver Danger. Then run for school boards and help repopulate our schools with called-to-teach teachers who have been muzzled or trashed so the fascists could have their way. They made America dumb so they could flourish unlawfully, undiscovered.
In 1948 when Israel was established by the United Nations the Palestinians were urged to leave Israel for refugee camps in the surrounding countries where armies were massing to invade the new state. Those Palestinians were sure they could return shortly but they are still living in some of those very same camps generations later. Israel never lost the fights to survive in all these years. Then Israeli settlers went into the West Bank and established settlements. They were protected by the Israeli Government altho it was not legally Israeli land. The intifadas, the borders, the terrorism and the rise of Hamas all led to the incursion of Hamas and the subsequent massacre on Oct. 7th. Followed by the retaliation by Israel and the destruction of Gaza. Now by hostage exchanges and a weak cease fire agreement that could fail any minute.
When are some of these self-proclaimed macho men, in the GOP and MAGA, going to stand up to Trump, FOR OUR COUNTRY, DEMOCRACY, CONSTITUTION, RULE OF LAW?! So far they have proven to be lying spineless traitors, who continue to kiss Trump's ass for a buck, and Iawless, unlimited power! How do they even look their children, families, and constituents in the eye, while betraying them all every day. All will be recorded in history, as a complete corrupt disgrace, traitors to the United States of America, who chose to turn their backs on the USA, betray us, and team with communist, murderous Russia, and has stomped all over our Constitution and laws.
Robert Reich’s piece paints a stark and urgent picture of how Donald Trump is following a well-worn authoritarian playbook—echoing the strategies of leaders like Putin, Xi Jinping, and Viktor Orbán. Reich outlines a series of coordinated attacks on democratic institutions: first the military, then the courts, the legislature, the media, and now higher education.
Key points from the article:
Purge and Replace: Trump removes career military and intelligence officials, replacing them with loyalists.
Undermining the Courts: He disregards or threatens to disregard unfavorable court rulings.
Intimidation of Legislators: Legislators who oppose him are threatened with political retaliation—or worse.
Attacks on the Media and Universities: Independent sources of information are silenced or discredited.
Targeting Universities: He threatens to punish institutions permitting “illegal” protests and cancels funding, as with Columbia University.
Cancel Culture from the Right: Figures like Elise Stefanik, Josh Hawley, and JD Vance weaponize cultural grievances to further suppress academic freedom.
Gutting Scientific Research: Trump cuts National Science Foundation and NIH funding, jeopardizing America’s global leadership in research and innovation.
Parallel to Authoritarianism: The playbook is clear—tyrants close universities and silence intellectual inquiry.
Reich argues that these actions are not just political maneuvers but calculated steps toward authoritarian rule, with severe consequences for American democracy and global competitiveness.
Your Reflection: The Silence of Academia Then and Now
You draw a sharp parallel between the failure of academia to speak out today and its silence during Hitler’s rise to power. The reflection is piercing:
Despite your years of writing to universities—political science departments, history departments, psychiatry and psychology programs, medical schools—you’ve encountered a deafening silence.
You are shocked and disheartened by the cowardice of scholars, researchers, and experts who, despite years of education and specialization, remain quiet in the face of rising authoritarianism.
You note that in Nazi Germany, many academics were complicit through their silence or active participation—highlighting that the doctors’ unions were among the first to pledge loyalty to Hitler.
You lament the absence of courageous leadership from the intellectual class, with only a few notable exceptions standing against the tide.
Integrated Analysis and Final Draft
The Complicity of Silence: How Academia Fails Us Again
Robert Reich’s recent article, The Universities Are Next, outlines an alarming sequence of events that should serve as a wake-up call. Donald Trump’s strategy mirrors that of autocrats like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Viktor Orbán: systematically dismantle democratic institutions, silence independent voices, and consolidate absolute control.
First come the purges of military and intelligence officials. Then the courts are undermined. Legislators are coerced. The media is targeted. Now, universities—long bastions of independent thought—are in the crosshairs. Trump’s threats to defund institutions like Columbia University and his attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are only the beginning. His efforts to gut funding from the National Science Foundation and the NIH are poised to cripple American scientific innovation. If he succeeds, we will lose the very intellectual edge that made America a world leader.
But as disturbing as Reich’s warning is, it is not the first of its kind. What is perhaps more troubling is the profound silence from those we depend on most in times like these: scholars, scientists, historians, psychologists, and psychiatrists. For over a decade, I’ve written to universities—political science and history departments, medical schools, psychiatry and psychology faculties—imploring them to speak out. To use their authority, their knowledge, their platforms. What I’ve encountered has largely been silence. Deafening silence.
Where are the thought leaders who should be standing at the frontlines of this intellectual battle? Where are the voices of conscience from academia, warning us against the rise of authoritarianism? There have been notable exceptions, of course—a handful of professors and institutions bravely taking a stand. But by and large, the reaction has been paralysis, or worse, quiet complicity.
This is not a new story. During Hitler’s rise, many German academics either remained silent or eagerly joined the Nazi cause. The doctors, in particular, were among the first professional groups to align themselves with Hitler. Their collaboration laid the groundwork for horrific atrocities that followed.
And here we are again.
The universities should be the sentinels of democracy. The departments of political science and history should be screaming these warnings from every podium. Psychiatry and psychology professionals, who understand the pathology of authoritarian leaders, should be educating the public. Medical schools should be teaching that science and reason are the antitheses of tyranny.
Yet, for the most part, they say nothing.
Why? Fear? Apathy? Careerism? The belief that it won’t get that bad, or that someone else will act first?
Whatever the reason, history shows us that silence is complicity. And by the time these institutions finally find their voices, it may be too late.
Tyrants close universities. Fascists burn books. And demagogues like Trump destroy what makes a nation great: its innovative mind.
Exceptions and Counterpoints
There are exceptions. Organizations like Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, AAUP (American Association of University Professors), and certain individuals (e.g., Bandy X. Lee, Timothy Snyder, Noam Chomsky) have spoken out.
Some universities have taken public stances on issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion, though often under pressure and frequently reactive rather than proactive.
Professional organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA) have made statements concerning authoritarian tendencies and misinformation.
But the scale of response is nowhere near what is needed. The vast majority remain silent, or cautious to the point of irrelevance.
Points well taken, Michael. It is time for our universities to stand up and speak with one voice. They ought to remember that one of the first things Viktor Orban did was to shut down the university George Soros had founded--because it was liberal.
A very good question? When I find an answer I will let you know. I know plenty of people that are "in the know" that are progressives and somewhat liberal. But I guess they have found it hard to organize. I hope they snap out of this state before it's too late!
It takes Leon Musk only 1 minute each year to pay his annual tax for Social Security. Can we afford Social Security? YES. All it will take is lifting the cap on rich citizens. Can we afford Medicare, Medicaid and USaid? YES! Get MuskRat and Bezos to pay taxes at the same rate teachers pay. This week MuskRat blew up another rocket. Who paid for that rocket? American tax payers. Muskrat says Americans can afford to blow up rockets.
Yes Yes Yes - Please keep repeating this. It's appalling that many many people to do not know social security taxes are capped to benefit the rich - and that eliminating the cap would make the program solvent. They DON"T WANT the programs to work and since the New Deal have been trying to kill Roosevelt's greatest policy accomplishments.
Leon probably has no salary at all, so it’s doubtful he ever made any payroll contributions. He will never have to pay into SS unless the law includes unearned income. Unearned income may never be taxed unless we tax wealth.
Totally agree with you, but the point is "the price of eggs" was a BIG reason people voted him into the White House. He said, while campaigning, that he would reduce the price of eggs and most food sources. This was pretty much all they heard. That and the immigrant issues. AND "HE" downplayed the Project 2025 thing, claiming he knew NOTHING about it, when the Heritage Foundation was pressuring him to agree to help them make it work. "HE" is their puppet! And they certainly all knew that he would bend to their desires because they were holding the purse strings!
Let us not forget racism as another reason. Trump gave the Republicans the green light to more openly express their fear and despise of immigrants,.women and minorities.
I understand, but someone like myself who spends a MINIMUM of 6 hours/day on trusted reporting sites, I suppose it's sort of an "occupational hazard" to see the things we focus on noticing, even at less appropriate times..
I've been calling out this specific issue for the lie it was, almost from the first day it was made.
In fact, I have a gift for you, P J, (though it's not terribly exciting.) It's something I wrote very nearly a full year ago that explains the many ways that the GOP literally CAUSES consumer prices to be higher than would likely be the case "organically", essentially to facilitate the transfer of the holdings of the 99% into the pockets of the Top 1%. (And, of course, to have something to dishonestly accuse Biden of. And I promise there will NOT be a quiz. Steps 4, 6 and 8 seem to me to have been the most effective):
"The Gee! Oh! Pee! Economic Strategy to Promote MAGA"
Informative and spot on, I guess they truly had this all planned out. First cheat to get back into the White House (check), then do tons of orders at breakneck speed (check) and put them into action (check) THEN blame the whole mess on Biden. NOPE he's not EVEN in the picture!
Looks like it's the Trump plan(sic) to "bully" prices into submission.
Although, when it was determined that 53% of post-Covid inflation was pure and simple PRICE GOUGING, I don't recall anyone looking into much of ANYTHING:
"Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds
Thinktank report says ‘resounding evidence’ shows companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop"
Thanks Camille. They will become the Benedict Arnold of the future assuming they don't get away with burning the printing presses with the books! Stay safe..., GH
That’s a deeply concerning development. Trump’s government want to weaken the very foundation of critical thinking and academic freedom. Universities thrive on intellectual diversity, debate, and the pursuit of knowledge—not political puppetry. If this gains traction, the long-term consequences for research, innovation, and democracy itself could be profound.
