On May 18, 2016, after Donald Trump had all but secured the GOP nomination for President of the United States, the candidate announced a list of 11 judges he would consider nominating to replace the deceased Antonin Scalia on the […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
For some at a 1933 civil rights conference, fighting racial oppression meant fighting class oppression
Over at Jacobin, historian Eben Miller tells the story of the 1933 Amenia conference. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) hosted the event in Amenia, New York. W.E.B. Du Bois was co-organizer. Some of the country’s […]
A socialist take on the Barbie movie
This week Current ran two great pieces on the Barbie movie. Check out Christina Bieber Lake’s “Barbie. . . and Ken” and Beatruce Scudeler’s “Material Girls.” Over at Current Affairs, Nathan Robinson interprets the movie through the lens of consumer […]
Evangelical roundup for August 10, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Russell Moore talks to National Public Radio. He says that Jesus’s claims in the Sermon on the Mount are not “liberal talking points.” “Most conservative evangelicals gave up on the politics of character in […]
“A magazine about America in the form of a 19th-century newspaper”
I just learned about County Highway. It’s a “magazine about America in the form of a 19th century newspaper. According to the site’s website: County Highway is a 20-page broadsheet produced by actual human beings, containing the best new writing […]
Why Viktor Orbán may want to visit Bestsellers Bookshop in Budapest
A friend spotted Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump in Budapest. As many of you know, prime minister Viktor Orbán is trying to build a Christian nationalist state in Hungary modeled closely on a kind of Trumpian populism. […]
Has the GOP rejected Reaganomics?
Check out David Leonardt’s interesting piece at The New York Times: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has spent the last few months trying to boost Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign. It has called his legislative record “as impressive as […]
Climate change as a culture war issue
Sadly, the debate over climate change has become just another issue in our ongoing culture wars. Meanwhile, the earth is getting hotter. Here is Paul Krugman at The New York Times: Understanding climate denial used to seem easy: It was […]
Mets announcer Gary Cohen slams Baltimore Orioles management for suspending announcer Kevin Brown
Orioles management suspended its play-by-play announcer, Kevin Brown, for this: Here is Mets announcer Gary Cohen: I agree with Cohen’s comment about the Orioles this year. On Saturday night I was at Camden Yards for the celebration of the Orioles […]
Progressives need to “work their hearts out” for Joe Biden in 2024
Here is Paul Waldman at The Washington Post: Ask a Democrat with a long memory what the numbers 97,488 and 537 represent, and their face will twist into a grimace. The first is the number of votes Ralph Nader received […]
Chris Rufo: “Intellectual historian” or “intellectual bully”?
Chris Rufo is a conservative activist whose claim to fame is an appearance on the old Tucker Carlson show on Fox News. That appearance caught the attention of then president Donald Trump. Since then, Rufo has become Ron DeSantis’s point […]
Mike Pence makes the stage for the first GOP debate
The Pence campaign has announced that it has passed the donor threshold needed to qualify for the first GOP debate on August 23 in Milwaukee. It must have been our July 24th call for everyone to donate a dollar to […]
A man “unprincipled in private life, desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper”: The founders expected someone like Trump
As Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center reminds us, the founding fathers anticipated “a demagogic challenge to the rule of law.” Here is a taste of his piece at The Wall Street Journal: The allegations in the indictment of Donald […]
Episode 114: “How Slavery Helped Grow the American Catholic Church”
Did you know the Jesuits were some of the largest slaveholders in colonial America? Our guest in this episode is Rachel L. Swarns, author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved And Sold to Build the American Catholic Church. We […]
Evangelical roundup for August 7, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? Will Trump’s recent indictment hurt his support among evangelicals? More on why evangelicals are leaving church. Is Trump’s evangelical support in Iowa slipping? Bonnie Kristian responds to Jake Meador’s Atlantic piece on church attendance. […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Real conversation Jason Blakely reviews Patrick Deneen, Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future. Is Harvard good for your soul? Ethical grandstanding on social media Climate change and the end of […]
Bruxy Cavey is back
Some of you may recall the recent scandals surrounding the Toronto megachurch pastor. Get up to speed here. Bruxy Cavey has started a new “ministry” called “The Ghost of 1820.” He is even asking for money. Here is a taste […]
John McWhorter on the Florida African American history curriculum
I took a little heat for my take on the Florida African American history controversy. Last month I wrote: The standards were much better than I expected. If I was a high school teacher in Florida I could easily work […]
James Madison’s Montpelier will honor the enslaved men and women who lived and died there
Tomorrow’s event is called “We the People: a Summer Celebration.” (Live-streaming here.) Here is Antonio Olivo at The Washington Post: This weekend, James Madison’s Montpelier estate will kick off a multiyear project to pay tribute to the nearly 300 enslaved […]