Image from Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt ,July 13, 2024.

Who Knows What to Believe (Or Rule Out) These Days?

The Destabilization of Truth may be the epitaph of the American republic. 
Tagged under: ,
US Presidents

Who Was the Indispensable President?

How would you answer the question of which U.S. president was indispensable to the Republic?
Tagged under: , ,
Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey — Now More Than Ever, Even With All His Faults

A recent visit to Arizona had me thinking about the legacy and prescience of Edward Abbey. With warts and all, he’s a kind of modern-day Henry David Thoreau.
Tagged under: , , ,
TR and his big stick.

What Might Theodore Roosevelt Say About America’s Current War in Iran?

As a longtime student of President Theodore Roosevelt, historian Clay Jenkinson considers how TR might have approached current events in Iran.
Tagged under: , ,
NASA’s Orion spacecraft under parachutes as it lands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Friday, April 10, 2026.

The Torch Has Been Passed —  A New Era of Space Exploration 

It felt like old times on Friday night as we all watched the splashdown of the Artemis II Moon mission.
Tagged under: ,
Liftoff of the SLS rocket carrying NASA's Artemis II mission to the moon. April 1, 2026.

Artemis II Reflections: To the Moon and Beyond

It felt like 1965. I sat looking at a small screen TV last week as Artemis II was launched on America’s first moon mission in over 50 years.
Tagged under: ,
American Flag & US Constitution

A Constitutional Quiz in 7 Questions

What is the Health of the U.S. Constitution and what can we do about it?
Tagged under: , ,
Partial view of Declaration of Independence draft

Thomas Jefferson at the Brink of Immortality

As the country approaches its 250th birthday, Clay profiles the 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson, the youngest member of the Virginia delegation, as he made his way to the Second Continental Congress and his date with immortality.
Tagged under: , ,
A statute of Lewis and Clark and the expedition's

What Can You Say About Lewis and Clark in 30 Minutes?

Oh my, it would be infinitely easier for me to give a three-hour lecture than one of just half an hour.
Tagged under: , , ,
A artist rendition of the signing of the United States Constitution with George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton (left to right in the foreground).

A Republic, if You Can Keep It: War and America in Iran

When the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to craft a new constitution, they worked strenuously to cage the “dogs of war” by way of constitutional restraints.
Tagged under: ,