The shame of Columbia University

In surrendering to Trump, it's opening all universities to Trump's tyranny

Robert Reich Mar 22

Friends,

If you give in to extortionists, they’ll extort you and others for more. If you let bullies get their way, those bullies will bully you and others even more menacingly.

Which brings me to Columbia University’s president and trustees, who today surrendered the university’s academic freedom to the Trump regime.

Trump threatened to cancel $400 million in federal funding if Columbia didn’t put its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department in “academic receivership.”

Columbia has now agreed to appoint a senior vice provost to oversee the department.

A cornerstone of academic freedom is that professors can research and teach what they want. Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.

Trump also demanded that Columbia ban the wearing of face masks, so that protesters can be more easily identified. Columbia has agreed to do this, too.

But don’t Columbia students and faculty have a right under the First Amendment to hide their faces while demonstrating? Trump’s obvious goal is to intimidate protesters.

In fact, it’s all about intimidation — not only at Columbia but at every other university in America. Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan and dozens of other schools face federal inquiries and fear similar penalties.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking this is just about Trump wanting to protect Jewish students from expressions of antisemitism.

It’s about the Trump regime wanting to impose all sorts of values on American higher education.

This week, the Trump regime also targeted the University of Pennsylvania, threatening to cancel $175 million in federal funding, at least partly because the university allowed a transgender woman to participate on a women’s swim team.

What about the rights of that transgender woman to be free from harassment and intimidation?

The Trump regime is also targeting diversity efforts at universities.

I’m ashamed to say that my university, the University of California, has surrendered on that issue — conceding on Wednesday that it will stop using diversity statements in hiring, statements that simply ask job applicants to describe in a page how they would contribute to campus diversity.

What’s next? Trump demanding that political science departments hire an equal number of registered Republican and Democratic professors? That sociology departments ban the teaching and study of Karl Marx? That law schools offer courses on the efficiency of dictatorships?

Once we start down this road there’s no stopping. Today, Columbia University’s president and trustees established a perilous precedent, which opens the doors of all academic institutions to wanton tyranny.

There’s not even a guarantee that Columbia’s concessions will be enough to get back the federal funding. (The Trump regime told the university that meeting its demands was “a precondition for formal negotiations” over continued funding.)

The worst irony here is that the reason Congress appropriates federal funding to our universities is to facilitate academic research and freedom, not to give a demagogic president tools to stifle that freedom.

Shame on Trump. Shame on Columbia.

White House could target any recipient of federal funds, including K-12 public schools, hospitals, nursing homes and business initiatives.

Jon Stewart Smashes the Myth of Corporate Morality in Pride, BLM, and Beyond | The Daily Show

 

#DailyShow #Pride #Diversity

It’s Pride Month! While some corporations like Target are hiding their pride for the sake of loud conservatives, others are doing everything they can to virtue signal to consumers. Jon Stewart rips off the mask of corporate “values” and examines how corporations will perform caring about issues like DEI, climate change, or patriotism, as long as it means bigger profits, and how quickly they backtrack on those moral stands when it no longer suits their bottom line. #DailyShow #Pride #Diversity #Target Subscribe to The Daily Show:    / @thedailyshow   Follow The Daily Show: Twitter:   / thedailyshow   Facebook:   / thedailyshow   Instagram:   / thedailyshow   Stream full episodes of The Daily Show on Paramount+: http://www.paramountplus.com/?ftag=PP... Follow Comedy Central: Twitter:   / comedycentral   Facebook:   / comedycentral   Instagram:   / comedycentral   Watch full episodes of The Daily Show: https://www.cc.com/shows/the-daily-show About The Daily Show: Jon Stewart and The Best F**king News Team host The Daily Show, an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning program analyzing the biggest stories in news, politics, and culture through a sharp, satirical lens. The Daily Show redefined the late night show category on TV and, with an audience of over 51M across social media platforms, has become a launching pad for some of the biggest stars in entertainment. The Daily Show airs weeknights at 11/10c on Comedy Central.

