Thank you for mentioning Dolly. I was honored to meet her years ago and the kindness she showed me will never be forgotten! She praised me, a lowly hourly employee! We lost a great humanitarian who will never be replaced!
Sounds horribly like the McCarthy Era. Most schools leave this period out of their Social Studies curriculum. 60% of the US population was born after the fall of Saigon (1975) and more than half the population is under 40 years of age. I wish more media outlets (both social and news), substacks, and apps would give an in-depth description of what happened during that time, also known as the beginning of the "Red Scare". We may lose our democracy due to ignorance as much as to rising fascism.
Olivia's subhead had me humming the Kingston Trio's classic from that era, the "Merry Minuet" -- the one that begins "They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain / There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain . . ." They often introduced this as "The Kingston Trio plays John Foster Dulles," which you all familiar with the period will get immediately.
I'm curious about schools reportedly leaving the McCarthy Era out of their "Social Studies curriculum." Do you have more information on this? Many states require a year of American history for public high school graduation, but even when I was in high school in the late 1960s, it was a challenge to get anywhere close to the present day. It's also worth noting that there were two "Red Scares" in 20th century U.S. The first one followed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (and helped give rise to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI), and the second followed the "fall of China," which McCarthy et al. liked to blame on "fellow travelers" in the State Department and the Foreign Service.
Social Studies in many, if not most, Middle Schools, goes up to the early 1960s by the end of 8th grade, The McCarthy Era and the Korean Conflict are not included in the curriculum. IF they're lucky, they reach the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (which was current events when I was in High School). Students have to wait until 11th grade until they learn about the 2nd half of the 20th century. In general, needless to say, they do a cursory job of it - lots of timeline (war to war), very little in-depth, and almost no geography other than the countries of the northern hemisphere and how they relate to the US. The US currently ranks 31st globally in education according to the World Population Review (worldpopulationreview.com) The top 5 in education overall are South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia. The top 6 in Public education are Denmark, Sweden, UK, Finland, Germany, and Canada.
I don't expect serious U.S. history to be taught until high school -- though some states, including mine (MA), have standardized tests at various grade levels. Just checked: MA tests "civics" in 8th grade and doesn't seem to test "history" or "social studies" at all. The emphasis is on English, math, and science. AFAIK requirements vary greatly from state to state -- just looked up Texas and wow! The TX state board of education has had a bad reputation for decades and it hasn't gotten better in 2026.
Unfortunately, most schools don't teach Civics or Geography, and few teach Current Events (too controversial). But if you look at https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page you will see that many, if not most, states have provision for 16-and-17-year-olds to PRE-REGISTER (one state starts at 15) to vote. And while they can't actually vote until they're 18, it doesn't matter where they are in the world (military, college, on assignment out of state or overseas), they can request absentee ballots from their Board of Elections. They don't have to go home to register or vote. And, yes, they can change their registration if they wish, just like anyone else.
I think that it's really important to know "serious" History, Civics, Geography, etc. Do you think that 8th graders aren't able to understand the eras of: Post-Civil War Reconstruction, why the League of Nations failed, the "Golden Age", the rise of fascism? the McCarthy era, the difference between Communism and Socialism, etc. Our students will do as much or as little (or less) as we expect from them. I think we educators make too much of an effort to make learning "fun" rather than helping students to find the "joy" in mastering a skill or acquiring knowledge.
Thank you for reminding me about the song. I’m a senior citizen now and a certified baby boomer. The Kingston Trio was a favorite of mine and were the first live concert I had ever attended and the start of a long history of concert attendance. I guess you never forget your first. Thanks for the memory
Now I’m humming “The John Birch Society,” which for a long time I attributed to the Kingston Trio but was actually the Chad Mitchell Trio. It was first recorded in 1962 but it’s amazingly current — if you substitute for “John Birch Society” the current administration and ICE.
The ICE takeover of your personal information is outright Authoritarianism. The government is looking for dissent. Flock cameras are the same. This is straight out of Project 2025. In addition, and not discussed is the Food Insecurity issue, again, grounded in Project 2025. This is why Russel Vought and his minions in the Heritage Foundation need to be held liable for the indirect pain and murder of Americans. They want to eliminate as many Americans as they can.
