StocktonAfterClass
Episodes
230 episodes
Last Will and Testament, 1717 style
Being my family historian, I bump into strange documents from time to time. A couple of years ago, I saw a will from 1717 that I thought might belong to an ancestor. It turned out that it did not, but the will was so fascinating tha...
At War With Iran! Everything You Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask
This is a discussion of the historic context of this war, plus some thoughts on the strategic issues involved. Note: At one point I referred to the end of the Gulf War when I meant to say the end of World War II. Note:&n...
Stop Blaming God. When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Rabbi Kushner. The Story of Job, and the Lessons We Can Learn From It.
In 1981 Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book on suffering. He decided to write this when he learned that his beloved son Aaron had a terrible disease that would turn him into an old man even as a child. Aaron died at eight. Kushner ref...
Venezuela And The Trump Empire.
On January 3 American forces went into Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Maduro. He was taken to the United States to stand trial. Is this a one-off adventure because of a corrupt leader, or does it suggest a broader set of ...
No Room in the Inn. An Alternative Nativity Story. (Probably more accurate than the one you learned as a kid).
When I was in Turkey I visited a caravan serai. It was a place where a caravan would stop along the way. (And where travelers could find a place to spend the night). When we read that there was "no room in the inn" and Mary ha...
Trump in Decline. An Explanation
I am very cautious about predictions. All the pundits are doing those, plus most of them seem to be chasing headines. I have made an exception in this case, because I think Trump has peaked and is on his decline.
The Georgia Vote Stealing Case. Dismissed today November 26, 2025. What Were the Charges?
Biden carried Georgia by just under 12,000 votes. They had a Republican governor and Republican Secreatary of State. Trump called them and asked them to "find" those votes. I just need one more than Biden got to carry the stat...
Turning Point in the Revolution: King's Mountain.
After the catastrophic defeat at Charleston, the Patriot forces were on the ropes. General Clinton, commander of the British army, was so confident of the outcome, that he left his deputy, General Cornwallis, in charge and headed north. &...
An American in Palestine: A Love Story. Memoir and Insights from Christa Bruhn
Christa Bruhn was my student back in the 1980s. I remember very well the first time I met her. She told me she had lived for a semester in Gaza. I have been to Gaza twice and did not consider it a place for a young American wo...
To Deport or Not to Deport. Stories From an Expert Witness (me)
I have been an expert witness in four deportation hearings. The job of an expert witness is to given the judge reasons to permit the individual to remain in the U. S. The cases were people from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Palest...
No Heresy Trial (Yet). Four Entertaining Stories About Religion.
This is a bit different from my typical podcast. This is four stories inspired by religion. The story of Rachel and Rebecca, and the mandrake. (You have never read this story so you know nothing about the mandrake (or e...
Marx and the Jews. Not What You Expect. The 1844 Manuscripts.
Bruno Bauer, an intellectual colleague of Marx, wrote two essays to which Marx reacted strongly. The first was called “The Jewish Question” (Die Judenfrage), the second “On The Capacity of Present-Day Jews and Christians to Become Free.” ...
The Gaza Genocide. A Public Talk
This is a public talk I delivered on the concept of genocide and the arguments presented in the South African genocide charge against Israel in late 2023. Several people who wanted to attend but could not asked if it could be recorded. We...
The Logic of the Israeli Hard Right.
There are extremist groups in Israel that trace their origins to Rabbi Meir Kahane. Today they control the balance of power in the Israeli cabinet. Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are the most prominent personalities. Both are extremel...
International Memoirs: Opening Paragraphs.
This is Part II of a project I developed for my Honors Class. I typed up the opening paragraphs of scores of memoirs in my personal library. My students would read these and discuss them. They really liked this assignment. Par...
John Brown of Harper's Ferry Fame. The beginning of the Civil War.
Jane and I recently went to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. This was the place where John Brown, in October of 1859, conducted his famous strike against slavery. Brown and all of his men were killed, which he anticipated might happen. ...
That REALLY, REALLY Bad Word for African Americans. And My Struggle With It.
I sometimes tell people that I am a recovering racist. It is not really my fault. I grew up in a culture (the 1950s in the border South) when that was just the way things were. The outward and visible sign of our moral failure...
Is Christianity Polytheistic? The Doctrine of the Trinity. A Reposting
Today, June 15, is not only Father's Day. It is also Trinity Sunday. To me, the concept of the Trinity is incomprehensible. Which is why I am the perfect person to explain it to the rest of you. This podcast start...
Visit to Palestine During a Time of War and Genocide, One Year Anniversary. Reposting.
In June of 2024 I spent eight days in occupied Palestine, i.e., the West Bank. It is now a year later and I thought this report might deserve a reposting. I went with a group of people who had religious connections.&nbs...
Famous People I Met Along the Way
This is the last lecture I delivered in my academic career. I discovered that I had miscalculated the end of the semester and that I had an extra class. I did have a regular academic topic but my wife said, "You are a senior profess...
The Logic of a Moral Assassin. Why I Killed Gandhi. Relevant to the Killing of Two Israeli Embassy employees.
Why I Killed Gandhi by Nathuram Godse Two employees of the Israeli Embassy in D. C. were shot to death this week (May, 2025) . The Manifesto of the shooter shows him to be very distressed by the mass death in Gaza...
The Election of Pope Leo XIV, An American Pope.
I was amazed at how much information is available on the internet about this election. Of course, biographical information is public, but the cardinals swear an oath of secrecy before they go into the conclave. And yet somehow infor...
Everything You Wanted To Know About the Catholic Church (But Were Afraid to Ask). Reposting
This was an orientation lecture in my course on Religion and Politics in 2020. It does have a few of those classroom comments ("don't forget to turn in your papers" sort of things), but otherwise it has quite a bit of information about sometime...
Pope Leo XIII. Rerum Novarum (an inspiration for Pope Leo XIV). A Reposting
Are you interested in why the new pope took the name of an old pope? Is he sending us a message? Leo XIII was a modernizing pope whose most famous encyclical (1891) was called Rerum Novarum (New Things). This is a class...