Departments

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Roundup

  • SOURCE: The Hill
    10/20/2021

    State Laws Mandating "Opposing Viewpoints" Corrupt the Teaching of History

    by Jacqueline Jones and James Grossman

    "The vague wording of SB3 not only creates absurd situations that require teachers to figure out how to offer “opposing viewpoints” on slavery, but also gives license to parents and administrators looking to challenge the teaching of incontrovertible facts relating to controversial issues."

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    10/14/2021

    The Sleeper SCOTUS Case that Threatens Church-State Separation

    by Kimberly Wehle

    "If the plaintiffs win, states and municipalities could be required to use taxpayer dollars to supplement strands of private religious education that many Americans would find deeply offensive, including schools that exclude non-Christian or LGBTQ students, families, and teachers."

  • SOURCE: Boston Review
    10/15/2021

    Guantanamo's Other History

    by Jeffrey S. Kahn

    Reports of a bid for migrant detention contractors based at Guantanamo including speakers of Haitian Creole fed suspicion of a new connection of the military and immigration enforcement. Where Haitian refugees are concerned, the Guantanamo connection is nothing new. 

  • SOURCE: TomDispatch
    10/17/2021

    Seeing the Future When No One Believes You

    by Rebecca Gordon

    The recollections and rehabilitations occasioned by the 20th anniversary of the War on Terror are, predictably, giving short shrift to the voices of dissent who questioned the ability of American military power to resolve political conflicts. Like their mythical namesake, those denounced as Cassandras in 2001 were right. 

  • SOURCE: Slate
    10/14/2021

    Fact and Fiction in "The Last Duel"

    by Sara McDougall and David Perry

    "The film effectively depicts the violence embedded in medieval ideas of elite masculinity while taking historical liberties when it comes to the real nature and function of trials by combat, or how rape accusations worked in medieval Europe."

  • SOURCE: The New Republic
    10/13/2021

    Stephen Breyer's Delusions of an Apolitical Court

    by Ryan D. Doerfler and Samuel Moyn

    In his much-discussed book, Justice Stephen Breyer comes close to acknowledging that the Supreme Court is a political institution, but ultimately declares that's it's more important to preserve the noble lie that the court is above politics. 

  • SOURCE: The Nation
    10/14/2021

    America as a “Shining City on a Hill”—and Other Myths to Die By

    by Gregg Gonsalves

    "Our relationship to disease, to pandemics past, is obscured by this myth of fundamental American goodness. If we accept that we are capable of barbarity, official cruelty, these myths shatter and leave us with a national story that is far more complicated to tell, a legacy to work against."

  • SOURCE: Substack
    10/18/2021

    Why Powell's UN Speech Was So Crucial (and Bad)

    by Greg Mitchell

    Colin Powell's 2003 speech to the United Nations was short on evidence for Saddam Hussein's WMD program, but he put down his reputation as collateral, changing history for the worse.

  • SOURCE: Foreign Policy
    10/15/2021

    The Critique of "Grand Strategy" at Yale is Decades Overdue

    by Jim Sleeper

    In a changing world, Yale's decision to follow the lead of influential donors to steer its Grand Strategy program toward the established orthodoxy of the national security state doesn't just fail the principles of liberal education, it fails the long-term ability of the United States to steer a course in world affairs.

  • SOURCE: Mother Jones
    10/15/2021

    What Does it Mean to Call Someone a "Male Chauvinist Pig"?

    by Julie Willett

    Merging the term "chauvinism" from the old left and the radical 1960s desire to render authority grotesque, the term emerged with the second wave of feminism. But today some of the sexists labeled with it appear to have turned it into a badge of honor. 

  • SOURCE: Crosscut
    10/15/2021

    Beware "Rising Crime" Rhetoric in Seattle Politics

    by Dan Berger

    Progressive prosecutor candidates like Nicole Thomas-Kennedy in Seattle reflect a growing social movement to reverse decades of failed "tough on crime" policies that have accomplished little but swell the ranks fo the incarcerated, says a historian of crime and punishment.

  • SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
    10/18/2021

    Among Other COVID Changes? The Role of Grandparents

    by Sarah Stoller

    "Just as they were in the 19th century, grandparents are now commonly expected to help, despite their own need for various kinds of support and assistance."