Feature Archives - Page 18 of 150

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Telescopes for our Senses

The Interstellar Imagination of Alexander Kluge

March 29, 2019 • by Max L. Feldman

In his Critique of Practical Reason, Immanuel Kant said two things fill the mind with awe: “the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.” This image, bridging the vast gap between our inner lives and outer space, is vital for Alexander Kluge, too. We need to develop “the ...

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American Russophobia in the Age of Liberal Decline

Under President Donald Trump, US–Russian relations have entered a new phase

March 28, 2019 • by Andrei P Tsygankov

Accusations of Russian interference have become the primary route through which to undermine Donald Trump. In order to sustain public outrage, media and political elites provide a constant flow of leaks, rumors and conspiracy theories. Failing liberal self-confidence is to blame for the return of Cold War rhetoric, argues Andrei ...

American Russophobia in the Age of Liberal Decline

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Why I Want Nothing to do with the Green New Deal

Conservatism, Environmentalism and Socialism

March 28, 2019 • by Jake Davis

I was frequently humbled living in the small, oil-rich kingdom. Humbled by the clash between two of nature’s most inhospitable terrains: a great sandy desert meeting a great salty ocean. At the boundary where these two titans collide sits a different kind of marvel: a Starbucks. I would frequent the ...

Why I Want Nothing to do with the Green New Deal

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How to Do It

Sex Education and the “Sex Life”

March 27, 2019 • by Joseph Gamble

In 1696, in Somerset county in southwest England, a schoolboy named John Cannon and his friends took their lunchtime break on the banks of a river near their schoolhouse. Unlike other uneventful riverside lunches, though, this day was memorable enough for Cannon to record in his memoirs. An older boy ...

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Warhol: The Revolution that Failed

A review of the Andy Warhol — From A to B and Back Again exhibition at The Whitney Museum.

March 27, 2019 • by Laura Nelson

The recent reappearance of Andy Warhol’s paintings, films, sculptures, and silkscreens at The Whitney in New York City reminded me of the writings of Arthur C. Danto (1924-2013), a professor of philosophy at Columbia University as well as art critic for The Nation from 1984 to 2009. Like many philosophers of his ...

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“Operation Varsity Blues,” the White Supremacy Terrorist Attack in New Zealand, and Beto O’Rourke

Past Present Episode 172

March 26, 2019 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Natalia, Niki, and Neil discuss the college admissions scandal, the white supremacy terrorist attack in New Zealand, and Beto O’Rourke’s bid for the presidency. Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: College admissions has long legally favored the wealthy, but “Operation Varsity Blues” has ...

“Operation Varsity Blues,” the White Supremacy Terrorist Attack in New Zealand, and Beto O’Rourke

Blue Monday

Trump, The Mueller Report, and Democracy

Very Preliminary Thoughts on an Unfolding Story

March 24, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

[Note: this piece was filed on Sunday at 2 pm, revised after the release of Attorney General Barr’s letter at 4 pm, and refiled for publication at 6 pm. God only knows what will transpire in the interim.] The issue has always been the need to defend democracy by addressing its ...

Trump, The Mueller Report, and Democracy

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Reflections of a Federal Judge from Jim Crow Mississippi

A Jo Freeman Review of ‘Won Over’

March 23, 2019 • by Jo Freeman

When I was working in Mississippi for SCLC in 1966, I would not have believed that any of the young white men I saw on the streets (mostly harassing us) would ever reject white supremacy. They appeared as dedicated to its domination as sports fans are to their clubs. William Alsup writes that ...

Reflections of a Federal Judge from Jim Crow Mississippi

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Emergency Powers and Trump: Lessons from Carl Schmitt

Why Trump’s executive actions might be legal yet unconstitutional

March 22, 2019 • by Benjamin Andrew Schupmann

The threat to the constitution that Donald Trump poses was apparent as soon as he entered the presidential primary race. Since his election, Trump has only confirmed that threat: he has abused emergency powers and other executive privileges to advance his private interests and illiberal, antidemocratic values. Despite incessantly broadcasting ...

Emergency Powers and Trump: Lessons from Carl Schmitt

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It’s The Real Economy, Stupid

Wealthy political pundits are living in an alternate reality

March 21, 2019 • by Neil Kraus

Bill Gates caused quite a stir when he recently tweeted a graphic produced by Our World in Data (a Gates Foundation-funded organization) indicating how much progress the world has made in combating poverty over the last two centuries. Critics rightly seized on Gates’s observation as well as the data and analysis, quickly dismantling the ...

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The African American Poet as Historian

Poets do history — just not in the way that historians conceive of it

March 21, 2019 • by Holly Genovese

What is history? Not the past, but the creation of “history,” the writing of history, the teaching of history? Is it only something someone formally trained as a historian can do, even though scholars of literature and African American studies, and high school teachers and writers engage with the past, ...

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A Wound that Needs Witnessing

Healing after Christchurch

March 20, 2019 • by Safiyah Rochelle

In the aftermath of the slaughter of worshippers in a sacred space, it is easy to be angry. The targets of rage seem endless: at callow politicians who peddle in the most basic of human emotions and sling hateful words that morph into weapons; at white supremacy ideologies whose violences ...