1790s Federalists and Republicans

As relations with France were turning hot, the Federalists under the Adams administration enjoyed a rising tide of popular support, and they arguably got carried away, passing laws against criticizing the government, along with the alien and sedition Acts cracking down on immigrants and pro-French support. Their political opponents, Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans, were being overwhelmed and dominated.

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Some Republican leaders, including James Monroe, thought the federalist onslaught was suicidal, and they counseled their colleagues to lie low. Vice President Jefferson also tried to keep his friends and allies calm. “A little patience,” he wrote to John Taylor, “and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles.”

-- Sean Wilentz, “The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln”

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Chris Rock

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INTERVIEWER

We still have some white people taking the Sarah Palin line about blacks and immigrants alike. They want to “take back the country” — and we know from whom. I find it depressing. The increments of change seem to be so much tinier than we wanted to believe when the Civil Rights Act passed 50 years ago, or when Obama was elected in 2008.

CHRIS ROCK

Yeah. The stuff you’re talking about is pockets though. There’s always going to be people that don’t know that the war’s over. I’m more optimistic than you, but maybe it’s because I live the way I do. I just have a great life, so it’s easier for me to say things are great. But not even me. My brothers drive trucks and stock shelves. They live in a much better world than my father did. My mother tells stories of growing up in Andrews, South Carolina, and the black people had to go to the vet to get their teeth pulled out. And you still had to go to the back door, because if the white people knew the vet had used his instruments on black people, they wouldn’t take their pets to the vet. This is not some person I read about. This is my mother.

-- Chris Rock at Vulture.com

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Sully's Dish

Going on my news-gathering rounds, I come across a big surprise by Sully he is quitting the blog game. It's not clear if the blog is going. It has been a good news source for me. Though, I wouldn't mind shaving off that twenty minutes from my daily e-reading.

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The Natural World

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