What historian Arthur Schlesinger had detected in 1992 in a few trends is now orthodoxy–from both sides, neither for the better. The “ethnic rage” of diversity-preaching liberals and the fundamentalist, doctrinaire “monoculturalism” of conservatives has the country in a state of paralysis. Schlesinger wanted a renewed melting pot. But that’s not the solution.
Americana
Patriotism Recovered: Richard Rorty’s Achieving Our Country
“Achieving Our Country” is an energizing manifesto, a reminder that we are not as good as we think we are, and, atrocious as we can be, not nearly as bad, either. We are merely unachieved. With a little less despair, a little more affection, even–heaven forbid–a bit of patriotism, however defined but equally respected we can achieve more.
Fruitcakes: Maligned and Misunderstood
Haters and disrespect aside, fruitcake is still a robust American tradition, with 2 million sold each year, though a quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it that “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.”
The GOP Normalizes Islamophobia
Rep. Lauren Boebert insinuating that Rep. Ilhan Omar could have been a suicide bomber isn’t just about an unhinged Congresswoman stoking the extreme fringe of the Republican base. The real issue is the ongoing normalization of Islamophobia in America, which has soared to frightening new heights since 9/11.
Modern-Day Culture Wars Are Playing Out on Historic Tours of Slaveholding Plantations
Discussions during plantation tours among visitors can often turn into visceral debates over whose history should be told or ignored. These tensions are part of an ever-growing work of criticism directed at sites that continue to omit the history of the enslaved community. Of the 600 plantations scattered throughout the South, only one, the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana, focuses entirely on the experiences of the enslaved.
Anti-CRT Lawmakers Are Passing Pro-CRT Laws
Anti-CRT messaging has emerged as a signature – and potent – GOP political talking point. But while Republicans introduced 54 CRT-related bills across 24 states, most of these bills – if you take seriously their actual text – call for more CRT, not less.
It’s Our Right as Americans to Breathe Open Air Without Some Wussy Libtard Face Diaper
Gov. Ron DeSantis and the fine MAGA folks of the Florida Legislature are right here in the state capital, passing laws telling Biden where he can stick that order making businesses with more than 100 employees mandate the vax. And yeah, it might cost the taxpayers several million for the lawsuits that’ll come out of these new bills, but keeping Florida free is worth every penny.
The Live Interview: Author George M. Johnson Speaks to Those Who Want Book Banned From Flagler Schools
George M. Johnson, author of “All Boys Aren’t Blue, one of the books School Board member Jill Woolbright calls a “crime” to have in schools and wants banned, speaks to FlaglerLive about frequent experiences with “the purity brigade,” differences between porn and sex, the orchestration behind current book bans and what Johnson would tell the district committee reviewing the book.
11 White Jurors and One Black Juror: Ahmaud Arbery and the Limits of Justice
Jogging while Black. Driving while Black. Walking while Black. Sitting in a public space while Black. Asking for help while Black. Eating while Black. Merely existing while Black. The cold, agonizing, disturbing truth is that to be Black in America is to regularly endure an ongoing onslaught of assaults and insults. These incidents are a stark reminder that to be Black in America means to live in a constant state of uncertainty.
K-Pop Is Trending. So Is Anti-Asian Bigotry.
There is no doubt that the representation of Asian people in Hollywood has improved. The pandemic has led to a disturbing rise in anti-Asian racism and hate crimes.
The Founders Didn’t Believe Your Sacred Freedom Means You Can Do Whatever the Hell You Want
The founders agreed on one principle: They were unrelenting on the notion that circumstances often emerge that require public officials to pass acts that abridge individual freedoms. Even George Washington forced his troops to be vaccinated.
Bisexual Superman: A Subtext Finally, Happily Out of the Closet
Son of Kal-El will be out this November, and will feature Jon sharing a kiss with friend and online journalist Jay Nakamura. Apart from proving Superman has always had a thing for reporters, Jon expressing his sexuality is a watershed moment in the venerable franchise.
On Refugees, Joe Biden Should Emulate Canada: Go Big
The capacity of private American citizens to resettle refugees is large and untapped. It may even bridge the divide over immigration in the United States. Now is the time for Biden to ask the American people to invite homeless and war-ravaged Afghan refugees into their homes and their communities.
Why It’s Time to Replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day
Since the 1990s, a growing number of states have begun to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day – a holiday meant to honor the culture and history of the people living in the Americas both before and after Columbus’ arrival.
