BatesLine op-ed headlines

True history of the two million acres opened for settlement in the April 22, 1889, Land Run. No, the land wasn't stolen. American taxpayers paid millions for it, twice.

An essay from 2012. If you want to understand why the people who call the shots don't get much public criticism, you need to know about the people I call the yacht guests. "They staff the non-profits and the quangos, they run small service-oriented businesses that cater to the yacht owners, they're professionals who have the yacht owners as clients, they work as managers for the yacht owners' businesses. They may not be wealthy, but they're comfortable, and they have access to opportunities and perks that are out of financial reach for the folks who aren't on the yacht. Their main job is not to rock the boat, but from time to time, they're called upon to defend the yacht and its owners against perceived threats."

Introducing Tulsa's Complacent City Council

From 2011: "One of the things that seemed to annoy City Hall bureaucrats about the old council was their habit of raising new issues to be discussed, explored, and acted upon. From the bureaucrats' perspective, this meant more work and their own priorities displaced by the councilors' pet issues.... [The new councilors are] content to be spoon-fed information from the mayor, the department heads, and the members and staffers of authorities, boards, and commissions. The Complacent Councilors won't seek out alternative perspectives, and they'll be inclined to dismiss any alternative points of view that are brought to them by citizens, because those citizens aren't 'experts.' They'll vote the 'right' way every time, and the department heads, authority members, and mayoral assistants won't have to answer any questions that make them uncomfortable."

BatesLine has presented over a dozen stories on the history of Tulsa's Greenwood district, focusing on the overlooked history of the African-American city-within-a-city from its rebuilding following the 1921 massacre, the peak years of the '40s and '50s, and its second destruction by government through "urban renewal" and expressway construction. The linked article provides an overview, my 2009 Ignite Tulsa talk, and links to more detailed articles, photos, films, and resources.

From 2015: "Having purged the cultural institutions and used them to brainwash those members of the public not firmly grounded in the truth, the Left is now purging the general public. You can believe the truth, but you have to behave as if the Left's delusions are true.

"Since the Left is finally being honest about the reality that some ethical viewpoint will control society, conservatives should not be shy about working to recapture the culture for the worldview and values that built a peaceful and prosperous civilization, while working to displace from positions of cultural influence the advocates of destructive doctrines that have led to an explosion of relational breakdown, mental illness, and violence."

Which Circle? on Facebook

Back in the early 2000s, Jeff Friend and Chris Huber wrote a comic strip called "Which Circle?" a thinly-veiled spoof of Campus Crusade for Christ as they encountered it in their college years. Sixteen episodes, which were published in The [Wittenburg] Door, are available on Facebook. The archived whichcircle.com website appears to have a complete collection of 21 episodes and features commentaries from Friend and Huber, elaborating on the aspects of Cru culture that inspired each episode. Jon Bitterhouse, the Wildwood summer project director in Episode 10, is based on a real staffer who was my summer project city director in Quezon City, the Phillipines, in 1983. I found a lot in the strip that echoed my experiences, particularly the condescending attitudes displayed toward rival campus ministries.

Michelle Malkin: The inspiring story of Maglite inventor Tony Maglica

From Michelle Malkin in 2015: "In our home, we try to instill a life lesson for our kids best summed up in Latin: Nihil boni sine labore. It means, 'Nothing good achieved without hard work.'

"Few people I've met in my lifetime embody this motto better and more brilliantly than Tony Maglica, inventor of the iconic Maglite flashlight.

"The spry 84-year-old founder and CEO of Mag Instrument still traverses his 450,000-square-foot factory floor dozens of times over the course of his 12-hour workday, six days a week, beginning at the crack of dawn and ending after most of his 800 employees have clocked out."

The Idyllic Culture Columbus Ended

"Even if we take the leftists accusations seriously, they are senseless. Did the Spanish practice slavery? Yes: so did the natives. Did the Spanish murder their enemies? Yes: and many of the natives killed their own people as well. Did the Spanish raid and conquer? The natives did little else.

"Thus the question becomes whether one group did anything more praiseworthy than the other. And of course one did: one ended most of the other's barbarity. And one expanded the bounds of human civilization forever.

