Commentary

At the end of April, members of the Hopkins Justice Collective created an encampment at the bottom of what is known on campus as The Beach, the large grassy area in front of the Johns Hopkins library, in protest of the Israeli military action in Gaza and Hopkins’ investment policies. On May 11, faculty and protesters worked out an agreement that saw the protesters potentially gain ground on divestment.

Earlier this year, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin came under scrutiny and was subjected to an abrasive and intrusive congressional hearing for, in part, having received treatment for prostate cancer while serving in his professional role. What struck me most about the hearings was what wasn’t discussed — that this person had a health issue and needed to take time off from work to address it.

As a journalist, I don’t publicly confirm my voting history for reasons of professional ethics — even though a lot of people on X assume they know when they call me a leftist and a commie. I will, however, confirm that my decision as a Black woman will not be determined by any candidate’s sudden status as a convicted felon. In fact, I’m more likely not to vote for that person. I am not a felon, nor are most of the people I know.

There’s clearly been an outbreak of performative politics of late — from the strident reaction of Donald Trump’s supporters to his conviction last week in the hush money case to Monday’s grilling of Dr. Anthony Fauci by a Republican-led House subcommittee clearly more intent on vilifying the infectious disease expert than on drawing lessons that might better inform the U.S. response to the next pandemic.

Donald Trump might fulminate about undesirable immigrants, promising to put them in concentration camps before expelling them wholesale. Britain’s Conservatives might try to send planeloads to Rwanda. Voters across Western Europe might be flocking to populist nationalist parties promising to protect the Volk from foreign intruders. But in a decade or two, all these countries will be embroiled in fierce competition to attract as many immigrants as they can.

The civil unrest that played out at our elite universities this spring grabbed attention. But just as alarming as the historic shift toward embracing the terror organization Hamas over U.S. ally Israel is the fact that you, the U.S. taxpayer is likely paying for it.  An analysis by OpenTheBooks.com, an organization I founded and lead, shows that many top American schools now receive more federal research dollars than they do funds from undergraduate tuition.