POLITICO NIGHTLY: Biden’s slow start

BY SAM STEIN Presented by With help from Renuka Rayasam and Tyler Weyant TIME KEEPS ON SLIPPING — For the past few weeks, Democrats have comforted themselves about the slow clip of Joe Biden’s cabinet confirmations by noting he was on track to get all of his nominees confirmed. That solace now appears misplaced with Neera Tanden’s prospects of heading the Office of Management and Budget looking increasingly bleak. Alongside that vacuum has come a new wave of anxiety over the pace at which Biden’s presidency is going. As my colleagues at Transition Playbook (seriously, sign the hell up, people!) noted, just nine Biden cabinet nominees have been confirmed so far (two today!), compared to 14 for Donald Trump at the same point in his presidency and 15 for Barack Obama. Biden compares poorly by other measures, too. Obama had signed a signature bill into law (the Lilly Ledbetter Act) before February; Biden signed one too, of slightly lesser reach : a waiver to allow his Pentagon chief to serve. Obama’s stimulus package was passed on Feb. 17; Biden’s Covid relief bill is on track to reach his desk by March 14. Obama delivered a speech before a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24; Biden is unlikely to deliver one until March. Even Biden’s address before the Munich Security Conference came later than his first Obama era one — Feb. 7 back then, Feb. 19 this year. For Democrats rooting for Biden to be a successful president, this is not a cause for concern … yet. Biden’s operating with different variables than Obama was. His party didn’t get control of the Senate — that pesky little thing — until early January after the Georgia runoffs. And because Democrats have such a slim majority, they chose to use reconciliation to pass his Covid relief bill, which meant the process would move slowly. Then there were the misadventures of Trump, whose administration delayed the transition process as long as politically tenable, and who got himself impeached once more before leaving office. That too took up more time in the Senate. The fate of Biden’s presidency, in short, has often not been in his control. When it has been, he’s moved swiftly, including a blitz of executive actions that’s dwarfed anything Obama did. But we’re past that phase now. As seen on a TV screen, President Joe Biden participates in a virtual roundtable with Black essential workers in the South Court Auditorium of the New Executive Building adjacent to the White House. | Getty Images Some Democrats are growing antsy — even inside the White House, it seems. Biden’s senior adviser, Mike Donilon wrote a “memo” last week titled “The Cost of the GOP’s Partisanship.” At a scant 419 words, it was technically written for senior White House staff but was really meant for media consumption. And while formally a broadside against Republican obstruction, it also was an attempt to reassure the left that Biden recognized the perils of stagnation. “The Bottom Line,” read the closing argument, “The country is looking for action.” A day after Donilon’s memo dropped, a coalition of progressive groups put out a media-gambit memo of their own, making the case for more political urgency by noting that there were precious few legislative session days (32 at the time) remaining in the Senate before Biden’s 100-day mark was reached. Time is a precious commodity in politics. The further away you get from one election, the closer you get to another. Political calculations begin to change. Legislating becomes more complicated, then harder, then nearly impossible. Personnel is a precious commodity, too. Inside the Biden White House, there is a firm belief that having capable people in key places is a vastly underappreciated component of governance. White House chief of staff Ron Klain has touted Michael Lewis’ book The Fifth Risk , which makes this very point. And yet, a month into office, Biden faces twin crises — the Covid pandemic and the school closings resulting from it — without a confirmed Education or HHS secretary. “I’m worried about the pace,” Adam Jentleson, a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), told me. The speed of confirmations and legislation could quicken. There is, among advocates, an expectation that the White House will soon make an aggressive play to fill whatever vacant judicial seats there are left over from the Trump years. And while Tanden’s confirmation has hit the rocks, a host of nominees will soon get hearings and votes. But there are also darker scenarios to consider, involving the type of unexpected tragedy that few speak about openly but which loom as potential impediments to progress. It’s not just a foreign crisis, or a new Covid variant, or an act of terror that could overwhelm the presidency, but also a bout of sickness that could turn the Senate majority into a minority and bring Biden’s agenda to a halt. “Patrick Leahy went to the hospital three weeks ago,” Jentleson said. “I don’t want to be morbid here. But millions of people’s lives are hanging in the balance and you have to factor into your planning that your majority hangs in the balance by the health of 50 individuals, some of whom are getting up there in age. Some have Democratic governors and it is less of an issue. But others don’t.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news and tips at sstein@politico.com and rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @samstein and @renurayasam. A message from the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA): Our current rebate system is broken. Ensuring discounts are passed on to patients will lower out-of-pocket costs, improve adherence, and address health disparities. The National Hispanic Council on Aging is urging the Biden Administration to support patients and move forward with rebate reform. Learn more.   