Boardwalk Empire fans: did you know Esther Randolph is closely based on an extraordinary real woman named Mabel Walker Willebrandt? I love HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. It nails the 1920s, and the reality-based characters from Capone to Daugherty are pretty accurately portrayed. But what really knocks me out about the show are the lesser-known but historically […]
No Historical Precedent for Obama/Holder Assassination of US Citizens
Attorney General Eric Holder declared on March 5, 2012 that President Obama can, with impunity, secretly order the assassination or indefinite imprisonment of Americans abroad. According to Holder, President Obama may do this without a shred of evidence, based solely on the CIA or Defense Department’s suspicion the citizens are terrorists or “pose an imminent […]
Iran’s Secret Weapon
Headlines such as “U.S.Sees Iran Attacks as Likely if Israel Strikes,” are a sobering reminder that jumping into a war with Iran could have even more dangerous consequences for us than invading Iraq. My first job after graduate school was with a shadowy company in Washington DC that ostensibly had a “Crisis Management Training” contract with the […]
Downton Abbey – We Cannot Escape History
The last known World War I veteran has died at the age of 110. Like the fictional Ladies Edith and Sybil Crawley in Downton Abbey, Florence Green crossed the boundaries of social and cultural convention to
Downton Abbey – Wealth, Class and History
Downton Abbey fans: do you think the divide between the rich and poor in the series is extreme? Take a look in our current backyard. Like millions of people around the world,
