The past two years have reinforced the Public Health truth that the lives of human beings are globally inter-related. The SARS-COV2 pandemic was always going to be a challenge for the United States because Public Health–doing what is best for the individual by doing what is best for the group–is anathema to the American ethos. […]

via the UNC online archives. Reproduced below. I will link the N.C. Republican Party Hand-Book later this week (it is also contained in the online link). DEMOCRATIC HAND-BOOK,1906. DEMOCRATIC STATE PLATFORM. (Adopted at Greensboro, July 3, 1906.)         The Democracy of North Carolina in convention assembled, renews its allegiance to the principles of constitutional government, through […]

The Edwards family was one of the wealthiest in Greene County during the 19th Century, and there are a series of North Carolina Supreme Court cases involving the family, centered on what happens to your stuff if you die without a will. This primary source is more mundane in task, if not content. Theophilus starting […]

This is one in a series of posts elevating primary, historical sources. In 1878, there were 2,071 people (all men) registered to vote in Greene County, NC. 1,045 of them were listed as “Colored” and 1,026 were listed as “White.” The vote counts for North Carolina Supreme Court contests are listed on this page as […]

I am teaching PPS 302D, Value Choice for Policy Conflict (the Sanford Schools course in practical ethics) for the second time, and have come to understand the value of exposing students to primary sources. I have framed the course around the competing American ideas of Freedom (“all men are created equal”) and Hierarchy of Human […]

I am teaching PPS 302D again this semester (Value Choice as Policy Conflict)–our so-called core course in ‘practical ethics’ for the undergraduate Public Policy major at Duke University. The course begins with some overview of different approaches to ethics and systems of thought. We are then asking two questions across the rest of the semester: […]

White supremacy is an ideology that holds that Whites are superior to Blacks, that has undergone numerous shifts in expression and openness over the past 2+ Centuries in the United States. I have described it as operating on Duke’s campus as a “quiet default” that White is the ideal, and no longer defined by folks […]

Note: I drafted the post below (material between the *** about a week ago, but decided not to publish it because it seemed like punching down the hill to a staffer who was just writing what s/he had been directed to write. Down below is my addendum today. **** I try and grant the benefit […]

A Margolis Center for Health Policy project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation this week put out a policy brief on value based payments in skilled nursing facilities. It started as a look only at impact of COVID19 on SNFs but was broadened a bit to include movement toward VBP in nursing homes more […]

The Department of Health Policy and Management, in the UNC Gillings School of Public Health honored me last week with their Distinguished Alumni Award. Both my undergraduate BS and Ph.D. are from this Department and I owe them a great deal. Thank you to Morris Weinberger, the Chair, and the rest of the Faculty of […]