⚫️With sorrow and grief we announce that:
Georgetown's Economics Department has lost one of our foundational members, a pillar of our community, Marius Schwartz, who peacefully passed away on Tuesday, June 9. [1/3]
I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.
In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.
Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.
When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.
She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.
As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.
Rest in peace, professor.
Taiwan is not just a bunch of really advanced microchip factories, although it has them. It is an independent country (sorry, U.S. State Department) and a modern, thriving, multiparty democracy with the rule of law, a free and independent media, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, educational inquiry, and due process. Freedom House grades Taiwan as a 93 out of a possible 100 in political rights and civil liberties. (China scored a nine.) There are 23 million people there who do not deserve to live under the boot of Xi Jinping. And we know the regime of the People’s Republic of China really hates the Taiwanese because they prove that the people of China do not need an authoritarian, totalitarian mass surveillance state to live happy, productive, and sufficiently orderly lives.
Paul Woods calling his final game tonight as he retires from an incredible 40 year broadcast career with the @DetroitRedWings. Incredible player, broadcaster, and human being. I'll always be thankful for my time spent on the radio broadcasts with him and @KenKalDRW We'll miss you, Paul!
"If they look back through history to trace their connection
with those days [of the American founding] by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry
themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel
that they are part of us. But when they look through that old
Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal', and then they feel that that moral sentiment evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration. And so they are. That is the electric cord that links the hearts of
patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world." -- Abraham Lincoln
“The president inhabits a position of moral leadership. When the president and his officials sell their policies, they’re selling a version of what it means to be an American”
I wrote about the Trump administration, the boat strikes, and St. Augustine.
Many will hate this piece, but free speech isn’t about protecting popular opinions.
Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest raises serious First Amendment concerns. What happens next could reshape campus speech rights—and not for the better. https://t.co/JqjSwKaeOR
JUST SENT: FIRE has written to @DHSgov, @TheJusticeDept, @ICEgov, and @StateDept, requesting answers to the questions surrounding Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and detention.
The government hasn't stated the legal basis for its actions, and it has put out statements suggesting Mr. Khalil is being targeted because of his constitutionally protected speech.
This is America. The administration must not use immigration enforcement to punish and filter out ideas disfavored by the government or deny due process to anyone facing arrest and detention.
The government must also be transparent about the basis for its actions to avoid chilling protected speech.
To be clear, demonstrations on Columbia’s campus since Oct. 7, 2023, have included both constitutionally protected speech and unlawful conduct. But the government has not clarified the factual or legal basis for Mr. Khalil’s arrest.
The lack of clarity is chilling protected expression, as other permanent residents cannot know whether their lawful speech could be deemed to “align” with a terrorist organization and jeopardize their immigration status.
FIRE’s letter demands answers:
➡️ What was the specific legal and factual basis for Mr. Khalil’s arrest on March 8?
➡️ What is the specific legal and factual basis for Mr. Khalil’s detention?
➡️ What is the specific legal and factual basis on which the government is seeking revocation of Mr. Khalil’s green card?
➡️ Will Mr. Khalil be afforded the due process protections required by U.S. law?
➡️ Is it the government’s intention to seek the revocation of lawful immigration status on the basis of speech protected by the First Amendment?
FIRE has requested a response tomorrow, March 11th.
The old liberal world order is dead, the challenge before us is what should replace it. Is it the autocratic vision of might makes right of Xi and Putin? Or can the free world protect its people and interests while maintaining the rights and freedoms that make life worth living?