Many years ago, I had the pleasure of speaking at Tsinghua University, considered one of the best educational institutions in China. I was impressed as faculty at the university struggled to remain intellectually active under the repressive controls of the Communist regime. It is a perilous existence as academics fear that they will write anything that annoys the government. Now, one of the best known law professors in China, Xu Zhangrun, has been arrested. Xu predicted the crackdown after he recently wrote a piece criticizing the government’s response to the coronavirus. His colleagues have been forced into silence at the risk of their own arrest. The arrest comes at a time when many are concerned about the loss of free speech in this country, not by the government but private companies and universities. I have chastised faculty around the country for their silence in the face of the increasing intolerance for opposing views on campuses and actions against professors raising dissenting views of the current protests. Indeed, many have joined in the call for such punitive measures. Xu is an example of the courage that academics in places like China have shown in the face of imminent threats to their liberty and even their lives.
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The problem with never admitting a mistake as President is that it requires others to defend it no matter how indefensible. That is the problem with declaring that
Below is my column in The Hill on the increasingly common rationalization that looting and property damage is a long-standing tradition first embraced by the Sons of Liberty in the Boston Tea Party. That historical analogy was very popular in the days before the Fourth of July. A professor made the comparison
There is a controversy raging at the University of Cambridge after English professor Priyamvada Gopal posted a June 23rd tweet that “White Lives Don’t Matter.” Thousands signed a petition to have Gopal fired but 


The Fourth is one of my favorite holidays as a time when citizens should put aside our differences and focus on the freedoms that unite us. After weeks of protests and calls for reform, there is much that must be done to heal this country. However, the American Republic was always meant to be a work in progress. We have the ability to change our society but our constitutional system remains the greatest vehicle of justice and equality in the world. This holiday unfortunately shows how our differences threaten to overwhelm our common article of faith in this representative democracy. There is more than unites us than divides us and this holiday is a reminder of that transcendent fact. Many of us will join today to celebrate these United States and its history and values. My family will celebrate with a cookout and, of course, lots and lots of fireworks.
We have been discussing
There is a truly bizarre criminal case out of South Beach in Miami. Nachem Gross, 72, is charged with aggravated battery for an attack on Gerald Steiglitz, 86, in an elevator. Putting aside the fact that both are elderly, the battery was an effort of Gross to maintain social distancing to avoid Covid-19. 
We 
We have been discussing the