President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I'm sure Mrs. Ackman was delighted to have been made a Wikipedia-cribbing punchline by her own husband.

 

Gift link.

More on Ackman here.

Bill Ackman’s Friend Inside Harvard’s Board

 

Fair enough. I wouldn't go out to 1500 companies but, the data is the data. So, I'm wrong.

 

The temptation to run plagiarism checks on some of the colleagues who seriously rubbed me the wrong way is STRONG.

 

A lot of the ones who become college presidents get that skillset by toiling in academia on the administrative side after distinguishing themselves enough in their research (and securing grant money). As deans and provosts, etc., they’re fundraising and dealing with different constituencies . Can a CEO or politician do that more effectively? Maybe? But they don’t have the benefit of an academic
background themselves.

 

Tough on China.

 

I lost my quotes, so apologies for this being way after the fact and without attribution.

Re. Amazon City in Nashville. Holy wasted opportunity, Batman! Of all the divisions they wanted to relocate to Nashville, they chose retail? The remnants of so many broad- and narrowcasting ventures are still here and still doing business and it never occurred to them to move their entertainment/production/cultural/whatever they call it arm here instead? Start making sense.

About Dr. Gay in particular and plagiarism in general... First, no, everyone doesn't do it. Some of us work/worked very hard at research, creation, and our craft to try to carve out space for new ideas in old arenas. I have experienced this in both academic and public milieus. So have friends and colleagues in both areas. I have tried hard to not make this personal and I am failing miserably at it.

If you've ever seen someone else's name on your work, you will get why we can feel sympathy for Dr. Gay, but at the same time we can remember the sting of being told that we need to understand because it is more important to elevate unheard voices, we can always do more work, it is somehow okay because the other person has the ear and attention of more important people, they are important and we should be honored. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

I am aware that the people involved with what happened at Harvard were going after Dr. Gay for reasons that had little to do with academic ethics. What she did was not okay, but then it was not okay when Joe Biden did it, when Jill Biden did it, or when anyone else does it. Did she steal material for her dis? She deserved to be removed for that, not because she was a BIPOC with specific political leanings.