hurricanes

The Author’s Corner with Cynthia Kierner

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Cynthia A. Kierner is Professor of History at George Mason University. This interview is based on her new book, Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood (The University of North Carolina Press, 2019). JF: What...

Rod Dreher Calls Out the Court Evangelicals

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In a post criticizing Donald Trump’s handling of Puerto Rico, American Conservative blogger Rod Dreher (of Benedict Option fame) wonders why the court evangelicals have been so quiet. Here is a taste: Where are Donald Trump’s court Evangelicals on this? If you...

Some Historical Context for the U.S. Response to Puerto Rico

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As historian Marc-William Palen reminds us, Puerto Rico has always been in a “precarious position within the U.S. body politic.”  The history of the relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico is indispensable to understanding the U.S. response to...

Lupica: The Mayor of San Juan is a Hero

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I have been reading Mike Lupica for a long time, but I don’t think I have ever done a blog post on one of his columns.  That changes today.  Sometimes you just need to hear from a veteran New York...

Paul Krugman’s Scathing Critique of Trump’s Narcissism

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  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9TALDqCxA&w=560&h=315] In case you haven’t seen it yet, here is a taste of economist Paul Krugman’s New York Times column: According to a new Quinnipiac poll, a majority of Americans believe that Donald Trump is unfit to be president. That’s pretty...

Religious Theories on Hurricane Irma

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Avi Selk has them all covered at The Washington Post: A taste: To dive into the wide-ranging and rarely coherent collection of theories that ascribe motive — be it satanic, godly, Gaian or otherwise — to the movements of Hurricane Irma is to risk being immediately...

The New Orleans Superdome Is Now a National Historical Site

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It was the place where thousands of New Orleans residents sought shelter during Hurricane Katrina.  It is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Here is a taste of a piece at CNN: The National Register designation includes protections...

The Jersey Shore: Six Months After Sandy

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Joe Scarborough devoted some time on “Morning Joe” to the Jersey Shore.  (They are positioned in front of the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park).  Six months ago Hurricane Sandy ripped through this area.  This video reports on the slow-moving recovery...

Remembering Ocean Beach, New Jersey

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Growing up in northern New Jersey, I spent a week or two every summer at the Jersey shore community of Ocean Beach.  (I have written/posted about Ocean Beach and the surrounding area here and here and here and here). It...

Is the GOP “Stiffing” Its Own?

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By failing to vote on the $60 billion relief package for the New Jersey and New York victims of Hurricane Sandy, Alec MacGillis observes that the GOP is alienating some of the most concentrated pockets of Republican voters in these […]

Christie and Springsteen: A Friendship Blooms!

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I can see it now.  It’s January 2016.  The GOP candidates for president are stumping through Iowa.  Rick Santorum takes out a television ad connecting his GOP primary rival, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, to the  rock ‘n’ roll icon […]