As you may have heard, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew just announced his decision to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Regardless of your view on the change, one has to admit that Tubman was a remarkable woman. Because Tubman could not read or write, her story was first officially recorded in 1869 by Sarah
READ MORE
When it comes to an emphasis on the individual, Americans lead the pack. That’s according to a Pew Research report which compared American and European sentiments on various democratic principles. Interestingly, Alexis de Tocqueville described this same tendency toward individualism nearly 200 years ago in his work Democracy in America. Individualism, Tocqueville observed, is a
READ MORE
It seems no amount of time passes without a headline about some couple (usually believers in the free-range-parenting movement) getting arrested and having their children taken away for perceived neglect. The case of Danielle and Alexander Meitiv of Maryland received national media attention for an incident in December of 2014 in which they allowed their
READ MORE
What do you do if you’re a contemporary institution realizing that it owes its very existence to having once profited from chattel slavery? A long and rich story in last Saturday’s New York Times describes, among other things, how in 1838, the Jesuit priests running what is now called Georgetown University sold off the plantation
READ MORE
While living in a developed modern nation comes with a slew of perks and benefits that allow for a certain degree of comfort when it comes to living, one of the unfortunate downsides to having superior technology reveals itself when one looks at those who use it maliciously or for destruction. Nuclear weapons are undoubtedly
READ MORE
If you visit Lisbon today, in the downtown square you can find a half of a stone orb resting on a slab. Within the stone circle is the Star of David, etched with the following: “In memory of the thousands of Jews who were victimized by intolerance and religious fanaticism, killed on the massacre that
READ MORE
Most Read from past 7 days
Most Read from past 30 days
Most Read of All Time
Most Read of All Time
