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U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is facing criticism for a hyper-partisan letter she sent to Harvard University, riddled with grammatical errors and dubious claims.

In the 979-word statement, the Trump administration—through Secretary McMahon—condemned Harvard's admissions policies, staffing decisions, and institutional leadership, and informed the nation’s oldest university, a 388-year-old private Ivy League institution, that it will not receive new federal research grants.

"Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these 'students' come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE?" Secretary McMahon asked in the opening paragraph of her three-page letter.

"Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus," McMahon claimed.

READ MORE: ‘Where Is Duffy?’: Aviation System in Crisis, Transportation Secretary Blames Biden

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"This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing 'remedial math' program for undergraduates," the Education Secretary declared. "Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this 'acclaimed university'? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected?"

The Harvard Crimson last September reported that "the Covid-19 pandemic led to gaps in students’ math skills and learning abilities, prompting the need for a new introductory course."

"Much of Harvard's hateful discrimination was revealed, last year," McMahon charged, "by the great work of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and her Committee. As if it were trying to embarrass itself even further, Harvard hired failed Mayors Bill De Blasio and Lori Lightfoot, perhaps the worst mayors ever to preside over major cities in our country's history, to supposedly teach 'leadership' at their School of Public Health. This is like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation to future captains of the sea."

McMahon also took issue with "strongly left-leaning Obama political appointee Penny Pritzker, a Democrat operative," being elected to lead the Harvard Corporation. She described the former Obama Cabinet secretary as "catastrophic and running the institution in a totally chaotic way."

The Education Secretary also blasted Harvard for allegedly failing "to abide by the United States Supreme Court's ruling demanding that it end its racial preferencing [sic]," and for allegedly continuing "to engage in ugly racism in its undergraduate and graduate schools, and even within the Harvard Law Review itself. Our universities should be bastions of merit that reward and celebrate excellence and achievement. They should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans."

McMahon also demanded Harvard's "cooperation with Law Enforcement, and reporting compliance with the Department of Education, Department of Homeland Security, and other Federal Agencies."

She ended the angry missive in a very Trumpian fashion: "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Critics blasted McMahon.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Senate Run Just Became Much More Likely

"Did you use A1 to write this," asked investigative reporter Roger Sollenberger, mocking the Education Secretary's embarrassing remarks confusing artificial intelligence (AI) with the popular steak sauce (A1).

"Whoever wrote this is barely literate," declared The Independent's White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg.

"Did a high school kid write this?" asked veterans' activist and podcaster Fred Wellman. "You’re the Secretary of 'Education' and this is a chaotic mess of bad grammar and illiterate rambling. You poked the bear and you’re too stupid to even know it."

Maya Sen, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, wrote:

"Informing a private entity it will no longer be eligible for government contracts in part because a Democrat sits on its board."

She added, "what’s terrible is that the administration had many natural allies in academia - professors who wanted more diversity in thought, fewer regulations governing research funding, higher & consistent academic standards, and better protections of academic speech," and noted: "But not like this!"

"It may be wise for a private institution to have wide ideological diversity in its membership and leadership," She also noted. "But the government may not mandate it, nor make it a requirement for applying for unrelated funding."

Journalist John Harwood wrote simply, "this letter is deranged."

In addition to criticism of the content, some offered red-inked corrections that appear to be major:...

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Many of President Donald Trump's critics are applauding Harvard University for standing up to him, but Harvard is doing so at a cost. Trump is threatening to pull funding from Harvard and taken away their tax-exempt status.

Political differences are often cited as a key reason for Trump's disdain for Harvard, which he considers a bastion of left-wing thought. But the Daily Beast's Michael Daly, in an article published on April 17, cites another reason: an intense feud with the family of Penny Pritzker, the most senior member of Harvard's board of governors.

"Pritzker is also widely viewed as the dominant member of the ultra-wealthy Pritzker family that was Donald Trump’s partner in his first big real estate deal in Manhattan back in 1975," Daly explains. "She has not made a comment about Harvard’s decision to stand up to the Trump Administration, and the university did not reply when the Daily Beast asked about her role. But she must know from her family's experience decades ago what it can ultimately mean to make a deal with Trump."

