Yale University Alumni

"Internalizing the core tenet of Professor Demos’s teaching — weighing risk and analyzing odds and trade-offs — was central to everything I did professionally in the decades ahead in finance and government."

"Some people I’ve encountered in various phases of my career seem more certain about everything than I am about anything."

"The only place people find fulfillment is within themselves. And too often, that's the last place they look."

"Moments after being sworn in as Treasury Secretary in 1995, I stood in the Oval Office to advise the president on how to address the threat posed to us by the unfolding economic crisis in Mexico, an experience repeated two years later during the Asian financial crisis. I know what it's like to recommend complex responses with no certainty of success."

"Over the past year, President Trump has taken unprecedented actions to assert federal control over our economy and undermine the constitutional system on which that economy depends. In response, many leaders in the private sector—as well as in philanthropy, media, law and academia—have responded not with criticism, but with acquiescence and accommodation."

"What's so sad to me… is we [the United States] have such tremendous strengths and so many advantages. And I think the damage we're doing is very substantial. Attacking our research, attacking science and basic research, attacking our universities, immigration policy that makes no sense whatsoever."

"Some argue that many dire predictions raised at the start of Mr. Trump’s term did not come to pass. But he has expressed regret that his term was less radical than he would have liked — and has promised that his second term would be nothing like the first. From 2017 to 2021, Mr. Trump, while extreme in many respects, was constrained by key appointees who came from the traditional conservative establishment and by the need to appeal to the business community as he sought re-election. If he wins this November, he’s made clear that he’ll choose appointees who will be submissive to him, and he will have no looming re-election campaign providing an incentive to curb his most extreme impulses."

"When millions of people remain mired in poverty, no matter how hard they work, our whole economy suffers. Consigning millions of people to the economic margins has a serious adverse effect on the economy for all of us."

"Nearly every element of Mr. Trump’s second-term agenda would create great risk of economic harm. In aggregate, there is a high likelihood that his agenda would lead to chaos and unpredictability, including global instability, in that way reducing investment and business activity. Meanwhile, inflation would be increased by tariffs, immigration restrictions and larger fiscal deficits. Some may feel that we made it through one Trump term and are thus likely to make it through another. But a more apt analogy is that after we survived one round of economic Russian roulette, Donald Trump is asking us to take another spin — only this time with many more bullets in the chamber. That would be a very dangerous game."

"People in prison are part of America, as are those who have been released. They are part of our society. And we have a powerful stake in their success."

"Unconventional monetary policy and stimulus can be part of a successful economic programme for a period of time. But they are no substitute for fiscal discipline, public investment and structural reform."

"We have an imperative need to address our unsustainable longer-term fiscal trajectory with sound economic policies. Few elected officials want to face this fact, but, at the very least, they should not make matters worse."

"I think they [tariffs] create a very serious risk of inflation, not only because prices of imported goods will be higher, but domestic producers will be able to raise prices because their competitors' prices will be higher. But also, I think it's a substantial threat to growth because it can adversely affect productivity since you can no longer have access to whatever is the most efficient producer of goods and services. And… there's a very serious risk of retaliation."

"Looking back, what most prepared me for the life I’ve led was the open exchange of ideas that I experienced in college and law school... I have seen firsthand the way America’s higher-education system strengthens our nation."

"One of the things that we need to take from this moment is that this isn’t just about abortion and it’s not going to end with abortion. But if we are going to register any kind of objections, we need a functioning, healthy democracy. And that’s the first thing that they have disrupted."

"Just your weekly reminder that this won't end with abortion.... protections for same-sex marriage, contraception, and individual autonomy that are not explicit in the Constitution are up for grabs, too."

"Marriage has played a critical role in the operation of the criminal justice system, including serving as a defense to crime and as a form of punishment"

"[ Gay rights, contraceptives, certain fertility treatments and even interracial marriage ] are imperiled because they’re all rooted in that right to privacy. All of this has been implied because they’re understood to be core, basic human rights. You don’t need the state to recognize them because they are vested in you by virtue of being a human."

