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  11. <title>Outside the Beltway</title>
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  25. <title>Outside the Beltway</title>
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  30. <item>
  31. <title>June is Here Forum</title>
  32. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/june-is-here-forum/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=june-is-here-forum</link>
  33. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/june-is-here-forum/#respond</comments>
  35. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  36. <pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2025 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  37. <category><![CDATA[Open Forum]]></category>
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  51. <title>SaturTabs</title>
  52. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/saturtabs-11/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=saturtabs-11</link>
  53. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/saturtabs-11/#comments</comments>
  55. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  56. <pubDate>Sat, 31 May 2025 16:22:08 +0000</pubDate>
  57. <category><![CDATA[Tab Clearing]]></category>
  58. <category><![CDATA[ABC News]]></category>
  59. <category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
  60. <category><![CDATA[citizenship]]></category>
  61. <category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
  62. <category><![CDATA[NBC]]></category>
  63. <category><![CDATA[New Jersey]]></category>
  64. <category><![CDATA[Trade War]]></category>
  65. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286125</guid>
  66.  
  67. <description><![CDATA[Chinese students who spoke to NBC News on Thursday said that they came to the U.S. for freedoms they felt they did not have back in China but that now the Trump administration is starting to resemble the strict regime they left behind. “USA stands for freedom. It stands for democracy. … That’s why we [&#8230;]]]></description>
  68. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  69. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  70. <li>Via <em>The Hill</em>: <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/5320298-americans-moving-uk-record-numbers/">Record number of Americans applying for UK citizenship</a>.</li>
  71.  
  72.  
  73.  
  74. <li>Via <em>Ars Technica</em>: <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/trumps-trade-war-risks-splintering-the-internet-experts-warn/">Trump’s trade war risks splintering the Internet, experts warn</a>.</li>
  75.  
  76.  
  77.  
  78. <li>Via ABC News: <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-pay-5-million-settle-lawsuit-ashli/story?id=121959389">Ashli Babbitt&#8217;s family to receive $5 million in settlement with Trump administration: Sources</a>.</li>
  79.  
  80.  
  81.  
  82. <li>Via <em>WaPo</em>: <a href="https://wapo.st/453qclw">Wall Street warns Trump aides the GOP tax bill could jolt bond markets</a>.</li>
  83.  
  84.  
  85.  
  86. <li>Via <em>Stat</em>: <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/30/fluoride-drinking-water-ban-could-lead-to-25-million-cavities-cost-billions-new-study-says/">25 million cavities and $9.8 billion: Study estimates the costs of removing fluoride from water</a>.  But, hey, MAHA!!</li>
  87.  
  88.  
  89.  
  90. <li>Via NBC News: <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/rubio-revoke-student-visas-china-rcna209699">After Rubio seeks to revoke their visas, Chinese students say U.S. resembles the country they left</a>.  </li>
  91. </ul>
  92.  
  93.  
  94.  
  95. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  96. <p>Chinese students who spoke to NBC News on Thursday said that they came to the U.S. for freedoms they felt they did not have back in China but that now the Trump administration is starting to resemble the strict regime they left behind.</p>
  97.  
  98.  
  99.  
  100. <p>“USA stands for freedom. It stands for democracy. … That’s why we come here to chase our dreams,” said one Chinese Ph.D. student at a New Jersey university, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation. “In China, the government can control education, high schools, colleges, universities. We thought that the USA could be different.”</p>
  101. </blockquote>
  102. ]]></content:encoded>
  104. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/saturtabs-11/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  105. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  108. </item>
  109. <item>
  110. <title>In Front of Our Noses: Defying the Courts</title>
  111. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/in-front-of-our-noses-defying-the-courts/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=in-front-of-our-noses-defying-the-courts</link>
  112. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/in-front-of-our-noses-defying-the-courts/#comments</comments>
  114. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  115. <pubDate>Sat, 31 May 2025 15:58:08 +0000</pubDate>
  116. <category><![CDATA[Borders and Immigration]]></category>
  117. <category><![CDATA[In Front of Our Noses]]></category>
  118. <category><![CDATA[Law and the Courts]]></category>
  119. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  120. <category><![CDATA[Department of Homeland Security]]></category>
  121. <category><![CDATA[Justice Department]]></category>
  122. <category><![CDATA[Mexico]]></category>
  123. <category><![CDATA[POLITICO]]></category>
  124. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286136</guid>
  125.  
  126. <description><![CDATA[Administrative "errors."]]></description>
  127. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  128. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-dominant-color="4d4d4d" data-has-transparency="false" style="--dominant-color: #4d4d4d;" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trump-looming-in-black-and-white-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-285017 not-transparent" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trump-looming-in-black-and-white-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trump-looming-in-black-and-white-768x512.jpg 768w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trump-looming-in-black-and-white-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trump-looming-in-black-and-white.jpg 2048w" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source:  The White House</figcaption></figure>
  129.  
  130.  
  131.  
  132. <p class="has-text-align-center">“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.</p>
  133.  
  134.  
  135.  
  136. <p class="has-text-align-center has-small-font-size"><em>For previous entries, click <a href="https://outsidethebeltway.com/category/us-politics/in-front-of-our-noses/">here</a>. </em></p>
  137.  
  138.  
  139.  
  140. <p class="has-drop-cap">Via <em>Politico</em>: <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/30/trump-administration-deports-fourth-immigrant-court-order-violation-00378173">A court halted his deportation. The Trump administration deported him 28 minutes later</a>.</p>
  141.  
  142.  
  143.  
  144. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  145. <p>Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, had been in immigration detention since 2022 while deportation proceedings against him were pending. But on May 7, shortly after a federal appeals court ordered the government to keep him in the United States, immigration authorities deported him back to his native country.<br />[&#8230;]</p>
  146.  
  147.  
  148.  
  149. <p>The episode is reminiscent of three other deportations that courts have declared illegal or improper in recent months:</p>
  150.  
  151.  
  152.  
  153. <p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/16/judge-scolds-trump-officials-abrego-garcia-00355259" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kilmar Abrego Garcia</a>, a Salvadoran man who was deported to El Salvador in violation of an immigration judge’s order.</p>
  154.  
  155.  
  156.  
  157. <p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/06/daniel-lozano-camargo-deportation-hearing-00331228" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daniel Lozano-Camargo</a>, a Venezuelan man who was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court-approved settlement.</p>
  158.  
  159.  
  160.  
  161. <p>A <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/23/judge-orders-trump-administration-return-third-man-improperly-deported-00368984" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Guatemalan man</a>, identified in court by the initials O.C.G., who was deported to Mexico in what the administration <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/16/trump-administration-another-error-high-profile-deportation-00355377" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">now acknowledges was an error</a> because he was not given a chance to exercise his legal right to raise fears that he would be tortured there.</p>
  162. </blockquote>
  163.  
  164.  
  165.  
  166. <p>Despite court orders, the Trump administration did multiple oopsies and sent them away anyway.</p>
  167.  
  168.  
  169.  
  170. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  171. <p>In <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25957256/gov-letter-of-may-28.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">court papers this week</a>, officials blamed a “confluence of administrative errors,” including missed emails and an inaccurate roster of passengers on the May 7 deportation flight. The Justice Department declined to comment, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.</p>
  172. </blockquote>
  173.  
  174.  
  175.  
  176. <p>A lot of people will dismiss all as &#8220;what&#8217;s the big deal?&#8221; combined with &#8220;mistakes happen,&#8221; &#8220;they are in the country illegally,&#8221; &#8220;this is just a handful,&#8221; and/or &#8220;who cares what happens to a bunch of brown people?&#8221; (Granted, the last one is probably mostly unspoken, although not always).</p>
  177.  
  178.  
  179.  
  180. <p>But the real issue here is an ongoing pattern of ignoring courts.  This is a serious problem and marks the Trump administration as willing to act in a lawless fashion because they can.</p>
  181.  
  182.  
  183.  
  184. <p>This is not something that should be ignored or downplayed.</p>
  185.  
  186.  
  187.  
  188. <p>But it is happening right in front of our faces.  Are we going to look, or just ignore it and change the subject?</p>
  189. ]]></content:encoded>
  191. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/in-front-of-our-noses-defying-the-courts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  192. <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
  195. </item>
  196. <item>
  197. <title>A Morning Morality Play</title>
  198. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/a-morning-morality-play/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-morning-morality-play</link>
  199. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/a-morning-morality-play/#comments</comments>
  201. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  202. <pubDate>Sat, 31 May 2025 14:41:55 +0000</pubDate>
  203. <category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
  204. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  205. <category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category>
  206. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286131</guid>
  207.  
