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Continue reading →: Reclaiming the Seas: How the U.S. Can Rebuild Naval and Maritime Power
“He who commands the sea has command of everything,” the ancient Athenian general Themistocles once said. By that standard, the United States today commands very little. America’s supremacy on the waves—both in commercial shipping and naval power—has steadily eroded. As of 2025, the U.S. maritime industry is a shadow of…
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Continue reading →: The Myth and the Memory: Kevin Costner and the Western Stories That Led Me to History
Author’s Note This essay is more personal in tone than most of my published work. It is, at heart, a reflection on the stories that shaped me long before I became a historian — and on the strange but powerful ways in which cinema, comics, and video games can open…
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Continue reading →: A House Divided: Political Violence, Polarization, and the Strategy of Tension
It was Abraham Lincoln who famously warned in 1858 that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Those words, spoken on the eve of America’s Civil War, resonate with eerie relevance today. In 2025, the United States feels as bitterly divided as ever in modern history – not over slavery,…
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Continue reading →: Charlie Kirk Assassination and the Crisis of U.S. Democracy
On a September afternoon in Orem, Utah, a single rifle shot rang out over a college campus and changed American history. Conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk, 31 years old and full of combative bravado just moments prior, crumpled to the ground with a fatal wound to the neck. Panic erupted among…
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Continue reading →: ICE: History, Controversy, and the 2025 Crackdown
I. A Brief History of ICE’s Creation and Mandate The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was born in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. In November 2002, Congress passed the Homeland Security Act, leading to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a…
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Continue reading →: The Middle East on Fire: America’s Credibility and the Iran–Israel Conflict
The United States now finds itself entangled in a rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, a crisis testing America’s resolve and principles in real time. In mid-June 2025, Israel launched surprise airstrikes deep into Iran – including Tehran itself – targeting nuclear facilities and military leaders. Iran retaliated with…

