Conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States
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Celebrate Great Outdoors Month with episode of Big Blend Radio's "Jo Goes Everywhere" Travel Podcast that takes us to the Beaufort area of South Carolina, where travel writer and photographer Jo Clark explored two stunning barrier islands: St. Phillips Island and Hunting Island. Jo shares the story of billionaire conservationist Ted Turner, who once owned St. Phillips Island and built a five-bedroom house there that visitors can actually rent today. She also talks about South Carolina's old-growth forests, the historic Hunting Island Lighthouse, the eerie beauty of Boneyard Beach, and the CCC's role in building the state park system. The conversation also covers Civil War and Spanish-American War history, the charm of downtown Beaufort (including where to eat and stay), the Port Royal Cypress Wetlands, and a visit to Pat Conroy's grave near Penn Center, a cornerstone of Gullah history and culture. Plus, wildlife lovers will hear about ospreys, alligators, egrets, pelicans, and more. Read Jo's full article: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/st-phillips-island-hunting-island-state-park-sc
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comDaniel, previously the editor-at-large at The American Conservative, is currently the editor of Modern Age, a conservative academic quarterly journal. He's also a Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation and a columnist for The Spectator — and one of the few Trump supporters allowed to write op-eds for the NYT. I wanted to engage the most intelligent defense of Trump I could find. And Dan did not disappoint. But you be the judge.For two clips of the episode — on Trump as a corrective to the liberal establishment, and questioning how revolutionary the American Revolution really was — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: born into a Navy family in Missouri; going to UK grammar school in the Thatcher years; George III; Locke and self-government; the French Revolution and Jefferson; Washington and US neutrality; Jackson and populism; the Spanish-American War; Burke and Oakeshott; paleoconservatism and Pat Buchanan; the rise of China's economy; the managerial elite; mass migration; multiculturalism; Obama the deporter-in-chief; nuke proliferation and the JCPOA; Trump as disruptor; Hazony's The Virtue of Nationalism; January 6; Biden betraying his moderation; the woke youth vs weak liberals; lawfare against Trump; shutting down the border; ICE in Minneapolis; evangelical fervor over Israel; the antisemite card; the Iran War; ethnic cleansing in Palestine; Ukraine's drones; NATO finally stepping up; the Trump cult and AWOL Congress; caving to China over rare earths; Bezos and the WaPo; the ballroom; crime down in DC and better parks; and Trump purging dissenters.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, John Gray on Trump's new world, Bob Wright on the evolutionary force of AI, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, James Verini on Ukraine, John O'Sullivan on Hungary, and Robby George on all our disagreements. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
Drop us a note about the podcast. A child abuse arrest, a culture drowning in distraction, and a Savior who says a seed must die before it can multiply, all of it forces the same question: what are we clinging to that's costing us our soul? I start with Jesus' words from John 12 about losing our life in this world to keep it for eternity, then I slow down on the parts that sting: suffering, fear of people, and the temptation to ask God to remove the hard hour instead of letting Him use it for His glory. From there, I bring it home to Christian marriage and family. Genesis 9 calls us to be fruitful and multiply, not as a random suggestion, but as a blessing and a form of service. I talk candidly about how screens and social media can become a coping mechanism that replaces real relationships, keeping us from the honest conversations, repentance, and effort that healthy families require. If you're looking for faith-based marriage advice, Christian parenting encouragement, or a gut check on digital distraction, this part will hit close. We also honor courage and leadership through history by reading Dwight D. Eisenhower's D-Day Order of the Day, plus his private “in case of failure” statement where he takes full responsibility. That kind of accountability feels rare today, and it's a powerful reminder that duty, humility, and trust in God can coexist even when outcomes are uncertain. I close with a clear anchor: our job is obedience, the results are God's, and there's real peace in that. If this helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. If you can, check out America's Christian Heritage when it launches, and consider supporting the show through the link in the show notes.#ChristianNation#Dday#DwightEisenhower Support the showThe American Soul Podcasthttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribeCountryside Book Serieshttps://www.amazon.com/Countryside-Book-J-T-Cope-IV-ebook/dp/B00MPIXOB2
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/caribbean-studies
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, its soldiers defeated Spain and pacified nationalist insurgencies in both Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their lack of experience in colonial administration, American troops also ruled and transformed the daily lives of the 8 million people who inhabited these tropical islands.How was this relatively small and inexperienced army able to wage wars in Cuba and the Philippines and occupy them? American soldiers depended on tens of thousands of Cubans and Filipinos, both for military operations and civil government. Whether compelled to labor for free or voluntarily working for wages, Cubans and Filipinos, suspended between civilian and soldier status, enabled the making of a new US overseas empire by interpreting, guiding, building, selling sex, and many other kinds of work for American troops. In The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines (UNC Press, 2025), Justin Jackson reveals how their labor forged the politics, economics, and culture of American colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines and left an enduring imprint on these islands and the US Army itself. Jackson offers new ways to understand the rise of American military might and how it influenced a globalizing imperial world.
President Polk hoped to avoid war when the US annexed Texas but the war was inevitable.
Once Americans landed in Manila, tensions simmered between the Filipino independence movement and emerging power of the United States in the Pacific. Attempts to come to any accommodation failed. Emilio Aguinaldo led an Army but failed to wrest control from the United States. Rather than give up the fight, Aguinaldo pursued a guerilla campaign. While they put up a good fight, they failed to secure independence. In a struggle that lasted longer than the campaign against Cuba, the United States was now saddled with the consequences of pursuing an empire. While they won over many Filipinos, tensions remained. Have a question, comment, concern, or compliment? Contact us at americawarpodcast@gmail.com. You can also leave comments and your questions on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/americaatwarpodcast/. Thanks for listening!
This episode delves into the historical significance of three esteemed stadiums in college football, each named in honor of remarkable individuals whose contributions to the sport and their respective programs are profound. We explore Michi Stadium at West Point, paying tribute to Dennis Michi, the visionary who established the Army football program and made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Furthermore, we investigate Nile Kinnick Stadium at the University of Iowa, named after a celebrated Heisman Trophy winner whose legacy extends beyond the gridiron. Lastly, we reflect on Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech, which honors a transformative coach who revolutionized the game through his innovative approach to training and player welfare. Through these narratives, we aim to illuminate the enduring impact of these legends on college football history.Don't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website. Do you want more football history? Test your Gridiron Knowledge, we feed you Daily with our new FREE activity, The Pigskin Trivia Drive.Grab a copy of our latest book, "Marooned," on the 1925 Pottsville Maroons NFL franchise saga.*OR* Grab a copy of our book on Western Pennsylvania football history, "World's Greatest Gridiron Team" on the 1903 Franklin All-StarsDrop us a line at PigskinDispatch@gmail .com and check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel.Contact us directly at PigskinDispatch@Gmail.comMiss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website. A profound exploration of the historical significance of college football stadiums, this episode delves into the remarkable stories of three iconic venues and their namesakes. Each stadium is not merely a structure of brick and mortar but rather a monument to individuals who have transcended the realm of sports to become legends in their own right. The discussion begins with Michi Stadium, named in honor of Dennis Michi, a pioneering figure who laid the groundwork for the Army football program. Michi's unwavering determination in the face of institutional skepticism regarding the sport culminated in the establishment of a program that would foster camaraderie and resilience among cadets. His untimely sacrifice during the Spanish-American War immortalized him in West Point lore, ensuring that his legacy would forever resonate within the walls of Michi Stadium. The discourse then transitions to the illustrious Nile Kinnick Stadium at the University of Iowa. Kinnick was not only a Heisman Trophy winner but also a heroic fighter pilot whose life was tragically cut short during World War II. The narrative recounts how the student body, in a heartfelt tribute to Kinnick's contributions to both football and the military, voted to honor him through the renaming of the stadium. This act of remembrance underscores the deep connection between sports and national pride, encapsulating the essence of Kinnick's legacy, which continues to inspire generations of athletes and students alike. Lastly, the episode pays homage to Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech, a venue that serves as a testament to Dodd's revolutionary approach to coaching. Dodd's philosophy emphasized the enjoyment of the game, contrasting sharply with the militaristic training prevalent during his time. His commitment to player welfare and innovative strategies led to a remarkable record and an enduring legacy that transformed the landscape of college football. Each of these stadiums is a living tribute to the indelible impact of these remarkable individuals, whose stories continue to inspire and shape the ethos of American football. Through these narratives, we gain a deeper understanding of the rich tapestry of college football history, celebrating the men who have made it possible.
In which we look at the life of Joseph Wheeler, who was a Confederate cavalry general during the Civil War and a US Army general during the Spanish-American War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt was anxious to get into the action. He raised a volunteer cavalry unit for the conflict. Famously known as the Rough Riders, Roosevelt's volunteers served in Cuba and took part in the battle of San Juan Hill.
Misha Glenny and guests discuss a turning point in world affairs in 1898 that left Spain greatly reduced as an imperial power and the US the owner of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, with a significant influence over the newly independent Cuba where the war broke out. The US had been eyeing Cuba for decades, waiting for the right moment and the right kind of action, and in April 1898 intervened in the long-running fighting on the island for independence from Spain. With a much stronger navy it was a very uneven battle and the US soon triumphed over Spanish forces from Manila to Santiago de Cuba. This brief war confirmed the US as a power on the world stage and made a shocked Spain turn inwards to ask what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, people in the Philippines were about to attempt a new and bloody independence fight with the US.WithFrank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of EdinburghMary Vincent Professor of Modern European History at the University of SheffieldAndStephen Wilkinson Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of BuckinghamProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Sebastian Balfour, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Clarendon Press, 1997)Sebastian Balfour, ‘Riot, Regeneration and Reaction: Spain in the Aftermath of the 1898 Disaster' (The Historical journal 38.2, 1995) Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History (Scribner, 2021)Greg Grandin, America, América: A New History of the New World (Torva, 2025)Richard Kluger, Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2007)Robert W. Merry, President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (Simon & Schuster, 2017)Walter Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2008)Louis A. Pérez Jr., Cuba Between Empires, 1878–1902 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983) John Lawrence Tone, War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898 (University of North Carolina Press, 2006) Mary Vincent, Spain, 1833-2002: People and State (Oxford University Press, 2007), especially chapter 3In Our Time is a BBC Studios ProductionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
Misha Glenny and guests discuss a turning point in world affairs in 1898 that left Spain greatly reduced as an imperial power and the US the owner of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, with a significant influence over the newly independent Cuba where the war broke out. The US had been eyeing Cuba for decades, waiting for the right moment and the right kind of action, and in April 1898 intervened in the long-running fighting on the island for independence from Spain. With a much stronger navy it was a very uneven battle and the US soon triumphed over Spanish forces from Manila to Santiago de Cuba. This brief war confirmed the US as a power on the world stage and made a shocked Spain turn inwards to ask what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, people in the Philippines were about to attempt a new and bloody independence fight with the US.WithFrank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of EdinburghMary Vincent Professor of Modern European History at the University of SheffieldAndStephen Wilkinson Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of BuckinghamProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Sebastian Balfour, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Clarendon Press, 1997)Sebastian Balfour, ‘Riot, Regeneration and Reaction: Spain in the Aftermath of the 1898 Disaster' (The Historical journal 38.2, 1995) Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History (Scribner, 2021)Greg Grandin, America, América: A New History of the New World (Torva, 2025)Richard Kluger, Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2007)Robert W. Merry, President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (Simon & Schuster, 2017)Walter Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2008)Louis A. Pérez Jr., Cuba Between Empires, 1878–1902 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983) John Lawrence Tone, War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898 (University of North Carolina Press, 2006) Mary Vincent, Spain, 1833-2002: People and State (Oxford University Press, 2007), especially chapter 3In Our Time is a BBC Studios ProductionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
Season 1, Episode 10 explores the Spanish-American War's turning points: the USS Maine explosion, Commodore George Dewey's decisive victory at the Battle of Manila Bay aboard USS Olympia, and the larger shift from Spanish global dominance to rising American power. The episode traces Olympia's life—from its construction and wartime glory to postwar service, its role returning the Unknown Soldier, and the ongoing struggle to preserve the historic ship as a museum.