  208. <description><![CDATA[Maybe you can figure out the point, although clearly some people can't.]]></description>
  209. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  210. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-dominant-color="2f2126" data-has-transparency="true" style="--dominant-color: #2f2126;" decoding="async" width="1024" height="761" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-16-1024x761.png" alt="" class="wp-image-286133 has-transparency" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-16-1024x761.png 1024w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-16-768x570.png 768w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-16.png 1174w" /></figure>
  211.  
  212.  
  213.  
  214. <p class="has-drop-cap">We find ourselves in a doctor&#8217;s office, where the doctor is trying to tell the patient about a serious condition that needs immediate attention.</p>
  215.  
  216.  
  217.  
  218. <p>Doctor:  I&#8217;m sorry, sir, but you have cancer. Its effects can perhaps be mitigated with treatment, but you need to take some immediate actions, or else the damage will just get worse.</p>
  219.  
  220.  
  221.  
  222. <p>Man:  My nephew is a bum.  He is dying of Hepatitis C, cirrhosis, and a bunch of other problems.  He did too much partying!  We tried to tell him, but he wouldn&#8217;t listen.</p>
  223.  
  224.  
  225.  
  226. <p>Doctor:  There are some drugs and other therapies you need to start immediately.  I have some other dietary recommendations.  The sooner we start, the better.  </p>
  227.  
  228.  
  229.  
  230. <p>Man: He is just so annoying! Sharing needles.  Can you imagine? </p>
  231.  
  232.  
  233.  
  234. <p>Doctor:  Sir, here is a list&#8230;</p>
  235.  
  236.  
  237.  
  238. <p>Man:  Don&#8217;t you get it?  People shouldn&#8217;t act like that!  We told him 10 years ago!</p>
  239.  
  240.  
  241.  
  242. <p>Doctor:  Sir, could you focus on what we are talking about?</p>
  243.  
  244.  
  245.  
  246. <p><strong>And scene.</strong></p>
  247.  
  248.  
  249.  
  250. <p></p>
  251. ]]></content:encoded>
  253. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/a-morning-morality-play/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  254. <slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
  257. </item>
  258. <item>
  259. <title>Loyalty Tests For Government Hiring</title>
  260. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/loyalty-tests-for-government-hiring/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=loyalty-tests-for-government-hiring</link>
  261. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/loyalty-tests-for-government-hiring/#comments</comments>
  263. <dc:creator><![CDATA[James Joyner]]></dc:creator>
  264. <pubDate>Sat, 31 May 2025 12:39:53 +0000</pubDate>
  265. <category><![CDATA[Democracy]]></category>
  266. <category><![CDATA[Democratic Theory]]></category>
  267. <category><![CDATA[US Constitution]]></category>
  268. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  269. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  270. <category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
  271. <category><![CDATA[New York University]]></category>
  272. <category><![CDATA[POLITICO]]></category>
  273. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286129</guid>
  274.  
  275. <description><![CDATA[It was inevitable. ]]></description>
  276. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  277. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-dominant-color="634947" data-has-transparency="false" style="--dominant-color: #634947;" decoding="async" width="1024" height="576" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/trump-west-point-2025-1024x576.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-286023 not-transparent" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/trump-west-point-2025-1024x576.avif 1024w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/trump-west-point-2025-768x432.avif 768w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/trump-west-point-2025-1536x864.avif 1536w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/trump-west-point-2025-2048x1152.avif 2048w" /></figure>
  278.  
  279.  
  280.  
  281. <p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/30/trump-administration-patriotic-americans-federal-workforce-00376752">POLITICO</a> (&#8220;<strong>Trump administration to prioritize ‘patriotic Americans’ for federal jobs</strong>&#8220;):</p>
  282.  
  283.  
  284.  
  285. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  286. <p>As President Donald Trump moves to slash the size of the federal workforce, his administration unveiled a plan to ensure that any new hires are “patriotic Americans” who vow to advance the president’s policy priorities.</p>
  287.  
  288.  
  289.  
  290. <p>The White House and the agency that serves as the government’s human resources arm Thursday released directives for departments to use when recruiting employees in a memo that represents a dramatic shift in federal hiring procedures.</p>
  291.  
  292.  
  293.  
  294. <p>The administration’s “merit hiring plan” comes after Trump ordered a revamp to the federal hiring process on his first day in office. The resulting plan issued this week says it aims to ensure that “only the most talented, capable and patriotic Americans” are hired by the government.</p>
  295.  
  296.  
  297.  
  298. <p>The “overly complex Federal hiring system overemphasized discriminatory ‘equity’ quotas and too often resulted in the hiring of unfit, unskilled bureaucrats,” says the memo authored by Vince Haley, assistant to the president for domestic policy, and Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.</p>
  299. </blockquote>
  300.  
  301.  
  302.  
  303. <p>So, in principle, this sounds reasonable. There has long been frustration with the cumbersome and slow nature of civil service hiring. And, while I support various hiring preferences and diversification programs in theory, they can contribute to both further slowing the process and making it harder to hire and promote the best people for the job.</p>
  304.  
  305.  
  306.  
  307. <p>Obviously, we want people who are &#8220;talented, capable, and patriotic&#8221; in positions of public trust. The devil, of course, is in the details.</p>
  308.  
  309.  
  310.  
  311. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  312. <p>Trump and his allies have railed against civil servants, accusing them of working to undermine the president’s policy priorities. The new hiring plan will require job applicants to write short essays describing how they plan to advance Trump’s priorities.</p>
  313. </blockquote>
  314.  
  315.  
  316.  
  317. <p>This undermines the entire spirit of the civil service system, which is to create a permanent cadre of experts to administer the government regardless of political party. While I fully sympathize with President Trump (and many of his predecessors) being frustrated with bureaucratic intransigence, loyalty tests are not the answer. It is, at best, a return to the spoils system and would naturally require a purge of the entire Federal workforce every time there&#8217;s a change of administration.</p>
  318.  
  319.  
  320.  
  321. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  322. <p>Under the plan, all federal job vacancy announcements starting at the GS-5 pay grade or above will require short essay responses to questions about their commitment to the Constitution, how they plan to improve government efficiency, how they plan to advance Trump’s executive orders and policy priorities, and about their work ethic.</p>
  323. </blockquote>
  324.  
  325.  
  326.  
  327. <p>This is, frankly, just bizarre. GS-5s are low-level employees with a <a href="https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/pdf/2025/GS.pdf">starting pay of $22,360</a> a year. That they would have any useful insights into making the government more efficient is laughable. Further, they&#8217;re going to be doing extremely low-level clerical or administrative work, not making or even influencing public policy. Even GS-12s and -13s are middle managers, not policymakers. </p>
  328.  
  329.  
  330.  
  331. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  332. <p>Critics called the requirements a loyalty test for the administration, while saying they could make future recruiting even harder.</p>
  333.  
  334.  
  335.  
  336. <p>“I think it’s foolish,” said Paul Light, professor emeritus of public service at New York University. “It’s hard enough to get talent these days.” Putting additional hurdles in the way of recruiting for government jobs at this point “ain’t a good thing,” he said.</p>
  337. </blockquote>
  338.  
  339.  
  340.  
  341. <p>Given that the administration sent &#8220;DOGE&#8221; in to &#8220;take a chainsaw&#8221; to agencies, fired essentially all new or newly-promoted employees (until forced by the courts to rehire them), and dismantled programs to bring in top-tier talent to the government, I suspect that would be considered a feature, not a bug.</p>
  342.  
  343.  
  344.  
  345. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  346. <p>It’s important to hire federal workers based on their skills, said Jenny Mattingley, vice president of government affairs at the Partnership for Public Service. But “asking every federal applicant to demonstrate work toward presidential policy priorities should not be part of the criteria.”</p>
  347.  
  348.  
  349.  
  350. <p>“Many federal employees are air traffic controllers, national park rangers, food safety inspectors and firefighters who carry out the missions of agencies that are authorized by Congress,” she said. “These public servants, who deliver services directly to the public, should not be forced to answer politicized questions that fail to evaluate the skills they need to do their jobs effectively.”</p>
  351. </blockquote>
  352.  
  353.  
  354.  
  355. <p>This is actually a crucial point. There&#8217;s at least an argument to be had around taking steps to ensure that people in policymaking and policy-adjacent roles aren&#8217;t ideologically disposed to stymie the President&#8217;s agenda. But the vast bulk of the federal workforce simply carries out duties that are policy-immaterial. Why we should care if a firefighter, air traffic controller, or food inspector is a Democrat or a Republican escapes me. </p>
  356.  
  357.  
  358.  
  359. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  360. <p>The Trump plan also says it aims to limit the government’s focus on recruiting from “elite universities.”</p>
  361.  