READ MORE:['Bullied into submission': Trump’s 'naked economic incompetence' is now GOP’s greatest liability

Now 78, Trump was only 29 when the Pritzkers, according to Daly, "entered into a partnership with him."

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"After an initial financial success," Daly notes, "the partnership devolved into a prolonged, acrimonious dispute between Trump and Hyatt [Hotels], which was then headed by Jay Pritzker, Penny's uncle ... Trump complained that Hyatt had actually asked him to pay his due share in upgrading the hotel at a time when his dependence on junk bonds and outsized sense of his own brilliance in other projects had left him at the brink of ruin."

Daly adds, "He narrowly escaped and revealed a taste for revenge that has become familiar to many of us in recent days."

Trump filed a lawsuit against the Pritzkers in 1993, claiming they were running "a racketeering enterprise."

Daly quotes Trump as saying of the Pritzker family, "They attacked me when I was down. Now, I'm doing great again, and it’s my turn. I always said, the first time I got back on my feet, the Pritzkers would be the first people I'd go after."

READ MORE:['What's he waiting for?' Official struggles between his own supporters and a demanding Trump

*Read the full Daily Beast article at this link (subscription required).

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The latest tirade from Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (his 11/13 letter to Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce) sheds light on the real reason for his demand that NOAA employees make available all email correspondence about their recent study on global warming.

In their extensive analysis of global climate data, published in Science, Tom Karl (Director of NOAA’s Center for Environmental Information) and his team found that small corrections were required to some of the data. Such minor adjustments have been made almost continuously since the first global temperature data set was produced by the U.S. Department of Energy more than 30 years ago, so there is nothing unusual about this.

NASA, NOAA, the UK Hadley Center and the Japanese Meteorological Agency continually check data sources, correct any errors that they may find and make the latest versions of their data available to the public. In other words, they do what they are supposed to do, taking responsibility for the most reliable data sets.

So, the study by Karl et al was nothing more than one of many research papers that have periodically been published, providing an updated record about global temperature. What’s not to like? Why has the House Committee issued subpoenas to Tom Karl and his colleagues, demanding all email correspondence about their work?

Well, the big mistake NOAA apparently made was that it “...used Twitter to spread the news about the Karl study”. OMG! They tweeted the results! They actually tried to communicate with the taxpayers who funded the research!

The Science Committee Chairman is clearly outraged, and in his letter to the Secretary of Commerce, he demands to know why the results weren’t just “...quietly published in a scientific journal”. He goes on, “This type of public relations effort seems more suited to an advertising campaign than a federal agency’s sober report on the findings of a publicly-funded study”.

It would be easy to dismiss this puerile temper tantrum as nothing more than a reflection of how disconnected Chairman Smith is from the rest of the universe, a rather sad position for somebody who heads up a committee that has both Space and Technology in its portfolio. Yet, Representative Smith does have a Twitter account and frequently sends out tweets about his own amazing accomplishments, making sure that his activities are not “quietly published”. Indeed, some might say that his tweets are more akin to an advertising campaign than sober reports from a publicly-funded federal employee... but that would be churlish. No doubt, he is simply doing his job, informing the public about his committee’s activities. Just like those folks at NOAA...

Follow Raymond S. Bradley on Twitter:

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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnsondelivered a blistering critique of a Republican campaign to discredit the work of federal climate scientists, branding the effort "hyper-aggressive oversight," a "fishing expedition" and an "ideological crusade."

The months-long probe of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers is being led by Texas Republican Lamar Smith, chair of the House science committee. Johnson is the committee's ranking democrat.

"In six separate, and increasingly aggressive, letters," Johnson wrote in a Nov. 19 letter to Smith, "the only thing you accused NOAA of doing is engaging in climate science—i.e., doing their jobs." The letter charges Smith of "political posturing intended to influence public opinion" ahead of the Paris climate talks.

Smith responded to Johnsonon Monday, calling her "characterization of the Committee’s efforts to obtain data from a government agency under its jurisdiction… inaccurate and misleading."