In this episode we will wind up the story of the campaign against Spain. After the fall of Santiago de Cuba, American forces landed on the island of Puerto Rico. With the capture of the largest city on the island, the colony was for the most part secured quickly. Half way around the world, American forces concentrated on taking the political and cultural center of the Philippines - Manila. Attempting to sideline the Filipino independence movement, the Americans compelled Spanish forces to surrender, shutting out the Filipinos from securing independence. As we will see, this would lead to a protracted conflict after Spain gave the archipelago to the Americans. mment, concern, or compliment? Contact us at americawarpodcast@gmail.com. You can also leave comments and your questions on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/americaatwarpodcast/. Thanks for listening!
This episode unpacks the causes, key events, and consequences of the Spanish-American War, highlighting how it shaped U.S. foreign policy into the modern era. To mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence, CFR is dedicating a year-long series of articles, videos, podcasts, events, and special projects that will reflect on two and a half centuries of U.S. foreign policy. Featuring bipartisan voices and expert contributors, the series explores the evolution of America's role in the world and the strategic challenges that lie ahead. Host: James M. Lindsay, Mary and David Boies Distinguished Senior Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy, CFR Guest: H.W. Brands, Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History, The University of Texas at Austin We Discuss: What drove the United States toward assertive foreign policy in the 1890s. Who the "jingoes" were and how American leaders pushed for American power abroad. Whether access to China drove American interest in Spain's Pacific empire. Why the USS Maine explosion changed the political calculus for entering a war with Spain. What the Teller Amendment accomplished and what its drafters failed to anticipate. Whether the annexation of the Philippines was ultimately the least-bad option for the Filipino people. What the Spanish-American War's legacy reveals about how the United States became—and chose to remain—a global power. Mentioned on the Episode: Monroe Doctrine, December 2, 1823 McKinley's First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1897 Theodore Roosevelt, Naval War College Address, June 2, 1897 The Teller Amendment, April 19, 1898 For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President's Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/america-at-250-the-spanish-american-war Opinions expressed on The President's Inbox are solely those of the host or guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.
Local organizations and clubs often invite distinguished guests to share information and provide programming. Bismarck's Rotary Club hosted such a guest at its April 22, 1936, noon lunch, when North Dakota's Department Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Philo George Harrington, spoke on the Spanish-American War.
Chuck Todd surveys a dire geopolitical landscape where the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, fuel rationing has begun in many places around the globe, and the Trump administration is scrambling to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran — sending JD Vance back to Pakistan for another round of talks, a move Chuck says signals genuine desperation to end a war that has become a generational foreign policy disaster. Heargues that Iran's control of the strait is now a greater deterrent than nuclear weapons ever were, that the Iranians know Trump is on the clock and that time is firmly on Tehran's side — meaning the best Trump can realistically hope for is a deal that looks remarkably like the Obama nuclear agreement he once shredded. Oil and stock markets appear divorced from reality while energy markets are in major distress, China's position has been strengthened enormously and Netanyahu has effectively suckered Trump into a mess that will define American foreign policy for a generation. He then unpacks a bombshell Atlantic report painting FBI Director Kash Patel as absent, unreliable, and allegedly drunk on the job — noting that just because it's a "hit piece" doesn't mean it's not true, that rank-and-file intelligence professionals don't trust the people leading their agencies, and that Patel himself believes he's about to be fired because Trump personally despises anecdotes about drinking. He closes with Virginia's redistricting referendum, which ends Tuesday and looks likely to pass, but he questions whether Democrats are making a smart investment — blowing enormous political capital and damaging Governor Abigail Spanberger's brand to pick up only two House seats, a tradeoff that may not be worth the cost. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit America’s first war of choice: The Spanish American War. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 02:30 We’re in a precious position. Strait of Hormuz closed & fuel rationing is coming03:30 Expect some sort of extension of the current ceasefire agreement04:15 JD Vance headed back to Pakistan for another round of talks05:00 Sending Vance shows they’re serious about trying to end war05:45 Trump is desperate to get out of the war06:30 Control of Strait of Hormuz is a greater deterrent than nukes07:30 Oil & stock markets seem divorced from reality08:15 Energy markets are is major distress09:15 Trump’s approval has slipped, public knows the war is going badly10:00 Trump is talking tough, but his actions are cautious11:00 Iranians know Trump is desperate and Iranians have serious leverage12:30 Iranians know Trump is on the clock, and they have time on their side13:00 China’s position has been strengthened by Iran war14:15 U.S. is stretched too thin currently to defend Taiwan15:30 Energy shock increases demand for clean energy, where China leads16:45 Bibi suckered Trump into a generational foreign policy disaster17:45 We’re likely stuck without a resolution to the war for awhile18:45 Best Trump can hope for is redoing the Obama nuclear deal20:00 Time is running out on the 60 day war powers resolution deadline21:15 Trump has 5 weeks to get a deal before congress is forced to step in22:00 Atlantic publishes story about Kash Patel being MIA & drunk23:00 Patel denied everything, hoping for White House backup24:00 Just because it’s a “hit piece” doesn’t mean it’s not true24:45 People working at the FBI don’t trust the guy leading it26:30 Atlantic paints a portrait of an FBI leader that’s completely unreliable27:30 Patel’s ineptitude creates a national security threat to the U.S.29:00 Rank & file intel professionals don’t trust the people in charge30:15 Trump hates anecdotes about drinking, Patel’s days are numbered31:00 Patel believes he’s going to be fired32:30 Balloting for Virginia redistricting ends on Tuesday, looks like it will pass33:00 Democrats expending political capital to only pick up two house seats34:00 Redistricting fight has been terrible politically for Abigail Spanberger36:30 New map will trim two very blue districts and export voters to swing districts39:00 Blowing all this political capital for two seats doesn’t seem worth it40:45 Livestream on Tuesday evening breaking down the results from VA 46:00 ToddCast Time Machine April 20th, 1898 - Spanish American War 47:30 U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana harbor, conclusion was Spain did it 48:00 The facts didn’t lead to the conclusion, the conclusion came first 48:45 Hearst & Pulitzer were locked in a publishing war, competing for readers 49:30 William McKinley didn’t want war, but pressure kept building 50:30 It was a War of Choice, and the press pushed leaders into war 51:00 Congress demanded that Spain leave Cuba 52:00 U.S. begins blockage of Cuba, basically kicking off the war 52:45 Congress backdated their declaration of war 53:30 Teddy Roosevelt’s rise scared establishment Republicans 54:00 The war produced Roosevelt’s presidency 55:00 It was a war of choice, until it felt like there was no other option 55:30 Wars of choice never end well 56:00 Ask Chuck 56:15 As Trump’s support erodes, any chance the 25th amendment gets invoked? 1:00:00 Does Federalist 10 still hold up? Is there a case for a constitutional convention? 1:06:30 A Top 5 list of races where you think the election projections are off? 1:13:00 Did I hear a dog in the background in your Wednesday episode? 1:15:15 Can you bring on a late night host like Colbert, Oliver or Maher? 1:18:00 What can and can’t be done with the huge fundraising hauls Dems are getting? 1:25:00 Thoughts on the NBA playoffsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chuck Todd surveys a dire geopolitical landscape where the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, fuel rationing has begun in many places around the globe, and the Trump administration is scrambling to extend a fragile ceasefire with Iran — sending JD Vance back to Pakistan for another round of talks, a move Chuck says signals genuine desperation to end a war that has become a generational foreign policy disaster. Heargues that Iran's control of the strait is now a greater deterrent than nuclear weapons ever were, that the Iranians know Trump is on the clock and that time is firmly on Tehran's side — meaning the best Trump can realistically hope for is a deal that looks remarkably like the Obama nuclear agreement he once shredded. Oil and stock markets appear divorced from reality while energy markets are in major distress, China's position has been strengthened enormously and Netanyahu has effectively suckered Trump into a mess that will define American foreign policy for a generation. He then unpacks a bombshell Atlantic report painting FBI Director Kash Patel as absent, unreliable, and allegedly drunk on the job — noting that just because it's a "hit piece" doesn't mean it's not true, that rank-and-file intelligence professionals don't trust the people leading their agencies, and that Patel himself believes he's about to be fired because Trump personally despises anecdotes about drinking. He closes with Virginia's redistricting referendum, which ends Tuesday and looks likely to pass, but he questions whether Democrats are making a smart investment — blowing enormous political capital and damaging Governor Abigail Spanberger's brand to pick up only two House seats, a tradeoff that may not be worth the cost. Then, Sarah Isgur — legal commentator, former DOJ spokesperson, and author of Last Branch Standing — joins the Chuck Toddcast for a comprehensive deep dive into the Supreme Court that challenges virtually everything the public thinks it knows about how the institution actually works. Isgur argues that the court's politics don't map neatly onto the current left-right spectrum, and that the court isn't really 6-3 but rather 3-3-3 — with a bloc of doctrinaire conservatives, a liberal minority, and a pragmatic center that includes Kavanaugh and Chief Justice Roberts. She reveals that Elena Kagan plays a major behind-the-scenes role that the public rarely sees, and that over the past 20 years more than 90% of rulings have had a liberal justice in the majority (undermining the narrative of a runaway conservative court) The conversation turns to deeper structural concerns about the judiciary that Isgur argues are undermining the rule of law itself. She notes that today's justices all have eerily uniform résumés — a problem created by a system that essentially identifies future Supreme Court candidates by the time they're 18 and forces them to lead incredibly sheltered lives for both career and safety reasons — making them detached from the real world in ways that earlier, more varied courts were not. She is sharply critical of Congress for making the court the arbiter of fundamental rights, which has turned every confirmation into an existential battle — the refusal to take on issues like Roe legislatively forced them to the court, and now there's no real dialogue between the branches. They close by debating a provocative proposal: the confirmation threshold for justices should be raised to 60 or even 75 votes to force presidents to nominate consensus candidates, breaking the cycle of partisan warfare that has made the Federalist Society effectively a prerequisite for any aspiring conservative judge and turned the nomination process into something that is actively bad for both the court and the rule of law. Finally, Chuck hops into the ToddCast Time Machine to revisit America’s first war of choice: The Spanish American War. He also answers listeners’ questions in the “Ask Chuck” segment. Thank you Wildgrain for sponsoring. Visit http://wildgrain.com/TODDCAST and use the code "TODDCAST" at checkout to receive $30 off your first box PLUS free Croissants for life! Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/chuck. Application times may vary. Rates may vary. Link in bio or go to https://getsoul.com & enter code TODDCAST for 30% off your first order. Timeline: (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) 00:00 Chuck Todd’s introduction 04:00 We’re in a precious position. Strait of Hormuz closed & fuel rationing is coming 05:00 Expect some sort of extension of the current ceasefire agreement 05:45 JD Vance headed back to Pakistan for another round of talks 06:30 Sending Vance shows they’re serious about trying to end war 07:15 Trump is desperate to get out of the war 08:00 Control of Strait of Hormuz is a greater deterrent than nukes 09:00 Oil & stock markets seem divorced from reality 09:45 Energy markets are is major distress 10:45 Trump’s approval has slipped, public knows the war is going badly 11:30 Trump is talking tough, but his actions are cautious 12:30 Iranians know Trump is desperate and Iranians have serious leverage 14:00 Iranians know Trump is on the clock, and they have time on their side 14:30 China’s position has been strengthened by Iran war 15:45 U.S. is stretched too thin currently to defend Taiwan 17:00 Energy shock increases demand for clean energy, where China leads 18:15 Bibi suckered Trump into a generational foreign policy disaster 19:15 We’re likely stuck without a resolution to the war for awhile 20:15 Best Trump can hope for is redoing the Obama nuclear deal 21:30 Time is running out on the 60 day war powers resolution deadline 22:45 Trump has 5 weeks to get a deal before congress is forced to step in 23:30 Atlantic publishes story about Kash Patel being MIA & drunk 24:30 Patel denied everything, hoping for White House backup 25:30 Just because it’s a “hit piece” doesn’t mean it’s not true 26:15 People working at the FBI don’t trust the guy leading it 28:00 Atlantic paints a portrait of an FBI leader that’s completely unreliable 29:00 Patel’s ineptitude creates a national security threat to the U.S. 30:30 Rank & file intel professionals don’t trust the people in charge 31:45 Trump hates anecdotes about drinking, Patel’s days are numbered 32:30 Patel believes he’s going to be fired 34:00 Balloting for Virginia redistricting ends on Tuesday, looks like it will pass 34:30 Democrats expending political capital to only pick up two house seats 35:30 Redistricting fight has been terrible politically for Abigail Spanberger 38:00 New map will trim two very blue districts and export voters to swing districts 40:30 Blowing all this political capital for two seats doesn’t seem worth it 42:15 Livestream on Tuesday evening breaking