  362.  
  363.  
  364. <p>The memo says hiring has focused too much on “elite universities and credentials” and says it will target new recruits from “state and land-grant universities, religious colleges and universities, community colleges, high schools, trade and technical schools, homeschooling groups, faith-based groups, American Legion, 4-H youth programs, and the military, veterans, and law enforcement communities.”</p>
  365. </blockquote>
  366.  
  367.  
  368.  
  369. <p>This amuses me on a number of levels. First off, the President, Vice President, and most of the Trump cabinet are graduates of elite universities. Second, with very few exceptions (such as the Presidential Management Fellows program that the administration killed), the federal government gives the least credence to elite credentials of just about any major employer I can think of. For most federal jobs, a bachelor&#8217;s degree from Mail Order U counts the same as one from Stanford. It&#8217;s literally just a check in the box. Indeed, while a college degree is a typically a requirement for GS-5 and above, it can often be waived for those with sufficient work experience.</p>
  370.  
  371.  
  372.  
  373. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  374. <p>The administration also bars agency heads from using racial quotas and preferences in federal hiring, recruitment and promotion.</p>
  375.  
  376.  
  377.  
  378. <p>The memo directs agencies to “cease using statistics on race, sex, ethnicity or national origin, or the broader concept of ‘underrepresentation’ of certain groups” in decisions about hiring or promotions. It orders agencies to stop disseminating information about the composition of agencies’ workers based on their race, sex, color, religion or national origin.</p>
  379. </blockquote>
  380.  
  381.  
  382.  
  383. <p>To the extent this is legal (I honestly don&#8217;t know which of these requirements stem from bureaucratic rule-making and which are mandated by law), I&#8217;m not opposed in theory to ending preferential hiring on bases not directly related to the job. (This also goes for veterans&#8217; preferences, which don&#8217;t seem to be going away under this order.) But there&#8217;s reason to be concerned that this will turn into reverse-reverse discrimination, given that women and persons of color who are hired or promoted may be viewed as &#8220;DEI,&#8221; making managers more inclined to hire white men. Whether this is a bug or a feature depends, I suppose, on one&#8217;s perspective. </p>
  384.  
  385.  
  386.  
  387. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  388. <p>Also on Thursday, the administration&nbsp;issued a memo&nbsp;detailing hiring and talent development plans for leaders within the federal government’s career employee ranks known as the Senior Executive Service, or SES.</p>
  389.  
  390.  
  391.  
  392. <p>Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/restoring-accountability-for-career-senior-executives/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">issued a memo</a>&nbsp;on the first day of his administration saying that because those officials “wield significant governmental authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the President.”</p>
  393.  
  394.  
  395.  
  396. <p>The new hiring memo criticizes SES hiring as a “broken, insular” process that has “resulted in the hiring of executives who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently.”</p>
  397. </blockquote>
  398.  
  399.  
  400.  
  401. <p>Leaving aside the hyperbolic language, I think Presidents have a right to expect those in the most senior civil service posts to carry out administration policies, so long as they&#8217;re consistent with the law. Leaking to the press is a time-honored tradition that has frustrated Presidents for a very long time. President Obama was known to be irate about the practice and expended considerable effort to root out the perpetrators. </p>
  402.  
  403.  
  404.  
  405. <p>Still, the SES has been around for nearly half a century for a good reason: we need seasoned professionals in the civil service. Indeed, as the <a href="https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/">OPM website </a>notes, &#8220;Members of the SES serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. SES members are the major link between these appointees and the rest of the Federal workforce.&#8221; </p>
  406.  
  407.  
  408.  
  409. <p>Again, given that link, the President and his policymaking appointees have every right to expect the SES to carry out administration priorities. At the same time, most of them will have several decades of experience within their agencies and will be able to advise them on the pitfalls of said priorities as well as the best way to navigate them. Turning them into a cadre of sycophants would do not only the country but the President himself a disservice. </p>
  410.  
  411.  
  412.  
  413. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  414. <p>Previous qualifications for SES hiring “included unlawful ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ (DEI) criteria for hiring Federal executives,” the memo says. The administration says it’s eliminating DEI factors in hiring for the service, and will focus on candidates’ efficiency, merit and competence, ability to lead, and ability to achieve results.</p>
  415.  
  416.  
  417.  
  418. <p>To build a pipeline of potential executive leaders, the memo says, OPM will provide an 80-hour intensive “fee-based aspiring executive development program” that’s “grounded in the Constitution, laws, and Founding ideals of our government, and will provide training on President Trump’s Executive Orders.”</p>
  419.  
  420.  
  421.  
  422. <p>That program is “designed to equip aspiring leaders with the skills, knowledge, technical expertise, and strategic mindset necessary to excel in senior leadership roles,” the memo says.</p>
  423. </blockquote>
  424.  
  425.  
  426.  
  427. <p>Oddly, a <a href="https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/candidate-development-programs/">Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program</a> already exists. It does not focus on ideological indoctrination, of course. But I can guarantee you that every SES (and probably most GS-13s and above) have read and discussed every single executive order that remotely impacts their agency. They can&#8217;t do their job otherwise.</p>
  428. ]]></content:encoded>
  430. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/loyalty-tests-for-government-hiring/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  431. <slash:comments>16</slash:comments>
  434. </item>
  435. <item>
  436. <title>Saturday&#8217;s Forum</title>
  437. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/saturdays-forum-242/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=saturdays-forum-242</link>
  438. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/saturdays-forum-242/#comments</comments>
  440. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  441. <pubDate>Sat, 31 May 2025 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  442. <category><![CDATA[Open Forum]]></category>
  443. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286070</guid>
  444.  
  445. <description><![CDATA[OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.]]></description>
  446. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  447. <p><em>OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through <a href="https://www.patreon.com/join/OutsideTheBeltway">Patreon</a> or making a one-time contribution via <a href="https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/OutsideTheBeltway">PayPal</a>. Thanks for your consideration.</em></p>
  448. ]]></content:encoded>
  450. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/saturdays-forum-242/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  451. <slash:comments>33</slash:comments>
  454. </item>
  455. <item>
  456. <title>Ten Observations About College Students</title>
  457. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/ten-observations-about-college-students/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=ten-observations-about-college-students</link>
  458. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/ten-observations-about-college-students/#comments</comments>
  460. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michael Bailey]]></dc:creator>
  461. <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 23:06:29 +0000</pubDate>
  462. <category><![CDATA[*FEATURED]]></category>
  463. <category><![CDATA[Best of OTB]]></category>
  464. <category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
  465. <category><![CDATA[Political Theory]]></category>
  466. <category><![CDATA[Society]]></category>
  467. <category><![CDATA[bias]]></category>
  468. <category><![CDATA[conspiracy theories]]></category>
  469. <category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
  470. <category><![CDATA[graduate school]]></category>
  471. <category><![CDATA[meme]]></category>
  472. <category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
  473. <category><![CDATA[poverty]]></category>
  474. <category><![CDATA[Presidency]]></category>
  475. <category><![CDATA[racism]]></category>
  476. <category><![CDATA[Seinfeld]]></category>
  477. <category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
  478. <category><![CDATA[suicide]]></category>
  479. <category><![CDATA[teaching]]></category>
  480. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286122</guid>
  481.  
  482. <description><![CDATA[These sweet, anxious, thoughtful, and genuinely loveable students know in their bones that their future is deeply uncertain and shaped by adults who appear to have no idea what they’re doing.]]></description>
  483. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  484. <p>Immediately after classes ended this semester, I jotted down some thoughts about my college students. I recognize there&#8217;s a sample selection issue here—students at my small private Southern college aren&#8217;t necessarily representative of the nation’s college population. Still, I also have three daughters who recently graduated from college and I’ve met some of their friends from across the country. So, take these impressions for what they’re worth—one person’s observations and reflections. I’ve been teaching for over twenty-five years, and I no doubt carry the predictable biases of someone in my station of life.&nbsp;</p>
  485.  
  486.  
  487.  
  488. <p><strong>1. They’ve never been sweeter—and they’ve never been more screwed up.</strong></p>
  489.  
  490.  
  491.  
  492. <p>What’s striking is how openly, even proudly, they own both facts.</p>
  493.  
  494.  
  495.  
  496. <p>The students at my college do fit some small-town Southern stereotypes—they’re deferential (sometimes excessively so), polite, and conflict-averse. They’re sensitive—almost absurdly so—about being called out. They don’t argue back in class, and they very rarely—far too rarely—challenge the material or the instructor’s views in their assignments. Their aversion to confrontation extends beyond the classroom. I often ask students who work in the service industry which age group is the most demanding and rude. The answer is always the same: older people (presumably far older than me). I believe them.</p>
  497.  
