When I was 19 I got assigned to a work study job as a research assistant for Daniel Rodgers, a history professor who, fortuitously, turned out to be one of two or three people who taught me how to think. The research I was going to do was for a project that was eventually published a decade later as Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age. The book is about the trans-Atlantic connections, borrowings, rivalries between reformers and states during the period in which virtually all North Atlantic states devised some version of what we call welfare states. There were rich well-springs of home grown reformism in the US. But looking to models in Europe was a constant focus. A recurrent theme is that the US so often seemed to be a late arriver to these reforms or resisted them because of beliefs in American exceptionalism or a more general resistance to state action.
Where Things Stand: Flynn Has Been Busy Post-Pardon
In the waning days of his presidency, former President Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, ending a years-long, messy legal battle in which Flynn pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI only to reverse course, hire Sidney Powell as his lawyer, and seek to reverse his plea.
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McConnell Decries ‘Disturbing’ Decline In COVID-19 Vaccinations In Home State
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday expressed his dismay over the “disturbing” trend of declining vaccination rates in his home state. Continue reading “McConnell Decries ‘Disturbing’ Decline In COVID-19 Vaccinations In Home State”
OR Lawmaker Faces Charges After Video Showed Him Opening Capitol Door To Protesters
An Oregon lawmaker now faces criminal charges after opening the doors of the Oregon statehouse to far-right protesters in December.
Falwell Extends, Rescinds Invitation To Hold The ‘Real’ Liberty Graduation Party At His Farm
After inviting Liberty University students to the family farm for a “real” graduation party, former university leader Jerry Falwell Jr. has called off the event.
Cassidy Knows He’s Against Biden’s Infrastructure Plans — He Just Doesn’t Know Why
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) did a Fox News interview Sunday where he struggled to identify which specific parts of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plans he objects to, encapsulating the greater Republican difficulty in campaigning against the legislation.
Manchin Says Trump Called Him ‘All The Time’: ‘We Had A Good Rapport’
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said on Sunday that he had enjoyed a good relationship with then-President Donald Trump, with whom the senator said he had frequent conversations.
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Vaccine Hesitancy and the Future of the Pandemic
There’s an article today in the Times which reports that we may never reach ‘herd immunity’ for COVID or at least that we may not do so for a very long time. The article strikes me as needlessly alarmist, in part because the ‘news’ being reported is as much a question of semantics or people being informed about epidemiology as it is some new negative development in the course of the pandemic. The details are probably what you would expect, a mix of vaccine hesitancy, more transmissible viral strains and viral evolution that slowly chips away at vaccine immunity all working together to put ‘herd immunity’ out of reach. But I want to zoom in on the potential role of vaccine hesitancy or politics-driven resistance to vaccines.
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What A Mess: Outlets Walk Back Reports About FBI Warning Giuliani On Russia Disinfo
Several outlets that reported last week that the FBI had warned Rudy Giuliani that he was a target of Russia’s disinformation campaign against President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden have walked back their reports.
Giuliani, it seems, may not have been warned after all.
DNC Raked In $15.4 Million During Biden’s First 100 Days
The Democratic National Committee raised $15.4 million in online donations during President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office, more than double what it raked in during ex-President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, according to Axios.
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