From the left: The Other Richard Nixon Precedent
What happens if President Trump fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions? At The New Republic, Matt Ford suggests it wouldn’t be the end of the world for the Russia investigation. He looks to the Nixon precedent on what the Senate can do to make the scenario much less apocalyptic than commentators keep predicting. When Richard Nixon fired his attorney general amid the Watergate scandal and replaced him with Defense Secretary Elliot Richardson, critics worried he was putting a loyalist in charge of Justice. Richardson assuaged them by appointing a special prosecutor and formally testifying to his refusal to interfere: “The Senate confirmed Richardson to become the nation’s sixty-ninth attorney general based on that understanding.” And when he was asked to fire the special counsel, “Richardson refused and sent Nixon a letter of resignation that explained his position.”
Political cartoonist: Why Trump Backers Are Unfazed
USA Today’s Gary Varvel watched as commentators professed shock that the guilty verdicts and plea deals for former Trump aides didn’t result in a noticeable drop in the president’s support and thought: They just don’t understand Trump supporters. The president’s backers have watched the media cry wolf too many times to bite: “Remember the fears over moving the US embassy to Jerusalem? Remember the fears that Trump was going to start World War III with North Korea? Remember the Helsinki meeting that John Brennan called ‘treasonous?’ ” The belief that this time it’ll be different and take Trump down is easy to ignore: “Negative news can wreck the careers of most politicians. Trump is not like most politicians. And that fact seems to be frustrating to some folks.”
Libertarian: Stop Sucking the Fun Out of Soccer
American continues to resist falling under the sway of soccer in part because, as Lenore Skenazy has discovered, we were creating “soccer robots.” Carlo Celli and Nathan Richardson, both soccer coaches for three decades, discovered that free play, not intensely coached practices, work far better to light the spark of soccer in youngsters. They were inspired by Pelé, the soccer great who grew up without shoes or a field: “when kids play on streets rather than grass, the game is faster. Their reflexes get quicker. Same thing when they play with a bunch of different-sized balls or in a smaller space.” But most important is that, “without coaches yelling and a trophy on the line, kids are free to improvise, just like Pelé.”
From the right: UCLA’s Insane Identity-Politics Pledge
All new faculty applicants to UCLA will have to document their contributions to “equity, diversity and inclusion.” At the Los Angeles Times, Heather Mac Donald warns about the effect on scholarship of elevating identity politics over science: “Unlocking the secrets of nature is challenge enough; scientists (and other faculty) should not also be tasked with a ‘social justice’ mission.” And that’s just the tip of the “bureaucratic diversity iceberg. In 2015, UCLA created a vice chancellorship for equity, diversity and inclusion, funded at $4.3 million, according to figures published by the Millennial Review in 2017.” It’s unnecessary; such “bureaucratic sinecures are premised on the idea that UCLA is rife with discrimination,” yet “UCLA and the University of California are among the most tolerant, welcoming environments in human history for all races, ethnicities and genders.”
Education writer: Focus on Kids’ Process, Not Grades
For the last five years, Jessica Lahey has asked students if they genuinely think their parents love them more when they get good grades and less if they get bad grades. “Among middle-school children, about 80 percent believe that, yes, their parents truly love them more when they deliver high grades and less when they make low ones,” Lahey writes in The Washington Post. “In high school, the average is a little higher — about 90 percent.” So how should parents respond to news of grades? They should focus on the process that led to the grade, not the result: “How did they prepare for the assessment or project? What might they do differently next time? What was successful, and what do they need to change?” This is “particularly helpful for highly anxious or perfectionist kids who tend to get derailed by their intense focus on outcomes.”
— Compiled by Seth Mandel