down the results from VA 48:30 Sarah Isgur (Last Branch Standing) joins the Chuck ToddCast 50:15 The Supreme Court’s politics don’t map neatly to current left/right 51:30 Bono called Chuck a “radical centrist” 52:15 Brett Kavanaugh’s biggest regret was not getting selfie with Bono 54:00 Songs that best comment on American political culture 57:00 Incrimentalism more important than liberal/conservative 58:00 Kavanaugh & Kagan most similar to Chuck in philosophy 59:30 Kagan plays a major role on the court behind the scenes 1:00:30 The reputation of the solicitor general has changed under Trump 1:01:15 Earlier justices didn’t have the uniform resume of the current justices 1:03:00 Current justices are detached from the real world 1:04:15 Alito likely retiring this summer or next as Dems senate chances increase 1:05:15 White House is eager to get a Supreme Court opening 1:06:00 Trump may have his hands tied, Alito will want to approve successor 1:08:00 Alito will want someone like him to replace him 1:08:30 Unlikely Ted Cruz or Mike Lee will be nominated for the court 1:09:30 We’ve narrowed down who can be justices by the time candidates are 18 1:10:15 Justices have to lead an incredibly sheltered life for safety 1:12:15 The court isn’t really 6-3, it’s 3-3-3 1:14:15 Which justices are the most overtly political for their side? 1:15:30 Gorsuch had best opinion of the year on Trump’s tariffs 1:16:15 Congress has abdicated their duty, forced the court to legislate 1:17:15 There’s no dialogue between congress & court. Court gets final word 1:18:30 Congress didn’t have the guts to take on Roe, forced it to the court 1:20:15 Court has become the arbiter of rights, making confirmations existential 1:21:45 Rights of criminal defendants are compromised by an elected judiciary 1:22:45 Elections for judges create perverse incentive structures 1:24:15 Jackson & Kavanaugh share view of their role on the court 1:25:15 In past 20 years, over 90% of rulings had a liberal in the majority 1:27:00 Justice Thomas has been remarkably consistent in his rulings 1:29:00 Gorsuch consistently relies on the text and applies it 1:29:45 Thomas is a hardcore originalist 1:31:30 Chief Justice Roberts has eschewed any type of label 1:33:30 Kagan tries to keep the court out of issues unless they must intervene 1:34:45 Justices are taking fewer cases and writing more opinions than ever 1:35:45 The court speaks in too many voices now 1:37:30 Justice Alito’s favorite movie is “Being There” 1:38:45 Breyer was a 2nd backup choice for the court 1:40:30 The value of moderation vs. abstention 1:42:15 Should the confirmation threshold for justices be raised to 60 or 75? 1:45:00 Requirement to join the Federalist Society if you want to be a judge 1:46:00 Proposal for how to fix the confirmation wars 1:48:30 Current nomination process is bad for the court & rule of law 1:53:30 Court is last branch standing for now, haven’t seen result of 50 vote confirmation 1:56:30 Thoughts on Sarah Isgur’s proposal on SCOTUS confirmations 1:57:30 ToddCast Time Machine April 20th, 1898 - Spanish American War 1:59:00 U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana harbor, conclusion was Spain did it 1:59:30 The facts didn’t lead to the conclusion, the conclusion came first 2:00:15 Hearst & Pulitzer were locked in a publishing war, competing for readers 2:01:00 William McKinley didn’t want war, but pressure kept building 2:02:00 It was a War of Choice, and the press pushed leaders into war 2:02:30 Congress demanded that Spain leave Cuba 2:03:30 U.S. begins blockage of Cuba, basically kicking off the war 2:04:15 Congress backdated their declaration of war 2:05:00 Teddy Roosevelt’s rise scared establishment Republicans 2:05:30 The war produced Roosevelt’s presidency 2:06:30 It was a war of choice, until it felt like there was no other option 2:07:00 Wars of choice never end well 2:07:30 Ask Chuck 2:07:45 As Trump’s support erodes, any chance the 25th amendment gets invoked? 2:11:30 Does Federalist 10 still hold up? Is there a case for a constitutional convention? 2:18:00 A Top 5 list of races where you think the election projections are off? 2:24:30 Did I hear a dog in the background in your Wednesday episode? 2:26:45 Can you bring on a late night host like Colbert, Oliver or Maher? 2:29:30 What can and can’t be done with the huge fundraising hauls Dems are getting? 2:36:30 Thoughts on the NBA playoffsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
At the turn of the 20th century, a booming cotton trade had made the Gulf Coast city of Galveston, Texas an economic powerhouse. Located just a few feet above sea level on a narrow barrier island, it was prone to flooding. But in a time before sophisticated weather forecasting, residents failed to grasp the danger lurking in their midst.In early September 1900, as a tropical storm gathered strength in the Caribbean Sea, Cuban forecasters warned that a powerful hurricane was charging toward Texas. But in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, U.S. Weather Bureau officials had banned all weather-related telegrams from Cuba. Soon, the deadliest natural disaster in American history would strike Galveston without warning.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
How did the United States go from quietly supporting Fidel Castro's rise… to plotting his removal at all costs?In this episode, we're diving deep into one of the most shocking turns in Cold War history—where propaganda, covert operations, and controversial plans blurred the line between defense and deception.From America's early influence over Cuba following the Spanish-American War, to the rise and fall of Fulgencio Batista, and the unexpected ascent of Castro—this story is filled with hidden agendas and uncomfortable truths.We break down:The events that helped Castro take powerThe U.S. government's knowledge of his communist tiesThe failed Bay of Pigs InvasionThe secretive Operation MongooseAnd the disturbing proposals behind Operation NorthwoodsYou'll also learn how these events led directly into the Cuban Missile Crisis—bringing the world closer to nuclear war than ever before.Was it strategy… or something much deeper?Follow me down the rabbit hole.
In Season 2, Episode 8, Rizz and Tim revisit one of the strangest and most overlooked moments in American military history — an invasion where the people being attacked didn't even know they were at war.During the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy arrived at the island of Guam ready for battle, only to discover that the Spanish officials stationed there were completely unaware the war had begun. What followed was a surreal, bloodless takeover marked by misunderstandings, apologies, and a translator who went from local resident to governor almost overnight. This episode unpacks how isolation, poor communication, and imperial ambition collided to produce one of history's most absurd acts of war — and how a tiny island found itself reshaped by a conflict it never saw coming.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In Season 2, Episode 8, Rizz and Tim revisit one of the strangest and most overlooked moments in American military history — an invasion where the people being attacked didn't even know they were at war.During the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Navy arrived at the island of Guam ready for battle, only to discover that the Spanish officials stationed there were completely unaware the war had begun. What followed was a surreal, bloodless takeover marked by misunderstandings, apologies, and a translator who went from local resident to governor almost overnight. This episode unpacks how isolation, poor communication, and imperial ambition collided to produce one of history's most absurd acts of war — and how a tiny island found itself reshaped by a conflict it never saw coming.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In 1881, African American educator and political leader Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The school's mission was to provide practical education and vocational training in fields such as agriculture and mechanics to African Americans in the post-Reconstruction South. Tuskegee ultimately became a world-renowned agricultural and industrial school for African Americans – and actually for all people. Today, we're speaking with Duke University's Jarvis McInnis about his award-winning book Afterlives of the Plantation: Plotting Agrarian Futures in the Global Black South. Interview Transcript Jarvis, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this book. And hopefully we'll make a link to the Franklin Humanities gathering (https://youtu.be/rfSy1lWWOwA?si=dVcWH3xDBuBStEEc) that we had for your book launch. As I said at that time, and I'll say it right now, this book resonated with me so deeply because of my rural upbringing. My experience as a son, a grandson of farmers and agricultural workers. And someone who grew up in the 4-H Club down South. Hopefully we will get to some of those topics as we go through. So, let's start off with a real basic idea. Could you give our readers an overview of what the book is? And also, about what you mean by the Afterlives of the Plantation. Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much for that question, Norbert. The book is an effort to think about the cultural and intellectual and political ties between Southern African Americans and Afro-Caribbean people in the late 19th to early 20th Century as they were responding to the legacies of slavery, right? This is the period after emancipation, and across the hemisphere. And so, I'm really interested in the way that they are sharing ideas as they are confronting the new modes of racial oppression that emerged in slavery's aftermath. In the United States, you have Jim Crow, right? Segregation, and other forms of violence and dispossession like lynching and land dispossession and so forth and so on. And then in the Caribbean, in Latin America, you have institutions like the European colonialism, and US imperialism, right? And so that is the afterlife of slavery. They're emancipated, but it's not a period of full citizenship, right? Of full access to the rights and privileges of citizenship. And so in telling that story, I center Booker T. Washington's school, the Tuskegee Institute, which was founded on the site of an abandoned and burned cotton plantation in Alabama in 1881. And this is getting at the second part of your question. I became really fascinated by what it meant to establish a school, to establish a future-oriented institution, that's committed to uplifting Black people. To establish that on the site, on the ruins of a burned plantation. And, in some ways, I became curious about that as an undergraduate student because I'm a graduate of Tougaloo College, in Tougaloo, Mississippi, which is a historically black college much like Tuskegee. And much like Tuskegee, Tougaloo was also founded on the site of a former cotton plantation. And I saw that this idea, or this practice, this logic of transforming these sites of violence into something that is more liberatory and more emancipatory was really a strategy that Black people used throughout the US South and throughout the Caribbean. Throughout much of the Americas where slavery and the plantation had existed. I placed Tuskegee, and particularly its approach to agriculture, at the center of that story to demonstrate how an institution rooted in the US South is not backward. It's not pre-modern. That's firmly rural, but that rurality... they're taking the knowledge that's cultivated there and disseminating it to other Black people in other parts of the world to aid in their struggles toward freedom and citizenship. I think this is an important point to make. And I know we've had conversations about this as you were developing the book. And I'll just say again, out of my rural Southern agricultural background, I often found a sense that people thought, oh, well you must be backward. Oh, you must come from this... and that's not a good thing. I can only imagine that people of this time must have thought, well, shouldn't people want to move away from agriculture? Why would you want to be invested in this thing that was a part of former enslavement? How do you think about this in light of this notion of agrarian futures? You would think people would want to move away from that. What is your understanding of sort of this move towards agriculture and seeing this as something for the future and even modern. That's such a great question. And I, you know, I have to say that I came to agriculture relatively late in the project. I was initially most interested in what Tuskegee was doing with Black aesthetics: with photography and with music and with literature. I'm a literary scholar after all. But as I sat with Tuskegee's aesthetic output, I realized the significance of agriculture within that. And as I began to explore the ways that Tuskegee was being disseminated to other parts of the Black world, to places like Haiti, to places like Puerto Rico. And as they were admitting students from those particular colonies at that time. Now some of them are countries; Puerto Rico is still a territory. But I realized that what other Black people, both in the US South and abroad, were interested in was its agrarian vision. Was the work, the research that someone like George Washington Carver was doing at Tuskegee and as a mode of self-help. And so I really had to wrestle with that because it was outside of how I had conceived of agriculture. And in many ways, writing this book transformed my own understanding of what the modern was. And, you know, forced me to, or perhaps invited me, to think about agriculture to understand it as intellectual. To understand it certainly as a skill, in all of these ways that I had not really given much thought to it previously. But as I sat with George Washington Carver's bulletins. As I sat with Tuskegee's extension initiatives. As I sat with the knowledge that they were producing, the various print cultural artifacts, the newspapers. And again, the agricultural bulletins and so forth and so on. I realized, wait a minute. This is a site of knowledge production, and its modern up-to-date knowledge production that actually still has a lot of sound basis that can be used in contemporary agriculture to this very day. And so, it radically transformed my understanding of Tuskegee, of a figure like Booker T. Washington. who as we know, is a much-maligned figure in Black studies and American studies because of his conservative politics. But agriculture gave me another way into that institution and to think about, again, the significance of the cultural and intellectual contributions of the US South at this particular period. Thank you for that. I want to talk about a particular section of the text that has to do with both the agricultural philosophy, but also this idea of sharing information, and you've made some reference to it. So, I grew up, as I mentioned, going and being a part of the 4-H program, which was a part of the Cooperative Extension System. And Tuskegee, in many ways, helped form and helped inform what extension would look like. Which ultimately became a thing, federally, in 1914. But I want to read this one passage from your text, and you say: "In 1897, the state of Alabama passed legislation allocating $1,500 to establish an agricultural experiment station on campus. The station also known as the Experiment Plot." And plot is something you come back to. And I would love to hear your thoughts about this garden plot and the Experiment Plot and just the metaphor of plot throughout your text. "But the station also known as the Experiment Plot, was managed by George Washington Carver. Washington insisted that the experiment station ' should not be used for scientific experiments of interest only to experts. Should deal with the fundamental problems with which the Negro Farmers of Alabama were daily confronted.' The results of Carver's experiments were thus published in bulletins that were then distributed among farmers throughout Alabama and the broader US South." And then you go on and talking about the different courses that were made available. But I wanna get this one quote from the Tuskegee student. And you said the Tuskegee student observed: 'Tuskegee Institute is primarily a school for the masses of our people. Both old and young and in all degrees of development.' I mean, Tuskegee was doing something that other land grant institutions would eventually take on, is this idea of sharing knowledge and using this. As a means of uplift and I would say even citizen building. What are your thoughts about that sort of perspective? Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to try to wrap all of those questions up into one response. We'll see how successful I am. I know I gave you a lot. Well, one of the things that I wanted to say, that I did not get a chance to say in my response to your previous question is that, you know, the majority of African Americans lived in the South in this particular period. And many of them viewed agriculture as a viable future. And that was one of the aspects of, you know, doing research on this book that was transformative for me. Was understanding that they did not hold this same necessarily, sort of, denigrating attitudes toward agriculture. In part because the United States was largely agricultural writ large, right? [00:11:00] And so it was across the country, across the color line, was regarded as a viable pathway. But it is the case that Booker T. Washington was attempting to rebrand agriculture, to re-signify it. Because there were a number of African Americans who did not want to have anything to do with it because it reminded them of the degradation of slavery. And so, what Washington said was he said, hey, you know, that there's a distinction between working and being worked, right? Being worked means degradation. Working for oneself, right? Being independent is a mode of civilization, is what he argued. And so what I argue in the book is that Washington is attempting to resignify labor, to make it something that is regarded as self-proprietorial, right? And that is a necessary tool in not just labor but agricultural labor in particular. But we can add, I would say, industrial labor also as something that is self-proprietorial and that is a part of that citizenship making project. So, I wanted to be sure to home in on that aspect of your previous question. And then I think the way into this next question is to talk a little bit about the plot. The slave garden plot. So, this idea in the book, right? The subtitle is Plotting Agrarian Futures. And there are multiple residences of the plot throughout the book. But the easiest way to, sort of, describe it is that it is an elaboration on the slave garden plot. The patches of land that enslaved people could cultivate throughout the Americas to grow foods to nourish themselves, because the rations that were provided from the plantation owners, those rations were too meager, right? A number of scholars and theorists across disciplines have theorized that the slave garden plot was a site of resistance to the plantation system. In part because it is enabling them to survive, to live, to nourish their bodies, right? But also because of what they did on the plot, right? Not only growing food, but also perhaps growing flowers. There's one scholar who regards it as the botanical gardens of the dispossessed, right? And so this idea that on these garden plots where they could cultivate food for themselves, their time was their own. They weren't growing food for sale on the global market, necessarily, or other cash crops for sale in the global market. They were growing foods that perhaps have been a part of their diets in Africa. And in addition to that, they were engaging in communal practices, singing, dancing, and sometimes perhaps even plotting revolutions, right? Another valence of the plot. And so, a scholar like Sylvia Winter establishes a kind of dichotomy between the plot and the plantation under enslavement. And when I realized that Tuskegeeans were also trying to encourage Black folks to grow food, and in doing so helping them to circumvent the predatory practices of sharecropping, of tenant farming, that would have those sharecroppers and tenant farmers to buy their foods from the local commissary and to remain in cycles of debt. And that of course, that they had an experiment station that they called an Experiment Plot. I thought, okay, this is the post emancipation iteration of the slave garden plot. It stands as a counterpoint to the plantation system, and it is imbued with these logics and ethics of care. And one of those logics and ethics of care is the dissemination of knowledge, right? Ensuring that rural Black farmers who were perhaps too old to attend Tuskegee, or could not afford to do so, that they could come to campus and learn the most up-to-date agricultural knowledge, right? And for those who couldn't come to campus, to attend the Tuskegee Farmers Conference, they would take the Jessup Agricultural Wagon into the countryside and teach them about crop rotation. Teach them about how to grow certain food crops, right? Teach them about how to grow certain plants to beautify their homes and so forth and so on. And so I think about that dissemination of knowledge, right? Whether it's those farmers coming to campus or Tuskegee taking those ideas into the countryside, as an ethic of care that is connected to the way that the plot exists as a counter to the plantation. Yeah. Wow, this is really wonderful. I love how you're able to weave in this agricultural philosophy that had deep resonance with people of the rural American South. But you also saw this as something that moved beyond the borders of the American South, and thus in your subtitle, the Global Black South. How did Tuskegee get involved in this transnational sharing of knowledge, and working in the Caribbean, and particularly, Puerto Rico, Haiti? Tell us a little bit more about that experience. Absolutely. Absolutely. Tuskegee really began to recruit students from the broader diaspora in the latter part of the 19th Century. So, around 1897. Certainly, the Caribbean, certainly Cuba and Puerto Rico, following the Spanish American War. And Booker T. Washington sent a Tuskegee student who was actually fluent in Spanish into Florida, and then later on to Havana, to recruit students to Tuskegee. He understood, he believed, that because they were experiencing conditions that were very similar to African Americans, they too were responding to the afterlife of slavery in the plantation. Given that emancipation in Cuba and Puerto Rico, in particular had just occurred in the late 1880s, he believed that their conditions were very similar to those of African Americans and that they could benefit from agricultural and industrial education as well. And there was a reformer by the name of Grace Mins. She was based in Boston. And she ensured that Booker T. Washington's autobiography, Up From Slavery, was translated into Cuban Spanish. And then that autobiography was then disseminated. A thousand copies were disseminated throughout the island of Cuba. And so as a result of that, he inspired, or the model of self-help that Washington depicted in Up From Slavery, inspired a host of Afro-Cuban readers. Students and parents and government officials and educational officials then begin to write to Tuskegee, write to Washington, wanting entry into the school. It's also translated into French, right? And so, you have French readers, particularly in a place like Haiti coming to Tuskegee. Someone by the name of the Jean Price Mars, who was the foremost Haitian intellectual of the 20th Century, actually met Washington in France when Washington was traveling there on vacation and became inspired by that model. A year later, he comes to the United States to attend the 1904 World's Fair and then spends two weeks at Tuskegee, learning those ideas and wanting to take them back to Haiti. So, through translation, right? Into different languages, those ideas then circulate throughout the Black world, but also through efforts to actively recruit students from those other places that Washington understood as experiencing a similar condition as African Americans. People whom he understood could benefit, he believed, could benefit from agricultural and industrial education. Great. And one of the things I loved in the way you talked about this in the text is you talked about not only translation but transplantation. And I thought that was an interesting turn of phrase because of what you were trying to communicate through that term. I want to, sort of, bring us up to some things that are currently happening. We just had a conference and you were a participant on a panel on humanistic issues around addressing food waste. And I've got to say, this was one of the panels that people really leaned into, that were really caught up by it. And you made some really insightful interventions based on some of the work that you've done in your book. So, you spoke about the anti-waste ethos at Tuskegee and I really found that interesting. Could you speak to that for a moment? Absolutely. Well, first I want to say thank you again for the opportunity to participate in that symposium. I really enjoyed it, and it really gave me an opportunity to think about various dimensions of a kind of anti-waste ethos at Tuskegee. And I think that there are a couple of different ways in which it manifested at the institution. So first there's a kind of metaphorical dimension to waste at Tuskegee. When Booker T. Washington writes to George Washington Carver to hire him, to recruit him to the institution. He said, I can't pay you a lot of money, but we have been tasked with helping to transform formerly enslaved people from conditions of waste to full manhood. Right? And so there is that sort of metaphorical, or what I would argue in the book is a kind of ontological understanding of waste, given the degraded status of the enslaved. And then there's a kind of philosophical dimension to waste as well. One, so Washington, Tuskegee, they are informed by the progressive era, right? It's a progressive era institution that's guided by a commitment to thrift and economy. And so, they're very much interested in a kind of practical attitude toward not being wasteful, right? To being thrifty with money, but also with resources. And what we see is, you know, complaints about food waste in the dining hall at Tuskegee, right? A very practical issue for a poor rural institution wherein the students are growing the food, right? Wherein the students are making the bricks, right? Are helping to transform this plantation into a school. We can't afford to waste food, right? But they're also teaching students and Black folks in the countryside how to preserve fruits and vegetables. There are these photographs of them teaching folks how to can and preserve fruits and veggies, right? To ensure that they have food throughout the winter months, so that they are not stricken by hunger and poverty and starvation. So that they aren't forced to borrow additional money from the plantation owners if they are indeed in sharecropping and tenant farming arrangements. And so, the last aspect I suppose of waste at Tuskegee that I want to highlight here is a kind of ecological one. Where in George Washington Carver is calling on farmers to take advantage of the quote unquote waste that is on their farms, right? The cow manure, right? To regenerate the soil. The swamp muck, right? The dead leaves, the night soil; to use that waste to regenerate the soil, to replenish it, right? In addition to practices of crop rotation and so forth and so on. And so that ecological dimension of waste is really important for understanding Tuskegee's ecological vision. I think this is so important because conversations around regenerative agriculture, and going back to, sort of, broader notions of traditional farming practices, minimizing the use of chemicals, people were talking about this. Folks like Carver were trying to find ways of using very little resources to help support the growers that he worked with. And we're hearing these echoes again and again. I'm so grateful that you illuminated that throughout your text. Thank you. I am not the only one who seems to have appreciated that because you won the 2026 Association for the study of African American Life and History Book Prize and the 2025 On the Brink book Award from the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning. Why do you think this narrative of agricultural liberation is resonating with people so strongly? You know, first of all, Norbert, I just have to say how honored I am that the book has received these recognitions. And that it's finding its audiences. Audiences that I couldn't have imagined. Imagine my seeing my face when I opened the email to see that it had been acknowledged by both of these institutions. But especially the architecture and planning. I thought, oh my goodness. I, could not have, I could not have imagined this. So, I just want to say that I'm grateful first and foremost. You know, as I've been talking to people, you know, and as I've been moving around and talking to readers at my book tour, or people have been writing to me via email, what I've found is that the historians really appreciate the archival richness, and robustness of the text, right? So, the historians, the literary scholars, they really appreciate that aspect of the book. Many people, I think, also really appreciate the fact that it is giving us a new way to think about Tuskegee and Booker T. Washington. A place and a person who we thought we knew, right? And not in a flat way; a way that holds the complexity of that institution in place. And throughout the text, I really try to wrestle with the critiques, the valid and legitimate critiques that are coming from people like Ida B. Wells Barnett, and WEB Du Bois, about the limits of Booker T. Washington's political philosophy. But at the same time, I say, but if we don't acknowledge what they were doing through agriculture and by extension through aesthetics, then we're missing a really important part of this story, right? And I think that the book is giving us a model for thinking about how to engage in criticism that is both generative and productive, I suppose, right? Like how do we hold them to a particular standard where we say, you know, here are the limits of your political vision, but at the same time, this is what you enabled, right? And that's what the text is trying to do. And I think, you know, others have shared that they appreciate that it honors the intelligence and sophistication and dignity of Black rural people, of Black Southerners, who in my opinion, are often written out of Black studies in a way that is substantive. In a way that honors their contributions, especially in this period. The South is a space that people are simply fleeing from because of Jim Crow. And I'm saying, wait, what about the people who remain rooted in the land, on the land, either in the US South or in other sort of rural places throughout the diaspora. And then finally, I think that the book seems to be connecting to people who really care about our world. Who really care about the state of environmental degradation that we have found ourselves in as a result of institutions like the plantation, of monocrop agriculture, of industrialization in the way that it abuses, and misuses the earth. And so, because the book is invested in thinking about regeneration and repair, and about more sustainable methods from the past that can be useful for our present. I think that it seems to be connecting with readers who are interested in issues like climate change and environmental catastrophe. So that's what I suspect, based on some of the feedback that I have received. But I just want to reiterate just how grateful I am that it is finding its audience. BIO Jarvis C. McInnis holds a BA in English from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Ph.D. in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University in the City of New York. Jarvis is an interdisciplinary scholar of African American & African Diaspora literature and culture, with teaching and research interests in the global south (primarily the US South and the Caribbean), sound studies, performance studies, and visual culture. Jarvis's research has been supported by numerous grants and fellowships, including the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral and Dissertation Fellowships, and Princeton University's Department of African American Studies postdoctoral fellowship. His work appears or is forthcoming in journals and venues such as Callaloo, MELUS, Mississippi Quarterly, Public Books, and The Global South.
