You’ve seen the pictures: heavily armed angry protesters at state houses demanding an end to stay at home orders. They call such safety measures “medical martial law,” and see it as the start of government tyranny, providing them with a 

You never heard of the Elaine Race Massacre, right? In Arkansas, in the times after World War One, black people wanted to form a union. That did not sit well with the racist culture. In 1919, a massacre of over

On May 4, 1970, Laurel Krause was just 15 years old. That night in a hospital with her parents she identified her 19-year-old sister Allison’s lifeless body. The bullets that killed Kent State University students Allison, Jeff, Sandy and Bill,

The novel coronavirus is forcing us to see that the very economic structure of America itself is in ill health. We know more poor Americans are dying, they can’t work from home and stay safe. All of us depend on

Both the Great Depression and today’s recession started off in a time of  great economic inequality. Both economic calamities brought to the surface systemic inadequacies. Perhaps the most recognized authority on the history of the Great Depression, Stanford history professor

Could the coronavirus-caused sudden disruption of the worldwide economy result in unforeseen exercise of harsh nationalism and extended government emergency powers? The people protesting with AR-15s are of course threatening the rest of us taking appropriate precautions. Meanwhile our guest

Trump as usual: kicking something when it’s down. The Republicans saddled the USPS with a $72 billion burden, now they are going full steam to just eliminate the postal service. After all, if it doesn’t make money, what good can

Whatever you say about Donald Trump, he is a skilled provocateur. The instant Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign, there was Trump, sowing divisions, insisting Bernie supporters “have a home” in the Trump campaign. Of course very few would ever fall

We’re all fascinated by Cinderella stories. This one happens to be true, with many twists. Extremely rich WASP man marries very poor Jewish immigrant in 1905. But she turns out to be the strong one. The new book by Adam

Sure the super rich and powerful want us to accept our powerlessness. But we are not! Since the rule of white male aristocrats, the struggle to tamp down voting has been consistent and largely successful. The are determined to hold