The CHIPS act (which was sadly bipartisan) and also the Inflation Reduction Act showered all universities with billions and billions of dollars for research.

The CHIPS act was supposed to bolster the US semiconductor market share. But I think that was the wrong way to do it. We should've done another Operation Paperclip at much cheaper.

In short, research isn't "free."

It requires new buildings, new equipment, technicians, overhead.

So you have universities raking in the money and yet unable to keep up with operating expenses. And students get hurt most of all.

This is one in a series of articles.

This is the first in a series of articles I've been working on with the wonderful journalists at @thecentersquare about the ballooning costs of universities even amidst unprecedented federal funding windfalls.

Colleges got windfalls in research funding, but research remained a similar share of their budgets. That money inflated other costs across the board.

You have to look at the overall operating expenses per student, see it's out of control, and say "enough."

Hello Senator Schiff,

Oh, really? I have a very different interpretation of these "chilling words." Let's break down Sotomayor's words sentence by sentence.

"The rule of law is not a given in this Nation, nor any other."
→ Translation: People can't be trusted to uphold the system on their own, so unelected elites have to step in and control it for them.

"It is a precept of our democracy that will endure only if those brave enough in every branch fight for its survival."
→ Translation: Our version of democracy only survives if unelected bureaucrats and judges are willing to override democratic outcomes in the name of preserving the system.

"Today, the Court abdicates its vital role in that effort."
→ Translation: The Court didn’t rubber-stamp our preferred policy mechanism of unilateral nationwide injunctions, and that's unacceptable because we expect the judiciary to act as our firewall against the will of the electorate.

"With the stroke of a pen, the President has made a 'solemn mockery' of our Constitution..."
→ Translation: We don’t like what the elected executive did, so we're invoking moral hyperbole to frame it as illegitimate... not because it's unconstitutional, but because it violates our ideological expectations.

"Rather than stand firm, the Court gives way."
→ Translation: The Court didn't act as a political veto for the Swamp, and that's cowardice.

"Because such complicity should know no place in our system of law, I dissent."
→ Translation: Any refusal to resist the current administration is complicity with authoritarianism, and I'm going to signal my moral superiority for the record.

https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1938812639699968121?t=S1YTJ9cJCusFP2zdxBahBQ&s=19
Last post for a Friday night.

People ask me how I do it as a Deaf, nonspeaking (been told that nonverbal is incorrect but whatever) woman.

Let me share a dirty secret nobody will tell you. We are all human beings with souls, and we will be made equal in Heaven. We are all free to praise and criticize each other as each of us sees fit. Handicap, race, gender, etc matter nothing.

And it matters nothing to the left-wing, either. Witness how they cry racism when KBJ criticism is involved but love criticizing Thomas.

You only need the courage to believe in your convictions enough that you tell everyone else to flip off, as demonstrated by our Vice President.

The second in the series of articles I've been working on with @thecentersquare dives into UPenn about how increased research dollars drive up operating expenses. Recent awards include:

• $1.7 million for evaluating the influence of a beverage tax on health outcomes;

• $446,460 for developing scalable online professional development for expanding computer science teacher expertise in equity and pedagogy with e-textiles;

• $446,545 for studying how genetic ancestry testing affects perceptions of race.

The increased dollars and diversity of research awards mean added infrastructure, added technicians, added equipment, added bureaucracy.

So while universities never had so many federal dollars, they never had so many expenses, either. And they are passing those costs onto students.

T̵o̵d̵a̵y̵'̵s̵ EDIT: The previously scheduled (now delayed) National March on Washington is financed by ANSWER Coalition, which is Neville Singham's financing front. As a reminder, Singham lives in Shanghai and is under investigation for FARA violations in acting as a state agent of China.

The flyer lists the usual groups affiliated with the ANSWER Coalition: Palestine Youth Movement, The People's Forum, CODEPINK, and others.

Interestingly, the Democratic Socialists of America are listed with these groups. That is Mamdani's affiliation.

If Singham is also associated with DSA financially, that will become interesting.

What this means is that the parliamentarian was never an obstacle to passing the Big Beautiful Bill. Just two months ago, Thune overrode that same parliamentarian on a different bill.

The parliamentarian is a mere scapegoat.

Thune and the Senate Republicans voted to override the parliamentarian on May 21, 2025 to repeal California's EV mandate.