I urge you to listen to former Judge Luttig on his blueprint for January 2027, and that Johnson will fire the House rep and NOT certify the new Dem house members (on orders from the President because Johnson is a complete pussy). This will eventually hit the SCOTUS and GOD help us if they vote to NOT certify, in total opposition to the Constitution - there will be real, physical Civil War and after the last 2 years, it WILL get violent (which I will not document here). Americans can only take so much.
I assume you heard that a deal was struck with Venezuelan oil from Rodriguez? Where is all the money going from this "deal"? His Qatar bank account? I am still paying over 4.00 / gallon. Funny how he wrangled the Nobel Peace Prize from her opposition. I still expect Maduro to pop up claiming voter fraud.
I love your artwork. Great tribute to Dolly. Marinate on this. She’s what a president looks like but we never had her as a president or pushed for her to be president. But look who we have in the White House. Can you legitimately argue who’s more presidential? Just a thought. She truly was a warrior and did so much for this country and our people in it. Opening up a shopping center in a predominately black area so black people could get jobs there. You wanna talk about thinking about the community. She was a champion. And ICE should not have our voting history. More and more this feels like a trumptatorship. And you’ve always spoke out on it. Thank you for the wonderful job you do.
Both RFK, Jr. and Hegseth should be impeached. The lying, incompetence, and in Hegseth’s case, the disregard for the safety of the troops, as well as lack of planning for military readiness! Our military is understaffed and now under-armed leading us to great risk from our adversaries! That seems impeachable to me.
"Fresh U.S. intelligence reportedly indicates that Putin sees America as weakened by the Iran war and may see an opportunity to escalate against U.S. interests and allies in Europe ... CIA Director John Ratcliffe quietly flew to Moscow this week to apparently warn Russian officials not to escalate against NATO allies and pressed Moscow to reduce its military and economic support for Iran. Trump, meanwhile, downplayed the concern, saying Putin isn’t going to attack NATO territory."
1) First, has there ever been a greater intel coup than what Putin's pulled off against the US? Ever? Are we numb to this now?
2) Ratcliffe warning Russia? HAHAHAHA. Who believes that? He'd have been tossed out of a 4th story window at the Moscow Hilton. He went there to kiss the ring. And beg.
3) Lotsa stories these days that MAGA is failing. Wrong. His support is 32-35%; not that far from his peak. MAGA infects every level of our government from school boards right up to the Oval. And the ones who succeed this current crop of neo fascists will be worse.
Farmers losing their farms? They'd vote for him tomorrow.
With apologies to Godwin and his Law: The strategies and tactics being employed now are right out of Hitler's playbook. Demonize the press and eliminate the non compliant ones; call elections fraudulent (next step is to cancel them), belligerent attacks on our allies, and more.
No one is more to blame than Fox News. They are the head of the snake that has been lying to generations of Americans for decades. Our decline began with Reagan and his fat white men in his admin'n that cared only about making themselves and their 1%ers base richer; then Newt>W>Cheney>Palin>Trump.
Our decline has been long and slow. Trump turned on the afterburners.
RIP Dolly Parton; a great musician and an even better person.
Spot on about Fox News. They have turned free speech inside out and wrought more damage than any other single factor. Many decent but ill-informed citizens have been taken in by Fox’s manipulative lies. They are completely immoral, with no scruples or any desire to do good. They are a disgrace and a real danger to our democracy. It is hard to comprehend such evil.
Our shortage of defense missiles is alarming, and the official denials even more alarming. We are in a dangerous place as a nation, and Trump has two more years. This is a man who had no qualms about seeing his Vice President murdered on January 6. I am one citizen with one vote who wonders, What is to become of us? My heart hurts.
Thank you, Olivia, for your passion and patriotism. You bring a clear eye to this mess. Know that your work is valued and appreciated.
Thanks, Olivia: I was just wondering how much personal information the DOGE clan gathered? I'm sure Elon Musk passed on the information to Peter Thiel, who would download the info into his Palantir Technologies. PS: What is it with RFK Jr? His children get their vaccinations. A couple of years in an iron lung may change RFK Jr. outlook on vaccines
Thank you for mentioning Dolly. I was honored to meet her years ago and the kindness she showed me will never be forgotten! She praised me, a lowly hourly employee! We lost a great humanitarian who will never be replaced!
Sounds horribly like the McCarthy Era. Most schools leave this period out of their Social Studies curriculum. 60% of the US population was born after the fall of Saigon (1975) and more than half the population is under 40 years of age. I wish more media outlets (both social and news), substacks, and apps would give an in-depth description of what happened during that time, also known as the beginning of the "Red Scare". We may lose our democracy due to ignorance as much as to rising fascism.
