Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American] - Page 2 of 6

February 15, 2023

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• On Valentine’s Day in 1884, Theodore Roosevelt lost both his wife and his mother.
• Four years before, Roosevelt had married Alice Hathaway Lee and they had a daughter.
• Alice was suffering from Bright’s Disease and his mother from typhoid.
• Roosevelt escaped to Dakota Territory to become a rancher, but his cattle died in a brutal winter.
• He returned to politics with a cowboy image and eventually became President of the United States.
• As President, he worked to clean up the cities and stop the exploitation of workers.

Published February 15, 2023
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February 12, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 13, 2023

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• On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and 100 years later, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded on the anniversary of his birth.
• The spark for the organization of the NAACP was a race riot in Springfield, Illinois, on August 14 and 15, 1908.
• William English Walling, Mary White Ovington, and Henry Moskowitz met in New York City in January 1909 to create a new civil rights organization.
• The group noted that Black Americans had lost their right to vote and were segregated from white Americans in schools, railroad cars, and public gatherings.
• W. E. B. Du Bois, a founding member of the Niagara Movement, became the NAACP’s director of publicity and research and edited the organization’s flagship journal *The Crisis*.
• The NAACP challenged racial inequality by calling popular attention to racial atrocities and demanding that officials treat people equally before the law.
• In 1946, NAACP leader Walter Francis White brought the story of World War II veteran Isaac Woodard, blinded by a police officers after talking back to a bus driver, to President Harry S. Truman.

Published February 13, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 12, 2023

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February 11, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 12, 2023

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• President Biden’s statement during the State of the Union address that some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years was true.
• This statement was based on Florida senator Rick Scott’s 11-point plan, which promised that all federal legislation would sunset in 5 years.
• Republicans have a long history of calling for cuts to Social Security, including Trump, Mike Pence, Ron Johnson, and the Republican Study Committee.
• Biden’s statement comes from the “reality-based community,” which was famously dubbed in 2002 by a senior advisor to George W. Bush.
• Trump’s campaign hired a consulting firm to try to prove that the election had been stolen, but the firm could not find anything that would have changed the outcome.
• Representative George Santos and Anna Paulina Luna have both been accused of fabricating their biographies.
• Political decisions that are not based on reality rob us of our right to make informed decisions about our government and what it will do.
• Social Security and Medicare can be stabilized by cutting benefits, raising taxes, rearranging government funding, or by some combination of the three.
• Voters need fact-based information to elect people who will enact the policies a majority of us want.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 11, 2023

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February 10, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 11, 2023

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• The article discusses the current struggle between democracy and strongman governments, and how this struggle is playing out in Turkey, Syria, Russia, Moldova, and Brazil.
• In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been criticized for his government’s slow response to the devastating earthquake that occurred on Monday, and for his attempts to shut down media coverage of the crisis.
• In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad has blocked western aid to areas controlled by his opposition, and the US has issued a six-month sanctions exemption for relief in Syria.
• In Russia, Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, has spoken openly of attacking Poland after conquering Ukraine.
• In Moldova, the government has resigned and the new prime minister intends to continue orienting the country toward Europe.
• In Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with President Joe Biden at the White House and emphasized democracy, rejecting political violence and putting great value in our democratic institutions.
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX has blocked the ability of Ukrainian troops to use the Starlink satellite system to advance against Russia.

Published February 11, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 10, 2023

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February 9, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 10, 2023

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• Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have differing opinions on the decision to wait and shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon.
• House Republicans have used “investigations” to spread the idea of Democratic wrongdoing, but this narrative is being challenged by journalists and Democratic lawmakers.
• The House Oversight and Accountability Committee investigated Twitter for allegations that the company hid the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop before the election of 2020.
• Twitter executives testified that the Trump White House routinely demanded that tweets be taken down, while the Biden White House has not.
• The House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government held its first meeting under chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), with witnesses including Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and former Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard.
• Special counsel Jack Smith has issued a subpoena to former vice president Mike Pence for documents and testimony, suggesting the investigation into former president Trump is moving into a new phase.