We’re Losing Our Humanity: Cruelty and Hostility From School Boards to Vaccination Centers
It’s not just Flagler County, and certainly not just at the Flagler school board: The stories of cruel, seemingly irrational and sometimes-violent conflicts over coronavirus regulations across the country have become lingering symptoms of the pandemic as it drags through its second year.
The Brutal Slave Trade Within the US Has Been Largely Whitewashed Out of History
Slavery still conjures images of Southern farms and plantations. But the institution was grounded in the sales of nearly 2 million human beings in the domestic slave trade, the profits from which nurtured the economy of the entire country.
Is It Autumn for the First Amendment?
Freedom of speech has long been the very foundation of our country, but a majority of Americans are now afraid to exercise it. That sad fact has become the new normal in America. And that’s a lot more frightening than the scariest haunted house anyone will enter this autumn.
Hey, GOP: There’s a Museum Up in Montgomery Y’All Really Ought to See
Diane Roberts reports from the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala., a silent but devastating testimony to how Americans terrorized and murdered other Americans for wanting to live as full citizens of this country. The Equal Justice Initiative is here to remind us that Jim Crow isn’t gone. Our history still warps our present.
A Christopher Columbus Statue Survives
“It is baffling to the Court that the City of Philadelphia wants to remove the Statue without any legal basis,” a judge ruled, rejecting a plan to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus from Marconi Plaza Philadelphia on Aug. 17. “The City’s entire argument is devoid of any legal foundation.”
Afghanistan and American Hubris
In Afghanistan, American hubris–the United States’ capacity for self-delusion and official lying – has struck once again, as it has repeatedly for the last 60 years. This weakness-masquerading-as-strength has repeatedly led the country into failed foreign interventions.
Atomic Bomb Foresight Exploded Long Before Hiroshima
So many writers explored the idea that the early 20th century is sometimes called the “Radium Age” of science fiction. Prominent scientists wrote popular books on how to experiment with radioactive substances at home. It was a concept as widely known as the Star Trek warp drive might be today.
When Americans Recall their Roots, they Open Up to Immigration
Reminding Americans of where they came from – such as the statements by Biden administration officials – creates empathy for immigrants, generating more favorable attitudes toward immigration.
Crisis at the Border: Sheriff Staly’s On-the-Ground Report on a ‘Failed Immigration Policy’ Affecting All Communities
Earlier this month Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly took part in a fact-finding trip along the Texas side of the border with Mexico with several other law enforcement officials and U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla. “The border crisis,” he argues, “is coming to you whether you like it or not.”
At Flagler Airport, Freedom Fest Soars Again on Wings of Pride and Memory
A variety of historic and modern aircraft, flying and static, is coming to the Flagler County airport as part of Freedom Fest on Independence Day weekend, with bands, vendors and free admission.
State Workers Across the Nation Had a Holiday for Juneteenth, but Not in Florida
Even with short notice after the president signed the federal holiday into law, some states were able to manage authorizing a paid day off Friday for their state employees. Gov. Ron DeSantis could have granted state workers a paid holiday. He did not.
Biden Signs Law Making Juneteenth a New Federal Holiday
“Throughout history, Juneteenth has been known by many names—Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at the White House signing ceremony, noting that the White House was built by slaves. “And today, a national holiday.”
Critical Rage Theory
Critical race theory has been around almost 50 years and went mainstream 25 years ago, but Trumpist Republicans are discovering it only now, passing laws in several states to ban the teaching of critical race theory without understanding the first thing about it, but proving with every ban that it is less theory than fact.
Overpopularity Is Nearly Destroying the National Park Experience
America’s national parks face a popularity crisis. From 2010 to 2019, the number of national park visitors spiked from 281 million to 327 million, largely driven by social media, advertising and increasing foreign tourism. This exponential growth is generating pollution and putting wildlife at risk to a degree that threatens the future of the park system.
Now Florida’s Only 2nd All-American Road, Storied A1A Has Long Navigated Between Quaint and Crass
State Road A1A is now an All-American Road, adding to the road’s paradoxes of beauty and history on one side and and relentless commercialization and development on the other, though the same people who applaud its scenic designation are also those who endanger it most.
After the Muslim Ban
Before we let the horrors of the Trump administration fade away like a fever dream, we have to ask ourselves how we got here. Otherwise, it’s going to become a recurring nightmare, argues Domenica Ghanem.
Lynching Political Correctness
Thanks to Donald Trump, a national return to some sort of centrist “normal” is now impossible. Lots of people believe a civil war is already underway and they’re excited as hell about it. Political Correctness meets Jim Crow, argues Robert Koehler.
