Tag: American history

Donald Trump and the Return of Seditious Libel

September 29, 2016

Reposted from Richard Tofel, ProPublica.

In 1733, New York printer John Peter Zenger began publishing the eighth newspaper in the American colonies, and the first willing to venture criticism of the government. The New-York Weekly Journal was the second paper in a city of 10,000 or so people, 1700 of them slaves. … More Donald Trump and the Return of Seditious Libel

The Freedom of Information Act Survives 50 Years

August 29, 2016

On July 4, 1966, at his estate 60 miles east of Austin, Lyndon B. Johnson savored his Independence Day holiday by helicoptering around his sprawling Hill Country ranch; lunching with a federal judge, the president of Neiman Marcus, and two lawyers; boating around a Colorado River reservoir named in his honor; and placing two late-night calls to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. … More The Freedom of Information Act Survives 50 Years