History

Medieval Guilt by Association? Trump/ Miller denied Stimulus Checks to US Citizens whose Partners lack SSN

Ann Arbor (Special to Informed Comment) – According to the Chicago Sun-Times Trump is being sued for denying stimulus checks to U.S. citizens who file jointly with spouses lacking a social security number. Assuming the administration regards unregistered aliens as “illegal”, this would be tantamount to guilt by association for their spouses. Many legal immigrants […]

Donald Trump

Some Medieval Towns handled Plagues Better than Trump’s Unequal, Rundown America

F. Douglas Stephenson

Gainesville, Florida (Special to Informed Comment) – King Soloman in Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us that “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” President Harry S. Truman stated that, “The only thing […]

Epidemics

This isn’t the first global pandemic, and it won’t be the last. Here’s what we’ve learned from 4 others throughout history

The Conversation

By David Griffin and Justin Denholm | – The course of human history has been shaped by infectious diseases, and the current crisis certainly won’t be the last time. However, we can capitalise on the knowledge gained from past experiences, and reflect on how we’re better off this time around. 1. The Plague, or ‘Black […]

Colonialism

1918 flu pandemic killed 12 million Indians, and British overlords’ indifference strengthened the anti-colonial movement

The Conversation

By Maura Chhun | – In India, during the 1918 influenza pandemic, a staggering 12 to 13 million people died, the vast majority between the months of September and December. According to an eyewitness, “There was none to remove the dead bodies and the jackals made a feast.” At the time of the pandemic, India […]

Epidemics

The Wealthy also Cushioned themselves at Expense of Poor in Era of Black Death, as Boccaccio’s Decameron Shows

The Conversation

By Kathryn McKinley | – The coronavirus can infect anyone, but recent reporting has shown your socioeconomic status can play a big role, with a combination of job security, access to health care and mobility widening the gap in infection and mortality rates between rich and poor. The wealthy work remotely and flee to resorts […]

Culture

How the Plague Influenced Shakespeare

The Conversation

By Paul Yachnin | – Shakespeare lived his life in plague-time. He was born in April 1564, a few months before an outbreak of bubonic plague swept across England and killed a quarter of the people in his hometown. Death by plague was excruciating to suffer and ghastly to see. Ignorance about how disease spread […]

Epidemics

Thucydides’ Other War: His Chilling Account of the plague of Athens and What it can Teach us Now

The Conversation

By Chris Mackie | – The coronavirus is concentrating our minds on the fragility of human existence in the face of a deadly disease. Words like “epidemic” and “pandemic” (and “panic”!) have become part of our daily discourse. These words are Greek in origin, and they point to the fact that the Greeks of antiquity […]

censorship

That time America used to have Draconian Censorship of Just the sort Trump Dreams of

Tomdispatch

By Adam Hochschild | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Every month, it seems, brings a new act in the Trump administration’s war on the media. In January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo exploded at National Public Radio reporter Mary Louise Kelly when he didn’t like questions she asked — and then banned a colleague of […]

Archaeology

In Ancient Greek Thought, Plagues Follow on Bad Leadership

Juan Cole

By Joel Christensen | – In the fifth century B.C., the playwright Sophocles begins “Oedipus Tyrannos” with the title character struggling to identify the cause of a plague striking his city, Thebes. (Spoiler alert: It’s his own bad leadership.) As someone who writes about early Greek poetry, I spend a lot of time thinking about […]