This weekend on CNN:
Archives for May 2021
The John R. Lewis Memorial 10 Highway
Glad to see this. Here is WSFA 12 News: The Alabama legislature passed a bill Thursday to name a portion of U.S. Highway 80, from Selma to Montgomery, after the late civil rights icon and congressman, John R. Lewis. According to […]
Rachel Zoll, RIP
Such sad news. She was an outstanding religion reporter and always said such complimentary things about this blog. Here is the AP: Rachel Zoll, who for 17 years as religion writer for The Associated Press endeared herself to colleagues, competitors […]
Mike Pence and the Bible: A Case of “Comical Propaganda” as Old as the Republic
Mike Pence did it again. During yesterday’s National Prayer Day message on Twitter, the former vice president fused 2 Chronicles 7:14 and the Pledge of Allegiance. He asked Americans to “pray with faith in those ancient words: ‘that if those […]
Noonan: “Liz Cheney Confronts a House of Cowards”
The Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter pulls few punches in today’s column: It all comes back to the Capitol insurrection. It’s at the heart of the battle that is, four months later, tearing the House GOP apart. […]
Obamacare sign-ups surge
Here is Margot Sanger-Katz and Sarah Kliff at The New York Times: Nearly one million Americans have signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage during the first 10 weeks of a special open enrollment period the Biden administration began in […]
Attorney in 1946: Everson vs. Board is the “last great constitutional question which can come before the court…”
I am doing some background research today for the “A History of Evangelicals and Politics in America” podcast on Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing, NJ. (1947). Some of you know that this was an important […]
Chait: “The next insurrection will be a Brooks Brothers riot”
Over at New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait responds to this piece by Dan McLaughlin at The National Review. Chait does not see much difference between the Liz Cheney wing of the GOP and the Donald Trump wing of the GOP. […]
Ronald Reagan in 1975: “Why don’t we try reverse psychology and make it harder to vote?”
I am reading Rick Perlstein’s Reaganland and was struck by this passage (p.93-94): Look what happened after President Carter, on March 22, sent a letter to Congress recommending a package of electoral reforms. The president was concerned that America ranked […]
Most popular posts of the last week
Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home: Quick thoughts on the end of the Messiah University History Department Virtually every thing Jack Hibbs says in this video about Washington at […]
Joe Biden did not mention God in his National Day of Prayer proclamation. Conservative evangelicals are not happy.
Yesterday was the National Day of Prayer. Biden issued a proclamation: Throughout our history, Americans of many religions and belief systems have turned to prayer for strength, hope, and guidance. Prayer has nourished countless souls and powered moral movements — […]
The Thought that Counts on Mother’s Day
If parents entered the pandemic with a bad script, we’ve now learned enough to rewrite it
The MAGA crowd is not happy with the choice of Elise Stefanik to replace Liz Cheney in House GOP leadership
Liz Cheney is on her way out. New York congresswoman Elise Stefanick, who got national attention for her defense of Trump in his first impeachment hearing, is positioning herself to replace Cheney as the House’s third-ranking Republican. Donald Trump has […]
Apparently Josh Hawley didn’t see my post from earlier today
Today I received an e-mail from Josh Hawley with the subject line: “Do you want a copy of my new book The Tyranny of Big Tech?” I guess he didn’t read the post I published this morning. Here is the […]
Nine Springsteen lyrics that won him the Woody Guthrie Prize
Bruce Springsteen will be awarded the Woody Guthrie Prize on May 13, 2021. Here is NJ.Com: Bruce Springsteen can add another award to his many accolades as a singer, songwriter and artist. But it won’t be another Grammy, Tony or Oscar. The Woody Guthrie Center will present […]
Quick thoughts on the end of the Messiah University History Department
Yesterday I sat through what will probably be the last history department faculty meeting of my career. It was on ZOOM. Next Fall the history professors, five in all, will join three political science professors to form the Messiah University […]
Will bamboo change the election results in Maricopa County, Arizona?
Arizona is recounting the ballots from the 2020 presidential election. The audit is being conducted by an organization called Cyber Ninjas. This guy is part of the team that is overseeing the audit: What is going on here? Digby is […]
Commonplace Book #197
Being true to myself means being true to my own originality, and that is something only I can articulate and discover. In articulating it, I am also defining myself. I am realizing a potentiality that is properly my own. This […]
Josh Hawley: Liz Cheney is “out of step with Republican voters”
The Missouri senator who gave credibility to the Big Lie in the days leading-up to the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 has a message for Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney. (Get up the speed on the Cheney story […]
Evangelical roundup for May 6, 2021
What is happening in Evangelicalland? Evangelical TikTok Pray for India Shane Claiborne on the death penalty: What did televangelists look like before they were famous? Nick Jonas actually transformed into Joel Osteen: A reviewer thinks Beth Barr did not go […]