Olivia's subhead had me humming the Kingston Trio's classic from that era, the "Merry Minuet" -- the one that begins "They're rioting in Africa, they're starving in Spain / There's hurricanes in Florida and Texas needs rain . . ." They often introduced this as "The Kingston Trio plays John Foster Dulles," which you all familiar with the period will get immediately.
I'm curious about schools reportedly leaving the McCarthy Era out of their "Social Studies curriculum." Do you have more information on this? Many states require a year of American history for public high school graduation, but even when I was in high school in the late 1960s, it was a challenge to get anywhere close to the present day. It's also worth noting that there were two "Red Scares" in 20th century U.S. The first one followed the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (and helped give rise to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI), and the second followed the "fall of China," which McCarthy et al. liked to blame on "fellow travelers" in the State Department and the Foreign Service.
Social Studies in many, if not most, Middle Schools, goes up to the early 1960s by the end of 8th grade, The McCarthy Era and the Korean Conflict are not included in the curriculum. IF they're lucky, they reach the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (which was current events when I was in High School). Students have to wait until 11th grade until they learn about the 2nd half of the 20th century. In general, needless to say, they do a cursory job of it - lots of timeline (war to war), very little in-depth, and almost no geography other than the countries of the northern hemisphere and how they relate to the US. The US currently ranks 31st globally in education according to the World Population Review (worldpopulationreview.com) The top 5 in education overall are South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia. The top 6 in Public education are Denmark, Sweden, UK, Finland, Germany, and Canada.
I don't expect serious U.S. history to be taught until high school -- though some states, including mine (MA), have standardized tests at various grade levels. Just checked: MA tests "civics" in 8th grade and doesn't seem to test "history" or "social studies" at all. The emphasis is on English, math, and science. AFAIK requirements vary greatly from state to state -- just looked up Texas and wow! The TX state board of education has had a bad reputation for decades and it hasn't gotten better in 2026.
Unfortunately, most schools don't teach Civics or Geography, and few teach Current Events (too controversial). But if you look at https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page you will see that many, if not most, states have provision for 16-and-17-year-olds to PRE-REGISTER (one state starts at 15) to vote. And while they can't actually vote until they're 18, it doesn't matter where they are in the world (military, college, on assignment out of state or overseas), they can request absentee ballots from their Board of Elections. They don't have to go home to register or vote. And, yes, they can change their registration if they wish, just like anyone else.
I think that it's really important to know "serious" History, Civics, Geography, etc. Do you think that 8th graders aren't able to understand the eras of: Post-Civil War Reconstruction, why the League of Nations failed, the "Golden Age", the rise of fascism? the McCarthy era, the difference between Communism and Socialism, etc. Our students will do as much or as little (or less) as we expect from them. I think we educators make too much of an effort to make learning "fun" rather than helping students to find the "joy" in mastering a skill or acquiring knowledge.
Thank you for reminding me about the song. I’m a senior citizen now and a certified baby boomer. The Kingston Trio was a favorite of mine and were the first live concert I had ever attended and the start of a long history of concert attendance. I guess you never forget your first. Thanks for the memory
James
Now I’m humming “The John Birch Society,” which for a long time I attributed to the Kingston Trio but was actually the Chad Mitchell Trio. It was first recorded in 1962 but it’s amazingly current — if you substitute for “John Birch Society” the current administration and ICE.
Yes, I've posted that song several times over the last year or so.
Good morning, Olivia,
The ICE takeover of your personal information is outright Authoritarianism. The government is looking for dissent. Flock cameras are the same. This is straight out of Project 2025. In addition, and not discussed is the Food Insecurity issue, again, grounded in Project 2025. This is why Russel Vought and his minions in the Heritage Foundation need to be held liable for the indirect pain and murder of Americans. They want to eliminate as many Americans as they can.
I urge you to listen to former Judge Luttig on his blueprint for January 2027, and that Johnson will fire the House rep and NOT certify the new Dem house members (on orders from the President because Johnson is a complete pussy). This will eventually hit the SCOTUS and GOD help us if they vote to NOT certify, in total opposition to the Constitution - there will be real, physical Civil War and after the last 2 years, it WILL get violent (which I will not document here). Americans can only take so much.
