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Recent Posts
- Government “of the people” (Gary Krenz) November 1, 2026
- Trump’s plan to use DOJ to block Alaska senate outcome October 24, 2026
- Trump administration holds up Patriot missiles for Ukraine October 19, 2026
- Astounding bit of dictator play … October 12, 2026
- An alternative narrative — hope! October 10, 2026
- If Trump Steals an Election, Here’s What to Do October 8, 2026
- Here’s what to do about Trump’s war crimes October 8, 2026
- Government “by the people” (II) (Gary Krenz) October 5, 2026
- Are we tolerating the policies of a modern-day Eichmann? (Dan Little) September 29, 2026
- Unimaginable cruelty in our name … September 29, 2026
- Government “by the people”(I) (Gary Krenz) September 24, 2026
- Corruption and Corruption (Gary Krenz) September 22, 2026
- Citizens demand impeachment (Dan Little) September 18, 2026
- Government “for the people” (Gary Krenz) September 14, 2026
- Remembering 9/11 (Gary Krenz) September 11, 2026
- “Government of the people, by the people, for the people”: A Prologue (Gary Krenz) September 9, 2026
- Why democracy? (Gary Krenz) September 5, 2026
- Chaos and Resolve (Gary Krenz) September 3, 2026
- Ode to Canada (Dan Little) September 1, 2026
- In full: Tiananmen vigil activist Chow Hang-tung’s mitigation after guilty verdict in national security trial | Hong Kong Free Press HKFP August 29, 2026
- Der Untergang August 26, 2026
- An Unsettling Glimpse Into the GOP’s Future August 21, 2026
- New University of Michigan President: Hope and Questions (Gary Krenz) August 18, 2026
- Inside school investigations frozen under Trump: Racial slurs, sexual harassment and more August 9, 2026
- NYTimes Gift Article: It Wasn’t a ‘Civil War.’ It Was the Slaveholders’ Rebellion. August 2, 2026
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Tag Archives: authoritarianism
Welcome to Oceania, ca. 1984 (Gary Krenz)
The so-called “double-tap” – a terribly sanitizing word – attack on two stranded Venezuelans in the Caribbean continues to be front and center in the news, and now some members of Congress have had access to video of the attack. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, donald-trump, drugs, history, news, politics, trump
2 Comments
State Media by Proxy (Gary Krenz)
Ben Schwartz has an excellent piece in The Nation, “Trump’s Quest for Total Media Control.” It lays out in concise fashion how the various strands of Trump’s attacks on media — from trying to get Jimmy Kimmel and others fired to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, donald-trump, journalism, media, news, politics, trump
2 Comments
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: “Intellectual Freedom in an Authoritarian Age”
As I promised in an earlier post, here is the video of Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s outstanding Davis, Markert, and Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom at the University of Michigan. It is well worth watching!
Terrorism and the White House (Gary Krenz)
The Oxford English Dictionary defines “terrorism” as “2. gen. A policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted; the employment of methods of intimidation; the fact of terrorizing or condition of being terrorized.” As definitions go, it’s … Continue reading
No, Spkr Johnson: “No Kings” IS “Love America”
We Americans love to label things, no doubt. And labeling things can be important in politics. Labels can give us a shorthand, and they can serve as rallying cries. At this point, we can’t for instance any longer avoid calling … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, donald-trump, fascism, news, No Kings, politics, protest, trump
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Higher ed solidarity, please!
Last week, the Trump administration sent to nine universities A Compact for Excellence in Higher Education, the idea being that institutions that sign on to the compact would receive “preferential access to federal funds.” This is the latest effort by … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, higher ed, opposition, politics, trump
2 Comments
“Cry ‘Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war”
I’ve been trying to think about what to say about Charlie Kirk’s murder. The internet is overflowing with reaction and commentary, some of it good, much of it not. As I try to digest the murder itself and its larger … Continue reading
Higher education, quo vadis?
Two discouraging but one very hopeful story about Trump’s and Trumpists’ higher ed attacks. Let’s do the bad news first. First, Michael Schill, the president of Northwestern (my alma mater), announced today that he is resigning, following tremendous pressure from … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, education, higher ed, higher-education, politics
2 Comments
“for social advancement of the common people”
On September 4, 1910, Labor organizer Samuel Gompers penned a piece in the New York Times on the significance of Labor Day. Here is a link to the NYT archival record, but there is actually cleaner reading version to be … Continue reading
Briefing on Chicago and National Guard from the Brennan Center
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU has done a lot of excellent long-view and just-in-time online programming around actions undertaken by the Trump administration and others. They pull together great panels, and Barb and I have learned a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, democracy, legality, national-guard, news
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