This week we talk about the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and decapitation attacks.We also discuss Venezuela, Iran, and the Platt Amendment.Recommended Book: The Will of the Many by James IslingtonTranscriptCuba is a large island nation, about the same size as the US state of Tennessee, which formally gained its independence from Spain in late 1898, following three wars of independence, the last of which brought the US, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines into play against the Spanish when the Spanish military sunk the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, triggering the Spanish-American War.That conflict, which Spain lost, led to the US's acquisition of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and it led to a piece of US legislation called the Platt Amendment, which redefined the relationship between the US and Cuba, following the war, making Cuba a protectorate of the United States, the US promising to leave, withdrawing its troops from Cuban soil, only if seven conditions were met, and an additional provision that Cuba sign a treaty indicating they would continue to adhere to these conditions moving forward—making them permanent.Most of these conditions relate to Cuba's ability to enter into relationships with other nations, but provision three also says the US can intervene if doing so will preserve Cuban independence, and that Cuba will sell or lease to the US the land it needs to base its naval vessels in the area, so that it can intervene, militarily if necessary, to keep Cuba independent.The other provisions are largely related to ensuring Cuba stays financially solvent and clean, the former meant to help maintain that independence, so Cuba doesn't make deals with other nations, perhaps US enemies, in order to bail itself out when financially in trouble, and the latter meant to help prevent the bubbling up of diseases in a not well-maintained Cuba, that might then spread to the US.These concerns were concerns for the US government because Cuba is very, very close to the US. It's just over 90 miles away from Key West, Florida, and that means in the mind of those tasked with defending the US against foreign incursion, Cuba has long represented an uncontrolled variable where enemies could conceivably base all sorts of military assets, including but not limited to nuclear weapons.That makes Cuba, again, in the minds of defense strategists looking to help the US secure its borders, long-term, something like an aircraft carrier slash nuclear submarine the size of Tennessee, located so close to the US that it could take out all sorts of major assets in a flash, long before the US could respond, getting the same sorts of strike craft and missiles to the Soviet Union.This framing of the situation, and this collection of concerns, is what led to the Cuban Missile Crisis back in 1962, when the US deployed nuclear weapons in the UK, Italy, and Turkey, all of which were closer to major Soviet hubs than the US, and that led to a tit-for-tat move by the Soviets to deploy nuclear missiles to Cuba, both to get their own weapons closer to the US, just as the US did to them with those new deployments, but also to deter a potential US invasion of Cuba, which was a staunch ally of the Soviet Union.The crisis lasted 13 days, and though then US President Kennedy was advised to launch an air strike against Soviet missile supplies, and to then invade the Cuban mainland to prevent the basing of Soviet nuclear weapons there, he instead opted for a naval blockade of Cuba, hoping to keep more missile supplies from arriving, and to thus avoid a strike on a Soviet ally that could accidentally spark a shooting war.After this nearly two-week standoff, the US and Soviet leaders agreed that the Soviets would dismantle the offensive weapons they were building in Cuba in exchange for a public declaration by the US to not invade Cuba. The US also secretly pledged to dismantle its own offensive weapons that it had recently deployed to Italy and Turkey, and the weapons they deployed to the UK were also disbanded the following year.This sequence of events is generally seen as a minor victory for the US during an especially fraught portion of the Cold War, as that secret agreement between Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev meant that the Soviet people and leadership perceived this agreement as an embarrassing loss, and an example of Soviet weakness on the international stage—they blinked and the US got what they wanted without giving much of anything, though of course, again, the US gave a fair bit too, just in secret.What I'd like to talk about today is a recent escalation in the US's posture toward Cuba, and what might happen next, as a result of that change.—In early January 2026, the US military, ostensibly as part of a larger effort aimed at disrupting a network of watercraft that carry drugs from mostly South and Central American drugmakers across the border, into US markets, called Operation Southern Spear, the United States implemented a new blockade aimed at sanctioned oil tankers carrying fuel from Venezuela to, among other destinations, Cuban ports.Shortly before this blockade was declared, the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, then harassed, boarded, and intimidated other tankers, including one from Russia, that were also dealing in Venezuelan oil—something that US sanctions disallowed, and which the Trump administration had decided to focus on, ostensibly as part of that anti-drug effort, but also seemingly as part of a then-impending mission to kidnap Venezuelan President Maduro, who was then secreted away to the US to face trial, which is where he is, today.These seizures hit Cuba especially hard because the country is highly reliant on all sorts of imports, much of its income derived from tourism, not manufacturing or raw materials, and fuel coming from Venezuela was especially vital—about 72% of Cuba's electricity generation comes from oil-fueled power plants, and basically its entire transportation section is reliant on the same.Venezuela under Maduro also provided oil to Cuba at a discount, subsidizing it because those US sanctions didn't allow Venezuela to have many other reliable customers, and because the authoritarian governments of these two nations saw each other as fellow-travelers in the region, and thus wanted to keep each other propped up against constant pressure from the US and other democracies in the Americas.As of March 2026, Cuba has gone without crude oil deliveries for three months, and this has led to waves of flight cancellations and a depletion of tourism, which again, is the country's most vital income source. As of mid-March, Cuba's energy grid has also collapsed, which has left about 10 million people without power most of the time, amplifying existing problems caused by the country's antiquated energy generation and distribution systems.All of which seems to be according to plan for the second US Trump administration, which announced, as far back as January of this year, that it was seeking regime change in Cuba, and these blackouts have triggered exceedingly rare violent protests against that regime by Cuban citizens; these protests haven't led to any real change or consequences yet, but they could, with time.For their part, the Cuban government has said they've entered diplomatic talks with the US, and they've already agreed to release 51 political prisoners, just as an up-front, good will gesture. But they've also said changes to the Cuban political system or government—which is an authoritarian regime with absolute power, and which, like most such regimes, is openly corrupt, those in charge enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else, while keeping control via state-sanctioned violence against its own citizens—they've said changing that is non-negotiable, also noting that if there is direct aggression against Cuba by the US, they'll fight and offer up “impenetrable resistance.'The change that the US government seeks is reportedly similar to what was accomplished in Venezuela: booting the current leader, but keeping the existing regime, the power behind the publicly visible throne, intact, and then the US government influencing that existing regime from afar.This deviates from the assumed model, attempted by previous US and other governments throughout history, to boot the leaders of opposing government types and then replace them, and the local system, with something closer to their own. This new approach is possibly what the Trump administration is aiming for in Iran, as well, though it's difficult to say how well the model will work even in Venezuela, where it's still early days after the US's seemingly successful decapitation attack, much less in places like Cuba, where there's no single central power in the public-facing government, much of that power spread between Communist Party leaders, rather than hoarded by a single individual—a far cry from how things were under Castro during the Cold War.As of the day I'm recording this, there's a new wrinkle in this blockade: a Russian oil tanker has been tracked heading along a trajectory that would seem to lead to Cuba, which, if accurate, could put the US and Russia at odds over deliveries to the island once more—though in this case it would be oil instead of offensive nuclear weapons that are on board the incursionary vessel.This ship may veer off that current course and head elsewhere, or it could be meant to test the US oil blockade, intentionally poking at what seems to be an impenetrable barrier, to see if it's all just talk. Even if just that one tanker makes it through, it's carrying enough oil to provide about a week's worth of energy to the Cuban people, which could serve as a sort of release valve on the pressure-cooker stress that has led to the aforementioned protests against the government.Most analysts expect this and future vessels will turn off when formally confronted, though, and this isn't the first ship that's attempted to break this new blockade of Cuba; and previous attempters have indeed pulled off before a shot was fired by the blockading fleet.Trump has in recent weeks said that he believes he'll be able to take Cuba, and/or do whatever he wants to the island and its people, and that could just be talk, or it could be that, like in Venezuela, and to some degree Iran, many of the locals would welcome that kind of change, despite the violence and suffering that would no doubt come with it.In the meantime, though, millions of Cubans are going without reliable energy, food, medical care, and other modern necessities, which could push them to take the risk of revolutionary action, but it could also turn them against the outside enemy, reinforcing support for the tyrannical Cuban government against the harmful and oppressive actions of the American military, rather than nudging them into government overthrow.Show Noteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platt_Amendmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cubahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cuban_crisishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisishttps://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cubas-national-electric-grid-collapses-says-grid-operator-2026-03-16https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/world/americas/cuba-fuel-blockade-aid-convoy.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/travel/cuba-flights-travel-advice-power-oil.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-says-its-presidents-term-not-subject-negotiation-talks-with-us-2026-03-20/https://www.dw.com/en/cuba-faces-economic-collapse-as-us-oil-blockade-hits-tourism/video-76398387 This is a public episode. 