CMC In The News

China has recently rebuffed attempts by the Biden administration to restart high level talks and lower tensions in Taiwan. Prof. Minxin Pei said it is possible that Beijing will re-engage with Washington once it feels it has more leverage. That could come after Beijing has deepened ties with more nonaligned countries like Brazil or after it has widened splits in Europe over how closely to follow the United States in its tougher stance toward China. “China wants to engage the U.S. from a position of strength, and China is clearly not in that position now. If anything, America’s success in rallying allies and waging the tech war against China proves that it is still far more powerful than China and has more tools at its disposal,” he said.

The Washington Examiner interviewed Prof. Jack Pitney about Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent TV ad attacking Trump. “Here is the message: ‘Trump is stealing pages from the Biden-Pelosi playbook.’ Do the DeSantis people really think that they can convince Republicans that Trump is too much like Biden and Pelosi? That seems pretty unlikely.”

Prof. Henri Cole’s latest sonnet collection, “Gravity and Center” was reviewed in The New York Times.

“Each of Henri Cole’s sonnets is a little workshop of language,” the Times wrote. “Cole’s sonnet is a form both economical and maximal, which, through both artifice and resistance to artifice, feels and makes you feel, thinks and makes you think.”

Prof. Jack Pitney commented on a claim that the recent Nashville protest is comparable to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He stated that the two events in question were not the same due to the January 6 events involving “violence and death.”

In an interview with CNN, Prof. Esther Chung-Kim explained how a scene in Netflix’s new show Beef speaks to the Korean American Church experience, “One attractive feature about Asian American evangelicalism is that the focus is more on deemphasizing racial minority status and emphasizing more the primary identity as Christians. So this also explains some of the sociological benefits of joining ethnic-specific churches.”

Prof. Jack Pitney commented on the upcoming trial centered on former Elle magazine advice columnist E. Jean Carroll who is suing Donald Trump for battery. He explained that the case is unlikely to “change anything dramatically” in relation to elections, but it is “a meaningful small shift” that impacts our divided country.

In an interview, Prof. Hilary Appel said it would be “very difficult if nearly impossible” for Ukrainian forces to succeed in Crimea on military force alone.

In a broadcast interview with CBS LA, Prof. Jack Pitney explained the impact of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s absence on judicial nominations.  

Prof. Jack Pitney was interviewed about Gov. Ron DeSantis’s recent drop in the polls due to his 6-week abortion ban in Florida. “If the election were held today, he would almost certainly lose. His strategy boils down to three words: Bet on Disaster.” 

In an interview with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Prof. Jack Pitney provided analysis on what kind of impact two rookie lawmakers in California, Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli and Democrat Assemblymember Corey Jackson can have on the State. 

Prof. Jack Pitney was interviewed on the comparison being made between the events in Tennessee and the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. “It is nonsense to refer to the actions of the ‘Tennessee Three’ as an ‘insurrection.’ They were not trying to overthrow the government.”

In an interview with Washington Examiner, Prof. Jack Pitney provided insight into Biden’s effort to secure access to an abortion pill. For Republicans, Pitney explained, “…as long as the debate is about abortion limits and not its legality, anti-abortion Republicans can ‘hold their own.’ But after Dobbs, people worry that Republicans will go too far,” he said. “Republican lawmakers need to be cautious in what they propose and how they talk about the issue. Unfortunately for them, the most extreme voices will get the most attention.”

In an opinion piece for Bloomberg, Prof. Minxin Pei described the regression of human rights in China in light of the recent trial of two pro-democracy lawyers who have received lengthy jail terms.

The Inland Empire Economic Partnership held its annual State of the Region event March 30 at the Ontario Convention Center. The highlights from the report were featured in the San Bernardino Sun by Prof. Manfred Keil.

Will Ellsworth, a junior at CMC was named a finalist for the Truman Scholarship. Ellsworth, who studies psychology and public policy is committed to changing America’s culture of punitiveness fueling mass incarceration, the school-to-prison nexus and the criminalization of mental illness.