A Short History of a Peculiar System

Interesting fact: The last Republican president to win the popular vote was George W. Bush back in 2004. Of course, if you go a little further back there’s a pattern of Republican presidents who lose the popular vote but win the electoral college count. This occurred in both the 2000 and 2016 elections.

By Jack R. Johnson 10.2024

A Historic Policing Problem

Last month, a North of James reader offered an additional item to our list of Presidential assassination and assassination attempts. Back in 2007, Presidential candidate, Barack Obama apparently was the target of an assassination conspiracy by the Ku Klux Klan.

By Jack R. Johnson 09.2024

The Most Dangerous Game

Running for the United States presidency is a dangerous occupation. The assassination attempt on Presidential candidate Donald Trump was only the most recent in a long line of nearly missed murders (and some occasional hits) of presidents and presidential candidates.

By Jack R. Johnson 08.2024

The Battle of New Market Heights

If you drive East on Route 5 from Richmond, Virginia—past the Southern States silos and water treatment plant and the new condos rising near Rocketts landing—you’ll eventually run across one of those historical placards that identifies the battle of New Market Heights.

By Jack R. Johnson 07.2024

Donald Trump and The Central Park Five

In a long list of venalities, Donald Trump can claim one that is especially egregious. Of course, he’s bedded hookers, and then worked overtime to illegally hide the deed (which recently won him 34 felony convictions.) He has allegedly passed along state secrets to the highest bidder and lied on his tax returns.

By Jack R. Johnson 06.2024

On Presidential Immunity

If you are a literalist, as are many of our current Supreme Court justices claim to be, the assertion of sweeping presidential immunity that Trump has made should be a ‘no brainer’ as they say. In the U.S. Constitution there is no such thing as presidential immunity.  Period. Not in the various Bill of Rights amendments, nor in the body of the text.

By Jack R. Johnson 05.2024

Earth Day, a Short History of Saving the World

Three hundred years ago, the Hindu Bishnois people of India set the standard for saving the world. Their religious sect held two important environmental principles: Be merciful to all living beings and love them (i.e., don’t eat them); Do not cut down green trees.

By Jack R. Johnson 04.2024

Richmond Community Hospital: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

In the United States, Black lives and the medical profession have always had a fraught relationship. During the ante-bellum period, the assumption among many in the White medical establishment was that Blacks had higher rates of disease and death because of some supposed ‘racial inferiority.’ Not, for example, that they lacked decent medical facilities, decent nutrition or decent income to pay for medical treatment.

By Jack R. Johnson 03.2024

Killing the Administrative State

Killing off big government has been a mantra on the right since Ronald Reagan quipped, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” Usually, the right’s effort at killing off big government involves reducing tax revenues, but a case currently before the US Supreme Court funded by the infamous Charles Koch is different in a particularly dangerous way.

By Jack R Johnson 02.2024

A Tale of Two Centenarians, Henry Kissinger and Norman Lear

This month, two culture-changing centenarians died within a week of each other. They couldn’t be more different in their individual lives and in their effect on the world.  The first centenarian to pass was Henry Kissinger, age 100. The Rolling Stones titled his obituary with unsurprising bluntness: “Henry Kissinger, War Criminal beloved by America’s Ruling Class, finally dies.” With a little headnote, bathed in acrimony, “GOOD RIDDANCE.” 

By Jack R Johnson 12.2023

A Short History of a Long War in Four Parts

Part 1, The Balfour Declaration, the Sykes Picot Agreement, and the Arab Rebellion

In a speech marking the Balfour Declaration's 80th Anniversary, Edward Said, the Palestine-born Columbia University literary professor, called for an honest discussion and dialogue between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews concerning the ways that the two people are inextricably connected.

By Jack R Johnson 12.2023

Of Presidents and Union Strikes

Steven Rattner, a former Obama administration financial advisor, whose net worth falls somewhere between 108 million and 609 million dollars and who led the restructuring of the automotive industry when the UAW accepted painful cuts, is now accusing President Joe Biden of overstepping his authority by supporting a major UAW strike.

By Jack R Johnson 10.2023

A History of Defiance

“Texas will see you in court, Mr. President,” snapped Governor Greg Abbott of Texas in July of this year. He was making clear that he would not comply with a justice department request to remove floating barriers in the Rio Grande. And Abbott is not the only Republican governor in open revolt against the Court’s decisions.

By Jack R. Johnson 09.2023

Historic Lies a la DeSantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is facing criticism over his new education guidelines that require students learn that enslaved people benefited from skills they learned while enslaved. Reading this, I remembered an old Virginia history book we used while in the seventh grade. In the opening chapter, entitled, “How The Negro lived under Slavery,” there’s an illustration showing a well-dressed Black family cordially greeted by a white man—presumably their enslaver.

By Jack R. Johnson 08.2023

The Making of the FLSA

In a recent OxFam survey of member OECD states on worker safety, the U.S. came in dead last (38th out of 38), behind such states as  Turkey, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Estonia. Presumably, this was because we fail to provide paid sick leave or affordable care for our children, not to mention our comprehensive failure to provide affordable health care to our citizenry.

