Bankers Dance the Federalism Tango

A bank investigation in New York has been mired in a dispute over federalism — the constitutional doctrine Americans invented but use only when convenient — all the way to the Supreme Court argument on Tuesday.  My lament for federalism in Huffington Post.

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Forgetting History, California Style

Sure, he was scrawny and not real good-looking, but Thomas Starr King was a giant in California in the turbulent 1860s.  And he’s about to be thrown out of the U.S. Capitol — my objection is at Huffington Post.

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Riding Two Horses at Once

It’s fairly sweet to have my book mentioned in a review of someone else’s book — even if I’m not entirely sure what to think of the description of The Summer of 1787 as a “novelistic narrative.  ” It happened in this morning’s NYT Book Review, and even in the second paragraph of the review,…

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Cincinnati Blues

So, I’m at the Cincinnati History Museum (a semi-cool converted train station), researching the Aaron Burr conpsiracy of 1805-07, only to discover:   — It’s sleeting in Cincinnati, with the temperature in the 20s tonight; — The Reds lost their opening game this afternoon. — The archivist at the museum chewed me out for photocopying…

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