Longer Step: Ideas for Justice and Sustainability

  My friend is inclined to not let her daughter apply to Vanderbilt, because of the risk she might get pregnant in Tennessee. Wow. This could hurt Duke, UT Austin, Washington University St Louis, Emory and other good southern schools as well. When I attended Vanderbilt, one of the best parts of it was meeting students from all over the country and the world. When we lose geographic diversity in our universities, we lose a lot. All because of idiocy and hatred in state legislatures. It's another form of a war against education. (photo credit: Shutterstock)

 Regarding Trump's request for a Special Master, in the feds' investigation of his illegally keeping Top Secret records at his home after he was no longer President: I heard legal experts say no one else in the US (including other past Presidents) would've gotten a Special Master at this point (primarily because there've been no charges yet filed vs Trump, and he will get his personal property back, and he could ask the trial judge to advise on the (bogus) Executive Privilege claims, so there is no need for a S.M.). I suspect the judge appointed the S.M. for mostly-political reasons, because it will take a little heat off of her, from the Trump side, and will make the eventual outcome look a bit more fair to the Right. Judges are people; they think about things like "appearances" and "how to minimize the chances of having a bomb put in my car." But in the end, this will only cause delay, which is Mr. Trump's consistent legal strategy throughout...