By Jack R. Johnson 07.2023

The Night They Drove Old Disco Down

Time magazine once described the music as a "diabolical thump-and-shriek," but in the late 1970s disco dominated the American music scene. After the success of Saturday Night Fever featuring the music of the Bee Gees, U.S. radio stations began to adjust their formats from all rock to disco.

By Jack R. Johnson 06.2023

Supremes Gone Wild 

When considering Supreme Court scandals, Clarence Thomas’ hanging with conservative billionaire Harlan Crow and getting a free rental for his mom and luxurious vacations is bad, certainly. According to Pro Publica, if Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of just one of the trips could have exceeded $500,000. 

By Jack R. Johnson 05.2023

Policing the U.S.

Like a number of recent high-profile cases of police brutality, the fatal encounter between Tyre Nichols and the Memphis, Tennessee police’s Scorpion unit began with what appeared to be a minor traffic infraction.

By Jack R. Johnson 03.2023

Bacon’s Rebellion: Slavery and Freedom

In 1676, a century before the American Revolution, a well-connected British landowner owner named Nathaniel Bacon led thousands of Governor William Berkeley for his refusal to war with Native Americans. The failed rebellion, named ‘Bacon’s Rebellion,’ helped shape two contradictory threads in America’s history: Westward expansion and its promise of economic freedom, and the institution of slavery. 

By Jack R. Johnson 01.2023

The American Way… Sedition 

The Confederate flag’s prominence in the Capitol riots of January 6th comes as no surprise to those who know its history: Since its debut during the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag has been flown regularly by white insurrectionists and reactionaries.

 By Jack R. Johnson 12.2022

November; the Most Frightening Month

Halloween may mark October as scary, but by far our most terrifying month is November. Come that first Tuesday, the fate of our nation’s Democracy can hang by a thread; and this upcoming election is no different.

By Jack R. Johnson 11.2022

Dr. Walter Plecker and VA Eugenics, In Black and White 

As innocuous as it sounds, Dr. Walter Plecker’s daily work managed to stigmatize every Afro-American in the state of Virginia, remove every trace of Virginia Indians from state records (a kind of paper genocide), and finally provide a tidy template for Hitler’s own genocidal work with the Jews.

By Jack R. Johnson 10.2022

The American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978

Imagine a society where any religion you might practice was outlawed. You  could not attend services in your own church, and, in fact, the church itself was outlawed. Your preacher, priest or rabbi could be fined and jailed if they mentioned a particular religious ceremony.

By Jack R Johnson 09.2022

The Haitian Revolution: Part 1

In 1791, the ceremony that kicked off the Haitian revolution began with a sacrificed black pig and the desecration of the white sky god. Dutty Boukman was no fool. A well-respected houngan, or Voodoo priest, he led the ceremony that would eventually see the Haitian slave population freed, and force the French whites to flee their own colony, or be murdered where they stood.

By Jack R. Johnson 06.2022

Vladimir Putin: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

In Robert Penn Warren’s famous novel, “All The King’s Men”, Jack Burden, the protagonist is charged with digging up dirt on an old judge who opposes Willy Stark’s rise to power. Burden protests that there may be nothing with which to incriminate the judge.

By Jack R. Johnson 05.2022

The Whole Truth on Critical Race Theory: A Primer

Maybe the best way to define critical race theory is with a specific example. In the 1930s, government officials drew lines around areas deemed poor financial risks, often explicitly due to the racial composition of the inhabitants. Following the blueprint of these red-lined areas, banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to folks located there.

By Jack R. Johnson 04.2022

A Short History of Burning Books

“With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his solid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the 10 furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.”

By Jack R. Johnson 03.2022

Amsterdam’s Tulip Mania and Bitcoin’s Bubble

Bitcoin purports to be “digital money” that allows for secure peer-to-peer transactions on the internet without government interference, a kind of libertarian wet dream, but in reality, it’s probably closer to AmWay or your typical pyramid sales scheme. Not so much a currency as an easy, get-rich-quick-investment. 

By Jack R. Johnson 01.2022

Revisiting Robert E. Lee

They have taken down the monument to Robert E. Lee in Richmond, and soon they will remove the pedestal for Robert E. Lee. For many, this is a bittersweet moment. Thanks, no doubt, to the tireless efforts of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and other proponents of the “Lost Cause” narrative. Their efforts have essentially recreated the General, while leaving the historical man safely entombed. 

By Jack R. Johnson 12.2021

A Short History of Anti-Vaxxers: The Early Years

It’s a sad truism that anti-vaccination movements have existed for as long as vaccination itself. You can start with the first vaccine in modern history for small pox or even before.  In fact, you could start with what we might think of as the UR vaccine, a process called variolation or inoculation.

