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FORD FOUNDATION:

Created by Edsel Ford 1936. The original Mission was the fund health care, Henry Ford Hospital, Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village

PRESIDENTS:

1936-43 EDSEL FORD - Hotchkiss, Detroit U, Died young

1943-50 HENRY FORD II - Hotchkiss, Yale

1950-53 PAUL GRAY HOFFMAN (CFR) - U of Chicago (Rockefeller Associated), 1st Administrator Marshall Plan/UN Development Programme 1966-72, Pres Studebaker Auto 1935-48, lead Economic Cooperation Administration ECA 1948, Distributed Post WWII Aid to EU, Promoted European Integration to form a single large Market (description of current EU), advocated to eliminate tariffs, free trade

1953-56 HORACE ROWAN GAITHER (CFR) - SF attorney, investment banker, WWII assistant Director Radiation lab MIT, in 1948 help found RAND Corp - trustee until 1959, Gaither Report - 1957 advocated strengthening US Missile Technology and Defense, called for 50% increase in military spending, redesign of Defense Dept, Eisenhower (CFR) did not agree with or implement recommendations, it got leaked to the press, the report called for expensive army division instead of inexpensive nukes Ike preferred, relied on faulty intel tat estimated USSR had 100s -1,000 nukes when later intel showed they had 4, Gaither Report: re Vulnerability in US Defense, Strategy to Prepare against Nuclear attack from USSR written by Paul Nitze (CFR)

1956-65 HENRY TOWNLEY HEALD (CFR) - 1st President Illinois Inst of Tech, 9th President NYU

1966-79 MCGEORGE 'MAC' BUNDY (CFR, & YALE/BONES) - National Security Advisor 1961-66 involved in Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War, 1964-66 Chair 303 Committee - Covert Ops, strong proponent of Vietnam War, an architect of escalation in Vietnam, WWII Intel Officer, in 1949 worked for CFR - Study team on implementation of Marshall Plan, a secret group that included Eisenhower(CFR), Allen Dulles (CFR, Dir CIA), Richard Bissell Jr (CFR, CIA), George F. Kennan (CFR), Covert side of Marshall Plan Operation Gladio - provided CIA money to aid anti communist groups in France and Italy, Prof/Dean Govt Harvard, Scholar at Carnegie Corp, Pedigree: a Boston Brahmin, he was related to Lowells, Cabots and Lawrences, his family was close to Henry L Stimson (CFR), he was a liaison between Stimson & Dir of Scientific Research Vannevar Bush on Atomic Matters, the Bundy family had many members in Skull & Bones and several were CFR Members

1979-96 FRANKLIN AUGUSTINE THOMAS (CFR, COLUMBIA MBA/LAW) led study on S. Africa Policy for Rockefeller Foundation, 2nd wife was Kate Roosevelt Whitney, Dir TFF Study Group on Africa, Chair Sept 11 Fund 2001-04, Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Dir: Cummins, Citi, Lucent, Alcoa, Pepsi, daughter of James Roosevelt, granddaughter of FDR & Harvey Cushing, niece of Babe Cushing who was married to William Paley (CFR, Founder CBS)

1996-2007 SUSAN VAIL BERRESFORD (Brearley School, Vassar, Radcliffe) Philanthropy Consultant NY Community Trust, joined Ford Foundation 1970, officer for Women's programs, 1981 VP US & International Affairs in charge of worldwide programming, EVP, CEO, President, 2003 founded/Trustee US Artists, Dir US Fund for UNICEF, Dir: Council on Foundations, Japanese Center for International Exchange, Trilateral Commission , Advisory Board Trinidad Trust Fund, Wikipedia says she is CFR but I don't have her on any lists (she has a bio common to CFR members), likely a member of regional Committee on Foreign Relations, Trustee California Endowment, Trustee Kaiser Family Foundation

2008-2013 LUIS UBINAS (CFR, HARVARD, HBS) Sr Partner McKinsey & Co 18 years, Pres Pan Am Development Fund 2015-19, Truman Scholar, Advisory Committee UN Fund for International Partnership, 8 issues incl: Access to Education, Economic Opportunity, Human Rights, Social Justice, Chair Statue of Liberty Fund, roommate Conan O'Brien

2013-2025 DARREN WALKER (CFR, U TEXAS-AUSTIN)

  • President National Gallery of Art, Reimagining NY Commission, COO Harlem Abyssinian Development, Co Founded US Impact Investing Alliance, President's Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy, Trustee/Director: Carnegie Hall, High Line, Smithsonian Museum African American History and Culture, Committee to Protect Journalists, Square, Pepsi, Ralph Lauren, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

2025- HEATHER GERKEN - 17th Dean Yale Law School 2017-25, Great Granddaughter of Sir Ernest Bland Royden

In 1947 the Foundation owned 90% of Non Voting Shares (after the death of Henry and Edsel between 1955-74 they sold all shares)

For many years their endowment was the largest private in the world, they are still among the wealthiest

In 2023 Assets = $16.8B, Expenses $852M

1950 - 5 areas of Focus: Economic Improvements, Education, Freedom & Democracy, Human Behavior, World Peace (DEI, Poverty, Injustice, Diversity in Higher Education)

William Ford (CFR, Hotchkiss, Princeton, Pres Ivy Club, MIT) Executive Chair Ford since 1999, Joined Board 1988, CEO 2001-06, Chair US - Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Great Grandson of Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone

There may be other Fords who are/were members of CFR but I don't recall coming across them

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October 11, 2025
Trans Scandal

This is a banger of a vlawg. Enjoy!