FIRST IN NIGHTLY FRONTLINES OF THE VOTING BATTLE — Trump transformed these once-obscure officials into either the enemies — or the saviors, as most would have it — of American democracy. Now, the office of secretary of state is becoming the next major arena of nationwide political combat , campaigns reporter Zach Montellaro writes. Sitting secretaries and political groups are preparing for a major flood of candidates, money and attention into campaigns for the newly prominent positions in 2022. Voting rules have become a bigger cause for both political parties, and coronavirus-fueled election changes and Trump’s conspiracy theories turned secretaries of state into key characters in the presidential election. The biggest battleground is likely to be Georgia, where Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is set to face dual challenges after Trump targeted him for certifying Biden’s victory there. Democrats are eager to take control of state election administration in Georgia, which has for years been at the center of national debates about voter suppression. But first, Raffensperger may see Trump endorse a primary opponent out of retribution for perceived slights. “This will be a true test of where the Republican Party is going,” said Jordan Fuchs, who ran Raffensperger’s 2018 campaign and is now deputy secretary of state in Georgia. “There’s some growing pains now that Trump is not the leader of the Republican Party. And these primary elections are going to be defining for us for a very long time.”   NEW - “THE RECAST” NEWSLETTER: Power dynamics are changing. “Influence” is changing. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. “The Recast” is our new twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. And POLITICO is recasting how we report on this crucial intersection, bringing you fresh insights, scoops, dispatches from across the country and new voices that challenge “business as usual.” Don’t miss out on this important new newsletter, SUBSCRIBE NOW. Thank you to our sponsor, Intel.     WHAT'D I MISS? — Capitol security officials in charge Jan. 6 blame Pentagon, intel failures: The quartet of top officials responsible for security during last month’s insurrection blamed “intelligence failures” and senior Pentagon officials for leaving them unprepared for the “coordinated, military-style” attack on Congress. Their Senate testimony revealed a tangled mess of conflicting orders, missed calls and bureaucratic delays. But they all agreed on two critical points — that the Pentagon slow-walked National Guard backup and that federal intelligence authorities did not provide sufficient warnings of the attack. — Two more Cabinet members confirmed: Tom Vilsack will return as Agriculture secretary after a 92-7 Senate vote, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield heads to a crisis-plagued U.N. thanks to a 78-20 vote. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will support Merrick Garland’s nomination for attorney general, five years after blocking the judge’s path to the Supreme Court. — Biden considers executive actions on gun violence: The White House is weighing a number of gun safety proposals. But some activists are upset that after one month in office the administration has yet to set a firm timeline or provide specifics about its overarching plan. — Bloomberg 2020 aides find tax headaches: In recent weeks, aides to the former Democratic candidate started receiving tax forms that in some cases list incomes that are tens of thousands of dollars more than they were compensated in salary. The added amounts account for paid housing and other generous benefits they received last year, but the price tag is coming to many as an unwelcome surprise. Staffers raised concerns that the bloated gross incomes they have to declare in their taxes will cause them to lose out on a long list of government programs and benefits — from Obamacare subsidies to possible student loan debt forgiveness to the $1,400 checks Biden is proposing as the centerpiece of his coronavirus rescue package. FROM THE HEALTH DESK DAY CARE GERMS DOWN — If you are the parent of a small kid in day care, you are not imagining it: Your kid is getting sick a lot less. Respiratory illnesses like the flu and RSV, which is particularly deadly in infants, have been way down during the past year because of pandemic precautions, Cody Meissner, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Tufts Children’s Hospital, told Nightly’s Renuka Rayasam. Masks, distancing, hand-washing and wiping up surfaces that babies drool all over are definitely factors keeping day care germs at bay, Meissner said. It’s of course good that babies are staying out of the hospital. Adults can better handle some viruses, like the stomach flu, which is more likely to cause severe dehydration in little babies. But there is one downside to all the deep cleaning: It’s better to get some viruses earlier in life, Meissner said, because they are less lethal then. Covid is a good example. Plus he said that closed classrooms, while keeping illnesses down, is contributing to a rise in mental health problems in children, including a spike in suicides. “I think the damage from keeping kids out of school is much more worse,” he said. He is also worried that some parents are reluctant to take their kids to the doctor when they are sick. Still, Meissner hopes that some pandemic habits stick around to keep kids out of the hospital while keeping them in school. “When this pandemic passes, hopefully there will be a residue of what we have learned,” he said.       