News at Home

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• 8/1/2021
  

  Ike Would Like the New Private Space Race

  by Yanek Mieczkowski

  Wary of government spending and the entanglement of public money with private contractors, Dwight Eisenhower would find much to like in today's billionaire space race. 

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• 8/1/2021
  

  Charlottesville's Lee Statue Belongs in a Museum

  by John Troast

  "Charlottesville’s recently removed statue of Robert E. Lee is not a statue of a man, it is a statue of a myth," and the history of that dangerous myth needs to be preserved.

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• 8/1/2021
  

  The Media's Failure on Agent Orange

  by Ron Steinman

  The media seldom covers the ongoing harm caused by Agent Orange because little of the story is "news." This is a failure of duty to inform the public about the callous use of the defoliant that may allow similar wartime ecological catastrophes in the future. 

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• 7/25/2021
  

  The Legacies of Un-critical Race Theory at Berkeley

  by Tony Platt

  For most of its history, the University of California has been a bastion of un-critical race theory from Manifest Destiny to The Bell Curve. 

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• 7/18/2021
  

  As Americans Hit the Road Again, It's Time to Revisit the Ideals of Liberty

  by Heidi M. Ravven

  Americans are contemplating travel as COVID gives way to greater freedom to move. There's no more apt place for a visit than the Statue of Liberty. 

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• 7/18/2021
  

  The 1906 Decision in Hodges v. United States Shows the Error of Leaving Fundamental Rights to the States

  by William H. Pruden III

  The Court ruled that the 13th Amendment did not create a federal right to fairly contracted labor, and called for Black workers to "take their chances with other citizens in the states where they should make their homes," despite the plain determination of those citizens to oppress and expolit them.

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• 7/18/2021
  

  Can Sports Realize Frederick Douglass's Ideal of the Composite Nation?

  by Walter G. Moss

  From Jackie Robinson to Simone Biles and Shohei Otani, sports have been like the point of a knife piercing myths of white supremacy. 

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• 7/18/2021
  

  The History of Systemic Racism that CRT Opponents Prefer to Hide

  by Clyde W. Ford

  The importation of African people to Virginia in 1619 spurred the process of establishing racial hierarchy through law, a historical reality the right seeks to deny.

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• 7/18/2021
  

  The Government's Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Doesn't Answer Many Questions

  by David Marks

  The minimal and inconclusive US Government report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena has not enlightened us about the nature of UFOs.

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• 7/18/2021
  

  Trump Cheated on His Taxes. What Happens Now?

  by James D. Zirin

  "When I was a federal prosecutor going after white collar criminals, I always looked for the accountant. He was the most likely witness for the government."

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• 7/11/2021
  

  The NFL Must Learn Lessons About Inclusion from Women's Sports

  by John Howard

  If the NFL is sincere in wanting to fight against entrenched homophobia, it should follow the example of women's sports (and be prepared to make partnerships and investments with LGBTQ organizations inside and outside of sports.

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• 7/11/2021
  

  How Historians Convinced SCOTUS that the NCAA's Idea of Amateurism is a Myth

  by Ronald A. Smith

  The Supreme Court was influenced by the work of a team of historians to reject the NCAA's arguments about amateurism and open the way for college athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses – something history shows they did extensively before the NCAA's rules. 

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• 7/4/2021
  

  The National Bicentennial Erased Antiwar Activism by Vietnam Veterans

  by Elise Lemire

  The United States Semiquincentennial Commission is preparing for July 4, 2026 as an opportunity for educating the public about the nation's history. It should avoid repeating the whitewash of recent history in the 1976 Bicentennial celebration.

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• 7/4/2021
  

  A Faulty Court Precedent on Selective Service Leaves the Last Legal Sex Discrimination in Place

  by Kara Dixon Vuic

  Since 1981, the Supreme Court has allowed the exclusion of women from Selective Service registration on the grounds that they were excluded from combat and thus not liable to be drafted. This position is out of date with the reality of women's military service, yet the current court declined to correct its error. 

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• 7/4/2021
  

  Carl Nassib's Coming Out Will Save Lives; How Many Depends on the NFL's Support

  by John Howard

  Carl Nassib just became the first active NFL player to come out as gay. His personal courage shouldn't obscure the work of previous activists or the obligation of the league to take positive steps to fight homophobia.

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• 6/20/2021
  

  Powerline Politics in the 1970s and Today

  by Tyler Priest

  Environmental activists have forged anti-pipeline alliances with rural landowners using the issue of eminent domain. History shows that this might boomerang if farmers oppose the new electric transmission lines that will be needed to implement green electrification. 

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• 6/20/2021
  

  Keep History Teachers Free to Teach, in Iowa and the Nation

  by Wallace Hettle

  "I’m not a lawyer, but it appears that the legislature has just passed a law against hurt feelings."

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• 6/20/2021
  

  50 Years Later, the Pentagon Papers Remain an Historic Landmark for Freedom of the Press

  by Jared Schroeder

  While democratic norms have, at times, seemed paper thin in recent years, the Court’s terse decision in the Pentagon Papers decision persists as a bulwark against government efforts to halt publication.

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• 6/20/2021
  

  Should Immigration Courts Operate under the Attorney General? History Says this is an Accident that Should be Undone

  by Alison Peck

  Franklin Roosevelt was pushed fear of a Nazi fifth column and big business's hostility toward foreign-born labor leaders to shift immigration courts from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice, where they act as an extension of law enforcement. Legislation to make them independent is long overdue. 

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• 6/13/2021
  

  The Night Vietnam Veterans Stormed Bunker Hill

  by Elise Lemire

  The Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 was a military defeat for the Continental Army but a coup for morale. In 1971, Vietnam Veterans Against the War won a nonviolent battle at the site for the allegiance of the working class residents of Charlestown.