"Of the three million job losses in South Africa as a result of Covid-19, two million were held by women. While the deck has always been stacked against women, Covid-19 exposes the staggering inequalities and barriers that women face in finding, and keeping, work. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, young women shouldered additional burdens from childcare and other household responsibilities. They had less time and money to look for work, and faced a greater threat of harassment even if they could get a job interview. Young women are also less likely to have some of the tangible attributes that significantly boost the chances of finding work, such as a matric or a driver’s licence. The impact of Covid-19 has exacerbated all of these challenges – with increased gender-based violence, missed educational opportunities and a precarious economic environment where women are hardest hit. Never has it felt truer that women need to work twice as hard to get half as far. It’s not just about equity – the evidence is clear about investing in women. Greater gender equality leads to better development outcomes, reducing income inequality and supporting economic resilience. Women’s increased economic participation leads to a higher spend on schooling for children, with important implications for growth in the long run."

"There are a few core principles of Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, that I think are important starting points. It’s an online encyclopedia. It’s not trying to be anything else. It’s certainly not trying to be a traditional social media platform in any way. It has a structure that is led by volunteer editors. And as you may know, the foundation has no editorial control. This is very much a user-led community, which we support and enable. The lessons to learn from, not just with what we’re doing but how we continue to iterate and improve, start with this idea of radical transparency. Everything on Wikipedia is cited. It’s debated on our talk pages. So even when people may have different points of view, those debates are public and transparent, and in some cases really allow for the right kind of back and forth. I think that’s the need in such a polarized society — you have to make space for the back and forth. But how do you do that in a way that’s transparent and ultimately leads to a better product and better information?"

"Today, the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation announced the appointment of Maryana Iskander as the organization’s new CEO. She is a globally recognized social entrepreneur and an expert in building cross-sector partnerships that combine innovative technology with community-led solutions to close opportunity gaps. As CEO of Wikimedia Foundation, the global nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia and 12 other free knowledge projects, Maryana will champion the organization’s goal to ensure that people everywhere can access and share knowledge freely. She will formally begin on January 5, 2022 and report to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees."

"After over half a decade of working with Planned Parenthood as their Chief Operating Officer, Maryana fell in love and made the jump from the United States to the southernmost tip of Africa. Even though this love affair didn’t last, her love affair with South Africa did, and it ushered her into a career path that saw her working on solving the problems of youth unemployment in Africa, to her current position, leading the Wikimedia Foundation."

"The Western media is now focusing attention on Russia’s invasion. Built into that focus is a tacit remaking of history. US Neocons want history to begin with the invasion. All else that went before is to be swept into Orwell’s “memory hole”. That means forgetting the injuries and threats the US has heaped on Russia for thirty years; forgetting how the US helped loot Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall, forgetting the promise made not to expand NATO eastward, forgetting the threat posed by putting missile defense and launch capabilities close to Russia’s borders, and forgetting the fateful 2014 US sponsored coup in Ukraine."

"American exceptionalism is the most dangerous doctrine in the world, and it has been on full display in the current Ukraine crisis. Worse yet, the loudest advocates have been America’s elite liberal class. The doctrine of exceptionalism holds that the US is inherently different from and superior to other nations. That superiority means the US is subject to a different standard. Its actions are claimed to be benevolent and above international law, and the US is entitled to intervene at will around the world, including building a global network of military bases and garrisons that it would never permit another power to have. In today’s United States, liberals are the most extreme proponents of American exceptionalism. In contrast, Republicans and conservatives are inclined to justify foreign policy by appeal to raw power, with the US doing what it wants because it can."

"In economic policy the liberal menace operates by putting society in the permanent position of having to choose between “bad” and “worse”. In foreign policy it operates by appeal to moral judgementalism that overlooks US moral failings, violates the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs, and ignores the real-world unviability of policies it recommends for others. The menace has been in full swing over Ukraine. Elite liberal media has been at the forefront of arguing for military confrontation with Russia, continued eastward expansion of NATO, and rejection of any legitimacy to Russia’s position. The menace has been oblivious to the asymmetry regarding US behavior, beginning with the obvious question what is the US doing on Russia’s borders? It has presented a substantially false characterization of Ukrainian society and Ukrainian politics. And it has failed to engage the unsettled history of the region and Russia’s fully justified national security concerns. The US has a truth problem. Donald Trump is the posterchild for that problem. However, the Liberal Menace is also part of it. If you are only truthful when it suits you, you are not truthful and you tarnish the standing of truth. The lies, aggression, and militarism of liberal menace foreign policy trickle back into society. If US liberals are serious about fixing our truth problem and stopping the rise of proto-fascism, they should begin with their own views on foreign policy. The Ukraine is a good place to start."