Published February 10, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 9, 2023

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February 8, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 9, 2023

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• U.S. intelligence has determined that the spy balloon found in U.S. airspace was part of a larger Chinese surveillance program operating around the world.
• President Joe Biden issued an executive order in May 2021 to improve the nation’s cybersecurity.
• U.S. intelligence was able to detect the balloon due to the enhanced surveillance of the Biden administration.
• Republicans have complained that Biden didn’t shoot the balloon down earlier, but defense officials said they were collecting intelligence from the device.
• Biden said the balloon did not change the developing patterns between the U.S. and China.
• The U.S. has signed a deal with Japan and the Netherlands to limit exports of semiconductor technologies to China.
• The Republican House has come up with 17 new bills to counter China.
• The Australian Lowy Institute has assessed that China’s isolation because of Covid has set it back, permitting the U.S. to retain its position as the key player in Asia.
• The Senate and the House will receive classified briefings on the balloon and Chinese intelligence this week.
• House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) complained by tweet that Biden hadn’t mentioned China in the first hour of his State of the Union address.

Published February 9, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 8, 2023

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February 7, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 8, 2023

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• President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address was watched by 38.2 million people.
• Biden offered to work across the aisle and outlined a moderate plan for the nation with a wide range of popular programs.
• Republicans refused to clap for Biden’s successes and heckled, catcalled, and booed him.
• Biden called for higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and asked Congress to commit to never questioning the full faith and credit of the United States.
• Biden tricked Republicans into a public declaration of support for protecting Social Security and Medicare.
• Biden praised Republican president George W. Bush’s bipartisan $100 billion investment in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
• Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the Republican rebuttal, full of references to the culture wars and scathing of Biden.

Published February 8, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 7, 2023

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February 6, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 7, 2023

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• A Chinese airship entered U.S. airspace on January 28 and was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on February 4.
• Republicans have responded to the balloon with exaggerated claims that Biden has been weak on China or even working for China.
• In fact, U.S. standing in the world has strengthened considerably since Biden took office, and the balloon is just one more piece of a larger story about the changing relationship between China and the U.S.
• Biden has rejected the trickle-down economics of the Republicans and has revived the older idea that investing in ordinary Americans and infrastructure creates widespread prosperity.
• A poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News shows that 62% of Americans think Biden has not accomplished much in his two years in office, but his administration ranks as one of the most consequential since the New Deal in the 1930s.
• Neo-Nazi leader Brandon Russell and Sarah Clendaniel were charged with plotting to bring down the electric power grid in Maryland.
• Thousands are dead from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and its strong aftershocks in Turkey and Syria last night, and Biden has pledged to support our NATO ally.

Published February 7, 2023
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February 4, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 5, 2023

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• A U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jet fired a missile to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon 6 miles off the South Carolina coast.
• The balloon had been flying above the U.S. for the last four days and was the size of three buses and weighed more than 1,000 pounds.
• U.S. defense officials took steps to protect against the balloon’s collection of sensitive information and the Navy will recover the equipment from the shallow waters where it fell.
• It is believed that the balloon was trying to gather intelligence information and the incident has been used by Republicans to score political points.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled his planned visit to Beijing over the incident and it has offered Biden’s opponents an opportunity to say he is not countering China strongly enough.

Published February 5, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 4, 2023

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February 3, 2023 [Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American]

By Spencer Chen

In Heather Cox Richardson [Letters from an American]

February 4, 2023

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• Mike Pence recently proposed replacing the New Deal with a “better deal” by privatizing Social Security and cutting domestic spending.
• Republicans believe that cutting taxes and staying out of economic affairs will lead to wealth trickling down and creating more jobs.
• Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves refuses to accept an expansion of Medicaid, which is putting 38 rural hospitals in danger of collapsing.
• The Fifth Circuit recently ruled that a federal law prohibiting people who are under a domestic restraining order from owning a gun is unconstitutional.
• President Joe Biden and the Democrats are reviving the theory embraced by members of both parties between 1933 and 1981, which involves the federal government regulating business, providing a basic social safety net, investing in infrastructure, and protecting civil rights.
• Biden is also bringing supply chains home, rebuilding foreign alliances, and investing in research and development.
• The January 2021 jobs report showed an astonishing 517,000 new jobs added and unemployment falling to 3.4%.
• Biden believes that the next three to four years will determine what the country looks like for the next four to five decades.

Published February 4, 2023
Visit Letters from an American to read Heather Cox Richardson’s original post February 3, 2023

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