Friends, Yesterday’s oral argument before the Supreme Court about Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution for inciting an insurrection was a farce and a ruse. A farce because the Republican appointees to the court suggested that presidents have some level of immunity — certainly for official actions well within the duties of the office. But this case clearly isn’t about official action within the duties of the office. This case is whether presidents have immunity for instigating an insurrection seeking to overturn the results of an election. No matter. The Republican appointees to the co ..read more

Friends, Several of you asked that I repost this from earlier this week because you read it once and couldn’t find it again or you heard about it and didn’t know where it was. Herewith: The most important thing I teach my students is to seek out people who disagree with them.  That’s because the essence of learning is testing one’s ideas, assumptions, and values. And what better place to test ideas, assumptions, and values than at a university? Apparently, Columbia University’s president, Nemat Shafik, does not share my view. Last week she prostrated herself before House Republicans, p ..read more

Friends, In 2018, Elon Musk got the richest pay package in U.S. corporate history, then worth some $56 billion. Nearly three months ago, a Delaware court voided that pay package, finding that the process to decide on it was “deeply flawed” because Tesla’s board didn’t properly disclose it to investors and had “barely any evidence of negotiations at all” with Musk. Musk effectively decided on his own that he’d be paid $56 billion. Last Wednesday, Tesla’s board said it would ask shareholders to vote again on that same pay package (now valued at about $47 billion) at its annual meeting on June ..read more

Friends, Many of you say that the worst aspect of the fraught political time we’re going through as the 2024 election looms is what it’s doing to your relationships with members of your family — with your parents, your children, your in-laws, and your siblings. Read more ..read more

Friends, In September 1964, university officials at Berkeley banned students from using the campus for political causes. The officials had been under pressure from the Board of Regents to ban expression of views considered communist. America was still in the grasp of communist witch hunts by the FBI and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Berkeley hoped that keeping the university and its students out of politics would reduce the likelihood of politicians meddling in campus affairs. By order of Vice Chancellor Alex Sherriffs (who, it later turned out, was a secret informer for the FB ..read more

Friends, The most important thing I teach my students is to seek out people who disagree with them.  That’s because the essence of learning is testing one’s ideas, assumptions, and values. And what better place to test ideas, assumptions, and values than at a university? Apparently, Columbia University’s president, Nemat Shafik, does not share my view. Last week she prostrated herself before House Republicans, promising that she would discipline professors and students for protesting the ongoing slaughter in Gaza in which some 34,000 people have died, most of them women and children. T ..read more

Friends, A few months ago I met with a group of students to talk about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. Some were Jewish, some were Palestinian. I'm sharing what we discussed again in hopes that it might be helpful to others in discussing this ongoing tragedy. The purpose of the meeting was to see what they could agree on, morally. As you can imagine, emotions ran high. I suggested that, at least for the purpose of our conversation, they not think of themselves as either “Pro-Palestinian” or “Pro-Israel” but instead look deeper into what basic moral principles were at stake. After sever ..read more

Friends, On Friday, Volkswagen employees in Chattanooga, Tennessee, voted overwhelmingly to join the United Auto Workers union. This is a truly big deal. The mainstream media — most of whom no longer have labor reporters — have barely mentioned it, but I believe it marks a major turning point for organized labor. The victory in Chattanooga is the first successful organizing drive of an automaker outside of Detroit’s Big Three and the first major union victory in the South. Volkswagen had told workers — in a very conservative Republican area — that the “UAW = Biden” and that the union would ..read more

Friends, Please submit your caption in the Comments section. Winners will be announced next Sunday. For consideration, please post your caption by Monday at 9 pm PT, 12 midnight ET. Leave a comment Last week’s winner: “I’m being punished for my convictions!” (Congratulations, Laurie Blair.) Runner-up: “I wanted the White House, not the Big House.” (Congratulations, Steven Horowitz.) Honorable mention: “Penitentiary?! I said 1600 Penn! This is four seasons total landscaping all over again.” (Congratulations, ryangold.) Subscribe now ..read more

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