News at Home 
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2/28/2021
George Shultz: The Last Progressive
by Ron Schatz
"A steadfast Republican committed to union-management cooperation, peace through treaties, competitive capitalism, and empowerment of African-Americans, George Shultz was the last old-fashioned Progressive."
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2/28/2021
The Politicization of the American Judiciary
by James D. Zirin
Judicial elections are the latest target of GOP gerrymandering, spurred by the rejection of Team Trump's election lawsuits.
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2/28/2021
Racist Zoombombings the Latest Application of Technology by White Supremacists
by Roy E. Finkenbine
White supremacist keyboard warriors appear to have declared a cyber war against Black History Month.
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2/28/2021
Is Virginia's Move to Abolish the Beginning of the End of the Death Penalty in America?
by Rick Halperin
Virginia's move to abolish capital punishment is long overdue, and other states and the federal government should follow suit to restore American legitimacy on global human rights.
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2/28/2021
The "War on Cancer" at 50: The Most Fruitful Failure in Human History
by Judith L. Pearson
Announced by Richard Nixon in 1971, the "War on Cancer" has not yielded a cure. But it has driven research that has deepened understanding of cancers and developed life-saving treatments, while erasing ignorance and stigma. It has been one of humanity's most successful failures.
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2/21/2021
Must the Capitol Riots be Included in the Legacy of American Dissent?
by Ralph Young
Teachers of history might feel a disconnect between praising American traditions of dissent and condemning the Capitol riots. They shouldn't. Historical evaluation of the grievances of dissenters, whatever their methods, finds real grievances, not lies, at the root of dissent.
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2/21/2021
Don't Defend Democracy With Half-Truths About the Past
by Brook Thomas
Although the Capitol riots raised deep concern about the rule of law, there is a deeper challenge ahead of the nation: to understand and change the undemocratic aspects of our foundational law and refuse half-measures in the name of unity.
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2/21/2021
January 6, 2021: A Day of Populist Transgression
by Robert A. Schneider
The Capitol riot included a small core of actors bent on destruction, with many more along for the ride reveling in a moment of transgression. In this way, it was a microcosm of the Trumpian movement that, now unleashed, will be difficult to contain.
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2/21/2021
Trump Was Almost Re-Elected. What Does That Say About Us?
by Walter G. Moss and Rick Shenkman
Joe Biden's popular vote and electoral margins were large, but only a small number of votes proved decisive. Moving ahead, it is necessary to understand what Trump's ongoing popularity says about America.
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2/21/2021
Cynicism and Political Blunder: A Postscript to “The January 6th Assault on Congress and the Fate of the GOP’s Faustian Bargain"
by Jeffrey Herf
Mitch McConnell's decision to condemn Trump after voting for his acquittal wasn't just an act of cowardice. The acts taken together constitute a major tactical blunder in the emerging battle for control of the Republican Party.
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2/14/2021
Lincoln and the Lesson of Leading From Behind
by Michael J. Gerhardt
Joe Biden's inaugural address signals his willingness to follow Abraham Lincoln in "leading from behind" by listening and lifting the voices of others.
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2/14/2021
Heed the Cornerman's Cry
by Mike McQuillan
The failure to heed the warnings of the Kerner Commission in 1968 – of a society divided by racism and inequality – has led to ongoing suffering and a politics of resentment over an ethic of mutual care.
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2/14/2021
Opportunities for a Catholic President, Then and Now
by Patrick Lacroix
Polling of religious voters might encourage Democrats to give up on reaching them. John F. Kennedy's experience shows that Joe Biden, as the second Catholic President, could succeed in narrowing the gap.
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2/14/2021
What Becomes of a Broken Party?
by James Robenalt
The Republican Party seems to be refusing the opportunity to save itself by rejecting Trumpism. His acquittal in a second Senate trial means he will be free to demand the party bend to his will or be destroyed.
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2/14/2021
Political Violence: Still as American as Cherry Pie
by Alan J. Singer
SNCC leader H. Rap Brown declared that violence was "American as cherry pie" in 1967. Though his remarks were scorned then, he was correct, and no movement for justice can succeed without acknowledging it.
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2/14/2021
History, Evidence and the Ethics of Belief
by Guy Lancaster
Untrammelled freedom of belief has been enshrined as an American civic virtue. The nation, democracy, and possibly the planet are imperiled without a collective commitment to respect belief only to the extent available evidence supports it.
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2/14/2021
Immigrant Families are the Second Casualty of War
by Elliott Young
If truth is the first casualty in war, immigrants follow as a close second. During the first and second world wars, tens of thousands of immigrants in the United States were locked up in prisons as part of a geopolitical game beyond their control.
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2/14/2021
Trumpism after Trump: Beyond Fascism
by Gavriel Rosenfeld
Understanding the future of the far-right grievance politics catalyzed by the Trump presidency, it might be helpful to think of it as "MAGA-ism," a 21st century American phenomenon.
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2/14/2021
The Balance of Power in 2021 Rests with Two Senators
by Michael Landis
The actions of pro-slavery northern "doughfaces" in Congress, led by Stephen Douglas of Illinois, helped to protect the expansion of slavery even as a national majority grew to oppose it. Today, Joe Manchin and Jon Tester will have to consider home state elections, their own conservative tendencies, and the fate of the Biden administration's policy agenda and act accordingly.
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2/7/2021
History (and Historians) Need a New Deal
by Shannan Clark
Only a program of direct public employment for historians, along with other academics, can lead to a vibrant future for the discipline in which access to careers is expanded, with greater diversity and equity. The history of the WPA cultural projects shows us the way.
News
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- Denied a Teaching Job for Being ‘Too Black,’ She Started Her Own School — And a Movement