If we created three kinds of tenure rather than one, we might see net gains in both research and teaching.
A research-only tenure track would be for professors who have the passion and talent for discovering knowledge, but lack the motivation or ability to teach well. This would allow them to do more groundbreaking studies and produce more patents, while sparing students the sorrow of shoddy courses.
Over the weekend, Secretary Kerry, addressing the status of what appear to be intensive peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, mentioned that the failure of the peace process could have disastrous consequences for both sides. With respect to Israel, Kerry said that it could expect increasing support for boycotts and an intensification of efforts to "deligitimiize" the Jewish State. The response from Netanyahu and other members of his Cabinet was to condemn Kerry for allegedly expressing support for boycotts. Of course, that's not what Kerry said.
I've edited this post because I decided that this is more newsworthy than the quotes by a troubled Roger Waters calling Scarlett Johanssen cute and Neil Young confused for not joining him in his efforts to boycott Israel. For those of you interested in Mr. Waters, you can read about him in the comment section below. Here's the news article about Waters that I linked to yesterday.
Secretary Kerry is supposed to release his framework for a final peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, and John Judis gives us a peek at what me might expect to come from Kerry. Worth a read if you're interested in this stuff, I think. I just downloaded it and look forward to reading it.
I love my wife Abby for about a million and one reasons, and that's only because I can't count much higher than that. But I'm so proud of her for helping to lead a charge on behalf of a bunch of parents with special needs kids in NYC and the absolutely horrible school bus situation our kids have been facing this year. Abby makes a cameo right in the beginning, where she says something like "it's been one disaster after another." And then my little Noa comes in at around 2:25 of the video and although I'm a bit biased I think she's gonna be a star :).
Yahir Lapid is Israel's Finance Minister and a key member of the coalition that Netanyahu formed after Israel's last election, and he's publicly criticized Netanyahu for ordering Israeli diplomats to walk out on Rouhani's speech to the General Assembly:
This a bit lengthy but is both an excellent overview of Iranian history since WW II and probably the most thorough analysis I have read about the context in which President Rouhani, a man with clerical, revolutionary and administrative credentials, could move Iran in a new direction. Recommended and then some.
I would suspect that it is probably true that the president has privately corresponded with Rohani. I certainly hope it's true. There is a lot we don't know, and I trust the president to do what he can to improve our relationship with Iran.
The sanctions are crippling Iran economically and a major campaign theme of Rohani's was that he would put an end to them. The only way that happens is if Iran can truly convince the world that its nuclear program is not being pursued for anything other than peaceful reasons.
I have privately shared this article that I co-authored with a management labor attorney for the ABA on the state of the NLRB. I offer it for your perusal and consideration of the challenges that President Obama has had in enforcing basic protections for American working people.
