Category Archives: U.S. Constitution

NEW! Rick Reiman Narrates Chapter 6, “The New Nation,” from “The American Yawp,” a Free OER American History Textbook

American HIstory, Politics, Revolutions, U.S. Constitution, United States history

In many ways, I regard this as my best recording of a chapter from “The American Yawp” yet.  I have deleted nothing from the text edited by its editors, Joseph Locke and Ben Wright.  I have added passages of my own where I think additions were needed to clarify what the original authors were trying to say. I have also added passages that connect the era of “The New Nation” with the trials and tensions America is experiencing today.  For example I connect the majesty of America’s example in displaying the peaceful transition of power in the “revolution of 1800” which saw the Democratic-Republican Party receive power in 1800 from the Federalist Party without violence, and the more than 200 years of like examples to follow, with the disgrace of January 6, 2021, when President Donald Trump despoiled this legacy and broke that legacy so important not only to the United States but the whole world.  These allusions between past and present are mine, and they are also true.

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NEW!! “The United States versus Donald J. Trump,” Federal Indictment of the Department of Justice, on Audio

American HIstory, Audio narration, U.S. Constitution

I narrate the watershed indictment, the first federal prosecution of a former President of the United States in American history. Every American should read this document to understand and appreciate the gravity of the crimes alleged to have been committed by Donald F. Trump. This is necessary because Trump’s defenders have been distorting the charges. Audio narrations of the indictment are available elsewhere. This one is narrated by an historian.

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Trump on Trial: Indictment or Impeachment?

Elections, Politics, U.S. Constitution,

This is an addendum to my latest episode, “Trump in Trouble: The Mueller Memo on Michael Cohen, December 7, 2018.”  Events are moving more rapidly in the investigation into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign to hijack to the 2016 US Presidential election.  Discussion about impeachment is ramping up. “Hijacking History” looks today at the questions of indictment and impeachment of the president. Will either be on the table when the new Congress begins in January 2019?

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About America’s Electoral System, for Europeans (and Americans)

Elections, Politics, U.S. Constitution, ,

In the wake of the American Midterm elections in November 2018, “Hijacking History” looks at how the elections are likely to be viewed in the light of history.  In order to understand how, we have to see them in the context of the rules of the Constitutional process in America. What to outsiders may have seemed like a mixed verdict on the Trump administrations, looks very different when framed by the structure of America’s political system.  Some knowledge of how America’s electoral system is structured give Democrats reason to hope in 2020, based on the outcome of the Midterm elections of 2018.

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