Professor Reich: as a university graduate (several times, in fact!) myself who worked my way through school and who earned a PhD -- thanks to a variety of employment, as well as grants, scholarships and a variety of other research funding -- i am deeply worried about those who now are struggling to find a place in a PhD program. i wish i could help!
but i also am curious ... i've heard xi jinping, the president of china, portrayed as a dictator or authoritarian for quite some time, and yet, china's investment in science and technology research is massive. doesn't this go against the "dictator" model?
anywho, as an unemployed scientist who writes about other scientists' discoveries and innovations for the public, i have noticed that china is especially productive both in first-author studies as well as in collaborative studies, a gap that is increasing noticeably in the recent five years or so. european research is also making huge leaps in productivity. i rather suspect that ameriKKKa's number one export product -- EDUCATION -- has been so severely compromised in these past 6 weeks that this global supremacy can never be recaptured -- at least, not in any of our lifetimes.
@Grrl: Xi has such tight control that he need not follow the Orban model. He sponsors science in an ideological and cultural war against “the West.” Trucking Fump is doing his work for him though, selling democracy out in order build Trump Tower Peking.
WOW GrrlScientist! That's impressive. Education is one thing that can never be taken from you. I've always admired scholars like you. In my next life I want to do that. For now I'll keep on reading non-fiction books. I ride on curiosity and imagination to get through every day without a formal degree. Learning never ends!
like you, dee, i also read extensively. mostly history these past few years, although science reading is something i naturally gravitate towards. and you are right: learning never ends. or, at least, it SHOULD never end.
“The House and Senate have put together a very good funding Bill (“CR”)! All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week. Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s “financial house” in order. We have to remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right. VERY IMPORTANT.”
All Republicans should vote! Does that sound like a United States President who represents all Americans?
Today is trash day in my city. We just need to take the Dumpster out! Stop the whining and the whimpering and the complaining and the fussing! Take . . . DrumpleStiltskin O-U-T!!!
Out of all the donations I have stopped giving to, I still keep giving to Bernie! I love that he is out there speaking the truth all across this country!
Bob presents a compelling argument about the authoritarian playbook and its application to American institutions, particularly universities. However, while his concerns about Trump’s threats to academia are valid, they overlook a critical reality: the erosion of university autonomy and academic freedom is already well underway and has been under attack by vocal, well-funded minorities of donors and mudslingers, independent of a potential second Trump administration.
The crackdowns on university protests over Gaza, marked by mass arrests, administrative resignations, and police interventions, demonstrate that elite institutions have already capitulated to external pressures. These actions were justified under the pretext of combating antisemitism, but in reality, they reflect a broader suppression of dissent and an increasing vulnerability of universities to political coercion. The resignation of Harvard’s Claudine Gay, the forced departures of university administrators, and the chilling effect on faculty and students signal that higher education is no longer the independent pillar of democracy it once aspired to be.
Bob’s framing suggests that universities will be the next front in Trump’s war on institutions, but in many ways, this front has already been breached. The willingness of university administrators to comply with political and financial pressures—whether from congressional hearings, billionaire donors, or public relations crises—indicates that higher education’s defenses against authoritarianism are weaker than he acknowledges. Rather than standing as bastions of resistance, universities have already conceded much ground. This is not merely a hypothetical scenario of future repression; it is a present and ongoing reality.
Moreover, the attack on academia extends beyond Trump’s influence. The defunding of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, restrictions on curricula regarding race and gender, and legislative efforts to weaken tenure protections are already in motion, particularly in Republican-controlled states. These measures are systematically eroding academic freedom and the intellectual independence of higher education institutions. By the time a second Trump administration, or any similarly aligned government, escalates these attacks, the groundwork for compliance and suppression will already be in place.
Bob is correct in linking the defunding of scientific research to a broader authoritarian strategy. The cuts to National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding threaten US scientific leadership, with China poised to surpass the United States in key research metrics. However, he underestimates the extent to which this trajectory was set before Trump. The corporatization of universities, growing reliance on private funding, and the marginalization of the humanities have all contributed to a climate where academic institutions are less resilient to external pressures. The ability of the state to manipulate higher education is amplified when universities are already dependent on government contracts and politically vulnerable to shifts in funding priorities.
In sum, the warning about the dangers of Trump’s potential second term is well-founded but incomplete. The dismantling of university independence and academic freedom is not a future possibility—it is an ongoing process, and it started some time ago. If universities are to resist further encroachments, they must recognize that the crisis is not merely one of external authoritarianism but also of internal institutional weakness. Only by confronting their own complicity in these trends can they hope to reclaim their role as centers of critical inquiry and democratic resilience.
Excellent analysis, Greg. I found it shocking that there wasn’t an outcry when several university presidents were forced out by billionaire donors due to the pretext of antisemitism. And how disappointing that Kamala Harris did not speak out in defense of student protesters last year.
Right you are, Greg. Yet I think that it is inaccurate to view universities as centers of democratic resilience. They are first and foremost centers of learning; they can graduate great thinkers, but also Nazi doctors. Universities need state and/or private patronage. Hence professors and students should avoid protesting on campus--every city has a town square for such protests. Likewise, policy makers and legislators must understand that interference with university autonomy will have an adverse effect on the valuable services it renders. Town hall meetings, Jacobin clubs and the likes are the true centers of democratic resilience.
The destruction of America's research capabilities, and the suppression of free speech (the latter starting much earlier, in both the Trump and Biden administrations) is already at the five-alarm fire stage. It took decades to build up America's strength in research but only six weeks so far to do it immense damage, perhaps irreparable harm. There should be massive protests and pushback all over the country against these things, from all people who care about the future of the US, not just the academics immediately affected. Why is this not happening? That passivity, indifference, exhaustion, whatever it is, speaks volumes about the state of the country.
I made a mistake in writing my comment above, as I found out this afternoon. There apparently were massive protests on Friday about the science cutbacks across the country, as I found out late this afternoon (Monday). I am hugely relieved about this -- many people are aware of the seriousness of what is happening and are fighting back -- and apologize for not knowing about it when I made my remark.
And ideologues create "alternative facts". Prepare to start receiving reports and assessments regarding the oustanding, brilliant, ground-breaking (etc) achievements of American researchers under the benign eye of our supreme leader (your supreme leader, actually, since I'm a Brit).
I wonder if we've ever seen a private individual take out a $50,000 ad in the New York Times asking for a president to RESIGN with all the reasons why? I am awed by Grant Grissom's bravery!
Patriotic citizens are only beginning to battle against Trump's extreme agenda. Just six days after he retired from his post as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins issued a plea to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their minions at the Department of Government Efficiency. Remember the Hippocratic Oath: “Do no harm.” (Jim Acosta)......
As a recently retired professor I am seeing the same pattern Prof. Reich eloquently describes. They are coming for the schools, at all levels. Universities are hurt by denial of research funding. Others are hurt by the control of textbooks and curriculum. We all need to get louder and stronger in our push back. The key to control at a university often runs through the Board of Visitors, or whatever your state calls them. Board of Trustees is often used at private universities. The governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, is a Trumpian Republican who does not like the word equity. The Board of Visitors forced our former school President to change Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to Diversity, Access, and Inclusion. A stupid little word change, but a sign that top-down control was exerted that, if blindly accepted, would lead to what we are seeing now at Columbia and other institutions. At public schools, from kindergarten to high school, it is control of books, and these are often determined by local School Boards. Since school boards are elected, that is where we can push back. Get elected and drive the book burners out of leadership.
After Trump has fatally destroyed this country, what then. I can't see Mr. Trump living in the squalor he spent so much time and effort to create. There would be nothing left to achieve. What then? To me, the man will never live long enough to see his dreams come to any conclusion. He isn't well, and his future is in question due to the man's health. The world he's created for himself will crumble before his eyes and friends will be few and far between. Trump's demise will come at the hands of those he trusts. Destroy all that is about you, then attempt to find comfort in the ashes of the greatness we once were. Trump is a malignancy whose presence will only end in abject devastation and death. I for one see no other alternative other than to have the man removed. I wonder if God has a phone number.
Death by starving (USaid), death by health policy (measles), injustice to Ukrainian refugees, because his boast on Peace is still BS, accepting genocide in Gaza; and now universities and science in line with his childish world vision.
How long will the grown-ups accept this road to 'greatness'? Is there any thinking behind all this? The economy in tatters, the inflation rising, friendships all over the world kaput, Putin roaring with laughter (did anyone see him laugh?), Xi surrounding Taiwan, the Baltics and Poland terrified...
Great to build internal resistance in the US, great to see positive developments, but America nor the word have the time, not years to midterms, not even three months.
And Bob, I hope you are prepared for the unthinkable.
Obviously, starvation in Africa is something we have to KNOW is only happening because Putin was already prepared to move his own humanitarian (and terrorist manufacturing) aid shipments into the gap to be left the moment Trump gave him the Bat-Signal of inauguration.
EVERYTHING is because of Putin, and vetted through Moscow. Putin will now have almost an ENTIRE CONTINENT of potential killers, trained by Russia to hate the people who wiped out millions of people that looked much like them. (Not all that difficult...)
Are you referring to Trump’s broligarchy’s proposed land invasion and annexation of Canada (and Greenland) in order to grab their valuable earth resources ?
Or possibly the arrest and possibly current unknown location of the Columbia protestor Khalil and threat toward his wife? I’ve been wondering if they would go that far and how soon if they did.
Yes, that's an action that hasn't quite sunk into the American consciousness yet.
