Posts by Robert Mickens
"This past Wednesday, I took advantage of the general audience at the Vatican to instead visit Saint Mary Major, where Pope Francis is buried. I had hoped to spend a few moments in prayer before his tomb, but the Vatican gendarmes kept instructing us to keep moving." www.ucanews.com/news/wednesd...
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/25/w...
“Even assuming the Administration now wishes to take back its litany of breathtakingly intrusive demands,” Harvard told The Washington Post in a statement, “it appears to have doubled down on those demands through its deeds in recent days”
www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...
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Connecting the dots. Ideological subversion: "to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite an abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country.”
What price Vatican-approved sainthood?
April 14, 2025 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL Josh Gruenbaum Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service General Services Administration Sean R. Keveney Acting General Counsel U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Thomas E. Wheeler Acting General Counsel U.S. Department of Education Dear Messrs. Gruenbaum, Keveney, and Wheeler: We represent Harvard University. We are writing in response to your letter dated April 11, 2025, addressed to Dr. Alan Garber, Harvard’s President, and Penny Pritzker, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation. Harvard is committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in its community. Antisemitism and discrimination of any kind not only are abhorrent and antithetical to Harvard’s values but also threaten its academic mission. To that end, Harvard has made, and will continue to make, lasting and robust structural, policy, and programmatic changes to ensure that the university is a welcoming and supportive learning environment for all students and continues to abide in all respects with federal law across its academic programs and operations, while fostering open inquiry in a pluralistic community free from intimidation and open to challenging orthodoxies, whatever their source. Over the past 15 months, Harvard has undertaken substantial policy and programmatic measures. It has made changes to its campus use policies; adopted new accountability procedures; imposed meaningful discipline for those who violate university policies; enhanced programs designed to address bias and promote ideological diversity and civil discourse; hired staff to support these programs and support students; changed partnerships; dedicated resources to combat hate and bias; and enhanced safety and security measures. As a result, Harvard is in a very different place today from where it was a year ago. These efforts, and additional measures the university will be taking against antisemitism, not only are the right thing to do but also are critical to strength…
recognized by the Supreme Court. The government’s terms also circumvent Harvard’s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law. No less objectionable is the condition, first made explicit in the letter of March 31, 2025, that Harvard accede to these terms or risk the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding critical to vital research and innovation that has saved and improved lives and allowed Harvard to play a central role in making our country’s scientific, medical, and other research communities the standard-bearers for the world. These demands extend not only to Harvard but to separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals engaging in life-saving work on behalf of their patients. The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle. Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community. But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration. William A. Burck Robert K. Hur Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP 1300 I Street NW Suite 900 Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 King & Spalding LLP 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20006
BREAKING: On Friday, the federal government issued new demands of Harvard University. The university's lawyers just responded: back off.
Brooks is right twice a year, unfailingly. But this one counts for four.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
what Ross Douthat is doing with Trump now - trying to rationalize everything he and Vance do - puts in perspective what he did with Pope Francis.
Biggest insider trading market manipulation scheme in history.
They aren't even bothering to hide it.
A bunch pf clowns. Cruel, clueless, and DANGEROUS clowns.
RIP dear Ladislas
“This is how democracy dies. Everybody just gets scared,” the Connecticut senator Chris Murphy tells David Remnick. “You make a few examples, and everyone else just decides to comply.”
Let’s hope this is the end.
With global attention fixed on the war on Gaza, Israel is rapidly redrawing the map of the occupied West Bank through intensified assaults, paving the way for full annexation.
On Palestine Land Day, we map out what is happening ⤵️
More of us MUST speak up and speak out! History will be our judge.
Those who know me know Gillcrist's move isn't quite my style but he's done us all a big favor. This acct plays like a Passion narrative in a way that should seize you as Holy Week approaches. It's an indictment of a country and a Church who are a little too Roman.
www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-...
Trump today: “We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it. I hate to put it that way, but we're going to have to have it."
www.france24.com/en/live-news...
😳 In che senso "vuol dire che sta bene"? Perché ha fatto un "drive by"? Non è neanche sceso dalla macchina. Il papa sta ancora male, e si vede. Necessita 2 MESI di convalescenza, caro cardinale. Preghiamo per Papa Francesco ora più che mai.
There’s no word for this other than evil.