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One of the most striking developments during the Iran war has been the reappearance of something that used to define American media a century ago: yellow journalism. Historically, the term referred to sensationalized reporting that prioritized outrage and emotion over accuracy, often using thin sourcing and dramatic narratives to mobilize public opinion. The Spanish–American War, famously fueled by headlines like “Remember the Maine,” is the classic example.Today the structure is different, but the incentives are remarkably similar. Instead of a handful of powerful newspaper publishers driving the narrative, the modern system is decentralized. Social media users, influencers, and coordinated networks can amplify stories through algorithms until traditional outlets feel compelled to cover them simply because they are trending.All of this results in feedback loop. A rumor or distorted piece of information circulates online, gets boosted within a particular political community, and eventually becomes a topic of mainstream reporting. At that point the original claim, even if false, has successfully entered the public conversation.Politics Politics Politics is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The Five Tribes of the Iran WarThis dynamic is especially powerful because the online political ecosystem is already divided into ideological “tribes” that interpret events through their own narratives.On the left, there is what might be called the new resistance, Democrats who see every development in the war primarily through the lens of whether it helps or hurts Donald Trump politically. Alongside them sits the progressive anti-war faction, deeply skeptical of Israel and convinced the conflict validates their warnings about American interventionism.On the right, the divide is just as sharp. One faction could be described as the Gnostic MAGA movement, a group of populist conservatives who believe Trump has betrayed the movement's core promises by engaging in foreign conflict. In contrast, another faction believes Trump is right about everything, arguing that the war's early results show his strategy is working and that critics are panicking too early.Then there is a final group: the “maybe this time Trump” neoconservatives, longtime critics of the former president who nevertheless support aggressive action against Iran and therefore find themselves, temporarily, aligned with his policy.These communities overlap in complicated ways, but each one is primed to amplify certain narratives that confirm its worldview.How a Rumor Becomes “News”The mechanics of modern yellow journalism often begin with a small piece of truth that can be exaggerated or distorted. Once it is framed in a way that triggers emotional reactions inside one or more of these ideological tribes, the story spreads rapidly through reposts, commentary, and algorithmic amplification.Eventually, the rumor becomes so widely discussed that major media outlets cover it, sometimes simply to debunk it. But by that point the narrative has already achieved its goal: it has entered mainstream awareness and eroded trust in competing sources of information.In wartime, this dynamic becomes even more powerful. Governments themselves may benefit from confusion, exaggeration, or competing narratives. The battlefield isn't just physical territory, but also public perception.The deeper challenge is that the modern information ecosystem has no central referee. In the past, editors at major newspapers could decide what was credible enough to print. Today, social media algorithms and online communities perform that role collectively, often rewarding the most emotionally compelling stories rather than the most accurate ones.That means the burden increasingly falls on individuals to filter information themselves. If a story makes people furious or ecstatic instantly, that reaction is often a sign to pause before sharing it.A New Information EraThe Iran war may eventually be remembered not only for its military consequences but also for what it revealed about the way modern media operates. The sensationalism that once drove early twentieth-century newspaper empires has reappeared in a decentralized, digital form.Yellow journalism never disappeared — it's just changed and evolved to keep up with modern times. And in the middle of a war, its power to shape public perception may be greater than ever.Chapters00:00:00 - Intro00:02:14 - Susie Wiles00:03:38 - DHS Shutdown00:04:33 - Yellow Journalism in the Iran War Era00:29:10 - Iranian Security Chief Killed00:33:15 - Joe Kent00:39:29 - Texas AI Ad00:41:32 - Reese Gorman on Texas and Oklahoma01:12:27 - Wrap-up This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe
The story of the Spanish American War continues. In this episode we focus on the actions of the US Army and Navy in the aftermath of General Shafter's first moves. After capturing El Caney and San Juan Hill, the Spanish squadron that was in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba left their anchorage to face the Americans. In a lopsided fight, the American victory effectively marked the end of the Cuban campaign. Despite Shafter's own reservations concerning the siege of Santiago, facing insurmountable issues of their own, the Spanish garrison capitulated rather than fight to the death. Take a listen! Have a question, comment, concern, or compliment? Contact us at americawarpodcast@gmail.com. You can also leave comments and your questions on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/americaatwarpodcast/. Thanks for listening!
University of Louisville history professor Matthew Goldberg chronicles the 1898 Spanish-American War, fought primarily in Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
America spent most of the 19th century at war with itself. It conquered its western expanse then collapsed into civil war. Once the North beat the South, partisan politics consumed the country for a generation. A string of assassinations, progressive firebrands, and civil service reforms burned people out on domestic politics and a bored and febrile nation began to search for meaning beyond its borders. It noticed the Spanish Empire was awfully close.In Splendid Liberators, award winning journalist Joe Jackson chronicles the beginning of the American myth of the “good war.” He's on the show today to talk to us about Teddy Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and a general who lay in state at the Alamo.Recurring patterns in American historyRoscoe Conkling jumpscareRemnants of the Spanish-American War in South CarolinaWhat did liberty mean in the 19th century?Clara Barton, Leonard Wood and the dual American personalityThe first modern concentration campsThe Battleship of MaineWhen Congress used to fight, physicallyDrones won't win a warThe US in the Philippines‘The water cure'American historians facing reality in the PhilippinesTeddy, finallyLaying in state at the AlamoBuy Splendid LiberatorsA Defense of General FunstonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What if the real divide in our country isn't left versus right, but healed versus sick—and only one side is willing to admit it? We start with Mark's account of Jesus calling Levi and sitting at a table with tax collectors, then press into what that scandal means for a world obsessed with purity tests and public posturing. If the physician goes to the sick, then humility isn't weakness; it's the doorway to change. That lens reframes our debates on power, policy, and personal responsibility.From there we tackle the friction around Proverbs 31. Instead of a slogan, we see a portrait of vocation, commerce, and care ordered around family and the fear of the Lord. The point isn't to mimic men or chase applause; it's to prize faithfulness over sameness. We connect that to Jesus' Sabbath clashes—harvesting grain for the hungry and healing a withered hand—to show why mercy fulfills the law's purpose. Rules without compassion become weapons; compassion without truth becomes drift. The narrow path holds both.We widen the frame with hard history and honest warnings: the Bali bombings as a reminder of ideologies that feed on chaos, a Medal of Honor moment that spotlights quiet courage, and Jonathan Mayhew's charge against tyranny that deadens minds and arts alike. Then we ask what truly makes a people: borders, language, and culture—and, deeper still, the habits of repentance that shape hearts and homes. Renewal won't come from outrage or ritual alone. It begins where the Psalms point us: a visible turn from evil and a steady trust in God's unfailing love.Join us to reflect, push back on easy answers, and recover a vision where character outlasts beauty, mercy outranks ritual, and repentance is not a talking point but a way of life. If this conversation helps you think or pray more clearly, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so others can find it.#JonathanMayhew #DailyScripture #KutaBaliSupport the showThe American Soul Podcasthttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribe Countryside Book Series https://www.amazon.com/Countryside-Book-J-T-Cope-IV-ebook/dp/B00MPIXOB2
Ask an American intelligence officer to tell you when the country started doing modern intelligence and you will probably hear something about the Office of Strategic Services in World War II or the National Security Act of 1947 and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. What you almost certainly will not hear is anything about World War I. In World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence (UP of Kansas, 2023), Mark Stout establishes that, in fact, World War I led to the realization that intelligence was indispensable in both wartime and peacetime. After a lengthy gestation that started in the late nineteenth century, and included important episode like the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, modern American intelligence emerged during World War I. The War was foundational in the establishment of a self-conscious profession of intelligence. Virtually everything that followed was maturation, reorganization, reinvigoration, or reinvention. World War I ushered in a period of rapid changes. Never again would the War Department be without an intelligence component. Never again would a senior American commander lead a force to war without intelligence personnel on their staff. Never again would the United States government be without a signals intelligence agency or aerial reconnaissance capability. Stout examines the breadth of American intelligence in the war, not just in France, not just at home, but around the world and across the army, navy, and State Department, and demonstrates how these far-flung efforts endured after the Armistice in 1918. For the first time, there came to be a group of intelligence practitioners who viewed themselves as different from other soldiers, sailors, and diplomats. Upon entering World War II, the United States had a solid foundation from which to expand to meet the needs of another global hot war and the Cold War that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Ask an American intelligence officer to tell you when the country started doing modern intelligence and you will probably hear something about the Office of Strategic Services in World War II or the National Security Act of 1947 and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. What you almost certainly will not hear is anything about World War I. In World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence (UP of Kansas, 2023), Mark Stout establishes that, in fact, World War I led to the realization that intelligence was indispensable in both wartime and peacetime. After a lengthy gestation that started in the late nineteenth century, and included important episode like the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, modern American intelligence emerged during World War I. The War was foundational in the establishment of a self-conscious profession of intelligence. Virtually everything that followed was maturation, reorganization, reinvigoration, or reinvention. World War I ushered in a period of rapid changes. Never again would the War Department be without an intelligence component. Never again would a senior American commander lead a force to war without intelligence personnel on their staff. Never again would the United States government be without a signals intelligence agency or aerial reconnaissance capability. Stout examines the breadth of American intelligence in the war, not just in France, not just at home, but around the world and across the army, navy, and State Department, and demonstrates how these far-flung efforts endured after the Armistice in 1918. For the first time, there came to be a group of intelligence practitioners who viewed themselves as different from other soldiers, sailors, and diplomats. Upon entering World War II, the United States had a solid foundation from which to expand to meet the needs of another global hot war and the Cold War that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
Ask an American intelligence officer to tell you when the country started doing modern intelligence and you will probably hear something about the Office of Strategic Services in World War II or the National Security Act of 1947 and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. What you almost certainly will not hear is anything about World War I. In World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence (UP of Kansas, 2023), Mark Stout establishes that, in fact, World War I led to the realization that intelligence was indispensable in both wartime and peacetime. After a lengthy gestation that started in the late nineteenth century, and included important episode like the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, modern American intelligence emerged during World War I. The War was foundational in the establishment of a self-conscious profession of intelligence. Virtually everything that followed was maturation, reorganization, reinvigoration, or reinvention. World War I ushered in a period of rapid changes. Never again would the War Department be without an intelligence component. Never again would a senior American commander lead a force to war without intelligence personnel on their staff. Never again would the United States government be without a signals intelligence agency or aerial reconnaissance capability. Stout examines the breadth of American intelligence in the war, not just in France, not just at home, but around the world and across the army, navy, and State Department, and demonstrates how these far-flung efforts endured after the Armistice in 1918. For the first time, there came to be a group of intelligence practitioners who viewed themselves as different from other soldiers, sailors, and diplomats. Upon entering World War II, the United States had a solid foundation from which to expand to meet the needs of another global hot war and the Cold War that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science
Ask an American intelligence officer to tell you when the country started doing modern intelligence and you will probably hear something about the Office of Strategic Services in World War II or the National Security Act of 1947 and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. What you almost certainly will not hear is anything about World War I. In World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence (UP of Kansas, 2023), Mark Stout establishes that, in fact, World War I led to the realization that intelligence was indispensable in both wartime and peacetime. After a lengthy gestation that started in the late nineteenth century, and included important episode like the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, modern American intelligence emerged during World War I. The War was foundational in the establishment of a self-conscious profession of intelligence. Virtually everything that followed was maturation, reorganization, reinvigoration, or reinvention. World War I ushered in a period of rapid changes. Never again would the War Department be without an intelligence component. Never again would a senior American commander lead a force to war without intelligence personnel on their staff. Never again would the United States government be without a signals intelligence agency or aerial reconnaissance capability. Stout examines the breadth of American intelligence in the war, not just in France, not just at home, but around the world and across the army, navy, and State Department, and demonstrates how these far-flung efforts endured after the Armistice in 1918. For the first time, there came to be a group of intelligence practitioners who viewed themselves as different from other soldiers, sailors, and diplomats. Upon entering World War II, the United States had a solid foundation from which to expand to meet the needs of another global hot war and the Cold War that followed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/national-security
For a few months in 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. This essentially marked the end of the Spanish Empire and the beginning of the U.S. as a world power. As a result of this brief war, Theodore Roosevelt became president, Cuba became an independent country, Puerto Rico and Guam became American territories, and the U.S. occupied the Philippines for 48 years. That occupation led to the much longer Philippine-American War (1899-1902).
