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The Roundup Top Ten for July 8, 2022

Abortion Is Not Just About Privacy; It's About Freedom

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

"If women cannot dictate this most basic aspect of their being, then the Supreme Court has effectively consigned them to a distinctly secondary tier of citizenship."

SCOTUS's Religious Decisions are Part of War on Public Education

by Charles McCrary and Leslie Ribovich

"The court’s conservatives do not oppose secularism so much as they oppose public things. And so, that is what we ought to defend."

Ending the Illusion that Smoking is a Choice

by Sarah Milov

Tobacco companies still promote the convenient fiction that users addicted to the nicotine in their products are making a free choice to consume them. 

Is the Ukraine War the Start of a New Period of History?

by David A. Bell

The idea that the Russian invasion will be seen as a turning point by future scholars is tempting given the immediate seriousness of events. But two years ago, people were saying the same thing about the COVID pandemic. 

Anti-Trespassing Laws a Vestige of Racist "Black Codes" of Postbellum South

by Brian Sawers

Trespassing laws were ostensibly "color blind," but worked in practice to restrict the mobility of Freedmen and women in the South and to empower white landowners to control Black social life. 

Conservatives Attacking Pornography Carry on History of Politicized Moral Panics

by Kelsy Burke

Calls by J.D. Vance and other conservative politicians for bans on pornography echo the tactics and the failures of America's first anti-obscenity crusader, Anthony Comstock. 

What is the Meaning of America's Oldest July 4th Celebration?

by Ben Railton

Bristol, Rhode Island's patriotic festivities are the oldest Independence Day festivities in the nation, but the town's history sits at the uncomfortable intersection of independence with the slave trade and wars of extermination against Native Americans. 

The Walls of Troy: Pandemic and Exclusion at an Urban University

by Arabella Delgado

The pandemic has clarified and underscored ways that the University of Southern California, like most private urban campuses, has long sought to maximize the separation between its campus and the surrounding community. 

One Thing the US and Britain Share? Serious Racial Wealth Gaps

by Calvin Schermerhorn

In neither nation can inequality be seen as simply a legacy of enslavement; policy decisions in the more recent past have promoted the wealth gap. 

Explaining the Complexities of the Great Vibe Shift

by Tom F. Wright

As pundits invoke the nebulous concept of "vibes" to try to explain and predict incoherent and emotionally volatile politics, it's worth considering how the outdated (but not very old!) concept of charisma has served the same role.