Новости за 31.05.2018

News of a riot at LA's Griffith Park in the era of Mayor Sam Yorty

Memorial Day traditionally marks the beginning of summer. It is a day laden with hopes for a fun-filled summer, but also a day of reflection about summers past. Those memories, however, differ across America’s color line. These differing summer memories may help us unravel a seeming contradiction in this year of anniversaries. In the past decade, culminating in the current reflection on the tumultuous events of 1968, the... Читать дальше...

Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 2008.

Related Link Who invented Memorial Day?  

Memorial Day is the most sacred and solemn holiday on the United States calendar. Arguably the most American, as it doesn’t honor a person or significant event in the nation’s history. It commemorates men and women of all races and creeds who gave their lives on the battlefield defending this country. According to Veterans Administration and military records, it’s estimated that around 1.3 million... Читать дальше...

Families at the Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. Delcia Lopez / for NBC News

Related Link The North Korean Nuclear Crisis in History (Interviews with Mitch Lerner and David Fields)

What was the way of life for most ordinary women during the early Middle Ages in England? The answer is surprising. In Anglo-Saxon England – before the Norman Conquest in 1066 – men and women enjoyed relatively equal rights and social, cultural and religious conditions. They held their money and properties equally, both had rights in law, and abuse of women was not tolerated. If a marriage proved to be unhappy, the woman was free to leave it, yet still retained her Dower Rights. Any children belonged to the parents equally... Читать дальше...

“Historians in every field have to make the conventional leap into the minds of people in the past, who by definition were unlike ourselves, but historians working on Africa, by definition trained in modern institutions of higher education and communicating through scholarly networks composed of the abstractions of modernity, must take an additional leap into an experiential world that they have been trained since childhood to ignore, or marginalize. One proceeds with confidence only at one’s... Читать дальше...

On Memorial Day seventy years ago President Harry Truman proclaimed a prayer for peace to honor Americans who gave their lives in war. He said, "From the sacred memory of beloved friends and relatives who were sacrificed in the ordeal of battle, we may derive inspiration for renewed prayers and redoubled exertions in a mighty striving for peace."

We measure time by generations, are shaped by when we were born, are carried by the currents that take us, without consultation. The news, which is coming at us so fast these days, is relentless. It’s worth stepping back to find our bearings if we can. 

On November 9th 1983, the leadership of the Soviet Union nearly ordered a full pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US and Western Europe. The entire Soviet nuclear arsenal was readied. Huge SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles in their silos were put on standby. SS-20 mobile missile launchers deployed to their battle stations in the forests and swamps of Russia. Nuclear submarines slipped out of port and took up their launch positions. In East Germany and Poland, aircraft went onto strip-alert with their engines on... Читать дальше...

"The American's Creed" - By Peetlesnumber1 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

This piece is dedicated to Senator John McCain.

I can’t quite decide whether to offer the famous AMERICAN’S CREED at the beginning or at the end—or perhaps off to the side. Once offered, it somehow seems unlikely that readers will be warm to reading what I have managed to say on the subject, you see. Still; here it is, all 100 words:

I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people... Читать дальше...

Surname: Schneiderman. Jewish. Raised in New York City. Progressive politician. Ally to women. Ally to working people. Ally to immigrants and people of color. Enemy of sexual harassment and assault. Fiery public speaker. Friend to members of New York’s political dynasties. Advocate for higher minimum wages and improved working conditions. New York State officeholder. 

Trump examines border wall prototypes

In both its title and chorus, Florence Reece’s classic labor song of 1931 asked its audience the only pertinent political question in times of civil duress: “Which side are you on?” Repeated in covers by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, and other folk singers conversant in the traditional music of the union movement, Reece’s lyrics present a simple yet steadfast choice – you can either be on the right side, or the wrong. 

In more normal times such Manichaeism is looked at askance. Читать дальше...

More than six months after its release, the epic documentary The Vietnam Warby Ken Burns and Lynn Novick continues to elicit strong reactions. Mark Moyar, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, recently lambasted the filmmakers for depicting a war that was “unjust, unnecessary, and unwinnable.”

Members of the San Francisco 49ers kneeling during the National Anthem before a game, By Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, CC BY-SA 2.0

Haj Amin al-Husseini meeting with Adolf Hitler (28 November 1941). By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1987-004-09A / Heinrich Hoffmann / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

"We have people coming into the country—or trying to come in, we're stopping a lot of them—but we're taking people out of the country, you wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals." – Donald Trump, May 16, 2018

Reagan and Gorbachev ratifying the INF Treaty

Recent news reports have presented new evidence that the Russian military provided the missile that shot down a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and new details about the violent clash between Russian mercenaries and U.S. soldiers in eastern Syria in February this year. Those stories highlight how the “new cold war” has become as dangerous as the old Cold War was in 1983, when a Soviet fighter pilot shot down a Korean airliner... Читать дальше...

HNN Topics:  What's being said on social media and elsewhere 

• Trump's First State of the Union Address 1/30/18
• Mueller Investigation
• JFK Files
• Statues Debate
• Vietnam War Documentary by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick
• 9-11
• Columbus Day
• Books
• Arts
• Women in the News
• Black History
• Gun Violence
• Impeachment
• Peace Talks in Korea
• Trump Nixes Iran Deal: What Historians Are Saying

This... Читать дальше...

Sir John Gilbert's 1849 painting: The Plays of Shakespeare, containing scenes and characters from several of William Shakespeare's plays.

The minister feared for the children. Acknowledging the difficulties of raising them “at a time and in a place filled with obstacles and perils,” his sermon deplored new media, which produced “a constant flood of poisonous matter” dangerous to youth. 

Despite considerable media attention paid to Vladimir Putin and Russia’s meddling in American and European politics, the centennial of the Russian Revolution has failed to register on the radar screen of American politics and culture. Academic historians, however, have addressed the Bolshevik anniversary with a number of scholarly volumes which shed some light on the Russian experience and should expand understanding of a nation and society with whom the United States has experienced an adversarial... Читать дальше...

What do Russians think of Donald Trump? Does their thinking contain any insights about him?

In 2012, then candidate for president Mitt Romney declared that Russia was the United States’ “number one geopolitical foe.” In response, Romney’s opponent, President Barack Obama, mocked him mercilessly, taunting, “The 1980’s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.” For her part, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opined that, “It’s somewhat dated to be looking backwards.” The press also pounced, including the prestigious New York Times: “His comments display either a shocking... Читать дальше...

Google the words “Trump” and “legitimacy.” As of this writing, there are 686,000 hits, including articles from the New Yorker, Vox, US News and World Report, Politico, the Washington Post, Real Clear Politics, and the Atlantic, each challenging or reporting on the political legitimacy of Donald J. Trump. But concerns about legitimacy aren’t one sided. Googling “Robert S. Muller,” often cast as an opposition figure to Trump, and the word “legitimacy” will yield 1,070,000 hits, including articles from theWashington Post... Читать дальше...