ASK THE AUDIENCE Nightly asks you: What moment marked the beginning of the pandemic for you? It could be a news event, or a personal recollection. Send your answer through our form , and we will use select responses in our Friday edition. AROUND THE NATION HOW TEXAS WENT DARK — Just after midnight on Feb. 15, the Texas grid went from “mostly OK” to “RED ALERT!” in the space of just over an hour. A deep cold froze gas plants and wind turbines, turned coal piles into a block of ice, and even drove a nuclear reactor offline, leaving the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which is responsible for most of the state, with nowhere near enough electricity to supply customers. Control room operators ordered utilities to start rolling blackouts in order to protect the system from long-term physical damage that would have plunged the state into darkness for months. Instead, ERCOT and utilities spent five days struggling to bring the system out of failure mode as people froze in their homes, pipes burst and food spoiled. The state is only now starting to deal with the fallout of the humanitarian crisis and several ERCOT board members have resigned. Patterson Clark and Eric Wolff tracks the power usage during the winter storm. Patterson Clark and Eric Wolff | POLITICO   HAPPENING WEDNESDAY - A PLAYBOOK INTERVIEW WITH REP. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY : Democrats clinched control of the House in November but did not achieve their expected gains making it trickier to push forward with President Joe Biden's agenda. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair, joins Playbook co-authors Rachael Bade and Eugene Daniels to discuss his plans for protecting Democrats' slim majority in 2022, lessons learned from the November campaign cycle, and the continued fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection. REGISTER HERE.     THE GLOBAL FIGHT VAX CRUNCH, THEN PRICE CRUNCH — Developing countries have found themselves in double jeopardy as they try to procure coronavirus vaccines: Not only are they having a hard time securing jabs as richer countries snap up production, but some are paying more as well, Carmen Paun and Ashleigh Furlong write. The richest nations are on track to end up with over one billion excess doses, an analysis from the ONE Campaign indicates. Such numbers have prompted World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to warn that small countries could “miss out on vaccines because they have less bargaining power than big countries.” Example A: The Oxford/AstraZeneca shot, meant to be the world’s saving grace. One of the first jabs on the market, it’s easy to transport and is being offered by the drugmaker at cost during the pandemic and at no profit in perpetuity for low-income countries. On the ground, however, publicly available figures reveal wealthy nations’ increased bargaining power — even during a global health crisis. Bangladesh, according to Reuters , is reportedly paying an average of $4 per dose via the Serum Institute of India — which is producing hundreds of millions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine — rather than the $3.50 that 27 European Union countries are charged for doses produced directly by the company. Meanwhile, South Africa handed over $5.25 per dose from the Serum Institute, same as the richer Saudi Arabia, according to UNICEF’s Covid-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard, which collects publicly reported price information. The U.S. is paying less than South Africa, around $4, directly to AstraZeneca. Brazil is paying $3.16 per dose through another producer, Fiocruz. NIGHTLY NUMBER 3 million The number of coronavirus vaccine doses the U.S. is on track to have available per day by April, according to numbers shared by major manufacturers in a congressional hearing today. PARTING WORDS OUR VERY WHITE, VERY MALE CAPITOLS — State legislatures around the country have made little progress in diversifying their ranks during the last decade, with many states losing ground in boosting the representation of people of color and white women. Even as the share of nonwhite Americans has grown, a POLITICO analysis of data from the National Conference of State Legislatures finds that most state legislatures are lacking in diversity, with nearly every state failing to achieve racial and gender parity with their own population data. Despite efforts to diversify politics, progress in statehouses remains slow and halting. That’s in contrast to the U.S. House of Representatives, where historically underrepresented groups, including women and people of color, are serving in record numbers. Only six states saw double-digit increases in the number of women serving in the state legislature from 2015 to 2020, the most recent year for which data is available. Nearly twice as many states saw the number of women in the legislatures decline or stay the same. This year, the share of women serving in state legislatures nearly reached one-third , according to the NCSL. Despite recent gains, the data show every single state in the country has a legislature that is disproportionately white. Renu, along with Nolan D. McCaskill, Beatrice Jin and Allan James Vestal, have more on the statehouses failing to keep up with the demographic realities. Here in D.C.: The 117th Congress has a record number of women and people of color. But when it comes to the congressional staff working behind the scenes at the Capitol, Maya King tells POLITICO Dispatch that diversity is still a huge problem. Listen to the latest POLITICO Dispatch podcast And don’t forget to sign up for The Recast, POLITICO’s newest newsletter chronicling how race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power. Congrats to The Recast team on a great first edition today! A message from the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA): The National Hispanic Council on Aging is urging the Biden Administration to move forward with rebate reform. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by chronic disease but lowering out of pocket costs can increase medication adherence and reduce health care disparities in our system. This is done by ensuring rebate dollars are passed on to patients so they can afford essential medication. We need rebate reform today! Learn more.   Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: FBI investigates BALLOT drop box FIRE — TRUMP makes final pitch in NEW HAMPSHIRE — Daily COVID cases top 1,000

