War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise

[Ramrouser]

I would like to offer the administrators of this Board, and Super, my apology for my unwarranted, gratuitous personal shots Friday evening. That’s not what we’re here for.

 

[nycfan]

 

[aGDevil2k]

Our turn!

Trump administration launches investigation into Duke University and Duke Law Journal | CNN Politics

The Trump administration has identified a new target in its battle with elite higher education, announcing a two-pronged front against Duke University on allegations the North Carolina school is in violation of the Civil Rights Act.

amp.cnn.com

 

[tarheelbillie]

Is this not extortion? Is anyone really watching where these large payments finally land? Remember that one of Trump’s early acts was to fire many of the federal inspector generals. Folks, the fox is guarding the henhouse.

 

[mpaer]

Is this not extortion? Is anyone really watching where these large payments finally land? Remember that one of Trump’s early acts was to fire many of the federal inspector generals. Folks, the fox is guarding the henhouse.

Yes
Extortion

 

[Healing]

Is this not extortion? Is anyone really watching where these large payments finally land? Remember that one of Trump’s early acts was to fire many of the federal inspector generals. Folks, the fox is guarding the henhouse.

100% extortion. That’s trump’s super power, he has the ability to con the flock into truly not believing their “lying eyes and ears”.

 

[altmin]

 

[rodoheel]

I just want ANY university to stand up this bullshit. Even if it's freaking Duke. SOMEBODY make these thugs actually have to explain in front of a judge what it is they say the schools did wrong. I'm begging you.

 

[korgguy1971]

I think this is what MAGA nation misses about authoritarian ire. It never ends. They think they're in the ingroup and are safe, but this is transient at best, and it's only a matter of time before the "didn't think the leopards would eat my face" folks find themselves in the outgroup getting their faces eaten by leopards.

 

[Mulberry Heel]

I think this is what MAGA nation misses about authoritarian ire. It never ends. They think they're in the ingroup and are safe, but this is transient at best, and it's only a matter of time before the "didn't think the leopards would eat my face" folks find themselves in the outgroup getting their faces eaten by leopards.

Yep. After taking power and gaining total control of the German government, the Nazis conducted a purge of their own party members. It was called the "Night of the Long Knives" and leaders of the Nazi brownshirts, or SA, were killed as they were seen as a threat by other party members and organizations. Up to 1,000 people may have been killed in the purge, and another thousand or so were imprisoned. The leader of the brownshirts, Ernest Rohm, was murdered, as were other party members who were seen as not totally loyal to Hitler and the party, or a potential threat to his power. Some of those killed were members of the German Establishment who had joined the Nazis when they took power, but were viewed as still not 100% on board. Look at how MAGAs have treated diehard conservatives who have dared to criticize Dear Leader - Cheney, Romney, Pence - and it's obvious that even Trumpers are not safe from his wrath, or his supporters. MAGA will quickly come after them if they are not loudly loyal 100% of the time. That's how cults operate.

 

[Molotov Mocktail]

Is this not extortion? Is anyone really watching where these large payments finally land? Remember that one of Trump’s early acts was to fire many of the federal inspector generals. Folks, the fox is guarding the henhouse.

When the FBI was being purged months ago I wondered if those that have the expertise to investigate financial crimes, especially crypto/cyber, were canned. That was before the corruption was right out in the open. I have no doubts now that people that would look into trumps crypto scam are long gone.

 

[OldWHEEL]

So what’s the policy? Seriously. Has anything constructive come from this?

 

[superrific]

I just want ANY university to stand up this bullshit. Even if it's freaking Duke. SOMEBODY make these thugs actually have to explain in front of a judge what it is they say the schools did wrong. I'm begging you.

Harvard did. They went to court multiple times, and won multiple times.

The problem is that the administration doesn't care whether the schools did anything wrong. The investigation is the point. The harassment is the point.

It's not a schools-caving problem. It's a SCOTUS problem. What are schools supposed to do when they see that SCOTUS has stayed like 15 injunctions in a row involving Trump overstepping his authority? Why litigate to get an injunction if the court is just going to stay it?

This is why I say SCOTUS is no longer a court and needs to be institutionally destroyed. Their goal is to decrease litigation against the administration's rampant illegality, so they don't have to confront the hellscape they created. They just stay judgments without thinking, and go home to their wives with flags and lucrative jobs placing clerks with law firms. Meanwhile, in the real world, what to do?

