Why does Ukraine look to the West for inspiration as opposed to Russia? To answer this question, we have to understand the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous countries in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries - a country that is now lost to history, a country that engulfed much of modern-day Ukraine. 

The government of this Commonwealth was a mixture of different forms of ruling systems - e.g., monarchy, aristocracy and a republic, with many checks and balances that limited the powers of its elected kings. Later in its history, the Commonwealth adopted the first modern European constitution. In addition, the ruling elite of this polity mainly were Catholic. All of this, including Catholicism, affected Ukraine's history, and its preference for a consensual form of government. 

As Professor Robert Frost explains in this episode, Ukraine was occupied by this Commonwealth and ruled from Krakow just as long, if not longer, than it has been occupied by Russia and ruled from Moscow. Professor Frost is the Chair of History at the University of Aberdeen. For the last 22 years, his main research interest has been in the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Union and its legacy. Visit his academic homepage to learn more about his extensive scholarship.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Adel Host of ThePeel.news podcast

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Why does FL Disney World have a special district but CA Disneyland does not? And how special is Florida's special district anyway? Why does a locality or a corporation need a special district anyway? What are the benefits? How prevalent are special districts in our country? How about in FL? And when it comes to FL, is Mr. DeSantis a more powerful governor than his predecessors? 

To learn more about all of this, I spoke with Professor James Clark, who lives in Orlando. He is an award-winning journalist and a history lecturer at the University of Central Florida. He is the author of 9 books, including Hidden History of Florida, A Concise History of Florida, Orlando Florida - A Brief History, and Presidents in Florida.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Adel Host of ThePeel.news podcast

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I recently came across a Wall Street Journal article about a four-ton Chinese rocket booster that was anticipated to crash into the moon and expected to leave a 65-foot-diameter crater. This crash is different than all other human-related crashes into the moon because this one was unintentional! According to the article, humans have been crashing spacecraft into the moon for the last 60 years. And, it's not just the moon crashes that are alarming. The mass of human-made space debris is a grave concern as well, as it poses a danger to astronauts, space tourists and the environment in space, not to mention its potential for disrupting technology on earth! 

To better understand this news and the history behind it, I spoke with Moriba Jah, a well-recognized expert on this topic. Moriba is an associate professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. He’s won numerous awards and has many accomplishments, too many to list here. To learn more about Moriba, visit his academic homepage, the link for which is provided in the detailed caption of this episode. And visit Privateer, Moriba's super cool startup. 

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Adel

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Professor Steinberg explains that Peter the Great and Catherine the Great were great not because of their many reforms, but because they expanded the Russian Empire. President Putin, who some contemporary Russians believe to be great, admires Peter the Great. This explains a lot, doesn't it? By conquering Ukraine, Russia immediately becomes an empire, making Mr. Putin a "great" Russian leader. The irony of Mr. Putin's admiration of Peter and Catherine is that they Europeanized Russia. This doesn't distress Mr. Putin. He has an explanation for it. 

But the greatness of Russia's leaders, be they autocratic presidents or absolutist monarchs, doesn't square with Russia's many revolutions, rebellions, coups and assassinations. That's because Russia is an extremely complex nation. In this episode, Professor Mark Steinberg of the Dept. of History at the University of Urbana-Champaign, tells about the Russian people and their refrain, "we can't live like this anymore!" 

Prof. Steinberg's research focuses on the city, revolutions, emotions, violence, space, moralities, and utopia. He is the author of many books about Russia, including Voices of Revolution, 1917, and The Russian Revolution, 1905-1921; and also Russian Utopia.

I hope you enjoy this episode.

Adel

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French postcards were as close as one could get to Playboy in the 19th century. And apparently, they were ubiquitous in America, particularly during the Civil War. And according to our guest, Professor Brett Gary, that's a good starting point to talk about the history of censorship in America. 

Anthony Comstock served in the Civil War and was appalled by the volume of pornography enjoyed by Union soldiers. After the war, he manifested his dedication to upholding Christian morality by becoming an anti-vice activist to root out obscene literature. To be sure, many were committed to this cause. But it was Comstock who had the power to impose his righteousness on others because of his positions as the U.S. Postal Inspector and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Later, the federal and many states' mini Comstock laws were named after him. With these laws, the vice squad raided bookstores, threatened publishers, and removed books from libraries. And surprisingly, these laws are still on the books, even if they are rarely enforced. 

