@terrybouton
Historian of the American Revolution and Creation of the US Constitution. Author of Taming Democracy. Forthcoming Book: Madison's Mistake: The Rise and Fall of American Monarchism. Democracy Dies in Doomerism. Don't be a Doomer.
The problem is that Madison was obsessed with "legislative tyranny" and completely ignored the warnings from others like George Mason and Ben Franklin that this is exactly what would happen with a president with great prerogative powers. Madison got it totally wrong.
A DOGE staffer assigned to the National Endowment for the Humanities to flag grants for "DEI" tries to explain what "DEI" is. This deposition is part of a lawsuit by the @acls1919.bsky.social, @historians.org and @modernlanguage.bsky.social.
He's trying so hard not to admit that flagging "DEI" applications was simply a racist, sexist purge, which he clearly understands it was. Mealy-mouthed circular BS.
Answer: Tin Roof, Rusted.
If Fred Schneider is traveling 30 miles per hour at 2 pm when he passes a faded sign by the side of the road that says "15 miles to the Love Shack," and at the same time Kate Pierson is departing the Love Shack traveling at 45 miles per hour, when will she pass his Chrysler (as big as a whale)?
This is what happens when you replace actual analysts with 4Chan lurking incel meme lords who don’t read, speak other languages, or know anything about history, geography, economics, or politics.
Today’s a stellar day to leave MAGA.
And, waited, and waited, and waited.
@noellecook.com and The Conspiracists in the Washington Post
www.washingtonpost.com/religion/202...
Black-and-white newspaper page from the Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wisconsin), dated Thursday, May 10, 1979. Large headline reads: “Area gas prices up, supplies down.” Photos show roadside gas price signs including a Holiday station displaying prices for regular and unleaded fuel and a CITGO self-serve sign listing gasoline prices around 73–77 cents per gallon. Summary: The article reports that gasoline prices are rising sharply while supplies to retailers are being reduced by oil companies. Retailers are receiving smaller fuel allocations and may have to close stations on certain days or shorten operating hours. Drivers are beginning to change behavior by driving less, taking shorter trips, or cutting unnecessary travel. Officials warn that the situation may worsen during the summer driving season as demand increases and supply remains tight.
Black-and-white newspaper page from The News Tribune, Friday, May 18, 1979, page 3. Headline reads: “Gas Prices Rise Here; Supply Uncertain.” Byline: Mark Weinberg, News Tribune Staff Writer. The article reports that gas station managers are raising prices and facing reduced fuel allocations from major oil companies. The page includes a photograph of a man wearing protective clothing and goggles standing near industrial valves marked with a radiation warning sign. Caption identifies him as Jack Herbein, vice president of Metropolitan Edison Company, pausing by a valve at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Summary: The article reports that fuel supplies are tightening and gas station owners expect allocations to shrink further, especially heading into Memorial Day weekend. Prices are rising as station operators receive less gasoline from suppliers but still face the same operating costs. Some stations are limiting hours or closing on weekends to stretch their remaining fuel. Gas prices in Florida and elsewhere are climbing rapidly compared with the previous year, and the outlook for supply stability remains uncertain.
Some of us remember the last time a revolution in Iran disrupted global oil markets. Prices soared. We waited in gas lines.
Black-and-white newspaper feature from Newsday, Nassau Edition, July 1, 1979, page 4. Headline: “The Gas Line: A New Life-Style.” Photo shows an elderly man sitting in a car waiting in a long line of vehicles at a gas station. The article contains multiple subheadings such as “The Princess at the Pump,” “Short on Smiles, Too,” and “Their Love Thrives.” Summary: The feature describes how long gasoline lines have become a routine part of everyday life during the fuel shortages. Drivers spend hours waiting at pumps and develop coping habits such as reading, socializing with other motorists, or bringing snacks and games. The article presents anecdotes from people in line, showing how the shortages are reshaping daily routines, relationships, and the way of ordinary life.