"The inevitable has happened. Russia has invaded Ukraine. It was inevitable because the US and its NATO partners had backed Russia into a corner from which it could only escape by military means. In effect, Russia confronted a future in which the US would increasingly tighten the noose around its neck by further eastward expansion of NATO, combined with military upgrading by the US of its Eastern European NATO proxies. Accompanying that militarization was the prospect of a ramped-up propaganda war in which western media fanned the flames of public animus against Russia. Side-by-side, US government financed entities (such as the National Endowment for Democracy and the German Marshall Fund) would seek to influence European and Russian politics with the goal of regime change. At this stage, there are two questions. What will be done? And what should be done?"

"“The United States has no right to expect that it will always have wise and humane rulers, sincerely attached to the principles of the Constitution. Instead, wicked men, ambitious of power, with hatred of liberty and contempt of law, may fill the place once occupied by Washington and Lincoln.”"

"“The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances.”"

"Jihad is the secret these investigators are keeping, but only from themselves. It drives the murder spree against infidel troops. It also is part of the culture that renders U.S. utopian plans to train an Afghan army and police force dead on arrival. Not saying so doesn't make it go away. It just wastes the lives of our people. Does anyone care?"

"I'm gay in my art and straight in my life."

"I just happen to be someone who happens to like the fear to be created in my mind. That’s why I like the more minimalistic approach. It’s just a taste thing. I’m not as into the blood and guts."

"Speech is politics. Politics is speech. When the left shuts down our speech, they are precluding us from politics. When the left equates speech with violence, they are ending our experiment in self-government and they’re replacing the persuasion of our fellow citizens with mere brute force, insisting that we can force our will onto others without even making a reasonable argument for that."

"for the good society and especially for the good of the poor people who have fallen pray to this confusion. Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely, the whole preposterous ideology at every level."

"In the later nineteenth century, the tops of skycrapers often took the shape of domes, surmounted by jaunty gilded lanterns; later came ziggurats, mausoleums, Alexandrian lighthouses, miniatures Parthenons. These charming follies contained neither royal corpses nor effigies of gods and goddesses; rather they contained large wooden tanks filled with water."

"He stared the assorted meannesses and failed promises of American life straight in the face, and they stared back."

"The problem with these sensational stories is that they dampen the sense and mute outrage over the truth. Reporters love stories about disgusting forms of torture and execution. There was one a few years back that North Koreans who stole food were being burned alive at the stake and their relatives made to light the fire. North Koreans I asked laughed it off. “Do you know how hard it is to get firewood in North Korea?’’ one retorted. The real story is this: if you are caught stealing food, you are sent to a labor camp where you will be slowly worked to death and starved. There is no need to exaggerate. The truth is bad enough."

"I want to portray history through the eyes of the people living it. I write primarily for an American audience, and, you know, Americans can sometimes be rather closed off to the outside world."

"Perhaps the secularization of our universities helps explain the tremors in public life. If one does not believe in God as Lord of history, then everything is up to us. This tempts us to fight with an almost religious desperation. Every election becomes a Final Judgment. Our preferred candidates take on religious roles as prophets and saviors. A purely secular outlook can also tempt us to give up the fight. Without confidence in God’s providential care, we can despair of ever setting things aright. So we retreat into our private concerns, neglect the common good, and just try to gain enough wealth and status to insulate ourselves from the uncertainties of life. First Things has a crucial role to play. We insist that God is Lord of history. This desacralizes politics—an urgent necessity. And it combats the hopelessness that often causes us to shrink from our civic duty, which at this particular juncture calls for the pluck to stand up to defend the sanctity of life, the dignity of marriage, the integrity of Western civilization, and the indispensable role of religion in public life."