The congressman is targeting a June 4 study by federal researchers that refutes the so-called "hiatus" in global warming. The hiatus theory—favored by climate denialists—argues warming has paused or slowed since 1998. The study was led by Tom Karl, director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, and published in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

Since July, Smith has sent NOAA letters and subpoenas asking the agency to provide "all documents and communications" related to the study. NOAA has refused to comply with Smith's requests for emails, citing the importance of confidentiality among scientists.

"The whole thing is really disconcerting...somebody doesn't like the result you publish and all of a sudden you have this huge hammer of a congressional subpoena hanging over your head. It has a chilling effect on scientists," said Andrew Rosenberg, the director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

In her letter, Johnson, also from Texas, criticized Smith for not explaining why he was investigating NOAA, as well as for making "sweeping indictments" to media that federal scientists manipulated data to advance President Obama's climate change agenda.

"In one fell swoop, you have accused a host of different individuals of wrongdoing," Johnson wrote. "You have accused NOAA's top research scientists of scientific misconduct. By extension, you have also accused the peer-reviewers at one of our nation's most prestigious academic journals,Science, of participating in this misconduct (or at least being too incompetent to notice what was going on). If that weren't enough, you are intimating a grand conspiracy between NOAA and the White House to doctor climate science to advance administration policy. Presumably this accusation extends to [NOAA] Administrator [Kathryn] Sullivan herself.

"And all of these indictments are conjured out of thin air, without you presenting any factual basis for these sweeping accusations—exposing this so-called 'investigation' for what it truly is: a witch hunt designed to smear the reputations of eminent scientists for partisan gain."

Johnson first contacted Smith with her concerns about the investigation in October. When Smith didn't respond, she decided she needed to write him again, said Kristin Kopshever, a House science committee spokeswoman for Johnson.

"Over the past couple of years, the committee has had a lot of investigations," said Kopshever. It has investigated the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation,she said. In September, Smith launched an investigation of Jagadish Shukla, a climate scientist at George Mason University in Virginia who called for a federal probe into whether fossil fuel companies knowingly misled the public on climate change.

What made her word these recent letters [to Smith] so strongly, Kopshever said, "is that he doesn't have any fact-based allegations against NOAA for wrongdoing or misuse of power or funds that would typically prompt an investigation."

Smith also wrote two letters to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker urging her to pressure NOAA to cooperate with the House committee probe. The most recent one was sent on Nov. 18. In it, Smith claimed to have whistleblower communications that show "wrongdoing."

"Information provided to the Committee by whistleblowers appears to show that the Karl study was rushed to publication despite the concerns and objections of a number of NOAA scientists," Smith wrote. Pritzker was out of the country last week and asked Sullivan of NOAA to respond on her behalf. "Let me assure you that I am not engaged in or associated with any 'politically correct agenda,'" Sullivan wrote in the Nov. 20 letter. "I have not and will not allow anyone to manipulate the science or coerce the scientists who work for me."

Johnson requested that the whistleblower information be shared with Democratic members of the science committee. She called Smith's criticism that the study was "rushed" a "mild accusation"—one not serious enough to warrant a congressional investigation.

"The Constitution doesn't provide you with a blank check to harass research scientists with whose results you disagree," she wrote.

In his response letter Monday, Smith said that asking for the source's information "in a public setting is not only harmful to the Committee’s current investigations, but may have a chilling effect on the willingness of federal employees to report waste, fraud, and abuse to the Committee in the future."

Read the full letter:

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The Pritzker family is an American family engaged in entrepreneurship and philanthropy, and one of the wealthiest families in the United States of America, being near the top of Forbes magazine’s “America’s Richest Families” list since the magazine began listings in 1982.

The family is most famous for owning the Hyatt hotel chain, and the Marmon Group, conglomerate of manufacturing and industrial service companies which has since been sold to Berkshire Hathaway.[1] Other holdings have included the Superior Bank of Chicago, which notably collapsed in 2001, the TransUnion credit bureau and theRoyal Caribbean cruise line.

