The Great Chicago Fire
Today is the anniversary of several deadly wildfires that took place in 1871.| Letters from an American
Today Trump appointee Lindsey Halligan did what President Donald J.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
Yesterday, journalists observed members of the Texas National Guard at a U.S.| Letters from an American
Today is the anniversary of several deadly wildfires that took place in 1871.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today floated the idea that workers furloughed during a government shutdown are not guaranteed back pay when the shutdown is resolved.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
If White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is at the head of the administration’s deployment of federal agents against undocumented immigrants, it appears that Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought is running the administration’s approach to the government shutdown.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
On Friday the Minnesota Star Tribune reported a conversation on the messaging app Signal between one of Stephen Miller’s top deputies, Anthony Salisbury, and a senior advisor to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Patrick Weaver.| Letters from an American
Today was unseasonably warm and I spent the day on the water.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
Although President Donald J.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
At about 1:00 on Tuesday morning, federal agents from Border Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) raided an apartment building on Chicago’s South Shore Drive.| Letters from an American
Last night, as the government barreled toward a shutdown, President Donald J.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
Last Thursday, September 25, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suddenly announced he was calling about 800 of the nation’s top military generals and admirals, along with their top enlisted advisors, to meet at Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Virginia, today.| Letters from an American
A newsletter about the history behind today's politics.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
On this day, I always like to tell the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s terrible 1884 Valentine’s Day and how it led to the Progressive Era, but things are happening too fast these days to leave a gap in the record, so you’ll have to look back at last year—or forward to next—for that story.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
| Letters from an American
Conservative writer Bill Kristol took to social media today to say: “So many coverups.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
On Friday the Bureau of Labor Statistics postponed the release of the annual report on consumer expenditures—a key report for understanding inflation—without explanation.| Letters from an American
Is it possible that the last time I posted a picture was September 1?| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
Today U.S.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
Since he took office in 2017, President Donald J.| Letters from an American
A recording from Heather Cox Richardson's live video| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
This evening, John Koblin, Michael M.| Letters from an American
The phrase that kept coming up over the last several days was “make fetch happen.” It’s a reference to the film Mean Girls, when one of the characters tries to make the word “fetch” trendy, using it to mean “cool” or “awesome.” Another character eventually slaps back: “Stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
Six years ago, on September 15, 2019, after about a six-week hiatus during the summer, I wrote a Facebook post that started:| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
At 10:22 on the morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, a bomb ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.| Letters from an American
| Letters from an American
President Donald J.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
On Friday, September 5, Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell told Southern Baptist pastor and Newsmax host Tony Perkins that Trump may try to declare that “there is a threat to the national sovereignty of the United States" in order to claim “emergency powers to protect the federal elections going forward,” overriding the Constitution’s clear designation that states alone have control over elections.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Just days before Labor Day, a holiday designed to celebrate the importance and power of American workers in the United States, the Transportation Department cancelled $679 million in funding for offshore wind projects, and the Department of Energy announced it is withdrawing a $716 million loan guarantee to complete infrastructure for an offshore wind project in New Jersey.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Yesterday, Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives approved a new map redrawing congressional districts to switch five seats from Democratic control to Republican.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Yesterday, military personnel from the United States of America literally rolled out a red carpet for a dictator who invaded a sovereign country and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes including the stealing of children.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
On August 14, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Economists have been expressing concern about the accuracy of economic statistics coming out of the Trump administration for months.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
On July 2, 2024, just about a year ago, president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation Kevin Roberts told the listeners of Steve Bannon’s War Room webcast: “[W]e are going to win.| heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
