John Palfrey

@palfrey.org

1.6K followers 280 following 190 posts

President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

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John Gorham Palfrey VII is an American educator, scholar, and law professor. His areas of focus include emerging media, Internet freedom, online transparency and accountability, and child safety. In March 2019, he was named the president of the MacArthur Foundation effective September 1, 2019. Palfrey was the 15th Head of School at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from 2012 to 2019. He was executive director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society from 2002 to 2008. .. more

Political science 28%

Business 16%

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John Palfrey @palfrey.org · Nov 18

It is a rare thing to be able to award a $100 million grant but today we do so @macfound.org. I’m thrilled to share the Broad Institute’s Sentinel project is @macfound 100&Change Award Recipient!

www.macfound.org/press/press-...

Sentinel Awarded $100 Million to Prevent Pandemics

www.macfound.org

Reposted by John Horgan, John Palfrey

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 1d

The transformation of ICE into a type of national police force, backed, in some cases, by soldiers from the National Guard, has been covered as immigration story—but these forces are reshaping democracy for all of us.

Listen to 'Autocracy in America' here:

www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/202...

Federal Agents Are Violating the Rights of Americans

ICE and the National Guard are acting with impunity.

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by John Palfrey

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 1d

In case you haven't seen it, print front page of this morning's NYT.

Banner headline in NYT: "Trump Asserts His Global Power Has One Limit: Himself."

Reposted by John Palfrey

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 4d

Data center backlash makes Page One:

@washingtonpost.com

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 8d

Lots of promise on this reduction of deaths by murder in Chicago -- an historic drop -- but still a very long way to go -- together.

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 8d

Chicago Recorded Fewest Murders In 60 Years In 2025, Bucking Trump’s ‘Murder Capital’ Insult

blockclubchicago.org/2026/01/02/c...

Chicago Recorded Fewest Murders In 60 Years In 2025, Bucking Trump’s ‘Murder Capital’ Insult

Chicago ended 2025 with 416 murders, according to preliminary data, a 29 percent drop from last year. Here's why the mayor, top cop and experts say violent crime is down.

blockclubchicago.org

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 10d

"President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks hung up the effort."

chicago.suntimes.com/nation-world...

Trump says he's dropping push for National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Oregon, for now

President Donald Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that he’s removing the Guard troops for now. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar a...

chicago.suntimes.com

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 15d

Protests work.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

How effective is protesting? According to historians and political scientists: very

From emancipation to women’s suffrage, civil rights and BLM, mass movement has shaped the arc of US history

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by David Darmofal

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 20d

Thank you @jfallows.bsky.social for having me on your podcast to talk about 2025 and what comes next for our democracy in 2026.

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 22d

What American institutions are standing up and "meeting the moment"?

Sleeping giants awake: US foundations.

Podcast with head of MacArthur Foundation, John Palfrey.

fallows.substack.com/p/this-is-th...

‘This Is the Proverbial Rainy Day.’

In times of emergency, an American sleeping giant shows how to flex.

fallows.substack.com

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 20d

This is nice to read today. Thank you @anneapplebaum.bsky.social! (And Henry James gor that matter.)

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 22d

www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

Henry James’s Venice Is Still Here

Henry James’s Venice was a “city of intense beauty and deep secrets” that he transformed into novels, letters, stories, and essays during his visits in the late 19th century. @anneapplebaum set out to...

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by John Palfrey

David French @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social · 20d

Fundamentalist faiths make religion dangerous to others, but Christianity properly lived is dangerous to Christians. It’s dangerous to people who refuse to hate those they are told to hate, to people who refuse to oppress, to conquer, to exploit — even when they’re told to conquer in the name of God

Opinion | Christianity Is a Dangerous Faith

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by John Palfrey

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 22d

www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

Henry James’s Venice Is Still Here

www.theatlantic.com

Reposted by John Palfrey, David Darmofal

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · 22d

‘This Is the Proverbial Rainy Day.’

In times of emergency, an American sleeping giant shows how to flex.

fallows.substack.com

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 22d

#CourageisContagious

The Economist @economist.com · 22d

Republican state senators in Indiana may just have been being smart politicians when they voted against a gerrymandering bill. But they also set a heartening example of courage in public life econ.st/44zN0bz

Illustration: David Simonds

Reposted by John Palfrey

The Economist @economist.com · 22d

Josh Goldstein @joshisimmigration.bsky.social · 25d

One of the biggest moments of my career:
USCIS canceled my client’s naturalization oath ceremony. We filed a lawsuit, went to trial, and the judge swore him in right there in the courtroom!

