Randall Stephens
@randalljstephens.bsky.social
American historian, religion, environment, pop culture, the South. Author: The Devil's Music (Harvard, 2018). Prof of Am & Brit Studies, Univ of Oslo. Fulbright alumnus.
“National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health researchers found that working veteran underground coal miners in central Appalachia are suffering from the incurable and fatal lung disease at the highest rates in nearly 50 years.”
Black lung rates in Appalachia are high as the 1970s, with thousands of miners sick
Rates are now the highest they've been in nearly 50 years among veteran coal miners. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines.
npr.org
A detail from the archive today: “Our first long trip by car was in the summer of 1932 when we visited Grandpa S. in Winnipeg almost 1000 miles due north. If you have ever driven even 50 miles in very hot weather w/ 8 people in a Chevy you will realize how each passenger in the car seemed too big.”
A Congregationalist minister from Wabaunsee, KS writing to FDR, 1935: "There is around here a prejudice against the work socialism, but there is an increasing approval of socialist ideas....I have preached these doctrines and find them growing in acceptance. The people hope you will adopt them..."
My novel RECOMMENDED IF YOU LIKE is out now ($0.00) “Absolutely excruciating. I loved it.” -Josh Tillman, Father John Misty What happens when your taste is real but your world is fake? When your longing is legit but channels for expression have been defanged and sanitized? 📖 littleengines.shop 📖
Current favorite name from archival visit: E. W. Tweeddale.
KS Presbyterians in 1943: “Will we ever learn to discard the pagan belief & practice of racial superiority that has caused so much discord…There is no place for prejudice, intolerance, suspicion, dislike or any other unChristian attitude in our relation w/ the Jewish & non-Christian Japanese.”
“…Fauci was thrust into his pandemic-leadership role because of Trump’s shameful and deadly dereliction of duty. Trump’s record of dishonesty, callousness, and selfishness during the pandemic is a documented reality. The imputations against Fauci are mostly fantasies.”
Anthony Fauci Is Not the Villain in This Story
The doctor was thrust into his pandemic-leadership role because of Trump’s deadly dereliction of duty.
theatlantic.com
Kansas Presbyterians in 1895 raise a complaint against Gilded Age rot: "In political circles there is so much corruption and rottenness, and the stench therefore so great, that the pure in heart stagger and go back in disgust....We have become so used to the cry of 'fraud'..."
"That area right over there would be a great place for one big, beautiful scam university."
Having a good laugh in 1914 about my hometown, Olathe, KS: “Boys are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, the curfew rings promptly at 9 o’clock, & on Sunday everything is closed except the 16 churches. It is said that even these are not needed…but are used to convert sinners from neighboring towns.”
“Civil rights advocates have said these prosecutions, even when unsuccessful, are part of an effort to criminalize lawful community organizing, weaken movements opposing deportations and turn the lives of activists upside down.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
The professor facing prison in ‘antifa’ case: ‘They want to scare all who oppose ICE’
Erik Davis is accused by the government of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct ICE – experts say it’s part of a pattern to criminalize lawful organizing and ruin activists’ lives
theguardian.com
Probably the key to unlocking all of these Groundhog Day headlines 
Dr Pickles at rest, The Book Trader, Philadelphia
Interesting that the GOP is running on You Have to Have an ID to Buy Buffalo Ranch Corn Nuts at the Piggly Wiggly. The party of the common folk. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
Blanche’s AG audition gets weirder with comment about mandatory IDs at restaurants
His claim that people need to show ID “every time you walk into a restaurant” was foolish, but it’s part of an effort to impress his audience of one.
ms.now
An early article on "artificial intelligence," 1958. Covers a British conference on the "mechanization of thought processes...There will be proposals of how to make machines that will learn from experience, which will, to some extent, be able to exercise something very close to human judgment."
The corruption and cronyism are in supercharged goblin mode. “The president's media company is offering investors early access to his Truth Social feed for up to $100,000 a month….delivering early access to the feeds of high-profile users, including the president.”
For sale: early access to Trump's Truth Social posts
The president's media company is offering investors early access to his Truth Social feed for up to $100,000 a month. Experts say the service may violate insider trading laws.
npr.org
"Preston’s life was full of such moments: the gifted outsider who could transform a room simply by sitting at a keyboard. Yet the film also understands the deeper contradiction at the heart of his story...." www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/bill...
Billy Preston, That’s The Way God Planned It reviewed: child prodigy, ‘fifth Beatle’, restless soul - UNCUT
Joyous, bittersweet portrait of the conflicted prodigy and sideman whose keyboards lifted The Beatles, Stones and gospel music alike
uncut.co.uk
There was an early-19th cen newspaper in Philadelphia called The Tickler. Creepy.
Oklahoma Presbyterians in 1916 on their big concerns: “Some plans must be devised in the Presbyteries to meet the religious needs of the rural communities. Country Sunday Schools in some parts of Oklahoma Synod are very scarce. Children are growing up and are being fed on Socialism and infidelity.”
“The trick, Strom, is to have a lot of movement without really going anywhere.” Bill Sanders on Nixon’s southern strategy, August 1970.
“Let me make two things clear. First: the country is in fine shape. And second: Congress is to blame for the mess we're in.” Herblock on Nixon’s blame game, August 1970.
Paul Conrad depicts Nixon as judge, jury, and prosecutor, making claims of fairness, August 1970.