 

[Duke Mu]

This is how Trump operates. Saturate the field. He's a Don Fanucci-style mob boss. I hope Duke does not cave.

 

[lawtig02]

Harvard did. They went to court multiple times, and won multiple times.

The problem is that the administration doesn't care whether the schools did anything wrong. The investigation is the point. The harassment is the point.

It's not a schools-caving problem. It's a SCOTUS problem. What are schools supposed to do when they see that SCOTUS has stayed like 15 injunctions in a row involving Trump overstepping his authority? Why litigate to get an injunction if the court is just going to stay it?

This is why I say SCOTUS is no longer a court and needs to be institutionally destroyed. Their goal is to decrease litigation against the administration's rampant illegality, so they don't have to confront the hellscape they created. They just stay judgments without thinking, and go home to their wives with flags and lucrative jobs placing clerks with law firms. Meanwhile, in the real world, what to do?

Yeah, the problem is that, in the real world, the best research institutions in the history of the world (elite American universities) are dependent on federal funding. Trump and his MAGA enablers picked up on that dependency and are using it to extort those universities into politically-advantageous settlements in order to keep the federal funds flowing.

The end result will be that the universities either (a) drop or massively curtail their research efforts, or (b) jettison the government and look to other sources for funding, which means the funding will be a tiny fraction of what we've been able to do by pooling our resources through federal grants. Whatever the specific result, the outcome will be less scientific research, worse medical and technological outcomes for Americans, and an acceleration of the shift from the US to China as the center of the R&D universe.

So congrats, MAGA? You score points against your bogeymen in the short term, I guess. But all of us will suffer in the long term.

 

[Duke Mu]

I think this is what MAGA nation misses about authoritarian ire. It never ends. They think they're in the ingroup and are safe, but this is transient at best, and it's only a matter of time before the "didn't think the leopards would eat my face" folks find themselves in the outgroup getting their faces eaten by leopards.

There. Is. No. Safe. Space.

 

[superrific]

Yeah, the problem is that, in the real world, the best research institutions in the history of the world (elite American universities) are dependent on federal funding. Trump and his MAGA enablers picked up on that dependency and are using it to extort those universities into politically-advantageous settlements in order to keep the federal funds flowing.

SCOTUS could stop it if it wanted. Instead it has become a slave to a metastatic ideology born from Scalia's expressly fascist fearmongering.

 

[Duke Mu]

Yeah, the problem is that, in the real world, the best research institutions in the history of the world (elite American universities) are dependent on federal funding. Trump and his MAGA enablers picked up on that dependency and are using it to extort those universities into politically-advantageous settlements in order to keep the federal funds flowing.

The end result will be that the universities either (a) drop or massively curtail their research efforts, or (b) jettison the government and look to other sources for funding, which means the funding will be a tiny fraction of what we've been able to do by pooling our resources through federal grants. Whatever the specific result, the outcome will be less scientific research, worse medical and technological outcomes for Americans, and an acceleration of the shift from the US to China as the center of the R&D universe.

So congrats, MAGA? You score points against your bogeymen in the short term, I guess. But all of us will suffer in the long term.

We threw Xi and Chyna a lifeline.

 

[superrific]

Chyna a lifeline.

Did this spelling predate Trump? I don't know if he was tapping into some older line of animus that involved this type of exaggerated pronunciation or if it's a Trump original.

 

[rodoheel]

Harvard did. They went to court multiple times, and won multiple times.

The problem is that the administration doesn't care whether the schools did anything wrong. The investigation is the point. The harassment is the point.

It's not a schools-caving problem. It's a SCOTUS problem. What are schools supposed to do when they see that SCOTUS has stayed like 15 injunctions in a row involving Trump overstepping his authority? Why litigate to get an injunction if the court is just going to stay it?

This is why I say SCOTUS is no longer a court and needs to be institutionally destroyed. Their goal is to decrease litigation against the administration's rampant illegality, so they don't have to confront the hellscape they created. They just stay judgments without thinking, and go home to their wives with flags and lucrative jobs placing clerks with law firms. Meanwhile, in the real world, what to do?

You know I agree with you about SCOTUS generally (though not necessarily the remedy) but the Supreme Court hasn't yet stayed any relief that Harvard got, nor am I convinced that they would.