And might I guess that media is scared to speak above a whisper? Obviously, sites such as the Guardian are covering it, but not a lot of others are, or with the appropriate emphasis.
The unthinkable. I sent a commentary to a relative by Heather Cox Richardson that warned of Trump's inclinations who is deep Trump before the election. His is "connected." The response was "These hacks are going to get what they deserve," Chilling and frightening.
Critical thinking and brilliant minds are the enemies of dictators. It’s easier to control a population of gullible, uneducated and misinformed people who have been convinced that “woke” is the end of civilization. If you don’t believe that, how many world renowned universities are in Russia and Hungary - zero!! There is a reason for that. Wake up, America!
And, of course, the weakening of education in the USA has been going on for the past four decades which has led up to this current situation in the first place.
Right you are! The Theofascist right wants schools which teach no critical thinking skills, The oligarchs don't want to be taxed for education, and the rethuglicans in Congress and the Statehouses know on which side their bread is buttered and won't do anything to jeopardize their campaign funding. We'll be in a feudal economy in no time.
Stephen and RD, correct, and the dismemberment of the US educational system overall has been occurring since the Nixon admin. at least when he gutted the NSF grant program in 1970. Then, it was the "effete intellectual snobs" of the radical left, centered in the prestige universities who the far right claimed to be destroying the country from within. Now the bogeymen are the DEI programs and "radical left lunatics" who are poisoning the minds of our youth. This upheaval in higher education is no less than the Roman Inquisition of the 1600's when the clerics jailed Galileo for claiming that the Earth revolves around the Sun. With ogres like these retaining absolute power we would be headed for darker times indeed.
At U Wis. young scientists' careers falter as trump stalls research funds.
US risks losing "a whole generation of researchers".
https://cl.exct.net/?qs=553d4f2b208d9c3fb8a65d8d815ce76ffab67f42622a5729362e7ec49bccf280c84f4fbba72bd6e8fa5e6f74edcde65565684fdff3fff2eed4005c38b883fd35
So disheartening- both my kids and my husband fall into this category. My husband studies microbial diversity and can’t use the word “diversity” in his grant proposals or they will be flagged and thrown out. Beyond outrageous. . .
Beaud, this cult sickness threatening our aspiring pluralistic society defies comprehension.
It's not just higher education. Please be aware that the trans controversy has been concocted to lunch an attack on public education in general. Public schools are being accused of spreading "transgender ideology", an excuse for cutting funding.
Correct, Victor, the right-wing attack on education spans a person's lifetime, from preschool indoctrination to sullying Dr. Reich's life's work.
Trans people today are the Jews of pre-World War II Germany.
I finally understand the Dark Ages. Perhaps we need to recruit monks now to start hand-copying precious manuscripts. They could start with the Constitution.
Be aware that Donald Trump wants to take possession of the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. I would not be surprised if he ends up selling it to MBS for a few million dollars.
I totally agree. My daughter is in public education and has seen the erosion and degradation first hand, where she deals with it daily.
Steve, as a retired public school teacher and current volunteer public school tutor, I have seen it too. First, charter schools were set up and anyone could make one, and in some states still can. They taught by rote and pretended they were soooo much better than the regular public schools, but rarely were and studies showed that over and over, but state legislatures, filled with paid-for members kept approving them. Then the arts were taken from the schools, only gradually reinserted, but not at the same levels. The district where I worked and work has no libraries, computers purchased only because the state testing will be conducted on computer this year. Most of the families in our district do not have wifi except on their phones which is not ideal for student studying. Only through new funding from the state did we finally get air conditioning in all of our schools. I could go on an on about the challenges, but you probably know them. The teachers in my district are excellent! They work so incredibly hard, but the students are already primed to hate school, to cause disruption, and refuse to even try. I know it is due to parental poverty and segregation, but it is not a positive. We have more students with special needs but insufficient staff to provide the services they require. And, yes, we depend a lot on funding from the Department of Education which a set of complete ignoramuses plan to wreck. It really is a disgrace that we all should be fighting.
Dr. Bandy Lee said they reduced social studies and emphasized S.T.E.M. Learning CIVICS should be mandatory. Starting with Betsy DeVos, they want to dismantle the public school system with your taxes going to private schools.
From Seattle Education, Noam Chomsky of MIT on public school privatization in a nutshell. "That's the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don't work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital"-Noam Chomsky, MIT.
Manufacture Crisis-Privatize Public Resources
1) Manufacture crisis: budget, edu-perfomance, and/or consequences of NCLB grant compliance failure. (often measured against known unattainable standards),
2) Fail,close / take over public schools.
3) Replace with charter schools linked to private CMO's (Charter Management Organizations), corporate eduservice providers (Pearson) and for-profit online learning. Staff with Teach for America temps who are indebted recent college graduates.
Done.
Joseph, this strategy has been working for them for decades: denigrate public services as failures, cut their funding so they fail, give the funds to the oligarchs through privatization - but make sure you’ve fired all the people who would know that private services are just another scam.
and of course corporate America much approves. Oreskes The Big Mnyth and how business taught us to loathe the government and love the free market. She finally wrote the book I felt should be written.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V_AZRZfu9I&ab_channel=SantaFeInstitute
I read this comment a few years ago:
"I was finance director for a large charter school for 8 full months. I have never been exposed to the education system until that job. It was the most corrupt experience of my life. We had five people make over 300K a year, had two COO's. Had zero financial accountability to the state. They refused to let me educate the various schools about their individual budgets. And they were stealing money through fraudulent student counts they submitted to the state. It was truly the worst career and environment I have ever experienced in over 20 years in my career. Thank god I don't have kids."
Yes, Joseph, this is an important component of Project 2025.
Joseph, I do hope you are wrong with this one, but unfortunately unless a whole lot of people stand up and say "no," we may lose our schools and our kids to the insanity of an old rich white guy who cares for nothing but himself and what he can accumulate and his sidekick who has absolutely no positive human character traits.
As a French speaker said the other day: "And a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service."
Many of those with "no positive character traits" are graduates of the best schools in the country. Schools can open our minds but cannot change our characters.
Thanks Ruth. My wife taught for 37 years in public schools and university. We know first hand the problems. Lucky for us we live in a Illinois where the Legislators and the Governor are working hard to keep us from falling into the Red states book banning and religious destruction of our schools. Not to say there aren't many of those folks here trying to pull us down. GH
Gary, Congrats to your wife for her service! It is a hard job, little appreciated, but life-changing for the students taught. I don't get people wanting their children to be ignorant or are people worried that what their kids might learn could challenge their closely-held beliefs and the children might mention it?
You are so right, Ruth. I am a retired teacher who started teaching in the early 70's. I went into special ed. when I saw the constraints placed on regular classroom teachers. I was able to use methods that worked for students--in the regular classroom the teachers were ordered to teach one method whether it worked or not. I taught morning SLD and gifted in the afternoon. I was able to specifically work on critical thinking skills. We needed the federal aid to help these students. What is happening now is shocking and very depressing. I currently volunteer with a program which lets me observe the current education--so many caring teachers who need support.
Diana, I taught Title I my first 7 years which meant struggling students. It was a challenge to find ways to motivate and educate. I, too, taught Gifted Support the last 19 years. It was assumed there would not be many Gifted students since I worked in a minority school district; there were many, often not identified. However, the classroom teachers knew most of the students who needed services and I took them anyway. Critical thinking was important in my work with them, with my Title I students too because that should be at the center of all of our education.
Ruth, thank you for sharing your valuable experience. Rich Americans have been "seceding" from the rest of the country for decades. MAGA is an outcome of this preventable breakdown of our country.
WTF don't people get Trump has pulled off a self coup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-coup#:~:text=A%20self%2Dcoup%2C%20also%20called,of%20themselves%20or%20their%20supporters.
He can only be ousted by a counter coup, and for that to happen those who enabled his counter coup have to suffer the consequences of their behavior.
Both the oligarchs and the fearful, insecure, hater base.
In other words the economy has to go down the drain like a flushed toilet, and that means pain for everyone. Burn down the house to rid it of vermin and varmints.
If this were Europe I would say external and allied forces, but Europe has proven to be rife with the same forces that brought Trump to power, on top of which they are poorly led by timid and soft leaders.
And don't forget that Hitler was not even elected, yet was able to take over. It reminds one of Musk.
I think the NSDAP only pulled in 37.3% of the vote in 1932, yet Hindenburg appointed him Chancellor when Fritiz von Pappen the Chancellor died.
Hindenburg was afraid of, intimidated, by the NAZI's. Sound familiar?
Incidentally the MAGA base is about 37% of the population ...hmmm.
If Republicans were to get only 40% of the vote next year that would be great (probably wishful thinking).
the sooner the better. The suspense is killing me.
Yo tambien. I will be 86 very soon, and my blood pressure has always been normal, to die for if a lad in his 20's, but since Trump I've gone hypertensive, and work to keep it under control. I count calories, eat a low sodium, low sugar diet, eat twice a day, exercise 20 minutes a day to no avail.
Maybe I should stay off the internet, and TV news. Spring is around the corner and I will be back outside mowing and weed whipping, this time I'll have a little garden for my habenero's, tomatoes and culantro.
Sadly, the degradation of our public schools has been going on for decades.
Don't let the title of the clip mislead you. >This< is what we're talking about:
https://youtu.be/ZTSwpGTT1Pc?si=j6Cyqo9-hsQ4NsBv
-
Also see: https://youtu.be/ex7mcSVW37U?si=qIIM09psytO2B41T
-
I find it breathtaking that people abroad know the score better than the US voters:
https://youtu.be/i5dFtWngptA?si=XqhcOR_91oX83M6-
Look how many uneducated people support this regime.