  498.  
  499.  
  500. <p>Their sensitivity seems connected to their sweetness. An anecdote: A couple of years ago, I observed a job candidate give a teaching demonstration in front of about twenty students. I thought he was terrific—funny, engaged, knowledgeable, and genuinely trying to connect with these kids. There was a lot of active-learning in his presentation. But the students disliked him. Why? At one point, when they were being a bit chatty, he said, in a light and clearly self-aware tone, “Now now children, let’s focus.” I thought it was playful. They felt wounded.</p>
  501.  
  502.  
  503.  
  504. <p>They’re also proud of not being racist, sexist, or any other &#8220;-ist&#8221; they associate with older generations—including my own. They view their generation as more decent, more attuned to harms inflicted (intentional or not), and freer of bias. Of course, they have their own blind spots, but the general self-assessment isn’t far off.</p>
  505.  
  506.  
  507.  
  508. <p>They’re equally proud of how openly they discuss mental health—especially their own. Many students identify with their diagnoses—whether clinical or self-labeled—and some treat these labels as central to their identity. It’s nearly standard to see personal statements for law or graduate school reference mental health challenges—how they’ve overcome them and how these experiences (or what they might think of as conditions) have given them a unique lens on the world. One student called his diagnosis his “super-power.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
  509.  
  510.  
  511.  
  512. <p>This embrace of mental health language seems to me a mixed blessing. I’m old-fashioned enough to not entirely understand it, and I confess I wish they didn’t cling to the labels quite so tightly. My fear is they may inadvertently limit themselves or find excuses for falling short of their potential. Still, I recognize it’s perfectly possible that real good may come from this way of understanding themselves.</p>
  513.  
  514.  
  515.  
  516. <p>Some of their struggles are quite real even if not rooted in more classic causes such as crushing poverty or racism. Suicide rates among young people have risen dramatically in recent decades, though I’ve been fortunate that none of my students have taken that path. But my sense—admittedly unquantifiable—is that nearly everything feels harder for them than it did for students twenty years ago: getting out of bed, showering, making it to class, finishing assignments.Their dating lives (and perhaps more generally the relationships between men and women) are a mess, and I’ve been struck by how openly contemptuous many women are of the men in their generation—perhaps with justification, though I’m not in a position to say for sure.</p>
  517.  
  518.  
  519.  
  520. <p><strong>2. They don’t read.</strong> </p>
  521.  
  522.  
  523.  
  524. <p>I think most of them can read—but they don’t, and they don’t quite feel that not reading is a choice. Their days are shaped by external pressures—work, family, sports, extracurriculars, the omnipresence of social media, and the burden of class attendance. For many, daily life is dictated by anxiety—like whether or not to get out of bed. They say they don’t have time to read, and I mostly believe them. Reading requires stillness, patience, and uninterrupted time—none of which aligns with their restless, FOMO-driven world.</p>
  525.  
  526.  
  527.  
  528. <p><strong>3. They’re not deeply engaged in the classroom.</strong></p>
  529.  
  530.  
  531.  
  532. <p>They dislike professor-led class discussion and often show contempt for the “comment guys”—those few, often socially awkward, students who regularly speak up. They prefer lectures, which let them half-engage, scroll through social media (whatever platforms they&#8217;re using these days), and sometimes even text about the professor—something I know because students occasionally snitch.</p>
  533.  
  534.  
  535.  
  536. <p>I have a no-technology policy, but I’m old, and managing lectures, deadlines, and learning names already maxes out my bandwidth. I don’t want to feel like I’m at war with my students. I tell myself that if they’re texting about me, at least they’re paying attention.</p>
  537.  
  538.  
  539.  
  540. <p>Great teachers—charismatic, high-energy ones—can still capture attention. I’ve just got to believe that. My own powers have probably diminished, and sometimes I don’t connect in the classroom. At times, lecturing feels lonely. A semi-related anecdote: I held a Zoom review session before an exam. Of over twenty students, not one turned on their camera. I stared into a screen filled with black boxes, trying to be lively. Classroom teaching is not that bleak, but sometimes it tiptoes in that direction.</p>
  541.  
  542.  
  543.  
  544. <p>That said, students are surprisingly eager to visit during office hours and share their struggles—so I don’t take their classroom silence as a personal rebuke.</p>
  545.  
  546.  
  547.  
  548. <p>Just maybe as a professional one.</p>
  549.  
  550.  
  551.  
  552. <p><strong>4. They expect dispensations.</strong>&nbsp;</p>
  553.  
  554.  
  555.  
  556. <p>Students rarely argue about grades—that would require confrontation—but they do expect exceptions and dispensations. I hear them complain about professors (which surely means they complain about me). They treat syllabus rules as negotiable. Essay instructions? Suggestions. Due dates? Starting points for negotiation. Professors who strictly enforce their syllabi are viewed not only as draconian but also vain, old-fashioned, and petty.</p>
  557.  
  558.  
  559.  
  560. <p><strong>5. They’re clever—especially as curators of cleverness.</strong></p>
  561.  
  562.  
  563.  
  564. <p>I can’t quantify this, but humor has become more central to our lives and society over time, perhaps as a function of rising affluence. Students are funny, and they appreciate humor. Critics like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock say you can’t joke with college students anymore, but they misunderstand the medium. Humor now comes in the form of memes—hundreds a day—that touch every corner of life, often with remarkable insight and freaky specificity. The students’ worldview is dark, cynical, and fatalistic—but oddly light-hearted perhaps because fatalistic. They tend to laugh at rather than challenge the many indignities they perceive their lives as entailing.</p>
  565.  
  566.  
  567.  
  568. <p><strong>6. They have a complicated relationship with their phones.</strong></p>
  569.  
  570.  
  571.  
  572. <p>They’re perfectly aware of the connection between screen time and anxiety, and they feel conflicted. They don’t need another lecture on the matter.&nbsp; They encounter more than enough adult scolds about their phones. They know their addiction (no other word suffices) isn’t healthy, but they don’t feel they chose this world. They’re nostalgic by proxy for the untethered life of earlier generations—but can’t really imagine life without their devices. They hate their dependency, even as they rationalize it with talk of the genuine benefits these tools offer.</p>
  573.  
  574.  
  575.  
  576. <p><strong>7. They’re way into conspiracies.</strong></p>
  577.  
  578.  
  579.  
  580. <p>I fielded more questions about conspiracy theories this year than ever before. When I would own up to the fact I’m not really a conspiracy guy, some students look visibly deflated. One of my sharpest students once emailed me a detailed critique after I joked about the government controlling the weather. He genuinely believed it could, and that the Biden administration might be vindictive enough to use that power. He’s respectful, devoutly Christian, and a top science student. The conspiracies lean a bit right, but not exclusively. It’s a conspiratorial generation.</p>
  581.  
  582.  
  583.  
  584. <p><strong>8. Students and AI are besties.</strong></p>
  585.  
  586.  
  587.  
  588. <p>They see AI as little different from using Google. My students are good kids—they don’t see themselves as cheaters. Several told me, quite candidly, that they use AI to help generate ideas and create outlines of the material generated by AI—but not actually to <em>write</em> the paper, please understand.&nbsp;</p>
  589.  
  590.  
  591.  
  592. <p>AI is changing everything. Next semester, I’m switching to all in-class writing assignments. I can’t fully express how much this saddens me, but I’ll leave that for another time.</p>
  593.  
  594.  
  595.  
  596. <p><strong>9. They kind of love Karl Marx.</strong></p>
  597.  
  598.  
  599.  
  600. <p>My conservative-leaning Southern students were <em>taken</em>—almost giddily so—with Karl Marx this year. That wasn’t on my 2024–2025 academic bingo card. I teach modern political philosophy and do my best to present each thinker fairly. This year we read Machiavelli, Hobbes, Bastiat, Rousseau, and Marx.</p>
  601.  
  602.  
  603.  
  604. <p>This year, Marx lit them up.</p>
  605.  
  606.  
  607.  
  608. <p>They praised his genius, clarity, and insight. One student said she was “surprised in the best possible way.” Another was disturbed by how much sense Marx made—it gave him “existential unease.” These students aren’t leftists. But Marx’s core message—<em>you are being royally screwed by people with money and power</em>—hits home. Hard. Their response doesn’t line up neatly with either ideological wing.</p>
  609.  
  610.  
  611.  
  612. <p>If they ever channel their meme-making energy into direct action, we may be in for serious social unrest. I sometimes suspect that many students sort of half-want to just burn.it.all.down. There’s rage behind the humor.</p>
  613.  
  614.  
  615.  
  616. <p><strong>10. Their “normal” is not our “normal.”</strong></p>
  617.  
