This is about halfway defensible: Their basic premise that the U.S. is always and everywhere a baleful influence is one widely shared around the world, and not easy to falsify.

In its second year, the Globes made more defensible selections.

Whether in her classroom, after a play or movie, or sitting around the dinner table at night, she made wild, completely defensible connections and found crushingly human patterns amid absolute chaos.

There are those who might argue for the former on unifying patriotic grounds, but the latter is the only defensible, self-respecting and indeed ethical posture, especially given present circumstances.

Ending legacy admissions may be defensible in the service of equity, but it’s neither necessary nor sufficient to increase lower-income students’ access to higher education.