A delegate of the General Assembly of Virginia wants better citizenship education for the students of the Commonwealth. Earlier this week Wren Williams proposed a bill (House Bill 781) to amend the Code of Virginia to strengthen “student citizenship skills.” […]
Archives for January 2022
Doug Mastriano announces his Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaign by blowing a shofar
Regular readers of this blog know a thing or two about Doug Mastriano. You can get up to speed on the antics of this pro-Trump state senator here. Last weekend Mastriano announced his candidacy for governor of Pennsylvania. American Idol […]
The Author’s Corner with John Harris
John Harris is McDonald-Boswell Assistant Professor of History at Erskine College. This interview is based on his new book, The Last Slave Ships: New York and the End of the Middle Passage (Yale University Press, 2020). JF: What led you […]
Evangelical roundup for January 13, 2022
What is happening in Evangelical land? Aaron Renn and R.R. Reno talk about what Renn calls the three worlds of evangelicalism: firstthings · Aaron Renn on the Three Worlds of Evangelicalism A Southern Baptist pastor offers an alternative to nationalism. […]
Questions That Plague Us
As Omicron hits, an ancient call to community offers orientation
Obama enters the current debate over voting rights
Here is Obama at USA Today: When I spoke at John Lewis’ memorial service two years ago, I emphasized a truth John knew better than just about anyone. Our democracy isn’t a given. It isn’t self-executing. We, as citizens, have to nurture and […]
Yes, blog readers, you did hit a paywall. Let me explain.
A few minutes I wrote on my Facebook Author page: Several of you have contacted me in the last few days because you have hit a paywall on The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog. After over thirteen years of […]
Dinesh D’Souza gets to the bottom of Betty White’s death
The television personality Betty White recently passed away at the age of 99. Does conservative conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza expect foul play? This screenshot comes from Princeton’s Kevin Kruse’s Twitter feed: I don’t know what is going on here, but […]
Biden-Cheney in 2024?
Tom Friedman floats the idea in his New York Times column. His model is Israel. Here is a taste: Could this play come to Broadway? I asked Steven Levitsky, a political scientist and co-author of “How Democracies Die,” after he presented some […]
Ivy leaguers who are trying to destroy American democracy
What do Josh Hawley, Steve Mnuchin, Ben Carson, Wilbur Ross, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Mike Pompeo, Ted Cruz, Elise Stefanik, and Kayleigh McEnany have in common? They all have degrees from Ivy League institutions and they are all, in one […]
Allen Guelzo on Noah Feldman on Abraham Lincoln
In November we called your attention to Noah Feldman’s argument about Lincoln and the Constitution in his new book The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery and the Refounding of America. In that book, the Harvard Law professor argues that Lincoln violated […]
U.S. Senators on the Senate Health Committee who seem to care less about public health
In case you didn’t see it, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease official, testified yesterday before a Senate health committee hearing. Here is his exchange with Kentucky Senator Rand Paul: Here is Fauci last night on CNN: Here […]
Educated by Love
When it comes to contemporary political debate, Augustine helps us see the primacy of desire over data
Pope Francis says “cancel culture” is a form of “one-track thinking”
On Monday, the Pope had some interesting things to say about cancel culture and tried to offer a lesson in historical thinking. Here is the relevant part of his address to the Vatican’s Diplomatic Corps: The diminished effectiveness of many […]
I was with Greg Locke for the first fifty seconds…
Watch the Tennessee megachurch pastor: Please get vaccinated and boosted! The vaccine is safe and effective.
The Author’s Corner with Mark Chambers
Mark Chambers is Professor of Africana Studies at Stony Brook University. This interview is based on his new book, Gray Gold: Lead Mining and Its Impact on the Natural and Cultural Environment, 1700–1840 (University of Tennessee Press, 2021). JF: What […]
Trump complains that the media is not covering the January 6th, 2021 crowd size
Philip Bump of The Washington Post covers the latest remarks from former narcissist-in-chief. A taste: …In an interview with the far-right cable channel One America News that was released on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, former […]
Some changes at all three major cable networks
Three new hires: Fox News doubles-down on right-wing Trumpism by giving Jesse Watters a nightly show at 7:00pm. Watters made his bones doing “man-on-street” interviews for the Bill O’Reilly’s former Fox show, “The O’Reilly Factor.” He has a well-deserved reputation […]
If you watched Sunday night’s Raiders-Chargers game you now know that “football culture is not rational”
On Sunday night I was sitting in a hotel room in New Orleans watching one of the strangest–and most entertaining–football games I have ever seen. I don’t think I have been this riveted to an NFL game since Don Strock’s […]
Jaws!
Once upon a time, a big shark got everyone talking—and watching