But as time wore on, the U.S. Supreme Court, particularly during the Warren Court, restricted the scope of the Comstock laws. So in our time, while there is no censorship of adult literature, school literature continues to be subject to local scrutiny and banning. The latest high-profile such censorship was in Tennessee, where "Maus", a Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Holocaust was banned. 

Professor Gary takes us through the history of censorship, including the pre-Civil War fear of "race suicide", all the way to the story of "Maus." He teaches at NYU's Dept. of Media, Culture, and Communication, and his recent book is titled Dirty Works, Obscenity on Trial in America's First Sexual Revolution.

Enjoy this episode.

Adel

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Does the history of the U.S. Civil War have anything to teach about our time? Yes, a lot. I know! This does sound amazing, even a bit fantastic. But our guest, Roger Lowenstein, who has written several New York Times bestsellers, makes sense of it all and brings the perspective of the past to make sense of our present. Examples include cries of blasphemy for the introduction of paper money, general Grant's and Sherman's frustration with the Union policy of buying cotton from the South while waging war against it (this is not a typo), and the Southern elite's delusion that secession won't lead to war. And somehow, Mr. Lowenstein connects these rich stories from the past to their current counterparts. Visit his homepage to learn more about his many books and other publications, as well as his passions and projects.   

I hope you enjoy this episode and learn some about our present challenges from the U.S. Civil War. 

Adel Host of ThePeel.news podcast

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Did Nobel Prize-winners lose a CRISPR patent? Lucky for us, Dr. Samantha Zyontz has spent years studying CRISPR, its development and growing research, its myriad wonderful applications (think beer!) and ownership disputes. And get this, years ago, she even predicted that the scientific work on CRISPR will one day win the Nobel Prize. Of course, she was right! What preceded and followed that Nobel Prize is years of patent litigation, and ethical discussions - gene editing! 

Dr. Zyont of Stanford Law School is Research Fellow, Intellectual Property, and Fellow, Center for Law and the Biosciences. To learn more about her scholarships and many projects, visit her academic homepage. 

I hope you enjoy this episode and gain some perspective about this important technology: CRISPR!

Adel Host of ThePeel.news podcast

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Will a host of privately minted cryptocurrencies displace the U.S. dollar? Professor Eichengreen tells us about a period in which private American banks issued their own notes. It was a chaotic time that ended with the Civil War. Why does this matter? Because not only is cryptocurrency all the rage with investors but also the U.S. government is getting into the game. The Federal Reserve had been studying digital dollars, and President Biden recently issued a cryptocurrency executive order.

I hope you enjoy this episode and gain some perspective about the history of the U.S. dollar, its dominance and the rise of the digital dollar. 

Adel Host of ThePeel.news podcast

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Double-digit inflation during WWI, and then again in the '70s! Thankfully, Professor White explains that in the past high inflation looked like a Christmas tree, meaning that it came down just as fast as it had shot up. 

During our podcast conversation, Professor White answered the following questions: Is inflation due to issues of supply chain or supply of money? What was inflation like during the previous major pandemic, the Spanish flu? How did the Fed handle inflation during the Great Depression? What do the famous Nixon tapes reveal about his handling of inflation? How did Volker tame inflation? What did Milton Friedman and Ben Bernanke say about the Great Depression and the Fed's handling of inflation? Is fiat money terrible for inflation?   

In this episode, Prof. Lawerence White, Dept. of Economics, George Mason University, tells us about the history of inflation, banking and money. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Swiss National Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. His forthcoming book is Better Money, Fiat, Gold or Bitcoin. 

I hope you enjoy this episode and gain some perspective about the history of U.S. inflation.  

Adel Host of ThePeel.news podcast

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Although he did not utter the words "Build Back Better", President Biden tried to salvage parts of his huge social stimulus bill by mentioning them in his State of the Union Address. It didn't work. Senator Manchin remains unpersuaded. 

So when did the U.S. government start doling out social benefits anyway? What did John Quincy Adams say about one particular pension program? Which was the party of high tariffs and high pensions? Which three presidents successfully reformed social welfare programs? Which president decreased them the most? How did FDR's New Deal change America's social welfare culture? How did our social benefits programs hemorrhage into the costly colossus that they are now? And what are some of the recent eye-popping statistics for "mandatory" spending programs?

In this episode, Professor John Cogan, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a Professor of Public Policy Program at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, tells the history of America's entitlements, including a story of longevity, love and marriage, along with eye-popping economic stats. He is the of The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs. (See in Amazon).

I hope you enjoy this episode and gain some perspective about the long history of America's entitlement programs. 

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