June 12, 2025

by Marybeth O’Mara

Every week now feels awful and jam-packed with news, and this week has not only not been a respite, but has, in many ways, felt more jam-packed and more awful.

After publishing last week’s newsletter, I gleefully watched BlueSky as Elon Musk and Donald Trump escalated their falling out with a frantic series of posts in which they threatened each other’s effectiveness at rooting out waste and inefficiency (this went both ways), the expense of the Big Beautiful tax Bill (Musk to Trump), government contracts (Trump to Musk), reputation in Jeffrey Epstein’s files (Musk to Trump), reputation around drug abuse (Trump to Musk), and more. At least several dozen tweets and Truths were posted and replied to (and re-posted, and commented on) and the spat dominated the news cycle for a couple of days. It was fun to follow, but as with all things and all timelines Trump, it was soon overshadowed by more—and more threatening—news.

June 4, 2025

by Marybeth O’Mara

The attack on higher education continues, and it is not just Harvard at risk. Today’s Chicago Sun Times front page was about University of Illinois’s fears that their very large population of foreign students will not be able to continue studying there. U of I has the distinction of having the second largest number of international students of all public universities in the United States. As is the case with nearly all international students in US colleges, they pay full tuition, which helps provide funds to supplement US citizen students through more generous financial aid packages than would be available without those tuition payments. In the near future, US-born students and their families will find out just how much this full-paying cohort has helped their own college affordability, as schools will need to modify their aid letters this summer, as the Trump administration tries more and more strategies to stop foreign students from attending universities in the US, whether private (like Harvard) or public (like U of I). The practical impact is likely to REDUCE the number of American-born students who can attend college in the near future, rather than make more spots available to “homegrown” students.

According to her April 15 column in the Washington Post, Catherine Rampell writes that higher education is one of the industries that runs a trade SURPLUS larger than those of natural gas and coal combined! The US hosts three times as many international students as US students studying abroad. The trade surplus from higher education is larger than that from agricultural products or civilian aircraft. It is an important sector of our economy, one which Trump seems determined to damage, perhaps beyond repair.

May 28, 2025

by Marybeth O’Mara

Eight US presidents. Four current Supreme Court justices. Thirty sitting Congressional Representatives. Twelve sitting US Senators. Countless diplomats, CEOs, Cabinet nominees, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, scientists. What do these all have in common? They all attended Harvard University for undergraduate and/or advanced degrees, which contributes to Harvard’s outsized influence in the world beyond education, including politics, government, science, diplomacy, journalism, and more.

Since the end of World War II, the federal government has heavily invested in research in environmental, health, and tech developments and innovations. Rather than create duplicate research arms, the federal model has long contracted with universities to conduct and publish research on a huge variety of topics. The US government gets to access and coordinate findings from different studies in order to craft policy solutions, based on high-level research conducted by professionals. This has been an effective—and efficient—model for several generations. The government (and its citizens) get to use research results from publicly-funded studies, while the government does not need to build its own research facilities and hire its own scientists and experts to conduct and interpret research on issues that affect large chunks of the US population. Universities bid for these research contracts, in a standardized competitive bid system in which they must verify that they have the facilities and personnel to conduct the research and adhere to government-dictated ethics and disclosure requirements. Much of this research is coordinated through the US National Science Foundation, itself under attack by DOGE and the White House. Harvard is just one cog in this system of cooperation, albeit a very large cog. If this system has worked well, why is Trump attacking Harvard now?

Week 15: Ooh La La!

May 14, 2025

by Marybeth O’Mara

I have just returned from 2 weeks in France (with a kick start in London) and I have some observations.

May 7, 2025 By Marybeth O’Mara As members of the College of Cardinals gather today in Rome to deliberate and elect a new Pope, I hope they are much more deeply touched by the life and teachings of Francis than they are by the White House’s AI rendering of our twice-divorced, needlessly cruel, and recklessly immoral President as Pope that was posted this weekend. Clickbait all the way, just to own the libs, right?

Anyway, I am still in a place that makes it too difficult for me to navigate the internet, my platform, and my source information all at once, so I am taking (and enjoying!) a break this week, and will return next week.

You take a break, too, and we will connect again soon. Thanks!

by Marybeth O’Mara I have a lot going on (and some tech challenges) and will post a full newsletter issue later, but I wanted to remind you that Thursday, May 1 is MayDay, and there are mass mobilizations, rallies, and marches planned, on a scale similar to April 5th. Take the advice of Illinois Gov. JD Pritzker https://youtu.be/sY2Mccqf-r4?si=sspRiAa8n2OksNHc (and make your voice heard) and join a protest tomorrow-or in some cases, this weekend. Check your zip code and join the resistance NOW!

Indivisible https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/776557/

04/23/2025

Week 12: Okay, let’s DO something!

by Marybeth O’Mara

by Marybeth O’Mara

04-19-2025

Are you feeling stuck? I am. 

The last 100 days have been such a firehouse of awfulness that I am having a hard time choosing what to focus on. Digital security? Immigrant deportations? Unlawful firing of federal employees? Defunding of the departments of education and state and health and human services? Labeling workers as deceased so they cannot access the government benefits to which they are entitled? Targeting universities for cultural changes by withholding vast amounts of contracted dollars? Defying court orders? Escalating attacks on trans and other LGBTQ folks? House approval for the SAVE Act to reduce voting access? There is just so much. 

by Marybeth O’Mara

April 9, 2025

What a week! There have been some ups (several million people participated in Hands Off rallies and protests) and some downs (insane tariffs have led to market volatility and the loss of trillions of dollars in US wealth.)

