Roundup

Jul 27, 2017

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.

Source: The Conversation

Jul 26, 2017

100 years ago African-Americans marched down 5th Avenue to declare that black lives matter

by Chad Williams

One hundred years later, as black people continue to insist that “Black Lives Matter,” the “Silent Protest Parade” offers a vivid reminder about the power of courageous leadership, grassroots mobilization, direct action and their collective necessity in the fight to end racial oppression in our current troubled times.

Source: The Marshall Project

Jul 26, 2017

Our Long, Troubling History of Sterilizing the Incarcerated

by David M. Perry

State-sanctioned efforts to keep the incarcerated from reproducing began in the early 20th century and continue today.

Source: Corey Robin (Blog)

Jul 24, 2017

The Democrats: A party that wants to die but can’t pull the plug

by Corey Robin

Democrats and Republicans alike have fallen for the myth that job training programs work. They never do. And this is the Democrats' "new" proposal?

Source: NY Daily News

Jul 24, 2017

Are school vouchers bad because early proponents had racist motivations?

by Jonathan Zimmerman

Call it the fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree fallacy: If something had evil roots, it remains evil.

Source: Informed Comment

Jul 23, 2017

Top Five Rogues Pardoned by Presidents; will Trump try to be 6th?

by Juan Cole

And no the president can’t pardon himself or Nixon would have been first in line.

Source: The Washington Post

Jul 23, 2017

The new Detroit’s fatal flaw

by Heather Ann Thompson

Fifty years ago, Detroit burned. The new Detroit is making the same mistakes.

Source: NYT

Jul 22, 2017

Donald Trump’s Plan to Save Western Civilization

by Stephen Wertheim

The president promised an “America First” foreign policy, but he’s taken on something far more ambitious.

Source: Moyers & Company

Jul 21, 2017

How Did We Become A Billionaires’ Republic?

by Jedediah Purdy

A new book argues that the Constitution’s framers believed that vast concentrations of wealth were the enemy of democracy — so what happened?

Source: LA Progressive

Jul 21, 2017

Revisiting H.L. Mencken in The Age of Trump

by Frank Fear

“On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of this land will reach their heart’s content at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Source: The Washington Post

Jul 21, 2017

No matter what he does, history says Trump will never be popular

by Michael Kazin

Presidents who’ve lost the popular vote don’t win popular support.

Source: CNN

Jul 21, 2017

Why Trump and Mueller aren't Clinton and Starr

by Julian Zelizer

This comparison misses something pretty fundamental. Starr was working under the independent counsel law that Congress passed in 1978. So Clinton couldn't fire him.

Source: The Times of London

Jul 20, 2017

The Dunkirk myth never told our real story

by David Aaronovitch

We British tell ourselves we’re at our best when standing alone but the long history of empire disproves that.

Source: The Washington Post

Jul 19, 2017

Why the second American Revolution deserves as much attention as the first

by Gregory P. Downs

It is not hard to see why people celebrate Independence Day and forget the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War, even though that period was, in many respects, a Second Founding that re-created the republic and the Constitution.

Source: Politico

Jul 19, 2017

Will Trump's Obsession With Loyalty Bring Him Down?

by James David Robenalt

Covering up for his favorite aides is what sank Richard Nixon. Is Trump making the same mistakes?

Source: Nursing Clio

Jul 18, 2017

Was the Founding Generation Right to Worry?

by Sarah Swedberg

Americans’ current level of concern about the mental health of the man serving in the White House goes beyond what many of us have seen in our lifetimes, but, like all concerns, this one, too has a history.