  618.  
  619.  
  620. <p>Most of my course material avoids President Trump, but sometimes he or his actions come up. I try to contextualize, saying something like, “This isn’t normal. This is a break from precedent. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you, but know that it’s a break.”</p>
  621.  
  622.  
  623.  
  624. <p>Late this spring, a bright sophomore came to my office to talk about life. Eventually, we got to our class on the presidency and congress. He fidgeted, paused, then said earnestly, “You talk about what’s normal. But for us, what we have now <em>is</em> normal. I was in fourth grade when Trump was elected. I don’t know anything else.”</p>
  625.  
  626.  
  627.  
  628. <p>He trailed off. I can only speculate what troubled him.</p>
  629.  
  630.  
  631.  
  632. <p>These sweet, anxious, thoughtful, and genuinely loveable students—these students who are overwhelmed by everything <em>except</em> academic reading—know in their bones that their future is deeply uncertain and increasingly shaped by adults who appear to have no idea what they’re doing.</p>
  633.  
  634.  
  635.  
  636. <p>My fear is that they may be right.</p>
  637. ]]></content:encoded>
  639. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/ten-observations-about-college-students/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  640. <slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
  643. </item>
  644. <item>
  645. <title>MAHA Report Had Made-Up Citations</title>
  646. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/maha-report-had-made-up-citations/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=maha-report-had-made-up-citations</link>
  647. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/maha-report-had-made-up-citations/#comments</comments>
  649. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  650. <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 14:47:15 +0000</pubDate>
  651. <category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
  652. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  653. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  654. <category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
  655. <category><![CDATA[Mental Health]]></category>
  656. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286108</guid>
  657.  
  658. <description><![CDATA[It is as if qualifications for positions of power matter.]]></description>
  659. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  660. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-dominant-color="75565e" data-has-transparency="false" style="--dominant-color: #75565e;" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Trump-and-RFK-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-286112 not-transparent" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Trump-and-RFK-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Trump-and-RFK-768x512.jpg 768w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Trump-and-RFK-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Trump-and-RFK.jpg 2048w" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: The White House</figcaption></figure>
  661.  
  662.  
  663.  
  664. <p>NOTUS reports:  <a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/make-america-healthy-again-report-citation-errors">The MAHA Report Cites Studies That Don’t Exist</a>.</p>
  665.  
  666.  
  667.  
  668. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  669. <p>Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/maha-report-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“Make America Healthy Again”</a>&nbsp;Commission&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/WH-The-MAHA-Report-Assessment.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>report</u></a>&nbsp;harnesses “gold-standard”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">science</a>, citing more than 500 studies and other sources to back up its claims. Those citations, though, are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions.</p>
  670.  
  671.  
  672.  
  673. <p>Seven of the cited sources don’t appear to exist at all.</p>
  674. </blockquote>
  675.  
  676.  
  677.  
  678. <p>That&#8217;s not the &#8220;gold-standard&#8221; of anything. This is the kind of thing that would lead an undergraduate to get a failing grade, and certainly this is not what one expects from the highest level of government. Although I will say that the official response does kind of sound like something a student might try to pull.</p>
  679.  
  680.  
  681.  
  682. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  683. <p>White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Health and Human Services spokesperson Emily Hilliard later acknowledged some of the citation inconsistencies but&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/white-house-maha-report-citation-formatting-issues" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dismissed them</a>&nbsp;as formatting issues.</p>
  684. </blockquote>
  685.  
  686.  
  687.  
  688. <p>It is well known that formatting errors often result in studies being made up out of whole cloth! </p>
  689.  
  690.  
  691.  
  692. <p>All of this is yet again a reminder <a href="https://outsidethebeltway.com/on-qualification-for-cabinet-positions/">of why competence matters</a>.</p>
  693.  
  694.  
  695.  
  696. <p>There is a cavalcade of errors recounted in the piece.</p>
  697.  
  698.  
  699.  
  700. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  701. <p>Epidemiologist Katherine Keyes is listed in the MAHA report as the first author of a study on anxiety in adolescents. When NOTUS reached out to her this week, she was surprised to hear of the citation. She does study mental health and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/congress/narcan-opioids-trump-budget-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">substance use</a>, she said. But she didn’t write the paper listed.</p>
  702.  
  703.  
  704.  
  705. <p>“The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” Keyes told NOTUS via email. “We’ve certainly done research on this topic, but did not publish a paper in JAMA Pediatrics on this topic with that co-author group, or with that title.”</p>
  706.  
  707.  
  708.  
  709. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
  710.  
  711.  
  712.  
  713. <p>The anxiety study wasn’t the only one the report cites that appears to be mysteriously absent from the scientific literature. A section describing the “corporate capture of media” highlights two studies that it says are “broadly illustrative” of how a rise in direct-to-consumer drug advertisements has led to more prescriptions being written for ADHD medications and antidepressants for kids.</p>
  714.  
  715.  
  716.  
  717. <p>The catch? Neither of those studies is anywhere to be found.</p>
  718. </blockquote>
  719.  
  720.  
  721.  
  722. <p>Quite honestly, my first assumption is that someone used an AI tool. They are known to make up citations.</p>
  723.  
  724.  
  725.  
  726. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  727. <p>It’s not clear that anyone wrote the study cited in the MAHA report. The citation refers to a study titled, “Changes in mental health and substance abuse among US adolescents during the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/cdc-covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">COVID-19 pandemic</a>,” along with a nonfunctional link to the study’s digital object identifier. While the citation claims that the study appeared in the 12th issue of the 176th edition of the journal JAMA Pediatrics, that&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/issue/176/12" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>issue</u></a>&nbsp;didn’t include a study with that title.</p>
  728.  
  729.  
  730.  
  731. <p>As the Trump administration cuts research funding for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/columbia-university-grant-cuts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>federal health agencies</u></a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/hhs-hiv-research-funding" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>academic institutions</u></a>&nbsp;and rejects the scientific consensus on issues like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/cdc-covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>vaccines</u></a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.notus.org/health-science/cdc-covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>gender-affirming care</u></a>, the issues with its much-heralded MAHA report could indicate lessening concern for scientific accuracy at the highest levels of the federal government.</p>
  732. </blockquote>
  733.  
  734.  
  735.  
  736. <p>That last clause may be the understatement of the year!</p>
  737.  
  738.  
  739.  
  740. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  741. <p>NOTUS also found serious issues with how the report interpreted some of the existing studies it cites.</p>
  742.  
  743.  
  744.  
  745. <p>In one section about mental health medication, which Kennedy has railed against&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5164123-robert-kennedy-jr-psychiatric-drugs-children/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>for years</u></a>, the report cites a review paper it claims shows that therapy alone is as or more effective than psychiatric medicine. But one of that paper’s statisticians told NOTUS that conclusion doesn’t make sense, given their study didn’t even attempt to measure or compare therapy’s effectiveness as a mental health treatment.</p>
  746.  
  747.  
  748.  
  749. <p>“We did not include psychotherapy in our review. We only compared the effectiveness of (new generation) antidepressants against each other, and against placebo,” Joanne McKenzie, a biostatistics professor at an Australian university, said in an email.</p>
  750. </blockquote>
  751.  
  752.  
  753.  
  754. <p>There is a lot more like that in the NOTUS piece.</p>
  755.  
  756.  
  757.  
  758. <p>Nevertheless,</p>
  759.  
  760.  
  761.  
  762. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  763. <p>Kennedy has enthusiastically promoted the report, calling it a “milestone” in a&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1925972794153550277" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>post on X</u></a>&nbsp;after its release.</p>
  764.  
  765.  
  766.  
  767. <p>“Never in American history has the federal government taken a position on public health like this,” Kennedy wrote.</p>
  768. </blockquote>
  769.  
  770.  
  771.  
  772. <p>That may well be true, but not in the way Kennedy intends.</p>
  773. ]]></content:encoded>
  775. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/maha-report-had-made-up-citations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  776. <slash:comments>35</slash:comments>
  779. </item>
  780. <item>
  781. <title>A Photo for Friday</title>
  782. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/a-photo-for-friday-272/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=a-photo-for-friday-272</link>
  783. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/a-photo-for-friday-272/#comments</comments>
  785. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  786. <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 13:51:27 +0000</pubDate>
  787. <category><![CDATA[Photo for Friday]]></category>
  788. <category><![CDATA[Photography]]></category>
  789. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286106</guid>
  790.  
  791. <description><![CDATA["Gone Fishing"]]></description>
  792. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  793. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-photo is-provider-flickr wp-block-embed-flickr"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  794. <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/sltaylor/54486117654/in/datetaken/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54486117654_019713e79c.jpg" alt="Gone Fishing" width="500" height="333" /></a>
  795. </div></figure>
  796.  