Remember! The RepubliMafia just >loves< the undereducated. Their fearless leader said so himself!
So if the Republicans can woo the uneducated and the Democrats are smarter than the Republicans, then the democratic party should be working on how to sway them over to this side.
Camille, Republicans succeeded by using fear mongering and resentment. As long as they don't touch SS and Medicare before the election they are likely to remain in power. Fear and anger are powerful emotions; they usually overcome rational arguments.
I’m not sure facts work for the “stupid.” How to successfully woo is the question. Ideas?
I haven't seen any evidence that the Democratic Party leadership is any smarter in politicking than the RepubliMafia is in governing. Presently, they seem to be chasing themselves! Although they're battling hard in court against the offal in the Oval Office, it'll be burning through the funds they need for campaigning.
I second these recommendations-the vids are short but sweet-great stuff-and DZK,i'm not surprised-most foreigners have been oppressed-they know a scoundrel when they see one
👍
I don't know about the first link. I kind of felt I was watching Ted Kuzinksi, but the second Cippoli's law of Stupid People is outstanding, it certainly explains the bipedal environment.
As is the 4th link, He nailed the Republican/Libertarian mindset, but as clever as they are they fit Cippoli's law of Stupid People, for while they set about destroying government, they are destroying the very source of their wealth, the productivity of a peoples living happy, healthy and secure thanks to government.
For my part, the first link nicely connects ignorance with evil - if you accept there can be any such thing as moral good and evil that's >not< some kind of moronic, absolutist, black and white, binary proposition and that exists in spite of religion, rather than as some kind of slogan driven religious dogma. Destroying the education system - which is what we're actually talking about today - promotes such evil and is therefore in itself evil.
I don't see that link as promoting religion, if that's what he's attempting to do. If he is, I think it blew up in his face - but brilliantly! That's why I include the caveat: "Don't let the title of the clip mislead you."
My only problem with the concept of good and evil is that is subjective and conditional.
That which is good for one or in one instance is perceived as evil in another.
For most, the idea of good and evil is rooted in Abrhamaic religion, and defined by some book written thousands of years ago by men with their own agenda.
The antelope perceives the leopard as the apothesis of evil, yet the kits upon whose carcass they feed she is the definition of good.
The Jihadi's that slaughtered the 1,200 Jews were, in the eyes of the Muslims, the epitomy of hero's, worthy of martyrdom, and in the eyes of the Jews they are the apothesis of evil.
Martyrdom in Islam is to be desired, it is a fast track to paradise., to be celebrated never mourned.
I'm an atheist, yet I recognize a moral good and evil. I'm not prepared to treat on it - and frankly I doubt I have the intellect to do so - while anything less would place me in the trap I intend to avoid. I will say if you review that first link you may notice he establishes a >process< or >interaction< that includes everything we've ranted and railed about on this forum, and packages it as a process resulting in something I'll accept as a kind of evil.
First law of smart people: don't call stupid people "stupid." You can do better than that.
Never tell a man his fly is open, never tell a woman her slip is showing.
Don't tell the Emperor bad news, or the daimyo that his samurai have lost the battle. Don't tell co presidents Trump and Musk that they are killing the goose that laid the golden egg,or Putin that his army got the shit beat out of them.
So maybe the oligarchs are among the “stupid”? Actually, I think they’re in the third group - doing harm to others while profiting themselves - in the short term anyway!
We mistake equating stupidity with intelligence. Ever heard the phrase "educated idiot". Common sense, involves forward thinking. It is playing chess,"what are the ramifications of my next move, and what is the cascade effect of that move, what are the alternatives.
Musk, Bezon's, Zuckerberg, all of them are incapable of assessing the long term effects of their actions, all they can see and thus are interested in is the immediate effect., and that goes for most people, especially the immature mind., "I want it, I want it now, whatever the cost or consequence"
And once you have it, you have to do anything and everything to hang on to it . In India they catch monkey's by putting large nuts inside of coke bottles.
The monkey inserts hand, grabs the nut, but won't let go, even though now his fist is to big to withdraw from the neck of the bottle.
If Joe shit or Jane Bumbles along, lose their jobs how far do they fall? Especially socially. Not far at all, but if Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezons, Dimon, et al are wiped out, how far do they fall, the height of the WTC.
They will do anything, they will kill anyone, to maintain their position.
American white supremacists are fearful of the "woke-Left" at home and of China abroad. Will one fear prevail over the other?
Odd. I just came across the term "stupid genius" earlier this morning. Indeed, your conclusion - "They will do anything, they will kill anyone, to maintain their position." - essentially comes right out of the first link you expressed a certain skepticism toward.
It's because they are viewers from afar! What they are doing is sickening me on so many levels. There is NO reason for ANY of this stuff happening like it is. AND no matter what "HE" thinks it's NOT going to happen everywhere in this country. There are enough people who can see it here as well.
My late mother-in-law escaped Nazis in 1939. She says her father, a prominent Jewish doctor, did not want to leave. Oh, yes, he had noticed the young “BROWNSHIRTS” roaming around, but he dismissed it. Her mother had relatives already living in New York. She flew to visit. In NY, the relatives showed and told her what was really going on. She flew back to Germany, and told her husband, “We’re LEAVING NOW.” They packed and boarded a ship. Their very upscale home …on a hilltop in Stuttgart, Germany…was seized by the Nazis. But they all escaped.
👍
Exactly. The teens that I know now seem dumber.
What I saw of Millennials’ public high school in the ‘90s was worrisome: so superficial, so many teacher planning days, so many videos, so little homework. Minimal expectation to apply oneself.
I now see this again in the grandkids.
I don’t know when/where this trend started, but it’s dangerous. It’s now on the good parents to assure that literature, science, history, arts, humanities (and more) are part of their kids’ life. Do something mental every day; learn a second language; discuss current events. Bring up morality and ethics. We have great access to tools on the web. Use them.
Schools are too easy. Too uninspiring. Those traveling soccer teams are sucking up all free time & effort.
I agree. I did my BA and graduate work in Britain and then taught a Master program here in the US. The difference in expectations between universities in the UK and universities here was quite an eye opener.
Parents are also being systematically dumbed down by the stresses of surviving in a nation with permanently low wages, a tattered social safety net, corporate demands to do more with less, inadequate health insurance, etc etc. Prolonged stress does have cognitive consequences.
Thus they are truly unable to take the place of the education system.
We took over at home with our kids. Our kids took over with our grandkids. At least, they have critical thinking skills and understand things like math and science. It's one way around it, but it's not easy.
You are right, R D! Our education system use to be very good but has taken a nosedive. We no longer have the capacity to compete with China, Japan and other countries. We have raised gullible, uneducated and misinformed citizens!
Just like the adults, the students need to turn off their cell phones. The parents, not the schools, and the Republicans undermining public education are to blame for most of it.
Agreed, Pamela. It is also removing Civics from the curriculum and other subjects that were important. It seems they have dumbed down the curriculum as well as letting parents and kids dictate what happens in their school. I'm not saying parents and kids should not have a voice, but I am saying that parents that have raised their kids to feel entitled, to never take the blame for their behavior and to scream 'teacher abuse' any time they disagree with their kid's marks. All of it has crumbled our education system.
Peggy, something I have noticed over the years I taught, when teachers find a curriculum that works and helps the children achieve, it is pretty sure that curriculum will disappear within a year or two in favor of something far less workable and teachers are being forced to follow it exactly as it is written and at exactly the same time as the other teachers in the district. That is insanity, but teachers have little to no say about this, and teachers are being monitored in our district nearly all the time to see that they are "on task." It is an insult to the highly qualified teachers and to the students. Why we are permitting this bad behavior on the part of districts is incomprehensible. One would think the administrators would want children to succeed. Maybe they are being paid to accept inferior curricula. I don't know but have been lucky to be considered of low importance as I taught Title I and Gifted support in my 26 years on the job, so I usually had to develop my own curriculum, and my students thrived because I could select materials that addressed their actual needs. Every couple of years, I had my students read through and discuss the "?Declaration of Independence" and its context and do the same with the Constitution, grades 5-12. I gave them all pocket copies of both documents. They were very interested.
Ruth, I am a retired teacher as well and I can totally relate to what you are saying! I retired because it became more paperwork than actually being able to work with my kids! When I left teaching, they had not become such nazi police as monitoring teachers; however, I could see it was coming. I loved working with my kids and seeing their faces light up when something finally clicked for them! I hurt for those trying to teach in this climate. No wonder so many young adults are saying "No, thank you" to becoming a teacher!
Ditto, 'Herr 'Noisemaker'; this following my related reply post to our confrere, Mr Miller.
Authoritarians feel threatened by anyone who questions their "truths." They always respond with lies and suppression.
Well, there is Moscow State University, but most Americans are unaware (or as in your case, misimformed) of it. In hard sciences it is world renowned. The Russian population is neither gullible nor uneducated, but they are misinformed.
Like Putin, Trump is going after the "informers" like the free press and academic institutions. Compared to European countries, including Russia, Americans are, on average, more gullible and undereducated (which is probably the most serious criticism of our education system). Trump and his 70 million followers only need to control information to take control of the country.
According to one (subjective no doubt) ranking of the best 100 universities in the world, Moscow State University ranks 94th. And while I'm sure they have brilliant scientists, it's probably also true that very few, if any, students or faculty dare speak out against the Putin regime. Stifling the critical thinking piece of the equation does not make for a great university and that really is the point.
Just because you have silenced a man, doesn't mean you have converted him.
