Today someone asked me if Donald Trump could still run for president if he is in jail. I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs received over 900,000 votes while […]
Way of Improvement
Commonplace Book #252
The center of Socialist strength in the Southwest lay in the small towns and adjoining rural areas, and it shared its appeal with fundamentalist religious sects. In 1906 over 86 percent of all Baptists, Methodists, Disciples of Christ, and United […]
James Madison: “A tax on newspapers” would be “an insidious forerunner to something worse”
About a year ago, Current published Steven Waldman‘s piece “The Return of Local News.” Waldman is the president and cofounder ofĀ Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. He also serves as chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition. […]
Evangelical roundup for April 3, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land: Nathaniel Belz, RIP I tell The Guardian that the Trump indictment will not hurt him with many of his most diehard evangelical followers. In California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas there are more Hispanic […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: When Warren Harding paid mistress to stay silent. Dominic Green reviews Sarah Bakewell, Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope. Michael Kazin wonders if it is […]
Song of the Day
Asa Hutchinson is running for president
So far the 72-year-old former governor of Arkansas is the only one who has not gone ballistic about Trump’s recent indictment. This probably means he has no chance to win the nomination. Here is ABC News: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa […]
“The issue is not white supremacy, the issue is which whites will be supreme”
[History] cuts a lot of the bullshit. If somebody can just say “white supremacy,” it releases them from having to talk about something that my mentor C. Vann Woodward pointed out many years ago in discussing the disenfranchisement movement in […]
University of Virginia changes its name!
Watch UVA go all in for April Fools Day (with an endorsement from historian Chris Gehrz): Thanks for stopping by. If you want to learn more about CURRENT, check out our home page and our About page. We are supported […]
Asa Hutchinson: Trump should withdraw from the 2024 presidential race
Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, who many believe will run for president in 2024, called upon Donald Trump to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race. Here is The Hill: Former Arkansas Gov.Ā Asa HutchinsonĀ (R) said Trump should āstep asideā from the […]
Dondi E. Costin is the new president of Liberty University
As Kate Shellnut reports at Christianity Today, Liberty University has finally replaced Jerry Falwell Jr. on a permanent basis. Dondi Custin is a retired Air Force chaplain. Here is a taste of Kate’s reporting: Two and a half years after […]
Check out Current‘s new “Reviews” section
We publish a lot of book reviews in Current features section. For those of you who love books and ideas that come from books, we have gathered all of our reviews and placed them under the “Reviews” tag above. Enjoy! […]
Trump is indicted. How are evangelicals responding?
Trump is the first United States president to face criminal charges–more than thirty of them. The formal indictment will take place on Tuesday at 2:15pm. Evangelical responses are below. Let’s remember that none of these evangelicals have seen the thirty […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week atĀ Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week atĀ The Way of Improvement Leads HomeĀ blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week atĀ The ArenaĀ blog:
Steve Pettit resigns as president of Bob Jones University
Back in November 2022 old school fundamentalists at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina tried to remove president Steve Pettit. Apparently the popular president was allowing the wrong kind of music in chapel, letting female athletes wear “immodest clothing,” […]
What we need to know about Donald Trump’s indictment
Donald Trump becomes the first former president of the United States to face criminal charges. Fingerprints and a mugshot are coming next week. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney of Politico answer our questions. Here is a taste: While the precise […]
The Author’s Corner with Carl T. Bogus
Carl T. Bogus is Professor of Law Emeritus at Roger Williams University. This interview is based on his new book, Madison’s Militia: The Hidden History of the Second Amendment (Oxford University Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Madison’s […]
Evangelical roundup for March 30, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? A 9-year-old hero at Covenant School in Nashville. European evangelicals against abuse. Rick Warren on sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention: Spanish evangelicals recommend Christian leaders “avoid using their pastoral influence to condition […]
Song of the Day
Is Doug Mastriano an environmentalist?
The MAGA–election denier–Christian nationalist posted this today on his Facebook page: But what about climate change? š