Whiteness, white privilege and white supremacy are now part of the conversation on race – what does it mean for white people.
12 October 2019
BBC4 Analysis: The Problem with Boys
By almost any measure of school related performance girls do better than boys. Fewer boys are going to university. Why is this happening and what can be done about it?
The Atlantic: The Conspiracy of Silence Is Cracking
As the week closes, however, something strange has happened. The White House hasn’t changed its stance, but witnesses employed by the executive branch are coming to testify to House committees anyway. On Friday, Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine who was recalled earlier this year, is giving a transcribed interview behind closed doors over State Department objections. Also on Friday, Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, signaled he would testify as well.
Suddenly the obstruction letter is looking a bit more like a Maginot letter: imposing in theory, impotent in practice. One of the leading narratives of the last three years has been that the guardrails thought to constrain the White House are not enforceable on a president with no shame. Yovanovitch and Sondland are illustrating a corollary: Trump’s insistence that his subordinates answer only to him is also unenforceable. A conspiracy of silence works only if people want to conspire. [...]
Motives aside, testimony from Sondland and Yovanovitch, like that of Volker, could influence future witnesses. The House has invited a slew of other current executive-branch employees to testify as well, including William Taylor, now the current top diplomat in Ukraine. In the messages Volker produced, Taylor seemed to be consciously creating a paper record of conversations. “Are we now saying that security assistance and WH meeting are conditioned on investigations?” he said in one message. Later, Taylor wrote, “I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign.” Whether these officials testify will help determine whether a dam is breaking or some water has merely spilled over the top.
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