When their source of info is the state, and the flow of info is controllled, there is nothing to convert J Barrer.
Have we not learned the lessons of history. Goebbels took control of the Ministry of Propaganda and virtually the entire Deutsches Volk were enthusiatic NAZI's.
We said "never again", but it isn't looking like we are taking our own advice. The silence is going to be our undoing.
Ranking scores when it comes to universities are also 'the problem', while they are no more than like rich lists, while being 'the outcome' of a neoliberal abacus mentality.
Are we then caught between the neo liberal rock and the authoritarian hard place, but wait they are not mutually exclusive are they?
There is no way to satisfy man, he lives in perpetual discontent, there is always something to grumble about.
Terms like neo liberal, communism, capitalism, socialism are so passe, so yesterday no more than memes that have infected the minds of "intellectuals"
Does one think that what has transpired and is transpiring has anything to do with an economic ideology?
Economic ideologies are simply tools to power.
Tools are neutral, a hammer can raise a building a hammer can raze a building.
yeah, verily.
Russia indeed has great minds but they have excelled perhaps of necessity with the notable exception of space exploration in less catalog intensive intensive achievements..the Russians were terrific mathematicians and excel at computer hacking. Engineering. First in space but they still can't build a reliable sedan.
can we build a reliable sedan? It is a funny thing, but quality control is evidently extremely difficult. When it comes to cars Toyota and Honda remain unequaled.
Da! Boris excels at Chess, a centuries-old game of strategy. But we've got Deep Blue. And SpaceX was the first to put a Tesla sedan into solar orbit. Yeah, we showed them!
Trump needs just a few rich, well connected accomplices to misinform and control his 70 million followers.
What percentage of the Russian population is educated J Barrier. I submit that those that live within the commuting bounds of Moscow are educated, in the hard sciences, but as you move away from Moscow the education tapers off, and as you arrive in the Asiatic part of Russia, the Stans and Siberia you encounter ignorance.
Russian soldiers are by and large conscripted and recruited from these Asiatics and Turkomen, and just like they did when they ran around Berlin and Germany, they rip faucets and sinks off the wall believing that they will provide running water back home.
The plunder they value are things that Europeans wouldn't give a second thought.
William Farrar: ...
A good friend of mine was raised in Novosibirsk and graduated first in his class from Moscow State in electrical engineering. Even so, he was required to serve in the Russian army for, i think, 2 years. He is now a professor here in the US. I don't know the actual statistics on academic performance in Russia, but I know that people from all over their country can make it to Moscow State if they excel in their local schools. Also, based on my interactions with native Moscovites, the average Russian highschool-equivalent graduate knows more about Amerian history than the average American.
And yet Russians rip faucets and sinks and toilets out of Ukrainian homes to send home to Siberia and the Stans.
As regards Muscovites knowing more about American History than we do, they know the Russian version, just as we know the American version.
Because after WWII America became an economic powerhouse, the engine of Democracy so to speak, the world has become very interested in America and English is spoken all over the world.
I served in Sams Service and often found myself arriving in a country via parachute, and never ever had problems getting around because I could always find someone who spoke English. Sometimes flawlessly.
I suggest all Ruscists to emigrate and enjoy the benefits of a Moscow university and life.
of course, the older we get the more we discover that the "American version" isn't always true, and sometimes the Russian version is closer to the truth.
American hegemony will likely end this century and speaking only English (as do most Americans) may become a liability. Russian is actually a beautiful language and some of the greatest literature in human history was written in Russian, not to mention some of the greatest scientific achievements. Pazhalsta.
knew it you are a Rusci. A Putinist.
Where will all this end?
He moving at break neck speed to sow in long lasting damage. Can we afford to wait for 2026?
Is there going to be a massive far left response, a social revolution? Will a far left leader shout, our revolution is coming and it will remain bloodless if the radical right allows it?
Good questions needing answers.
Kevin Roberts, the lead on Project 2025 said that the (fasicst revolution) will be bloodless if the "if the left allows it to be", meaning that we should go quietly into the long dark night. Bret
This will likely be the spark that ignites fires of protest among college and University youth and young adults. We were wondering what will motivate the Gen Z zoomers to wake up and join the Resistance. Remember, it was the “Free Speech Movement” in Berkeley CA ignited our generation into action.
The anti Viet Nam war movement often created a split between students and their parents. The New Resistance will be a multi-generational movement. Ronald Reagan’s response to the movement only threw fuel on the fire. Decades of activism began with a sit-in in the UC Berkeley Administration building. The movement then spread like wildfire.
But Vietnam was different ! Young men were under imminent threat of dying for a bogus cause altho noone then knew exactly how bogus it was. Today they will not have to die in Israel or Gaza but they know colonialism and terrorism and genocide and they are protesting. I hate that some students rally under an anti Semitic rhetoric. They are wrong - Israel is a political state, not a casual gathering of Jews. This government’s reaction, tho perfectly indicative of it’s vindictive heart, is going to be totally destructive of vitally needed research on all scientific fronts.
Your conveniently ignore history. Palestinians frequently attacked Israel before the 1967 war and before there were any settlements because they have never accepted Jews in Israel. Prior to 1967, Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza. The Palestinians never demanded their own state; they and the Arab countries which supported them wanted to destroy Israel.
As President Clinton noted during the recent election, he was astonished that Arafat rejected an Israeli offer of 96% of the West Bank, 4% of Israel to make up for 4% of the West Bank Israel was to keep for security reasons, all of Gaza and a capital in East Jerusalem. Arafat responded with the second intifada which killed 1000 Israelis in bombings in buses and cafes. The Palestinians again rejected their own state in 2005. Hamas expected Hezbollah to simultaneously attack Israel and the Iranian general in charge of its proxies in Syria admitted that Iran begged Syria to allow it to open a third front against Israel. Hamas has made it clear that they will repeat October 7 again and again if allowed. Israel has done what any state would do when attacked by genocidal terrorists. You should read Col. John Spencer, an expert in urban warfare at West Point who has opined that the ration of civilian deaths to fighters' deaths in far less than the norm in urban warfare.
Marc Trump is hoping for a nation wide protest, it will give him the excuse, especially if he can use some Proud Boy provacteur to pull of a Reichstag moment, to declare a national emergency initiate the 1798 Alien Sedition and Insurrection Act, and declare martial law.
Trump with the help of his stupid and hateful base, has pulled off a self coup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-coup#:~:text=A%20self%2Dcoup%2C%20also%20called,of%20themselves%20or%20their%20supporters. and our hope now is for a counter coup, that inevitably will follow as the consequences of Musk and Trumps actions spread out through the economy.
That which made America great is it's productivity, and it's productivity was driven by it's morale, Trump has broken the morale of America, at present we are living off the accumulated fat, but I doubt that it will last 2 years.
William, it is next to impossible to predict what Trump is hoping for. He is impulsive and acts without thinking ahead to the consequences of his actions. Nationwide protests are already beginning but not yet in a coordinated fashion. Actually, worldwide protests are occurring spontaneously so we are not alone in this. I do not see that Trump has broken the morale of America, instead I see him waking up the call to activism. He and Musk are angering so many people at once by taking away their livelihoods for self enrichment that I think the blowback will be quite forceful once it is unified and coordinated. People have learned not to depend on the Democratic Party for leadership so we make it up as we go along. We are experiencing unprecedented challenges so there is really no playbook yet for the resistance.
You jest Marc. Hard to predict Trump? Really? Maybe his next move, but he self corrects and comes at it from a different angle. He doesn't care about consequences because he has never suffered consequences. He built a casino, bankrupted it and walked away wealthier than before, with other peoples money.
Yep we do have scattered protests, here and there, but are they really forcing him and Musk to change course? Not that I have seen.
Law suits are filed, minor courts rule for the plaintiff, until they reach SCOTUS, and the incredibly naive and gullible liberal sees hope in the unsigned ruling(and that is important) that the Supreme court upheld the law of contracts, which is the basis of their ruling on USAID,
Previously, the court rejected Trump’s request to immediately fire the head of a government watchdog agency, Hampton Dellinger, in a decision that temporarily left him in place.
Take note of the word temporary.
It seems that you are stretching for hope, like maybe the whole nation will rise up against Trump. (I doubt it, because 37% of the nation loves Trump, is heavily armed and is standing by, ready to engage in a civil war against the hated libs, the blacks, the browns, the queers,the trans, the atheists.
But just as in Portland, Ore or Seattle, when a large protest breaks out, they activate their men in black, like the umbrella man, to break windows and start looting, so he can declare a National Emergency, Invoke the Insurrection Act and declare martial law.
Trump pulled of a top down coup, by using the forces of propaganda (like Fox, OANN, News Max, Joe Rogan,) to convince the bottom to support the top, and we are caught in the middle like a vise.
Now he has total control of the military forces (police, local and federal and army).
Yeh we the people are pissed, yes we are noisy and fed up, yes we express our gear, anger dissatisfaction, but to what avail.
What brave souls are going to stick their head above the crowd?
Mao Tse Dung said, "Let a thousand flowers bloom". Does anyone know what he meant?
When a thousand flowers bloom, he can then cut them off. Like snipping blooming roses.
Trump is aching for an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare Martial Law, he tried to do it on Jan 6th, blaming BLM and antifa for the Capitol Riot.
Those who had faith in the military, should have learned better by now. The Armed forces are falling into line with directions of Hegseth. And Generals with honor that obey their oath to the Constitution are fired, making way for Generals and officers that will be loyal to Trump.
Yes, William, and it seems that some Infiltrators would like us to give Trump that opportunity.
Yep I caution prudence. Don't give him an excuse.