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a pivotal time for the United States as the nation emerged as a political and industrial powerhouse and fashioned its new value system. Amid waves of emigration and evolving cultural exchanges, Italy's relationship with America became a complex tapestry of admiration, critique, and adaptation. This study of Italy's Americanism explores social debates within Italy regarding emigration, the development of a Columbian narrative, European reactions to the Spanish-American War, the impact of American products on Italian society, and former US president Woodrow Wilson's military intervention and political propaganda during the First World War. It highlights discussions among Italians about the implications of emigration, contrasting prevailing negative views with a counter-narrative from Italian journalists, scholars, and missionaries who visited the United States. The negotiation of US imports and their incorporation into the Italian national context document the formation of a distinct American subculture and the early phases of the nation's Americanization. The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919 (University of Toronto Press, 2025) provides a unique perspective to assess the early stages of America's “soft” expansion, as the flow of departing and returning emigrants made Italy a favourable terrain for commercial penetration in Europe, transforming an export ideology into a complex network of transatlantic relations. Luca Cottini, PhD, is an associate professor of Italian in Villanova University. He is also the creator of the popular Youtube channel, Italian Innovators. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a pivotal time for the United States as the nation emerged as a political and industrial powerhouse and fashioned its new value system. Amid waves of emigration and evolving cultural exchanges, Italy's relationship with America became a complex tapestry of admiration, critique, and adaptation. This study of Italy's Americanism explores social debates within Italy regarding emigration, the development of a Columbian narrative, European reactions to the Spanish-American War, the impact of American products on Italian society, and former US president Woodrow Wilson's military intervention and political propaganda during the First World War. It highlights discussions among Italians about the implications of emigration, contrasting prevailing negative views with a counter-narrative from Italian journalists, scholars, and missionaries who visited the United States. The negotiation of US imports and their incorporation into the Italian national context document the formation of a distinct American subculture and the early phases of the nation's Americanization. The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919 (University of Toronto Press, 2025) provides a unique perspective to assess the early stages of America's “soft” expansion, as the flow of departing and returning emigrants made Italy a favourable terrain for commercial penetration in Europe, transforming an export ideology into a complex network of transatlantic relations. Luca Cottini, PhD, is an associate professor of Italian in Villanova University. He is also the creator of the popular Youtube channel, Italian Innovators. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a pivotal time for the United States as the nation emerged as a political and industrial powerhouse and fashioned its new value system. Amid waves of emigration and evolving cultural exchanges, Italy's relationship with America became a complex tapestry of admiration, critique, and adaptation. This study of Italy's Americanism explores social debates within Italy regarding emigration, the development of a Columbian narrative, European reactions to the Spanish-American War, the impact of American products on Italian society, and former US president Woodrow Wilson's military intervention and political propaganda during the First World War. It highlights discussions among Italians about the implications of emigration, contrasting prevailing negative views with a counter-narrative from Italian journalists, scholars, and missionaries who visited the United States. The negotiation of US imports and their incorporation into the Italian national context document the formation of a distinct American subculture and the early phases of the nation's Americanization. The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919 (University of Toronto Press, 2025) provides a unique perspective to assess the early stages of America's “soft” expansion, as the flow of departing and returning emigrants made Italy a favourable terrain for commercial penetration in Europe, transforming an export ideology into a complex network of transatlantic relations. Luca Cottini, PhD, is an associate professor of Italian in Villanova University. He is also the creator of the popular Youtube channel, Italian Innovators. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a pivotal time for the United States as the nation emerged as a political and industrial powerhouse and fashioned its new value system. Amid waves of emigration and evolving cultural exchanges, Italy's relationship with America became a complex tapestry of admiration, critique, and adaptation. This study of Italy's Americanism explores social debates within Italy regarding emigration, the development of a Columbian narrative, European reactions to the Spanish-American War, the impact of American products on Italian society, and former US president Woodrow Wilson's military intervention and political propaganda during the First World War. It highlights discussions among Italians about the implications of emigration, contrasting prevailing negative views with a counter-narrative from Italian journalists, scholars, and missionaries who visited the United States. The negotiation of US imports and their incorporation into the Italian national context document the formation of a distinct American subculture and the early phases of the nation's Americanization. The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919 (University of Toronto Press, 2025) provides a unique perspective to assess the early stages of America's “soft” expansion, as the flow of departing and returning emigrants made Italy a favourable terrain for commercial penetration in Europe, transforming an export ideology into a complex network of transatlantic relations. Luca Cottini, PhD, is an associate professor of Italian in Villanova University. He is also the creator of the popular Youtube channel, Italian Innovators. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries marked a pivotal time for the United States as the nation emerged as a political and industrial powerhouse and fashioned its new value system. Amid waves of emigration and evolving cultural exchanges, Italy's relationship with America became a complex tapestry of admiration, critique, and adaptation. This study of Italy's Americanism explores social debates within Italy regarding emigration, the development of a Columbian narrative, European reactions to the Spanish-American War, the impact of American products on Italian society, and former US president Woodrow Wilson's military intervention and political propaganda during the First World War. It highlights discussions among Italians about the implications of emigration, contrasting prevailing negative views with a counter-narrative from Italian journalists, scholars, and missionaries who visited the United States. The negotiation of US imports and their incorporation into the Italian national context document the formation of a distinct American subculture and the early phases of the nation's Americanization. The Rise of Americanism in Italy, 1888-1919 (University of Toronto Press, 2025) provides a unique perspective to assess the early stages of America's “soft” expansion, as the flow of departing and returning emigrants made Italy a favourable terrain for commercial penetration in Europe, transforming an export ideology into a complex network of transatlantic relations. Luca Cottini, PhD, is an associate professor of Italian in Villanova University. He is also the creator of the popular Youtube channel, Italian Innovators. Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
Award-winning nonfiction writer and former investigative journalist Joe Jackson joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about President Trump's “Don-roe Doctrine” and his imperial ambitions in Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland, and beyond. Jackson, the author of a new book, Splendid Liberators: Heroism, Betrayal, Resistance, and The Birth of American Empire, explains how Trump's plan relies on the template set by the Spanish-American War, through which the U.S. rose as a world power and ended Spanish rule in the Western Hemisphere. Jackson sheds light on the rhetoric that fueled the war, as well as the violent history of U.S. military interference in Cuba and the Philippines. Jackson takes us through iterations of the Monroe Doctrine and outlines the impact of that philosophy on Trump's desire for imperial expansion as well as his authoritarian control domestically, in cities like Minneapolis. He discusses how the Spanish-American War served as a turning point for America's soul, including writers of the time, and how it birthed a culture of war that has continued to impact the nation, its citizens, and the world ever since. Jackson reads from Splendid Liberators.To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/This podcast is produced by V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell.Joe JacksonThe Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of EmpireAtlantic Fever: Lindbergh, His Competitors, and the Race to Cross the AtlanticBlack Elk: The Life of an American VisionaryOther Books:The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen CraneThe Winning of the West, Volumes 1-4, by Theodore RooseveltCarl SandburgMcTeague by Norris"The Storytellers of Empire" by Kamila Shamsie – Guernica Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T.E. LawrenceJose Marti Reader: Writings on the AmericasNoli mi Tangere (Touch Me Not) by Jose RizalOn the Origin of Species by Charles DarwinCuba in Wartime by Richard Harding DavisThe Essential Frank Norris, incl. The OctopusWinesburg, Ohio by Sherwood AndersonOther Links:Society of American HistoriansWestern Writers of AmericaTrue West MagazineMonroe Doctrine (1823, archive.gov)Roosevelt Corollary (19o5, archive.gov)“Manifest Destiny” by John Fiske, March 1885 Harper's Magazine Archives (subscription to read)Trump's Manifest Destiny - Project SyndicateLibrary of Congress: “Remember the Maine!”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Football Legend Who Traded the Ivy League for the Front Lines: The Story of Johnnie PoeIn the middle of a major winter storm, with classes canceled and the wind howling outside, it's easy to find your mind wandering toward the macabre—perhaps to a certain Edgar Allan Poe story like The Cask of Amontillado. But while most of us associate the name Poe with gothic poetry and raven-themed football teams, there is a far more "rough and tumble" legacy attached to the family name.On a recent episode of the Pig Pen podcast, Darin Hayes sat down with Timothy Brown of Football Archaeology to discuss a man who was a second cousin twice removed from the famous poet: the legendary Johnny Poe.A Princeton DynastyJohnnie Poe was the third of six brothers who played for Princeton University between 1882 and 1901. In an era where the Ivy League was the epicenter of the sport, the Poes were football royalty. Johnny himself was a standout during the 1891 and 1892 seasons, consistently ranking as one of the team's top scorers.However, Johnnie Poe wasn't your typical Ivy League student. He wasn't destined for the quiet life of a district attorney or a businessman like his brothers. He was a man who marched to the beat of a much louder, more dangerous drum.The Wanderer and the WarriorAfter dropping out of Princeton following his sophomore year, Johnnie's life read like an adventure novel. He spent time:Coaching: Leading the teams at the University of Virginia and Navy.Laboring: Mining for gold in the Yukon and working as a cowboy in New Mexico.Soldiering: Seeking action wherever he could find it.Johnnie's thirst for combat was legendary. He joined the Maryland militia for the Spanish-American War (but saw no action), joined the Army to fight in the Philippines (still no action), and even joined the Marines during the Panamanian Revolution. He finally "found his calling" fighting in the Honduran Army, where he finally saw the direct combat he craved.A Hero's End in the "Black Watch"When World War I broke out, Johnnie didn't wait for the United States to enter the fray. He traveled to Europe and joined the British Army. Unsatisfied with being an artilleryman behind the lines, he transferred to the Black Watch, the famous Scottish Highlander regiment.In 1915, during a fierce battle near Ypres in Flanders, Johnnie Poe was killed in action. He was shot in the stomach, and due to the chaotic nature of the conflict, his body was never recovered. He remains "out there" somewhere in the fields of France or Belgium—a fittingly mysterious end for a relative of Edgar Allan Poe.A Lasting LegacyJohnnie Poe's impact on Princeton football didn't end with his death. Even before the U.S. officially joined WWI, Princeton established the John Poe Award for the team's top player. Today, after being combined with another legend's name, it is known as the Poe-Kazmaier Trophy.It's a remarkable testament to a man who was respected by everyone from common soldiers to future presidents (he once spent an hour talking football on the practice field with then-Princeton President Woodrow Wilson).Whether you find him brave, reckless, or a bit of both, Johnny Poe remains one of the most fascinating figures in the intersection of sports and military history.For more deep dives into the forgotten stories of the gridiron, visit FootballArchaeology.com or find Timothy...