For those attending protests this weekend

_{by Marybeth O’Mara}

_{April 4, 2025}

If you are attending tomorrow’s Hands Off protests/marches/rallies, please remember to keep yourself safe. Here are some things I have come across to help—read before you go!

“This is NOT a left or right moment. It is a right or wrong moment.”

By Marybeth O’Mara
April 2, 2025

I have just watched the last couple of hours of Senator Cory Booker’s 25-hour-long speech on the Senate floor, during which he detailed abuses committed by this administration (and DOGE, under Elon Musk’s supervision), and he cited historical inspirations that have enabled a Black American to be a US Senator and to commandeer the Senate floor for just over twenty-five hours. He repeatedly cited, admired, and praised John Lewis, the civil rights activist and US Congressman who survived police beatings in the Selma March, and participated in nearly every notable civil rights campaign, including the Nashville sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and the March on Washington. Booker echoed Lewis’s call to “make good trouble.”

Week 9: “This is NOT a left or right moment. It is a right or wrong moment.”

By Marybeth O’Mara
April 2, 2025

I have just watched the last couple of hours of Senator Cory Booker’s 25-hour-long speech on the Senate floor, during which he detailed abuses committed by this administration (and DOGE, under Elon Musk’s supervision), and he cited historical inspirations that have enabled a Black American to be a US Senator and to commandeer the Senate floor for just over twenty-five hours. He repeatedly cited, admired, and praised John Lewis, the civil rights activist and US Congressman who survived police beatings in the Selma March, and participated in nearly every notable civil rights campaign, including the Nashville sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, and the March on Washington. Booker echoed Lewis’s call to “make good trouble.”

by Marybeth O’Mara

03/26/2025

Please note: The Council of Crones website has some new features!

by Marybeth O’Mara

03/19/2025

Well, I am glad I waited a week to tackle the courts’ response to the Trump administration and DOGE shenanigans, because a LOT happened this week, and we seem to be in a genuine constitutional crisis. 

First of all, there have been at least 129 cases filed in federal courts around the country against actions taken by the Trump administration, and while the pace of legal action is typically sloooow, there actually has been some surprisingly quick (for the courts) action taken by judges of all political stripes and backgrounds.  The New York Times reports, “As of March 15, at least 46 of those rulings have at least temporarily paused some of the president’s initiatives.”

_{by Marybeth O’Mara}

_{March 14, 2025}

by Marybeth O’Mara

March 5, 2025

Every week feels like a year, doesn’t it? It has been just six weeks since this administration began, and it has been a wild ride. Only 200 more weeks to go!

The pace of the chaos is a reminder to me to take care of myself and the people I care about. Even though the pace has been frenetic and speedy, this will last a while and we need to treat it as a marathon, not a sprint. Here are some things I am finding helpful to stay (at least somewhat) balanced these days. While I had already started my own list of ideas that give me pleasure, courage, or respite, I was inspired by Chauncey Devega’s piece in Salon last week: “ Saving democracy takes practice: Practical skills you need to survive Trump's second term. https://www.salon.com/2025/02/28/saving-democracy-takes-practice-practical-skills-you-need-to-survive-second-term/

Week 4: What does resisting look like to you?

First, welcome to all new subscribers! We are happy to have you with us!

Well, here we are in Week 6 of this administration and it has been a wild ride. With the lengthening of the days, and the weather warming up, I for one, am feeling like I need to DO something. How about you? Here are a few possibilities.

This Friday is the One-Day Economic Blackout that I referenced in last week’s newsletter. If you decide to participate, do your non-essential shopping on Thursday or Saturday, and try to avoid purchases on Friday, especially from Amazon, big box stores, fast food restaurants, and gas stations. Go to the library instead!

Week 3: Civil Disobedience, Economic Version

What can I do?

This week, I want to focus on using our dollars to send a message (or more than one message) to the businesses that support the causes I support as well as to those that act in opposition to my values. I do not understand why this form of protest (economic boycott) has fallen into disfavor in recent years–we know that it has been an essential part of successful protest movements in the past. 

We all remember that it was part of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s and 1960’s, right? The Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama in 1955-56 lasted 13 months, stripped the regional public transit authority of thousands of dollars per day, and ended with a US Supreme Court decision declaring bus segregation unconstitutional. The success of the Montgomery bus boycott led to the embrace of other economic boycotts by civil rights leaders, including business boycotts in Nashville and Birmingham in the early 1960’s. 

The pace of change in these past few weeks (just 23 days since the Inauguration!) has been dizzying and multi-frontal. So far, the courts are doing their part and are acting with unusual urgency befitting this moment, but we do not know how this will turn out. We do not even know whether the administration will comply with court rulings, which would be a significant, possibly irreversible, escalation of this constitutional crisis. 

So what can we do?

Get informed and stay informed.

On Wednesday, November 6, the day after the election, I posted the following on Facebook:  

“Stunned. Terrified. Resolved.

There is a lot  to learn from people who have lived through terrible times—the Cold War in Eurasia, Jim Crow in the South, juntas and dictators in Central and South America, the Great Leap Forward in China, and many more. So, for a few days I need to sit with this and figure out where to invest time and treasure to help those without the privilege I have, and then get to work again. What else is there?”

So now, in a new year, with this new administration in power, it’s time to start. Announcing: A Council of Crones!