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February 17, 2024
Appearance on Richard Syrette

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Appearance on Richard Syrette
The Barnes Brief, Podcast Format: Monday, July 17, 2023

Closing Argument: Birthright citizenship is deeply American, and wholly Constitutional.

The Barnes Brief, Podcast Format: Monday, July 17, 2023
Declaration of Independence

Audio podcast style.

Declaration of Independence
Samson’s new song

Samson is the greatest rapper currently.

Here’s the Charlie Kirk piece.

It’s political philosophy to a beat.

4 hours ago

Congratulations to our very own @pamwalker who came in third to the photo contest. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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The Barnes Brief: Friday, October 10, 2025

I.   INTRODUCTION

A. Art of the Day

The symmetry of shape, the mirrored reflections off the still water, the delights of the desert each mirror and balance each other in this photograph that reminds me of a still painting, attracting introspective thought by getting lost in its perspective of nature meets man.

B. Wisdom of the Day

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein.

C. Cultural Recommendation

In the Deep State themed films, shows, and book, a personal favorite is Rubicon. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389371/

D. Appearances

 

*Note: A reminder — links are NOT endorsements of the ideas contained therein. The Library is big, and it mostly consists of ideas I do not personally share.  

 

II. THE EVIDENCE

A.   Daily News of Interest

*Bonus: Dolly not dead. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15174635/Dolly-Parton-breaks-silence-health-condition-sister-asked-prayers-country-singer.html

B.    Daily Deep Dive: Gaza Peace

*Bonus: Before and after Hamas. https://martindicaro.substack.com/p/before-and-after-hamas

C. Cases of Consequence

*Bonus: Mail in ballots at SCOTUS. https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2025/24-568_7l48.pdf

III.   CLOSING ARGUMENT: Free Speech Rights on Campus

  • State universities are state actors, and as such, they are subject to the restraints imposed by the Constitution and by concomitant state laws in many jurisdictions. We start with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
  • “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” These three coequal protections cover each aspect of speech – speech itself; the assembly often necessary to effectuate speech; and the petitioning process required to make it meaningful in many instances. As related to the university, the first two predominate.
  • As I had reason to remind myself recently, many state laws go further. Take for example Tennessee Code 49-7-2405. Tennessee law reinforces students “right to free speech” enforced through institutions affording students “the broadest latitude to a speak any issue” with a specific prohibition that it “not to be suppressed because the ideas put forth are through by some or even by most members of the community to be offensive, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, radical or wrongheaded.” In other words, no so-called hate speech exception. In the organizational context, the law specifically prohibits an school to “deny student activity fee funding to a student organization based on the viewpoints” of that organization. The only prohibited conduct is harassment, defined as “unwelcome conduct directed toward a person that is discriminatory on a basis prohibited by federal, state or local law, and that is so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.”
  • The principal Supreme Court case on the subject derives from the SDS movement in the 1960 and 1970s on college campuses – the Students for a Democratic Society. As the Supreme Court reiterated: “the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools.” Academic freedom is freedom of speech for students and the associational rights embodied therein with the right to peaceably assemble. Indeed, the right to organize on campus derives from the marriage of those three First Amendment freedoms forementioned – the freedom of association is “implicit in the freedoms of speech, assembly and petition.”
  • As the High Court held in Healy: “There can be no doubt that denial of official recognition, without justification, to college organizations burdens or abridges that associational right.”  As a disfavored “prior restraint” on student’s future speech, “a heavy burden rests on the college to demonstrate the appropriateness of the action” and that appropriateness is limited to “preventing disruption on campus” from violent conduct, not a heckler’s veto.
  • There is no place more essential to the exchange of ideas, robust debate, and the freedom of speech than a college campus in the very origination of ideas for many people during their intellectual coming of age. Protecting First Amendment freedoms for organizations like Turning Point USA thus remains essential to respecting the legacy of Charlie Kirk and enforcing the law of the land in our foundational formational documents of the very First Amendment in our rightly famed Bill of Rights. 
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The Barnes Brief: Weekend Edition, Friday, October 3, 2025

I.   INTRODUCTION

A. Art of the Day

Conversations in the café, the coffee house, or the local diner. A great way to spend any afternoon, often engaged in dialogue, discussion or debate over any range of subjects, as the course of the conversation only constricted by the imagination and intelligence of its conversant compatriots, a deeply human exploration and expression of understanding the world as is and as it can be.

B. Wisdom of the Day

“We need to trim the fat between their brains as much as around their waistline.” Colonel Macgregor on needed military reforms.

C. Cultural Recommendation

The Sandbaggers. Uncloaking the nature of cover operations. Recommended by a board member. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077078/

D. Appearances

 

 *Note: A reminder — links are NOT endorsements of the ideas contained therein. The Library is big, and it mostly consists of ideas I do not personally share.  

 

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The Barnes Brief: Wednesday, October 1, 2025

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Art of the Day 

Venezia. The city of seduction and romance, of masked balls and cinematic backdrops, where quiet back-alley restaurants and boutique shops await for you to uncover and discover, as the magic of this modern-day Atlantis invites at every turn. Arrive at the airport to an awaiting long wooden boat across the water to the city dancing with the sea, and dance amidst the history and beauty of ancient Cathedrals, in handmade shoes from the world’s greatest shoemakers. My favorite city to visit.  

B. Wisdom of the Day

“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.” Bertrand Russell.

C. Cultural Recommendation

Bitter Fruit: history of American interventions in creating the Banana Republics of our southern neighbors. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/102729.Bitter_Fruit?

 

 *Note: A reminder — links below are NOT endorsements of the ideas contained therein. The Library is big, and it often consists of ideas I do not personally share.  

 

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