I assume you heard that a deal was struck with Venezuelan oil from Rodriguez? Where is all the money going from this "deal"? His Qatar bank account? I am still paying over 4.00 / gallon. Funny how he wrangled the Nobel Peace Prize from her opposition. I still expect Maduro to pop up claiming voter fraud.
Just another day in paradise.
Cheers Olivia and thank you!
Read Malcolm Nance's book "They Want to Kill Americans." It was published before Jan 6 and he got almost everything right.
I love your artwork. Great tribute to Dolly. Marinate on this. She’s what a president looks like but we never had her as a president or pushed for her to be president. But look who we have in the White House. Can you legitimately argue who’s more presidential? Just a thought. She truly was a warrior and did so much for this country and our people in it. Opening up a shopping center in a predominately black area so black people could get jobs there. You wanna talk about thinking about the community. She was a champion. And ICE should not have our voting history. More and more this feels like a trumptatorship. And you’ve always spoke out on it. Thank you for the wonderful job you do.
Dolly was an amazing human being. She will be remembered for her kindness and sharing of her wealth to improve the lives of others.
They likely want our voting records to create an extensive enemies list for Trump.
Both RFK, Jr. and Hegseth should be impeached. The lying, incompetence, and in Hegseth’s case, the disregard for the safety of the troops, as well as lack of planning for military readiness! Our military is understaffed and now under-armed leading us to great risk from our adversaries! That seems impeachable to me.
THIS:
"Fresh U.S. intelligence reportedly indicates that Putin sees America as weakened by the Iran war and may see an opportunity to escalate against U.S. interests and allies in Europe ... CIA Director John Ratcliffe quietly flew to Moscow this week to apparently warn Russian officials not to escalate against NATO allies and pressed Moscow to reduce its military and economic support for Iran. Trump, meanwhile, downplayed the concern, saying Putin isn’t going to attack NATO territory."
1) First, has there ever been a greater intel coup than what Putin's pulled off against the US? Ever? Are we numb to this now?
2) Ratcliffe warning Russia? HAHAHAHA. Who believes that? He'd have been tossed out of a 4th story window at the Moscow Hilton. He went there to kiss the ring. And beg.
3) Lotsa stories these days that MAGA is failing. Wrong. His support is 32-35%; not that far from his peak. MAGA infects every level of our government from school boards right up to the Oval. And the ones who succeed this current crop of neo fascists will be worse.
Farmers losing their farms? They'd vote for him tomorrow.
With apologies to Godwin and his Law: The strategies and tactics being employed now are right out of Hitler's playbook. Demonize the press and eliminate the non compliant ones; call elections fraudulent (next step is to cancel them), belligerent attacks on our allies, and more.
No one is more to blame than Fox News. They are the head of the snake that has been lying to generations of Americans for decades. Our decline began with Reagan and his fat white men in his admin'n that cared only about making themselves and their 1%ers base richer; then Newt>W>Cheney>Palin>Trump.
Our decline has been long and slow. Trump turned on the afterburners.
RIP Dolly Parton; a great musician and an even better person.
Spot on about Fox News. They have turned free speech inside out and wrought more damage than any other single factor. Many decent but ill-informed citizens have been taken in by Fox’s manipulative lies. They are completely immoral, with no scruples or any desire to do good. They are a disgrace and a real danger to our democracy. It is hard to comprehend such evil.
Godwin's Law has been repealed by reality.
This administration’s tactics are more terrifying than Tim Curry’s Pennywise.
Our shortage of defense missiles is alarming, and the official denials even more alarming. We are in a dangerous place as a nation, and Trump has two more years. This is a man who had no qualms about seeing his Vice President murdered on January 6. I am one citizen with one vote who wonders, What is to become of us? My heart hurts.
Thank you, Olivia, for your passion and patriotism. You bring a clear eye to this mess. Know that your work is valued and appreciated.
If anyone thinks the next 2 year period isn’t enough time to inflict even more lasting damage, they are delusional. This is autocracy.
Love you
Thanks, Olivia: I was just wondering how much personal information the DOGE clan gathered? I'm sure Elon Musk passed on the information to Peter Thiel, who would download the info into his Palantir Technologies. PS: What is it with RFK Jr? His children get their vaccinations. A couple of years in an iron lung may change RFK Jr. outlook on vaccines
Milo is the best boy!! So glad he was reunited with his family.
And losing Dolly was the worst news. She's been so ingrained in our culture, I don't know what life looks like without her.
Thank you for doing this every week!
Always good to read your column!