"One could rightly say that I became a Catholic by default, and that possibility is the simple gift I received from the Catholic Church. Mater ecclesia, she needed neither reasons, nor theories, nor ideas from me."

"The thing we really need to fix is ourselves. It's not about the fish; it's not about the pollution; it's not about the climate change. It's about us and our greed and our need for growth and our inability to imagine a world that is different from the selfish world we live in today. So the question is: Will we respond to this or not? I would say that the future of life and the dignity of human beings depends on our doing that."

"His ability to communicate what's going on inspired me, he's my hero."

"When you're part of a TV writing staff, a big part of the job is coming up with ideas, just all the time, they can be crazy, half-formed ideas, or whole pitches, you're just constantly coming up with things to throw at the wall, and you know that only some of them are going to stick. When you're the head writer, you spend a lot more time judging, choosing, making those calls about which direction to go. You have to change gears really often between being wildly imaginative, open to all possibilities... and then putting on the producer hat and considering what you're really able to accomplish, what's going to work in the long term.... Something can sound great when you first hear it, but then it takes you down a road that's going to turn into a dead end, you have to try and see that coming...."

"I love working on shows where they have the history week to week where the more you watch it, the more interesting it becomes. As you watch it unfold over time, that’s where you see it really flower. That’s my preference when I’m working on something."

"Standing alongside two top public health officials who have declined to endorse his call for widely administering the drug, Mr. Trump suggested that he was speaking on gut instinct and acknowledged that he had no expertise on the subject. Saying that the drug is “being tested now,” Mr. Trump said that “there are some very strong, powerful signs” of its potential, although health experts say that the data is extremely limited and that more study of the drug’s effectiveness against the coronavirus is needed. [...] Mr. Trump, who once predicted that the virus might “miraculously” disappear by April because of warm weather, and who has rejected on issues like climate change, was undaunted by skeptical questioning. “What do you have to lose?” Mr. Trump asked, for the second day in a row, saying that terminally ill patients should be willing to try any treatment that has shown some promise."

"Even as Mr. Trump has promoted the drug, which is also often prescribed for patients with , it has created rifts within his own . And while many hospitals have chosen to use hydroxychloroquine in a desperate attempt to treat dying patients who have few other options, others have noted that it carries serious risks. In particular, the drug can cause a that can lead to ."

"Hydroxychloroquine has not been proved to work against Covid-19 in any significant clinical trials. A small trial by Chinese researchers made public last week found that it helped speed the recovery in moderately ill patients, but the study was not peer-reviewed and had significant limitations. Earlier reports from France and China have drawn criticism because they did not include control groups to compare treated patients with untreated ones, and researchers have called the reports anecdotal. Without controls, they said, it is impossible to determine whether the drugs worked. But Mr. Trump on Sunday dismissed the notion that doctors should wait for further study."

"President Trump doubled down Sunday on his push for the use of an anti-malarial drug against the coronavirus, issuing that goes well beyond scant evidence of the drug’s effectiveness as well as the advice of doctors and experts. Mr. Trump’s recommendation of hydroxychloroquine, for the second day in a row at a White House briefing, was a striking example of his brazen willingness to distort and outright defy expert opinion and when it does not suit his agenda."

"Political scientists and foreign policy experts have used the term deep state for years to describe individuals and institutions who exercise power independent of—and sometimes over—civilian political leaders... Beneath the politics of convenience is the reality that a large segment of the U.S. government really does operate without much transparency or public scrutiny, and has abused its awesome powers in myriad ways."

"The formula [that challenge the health risks of animal foods] works beautifully for people selling food. It works beautifully for people selling drugs to treat the diseases that bad food causes. And, it works beautifully for the media, which can give us a new story about diet every day. … But despite the appearance in our media of confusion, there is massive global consensus about the fundamentals of a health promoting diet and it's a diet that every time, no matter whether it's high in fat or low in fat, higher in carbs, lower in carbs, in every population, every kind of research, it's a plant food predominant diet, every time."

"So we've got to figure out what the ecosystem is going to be, to develop vaccines that are not going to make money."