There are many ways to throw sand in the gears.
The word sabotage comes from the French word for foot. during the Franco Prussian war, the Prussians occupied a French Shoe factory and forced the workers to make shoes for the Prussian Army.
They did, shoes for the left foot.
Yeah! And the people occupied People's Park and held it for almost a whole month before the city took it back. Yay! Power to the People.
Wait -- I have an idea. I see a million swimsuit-wearing hippies armed with nine irons and other implements of destruction marching on Maralago. We can camp on the golf course and bathe in the swimming pool. We will liberate the enslaved immigrant employees so someone can make us lunch. If we can hold out for a month King Donald will surely fall. He can't go more than a week without a game of golf.
Entertaining idea, 😊
Donald Trump is a form of human mold that absorbs the wealth which others have earned. He refers to the collection process as the necessary procurement of taxes and tariffs. He loves ripping off the public because these funds represent monies that basically are untraceable and rip for the picking. Trump looks at the Presidency as a license to steal.
Thanks Donald... I love the human mold description! Cheers... GH
Who would find any satisfaction in presiding over a population of automatons and morons? Only a moronic automaton who is not particular about who he has under his little thumb.
Prof. Reich is merely stating the obvious concerning dictators, while cosi fan tutte: Purge those who have the ability to think critically, and silence those who are perceived to be elite on the basis of, in this revised anti-intellectualism age, them being too allied with that pejorative manufactured spook ideology nowadays termed woke. Although its indices are currently on more cogent display in your US in this time of Trump and Vance, it has its roots as far back as Alan Bloom's 1980's seminal tome on the so-called 'Closing of the American Mind', while in reality that was a cheerleading tract intended then to be a courtier to the newly spawned (albeit revised!) and truer ideology called neoliberalism. That said, Bloom may also have been - with the benefit of hindsight - trying to walk both sides of the street, with at least Reagan and the neoliberals in his cabinet not trying to ban the Education Dept.! In the end, it is the universities who are to blame for this situation further to them willingly transforming into no more than degree factories (despite their research cohorts) following them having drunk (and continuing to drink) the neoliberal cool-aid., while what is more scandalous is how they've nihilistically acquiesced to an acceptance of Trump's acts, and this apparently, with little or no genuine resistance, while the universities (or 'colleges' as you in the USA call them) will soon start protesting if Trump attacks their funding and/or privilege's.
Yes, I remember Bloom's book. And I agree about the neoliberal part as well. The thing is, universities were already trending toward elitism well before the current regime came in--what with tuitions and fees becoming increasingly out of reach for ordinary people. For example, I attended a fairly well-known private university in the Midwest, graduating in 1982. Tuition at that time was around $6K per year. Between a National Merit Scholarship, a financial aid package which included work-study, and family help, I got a great education for a reasonable price, and had relatively little debt afterwards. The tuition there has now increased by a factor of ten. The buildings on campus are a lot fancier now, but I'm not sure what else a student gets for that money. I'm sure it's a lot more difficult for ordinary working people to get into this type of institution than it used to be, which is of course exactly what the wealthy Republicans want. They desire docile slaves, not critically-thinking troublemakers. And they've successfully steered working people's minds against higher education. Look at the hostile reaction to Biden's student-loan-forgiveness program. Its biggest detractors, as far as I could tell, were working-class people."No fair!" they cried. Who did they think was meant to benefit from that program? People just like themselves! People like J D "Hypocrite" Vance himself, who rose from humble origins and is now trying to deny to others what he gained for himself. Unbelievable!
Authoritarian regimes always go after the educators, professors and teachers. Too threatening. They tend to tell the truth. That doesn't work for this administration either.
I had several Russian colleagues, mostly still in Russia but one in my department and another at Stanford. They were well educated in Russian universities and they produce interesting research.
However, my Russian colleagues knew not to quetion their supervisor's opinions. This retards the progress of their field in Russia, but they are smart, creative, and well trained. The problem is that Russian culture also trained them to respect authority.
You have hit it on the head. Sharing.
Does South Africa have any renowned universities? They produced the richest man. Now he wants to pretend he's the smartest man. What happened to smart Americans? Articles in my local newspaper seem to be getting more Trump compliment day by day, from Post articles, and from local opinions (which sounds like rehashed Fox News, which I don't listen to). If DEI is a deal brought up by JFK, are folks starting to demonize him. Let's suggest we remove his image from the 50¢ piece. Has the populace aged out and now most don't even remember him?
Sad but true. Woke needs to wake up and not just protest what is, but work to develop an alternative platform that has broader appeal combined with a compelling candidate who can rival and surpass the appeal of the current occupant of the White House. Coalesce and identify this candidate soon and very soon. Politics has become more marketing than messaging, more posturing than doing. Keep promoting reading and education initiatives aimed at leveling-up the intelligence level of all Americans. Time to unite!!!
Absolutely!
It’s more than the universities. Fascists took over our K-12 schools decades ago and despite how hard we try, teachers like me have found it impossible to get this investigated. That’s what paved the way for a con man to rise to power. Listen to whistleblowing teachers at WhiteChalkCrime.com. Read my memoir, A Graver Danger. Then run for school boards and help repopulate our schools with called-to-teach teachers who have been muzzled or trashed so the fascists could have their way. They made America dumb so they could flourish unlawfully, undiscovered.
In 1948 when Israel was established by the United Nations the Palestinians were urged to leave Israel for refugee camps in the surrounding countries where armies were massing to invade the new state. Those Palestinians were sure they could return shortly but they are still living in some of those very same camps generations later. Israel never lost the fights to survive in all these years. Then Israeli settlers went into the West Bank and established settlements. They were protected by the Israeli Government altho it was not legally Israeli land. The intifadas, the borders, the terrorism and the rise of Hamas all led to the incursion of Hamas and the subsequent massacre on Oct. 7th. Followed by the retaliation by Israel and the destruction of Gaza. Now by hostage exchanges and a weak cease fire agreement that could fail any minute.
When are some of these self-proclaimed macho men, in the GOP and MAGA, going to stand up to Trump, FOR OUR COUNTRY, DEMOCRACY, CONSTITUTION, RULE OF LAW?! So far they have proven to be lying spineless traitors, who continue to kiss Trump's ass for a buck, and Iawless, unlimited power! How do they even look their children, families, and constituents in the eye, while betraying them all every day. All will be recorded in history, as a complete corrupt disgrace, traitors to the United States of America, who chose to turn their backs on the USA, betray us, and team with communist, murderous Russia, and has stomped all over our Constitution and laws.
TRUMP + GOP + MAGA = TRAITORS
Bernie is certainly standing up to them by traveling all over the country and speaking to the people. Hooray for Bernie!
Robert Reich’s piece paints a stark and urgent picture of how Donald Trump is following a well-worn authoritarian playbook—echoing the strategies of leaders like Putin, Xi Jinping, and Viktor Orbán. Reich outlines a series of coordinated attacks on democratic institutions: first the military, then the courts, the legislature, the media, and now higher education.
Key points from the article:
Purge and Replace: Trump removes career military and intelligence officials, replacing them with loyalists.
Undermining the Courts: He disregards or threatens to disregard unfavorable court rulings.
Intimidation of Legislators: Legislators who oppose him are threatened with political retaliation—or worse.
Attacks on the Media and Universities: Independent sources of information are silenced or discredited.
Targeting Universities: He threatens to punish institutions permitting “illegal” protests and cancels funding, as with Columbia University.
Cancel Culture from the Right: Figures like Elise Stefanik, Josh Hawley, and JD Vance weaponize cultural grievances to further suppress academic freedom.
Gutting Scientific Research: Trump cuts National Science Foundation and NIH funding, jeopardizing America’s global leadership in research and innovation.
Parallel to Authoritarianism: The playbook is clear—tyrants close universities and silence intellectual inquiry.
Reich argues that these actions are not just political maneuvers but calculated steps toward authoritarian rule, with severe consequences for American democracy and global competitiveness.
Your Reflection: The Silence of Academia Then and Now
You draw a sharp parallel between the failure of academia to speak out today and its silence during Hitler’s rise to power. The reflection is piercing:
Despite your years of writing to universities—political science departments, history departments, psychiatry and psychology programs, medical schools—you’ve encountered a deafening silence.
You are shocked and disheartened by the cowardice of scholars, researchers, and experts who, despite years of education and specialization, remain quiet in the face of rising authoritarianism.
You note that in Nazi Germany, many academics were complicit through their silence or active participation—highlighting that the doctors’ unions were among the first to pledge loyalty to Hitler.
You lament the absence of courageous leadership from the intellectual class, with only a few notable exceptions standing against the tide.
Integrated Analysis and Final Draft
The Complicity of Silence: How Academia Fails Us Again
Robert Reich’s recent article, The Universities Are Next, outlines an alarming sequence of events that should serve as a wake-up call. Donald Trump’s strategy mirrors that of autocrats like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Viktor Orbán: systematically dismantle democratic institutions, silence independent voices, and consolidate absolute control.
First come the purges of military and intelligence officials. Then the courts are undermined. Legislators are coerced. The media is targeted. Now, universities—long bastions of independent thought—are in the crosshairs. Trump’s threats to defund institutions like Columbia University and his attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are only the beginning. His efforts to gut funding from the National Science Foundation and the NIH are poised to cripple American scientific innovation. If he succeeds, we will lose the very intellectual edge that made America a world leader.
But as disturbing as Reich’s warning is, it is not the first of its kind. What is perhaps more troubling is the profound silence from those we depend on most in times like these: scholars, scientists, historians, psychologists, and psychiatrists. For over a decade, I’ve written to universities—political science and history departments, medical schools, psychiatry and psychology faculties—imploring them to speak out. To use their authority, their knowledge, their platforms. What I’ve encountered has largely been silence. Deafening silence.
