Maria Theresa Norn

Malinowski: A couple of years ago, Vance gave a speech.. The title was universities are the enemy. He said explicitly, we cannot achieve anything in this country as a conservative movement unless we aggressively go after the universities. That's what they're doing right now

Trump Seeks Extensive Student Data in Pressure Campaign to Control Harvard

Sinister & authoritarian. “Kristi Noem…sent a letter to Harvard requesting, among other things, coursework for every international student and information on any student visa holder involved in misconduct or illegal activity.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/u...

What DOGE gets wrong about tech and government Lessons learned by civic tech, forgotten by DOGE

New, from me:
The DOGE project was sold as tech disruptors who would revolutionize government. To try to understand why DOGE has failed, I point to lessons that other technologists who worked in government learned, but DOGE ignored. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-doge-...

YouTube video by Cory Booker This is outrageous.

First they came after the law firms
And I said nothing
Then they came after universities
And I said nothing
Then they came after nonprofits
And I said nothing.
Then they disappeared students who they disagreed with
And I said nothing
Then they came after me.

"WE'VE ARRANGED A society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don't know anything about it?" "Science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along."

I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.

Very good on nuances of current trade policy

🚀🚀

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

Jawdropping.

You would expect this in a dictatorship, not the United States.

This country is unrecognizable.

If you attack the Capitol to overturn election results and to overthrow democracy on behalf of a criminal, you’re a hero.

If you attack a Tesla dealership, we’ll throw away the key.

On the basis of the evidence presented so far, the Trump administration appears to be arbitrarily & baselessly accusing people of supporting terrorism and deporting them. Nothing to stop anti-Trump protest being penalised in the same way.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/15/n...

Trump’s Agenda Is Undermining American Science Research funded by the federal government has found useful expression in many of the defining technologies of our time. This Administration threatens that progress.

Because of historic investments in foundational research, we have effective treatments for lethal conditions today. A retrenchment of American science could mean that people will suffer from the many illnesses for which we currently have little to offer.

3/8/15, NY USA: Musk/Trump Regime pull $400 million of funding from Columbia University to undermine free speech & university research (which US has dominated to their benefit since WW2). Undermining universities is standard authoritarian move to protect regime from hotbed of pro-democratic protest.

Something interesting happened here around 2000. The GOP took a hard right turn and never looked back.
www.ft.com/content/3046...

Danske politikere må forsvare EU’s succesprogram for grundforskning EU’s program, der siden 2007 har støttet de bedste forskningsprojekter i Europa, er potentielt i fare. Hvis pengene i stedet går til projekter ud fra vurderet markedspotentiale, vil det koste på EU’s ...

EU kommisionen planlægger at omlægge forskningstøtten med større politisk styring og fokus på markedsrelevans – på bekostning af grundforskning. Det vil være ramme den frie forskning og koste på fremtidens viden og udvikling.

@theyoungacademydk.bsky.social @januseriksen.bsky.social

Judith Butler, philosopher: ‘If you sacrifice a minority like trans people, you are operating within a fascist logic’ A leading figure in feminism and gender studies, the thinker welcomes EL PAÍS in California after being voted one of the most influential minds in the world

Judith Butler: "Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic, because that means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice, and a third, a fourth, and then what happens?"

The lesson from Trump’s Ukrainian weapons freeze And the grim choice facing Volodymyr Zelensky

Our new leader. The @economist.com has always been staunchly Transatlanticist. We don't say this lightly: "Europe must prepare to be abandoned or extorted. Not to prepare for that could leave Europe vulnerable to Russia and to an increasingly hostile America" www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

Ukraine is Europe!
We stand by Ukraine.

We will step up our support to Ukraine so that they can continue to fight back the agressor.

Today, it became clear that the free world needs a new leader. It’s up to us, Europeans, to take this challenge.

The king of his Cabinet: Trump’s display of White House power is an ominous sign for democracy In less than six weeks, Donald Trump has forever changed the country

In 6 weeks Trump has effectively gutted the government, threatened the world order, threatened government workers, risked plunging us into a recession with all the personnel cuts and eliminated most of the regulations that kept the oligarchs in check.
www.salon.com/2025/02/27/t...

No, the meeting did not go badly for Ukraine. It exposed in the most undeniable, unequivocal way possible the pro-Putin commitments of the president and vice president. That was information Americans and allies needed to have clear before them.

🏳️‍⚧️ trans rights are human rights

No, University Endowments Can’t Replace Federal Science Funding How Endowments Actually Work

There are so many reasons university endowments can't make up for the dramatic cuts the Trump administration has planned for science.

Here are a few. Thanks to @donmoyn.bsky.social for the platform.

U.S. Clashes With European Allies at the U.N. Over Ukraine (Gift Article) The United States voted against a resolution, backed by most of Europe, demanding Russian withdrawal from Ukraine — a deep fissure between allies, and a sharp shift in American policy.

The US voted *with* Russia against the UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine and demanding a withdrawal.

Utter betrayal of country, allies, and principles.

So say we all!

Universities - but also journals, professional associations etc. Anytime you have a link to post on X you are encouraging people to use a site that systematically downgrades dissenting voices.

Through our budgets, the Department of Defense will once again resource warfighting and cease unnecessary spending that set our military back under the previous administration, including through so-called "climate change" and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy. The time for preparation is over – we must act swiftly to deter current and impending threats and make the best use of taxpayers' dollars in doing so.

From a DoD statement released yesterday, about the thing the Pentagon has been calling a threat multiplier for like three decades

www.defense.gov/News/Release...

YouTube video by BR24 “If it's not Brussels, then it's Moscow": Zelenskyy's Statement at MSC 2025 | BR24

🇺🇦Zelenskyy pleads with Europeans to finally put aside the petty nationalism and unite to put themselves in charge of their own future.

"Some in Europe might be frustrated with 🇪🇺Brussels. But let’s be clear: If not Brussels, then Moscow. It’s your decision. That’s geopolitics. That’s history."

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general.

If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.