Formulated by Erica Chenoweth in 2013, the 3.5% rule is a concept in political science that states that when 3.5% of the population of a country protest nonviolentlyagainst a government, that government is likely to fall from power.
mind
July 4, 2025: In today's article for the Mourning in America series, I want to share these insights following the passage of Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.
welcome
July 4, 2025: "Fireworks, picnics, parades and flag waving will be on tap for July 4th. Thousands of people will attend sporting events, and they’ll stand for the singing of the national anthem. Around the country, millions will find some way to celebrate Independence Day. Just days ago, we demonstrated to the world that we possess some of the most sophisticated weaponry ever made. Stealth B-2 bombers flew thousands of miles undetected to drop bombs on Iran and project U.S. military power."
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YEAR 1 Under Authoritarianism: They will come to power with a campaign based on fear, scaremongering and distorting the truth. Nevertheless, their victory will be achieved through a democratic electoral process. But beware, as this will be their argument every time you question the legitimacy of their actions. They will claim a mandate from the People to change the system.
soul
"The Year of Sarah" is a memoir of transformation, where Sarah DeBlock invites readers to join her for the year that redefined her understanding of love and self.
spirit
Massage is a general term for pressing, rubbing and manipulating your skin, muscles, tendons and ligaments and depending on your preference, ranges from light stroking to deep pressure. But its benefits go deep.
body
The author of The Forever Game,Furious and Unseen, Jeff has a reputation for high-stakes, no-frills drama with his taut thrillers that reviewers say do not contain an ounce of fat.
mind
This photography book examines events in four cities — Alexandria and Richmond, Va., Washington, D.C., and New York City — the photojournalist walked almost 4,000 miles from March 2020 to March 2021, shooting images of day-to-day life, protests and their aftermath during this historic and tumultuous period in U.S. history.
spirit
We’ve arrived at an interesting place in the history of the United States. As Washington, D.C., prepares for a great parade to celebrate the U.S. Army’s birthday and founding on June 14, 1775, the city prepares for the birthday celebration of the sitting president, whose birthday coincides with that of the U.S. Army.
mind
Here's the story: In the spring of 2005, the FBI foils a government employee’s attempt to provide confidential information to the Chinese. As the FBI struggles to understand why the information is valuable, its investigation entangles Capitol Hill staffer Kellie Liang and jeopardizes her nomination to a State Department position.
mind
Tim writes: "Was it late 1966 or 1967? I don’t remember the precise year or month. I had just entered my teens. What I do remember is opening a letter from my father."
spirit
May 13, 2025: The “deal” that isn’t really a deal. This amounts to buying time to allow both sides to sit down and talk about the possibility of some type of economic agreement. Simply talking caused U.S. markets to fly high on May 12: Wall Street equity indexes close higher after US-China tariff truce | Reuters. It’s worth noting, too, that Reuters refers to what happened as a truce, not a deal.
mind
"Companies with shortages of skilled workers look to shop class to recruit future hires," explains reporter Te-Ping Chen in the May 7, 2025 issue of The Wall Street Journal
mind
The tragic shooting and killing of students on May 4, 1970, followed years of nationwide campus unrest and protests regarding U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
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What advice would you give to your high school self? Lori says, "It’s all about relationships. Cherish them, nurture them, but also have boundaries. Most importantly, don’t take today for granted, as tomorrow isn’t promised."
spirit
April 30, 2025, marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. Saigon, renamed Ho Chi Minh City, fell to North Vietnamese troops on this date. Twenty-nine years earlier, in a January 18, 1946 letter, Ho Chi Minh wrote to President Truman that stated, in part, “[t]he French have tremendously increased their fighting forces.
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Erin writes: I’m a first year student studying healthcare policy at the University of Pennsylvania, where I’ve been inspired to dig deeper into the complexities of our healthcare system. I’ve always believed that access to quality care is a basic human right, and my studies help me understand the legislative, economic, and social factors that affect who gets that care and why.
we're all heart
This isn’t about an accident involving the need for medical attention. Nor does this refer to a marriage with problems. Headlines can grab attention when they include words like “crazier than they thought” in reference to businesspeople saying that about the president.