The Pritzker family and its members are of Jewish descent,[2] and is known for its relationship to Chicago.[3]

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Family business:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em;color:#555555;"):}:[edit:{]}:

In 1995, Jay Pritzker (cofounder of Hyatt) stepped down and Thomas Pritzker took control of the The Pritzker Organization.[3] When Jay died in 1999, the family decided to split the business into 11 pieces worth $1.4 billion a piece, but had to settle a lawsuit from two family members who received $500 million each.[3]

In 2011, the dissolution had been completed and each of the cousins had gone their separate ways, with some pursuing business and others pursuing philanthropic or artistic ventures.[4]

Members:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em;color:#555555;"):}:[edit:{]}:

Family fortune:{:(style="margin-right:0.25em;color:#555555;"):}:[edit:{]}:

Members of the Pritzker family on the Forbes 400 list of “The 400 Richest Americans 2015”:[8]

RankNameNet Worth
557Anthony Pritzker$3.1 billion
512J.B. Pritzker$3.4 billion
847John Pritzker$2.2 billion
551Thomas Pritzker$3.1 billion
737Penny Pritzker$2.5 billion
847Daniel Pritzker$2.2 billion
1054Jennifer N. Pritzker$1.78 billion
737Jean (Gigi) Pritzker$2.5 billion
381Karen Pritzker$4.3 billion
1054Linda Pritzker$1.85 billion
1250Nicholas J. Pritzker$1.48 billion
Total$29 billion

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  1. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ BAJAJ, Vikas (December 26, 2007). "Rapidly, Buffett Secures a Deal for $4.5 Billion". The New York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  2. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ "Pritzker family". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  3. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pritzker_family#cite_ref-:0_3-1) c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pritzker_family#cite_ref-:0_3-2) "Inside the Pritzker family feud". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  4. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ "Pritzker family agreement to divide wealth comes to a close". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2016-03-21.
  5. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ N. L. Baranova-Shestova ″The Life of Lev Shestov″
  6. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ Geidner, Chris (August 23, 2013). "Billionaire Backer Of Open Transgender Military Service Comes Out As Transgender". BuzzFeed. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  7. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130823/BLOGS03/130829911/james-pritzker-opens-new-chapter-in-her-life
  8. :{Jump up:(style="-webkit-user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^ "The 400 Richest Americans 2015". Forbes.com. Retrieved 2011-10-23.
This page or section lists people with the surname Pritzker. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

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Penny Sue Pritzker "is a business builder, civic leader, and philanthropist. She's chairman of the board of four companies: TransUnion, Classic Residence by Hyatt, The Parking Spot, and Pritzker Realty Group," states her profile on her own website. [1]

"A businesswoman for more than twenty years, Ms. Pritzker is overseeing the international expansion of TransUnion, one of the leading financial information companies, to help other countries build credit economies to fuel growth. She founded Classic Residence by Hyatt, today's leader in luxury living for older adults, and The Parking Spot, an off-site airport parking management company. As chairman of Pritzker Realty Group, she's been responsible for non-hotel real estate investment, including the award winning Hyatt Center in Chicago's Loop. [1]

"Ms. Pritzker serves on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board which formulates and evaluates economic policy for the Obama Administration. She was National Finance Chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign and co-chair of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. [1]

"She serves on the board of Global Hyatt Corporation. She's a past board member of the William Wrigley Jr. Company, Marmon Group, and LaSalle Bank Corporation, now a part of Bank of America. [1]

"She's chairman of the Chicago Public Education Fund which works closely with the Chicago Public Schools, and a member of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee. She's a former chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicagoand former member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. [1]

"Through the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation (PTFF), Pritzker and her husband, Dr. Bryan Traubert, support efforts to improve public education in the City of Chicago, ensuring that children have access to a quality, public education. PTFF supports a number of education reform initiatives including principal preparation and development, Teach for America Chicago, and Chicago Run which emphasizes the benefits of running and goal setting to underserved children in grades K-6." [1]

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Penny S. Pritzker, accessed September 16, 2009.
  2. ↑ Board, Council on Foreign Relations, accessed March 20, 2011.

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