What is free speech and why is it so important to a free society? Your favorite obscure social studies teacher comes with a soapbox a littler larger than normal on this episode of the Professor Liberty Podcast as we continue to learn about the first amendment to the Bill of Rights.  

Because Russia and Ukraine keep pushing this series to the side, Mr. Palumbo will address a question he received about sanctions, but then undeterred, he jumps right into the first component of the Bill of Rights, freedom of religion. Enjoy!

Why did Russian invade Ukraine? Putin claims it's NATO's provoked expansion. What is NATO? Continuing the "what is?" series Mr. Palumbo attempts to give some historical context to what is happening in Ukraine. 

How do you give just enough power to a central government that allows it to properly function without sacrificing liberty? That was the question the Framers of the Constitution struggled with in 1787. Ultimately its through compromise between the two major groups that brought us what we now call the Bill of Rights. 

When asked to raise their hand if they know the name Hitler, the entire class raises its hand. When asked to do the same if they know the name Stalin, only a few raise their hand. Why does everyone know who Hitler is, but no one knows who Stalin is? Especially since Stalin killed at least 5X more people? Don't even bring up the heavyweight Champ of mass murder Chairman Mao who's death toll is more than 10X Hitler. Why aren't all ruthless dictators treated equally? Mr. Palumbo attempts to answer that and more.

We deep dive into political philosophy today as Mr. Palumbo asks the question do humans yearn for freedom or security? 

In this first episode of the new year our favorite obscure social studies teacher discusses some similarities between WWI and WWII. One of those similarities was the use of Propaganda. What is propaganda? How can we identify whether the information we're receiving is propaganda? All this and more on today's show.

On this final episode of the 2021 Mr. Palumbo looks back on the year and shares his thoughts on starting a podcast. What was the most listened to episode? Which one got the least amount of downloads? Finally your favorite obscure social studies teacher discusses why you don't have to be religious to say Merry Christmas. Peace, hope and goodwill towards men isn't political nor religious. One of the best ways to fight back against the constant assault of secular nihilism is to fight meaninglessness with meaning.

Your favorite obscure social studies teacher shares about how the study of the past helps us to predict the future by pointing out how relevant situations that happened 60 or even 100 years ago still are today. Mr. Palumbo discusses how censorship is constant (Scopes Monkey Trial) and how one act of civil disobedience can change the world (Rosa Parks).  So buckle up and push play as we journey into another adventure of government, history and economics.

Before it was called Veterans' Day November 11th was celebrated around the world as Armistice Day. Well this brings up a couple of questions like what the heck is an armistice? And why was Armistice Day changed to Veterans' Day? Mr. Palumbo will answer these questions and more on today's podcast.