BY STEPHANIE MURRAY

Presented by Masterworks

GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. Happy Monday! FIRE INSIDE BOSTON BALLOT BOX — Election officials found a fire in a ballot drop box early Sunday morning, and now Secretary of State Bill Galvin is calling on officials around the state to use guards and video surveillance to prevent future incidents. The fire was set inside a Copley Square drop box near the Boston Public Library, and Galvin called it a "deliberate attack." Now the FBI is investigating the incident, U.S. Andrew Lelling and FBI Special Agent Joseph Bonavolonta said Sunday. The fire comes just days ahead of the Nov. 3 election, at a time when President Donald Trump has sought to undermine the credibility of mail-in voting. The story garnered some national attention — it was picked up by Fox News, CNN and the New York Post on Sunday. "What happened in the early hours of this morning to the ballot drop box in Copley Square is a disgrace to democracy, a disrespect to the voters fulfilling their civic duty, and a crime," Galvin and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said in a statement. “We ask voters not to be intimidated by this bad act, and remain committed to making their voices heard in this and every election.” There were 122 ballots in the drop box, and 35 were destroyed. The Boston Elections Department was able to process 87 ballots, and the city will allow affected voters to mail a replacement ballot or vote in person. Along with guarding boxes, officials should empty them frequently, Galvin said. Some cities and towns are already taking further measures to protect ballots, including using chemical fire suppressants inside dropboxes, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said on Twitter. Have a tip, story, suggestion, birthday, anniversary, new job, or any other nugget for the Playbook? Get in touch: smurray@politico.com. ELECTIONLAND: POLITICO is partnering with Electionland , a ProPublica project that works with newsrooms to track voting issues around the country. The Electionland project covers problems that prevent eligible voters from casting their ballots during the 2020 elections. We’re part of a coalition of newsrooms around the country that are investigating issues related to voter registration, pandemic-related changes to voting, the shift to vote-by-mail, cybersecurity, voter education, misinformation, and more. Tell us here if you’re having trouble voting.

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HAPPENING TUESDAY - A GEN Z RISING DISCUSSION: Did you know Gen Z now makes up 1/10th of the electorate? Join a virtual conversation with Mike Brodo, executive director of Gen Z GOP, and Chelsea Miller, co-founder of Freedom March NYC, and other Gen Z voters to find out how young voters are interacting with the political parties, technology and electoral process. Moderated by Laura Barrón-López and Rishika Dugyala, this virtual conversation explores the mindset of Gen Z voters, their policy priorities, and their impact on Election Day. REGISTER HERE.

THE LATEST NUMBERS

– “COVID cases in Massachusetts top 1,000 for second day in a row as cases spike across country,” by Benjamin Kail, MassLive.com: “Massachusetts public health officials on Sunday reported another 1,097 new cases of COVID-19, the second day in a row with more than 1,000 cases as the pandemic continues to see spikes across the nation and overseas. Until Saturday and Sunday, the state had not reported 1,000 new cases in a single day since May. New COVID-19 case counts in Massachusetts on both Thursday and Friday were in the 900s.” – “High risk for three weeks, 13 communities in Massachusetts are back to Phase 1,” by Nick Stoico, Boston Globe: “Thirteen communities in Massachusetts will roll back to Phase 1 of the state’s reopening plan Monday after being designated high-risk for COVID-19 for three straight weeks. For many businesses in those cities and towns, that means scaling back -- or worse, closing their doors altogether.”

