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Canceling Lessons Learned from Classic Literature

I have a running joke with the homeschool kids I teach in our local high school co-op: every single book I teach in their literature classes has been banned somewhere, sometime, for some reason. Because they’re teenagers, they are always a bit shocked (and not-so-secretly thrilled) to learn they are entering the illicit world of…

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11 of the Most Memorable Acts of Civil Disobedience in History

“Civil disobedience” evokes a range of reactions when people hear the term. Some instinctively wince, regarding it as anti-social or subversive. Others, like me, want to know more before we judge. What is prompting someone to engage in it? Who will be affected and how? What does the “disobedient” person hope to accomplish? Are there…

Fail to the Chief: The Worst Presidents
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Fail to the Chief: The Worst Presidents

The night before the election, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen tweeted that, in her opinion, neither Donald Trump nor Barack Obama was the worst president of all time. She instead awarded that dubious title to Woodrow Wilson. This touched off a separate Twitter conversation between a friend and I about who we personally considered…

How a German Housewife Fed Up With Grounds in Her Coffee Revolutionized the Famous Drink
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How a German Housewife Fed Up With Grounds in Her Coffee Revolutionized the Famous Drink

Sipping more coffee these days? Laboring at home and traveling less, I find myself more frequently appreciating a good brew, as well as an invention that is to coffee what the slicing machine is to bread. I’m referring not to a burr grinder or a French press or a Keurig machine, but to the lowly…

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Enough of this Idea of Presidential Greatness

What constitutes a great president? Every presidential election, pundits and commentators opine on the characteristics of presidents that made them great. Starting in 1948, at the impulse of Arthur Schlesinger Sr. of Harvard University, historians have weighted in by providing their rankings of the presidents according to greatness. Ever since, the surveys of presidential performance have…

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Think the US is more polarized than ever? You don’t know history

Union dead at Gettysburg, July 1863. National Archives, Timothy H. O’Sullivan photographer Gary W. Gallagher, University of Virginia It has become common to say that the United States in 2020 is more divided politically and culturally than at any other point in our national past. As a historian who has written and taught about the…

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New Jersey Teachers Prep Lesson Plans On LGBTQ History, Homosexual Persecution During Holocaust

Mary Margaret Olohaney The curriculum comes after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed a 2019 law requiring all public schools to include LGBTQ lessons in middle school and high school lesson plans, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. New Jersey joins California, Colorado, and Illinois in requiring public schools to teach LGBTQ history. While some educators are testing out the…

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15 Economic, Historical, and Health Facts about Bacon

Many may not realize that thousands of Americans annually celebrate National Bacon Day every December 30. Honoring a breakfast staple with a day of observance might seem odd, but bacon is not your typical food. The tasty snack has become a cultural obsession and a fixture of American pop culture. Who can forget eight-year-old King…

Pearl Harbor [Movie Review] ~ Sundays With Steffi
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Pearl Harbor [Movie Review] ~ Sundays With Steffi

Happy Sunday, Liberty Lovers! In memory of the 78th anniversary of the December 7th Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, I decided to watch Michael Bay’s 2001 “Pearl Harbor” film. I’ve always heard it has a great love story in it. I was hoping I’d learn more about the historical background of Pearl Harbor by watching…

Nobody’s Victim: This Disabled Libertarian Opposes the Welfare State
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Nobody’s Victim: This Disabled Libertarian Opposes the Welfare State

This is the story of a man who has one of the most unique perspectives on the ideas of economic and personal liberty that you will probably ever hear. To get to know this man, we must go back to the very beginning – to a tiny four-pound baby born ten weeks early, fighting for…