I will have more to say about this in tomorrow’s feature at CURRENT. In the meantime, here is CNN: The Republican-led House elected Rep. Mike Johnson as the new House speaker on Wednesday – a major leadership change that comes three […]
Way of Improvement
Mike Johnson wins first round of GOP Speaker of the House voting, but he doesn’t have a majority
The House GOP is trying to pick another Speaker nominee after Tom Emmer dropped out of the race earlier today. In the first round of closed-door voting, Louisiana’s Mike Johnson garnered the most votes: Since Fleischman received the lowest number […]
Danielle Allen: There are three parties in the House of Representatives and the Democratic Party is the largest
Harvard political theorist Danielle Allen believes that Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the House Democrats, should be Speaker of the House. Why? Because she believes there are actually THREE parties in the House: The Freedom Caucus, the Old Republican Party, […]
Any House member who voted to certify the 2020 election has no real chance of being Speaker of the House in today’s GOP
Earlier today, the GOP caucus chose Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer as its candidate for Speaker of the House. Hours later Emmer dropped out of the running. This leaves five candidates: Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee Mark […]
Jenna Ellis flips in the Georgia election fraud case. Gives an emotional apology.
First Sidney Powell took a plea deal. Now Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney, has taken a plea deal. She was Giuliani’s right-hand woman in attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Learn more about her here. Ellis cried through a […]
Mintz: “A hard rain is about to fall” on higher education
Here is the University of Houston historian at Inside Higher Ed. He is talking about higher education in the wake of this and this and the first paragraph of this. The events of the past few days will, I think, […]
Current contributing editor Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn receives a “notable mention” in the 2023 edition of Best American Essays
Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn‘s essay, “Pastlessness,” was published in the Summer 2022 issue of The Hedgehog Review. See her published work at Current here, including her most recent piece, “Remembering the University’s Mission.” She is an original member of the Current board […]
More on that David French piece on the “moral collapse” at Liberty University
In case you don’t know what I am talking about in the title of this post, get up to speed here. I am sure that Liberty University and its supporters will dismiss French’s piece as yet another hit job by […]
The curse of Ted Cruz
In case you missed it, last night the Texas Rangers won game seven of the American League Championship Series over the Houston Astros and are headed to the World Series against either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Arizona Diamondback (they […]
The CURRENT store is open!
I know you have all wanted to get your hands on Current merchandise! 🙂 Check out our ETSY Store here. We are starting small, but hope to add more items over the coming months. The purchase of a shirt or […]
What “really happened” when the 16th-century explorers to America returned to Spain
Here is Saturday Night Live:
When was America great?
Donald Trump wants to “make America great again.” But when was America great? Was it 1776? The Gilded Age? The 1950s? The 1980s? “Greatness” is not a historical category of analysis. We can certainly report on people in the past […]
How big is Africa?
As this map shows, the continental United States, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom, most of Eastern Europe, Greece, India, Japan, and China can all fit inside the continent of Africa. HT: Sam Wineburg
Evangelical roundup for October 23, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? If Christianity Today‘s reporting is correct, Argentinian evangelical voters are more concerned about political corruption and the economy than abortion. I appreciate the fact that National Public Radio contacted historian Daniel Hummel for this […]
David French: “The Worst Scandal in American Higher Education Isn’t in the Ivy League.”
When you have a free moment check out the website or twitter feed of Liberty University’s Standing for Freedom Center. You will find articles with titles like this: “Why Young Evangelicals Are in Danger of Becoming Puppets for Climate Marxism.” […]
Sunday night odds and ends
A few things online that caught my attention this week: Historians tell ghost stories George Will compares Trump to George Wallace. The United Auto Workers strike is still going. Here is a piece comparing Shawn Fain to Walter Reuther. The […]
What do landscaping, vanilla lattes, and Current have in common?
Not much. Except for this:
If you want a revealing glimpse into the MAGA evangelical movement, check out the responses to Russell Moore’s recent tweet.
Sometimes there are small moments that illuminate much larger social and cultural patterns. Historians are always looking for these moments. I thus hope future historians of evangelicalism will find this post. After Joe Biden’s speech to the nation on Thursday […]
Steven Mintz on ethics education in American universities
I am a regular reader of University of Houston historian Steven Mintz’s blog at Insider Higher Ed. In his most recent post, he responds to Ezekiel Emanuel’s New York Times op-ed on ethics education in American universities. We wrote about […]
The “most radical thing” universities “have accomplished in the 21st century is hiking their tuition rates and plunging millions…further into debt”
Here is Bates College environmental studies professor Tyler Austin Harper at The Atlantic: The most popular major at Harvard, Yale, and many other supposedly leftist universities is economics—not exactly the subject of choice for aspiring anti-capitalists. At the University of […]