In this essential episode of Unleashing Intuition Secrets, Michael Jaco sits down with Sheila Holm for a powerful and revealing conversation that connects past conflicts with present-day global events. What begins as a discussion about Cuba quickly expands into a much larger examination of history, power, and the forces shaping today's geopolitical landscape. Sheila breaks down the historical roots of Cuba's strategic importance, tracing key developments back to the Spanish-American War and forward through decades of influence affecting Mexico, Venezuela, and the broader Western Hemisphere. The conversation explores how long-standing policies, misinformation, and unresolved power struggles continue to echo into modern politics — and why recent signals surrounding Cuba deserve serious attention. Together, Michael and Sheila examine the roles played by pivotal figures such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, the strategic importance of the Panama Canal, and the lasting impact of the Rough Riders. They also challenge commonly accepted narratives, revealing how history is often reshaped to obscure deeper strategic motives. The discussion expands into modern geopolitical maneuvering, the restructuring taking place across global power centers, and the leadership challenges that come with confronting entrenched systems. Sheila reflects on the idea of “the man in the arena” — the reality faced by those who step forward to lead, take responsibility, and endure criticism for the sake of the greater good. This episode delivers historical context, geopolitical insight, and a deeper understanding of how past decisions continue to shape today's world. It's an important listen for anyone seeking clarity on where we are — and where things may be headed next.
Send me a text!Mahan in practice, the end of centuries of Spanish rule, and the rise of American dominance.Different quotes New Season, new outroSupport the show war102podcast@gmail.comhttps://war102.buzzsprout.com
Darrell Castle discusses the raid in Venezuela, the capture or arrest of Nichalas Maduro and his wife and whether it was beneficial to anyone. TRUMP'S VERSION OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today's Castle Report. This is Friday the 9th day of January in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be discussing the raid in Venezuela and the capture or arrest as the DOJ calls it of Nichalas Maduro and his wife and their criminal prosecution by US Federal authorities in the federal district court of New York. Did it benefit anyone, was it right or wrong, was it legal or illegal. Yes, folks 2026 has barely started and it has already been quite a year. Was the capture of Maduro an indication by the administration that one year of his term is complete and now the gloves come off. I certainly think that was one of the many intentions of the raid, but not the most significant by any means. What then was the real intent or reason for the raid. The truthful answer to that question is, I don't know and neither does anyone else. We look at it and we see the results short term but what was in his mind only he knows for sure. Let's look first at the legality of the raid. In my opinion it was clearly legal if US law is the judge. The 1973 War Powers Resolution allows the president to deploy military forces; however, he chooses without prior approval of congress if he decides its in the national security interest of the United States. Its's more than a little hypocritical for any Democrat with a microphone to scream illegal because they could always repeal the War Powers Act but they don't/ Why not, because they use it too, and they want it available. When Hillary Clinton rejoiced at the death of Muammar Gaddafi who was killed in a US bombing attack while apparently asleep in his bed, was that illegal. What about when George Bush sent American forces into Iraq and eventually hanged Saddam Hussein, was that illegal. In fact, Trump should be thanked by Maduro and his supporters in congress because he could have sent a cruise missile through his window but instead he arrested him. The DOJ insists this was a law enforcement action whereby a wanted fugitive was arrested in a foreign country. So, the question is, what do you mean by illegal. Clearly it does not violate US law so perhaps you mean it violates your sense of consciousness or morality. Well, most of what the US government does violates my sense of morality but that is not the judge. I guess the argument then is that it violates international law. My answer is that international law is a nebulous concept that doesn't even exist anymore. International law was invented at Nuremburg as a way to justify dealing with Nazi war criminals when there was little real evidence of the crimes with which they were charged. In other words, it began and ended at Nuremburg. OK then, did anything good come out of the raid. Yes, lots of things, starting with the way the raid was conducted. This was perhaps the greatest and most successful special forces raid in history. Conducted in a foreign capital with very few known casualties. As I said he could have just put a warhead on Maduro's forehead but he didn't so in that sense the rule of law is intact. To carry that thought forward, the President has this very elite force the best of the best and he is committed to using them to accomplish his foreign policy rather than mobilizing vast armies with coalition partners at a cost of hundreds of billions. Everyone around the world took notice and the countries you would expect voiced their disapproval, but at the same time they know he is not bluffing and when he warns that he will act it is prudent to pay attention. It was a demonstration of what the US military can do especially when you consider that Venezuela supposedly had the latest version of Russian and Chinese anti-air defense system. It was Trump's version of, we are still here and we are still the best so pay attention. The other benefit that it is hard to argue against is that Maduro is a very bad man and Venezuela will be better off without him. There was an election in 2024 which was won by Edmundo Gonzalez but Maduro used his military to hold on to the most addictive thing in the world, power. He was so bad as a leader that 20% of the Venezuelan population left the country. I personally know many Venezuelan people some of whom live here in America and some in Venezuela and they are happy he is gone. The pro Maduro crowds of young white liberals marching through the streets of New York are really anti-Trump not pro Maduro. I guess one can justify supporting a vicious dictator if it means hurting Trump. The crowds of Venezuelan people rejoicing in the streets of Caracas are far more important than those in New York. Sometimes I think the people in such demonstrations have lost touch with reality. Certainly, they have lost touch with the needs of ordinary people if they ever had touch with them. It reminds me of when Trump sent the National Guard into the most crime ridden cities to help slow violent crime. Washington DC was the first but my city of Memphis was also included. The people in New York marching against the deployment were probably the same as the pro Maduro crowd but in the streets it was different. I talked to many people in my law office who live out there with reality and that reality is constant fear of violent crime. People told me in no uncertain terms that they were glad to see the Guard on the streets and they felt safer walking or going shopping. The people of the cities worry about whether their kids will be killed in a drive by, and so they are glad for protection. So, Maduro was a very bad man who caused many to leave their country and many more were starving. Yes, he was a leader who lived in palatial luxury while his people starved. Venezuela has one of the largest deposits of petroleum in the world but the people have no gas. We learned after Maduro's capture that the infrastructure of pumping and getting oil to market was in such a poor state that it could take ten years to fully bring it up to speed. Venezuela has all this wealth under its soil and under its ocean but no one cared enough for the people to exploit it for their benefit. Will the American oil companies that are competing for Venezuelan oil use it for the people's benefit. Well, that is a good question but I believe that while trump is president they will. Right now, Venezuela is left in a highly volatile and uncertain phase of its history. Who will lead after Maduro. Delci Rodriguez, Maduro's vice president is in charge as I record this. She talked tough but only for a moment and then she saw the light and started saying something like I will be glad to cooperate with the Americans and I am just glad to be here. That is of course another point and that is that he did leave her in power and let natural progression take its course. Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado said that she would like to see Gomzalez given power because he won the election in 2024 but Trump seems committed to let the laws of succession take their course. So, the next several months are very uncertain and many questions remain. Will Roddriguez accommodate US pressure and demands, defy them, or perhaps some hard line socialist from Maduro's old party, The United Socialist Party of Venezuela, will try to seize power. One thing should be obvious though and that is that the US military will be used if it becomes necessary so the leaders of that country obviously know that. So, the President is reimposing the Monroe Doctrine to protect US interests in this hemisphere. When President Monroe announced his doctrine in 1823 or 24 it was to be a two-way street. To the European colonists he said stay out of our hemisphere and we will stay out of yours. Spain had colonies so it was primarily directed at them and it eventually took the Spanish-American War to get Spain out of the Caribbean. It would be hard to argue that the US has stayed out of European affairs since the US has fought two World Wars and currently has bases and troops all over Europe. In addition, the US has China surrounded by bases and carrier battle groups so two-way street, no not yet. Perhaps it indicates a return to the old Monroe doctrine whereby the US watches its own back yard and lets others do the same. I for one would be happy if that were the policy. In regard to that thought Trump has repeatedly referred to the Venezuelan oil deposits as “our oil. “Is he bringing a Machiavellian concept of might makes right to the table with that expression. No, he is referring to the contracts US companies had with the Venezuelan government before Hugo Chavez took power in 1998. One of Chavez's first acts was to nationalize the oil industry thus stealing all the oil, at least from an American point of view. So, Trump is referring back to the pre-Chavez days and saying by contract that oil is ours and you should thank me instead of criticizing me for enforcing contracts and the rule of law. None of that had anything to do with Nicholas Maduro of course since it happened long before he took power. Chavez named Maduro as his successor from his death bed in 2010. Venezuela is supposed to have free elections but if you know the history of that region you know that often free elections are in name only. You've probably noticed that I have spent very little time on the topic of drug interdiction. That's because the whole concept is ridiculous and had very little to do with US military action. Slowing the flow of narcotics into the US was at best a side benefit but it made for good theater. Interestingly, Bibi Netanyahu made his fifth visit to the Trump White House just before this happened. Bibi has been complaining for some time that Venezuela was allowing Iran to train its terrorists there and he wanted something done about it. So, was it an Israeli operation? I don't know since knowing is virtually impossible but I will wager it didn't hurt. Finally, folks, from all this talk you might get the impression that I am in favor of this attack but no I'm afraid not. America first to me means that we have enough problems at home to last all of our lifetimes and I think the American people are about sick of Foreign policy. Rather than empire building or the imperialism of Pax Americana our concerns are or should be here at home. I reject these grandiose schemes in favor of home and family the way it should be. Let us raise our children in peace and prosperity and keep the price of ground beef modest. At least that's the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.
Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was in Havana in 1898, investigating the terrible conditions endured by Cubans whom the Spanish government had forced into concentration camps, where an estimated 425,000 people died of disease and starvation. While she was there, the American warship USS Maine exploded in Havana's harbor, which served as the pretext for an American invasion, leading to the Spanish-American War. The United States swiftly invaded and won the Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898 due to its superior naval power, the decisive charge led by Theodore Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" at San Juan Hill, and the crucial assistance from Cuban insurgents against the already exhausted Spanish forces. In the wake of the Spanish-American war, the United States freed Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spanish control and, in turn, became an empire. This created beliefs that America was a stern yet benevolent country tasked by Destiny to enforce peace and bring prosperity to the world. That comforting thought was soon disproven, especially in the Philippines, whose people discovered they had merely swapped one colonial power for another. They then endured a vicious war that saw an estimated 600,000 Filipino deaths. Whereas the Cuban campaign brought glory to Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill, “the Philippine War would be America’s most quickly forgotten war, the one least celebrated in song or legend, the one least memorialized.” And for good reason, Jackson recounts: American soldiers committed countless atrocities while being felled right and left by disease and starvation themselves; many soldiers committed suicide, and others deserted to join Filipino rebels. Today’s guest is Joe Jackson, author of “Splendid Liberators: Heroism, Betrayal, Resistance, and the Birth of the American Empire.” We look at this decisive war that turned American into a global power, and how poor planning turned into a disaster in the Philippines, creating our first quagmire of a war, long before Iraq or Vietnam.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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