  797.  
  798.  
  799. <p>&#8220;Gone Fishing&#8221;</p>
  800.  
  801.  
  802.  
  803. <p>April 16, 2025</p>
  804.  
  805.  
  806.  
  807. <p>Pike Road, AL</p>
  808. ]]></content:encoded>
  810. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/a-photo-for-friday-272/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  811. <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
  814. </item>
  815. <item>
  816. <title>Trump Lashes Out At Federalist Society</title>
  817. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/trump-lashes-out-at-federalist-society/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=trump-lashes-out-at-federalist-society</link>
  818. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/trump-lashes-out-at-federalist-society/#comments</comments>
  820. <dc:creator><![CDATA[James Joyner]]></dc:creator>
  821. <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 12:16:59 +0000</pubDate>
  822. <category><![CDATA[Law and the Courts]]></category>
  823. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  824. <category><![CDATA[POLITICO]]></category>
  825. <category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
  826. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286104</guid>
  827.  
  828. <description><![CDATA[Will no one rid me of these meddlesome judges?]]></description>
  829. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  830. <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img data-dominant-color="87683e" data-has-transparency="false" style="--dominant-color: #87683e;" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Donald_Trump_Clapping_Flags_202504.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-285468 not-transparent" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Donald_Trump_Clapping_Flags_202504.jpg 1024w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Donald_Trump_Clapping_Flags_202504-768x512.jpg 768w" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">United States Government Work</figcaption></figure>
  831.  
  832.  
  833.  
  834. <p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/29/trump-goes-after-leonard-leo-and-the-federalist-society-in-fury-over-court-ruling-00375813">POLITICO</a> (&#8220;<strong>Trump goes after Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society in fury over court ruling</strong>&#8220;):</p>
  835.  
  836.  
  837.  
  838. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  839. <p>President Donald Trump leveled unusually pointed criticism of a prominent conservative legal activist and organization Thursday as he railed against a ruling that struck down his sweeping tariffs.</p>
  840.  
  841.  
  842.  
  843. <p>The president, in a post on his social media platform, slammed Leonard Leo, the former chair of the Federalist Society, calling him a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America.”</p>
  844.  
  845.  
  846.  
  847. <p>It was a striking characterization of Leo, who played a key role in working with Trump to shape the conservative Supreme Court.</p>
  848.  
  849.  
  850.  
  851. <p>“He openly brags how he controls Judges, and even Justices of the United States Supreme Court — I hope that is not so, and don’t believe it is!,” Trump wrote.</p>
  852.  
  853.  
  854.  
  855. <p>Trump’s attack came after the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday struck down his tariffs, a massive blow to the primary pillar of the administration’s economic agenda. The ruling was temporarily stayed by an appellate court on Thursday. One of the judges on the three-person panel that blocked the tariffs is Timothy Reif, who was appointed by Trump in his first term.</p>
  856.  
  857.  
  858.  
  859. <p>The blame, Trump said, lay with the Federalist Society.</p>
  860.  
  861.  
  862.  
  863. <p>“I am so disappointed in The Federalist Society because of the bad advice they gave me on numerous Judicial Nominations,” he wrote. “This is something that cannot be forgotten!”</p>
  864.  
  865.  
  866.  
  867. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
  868.  
  869.  
  870.  
  871. <p>Trump’s relationship with the activist is known to have grown strained over Trump’s disappointment that the three conservative justices he appointed to the court on Leo’s advice did not intervene to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election.</p>
  872.  
  873.  
  874.  
  875. <p>The Federalist Society worked with the Trump administration to develop a shortlist of candidates for the Supreme Court during his 2016 presidential campaign. Leo was a pivotal figure in the conservative legal group for more than two decades, and took leaves of absence to manage the selection and confirmation process for Trump’s Supreme Court picks. Many people viewed the judicial selection process as essentially outsourced to the Federalist Society.</p>
  876.  
  877.  
  878.  
  879. <p>Despite the falling out between Trump and Leo, many legal conservatives said in recent months that they expected him to remain influential in the choices Trump makes for judicial nominations in his second term.</p>
  880.  
  881.  
  882.  
  883. <p>But the full-on rupture evident in Trump’s social media post Thursday signals that Trump may now view nominees’ Federalist Society ties as toxic and any sign of a link to Leo could doom a potential nominee. That could lead to more extreme or inexperienced nominees for the federal bench, although all still require Senate confirmation.</p>
  884. </blockquote>
  885.  
  886.  
  887.  
  888. <p>Contrary to popular opinion, the overwhelming number of Federalist Society judges are conservative ideologues, not Republican stooges. They have very strong opinions of the Constitution and the legal system that often result in rulings that frustrate Democrats. But their belief in limited government with constrained powers will also hamstring Republicans hoping to upend the system.</p>
  889.  
  890.  
  891.  
  892. <p>More than any President in memory&#8212;and I&#8217;m not a young man&#8212;Trump simply doesn&#8217;t care about rules, norms, and process. He simply wants the results that he wants and sees anything that gets in the way of that as nefarious and disloyal.</p>
  893. ]]></content:encoded>
  895. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/trump-lashes-out-at-federalist-society/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  896. <slash:comments>33</slash:comments>
  899. </item>
  900. <item>
  901. <title>Friday&#8217;s Forum</title>
  902. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/fridays-forum-239/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=fridays-forum-239</link>
  903. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/fridays-forum-239/#comments</comments>
  905. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  906. <pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  907. <category><![CDATA[Open Forum]]></category>
  908. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286068</guid>
  909.  
  910. <description><![CDATA[OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.]]></description>
  911. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  912. <p><em>OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through <a href="https://www.patreon.com/join/OutsideTheBeltway">Patreon</a> or making a one-time contribution via <a href="https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/OutsideTheBeltway">PayPal</a>. Thanks for your consideration.</em></p>
  913. ]]></content:encoded>
  915. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/fridays-forum-239/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  916. <slash:comments>51</slash:comments>
  919. </item>
  920. <item>
  921. <title>Tabby Thursday</title>
  922. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/tabby-thursday-5/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=tabby-thursday-5</link>
  923. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/tabby-thursday-5/#comments</comments>
  925. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  926. <pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 16:12:07 +0000</pubDate>
  927. <category><![CDATA[Tab Clearing]]></category>
  928. <category><![CDATA[Higher Education]]></category>
  929. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
  930. <category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
  931. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=285915</guid>
  932.  
  933. <description><![CDATA[Senate Bill 37 passed in an 83-53 vote Saturday. It would create a state-level committee that would recommend courses that should be required for graduation and how to condense the number of those courses. Meanwhile, each public university system’s board of regents, who oversee the school’s operations and are appointed by the governor, would be charged [&#8230;]]]></description>
  934. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  935. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  936. <li>Via the<em> NYT</em>: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/business/stock-market-trump-tariffs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.K08.IQhe.irTIVfrzZfRJ&amp;smid=url-share">Stocks Rally on the ‘TACO Trade’.</a>  One thing is for sure:  every time Wall Street thinks the tariffs are delayed, stocks rally.  That isn&#8217;t everything we need to know about the tariffs, but it is useful information.  And yes, the TACO thing is hilarious.</li>
  937.  
  938.  
  939.  
  940. <li>Via the AP:  <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-chickening-out-taco-trade-tariff-chinau-69569d771c28ef972f80b87bac0d54d6">Trump rejects claim he’s ‘chickening out’ on tariffs just because he keeps changing rates.</a>  Of course, he claims that.</li>
  941.  
  942.  
  943.  
  944. <li>Speaking of TACOs.</li>
  945. </ul>
  946.  
  947.  
  948.  
  949. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  950. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Robert Armstrong, the Financial Times commentator who coined the &quot;TACO trade&quot; term that angered President Trump today, calls his response “very telling.” <a href="https://t.co/i5MTPfibW8">pic.twitter.com/i5MTPfibW8</a></p>&mdash; Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) <a href="https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1927914657836073335?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
  951. </div></figure>
  952.  
  953.  
  954.  
  955. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  956. <li>An opinion piece from <em>USAT</em>:<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/05/04/trump-interview-abc-time-mental-decline/83391080007/"> Is Trump in mental decline? He sounds far worse than Biden ever did. </a>My problem with these assessments remains that given Trump&#8217;s utter disconnection from reality and totally brazen penchant for lying makes it hard for me to fully assess what is decline and what is just Trump.  I will actually state that as much as Trump is Mr. Word Salad, none of it has ever sounded like Biden&#8217;s debate performance in terms of straight-up sounding like a stereotypical confused old man.  (Please note:  this is not a defense of any of Trump&#8217;s nonsense).</li>
  957.  
