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Recent Posts
- 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
- The Lowest of the Low July 31, 2026
- Devotion to Dignity July 26, 2026
- “You’ll Miss the Overall” (Gary Krenz) July 17, 2026
- Donald, Thy Name Is Corruption (Gary Krenz) July 11, 2026
- Robert Reich: How To Begin the Mending? July 6, 2026
- Neo-fascist group Patriot Front parades Confederate flag in Washington DC on Fourth of July July 5, 2026
- Ezra Klein’s extensive interview with Bryan Stevenson, Director of the Equal Justice Initiative July 4, 2026
- The State of America (Gary Krenz) July 4, 2026
- Dan: On the Fourth of July July 4, 2026
- A July 4 Anthology July 3, 2026
- Two visions of citizenship July 2, 2026
- Young Republican Activists Are Turning Against Trump July 1, 2026
- Revolution and Counterrevolution July 1, 2026
- Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission takes aim at church-state separation June 26, 2026
- Trump may have damaged Reflecting Pool by having motorcade drive over it June 26, 2026
- The Prairieland Sentences Are a National Emergency June 25, 2026
- Why men keep dropping out of the labor force: It starts in childhood, when kids see how males around them struggle, economists say June 23, 2026
- Health disparity researchers see a threat in new rules on NIH grants | STAT June 22, 2026
- The Danger and the Opportunity June 21, 2026
- A Follow-up on the Bloomsday Thought June 20, 2026
- A Bloomsday Thought June 16, 2026
- The Shell Game About Social Security “Insolvency” June 14, 2026
- Misunderstanding Postmodernity (Gary Krenz) June 8, 2026
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Useful Links
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- One Million Rising
- Indivisible
- A2 Indivisible
- ACLU Michigan
- Brennan Center for Justice
- Confessing Church record of ICE arrests
- Just Security: Litigation Tracker (tracks legal actions against Trump Admin)
- Media Matters
- Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
- Michigan United (immigrant rights and services)
- Michigan Congressional Office Contact Pages
- Modern Medicaid Alliance
Tag Archives: politics
Higher education in the age of Garfield (Gary Krenz)
Here is a parochial footnote to my post on “Death By Lightning.” As I said in that post, Garfield was intent on ending the spoils system and professionalizing the civil service. This was in line with a dramatic increase in … Continue reading
Our American Heritage (Gary Krenz)
Barb and I just finished watching the mini-series about the assassination of President James Garfield, Death by Lightning. It’s on Netflix, and if you are able to watch it, I highly recommend it. There is much to say about it and … Continue reading
Phil Klay’s moral analysis of the boat strikes (Gary Krenz)
There was an outstanding op-ed in the NYT yesterday by Phil Klay, “What Trump Is Really Doing With His Boat Strikes.” It is a thoughtful moral analysis of a sort that we too-seldom see in the press. Klay speaks of … Continue reading
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
A Belated Thanksgiving Post (Gary Krenz)
Thanksgiving is a few days past, but here’s a belated thanksgiving post — just before the end of the holiday weekend. To begin, here’s a nice post by Robert Reich from a few days ago: “Gratitude: Thanksgiving thoughts.” It has … Continue reading
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
Collective Action for Academic Freedom (Gary Krenz)
I mentioned in a comment that last week, we released a new collection of essays on academic freedom: In the Spirit of H. Chandler Davis: Activism and the Struggle for Academic Freedom. (Shameless plug: available here.) This is a book I edited … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged academic freedom, democracy, education, higher ed, higher-education, history, politics, teaching
2 Comments
Shutdown Resolution: Debacle, Destiny, Deliverance?
Like many of us, I suspect, I am still reeling from the Democrats’ whiplash reversal on the shutdown, thanks to 8 Dems going rogue and siding with Republicans to fund the continuing resolution. The Rogue 8 were able to gain … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged democracy, donald-trump, government shutdown, healthcare, news, politics, trump
1 Comment
Ruth Ben-Ghiat: “Never underestimate the American people”
This evening Barb and I attended the University of Michigan’s annual Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom. This is, as far as I know, the nation’s longest running lecture (35 years) dedicated to academic and intellectual freedom … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged democracy, history, intellectual freedom, politics, resistance
3 Comments
Tonight, Americans’ democratic values spoke loud and clear
Tonight’s exhilarating election results were a large-D Democratic sweep that was also a small-d democratic victory. Democrats won the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey and the mayorship of New York City by getting out and connecting with the people … Continue reading
Affirming Democracy, Gathering Resistance 