Before Tim Walz became a politician, he was a high school teacher. One of his passions as a teacher was the subject of the Holocaust. Walz wrote his masters’ thesis on “Improving Human Rights and Genocide Studies in the American High School Classroom.” It argued that the way we teach the Holocaust and genocide in school was mistaken. Walz pushed for an approach that didn’t separate the Holocaust from other genocides and human rights abuses. He also insisted that it was a mistake to focus on the maniacal character of Hitler and the Nazis. Instead he argued for a more integrated, comparative, and historicist approach, incorporating factors such as colonialism, economics, and civil war, and connecting the Holocaust to the […]
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I have a letter in The Chronicle of Higher Education responding to Steven Teles’ call for more conservative college professors. It’s a shortened version of a longer piece I wrote, which I’m posting here. The fact that conservatives are thin in the humanities and social sciences departments of US college campuses is well known. A […]
Australia has reacted strongly to news overnight that an Olympic hockey player has been caught trying to purchase cocaine. With the majority of people stunned to learn that the athlete could actually afford the cocaine. ”Mate, aren’t these guys always... Read More ›
Brian Beutler says moderates should stop worrying that the Real Americans are going to run for the hills: The implicit premise, familiar to every Democrat in politics, is that Republicans will declare all progressive ideas “socialism” whether their contents or proponents are socialist or not. One school of liberal thought holds that Democrats should thus downplay these kinds of ideas—avoid bad-faith GOP backlash and seize the center through the absence of controversy. Another holds that Democrats can defeat Republicans in a contest to define the issues. As a liberal politician, you can run away from the idea of universal school lunch, because Republicans will call it socialism, or you can run toward it, while persuading people that it isn’t socialism, it’s neighborliness. If you opt for the latter, you can go a step further by noting that stripping free lunch from hungry children, or making school lunch programs a source of stigma for the children of poor parents, are ideas that only animate people of troubling character.
Providing tampons for high school students is something the Trump people seem to think is very weird. I think most people probably think it’s weird not to. Why do they care about this stuff so much? Former President Trump’s campaign and supporters are going after Vice President Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), dubbing him “Tampon Tim” in reference to a bill he signed last year requiring schools to provide free menstrual products in all public school bathrooms. The Minnesota law, which went into effect Jan. 1, mandates menstrual products — including pads, tampons and other items — “must be available to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12 according to a plan developed by the school district.” State Republican lawmakers pushed back on the legislation at the time, but ultimately failed to amend the bill to apply only for girls’ bathrooms. […] The primary super PAC supporting Trump called Walz a “weird radical liberal,” as part of a new campaign ad against the governor.
Silicon Valley’s right-wing history goes back over 100 years; Donald Trump is a perfect avatar for their power play.
The post Tech Billionaires Love Trump Now — Because He’s One of Them appeared first on The Intercept.
15 human space oddities.
The post The Weirdest Stuff We’ve Sent into Orbit appeared first on Nautilus.
This is huge: In a new poll released Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has taken an enormous lead on former president Donald Trump among independent voters. Harris is up nine points with that group (53%-44%) after being down 14 points with them when she launched her campaign just two weeks ago Kamala Harris and Tim Walz debut at Philadelphia rallyKamala Harris and Tim Walz debut at Philadelphia rally In early July, Trump was beating President Joe Biden by four points with independents. Overall, Harris has built a 51%-48% lead over Trump, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. That’s a four-point improvement for Harris, who became the Democratic choice when Biden bowed out. Harris maintains a three-point lead (48%-45%) when third-party choices are included. Harris leads by 13 points with women (55%-42%), but is losing men by nine points (54%-45%). Here are other breakdowns, according to NPR: Fueling her rise are Black voters, white women with college degrees and women who identify as political independents.
There is abundant evidence that Israel is pursuing policies that are directly at odds with the Biden administration’s goals in the Middle East. First, the Biden administration desperately wants a ceasefire in Gaza. The Netanyahu government, however, is committed to making sure the negotiations for a ceasefire fail, which they have so far. Second, the Continue reading »
Learning to appreciate the big picture.
The post High Mountains, Ancient Shells, and the Wonder of Deep Time appeared first on Nautilus.
Hey, do you all remember jamming to the song “Jesus loves the little children, all...
I was heartbroken when I heard about the devastating attacks in Southport. My distress was shared by people up and down the country. But only people of colour will be familiar with the anxiety that such a heinous crime brings. Our grief and worry is tinged with the fear that if the perpetrator is a […]
Riots swept across the UK, sparked by misinformation and propelled by the former Government's long history of dividing the country
It’s all good, from Shapiro to Harris to Walz. If you didn’t have a chance to watch, I highly recommend it. Amanda Marcotte went to both the JD Vance rally and the Harris Walz rally and they couldn’t be more different: He’s so weird! He’s so weird!” the crowd chanted in a sing-song, taunting voice that echoed across Temple University’s packed basketball stadium Tuesday evening. Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Penn., was the first person to mention Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, to the crowd that had packed the overflowing Philadelphia rally for Vice President Kamala Harris, as she introduced her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn. The spontaneous chant cracked Shapiro up, causing him to pause momentarily before laying back into the authoritarian threat posed by Donald Trump’s “weird” and beardy running mate. The chanters didn’t know the half of it. Hours earlier, I had been at a South Philly venue where Vance spoke briefly to about 200 supporters and a group of bored journalists.
EYES: Not to brag, but we were among the first to go. We’ve required glasses or contact lenses for decades.
STOMACH: Eyes said that? No, I was definitely the first—not to mention the worst.
EYES: I guess I started to act up around the same time as Stomach. That was quite a year.
EARS: We got damaged early on, with all the loud music, but she didn’t really know it was happening at the time. Then years later, tinnitus. We’re sneaky like that.
BRAIN: I’ve always been a little different. Can’t do math, but can remember every song lyric ever. Ears played a role in that too.
FEET: We’ve always been problematic. But we’ve really ramped things up over the last several years. The need for orthotic insoles? That’s all us.
BLADDER: I work overtime all the time. During the day, at night, I never stop.