History Behind News Program

Pres. Trump is not the first U.S. president to have strained relations with America's courts, including our Highest Court - the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, more than one U.S. president has openly expressed his personal animosity toward one or more Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court. In this interview, I discuss the following with Dr. Barbara Perry: ►Our Founding Years: -U.S. Const...

Chairman Powell gave a much anticipated press conference this week. Did you know that most developed countries had central banks before we did? If so, then how did our financial system function? And did you know, that for much of our history, we've hated big banks (some still do)? If that's the case, then how was the Fed created? This is a story that takes us from the Founding of our Republic to 1...

Immigration Exceptionalism! ►Is there something about immigration law and policies that distinguishes it from all other legal issues and policy matters? ►Does the Constitution carve out an exception for immigration law? And if so, what is that exception? ►As for the title of this podcast, what power has Pres. Trump used that no other U.S. president has previously exercised? 🚩About My Guest: My gu...

Pres. Trump admires Pres. Polk and Pres. McKinley - two presidents who expanded America's territories in an age when territorial expansion was a measure of national success. In this interview, my guest compares Pres. Trump with Pres. Polk and Pres. McKinley. He also explains Manifest Destiny, and indulges my questions about what I term 'America's Manifest Destiny 2.0'. Mr. Merry also talks about A...

Elon Musk is different than prior American business tycoons. Arguably, he is more powerful. More poignantly, as my guest argues, he is less dedicated to democracy, and that makes him frighteningly more dangerous. In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest scholar: ►Who was Andrew Carnegie? ►How was he similar to Musk? ►How was Carnegie - once the richest man in the world - different...

Did you know that Helmut Kohl, the German Chancellor (1982-99), implemented a planto deport Turkish immigrant back to Türkiye? This is the History of Immigration & Far-right Politics in Germany. Mr. Elon Musk & Vice Pres. JD Vance have endorsed the AfD - Germany's anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, far-right party. And although the AfD commands 20% of the German vote, other parties refuse to fo...

Japan's PM Ishiba wanted to visit Pres. Trump soon after Nov. 5. But President-elect Trump didn't grant him an audience until last week. Back in 2016, Japan PM Abe visited President-elect Trump at the Trump Tower. But why have Japanese leaders rushed to meet with Mr. Trump? Because America is important to Japan's economy and security. And vice versa. . In this interview, we discuss the following:...

How could the Los Angeles fires happen? We knew about Santa Ana winds. We knew about the extremely dry conditions. There were no surprises. So, how could this happen? Is California any good at wildfire management? In this interview, we talk about the following: ►Native Americans' fire management ►Good wildfires ►Smokey Bear ►American homes built close to wilderness ►Coordination between state, fed...

America In Colombia is a story of secession, "School of Assassins", drugs, immigration, alliance and interference - not necessarily in that order! In this interview, we talk about the following: ►1840s: America's interest in Colombia and Panama ►How Colombia neglected Panama ►Panama's secession from Colombia with American help ►How Colombians learn about Panama's separation ►Colombian democracy, p...

Presidential words = action, because presidents have power. In this interview, we talk about the following: ►Why Trump's 2nd inaugural address was more like aState of the Union Address. ►How does Trump's 2nd inaugural address compare toother presidents? ►How did the indoors' inauguration setting affectthe cadence of Trump's speech? Its echo? ►What was the overarching tension in Trump'sinaugural ad...

April 30, March 4, March 5,  January 20, & January 21. These are America's presidential inauguration days. In this brief episode, I share with you stories about our presidential inaugurations, including the one about the person who, arguably, was America's president for one day. And here is my post about this podcast , which includes photos of some of the people I talk about in this episode....

51st U.S. State! America's interest in incorporating Canada, in some fashion, is as old as our Republic. In those early days and continuing until almost the end of the 19th century, our relationship with Canada was defined by recurring borders raids and wars, our distrust of Canada and our various plans to gobble up our northern neighbor, which was then an extension of the British Empire. And even...

This is a personal story about a beautiful neighborhood, with kind and supportive neighbors. A beautiful neighborhood that's no more! And this episode is also about the history of coastal Los Angeles, particularly Malibu. My guest explains the legal ramifications of the LA fires and explains how real estate investors will assess and support the huge rebuilding efforts after the fires. 🚩How to hel...

