News at Home

• 
• 9/15/19
  

  Trump—A Wannabe Dictator in Training

  by John C. Waugh

  Trump has suggested how good it might be for him to enjoy a third term, perhaps more, even though the Constitution forcefully forbids it. 

• 
• 9/15/19
  

  S.F. History Museum Highlights America’s First Immigration Restriction: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

  by James Thornton Harris

  An interview with Tamiko Wong, the executive director of the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum about the exhibit Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion.

• 
• 9/15/19
  

  Autocrats do not need a majority to destroy democracy. A divided opposition helps them.

  by Claudia Koonz

  Trump is not a despot. But neither were Mussolini and Hitler early on.

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  Trump’s Wall and the Aggrandizement of Despots

  by Walter G. Moss

  Egotistical rulers like Trump often have grandiose architectural plans. Hitler had his “Germania," Mao had his “10 Great Buildings," and Stalin had his never-built Palace of Soviets. 

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  The U.S. a Christian Nation? Not According to the Founders!

  by Harlow Giles Unger

  Pence and Sessions are but two prominent Americans in and out of politics today who continue refueling a centuries-old controversy over the role of religion in American life.

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  The American Left Needs a Contemporary Thad Stevens

  by Van Gosse

  Protest, “resistance,” and speaking truth to power are no longer enough. Leftists need to think about how to wield power in our complex political system and Thad Stevens offers a valuable blueprint. 

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  1933 May Be Closer than We Think

  by Frank Domurad

  Increasing cultural, social and political continuities between Weimar and America should give us serious concern in assessing the fate of these two democracies as part of an analogous historical phenomenon.

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  The Democratic Presidential Candidates’ Ivy League Problem – and the Party Divide It Signals

  by Daniel K. Williams

  Every Democratic presidential nominee for the past thirty years has had a degree from either Harvard or Yale. 

• 
• 9/8/19
  

  What We Can Learn About Surviving Frauds Like Trump from Titus Oates

  by David P. Barash

  The true story of Titus Oates, although horrifying and downright infuriating, should give us hope that the US, too, can recover from You Know Who, just as England did from Titus Oates. 

• 
• 9/1/19
  

  The Fight against Climate Change Must Become the New Abolitionism

  by Erik Curren

  Why has it taken so long for the climate movement to accomplish so little? And, since the clock is ticking to curb runaway global heating, how can we do better in the future?

• 
• 9/1/19
  

  Can testimony against Epstein still have an impact without him present?

  by Norman J.W. Goda

  The 1987 trial of Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie offers valuable historical context to how victim testimony without the accused present can still have a powerful impact.

• 
• 9/1/19
  

  Why Conservatives Are So Upset About the 1619 Project

  by Adam Bruno

  Conservative pundits conceive of the past as determined by the actions of “great men,” defined by heroic and noble acts of patriotism from its citizens, and generally memorable for its unifying moments not its shameful ones. The 1619 Project counters all these notions. 

• 
• 9/1/19
  

  Restricting Automatic Citizenship to Children Born to Americans Serving Abroad Is Only the Latest Effort by Trump to Dismantle Birthright Citizenship

  by Derek Litvak

  Trump and conservatives are attempting a wholesale constitutional revolution by dismantling birthright citizenship. Here's why birthright citizenship is so historically important. 

• 
• 8/28/19
  

  The Problem with The Rosa Parks Barbie

  by Andrea S. Johnson

  Rosa Parks wasn't just a tired seamstress with aching feet. The true story of Rosa Parks that historians have worked hard to reconstruct is continually lost in public consumption.

• 
• 8/27/19
  

  A Voting History of American Jews From 1916 to Today

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  Historically, Democratic presidential candidates have received a majority of the Jewish vote.

• 
• 8/25/19
  

  Lessons from Our Republican Ancestors on Free Speech

  by Forrest A. Nabors

  If truly wicked ideas permeate our country, the best way to quell their pernicious influence is to refute them in debate and trust in the judgement of observing citizens.

• 
• 8/25/19
  

  A History of the Fight for Universal Healthcare and the Cry of Socialism

  by Donne Levy

  This drama in which Democrats move toward universal healthcare and Republicans cry socialism has happened before, and it is instructive to analyze this history with a view toward what can be expected in the future. 

• 
• 8/25/19
  

  Trump Has Blocked Wage Gains for American Workers

  by Lawrence Wittner

  Although the pundits say the U.S. economy is booming―and it certainly is for the country’s billionaires―it’s not doing much for the incomes of American workers. 

• 
• 8/20/19
  

  Jeff Sessions's Troubling Legacy

  by Ronald L. Feinman

  Unfortunately, Sessions’ ideas and policies live on through Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

• 
• 8/18/19
  

  Walkability Is at the Heart of Human Societies

  by Antonia Malchik

  We’ve forgotten about shared space, about public roads, and the fact that tens of thousands of years of human history demonstrates a profound need for the daily, in-person interactions walkability provides.