"Columbus had little to do with the former, but everything to do with the latter: it was his vision and his personal courage that ended the Middle Ages and created the modern world. Any 'indigenous people' who enjoys human rights, modern medicine, a regular food supply and indoor plumbing should thank him daily."

Phones Are Destroying Kids' Ability To Read Books

Jeremy S. Adams writes: "And yet we somehow expect these same kids who can't enjoy a simple bike or horse ride to sit down in a corner and spend hours reading a book. Keep in mind one of the most shocking yet revealing statistics in modern educational research: teens are more likely to read a novel at thirteen than they are at seventeen. As one of my best friends recently observed, 'My son used to be a voracious reader -- a couple books a week. And then we gave him a phone and the reading stopped.'... Which brings me to another demoralizing data point in the quickly degenerating mental state of American students. Two weeks ago, Pew Research released disturbing findings about American educators which found that 58 percent of high school instructors noted their students had "little to no interest" in learning. A whopping, though completely unsurprising, 72 percent say cellphone distraction is a major problem."

The Transatlantic Tracks of Columbus by Keith A. Pickering

Using a model of magnetic variation circa 1500, based on dating and magnetic alignment of lake sediments, hearthstones, and lava flows, combined with an analysis of Columbus's inter-island track, Pickering has concluded that Plana Cays is where Christopher Columbus first made landfall in the New World. Pickering confirmed the model by applying it to Columbus's first return voyage and second voyage, where endpoints are known.

Search for tax exempt organizations | Internal Revenue Service

You don't need to pay a website for access to a charity's 990 filings and tax-exempt determinations. They're available for free on the IRS website.

Euclid's elements in color
Translated and published in 1847 by Oliver Byrne: The first six books of the elements of Euclid, in which coloured diagrams and symbols are used instead of letters for the greater ease of learners. High resolution scans on the Harvard Library website.

Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Map, 1858: David Rumsey collection

Before Dorchester, Roxbury, and West Roxbury were annexed by Boston and Suffolk County, making Brookline an exclave of the county.

Transcript: Lessons from the 1968 Democratic Convention: Under the Shadow of Protests - Retro Report

Sen. Fred Harris (D-Oklahoma) remembers the conflict between old-guard Rust Belt and Yellow Dog Democrats and the New Left in the Vietnam War Era:

"I came out of that convention terribly depressed about the failure to adopt an anti-war plank, about what had happened in the streets. And I was very bothered by the fact that the Democrat Party was undemocratic. People felt the anti-war movement represented the majority of Democrats in the country, but that was not reflected in the selection of the delegates to that convention. They were establishment people, a big part of whom, what we now call 'super delegates.'"

Harris, as DNC chairman, reformed the nominating process, but it led to George McGovern and the biggest loss in the party's history in 1972:

"I was elected the Chair of the Party in 1969. I appointed a reform commission to be sure that there'd be democracy in the selection of delegates. The main thing we wanted was that they'd be elected, but then in 1984, another commission decided to go back to some super delegates."

Except for Jimmy Carter's surprise "win" in the 1976 Iowa caucuses (he finished second to Uncommitted), the Democrats under Harris's reform kept losing with northern progressives. The introduction of super-delegates in 1984 helped more conventional left-of-center politicians (Mondale, Dukakis) to the nomination, but they still got beaten badly. The Democratic Leadership Council pushed for a regional Southern primary (Super Tuesday, starting in 1988) to give a boost to more moderate Democrats to counterbalance the momentum of candidates backed by left-leaning Iowa activists and New Hampshire voters. That paid off with Bill Clinton's surprise 1992 victory.

Patricia Routledge: 'There's a fashion to speak badly' | Theatre | The Guardian

"'History!' says Patricia Routledge. She leans forward, her blue eyes button-bright; her beautifully modulated voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. 'History! And character. Architecture! I always say,' she adds, 'that here [in Chichester], you've only got to dig a little hole to put a bulb in, and if you're not careful, you come across some Roman mosaic. Thrilling!'...

"'There's a fashion abroad generally to speak the language as badly as possible. I'm of a mind,' she adds, in tones that would make Mrs [Bucket] proud, 'to start a society for the reinstatement of the letter 't' and the banishment of the glottal stop.'"