DATELINE BEACON HILL – “Source of infections unknown in half of Mass. COVID-19 cases, state says,” by John Hilliard, Boston Globe: “As the number of new coronavirus cases in Massachusetts climbed past 1,000 for the second day in a row Sunday, the state acknowledged it has not been able to determine the source of infection in about half of COVID-19 cases, an information gap that epidemiologists say could limit the ability to respond to outbreaks and control transmission of the disease." – “State officials fire commissioner for the deaf who had ties to controversial fraternity,” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “The Baker administration fired its chief advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing, months after it said it was investigating allegations he admitted to wearing robes resembling Ku Klux Klan garb and made apparent Nazi salutes while in a college fraternity three decades ago. Steven A. Florio was issued a letter of termination, effective Monday, Oct. 19, state officials told the Globe.” – “Massachusetts makes gains in diversifying state government, but gaps persist in some agencies,” by Steph Solis, MassLive.com: “Before the pandemic, Massachusetts Rep. Russell Holmes would travel from his majority-black neighborhood in Mattapan every day to a majority-white State House. Most of the lawmakers in the House chamber are white, their staffers are mostly white and the lobbyists who try to curry favor with the Legislature are white. The Boston Democrat, a member of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, is often reminded that the rooms he walks into don’t reflect the people he and his colleagues serve across Massachusetts.” – “Women in red cloaks march on State House, advocate for reproductive freedom,” by Lucas Phillips, Boston Globe: “More than a dozen cloaked figures slowly marched toward the State House Sunday morning with a simple message: ‘Ruth sent us.’ With proceedings to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underway and a bill that would ease access to abortion in Massachusetts before the Legislature, advocates rallied at the steps for abortion rights.” FROM THE HUB – “Drug company insiders are profiting handsomely from the world’s desperate hope for a COVID-19 vaccine,” by Todd Wallack, Boston Globe: “They are, in many ways, the hope of humanity as the global death toll from one of the worst infectious disease outbreaks in history climbs past 1.1 million, with cases surging in many countries around the world. But insiders at companies developing experimental vaccines and treatments to ward off COVID-19 aren’t waiting until they finish the job to collect their reward.” – “Dunkin’ Brands Is in Talks to Sell Itself and Go Private,” by Lauren Hirsch, The New York Times: “Dunkin’ Brands, the parent company of the Dunkin’ and Baskin Robbins chains, is in talks to sell itself to a private equity-backed company, Inspire Brands. The deal being discussed, which could be announced as soon as Monday, would take Dunkin’ Brands private at a price of $106.50 a share, said two people with knowledge of the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential.” – “Lynn Immigrant Sees Path To Citizenship After Landlord's Alleged Threat To Call ICE,” by Simón Rios, WBUR: “Robelio Gonzalez alleges his landlord threatened to call immigration after he started withholding rent over a series of code violations in his apartment. Earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Gonzalez — a laborer from Guatemala who says his only crime was to stand up for his rights.” – “Figure skaters say Mass. rink closures are unfair to them,” by Laura Crimaldi, Boston Globe: “Emma L’Esperance and Mika Amdour had planned to spend Friday evening at The Skating Club of Boston, performing a free dance they will present next month at a key competition in Fort Wayne, Ind. Instead, the teenage ice dancing partners were at Esperance’s Winchester home doing homework and watching ‘Dawn of the Dead.’ That evening’s performance had been canceled under a state order that closed indoor ice rinks.” – “Why are we not talking more about the drought?” by Jackson Cote, MassLive.com: “Andrea Donlon is one of four river stewards charged with overseeing the Connecticut River Conservancy, a 60-plus-year-old organization that monitors New England’s longest river. The task is a big one, as the Connecticut River cuts through four states, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as a tiny sliver of Oxford County, Maine. In total, the watershed covers 410 miles of land, flowing from just near the Canada-U.S. border all the way to the Long Island Sound.” – “COVID testing to be offered in some Massachusetts schools, with priority given for in-person learning,” by Melissa Hanson, MassLive.com: “Massachusetts education officials are looking to start the first phase of coronavirus tests in schools with some form of in-person learning, planning to distribute test kits at no cost to a selection of schools and districts. