Black Monday 1987 and The Shock of Risk (Ark of Commerce, Part 6a)

Worried hands gripping phones. Black screens with green digits, going downward. Faces pressed against fancy brokerage office glass. Busy signals. The history of Black Monday 1987 crash and the history of what came before it, from stock commodities and even butter and eggs. This is the first of what will be a two-parter on commerce,…

1995: A Story of Politics On The Information Superhighway

Stealth ads. Secret advice. Kids in uniforms. Soft money and hard choices in the information age.  As we discuss in this cast, a Presidential election was almost completely settled a year before it happened.  Some knew an election was going on and some didn’t.  In a time when money was soft and people said things…

Young Dick Cheney

We know the globe-running, terror-fighting, meeting master Vice President Cheney, but did you know his parents were hardcore Democrats?  or that he thought his father turned into a bird (albeit at a pretty young age), or that he was first refused a job when he came to DC?   As we discuss with Tim Pearson, author…

The Man Behind the UN Who Never Got Credit – Edward Stettinius, Jr. w/ Bill Scher

Edward Stettinius, Jr. served a short but important time as Secretary of State serving F.D.R. and Truman.  Without him, there may not have been a UN.  And because he got very little credit, he was able to be successful.   With journalist Bill Scher, host of the “When America Worked” Podcast we discuss Stettinius and pragmatists…

Vaccines Then and Now

A history of vaccines and the politics of vaccines. Vaccine history, acceptance and denial.  The leap of faith required for vaccines in past times. Vaccines and The Revolutionary War. The man who saved Boston and never got credit.   Law and the citizen when it comes to medicine.   FDR’s polio – if it was polio –…

Golden Beauty Boss: Madame Sara Spencer Washington w/ Cheryl Woodruff-Brooks

With Cheryl Woodruff-Brooks, author of Golden Beauty Boss we talk about Madame Sara Spencer Washington, an African American woman whose beauty empire made her a millionaire in the 1920’s Washington was a cosmetic entrepreneur whose company turned her into one of of America’s first black millionaires. She was founder and president of Apex Enterprises consisting…

We’ve Got Problems. We’ve Always Had Problems. Free Speech, Cancel Culture? and Rhetoric Envelope-Pushing

In this episode, no big deal, we just tackle about every significant problem we have in our politics today.  norm-breaking, free-speech and free-speech limits, threats and violence, double impeachments, pushing envelopes and reverse virtue signaling is all part of this episode.  Also, Abigail Adams, a treaty won by a forceful speech, a shadowy organization rising…

This is William Rufus King w/ Thomas Balcerski – The Forgotten VP, His Role in The Compromise of 1850, His Relationship with James Buchanan and More

The 13th Vice President of the United States remains obscure. Where King’s name does come up, it’s often with the wrong picture. Or he’s confused with Rufus King.  According to our guest, Thomas Balcerski, Associate Professor of History at Eastern Connecticut State University, he should be in the discussion with Clay and Calhoun and Webster…

1921 – One Hundred Years Ago

Events 100 years ago have nothing at all to do with today’s events, unless you consider new technologies changing the pace of life, the immigration issue, a new administration changing messaging and policies, racism and racial violence, crime, labor struggles, international conflicts and government spending on the poor.   And, new kinds of poems. [Music by…

Bruce Interviewed on Intellectual Property…Frequently Podcast with David Pridham and Brad Sheafe

Why do people spend so much time watching the news? Bruce Carlson is interviewed by David, Brad at the IP…Frequently Podcast (hah)   We discuss current events in the context of historical ones. Also, reverse virtue signaling. If interested in intellectual properties, business and some politics, check out Brad and Dave’s podcast here: https://anchor.fm/ip-frequentlyTwitter: @IP_Frequently 

3 Words That Changed Presidential History: “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion”

We solve, or attempt to solve a political and historical mystery of the 1884 election. Why did an unhelpful supporter of James G. Blaine utter the words that would sink his campaign, and did Blaine hear him say the words?

Why Do Nebraska and Maine Vote for President the Way They Do? And Other Esoterica of Election 2020

It started with one guy’s idea.  And nothing happened with it until after he died.  We look at the Maine and Nebraska congressional district system of Presidential elector assignment and its history as both the NE2 and ME2 went for different candidates than the statewide winner for the first time in history.  That and other…