Where are the thought leaders who should be standing at the frontlines of this intellectual battle? Where are the voices of conscience from academia, warning us against the rise of authoritarianism? There have been notable exceptions, of course—a handful of professors and institutions bravely taking a stand. But by and large, the reaction has been paralysis, or worse, quiet complicity.
This is not a new story. During Hitler’s rise, many German academics either remained silent or eagerly joined the Nazi cause. The doctors, in particular, were among the first professional groups to align themselves with Hitler. Their collaboration laid the groundwork for horrific atrocities that followed.
And here we are again.
The universities should be the sentinels of democracy. The departments of political science and history should be screaming these warnings from every podium. Psychiatry and psychology professionals, who understand the pathology of authoritarian leaders, should be educating the public. Medical schools should be teaching that science and reason are the antitheses of tyranny.
Yet, for the most part, they say nothing.
Why? Fear? Apathy? Careerism? The belief that it won’t get that bad, or that someone else will act first?
Whatever the reason, history shows us that silence is complicity. And by the time these institutions finally find their voices, it may be too late.
Tyrants close universities. Fascists burn books. And demagogues like Trump destroy what makes a nation great: its innovative mind.
Exceptions and Counterpoints
There are exceptions. Organizations like Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, AAUP (American Association of University Professors), and certain individuals (e.g., Bandy X. Lee, Timothy Snyder, Noam Chomsky) have spoken out.
Some universities have taken public stances on issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion, though often under pressure and frequently reactive rather than proactive.
Professional organizations like the American Psychological Association (APA) have made statements concerning authoritarian tendencies and misinformation.
But the scale of response is nowhere near what is needed. The vast majority remain silent, or cautious to the point of irrelevance.
What IS worrying is the amount of likes for this piece of stark reality!!!
Points well taken, Michael. It is time for our universities to stand up and speak with one voice. They ought to remember that one of the first things Viktor Orban did was to shut down the university George Soros had founded--because it was liberal.
Bernie is great! His messaging is spot on!
But will his truth matter enough to promote opposition to reverse this crisis?
because republicans like this. They have always sat dormant waiting for this. I always knew this. Why didn't everyone else?
A very good question? When I find an answer I will let you know. I know plenty of people that are "in the know" that are progressives and somewhat liberal. But I guess they have found it hard to organize. I hope they snap out of this state before it's too late!
Believe me? I understand your frustration!! I believe the “they” you speak of is truly “we.”
Thanks Barbara! My sentiments exactly, I live in Missouri and USaid, medicare and Medicaid mean a lot
It takes Leon Musk only 1 minute each year to pay his annual tax for Social Security. Can we afford Social Security? YES. All it will take is lifting the cap on rich citizens. Can we afford Medicare, Medicaid and USaid? YES! Get MuskRat and Bezos to pay taxes at the same rate teachers pay. This week MuskRat blew up another rocket. Who paid for that rocket? American tax payers. Muskrat says Americans can afford to blow up rockets.
Yes Yes Yes - Please keep repeating this. It's appalling that many many people to do not know social security taxes are capped to benefit the rich - and that eliminating the cap would make the program solvent. They DON"T WANT the programs to work and since the New Deal have been trying to kill Roosevelt's greatest policy accomplishments.
Leon probably has no salary at all, so it’s doubtful he ever made any payroll contributions. He will never have to pay into SS unless the law includes unearned income. Unearned income may never be taxed unless we tax wealth.
I used to be able to escape the madness for a bit with a streaming service.
Now, as I watch shows, I find I'm just scoping out EGGS! (EVERY time a refrigerator opens, for example. And breakfast...)
While that's not (necessarily) The Killer Wail's fault, it is an all too recognizable symptom.
Totally agree with you, but the point is "the price of eggs" was a BIG reason people voted him into the White House. He said, while campaigning, that he would reduce the price of eggs and most food sources. This was pretty much all they heard. That and the immigrant issues. AND "HE" downplayed the Project 2025 thing, claiming he knew NOTHING about it, when the Heritage Foundation was pressuring him to agree to help them make it work. "HE" is their puppet! And they certainly all knew that he would bend to their desires because they were holding the purse strings!
Let us not forget racism as another reason. Trump gave the Republicans the green light to more openly express their fear and despise of immigrants,.women and minorities.
I truly can agree with you on this one! All that DEI stuff that they HATE with a passion!
P J,
I understand, but someone like myself who spends a MINIMUM of 6 hours/day on trusted reporting sites, I suppose it's sort of an "occupational hazard" to see the things we focus on noticing, even at less appropriate times..
I've been calling out this specific issue for the lie it was, almost from the first day it was made.
In fact, I have a gift for you, P J, (though it's not terribly exciting.) It's something I wrote very nearly a full year ago that explains the many ways that the GOP literally CAUSES consumer prices to be higher than would likely be the case "organically", essentially to facilitate the transfer of the holdings of the 99% into the pockets of the Top 1%. (And, of course, to have something to dishonestly accuse Biden of. And I promise there will NOT be a quiz. Steps 4, 6 and 8 seem to me to have been the most effective):
"The Gee! Oh! Pee! Economic Strategy to Promote MAGA"
https://medium.com/@foofaraw/the-geeohpee-economic-stragedy-to-promote-maga-9a5d1f660220
P J, I appreciate the obvious passion in your reply, and hope I mirror something similar with my life.
Informative and spot on, I guess they truly had this all planned out. First cheat to get back into the White House (check), then do tons of orders at breakneck speed (check) and put them into action (check) THEN blame the whole mess on Biden. NOPE he's not EVEN in the picture!
Hell...
That fool is still blaming OBAMA!!
Still, there has to be a reason NO past president as spoken out yet:
"What will it take for a former president to speak out against Trump?"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/08/trump-former-presidents-criticism
"Justice department opens investigation into soaring US egg prices – report
Officials said to be looking at whether producers have conspired to increase prices or have held back supply"
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/07/justice-department-egg-investigation
Looks like it's the Trump plan(sic) to "bully" prices into submission.
Although, when it was determined that 53% of post-Covid inflation was pure and simple PRICE GOUGING, I don't recall anyone looking into much of ANYTHING:
"Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds
Thinktank report says ‘resounding evidence’ shows companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop"
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/19/us-inflation-caused-by-corporate-profits
(Why ask a question one doesn't want to know the answer to? If anything, this is simply a way to try to blame Biden further.)
May the history books remember every one of their names so their legacy is one of disgrace.
Thanks Camille. They will become the Benedict Arnold of the future assuming they don't get away with burning the printing presses with the books! Stay safe..., GH
They aren't going to. They're corrupt and fearful.
Well said, Barbara!
That’s a deeply concerning development. Trump’s government want to weaken the very foundation of critical thinking and academic freedom. Universities thrive on intellectual diversity, debate, and the pursuit of knowledge—not political puppetry. If this gains traction, the long-term consequences for research, innovation, and democracy itself could be profound.
Truly sad indeed!
Professor Reich: as a university graduate (several times, in fact!) myself who worked my way through school and who earned a PhD -- thanks to a variety of employment, as well as grants, scholarships and a variety of other research funding -- i am deeply worried about those who now are struggling to find a place in a PhD program. i wish i could help!
but i also am curious ... i've heard xi jinping, the president of china, portrayed as a dictator or authoritarian for quite some time, and yet, china's investment in science and technology research is massive. doesn't this go against the "dictator" model?
anywho, as an unemployed scientist who writes about other scientists' discoveries and innovations for the public, i have noticed that china is especially productive both in first-author studies as well as in collaborative studies, a gap that is increasing noticeably in the recent five years or so. european research is also making huge leaps in productivity. i rather suspect that ameriKKKa's number one export product -- EDUCATION -- has been so severely compromised in these past 6 weeks that this global supremacy can never be recaptured -- at least, not in any of our lifetimes.
@Grrl: Xi has such tight control that he need not follow the Orban model. He sponsors science in an ideological and cultural war against “the West.” Trucking Fump is doing his work for him though, selling democracy out in order build Trump Tower Peking.
WOW GrrlScientist! That's impressive. Education is one thing that can never be taken from you. I've always admired scholars like you. In my next life I want to do that. For now I'll keep on reading non-fiction books. I ride on curiosity and imagination to get through every day without a formal degree. Learning never ends!
like you, dee, i also read extensively. mostly history these past few years, although science reading is something i naturally gravitate towards. and you are right: learning never ends. or, at least, it SHOULD never end.
Wait until they ban books! I guess there will be an underground for this though!
shhh!
Universities create "free thinkers," and neither autocrats nor authoritarians can stomach free thinkers.
“The House and Senate have put together a very good funding Bill (“CR”)! All Republicans should vote (Please!) YES next week. Great things are coming for America, and I am asking you all to give us a few months to get us through to September so we can continue to put the Country’s “financial house” in order. We have to remain UNITED — NO DISSENT — Fight for another day when the timing is right. VERY IMPORTANT.”
All Republicans should vote! Does that sound like a United States President who represents all Americans?
Today is trash day in my city. We just need to take the Dumpster out! Stop the whining and the whimpering and the complaining and the fussing! Take . . . DrumpleStiltskin O-U-T!!!
No it does not, it sounds like a dictator. Threatening his minions with "bad things" if they don't obey him! I makes me want to puke!
Sorry (but not very), bro. Definitely NOT my dictator, oops president!
Whew Keith… missed the quotation marks on the first read!🤣
Kept thinking, that doesn’t sound like Keith, what’s the deal!