Black-and-white newspaper page from the Valley Advocate (Amherst, Massachusetts), June 20, 1979, page 10. Headline: “Waiting on the Gas Line: Beat the game with a better one.” Photo shows a group of people sitting around a picnic setup on the hood of a car near a gas station while another person holds a gasoline pump nozzle, suggesting they are making the best of the long wait. Summary: This column uses humor to suggest ways people might pass the time while stuck in long gas lines. The author proposes activities such as reading books, practicing musical instruments, playing games like chess or backgammon, writing poetry, or studying languages while waiting for fuel. The piece reflects how widespread gasoline shortages have become and how Americans are adapting to the long waits with improvisation and humor.
What Iran’s 1979 revolution meant for US and global oil markets www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...
this picture is a good summary of how and why January 6th was, at a fundamental level, a successful insurrection.
During the liberation of Dachau and Buchenwald in 1945, many of the camp guards tried to escape by disguising themselves as prisoners or civilians. Newly liberated prisoners recognized several guards immediately, and you can imagine how that ended for them.
Lev is such a grifter. Guy got caught and had no options. So he wrote a book to sell and is nonstop self promotion. What a fraud.
A cartoon of Pete Kefsbreath shouts at American flag-draped coffins: “STOP TRYING TO EMBARASS THE PRESIDENT!”
Dubois was such a great writer. So many killer passages in that book.
It would be only fair to the reader to say frankly in advance that the attitude of any person toward this story will be distinctly influenced by his theories of the Negro race. If he believes that the Negro in America and in general is an average and ordinary human being, who under given environment develops like other human beings, then he will read this story and judge it by the facts adduced. If, however, he regards the Negro as a distinctly inferior creation, who can never successfully take part in modern civilization and whose emancipation and enfranchisement were gestures against nature, then he will need something more than the sort of facts that I have set down. But this latter person, I am not trying to convince. I am simply pointing out these two points of view, so obvious to Americans, and then without further ado, I am assuming the truth of the first. In fine, I am going to tell this story as though Negroes were ordinary human beings, realizing that this attitude will from the first seriously curtail my audience. W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS Atlanta, December, 1934
I'd forgotten how hard the preface to DuBois's "Black Reconstruction" (1934) went...and am saddened by how contemporary it still feels.
NEW: The bad news about international-student enrollments at American colleges just got worse. An exclusive @chronicle.com analysis of just-released State Department data shows new visa issuances in the summer of 2025 dropped by more than a third. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
Google’s Gemini fully made up a fake title for a book I wrote without me prompting it (I was looking up an award date to add to my CV). So guess what everyone? I’ve written two books. Promotion, please.
They blew up an elementary school Tom
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
The antifederalists. Who predicted nearly all the abuses of power we are currently seeing and wanted them fixed before the Constitution was ratified.
A frightening thing about the right's expansion is the spread of openly fascist messaging across an incredibly diverse online landscape. This can be seen by tracking the # “Revolt Against the Modern World,” a book written by Julius Evola in 1934. (More relevant now than when I wrote it 3/4/23.) 🧵
I wrestled with this article all day - an honest effort to assess the arguments in favour of the war, which I don’t entirely dismiss, and whether they outweigh the arguments against - on which my conclusion is no - largely because I don’t trust this admin’s motives, staying power or competence.
Nice shout out from Wesleyan about my new book, Empathy Machines.
www.wesleyan.edu/about/news/2...
Check out Jason Loviglio's new book "Empathy Machines," which looks at the history of NPR, sound, voice, and public media's complex relationship with national ideology.
Hey unitary executive enthusiasts, if the commander-in-chief/dear leader calls it a war, does that mean it is a war?
"Why is he coming?"
"He's coming to get us."
On a snow white cloud....or a B2 Stealth Bomber
This is my district. Worth pointing out Rodney Sadler isn't just a rhetorical activist; he's actually been arrested at protests. Contrast with Cunningham, whose vote was "decisive" because it gave the GOP the final vote they needed to *override the governor's veto* of the ICE compliance bill.
Political scientist Jeanne Zaino calls it democracy's "day two problem": revolutions are exciting. Building and sustaining self-governance is the hard part.
250 years after Common Sense, we're still working on day two
🎧 benfranklinsworld.com/435
#Revolution250 #America250 #History #Democracy