Sedition Is Not a 1st Amendment Right, and There’s No Comparison With BLM Marches
Mob participants claim they were only exercising their First Amendment right to protest, and that Black Lives Matter protests and riots didn’t draw the same scrutiny. Both narratives are factual and moral frauds that hide behind liberal rationales to perpetrate reactionary lies and justify the unconscionable.
A Tale of Two Mobs
The second mob includes the eight Republican senators and 139 House Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s election, as well as the 17 Republican attorneys general who supported a bogus lawsuit to throw out the election.
Trump’s Fascism and Republican Responsibility
By the time Trump was spitting sedition and inciting violence Wednesday he’d had five years of encouragement from the same Republican charlatans who would later stand on the floors of the Senate and the House to declare themselves shocked, shocked that the rioters they’d courted had desecrated and bloodied their little sanctum.
Trump’s Suicide Bomber Act
Liberals would be fools to think the election was a turning point. The next four years will be as much a trial of democracy as the last four, just more diffuse, the cancer cells of Trumpism poisoning states and localities, as we’ve already seen locally in the last couple of years. Not the America we know? If you’ve been paying attention since 1980, it’s exactly the America we know.
How American Candidates and Presidents Concede: a Century of Decency and Continuity
From Herbert Hoover to Hillary Clinton, concessions by presidential candidates are among the high watermarks of American democratic discourse and reverence for institutional continuity. Candidates and incumbents have been delivering them without fail, their gestures a window into their character at their most vulnerable times.
Electionland: The State of Election Day Across the Country
In a historic election shaped by a pandemic, mail-in voting and misinformation, election officials are scrambling to adapt. Here’s what reporters are seeing across the country.
Save Lives. Fill Out Your Census.
Certain communities — such as rural, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, immigrant, and LGBTQ folks — are especially likely to be undercounted. Some experts warn this year’s census could be the worst undercount of Black and Latinx people in 30 years.
How Misinformation, Federalism and Selfishness Hampered America’s Virus Response
The American response to the pandemic, many public health experts say, has been uniquely hapless, ineffective, undisciplined and selfish. By some measures, the United States has handled the health crisis as badly as any country has.
Beirut’s Object Lesson of Weaponized Incompetence
The blast that leveled huge swaths of Beirut Tuesday was the result of years of criminal negligence and serves as an object lesson in government incompetence and indifference to public safety–not just in Lebanon.
Wawa: Behind the Name, a Rich Etymology from Around the World
The Wawa name has come to be almost synonymous with the company, as if it were its origin. In fact, the word–the sound, the name–has innumerably rich applications around the world.
A Plea From the Middle, Against Extremism
No matter what side Americans fall on politically, most hold many common beliefs and convictions in common, placing them far closer to a shared middle than the extremes of our current political discourse, argues former sheriff Jim Manfre.
Of Course Guns Have Nothing To Do With It
Mountains of evidence link America’s mass killings to the massive amount of guns in circulation, but let’s go ahead and pretend that guns have nothing to do with it, nor the absence of sensible gun control.
What “Abolish ICE” Really Means
All evidence suggests that immigrants are far from the national security threat the Trump administration claims they are. Regardless of status, they’re more law-abiding than native-born citizens.
Go Back Where You Came From
No American can tell another to go back where he or she came from, at least not with a straight face: We’re all carpetbaggers in America going back to the original ones who crossed over the Bering Strait.
Flagler County Officials Disavow Confederate Flag That Flew at Princess Place Preserve’s Caretaker Grounds
A Confederate flag hung at the grounds of the caretakers for Flagler County’s Princess Place Preserve even as county employees came and went on the public park’s lands–until a Palm Coast resident noticed it and complained.
Take It From Me: Addiction Doesn’t Start At the Border
As the sister of a brother lost to an opioid overdose, Trump’s claim that we need a border wall in order to keep drugs out is offensive to me on multiple levels. We should treat the root causes of addiction instead.
Saint Kavanaugh
Whether Kavanaugh was confirmed or not is irrelevant: whoever’s next might be less personally sleazy, more temperamentally amoebic, but judicially? Same shill, different name.
Cruel and Usual Trump
The Trump-Sessions zero-tolerance policy of separating children from their parents at the border has no precedent except in America’s slavery times.
Florida Senate Backs Arming Teachers And Rejects Assault Weapons Ban
The Senate plan and a similar House proposal would allow school boards to decide whether they want to implement a “marshal” proposal to arm certain teachers.