Why Melania Trump’s Plagiarism Matters

Two paragraphs from Melania Trump’s speech last night before the Republican National Convention were almost word for word the same as two paragraphs from Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech. This is a fact. Such verbatim quoting without attribution is called plagiarism. Plagiarism is widely recognized as a kind of cheating, indeed ...
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Why Melania Trump’s Plagiarism Matters

A Response to Occupy the Party

I had read "Occupy the Party” in an earlier version, posted on Facebook. I am glad it is being circulated here on Public Seminar, and would like to offer a brief response. I have four thoughts about this piece. The first no doubt marks me as bourgeois: I don’t really know how ...
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A Response to Occupy the Party

The Sanders Campaign and ‘Political Revolution’

Support yes, credulity no

The Bernie Sanders campaign for President is one of the most exciting and hopeful developments in US politics in decades. Sanders is, and long has been, a man of principle -- democratic socialist principle. He articulates a clear message -- that a more genuine democratic politics in the United States needs to ...

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The Sanders Campaign and ‘Political Revolution’

Romanian Tragedy, Romanian Miracle

Glimmers of hope in European politics

On Friday night a heavy metal concert at a downtown Bucharest night club burst literally into flames, as a spark from a pyrotechnic display set off a conflagration that caused panic and pandemonium among the roughly 400 young people trapped inside. Over thirty people were burned to ...

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Romanian Tragedy, Romanian Miracle