1/ 2023 is almost here. As we wrap up another year, we’d like to celebrate some of the accomplishments of our fellow @retroreport journalists from 2022 ⬇️. 2/ A finalist for the @NIHCMfoundation awards in Journalism and Research, our film with @sciam examined how stigmas about weight could play a role in the quality of medical care received by heavier patients.retroreport.org/video/the-weig…

1/ In 2022, we produced and updated over 20 videos and films. Take a look at some of our highlights from over the past year ⬇️. 2/ Produced in partnership with @frontlinepbs, “American Reckoning” covers a lesser-known story of the civil rights movement and Black resistance to racist violence in Mississippi. retroreport.org/video/american…

1/ As pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol Wednesday, Senate staffers carried the electoral ballots to safety. It’s not the first time an item of historical significance has been rescued.

https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley/status/1346938705932648451

2/ During the War of 1812, the first time the Capitol was stormed, War Office clerks hid the original parchment Constitution in a linen sack and carried it to a mill in Virginia, saving it from British troops who burned much of DC.

Drug overdose deaths have risen to the highest level ever.
Maybe someday, we’ll be able to treat addicts with a vaccine. retroreport.org/video/why-this… medpagetoday.com/publichealthpo….

1/8 How is it that the highest office in the land - the US presidency - is one where the person who gets the most votes can still lose the election? 50 years ago, Congress came close to changing that. Why did the effort fail?
Thread 👇 2/8 Twice in the last 20 years (2016 Trump, 2000 Bush), and 3 other times, presidents took office by winning enough electoral college votes (270 or more) but losing the popular vote. This arcane, some say undemocratic, system dates back to the nation’s founding.

In October 2019, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked which #SupremeCourt cases during her tenure had done the most harm. She cited three. #SCOTUS
vox.com/2020/9/18/2091… First was Shelby County v. Holder.

In 2013, #RBG issued a blistering dissent in the case: “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet."

1/ Pres. Trump is denying that he had “a series of mini strokes” last year as speculation about his mysterious trip to Walter Reed hospital grows. But if the President really were hiding an illness, he would be far from the first to do so... nyti.ms/2DtA79y 2/ Most famously, FDR spent his entire presidency wheelchair-bound. Contrary to popular myth, his condition wasn’t entirely a secret, but great lengths were taken to hide the extent of the president’s condition, including using the Secret Service to interfere with photographers.

1/ In today’s #LessonsFromHistory we’re talking about the 1876 Republican National Convention. Like today, racial tensions were running high. Though the Civil War was over, areas of the former Confederacy were still under military occupation eleven years later… 2/ Rutherford B. Hayes was the Republican nominee for president. In an effort to rebuild the Republican Party in the South, Hayes supported removing troops and creating “wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government.”

It’s one thing for a presidential candidate to win a lot of primaries. It’s another to win the nomination.

We look at the 1912 Republican National Convention, where the power of the delegate became clear.

WATCH full video: shorturl.at/htz14 13 states participated in the new system of party primary elections in 1912. How did Theodore Roosevelt perform?

Just in time for the start of the #GOPConvention, we’re back with another quiz based on our series of Convention videos.

Donald Trump's candidacy in 2016 wasn't the first time the GOP was divided by an outsider.
We look back at the 1964 RNC.
WATCH: shorturl.at/acxBQ Who was the outsider Republican candidate in 1964?

On Day 4 and the final day of the #DemConvention, we re-visit another convention over 100 years ago that has the reputation for being one of the most chaotic conventions.

Before you take our quiz, watch our video on the 1924 Democratic Convention: shorturl.at/lryTY In 1924, within the Democratic Party, there was a fight over one main issue at the convention: the Ku Klux Klan.

The 1924 Democratic National Convention was the:

1/ Sen. Kamala Harris accepts the Democratic vice presidential nomination tonight. Harris has cited Howard University, a historically black institution, and Alpha Kappa Alpha, the country’s oldest Black sorority, as major influences. 2/ AKA (@akasorority1908) was founded in 1908 at Howard. It has grown into a national organization and a powerful network for Black women.
aka1908.com/about/founders

Former President @BarackObama is set to speak at the #DemConvention tonight.

Our quiz today looks back at the speech that put him in the national spotlight.

Watch the analysis of Obama’s speech: bit.ly/2YiVIZs When was Barack Obama’s first keynote speech at a Democratic National Convention?

1/ We’re taking a moment during this convention week to recall one of the stranger characters from American political history: Pigasus the Immortal, the pig who would be president. #LessonsFromHistory 2/ At the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, amid protests against the Vietnam War and violent clashes with police, members of the Youth International Party, known as Yippies (Abbie Hoffman was a founder), brought a pig to a demonstration and announced its candidacy.

Clues for today’s quiz are in @RetroReport’s video on one particular convention from the past.

WATCH: bit.ly/320ITEs
#Day2 #DemConvention What year was journalist Dan Rather roughed up at the Democratic National Convention?

🚨QUIZ🚨
For the next two weeks, we’ll be asking questions about the history of political conventions.

If you want to prep ahead, watch our series on standout moments from past conventions: bit.ly/2PXNstx The Democratic National Convention starts today, Aug. 17, and the Republican National Convention will be held next week.

When was the first presidential nominating convention held?

A SWAT officer with the LAPD has filed a civil lawsuit accusing a group of veteran officers of creating a culture of violence in the unit.

LAPD’s history with SWAT dates back to the 1960s. In the 1960s, police departments developed units trained to use special weapons and tactics, aka SWAT.

Since then, SWAT teams are increasingly being deployed in routine policing, sometimes with unintended results.

bit.ly/3kC1XkA

1/ @NewYorkStateAG Letitia James has filed a lawsuit that seeks to dissolve the @NRA alleging corruption and financial misconduct. As the nation’s largest pro-gun organization, the NRA has huge political influence. But it wasn’t always invincible.

https://twitter.com/NewYorkStateAG/status/1291398473955389440

2/ The attempted assassination of President Reagan and the shooting of his press secretary James Brady in 1981 sparked a bipartisan call for gun control and paved way for restrictions on sales of firearms.

1/ Last week, Facebook and Twitter rushed to take down a widely distributed video containing many factual inaccuracies about #Covid19. Like #Plandemic before it, the video’s rapid deletion likely contributed to the attention, a social phenomenon known as the “Streisand Effect.” 2/ In 2003, Barbara Streisand sued The California Coastal Records Project for $50M for publishing an aerial photograph of her beachside mansion. Not only did Streisand lose, but the story became a media phenomenon, which caused the photograph to circulate even further.

1/ Today President Trump suggested that the November election should be postponed because he thinks, despite a lack of evidence, that mail-in voting would lead to a fraudulent election. #voting #VBM

The US has a long history of voting by mail. #LessonsFromHistory. 2/ During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln and his fellow Republicans wanted Union soldiers to be able to vote in the 1864 election from the battleground. “I would rather be defeated with the soldier vote behind me than to be elected without it.” Lincoln said.

1/6 Kanye West’s quixotic presidential run as the candidate of the Birthday Party puts him in a long tradition of colorful - and sometimes viable - 3rd party candidates in American politics. #LessonsFromHistory. 2/6 Some appeal to voters on single issues. In 1968 George Wallace had a segregationist platform, and won 13% of the vote. Billionaire Ross Perot ran twice in the 90s, focused on the ballooning deficit, and took part in presidential debates.