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense have announced an initiative to deliver 150 million Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 rapid tests to schools and other environments.” – “Historic homes struggle to reopen in COVID-compliant way,” by Shira Schoenberg, CommonWealth Magazine: “The year 2020 was shaping up to be a banner year for the Orchard House in Concord, the home where Louisa May Alcott lived and wrote the classic book Little Women. On Christmas 2019, the Greta Gerwig film adaptation of Little Women was released, set in a replica of Orchard House. By February, visits to the Orchard House were up 350 percent from the prior year and staff were hiring and training new guides and buying extra store merchandise. Then in March, COVID-19 hit.” – “Palpable Anxiety For Health Care Workers As COVID-19 Cases Rise In Massachusetts,” by Martha Bebinger, WBUR: “After the COVID-19 spring surge, nurse Jennifer Williams started taking a blood pressure medication and seeing a therapist. Her stress level dropped this summer, but now, as her COVID-19 unit at Sturdy Memorial Hospital fills again, Williams says she feels the panic rising. Some days, after work, she sits in her car and cries.” AS SEEN ON TV – Sen. Elizabeth Warren on whether she'd join a future Biden administration on WBZ's "Keller @ Large" — "It's not only that we've got to take the White House. It's that we've also got to flip the Senate. That becomes so clear as I'm here in Washington, watching Mitch McConnell try to steal a second Supreme Court seat. I want to expand our lead in the House and I'm trying to help with some folks at the state level because we need Democrats to win up and down the ticket. So I've got 11 days, I'm going to stay focused on this like a laser. … And then I'm going to find the best way I can to keep working." Link. – House Ways and Means chair Richard Neal talks about the future of a coronavirus stimulus package on WCVB's "On the Record" — "I'm gonna put on my speculation hat … Here's the answer: I think Joe Biden wins, the number will be closer to $3 trillion. And I think that at that stage, good sense will overcome all of us, and we'll proceed to the bigger package, understanding there's a rent crisis coming as well. People can't make their rents, that means the landlord can't make the mortgage payments, it means the community banker or the credit union, which overwhelmingly are the originators of mortgages, they start to have contagion. Link. BALLOT WARS – “Who are the out-of-state billionaires backing ranked-choice voting in Massachusetts?” by Matt Stout, Boston Globe: “Through their Action Now Initiative, the Arnolds have committed nearly $3.4 million in support of the Massachusetts ballot proposal, known as Question 2. Kathryn Murdoch, the daughter-in-law of Rupert Murdoch, has personally given $2.5 million since early September. The Denver-based nonpartisan group Unite America, which she co-chairs and has seeded with millions toward supporting democratic reforms, has contributed $445,000.” PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES – “Long before pandemic, problems mounted for new Red and Orange line cars,” by Adam Vaccaro, Boston Globe: “Long before the pandemic upended nearly every aspect of business life, the Springfield factory building hundreds of new Red and Orange line cars was having a bad year, with issues from the seemingly mundane to the confounding. Supplies for Red Line cars went missing for weeks; parts were mistakenly sent off-site; materials to finish seats were late to arrive; unfinished Orange Line cars stalled on the assembly line.” – “East-west Rail: Massachusetts Department of Transportation angers public after recommending further studies weeks before final report,” by Douglas Hook, MassLive.com: “The long-awaited east-west rail draft report was released on Monday but has many listening to the public presentation on Thursday evening, ‘shocked’ at the lack of clarity and misleading data in the report. ‘I think the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is the department of too many studies or department of studying studies or something like that,’ said Massachusetts resident John Garrett.”   A message from Masterworks:     WARREN REPORT – “Progressives push for Warren as treasury secretary, signaling bigger ideological battle if Biden wins,” by Alex Seitz-Wald, NBC News: “ Progressives are pushing hard to see Elizabeth Warren leading the Treasury Department in an opening salvo of a coming ideological struggle for control of key government posts if Joe Biden wins the presidency. Donors, activists and leaders on the left want Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, as treasury secretary, more than a half-dozen of them said. And people Warren has spoken to are under the impression that she wants the job if she is offered it.” NOVEMBER IS COMING – “With fears of a contested election growing, more Americans stock up to ride out the discord,” by David Abel, Boston Globe: “With President Trump repeatedly stoking right-wing rage and suggesting he won’t accept the results of the election if he loses, many Americans fear the country could be bound for strife and have been taking steps to protect themselves. A nationwide tracking poll this month found that 58 percent of those surveyed said they’re stocking up on essential goods, up six points from the same poll last month.” THE PRESSLEY PARTY – “Rep. Pressley Joins More Than 30% Of Mass. Voters Who Cast Early Ballots, Encourages Others To Vote,” by Quincy Walters and Sharon Brody, WBUR: “Nine-year-old Zion Rodriguez went to accompany his nana to vote in Roxbury on Saturday. And he was not prepared to bump into Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley who was also out voting at the Shelburne Community Center. ‘It felt good to meet her,’ Rodriguez said, wearing a Black Lives Matter face covering, who earlier asked Pressley to look into school start times being so early.” MEANWHILE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE – “Trump appears at rally in Londonderry, N.H., riffing on ‘fake ballots,’ 2016, and Air Force One,” by James Pindell and Victoria McGrane, Boston Globe: “President Trump rallied supporters in New Hampshire, vowing that he would win the state on Nov. 3, despite the fact he hasn’t led a poll in the state all year. ‘This was our first victory, remember that beautiful primary that we had?’ Trump told a sea of red-hatted supporters, referring to his 2016 GOP primary win.” TRUMPACHUSETTS – “Massachusetts Republicans fight uphill battles for federal office with ‘common sense’ messages,” by Lisa Kashinsky, Boston Herald: “Bay State Republicans running for federal office are pitching similar messages of economic security and public safety as they look to achieve already-difficult victories in ever-blue Massachusetts made doubly challenging this year by a hyper-partisan political environment and an election that’s calcified as a referendum on President Trump from the top of the ballot on down.” ABOVE THE FOLD — Herald: “SUPERTRUMP,” — Globe: “Missteps, pandemic ensured lated trains," "New outbreak roils campaign," "Trump rallies N.H. backers with mish-mash of anecdotes, bombast.” FROM THE 413 – “'It does us no good to hold a grudge’: Springfield Police Department, FBI work to repair relationship after years at odds over police corruption investigations,” by Stephanie Barry, Springfield Republican: “As the song goes, breaking up is hard to do. But sometimes, making up can be rough, too. Case in point: through gritted teeth, Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl C. Clapprood confirmed she is working with the new head of the local FBI office to repair bitter relations with the feds. The department has come under fire from the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice over the past four years in connection with a number of police corruption investigations.” THE LOCAL ANGLE – “Marblehead High shifts to full remote learning after house party,” by Cheryl Richardson, The Salem News: “Marblehead High School will return to full remote learning effective immediately after officials say more than 50 students attended a house party Friday night, Superintendent John Buckey announced Sunday. Athletics and extracurricular activities are also postponed until Saturday, Nov. 7, Buckey wrote in a letter announcing the decision.” – “5th Barnstable District: Xiarhos, Dever vie for state representative seat,” by Ethan Genter, Cape Cod Times: “The race for state representative in the 5th Barnstable District blew open last year when Rep. Randy Hunt, R-Sandwich, announced he would not be running for re-election in what would have been his sixth term. The seat, which represents Sandwich and parts of Barnstable, Bourne and Plymouth, is up for grabs in a race between Democrat James Dever, a lawyer from Sandwich, and former Yarmouth deputy police chief Steven Xiarhos, who is running as a Republican.” – “Social media post triggers backlash,” by Mike LaBella, Eagle-Tribune: “What police say was a misinterpreted accident at a rally in support of Democratic candidates triggered a storm of controversy on social media Friday and Saturday after state Rep. Tram Nguyen posted that a driver had intentionally driven into a group of people holding campaign signs.” – “Voting for Irene: Line of North Attleboro women uphold the legacy of their aunt, born the year women got the right to vote,” by Kayla Canne, Sun Chronicle: “In November of 2016, Irene Vandal voted from a hospital bed. At 96, there were few, if any, elections in which the Plainville woman didn’t exercise her right to vote. And despite her old age and a short illness that left her hospital-bound, that election was one she didn’t want to miss. She called upon her niece Donna Dunn to bring her an absentee ballot.” WORTH THE CLICK: “Massachusetts: Images of the Bay State,” by Alan Taylor, The Atlantic. Link. WEEKEND WEDDING – Billy Pitman and Jess Jeffrey got married this weekend at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club in Harwich. Pitman is chief of staff at the RMV and Jeffrey is an attorney at Nelson Mullins. NEW EPISODE: ELECTION DAZE – On this week’s Horse Race podcast, hosts Jennifer Smith, Steve Koczela and Stephanie Murray discuss the expiration of the state’s eviction moratorium, and break down early voting data with MassINC’s Rich Parr. And just in time for Halloween, we ask you: Is candy corn good or gross? Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud. Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.   A message from Masterworks: History shows adding blue-chip art can boost portfolio stability. Data from Citi’s Global Art Market Report 2019 finds art to be one of the least volatile asset classes, sharing a correlation factor of just 0.13 to public equities. Beyond that, contemporary art has outperformed the S&P by over 180% from 2000–2018, according to industry benchmarks. Although investing in art has been around for centuries (Sotheby’s was once the oldest company listed on the NYSE) only the ultra-wealthy have been able to participate. Modern investing platforms like Masterworks are finally democratizing the $1.7 trillion art market by giving anyone access at a starting point everyone can afford. Skip the 25,000+ waitlist by signing up today.     DONT MISS - NEW EPISODES OF POLITICO'S GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS PODCAST: The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, but many of those issues exploded over the past year. Are world leaders and political actors up to the task of solving them? Is the private sector? Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, unpacks the roadblocks to smart policy decisions and examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. Subscribe for Season Two, available now.       Follow us on Twitter Stephanie Murray @StephMurr_Jour   Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook  |  Playbook PM  |  California Playbook  |  Florida Playbook  |  Illinois Playbook  |  Massachusetts Playbook  |  New Jersey Playbook  |  New York Playbook  |  Brussels Playbook  |  London Playbook View all our politics and policy newsletters FOLLOW US

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