The remark, which Putin repeated twice during his year-end news conference in December, shed light on a campaign he is waging that has received little attention outside wartime Russia: to imbue the country’s education system with patriotism, purge universities of Western influences, and quash any dissent among professors and students on campuses that are often hotbeds of political activism.
At St. Petersburg State University, this meant dismantling a prestigious humanities program called the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences. For more than a decade, until May 2022, the faculty — or college — was led by Alexei Kudrin, a liberal economist and former finance minister who had been a close associate of Putin’s since the early 1990s, when they were deputy mayors together in St. Petersburg.
“We had many classes on U.S. history, American political life, democracy and political thought, as well as courses on Russian history and political science, history of U.S.-Russian relations, and even a course titled ‘The ABCs of War: Causes, Effects, Consequences,’” said a student at the faculty, also known as Smolny College. “They are all gone now,” the student said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Wednesday, May 08, 2024
Sounds Bad
Oh No Elmo
The Department of Justice is looking into whether Tesla committed securities and wire fraud around its self-driving vehicle claims, Reuters reports today, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
Red Lines
(or his honesty, you pick)🚨The White House thinks the Israeli operation to capture the Rafah crossing doesn't cross President Biden's "red line" that could lead to a shift in U.S. policy towards the Gaza war. But this could change if the operation broadens, two U.S. officials told me. My story on @axios…
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 7, 2024
Tuesday, May 07, 2024
Amazing Stuff
Israel still plans to proceed with a 90-day plan to invade Rafah, which Washington is committed to stopping, a U.S. official familiar with truce negotiations between Hamas and Israel told Reuters on Monday.We'll never hear from that official again.
"Netanyahu and the war cabinet have not appeared to approach the latest phase of negotiations (with Hamas) in good faith,” the official told Reuters, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Rage
In 1986 @Harvard threatened us as well with suspension for protesting apartheid S. Africa. Our response was similar. Well done. Univ. Pres. Garber emailed alumni today soliciting support for his crackdown. I wrote him back with a counter proposal: that he accede to the students… https://t.co/o7kmcEysP7
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) May 7, 2024
Please Describe Your Crimes In Detail
The former Trump Organization controller testified about the notes he took during a January 2017 meeting that laid out how the family real estate company was going to surreptitiously reimburse attorney Michael Cohen for fronting the $130,000 that silenced the porn star Stormy Daniels. That payment kept her from going public about her decade-old, one-night stand with Trump in the days before the 2016 presidential election.
The farce was laid out in black and white, with handwritten notes explaining the fuzzy math at play.
The View From Above
Hochul talking about Empire AI in California
— Zach Williams (@ZachReports) May 6, 2024
"We have, you know, young black kids growing up in the Bronx who don't even know what the word computer is"
Morning
Certainly wasn't Blinken!
Monday, May 06, 2024
Campaign Message
It has some flaws.
You can't separate Trump from the Republicans when their lips are latched to his buttocks
Why Can't Voters Understand That The Orange Man Is Bad
A pair of campaign managers for former Presidents Trump and Obama are teaming up for an across-the-aisle podcast that promises to “engage rather than enrage” while diving into the 2024 White House race.
Kellyanne Conway, who headed up Trump’s 2016 campaign, and David Plouffe, who steered Obama’s 2008 White House bid, will join forces for “The Campaign Managers,” podcast platform PodcastOne announced Monday.
You Misspelled "Boo Concerns"
NEWS: Columbia University is canceling the university-wide commencement ceremony planned for next week and holding smaller events instead due in part to security concerns, a university official told CNN.
— Omar Jimenez (@OmarJimenez) May 6, 2024
No Red Lines
The next line will likely be that this is actually the fault of US college campus protesters, because their actions reaffirmed the global threat of antisemitism (Hamas has infiltrated American universities), leaving Israel with no choice.