By Jack Johnson 11.2021

A Judicial Shadowland

Perhaps the most important part of the Texas SB 8 law that bans abortion after a fetal heart beat is detected (at approximately 6 weeks) isn’t the fact that at least 85 percent of abortions in Texas take place after the sixth week of pregnancy, nor the fact that the sixth week of gestation is so early in a pregnancy that many people aren’t even aware they are pregnant.

By Jack R. Johnson 10.2021

Lewis Ginter’s Cigarettes

In the nineteenth century, Lewis Ginter was celebrated in Richmond, Virginia. But if he were alive today, he’d probably get a much colder reception. He clung to the ideals of his time.

By Brian Burns 09.2021

Medicare, Medicaid and Jim Crow Health Care

In what may be a career defining faux pas, Elise Stefanik, who recently replaced Liz Cheney as chair of the House Republican Conference, let loose with this odd twitter comment not long ago:

"Today’s Anniversary of Medicare & Medicaid reminds us to reflect on the critical role these programs have played to protect the health care of millions of families. To safeguard our future, we must reject Socialist health care schemes."

By Jack R. Johnson 08.2021

Tracking Down a Killer

COVID-19 is on pace to becoming one of the greatest killers of the 21st century. Well over half a million Americans have died as a result of the disease and worldwide, the figure is past three million and likely to top at least four million. How can we prevent another pandemic?

By Jack R. Johnson 06.2021

Of Luddites, Fascists and Futurism

Percy Shelley contended, many years ago, that poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.  That’s probably not true, but they can certainly cause problems.

By Jack R. Johnson 05.2021

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Yee Shun, and the View From Gold Mountain

“Gold Mountain!” That was name the Chinese laborers used for the American West during the Gold Rush when thousands of their countrymen streamed into the country, looking, of course, for gold, but also for work, which was in ample supply.

By Jack R. Johnson 04.2021

Negro Fort

Two hundred years ago, the largest community of freed slaves in North America was not found in the northern cities of Philadelphia or New York, as one might imagine. Rather, the largest population of freed slaves, was found in the deep South of the Florida panhandle, in an abandoned Fort along the Apalachicola River.

By Jack R. Johnson 03.2021

The First Successful Coup in the U.S. History 

One reason the recent coup attempt in Washington DC was such a shock is that no one really thought it could happen here. We prefer to think of coups as the province of banana republics, happening in far off locales, riddled with corrupt leaders and nepotistic dynasties.

By Jack R. Johnson 02.2021

The U.S. Presidency: The Worst of the Worst!

When we talk about the worst presidents in U.S. history, it’s a pretty tight club. Not surprisingly, the presidents chosen share a few characteristics: insolence, narrow ideological fervor coupled with pride, obstinacy and short-sightedness.

By Jack R. Johnson 12.2020

Presidential Lies In the Time of Pandemics

President Trump is certainly not the first commander in chief to try to hide a physical ailment from the nation.

By Jack R. Johnson 10.2020

Loyalty Day vs Labor Day

You may know that May 1st is traditionally celebrated as Labor Day in practically every country of the world except the United States, Canada and South Africa, but did you know that America specifically declared May 1st, a ‘loyalty day’ in an effort to offset Labor day celebrations elsewhere?

By Jack R. Johnson 09.2020

The Battle of Bamber Bridge

In 1943, the race riots in Detroit made headlines in the United States, while quite another battle of racial tension drew to a bloody close in Lancashire, Great Britain.  The so called battle of Bamber Bridge was hardly mentioned in the U.S. Press at the time. It didn’t involve US troops battling German or Italian fascists, but rather white U.S. troops battling black U.S. troops.

By Jack R. Johnson 08.2020

How the Irish Dealt With Offensive Monuments

On the 50th anniversary of Irish independence, a gentleman named Liam Sutcliffe, took it upon himself to relieve the Dublin skyline of an extraordinarily high monument to the British Admiral Lord Nelson—for whom the Irish had no overwhelming affection.

By Jack R. Johnson 07.2020

Mother’s Day: An Anti-War Holiday

Our current celebration [of Mother’s Day] actually originates from a woman who wrote what is arguably one of the most famous war anthems of all time—“The Battle Hymn of the Republic”.

By Jack R. Johnson 06.2020

Belated Valentine’s Day Special: A Brief History of Syphilis

From the very beginning, VD has gotten a bad rap. Especially syphilis. According to the Journal of Medicine, “In 1495, every country whose population was affected by syphilis blamed neighboring countries for the outbreak.”  Nobody wanted to own this thing.

By Jack R. Johnson 04.2020

Social Democracy and FDR’s Second Bill of Rights

In 1944, just as World War II was coming to a close, and victory in Europe was in the offing, Franklin Delano Roosevelt outlined what he called the Second Bill of Rights. 

By Jack R. Johnson 03.2020

 The 1953 Iranian Coup

If you want to understand the destruction of Iran's democracy more than half a century ago, you need to “follow the money”, as the old reporter adage has it, or, modified somewhat for the Middle East, follow the oil.

By Jack R. Johnson 01.2020