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 25d

"Crisis is clarifying. So, in 2026, use it to prepare your newsroom to withstand plausible legal and financial threats... let this moment also lead you back to your audiences and how your organisation can better serve them"

@niemanlab.org @elizatalks.bsky.social

www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/a-ti...

A time for clear-eyed conviction — and courage

"Crisis is clarifying."

www.niemanlab.org

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 26d

Any thoughts on how time spent on LinkedIn (including text and/or videos etc) for professionals fits in this picture?

Reposted by Cas Mudde, Lisa W. Fazio, Philip N. Cohen , and 5 more Cas Mudde, Lisa W. Fazio, Philip N. Cohen, John Palfrey, James Goodwin, Brian Keegan, Simon Lester, Mary James

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 26d

i have said this before but if you are actually interested in influencing people beyond a narrow circle of too-online journalists you will be making direct to camera videos on tiktok, instagram and youtube. if you primarily post on text-based social media then you're just dicking around.

Reposted by Steven Farber, John Palfrey

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 27d

Horrified by the terrorist attack in Australia targeting Jewish people celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.

Antisemitism has no place in this world.

As so many light their candles tonight, we’ll come together to pray for a future where the light will triumph over darkness.

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 27d

Hard to put into words the feelings of sadness, anxiety, and upset to read about the many tragedies of this weekend -- apparently targeted killings on Jewish people on Bondi Beach and a shooter at Brown University in Providence RI among too many other places in the world. We have so much work to do.

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 27d

"My support for free speech, for example, opened the door for depravity, and my defense of due process hindered the rough justice necessary to reclaim America."

Revealing and illuminating (for me anyway) column from @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/o...

Opinion | What Happens if You Refuse to Recognize That We Are in a Death Spiral

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by John Palfrey

Nancy French @nancyfrench.bsky.social · 28d

The Sears Tower, decked out in red and green lights, is the perfect backdrop for Chicago’s Christmas celebrations! 🎄(also @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social and I got our tree up!) ⛄️

Reposted by Caroline Krafft, John Palfrey, Dana R. Fisher , and 1 more Caroline Krafft, John Palfrey, Dana R. Fisher, Richard M. Carpiano

Frank Figliuzzi @frankfigliuzzi.bsky.social · 28d

No parent wants this text. Thinking of the Brown University community.

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 28d

Praying for all our friends and colleagues in Providence and at Brown.

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 28d

Brown University is a beautiful place, where people come to work and learn. I am filled with horror by news of this tragedy.

Reposted by Anna O. Law, John Palfrey

Caroline Kubzansky @ckubzansky.bsky.social · 28d

@chicagotribune.com photogs rock my world every single day but often this year I've thought about how important their art is at the moments when words fail. Their top 100 just drives home what a year it's been in this precious city www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/12/t...

The 100 best photos of 2025 by Chicago Tribune photographers

In 2025, we covered an extraordinary year defined by joy, sadness and turmoil. Our photo editors curated some of the best images from 2025 in this collection.

www.chicagotribune.com

Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, John Palfrey

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 28d

Brown University is a beautiful place, where people come to work and learn. I am filled with horror by news of this tragedy.

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 29d

So happy to read this.

John Palfrey @palfrey.org · 29d

Your caption made me laugh. Thanks!

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele, Norbert Schwarz , and 11 more Anna O. Law, Kim L. Scheppele, Norbert Schwarz, Edgar Morgenroth, John Palfrey, Scott A. Imberman, Timothy Burke, Philipp Sarasin, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, Björn Heile, Julie Novkov, Georg Weizsäcker, Simon Lester, Colin Woodard

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Dec 12

It's not just social media. Looks like visitors to the US from Europe and other countries that are part of the visa waiver program will have to submit an enormous amount of data about themselves and their families, including DNA, if proposed new rules are accepted

Reposted by Colin F. Camerer, John Palfrey, Henry Jones

Barack Obama @barackobama.bsky.social · Dec 11

I couldn’t leave Chicago without getting a cut from my old barber, Zariff!

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