And to answer your question, tRump doesn’t represent ALL of us, as usual😡
Watch: "Bernie Leads POWERFUL RALLY in GOP TERRITORY", on YouTube. (Meidas Touch)......
https://youtu.be/2StnaGCQPCI?si=CI-w54KFDrh8lLfD
Bernie’s rallies are epic, he’s drawing huge crowds and people should listen up!
Bernie works tirelessly for America. Thank you, Bernie!
Out of all the donations I have stopped giving to, I still keep giving to Bernie! I love that he is out there speaking the truth all across this country!
Yes he does and he's been doing this all his life!
But will his warnings work to create enough opposition to reverse our nightmare?
From your lips to God's ear, Joan.
Bob presents a compelling argument about the authoritarian playbook and its application to American institutions, particularly universities. However, while his concerns about Trump’s threats to academia are valid, they overlook a critical reality: the erosion of university autonomy and academic freedom is already well underway and has been under attack by vocal, well-funded minorities of donors and mudslingers, independent of a potential second Trump administration.
The crackdowns on university protests over Gaza, marked by mass arrests, administrative resignations, and police interventions, demonstrate that elite institutions have already capitulated to external pressures. These actions were justified under the pretext of combating antisemitism, but in reality, they reflect a broader suppression of dissent and an increasing vulnerability of universities to political coercion. The resignation of Harvard’s Claudine Gay, the forced departures of university administrators, and the chilling effect on faculty and students signal that higher education is no longer the independent pillar of democracy it once aspired to be.
Bob’s framing suggests that universities will be the next front in Trump’s war on institutions, but in many ways, this front has already been breached. The willingness of university administrators to comply with political and financial pressures—whether from congressional hearings, billionaire donors, or public relations crises—indicates that higher education’s defenses against authoritarianism are weaker than he acknowledges. Rather than standing as bastions of resistance, universities have already conceded much ground. This is not merely a hypothetical scenario of future repression; it is a present and ongoing reality.
Moreover, the attack on academia extends beyond Trump’s influence. The defunding of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, restrictions on curricula regarding race and gender, and legislative efforts to weaken tenure protections are already in motion, particularly in Republican-controlled states. These measures are systematically eroding academic freedom and the intellectual independence of higher education institutions. By the time a second Trump administration, or any similarly aligned government, escalates these attacks, the groundwork for compliance and suppression will already be in place.
Bob is correct in linking the defunding of scientific research to a broader authoritarian strategy. The cuts to National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding threaten US scientific leadership, with China poised to surpass the United States in key research metrics. However, he underestimates the extent to which this trajectory was set before Trump. The corporatization of universities, growing reliance on private funding, and the marginalization of the humanities have all contributed to a climate where academic institutions are less resilient to external pressures. The ability of the state to manipulate higher education is amplified when universities are already dependent on government contracts and politically vulnerable to shifts in funding priorities.
In sum, the warning about the dangers of Trump’s potential second term is well-founded but incomplete. The dismantling of university independence and academic freedom is not a future possibility—it is an ongoing process, and it started some time ago. If universities are to resist further encroachments, they must recognize that the crisis is not merely one of external authoritarianism but also of internal institutional weakness. Only by confronting their own complicity in these trends can they hope to reclaim their role as centers of critical inquiry and democratic resilience.
Excellent analysis, Greg. I found it shocking that there wasn’t an outcry when several university presidents were forced out by billionaire donors due to the pretext of antisemitism. And how disappointing that Kamala Harris did not speak out in defense of student protesters last year.
Yes, stunning, and calling in police force was a preview of what has followed!
Right you are, Greg. Yet I think that it is inaccurate to view universities as centers of democratic resilience. They are first and foremost centers of learning; they can graduate great thinkers, but also Nazi doctors. Universities need state and/or private patronage. Hence professors and students should avoid protesting on campus--every city has a town square for such protests. Likewise, policy makers and legislators must understand that interference with university autonomy will have an adverse effect on the valuable services it renders. Town hall meetings, Jacobin clubs and the likes are the true centers of democratic resilience.
The destruction of America's research capabilities, and the suppression of free speech (the latter starting much earlier, in both the Trump and Biden administrations) is already at the five-alarm fire stage. It took decades to build up America's strength in research but only six weeks so far to do it immense damage, perhaps irreparable harm. There should be massive protests and pushback all over the country against these things, from all people who care about the future of the US, not just the academics immediately affected. Why is this not happening? That passivity, indifference, exhaustion, whatever it is, speaks volumes about the state of the country.
Most people are just trying to survive. I think there will be a massive backlash. Hopefully it will come in time to save the US.
I wonder...
the bottom line.
I made a mistake in writing my comment above, as I found out this afternoon. There apparently were massive protests on Friday about the science cutbacks across the country, as I found out late this afternoon (Monday). I am hugely relieved about this -- many people are aware of the seriousness of what is happening and are fighting back -- and apologize for not knowing about it when I made my remark.
And ideologues create "alternative facts". Prepare to start receiving reports and assessments regarding the oustanding, brilliant, ground-breaking (etc) achievements of American researchers under the benign eye of our supreme leader (your supreme leader, actually, since I'm a Brit).
I wonder if we've ever seen a private individual take out a $50,000 ad in the New York Times asking for a president to RESIGN with all the reasons why? I am awed by Grant Grissom's bravery!
Absolutely agree! Pure courage.
"The Great American Pushback Has Begun,
Patriotic citizens are only beginning to battle against Trump's extreme agenda. Just six days after he retired from his post as director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins issued a plea to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their minions at the Department of Government Efficiency. Remember the Hippocratic Oath: “Do no harm.” (Jim Acosta)......
https://jimacosta.substack.com/p/the-great-american-pushback-has-begun?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3775894&post_id=158700239&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=17g504&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Plea is the wrong word to describe what needs to be done. But, yeah!
Because we are all, to Trump and Musk, suckers and losers.
Musk calls everyone below him "NPCs," a term from the gaming community meaning "non participating characters." I.e., disposable, ignored.
Trump threw a Lollipop Party, and the only suckers were MAGA and the GOP!
Glads to see this is happening!
So wicked, ignorant and destructive!!So unbelievable, and so true!!
As a recently retired professor I am seeing the same pattern Prof. Reich eloquently describes. They are coming for the schools, at all levels. Universities are hurt by denial of research funding. Others are hurt by the control of textbooks and curriculum. We all need to get louder and stronger in our push back. The key to control at a university often runs through the Board of Visitors, or whatever your state calls them. Board of Trustees is often used at private universities. The governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, is a Trumpian Republican who does not like the word equity. The Board of Visitors forced our former school President to change Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to Diversity, Access, and Inclusion. A stupid little word change, but a sign that top-down control was exerted that, if blindly accepted, would lead to what we are seeing now at Columbia and other institutions. At public schools, from kindergarten to high school, it is control of books, and these are often determined by local School Boards. Since school boards are elected, that is where we can push back. Get elected and drive the book burners out of leadership.
After Trump has fatally destroyed this country, what then. I can't see Mr. Trump living in the squalor he spent so much time and effort to create. There would be nothing left to achieve. What then? To me, the man will never live long enough to see his dreams come to any conclusion. He isn't well, and his future is in question due to the man's health. The world he's created for himself will crumble before his eyes and friends will be few and far between. Trump's demise will come at the hands of those he trusts. Destroy all that is about you, then attempt to find comfort in the ashes of the greatness we once were. Trump is a malignancy whose presence will only end in abject devastation and death. I for one see no other alternative other than to have the man removed. I wonder if God has a phone number.
Problem is he's just a puppet for Thiel and others too!
Hats off to Bernie Sanders for standing up and representing TRUTH
Death by starving (USaid), death by health policy (measles), injustice to Ukrainian refugees, because his boast on Peace is still BS, accepting genocide in Gaza; and now universities and science in line with his childish world vision.
How long will the grown-ups accept this road to 'greatness'? Is there any thinking behind all this? The economy in tatters, the inflation rising, friendships all over the world kaput, Putin roaring with laughter (did anyone see him laugh?), Xi surrounding Taiwan, the Baltics and Poland terrified...
Great to build internal resistance in the US, great to see positive developments, but America nor the word have the time, not years to midterms, not even three months.
And Bob, I hope you are prepared for the unthinkable.
Obviously, starvation in Africa is something we have to KNOW is only happening because Putin was already prepared to move his own humanitarian (and terrorist manufacturing) aid shipments into the gap to be left the moment Trump gave him the Bat-Signal of inauguration.
EVERYTHING is because of Putin, and vetted through Moscow. Putin will now have almost an ENTIRE CONTINENT of potential killers, trained by Russia to hate the people who wiped out millions of people that looked much like them. (Not all that difficult...)
How surprised is anyone at this result?
Are you referring to Trump’s broligarchy’s proposed land invasion and annexation of Canada (and Greenland) in order to grab their valuable earth resources ?
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/
Or possibly the arrest and possibly current unknown location of the Columbia protestor Khalil and threat toward his wife? I’ve been wondering if they would go that far and how soon if they did.
Jan,
Yes, that's an action that hasn't quite sunk into the American consciousness yet.
And might I guess that media is scared to speak above a whisper? Obviously, sites such as the Guardian are covering it, but not a lot of others are, or with the appropriate emphasis.
The unthinkable. I sent a commentary to a relative by Heather Cox Richardson that warned of Trump's inclinations who is deep Trump before the election. His is "connected." The response was "These hacks are going to get what they deserve," Chilling and frightening.
Yes, Elisabeth, that is what I meant. Should any independent thinker pach his bags and be ready to move or migrate?