The Princeton Principles for a Campus Culture of Free Inquiry: A Roadmap to Get American Universities Back on Track

As seen in some of my posts, more than a few American Universities have decided, officially and/or de facto, that their core mission does not include unbridled learning driven by curiosity. Here is a brief description of how the new Princeton Principles came to be:

On April 14-5, 2023, a group of eminent scholars and practitioners gathered at Princeton University to explore ways to strengthen and rebuild the open, rules-based international order. In the shadow of the COVID pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine, they searched for “first principles” and reform ideas for twenty-first century global governance architecture, focusing in particular on rules and institutions for the world economy and great power security cooperation.

The newly published Princeton Principles for a Campus Culture of Free Inquiry seek to "advance free inquiry, honor intellectual merit, and respect the diverse ideas that arise naturally from the pursuit of truth." These are detailed principles that address many of the problems that have bedeviled universities, especially over the past ten years.  Further, these Princeton Principles perfectly complement the Chicago Principles and the Kalven Committee Recommendations. 

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About Total Lack of Skills and Moving Goalposts

Nellie Bowles, writing today at TGIF:

When it comes to the Biden family and the question of whether or not they have profited off Joe’s position, the goalposts just keep moving. First, after it became untenable to pretend otherwise, everyone acknowledged that, yes, Biden was loosely involved in his son’s foreign business deals. Then, he was on the phone with his son’s business partners. A new memo from House Oversight Chair James Comer summarizes much of the findings and the money—more than $20 million—that flowed into Biden family member coffers during his vice presidency. Now the new line of defense is: sure, but nothing shows “direct payment” to Joe Biden. Unless there is a picture of Joe Biden literally receiving a silver briefcase of cash, and then in exchange giving an IOU with the presidential seal on it, there’s no corruption (honestly, even then I’m not sure).

My favorite part is no one is even pretending the money paid to Hunter and others was in exchange for anything other than access and influence at the White House. There’s not a pretend story about skills Hunter might bring to the deals. He didn’t do a Six Sigma course for appearances. Nary a certification in international commodities trading. It’s just silence. “No one in the Biden Administration or in the Minority has explained what services, if any, the Bidens and their associates provided in exchange for the over $20 million in foreign payments,” the report states.

Mostly the response to this from Dems is a sputtering whataboutism: So you want Trump?! You think they’re not corrupt? The answer is obvious and I want neither one (Chris Christie, what up!). But also: it’s okay not to want our highest office defiled with petty corruption from characters like a Kazakh oligarch who bought Hunter a sports car. A Kazakh oligarch? The words themselves make me want to shower.

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Insurance Actuaries and Canadian Doctors: Why Are So Many Young People Dying?

Insurance actuaries are sounding the alarm. What is going on?

Life insurance actuaries are reporting that many more people are dying – still – than in the years before the pandemic. And while deaths during COVID-19 had largely occurred among the old and infirm, this new wave is hitting prime-of-life people hard.

No one knows precisely what is driving the phenomenon, but there is an inexplicable lack of urgency to find out. A concerted investigation is in order.

Deaths among young Americans documented in employee life insurance claims should alone set off alarms. Among working people 35 to 44 years old, a stunning 34% more died than expected in the last quarter of 2022, with above-average rates in other working-age groups, too.

“COVID-19 claims do not fully explain the increase,” a Society of Actuaries report says.

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A study in Self-Sabotage and Self-Censorship

Seymour Hersh looks at the absence of discussion regarding the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline:

Polling in Germany has consistently shown enormous discontent with the economic crisis it faces. One survey analyzed by Bloomberg last month found that only 39 percent of German voters believe the country will be a leading industrial nation in the next decade. The dispatch specifically cited internal political infighting over the nation’s home and business heating subsidy policies but did not mention a major cause of the crisis—Biden’s decision to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines.

A review of recent reporting on the German economic crisis in German, American, and international business publications—much of it excellent—yielded not a single citation of the pipeline’s destruction as a major reason for national pessimism. I couldn’t help wondering what Pinter would have said about the self-censorship.

In July Politico reported that Robert Habeck, the German vice chancellor and economic minister, a member of the Green Party, warned that the country was certain to face a shrinking economy and a transition to green energy that “will put a burden” on the population. In May, the German government announced that the country had entered a recession. Some of the nation’s companies, according to Politico, “have begun to ditch the Fatherland, triggering fears of deindustrialization.”

Habeck said the economic downturn could be explained by high energy prices, which Germany felt more intensely than other countries “because it relied on cheap Russian gas.” The article did not state why there is no longer Russian gas flowing to Germany...

Scholz said nothing in public and returned to the White House last winter for a private two-day visit—his plane carried no members of the German media with him—that included a long one-on-one session with Biden. There was no state dinner nor a press conference, other than a brief exchange of platitudes with the president in front of the White House press corps, who were not permitted to not to ask questions.

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