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Timothy Trainer writes: "Silversea’s World Cruise 2022 has lasting after-effects. A local news piece reported that several restaurants and bars filed police reports about a mature-aged man with limited mobility having skipped out on his food and beverage bills. Local police departments distributed a sketch of the man who was finally identified by a local restaurateur and prevented from leaving unless he paid his bill."
spirit
April 9, 2025 — At this point, foreign officials and business leaders may be exchanging notes about all the reasons for minimizing the U.S. in their respective plans for seeking future economic and trade stability. With the track record of Trump’s first term and the first 90 days of his return to the White House, it might be a rather simple scouting report: Trump White House is unreliable and not trustworthy, knee-jerk decision making, lacking in strategic thinking, blanket application of tariffs, simplistic approach to global trade issues, inability to distinguish between friend and foe. Much more might be on the list, but these points might appear near the top.
mind
April 7, 2025 — The odds are that more people are now paying some attention to what is going on in Washington, D.C., than during the pre-election campaign. Suddenly, in a matter of a few days, more people are paying attention.
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What advice do you have for others about creating your best life? Debbie says, "It’s never too late to find your purpose. I’m working on a memoir, and right now this project feels overwhelming. I have scraps of notes everywhere. It’s been years in the making, and as a relatively new writer, the process can feel daunting."
we're all heart
When I arrived in Falls Church City Public Schools in the spring of 2017, I knew there was something different about this school system from the others I had the privilege of serving. I didn't know at the time what made this place so special. I learned soon enough!
spirit
Meet Karl Baier, the CIA agent who is drawn into a dangerous operation that has much deeper implications for the war itself and the broader global and strategic competition, of which Vietnam is only one part.
mind
Tim explains: "President Johnson was sworn into office after the Kennedy assassination in November 1963. In the waning days of 1963, President Johnson had those misgivings about escalating in Vietnam. And in the early months of 1964, he was not yet committed to an increased level of military involvement, but he had an election to think about as well as how he would be politically attacked if he didn’t fight communist aggression. After the events in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964, the path toward greater U.S. military involvement in Vietnam was made easier."
soul
When does the killing of political leaders become morally justifiable? Killing the Hitlers, Stalins and Pol Pots of the world is easy to justify. Murderous tyrants need to be killed. But what if our leaders are merely idiots, or perhaps corrupt, petty tyrants who aren’t in the same league as Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot? How much damage can we allow them to do, how many of our rights can we allow them to take away, before killing them becomes justifiable homicide?
mind
March 19, 2025 — We’re counting in weeks the length of time this administration has been in power. To many people, it might feel like it has been much longer. It’s hard to pick just one, two or three things that might have raised blood pressure readings recently.
spirit
March 17, 2025 — Another government shutdown threat hung over members of Congress to do something by the end of March 14: U.S. Congress faces looming funding deadline: What to know Not only are government employees and those relying on government funding and services worried about the future of agencies, but Congress also wrestles with a budgetary funding deadline. Racing to act before funding deadlines has become a regular congressional exercise. As usual, a last-minute deal was struck to avert a shutdown.
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Mike Henrich is a career educator for over 40 years as a student and teacher; he points to the splendor and potential of education even while kids, society, and he himself change.
we're all heart
Federal Reserve reports that effects of the 2018-2019 “tariffs led to job losses in the manufacturing sector and higher prices for producers and consumers.
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Harriet explains: As a concerned citizen deeply invested in the future of higher education, I write not merely as an observer but as a participant in a society facing a critical juncture.
mind
The Youth Committee of the Most Beautiful Bays in the World Association (MBBWA) is pleased to invite young people under the age of 14, residing in any of the bays within our network, to participate in a drawing contest.
spirit
Here’s my question: While the subject of ”rare earth minerals” might be of interest to a limited audience compared to the overall readership of current events, after just a few minutes searching under the topic of rare earth minerals, a long list of articles are found. Even non-science readers will quickly grasp the importance of these minerals after reading just a few articles that describe what they are and the products that incorporate them.
mind
Zamzam is a young boy who enjoys life with Egyptian grandparents in Alexandria, Egypt, and American grandparents in New York City. He shares big and little differences in his daily experiences in each country – including phrases in Arabic and English — but ultimately realizes that the most important experiences are exactly the same across cultures.
we're all heart