Greenland, Denmark & America - a triangular relation that, per my guest, augurs benefits for Greenlanders. If that's the case, then... ►What do Greenlanders think of Mr. Trump's ideas for their island? ►What do Greenland's indigenous peoples & environmentalists think of America? ►Why did Denmark change Greenland's status from colony to province? ►Can Greenland survive economically as an in...

Funerals of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Harrison, Lincoln, Harding, Taft, FDR, JFK and more. What exactly does a "state fuernal" mean? And how many U.S. presidents had state funerals? I didn't get the chance to answer these question in the podcast. But I answered them in this post, and provided photos as well: https://bit.ly/HbN-Bonus-S5E1-7 I hope you my peel of the history behind America's pre...

The Electoral Count Act of 1887 (ECA) was law for 135 years. But then, Jan. 6, 2021, happened - the cause of which some partially attributed to the ECA (more about this in the interview). So, what was to be done? In 2022, Congress passed the ECRA, which will be law on Jan. 6, 2025, when the 119th Congress counts the 2024 Electoral votes. The ECRA is the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Tran...

Why Dec. 25? Why so much Christmas conflict & controversy in Christianity's history? Why is Christmas so important to Christianity? And to America? In this episode, I ask my guest, Dr. Carey Roberts, the following questions: ►Why is Christmas such a grand celebration? What does this tell us about Christianity? ►Did it take a while for Christmas to take a central role in Christianity ►What's th...

"I could see him become much more comfortable with power." Did you know that Syrians welcomed Bashar al-Assad as "a breath of fresh air" when he initially assumed power? My guest, Dr. David Lesch, has visited Syria 35 times. In 15 of those visits, he met with Mr. Assad to write his biography. But after the biography was published, Mr. Assad invited Dr. Lesch back for more meetings! What you may fi...

Civil Rights Movement vs. Current-Day Climate Movement Did political movements of the 1960s and '70s have deeper roots with longer lasting positive impacts than our 21st century political movements? How would we define a political movement? Why did the Civil Rights movement achieved many tangible successes but the Climate movement has not? How has the digital age changed political movements? Pleas...

Prof. Silverman describes the first Thanksgiving: an accidental feast between frenemies that was never repeated.  How much is our Thanksgiving tradition based on real events that transpired sometime in the fall of 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts? And why does it matter anyway? Don't all nations have feel-good traditions that are partly based on facts, but mostly predicated on myths?  Professor Dav...

The African American elite - a history of America that we don't often hear about in our popular culture. With Ms. Kamala Harris's swift nomination and crushing defeat, in this interview my guest and I approach African American history from a different angle and with a fresh perspective - stories of their intellectual, organizational and business accomplishments in the 19th century (before and afte...

"I don't care who does the electing, as long as I do the nominating!" William M. Tweed (1823-78), New York political boss of Tammany Hall. Story of how billionaires determine our voting choices. Big money has replaced the power of 19th century party bosses. In this interview, my guest explains how dark money controls our elections and how big money is responsible for institutional corruption in Am...

►Where do pollsters get their participants? ►Do election polling methods and target audiences change as we get closer to Election Day? ►Do Americans vote for candidates who match their values and positions? Or do we vote for candidates with the best campaigns? ►Are there tried-and-true election polling methods? ►Do polls influence election outcomes? ►How frequently have polls completely botched th...

👉full episode: https://bit.ly/UME-S1E39 ►Are U.S. sanctions on Iran working? ►Are U.S. sanctions against Iran actually working against the United States? ►Have sanctions empowered and emboldened Iran's Revolutionary Guard… to the point that they were ready for war with the United States? ►Did sanctions help Iran's regime crush the Mahsa Amini protests? ►Are sanctions a one-way ratchet - easy to i...

Has China now reached its age of complacency? To answer this question, Dr. Wang (see bio below) takes us through the history of China's economic miracle of the last 40 years. But the story starts even before that... when impoverished Chinese villagers decided to take matters into their own hands and improve their lives - in spite of their government misguided policies and restrictions. As you list...