  958.  
  959.  
  960. <li>More attacks on higher education from the <em>Texas Tribune</em>: <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/24/texas-governing-boards-regents-senate-bill-37/">Political appointees would have more control over Texas universities’ courses and hiring under bill OK’d by House.</a> The idea that any of this is an attempt to stop indoctrination is nonsense. What does it sound like to you when state governments pass laws to control curricula at universities?  It doesn&#8217;t sound like freedom to me.</li>
  961. </ul>
  962.  
  963.  
  964.  
  965. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  966. <p><a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=89R&amp;Bill=SB37">Senate Bill 37</a> passed in an 83-53 vote Saturday. It would create a state-level committee that would recommend courses that should be required for graduation and how to condense the number of those courses. Meanwhile, each public university system’s board of regents, who oversee the school’s operations and are appointed by the governor, would be charged with creating a committee to review curricula and reject any course deemed ideologically charged or that doesn’t align with the workforce demands. Specifically, the committees would ensure curricula do not “advocate or promote that any race, sex, ethnicity or religious belief is inherently superior to any other.”</p>
  967.  
  968.  
  969.  
  970. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
  971.  
  972.  
  973.  
  974. <p>The bill would also limit faculty’s influence on campus. Faculty councils or senates, bodies that have traditionally advised university administrators on academic and hiring decisions, would become smaller. In addition, SB 37 would require half of their members to be appointed by the university president, rather than elected. Any member would be subject to removal if they use their position for political advocacy.</p>
  975.  
  976.  
  977.  
  978. <p>The bill would also require regents to approve the hiring of more administrators. Traditionally, they have only gotten involved in the hiring of top leadership positions.</p>
  979. </blockquote>
  980.  
  981.  
  982.  
  983. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  984. <li>From Barbara J. Risman writing from <em>The Conversation</em>: <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-trans-measures-dont-just-target-transgender-men-and-women-a-sociologist-explains-how-male-or-female-categories-miss-the-mark-for-nonbinary-americans-251443?utm_content=buffer7003d&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bufferapp.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer">Anti-trans measures don’t just target transgender men and women – a sociologist explains how ‘male’ or ‘female’ categories miss the mark for nonbinary Americans</a>.</li>
  985.  
  986.  
  987.  
  988. <li>Via the <em>News Tribune</em>: <a href="https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article307414296.html">Pierce County Sheriff Swank to Prosecutor Robnett: ‘You are my peril’.</a>  Worth it for the following. (The &#8220;he&#8221; in question being the sheriff and Mello being the County Executive who was trying to apply state law to contracts that the sheriff had entered into).</li>
  989. </ul>
  990.  
  991.  
  992.  
  993. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  994. <p>He told Robnett that he had asked the artificial-intelligence service ChatGPT the same question about Mello’s authority over him, and it had a “quite different response.”</p>
  995. </blockquote>
  996.  
  997.  
  998.  
  999. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  1000. <li>In case anyone doesn&#8217;t think the attacks on higher ed matter.</li>
  1001. </ul>
  1002.  
  1003.  
  1004.  
  1005. <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
  1006. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Why is America losing its allure to foreign researchers and science students? The most straightforward reason is money, or the looming lack of it as a result of Trump administration funding cuts <a href="https://t.co/9n8FjhsXUk">https://t.co/9n8FjhsXUk</a> <a href="https://t.co/S3uJDJ8T1u">pic.twitter.com/S3uJDJ8T1u</a></p>&mdash; The Economist (@TheEconomist) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/1927538073119703071?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
  1007. </div></figure>
  1008. ]]></content:encoded>
  1010. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/tabby-thursday-5/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  1011. <slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
  1014. </item>
  1015. <item>
  1016. <title>More Attacks on International Students</title>
  1017. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/more-attacks-on-international-students/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=more-attacks-on-international-students</link>
  1018. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/more-attacks-on-international-students/#comments</comments>
  1020. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  1021. <pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 14:50:41 +0000</pubDate>
  1022. <category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category>
  1023. <category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
  1024. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  1025. <category><![CDATA[antisemitism]]></category>
  1026. <category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
  1027. <category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
  1028. <category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
  1029. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  1030. <category><![CDATA[Florida]]></category>
  1031. <category><![CDATA[India]]></category>
  1032. <category><![CDATA[Indiana]]></category>
  1033. <category><![CDATA[Marco Rubio]]></category>
  1034. <category><![CDATA[POLITICO]]></category>
  1035. <category><![CDATA[Virginia]]></category>
  1036. <category><![CDATA[West Virginia]]></category>
  1037. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286087</guid>
  1038.  
  1039. <description><![CDATA[This time: Chinese students.]]></description>
  1040. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
  1041. <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="363" height="240" sizes="auto, (max-width: 363px) 100vw, 363px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/chinaflag_thumb1.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-51918"/></figure></div>
  1042.  
  1043.  
  1044. <p>Via <em>Politico</em>:  <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/28/rubio-revoke-chinese-students-visas-00373835">Marco Rubio: US to ‘aggressively’ revoke visas of Chinese students.</a></p>
  1045.  
  1046.  
  1047.  
  1048. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1049. <p>About&nbsp;<a href="https://opendoorsdata.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/OD24_Fast-Facts_EMBARGO.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">277,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S. last year</a>, making them the second largest group of foreign students in the U.S., after people from India.</p>
  1050.  
  1051.  
  1052.  
  1053. <p>Even if just a threat, Rubio’s announcement is likely to decisively end the popularity of U.S. universities and colleges for Chinese students.</p>
  1054.  
  1055.  
  1056.  
  1057. <p>“The chilling effect on Chinese students choosing the United States as their preferred place to go for study will be enormous,” said Rosie Levine, executive director of the US-China Education Trust, a nonprofit education group. “There are some 99 million Communist Party members in China, so depending on how they enforce this, it could catch up probably every Chinese student interested in coming to the United States who could have some Communist Party connection within their background.”</p>
  1058.  
  1059.  
  1060.  
  1061. <p>It would also hurt U.S. institutions, which have come to rely on foreign students to help offset the cost of providing financial aid to Americans. And it comes as President Donald Trump exerts pressure on colleges and universities to address allegations of antisemitism by threatening to withhold federal funding and grants.</p>
  1062. </blockquote>
  1063.  
  1064.  
  1065.  
  1066. <p>If the goal here is to harm China, it is just pointlessly stupid.  The Chinese government will simply help direct students to Australia, Canada, the UK, and elsewhere. The damage will be, as I keep noting, to colleges and universities up and down the elite to non-elite scale, with substantial collateral damage to the communities where those schools exist.</p>
  1067.  
  1068.  
  1069.  
  1070. <p>Indeed, these moves will almost certainly harm non-elite, regional public schools far, far more than places that have more applicants than they have seats.</p>
  1071.  
  1072.  
  1073.  
  1074. <p>To be clear:  elite schools like the Ivies or public flagships have far more applicants than they have room for each year.  But Regional Direction U has more space than they have qualified applicants. There is no making up for the loss of revenue at those schools, which will in turn put pressure on legislatures, or simply lead to schools closing programs and laying off staff.</p>
  1075.  
  1076.  
  1077.  
  1078. <p>These moves are also part of an ongoing destruction of American soft power in a way that is truly staggering in its stupidity.  The own-goalness of it all is just off the scale.</p>
  1079.  
  1080.  
  1081.  
  1082. <p>Within the own goal of it all, is this:</p>
  1083.  
  1084.  
  1085.  
  1086. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1087. <p>An exodus of Chinese students may also deprive the U.S. of skills and expertise that are valuable to the economy, especially in the tech sector.</p>
  1088.  
  1089.  
  1090.  
  1091. <p>“If you go around Silicon Valley, you see thousands of Chinese students or former Chinese students who are making enormous contributions to the United States, to our entrepreneurship,” said Stephen Orlins, president of the nonprofit National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. “Revoking their visas will cut off the pipeline and create long term damage to the United States.”</p>
  1092. </blockquote>
  1093.  
  1094.  
  1095.  
  1096. <p>I will note that there have been real espionage concerns with Chinese students, but even that does not warrant these policy moves.</p>
  1097.  
  1098.  
  1099.  
  1100. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1101. <p>Even those who say the U.S. has legitimate security concerns say a broad revocation of visas may be unproductive.</p>
  1102.  
  1103.  
  1104.  
  1105. <p>“The U.S. government needs to take into account risks of non-traditional espionage, but the way they’re drawing these boundaries is too broad and too undefined,” said Mary Gallagher, dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame University and an expert on Chinese politics. “ All universities in China are in some ways affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, so it seems to me overreach and damaging to not just U.S.- China educational exchange, but also to U.S. science and technological competitiveness.”</p>
  1106.  
