Rally for Palestine this Saturday
C’est Lavoie: This is the Way
There will be a Molinari/C4SS presence at the 10th annual PPE Society meeting, 12-14 November 2026, at the Westin New Orleans (100 Iberville St.).
I’ve organised a panel on “The Intellectual Legacy of Don Lavoie.” We’re in the very first session of the conference: Thursday, 12 November 2026, 9:00-10:30 a.m. (Central time) in River Room II.
The panel features Cory Massimino (C4SS) on “National Economic Planning: What is Right?” and Nathan Goodman (Mercatus; co-authoring with Molly Rovinski and Karla Segovia) on “Immigration Restrictions as Non-Comprehensive Planning.”
Zak Woodman was also scheduled to speak at the panel, on “Ratcheting Up State Power: The Knowledge Problem, the Power Problem, and Legibility,” but will probably not be able to make it.
(This is not to be confused with the panel on the same topic at last month’s Mercatus Markets & Society conference, organised by Nathan Goodman and featuring Jason Byas, Akiva Malamet, and again Cory Massimino.)
Jason Byas, currently in his first year as Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Political Economy at Tulane, is also on the program; he’ll be speaking in a panel on “Anarchism as a Practical Philosophy,” Friday, 13 November 2026, 9:00-10:30 a.m. (Central time) in the Salon Room. Jason’s fellow panelists are Jesse Spafford, Jessica Flanigan, and Billy Christmas.
Laissez les bons temps faire!
Adventures at Old Nassau (2)
Linda McMahon, Divestment, and the Strange Discrepancies of Christopher Eisgruber
As I was saying in my last post in this series, I happened to attend yesterday’s meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC), presided over (intuitively enough), by Christopher Eisgruber, the President of Princeton University. About twenty minutes into the meeting, right on schedule, President Eisgruber raised agenda item #4 from the “Government Affairs Update“: “Letter from the Department of Education to Universities.” This was a letter, dated August 6, 2026, from Linda E. McMahon, United States Secretary of Education. Here is a three page PDF of the letter.
Continue readingAdventures at Old Nassau (1)
I went to Princeton, I’ve taught at Princeton, I’ve lived in Princeton, and I spend time at Princeton almost every day of the week, but it’s only belatedly occurred to me what a ridiculous place it is. I had not, 39 years after matriculating at Princeton and 35 after graduating, ever learned the words or melody of “Old Nassau,” the University’s theme song (or whatever you call it), so I decided five minutes ago to look them up.
Continue readingBlue Knaves
If the Democrats are so ferociously opposed to Trump, why have they left it to a Republican to force the issue of impeaching Hegseth? Could it be that they’re more ferociously opposed to Trump than to his war?
Marching for Justice in the Oranges
Though I split my time between Princeton and West Orange, I regret that due to scheduling issues and not having a car, I often end up missing activist events in West Orange. I’m making it a New Year’s resolution for 2027 to change that.
Given that, I’ve deeply regretted missing–but have been very pleased to see–Cosecha New Jersey’s impressive anti-ICE march today from West Orange Town Hall through Orange and East Orange. Here’s to many more such marches.
Continue readingPermits and Protests Redux
I’m pleased to mention that a shorter and somewhat revised version of my October 18 post, “Whose Streets?”–on the supposed need for permits for street protest–has been published in TapInto Princeton. Thanks to editor Richard Rein for the invite.
Author Sireen Sawalha and activist Gina Hsu at Newark Airport, Oct. 31, 2026. Gina was arrested and deported from the West Bank along with thirteen other activists for the “crime” of harvesting olives on private land without a permit.
Incidentally, our next rally for Palestine and against the Iran War will take place at 2 pm on Saturday, November 14, starting on Nassau St at Palmer Square. We don’t have a permit, and don’t intend to get one.
“Amidst The Wreckage of Neoconservatism” (1 of 4)
I recently attended a webinar, “Amidst the Wreckage of Neoconservatism: Jewish Progressives and the American National Interest,” organized by The Forum for Critical Jewish Thought (FCJT). The speakers were Suzanne Schneider, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research; Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Adviser under President Obama; and Eliyahu Stern, Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies at Yale. (The discussion was moderated by Ezra Tzfadya.)
I enjoyed the conversation, and agreed with a great deal of what Schneider and Rhodes had to say, but in what follows, I want to lay out some criticisms of all three speakers’ presentations. I’ll devote one post to each speaker, starting with Schneider, and end by describing a problematic common to all three.
Continue readingQuestion Time for Nassau Hall
After two delays due to work conflicts, I’ve finally decided to take time off from work to attend the November 9 meeting of the Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) this Monday. The gist of my question: The University refuses to disclose the nature of its investments in military matters, and claims the prerogative to refuse to disclose unless nearly impossible conditions are met. Meanwhile, it asks alumni to “stand up” for it against attacks by the Trump Administration. It seems an illegitimate demand. How can the University ask us to “stand up” for it when it refuses to disclose what it stands for?
Standing up for disclosure, dissociation, and divestment, New York Marriott Marquis, April 16, 2026 (photo: Rabbi Gil Steinlauf)
Blue Water, White Death
Now that the Democrats have won the midterms, there are no excuses left for failing to end the Iran War. Nothing should stop them from getting started today. How about we skip the Blue Wave self-celebration and get to it?
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