  1107.  
  1108.  
  1109. <p>It is as if electing an admininstration that is both xenophobic and prone to crude and simplistic policy moves was a bad idea.</p>
  1110. </blockquote>
  1111.  
  1112.  
  1113.  
  1114. <p>But the GOP has become the party of xenophobia.</p>
  1115.  
  1116.  
  1117.  
  1118. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1119. <p>Republicans were quick to offer support of the administration’s threat to revoke visas.</p>
  1120.  
  1121.  
  1122.  
  1123. <p>“America First. The U.S. is no longer in the business of importing espionage,” Florida Sen. Ashley Moody wrote <a href="https://x.com/SenAshleyMoody/status/1927870090415833517" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">on X</a>. “This is great leadership by @SecRubio and @POTUS.”</p>
  1124.  
  1125.  
  1126.  
  1127. <p>“America first,”&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SenatorBanks/status/1927873052659929315" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">echoed Indiana</a>&nbsp;Sen. Jim Banks.</p>
  1128.  
  1129.  
  1130.  
  1131. <p>“What did you think America First meant? Vibes? Papers? Essays?”&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepRileyMoore/status/1927877641463300376" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore</a>.</p>
  1132. </blockquote>
  1133.  
  1134.  
  1135.  
  1136. <p>Again, America loses influence because of these moves; America loses revenue because of these moves; and America loses tech workers because of these moves.</p>
  1137.  
  1138.  
  1139.  
  1140. <p>But, hey, it hurts foreigners, so it must be good!</p>
  1141.  
  1142.  
  1143.  
  1144. <p>For no reason at all, here&#8217;s a cartoon by Theodore Geisel to cheer you up!</p>
  1145.  
  1146.  
  1147.  
  1148. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img data-dominant-color="cdcdcd" data-has-transparency="false" style="--dominant-color: #cdcdcd;" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="819" height="1024" sizes="auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-14-819x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-286090 not-transparent" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-14-819x1024.png 819w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-14-768x961.png 768w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-14-1228x1536.png 1228w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image-14.png 1280w" /></figure>
  1149. ]]></content:encoded>
  1151. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/more-attacks-on-international-students/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  1152. <slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
  1155. </item>
  1156. <item>
  1157. <title>Court Takes Away Trump&#8217;s Tariff Toys</title>
  1158. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/court-takes-away-trumps-tariff-toys/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=court-takes-away-trumps-tariff-toys</link>
  1159. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/court-takes-away-trumps-tariff-toys/#comments</comments>
  1161. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  1162. <pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 13:46:49 +0000</pubDate>
  1163. <category><![CDATA[Economics and Business]]></category>
  1164. <category><![CDATA[The Presidency]]></category>
  1165. <category><![CDATA[US Constitution]]></category>
  1166. <category><![CDATA[US Politics]]></category>
  1167. <category><![CDATA[deficit]]></category>
  1168. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
  1169. <category><![CDATA[Ilya Somin]]></category>
  1170. <category><![CDATA[Inflation]]></category>
  1171. <category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
  1172. <category><![CDATA[Paul Krugman]]></category>
  1173. <category><![CDATA[separation of powers]]></category>
  1174. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286083</guid>
  1175.  
  1176. <description><![CDATA[Well, most of them.]]></description>
  1177. <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  1178. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" src="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Trump-in-the-corner-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-207229" srcset="https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Trump-in-the-corner-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Trump-in-the-corner-768x512.jpg 768w, https://outsidethebeltway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Trump-in-the-corner.jpg 2048w" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><a href="https://flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/48765475191/in/datetaken/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8220;#USAxAUS&#8221;</a> by <a href="https://flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">White House</a> is in the <a href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/Public_domain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Public Domain</a></figcaption></figure>
  1179.  
  1180.  
  1181.  
  1182. <p>Via the AP:  <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-trade-court-0392dbd59f548e49ad4f64254ae3f94a">Federal court blocks Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs under emergency powers law</a>.</p>
  1183.  
  1184.  
  1185.  
  1186. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1187. <p>A federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-chickening-out-taco-trade-tariff-chinau-69569d771c28ef972f80b87bac0d54d6">imposing sweeping tariffs</a>&nbsp;on imports under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-liberation-day-2a031b3c16120a5672a6ddd01da09933">an emergency-powers law</a>, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping.</p>
  1188.  
  1189.  
  1190.  
  1191. <p>The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims.</p>
  1192. </blockquote>
  1193.  
  1194.  
  1195.  
  1196. <p>This unanimous ruling, issued by a three-judge panel including a Trump appointee, a Reagan appointee, and an Obama appointee, severely curtails Trump&#8217;s ability to issue whatever tariff at whatever level on whomever and whatever he wishes.</p>
  1197.  
  1198.  
  1199.  
  1200. <p>He may still have some more limited options.</p>
  1201.  
  1202.  
  1203.  
  1204. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1205. <p>Trump might still be able to temporarily launch import taxes of 15% for 150 days on nations with which the U.S. runs a substantial trade deficit. The ruling notes that a president has this authority under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.</p>
  1206.  
  1207.  
  1208.  
  1209. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
  1210.  
  1211.  
  1212.  
  1213. <p>The ruling left in place any tariffs that Trump put in place using his Section 232 powers from the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. He put a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-automakers-factories-relief-25a400c98e02c01c8c54502384e267e1">25% tax on most imported autos and parts</a>, as well as on all foreign-made steel and aluminum. Those tariffs depend on a Commerce Department investigation that reveals national security risks from imported products.</p>
  1214. </blockquote>
  1215.  
  1216.  
  1217.  
  1218. <p>I must confess, this amused me:</p>
  1219.  
  1220.  
  1221.  
  1222. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  1223. <p>He is facing at least seven lawsuits challenging the levies. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-lawsuits-supreme-court-national-emergency-6f5fa2daee0e1519035391328b456a9a">The plaintiffs</a> argued that the emergency powers law does not authorize the use of tariffs, and even if it did, <strong>the trade deficit is not an emergency because the U.S. has run a trade deficit with the rest of the world for 49 consecutive years.</strong></p>
  1224. </blockquote>
  1225.  
  1226.  
  1227.  
  1228. <p>Indeed.</p>
  1229.  
  1230.  
  1231.  
  1232. <p>Ilya Somin, who helped file the suit, writes about it all at <em>Reason</em>: <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2025/05/28/we-won-our-tariff-case/">We Won Our Tariff Case!</a></p>
  1233.  
  1234.  
  1235.  
  1236. <p>In that write-up, he notes that the court ruled that the constitutional strictures creating separation of powers simply do not allow such sweeping and permanent delegation of authority of the type Trump asserted under his &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; proclamations.</p>
  1237.  
  1238.  
  1239.  
  1240. <p>Here is Paul Krugman&#8217;s initial reaction: <a href="https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/is-there-a-dignified-legal-way-preferably">Is There a Dignified Legal Way, Preferably in Latin, to Say &#8220;Holy Shit&#8221;?</a></p>
  1241.  
  1242.  
  1243.  
  1244. <p>Here&#8217;s his longer assessment: <a href="https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-trade-emperor-has-always-been">The Trade Emperor Has Always Been Stark Naked</a>.  Rather than try to excerpt, I will simply recommend it as worthwhile reading.</p>
  1245.  
  1246.  
  1247.  
  1248. <p>Of course, this will all result in even more rhetorical attacks on the courts</p>
  1249.  
  1250.  
  1251.  
  1252. <p>SCOTUS will have to weigh in, so this isn&#8217;t over yet, but a good ruling nonetheless.</p>
  1253. ]]></content:encoded>
  1255. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/court-takes-away-trumps-tariff-toys/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  1256. <slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
  1259. </item>
  1260. <item>
  1261. <title>Thursday&#8217;s Forum</title>
  1262. <link>https://outsidethebeltway.com/thursdays-forum-241/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=thursdays-forum-241</link>
  1263. <comments>https://outsidethebeltway.com/thursdays-forum-241/#comments</comments>
  1265. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Steven L. Taylor]]></dc:creator>
  1266. <pubDate>Thu, 29 May 2025 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1267. <category><![CDATA[Open Forum]]></category>
  1268. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://outsidethebeltway.com/?p=286066</guid>
  1269.  
  1270. <description><![CDATA[]]></description>
  1271. <content:encoded><![CDATA[]]></content:encoded>
  1273. <wfw:commentRss>https://outsidethebeltway.com/thursdays-forum-241/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  1274. <slash:comments>58</slash:comments>
  1277. </item>
  1278. </channel>
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  1280.  

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