Author Archives: Kartik Krishnaiyer
#Stayathome #quarantinereading suggestions: Pandemic and Climate Change histories in Rome
No nation in history resembles the United States IMO more than Imperial Rome. A vast empire that “Romanized” all it governed from Syria to Egypt to Spain to Greece, Rome was the greatest empire in the history of the planet. Commerce, engineering and science were more advanced at the height of Roman rule than they […]
Spirit Airlines trims Florida service to a bone during #Coronavirus crisis
South Florida-based Spirit Airlines has temporarily cut domestic service in April to only 28 route pairs, all of which touch the airline’s main bases of Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Las Vegas, Dallas/Fort Worth and Orlando. All service to Los Angeles and New York has been temporarily suspended. April Spirit domestic route pairs from Florida is […]
History repeats? #Stayathome #Quarantinereading : The Jacksonian Era and the Whig Party
American politics and government was largely shaped by the polarizing Jackson era. The Democrats became a party shaped by Andrew Jackson’s personality and his supporters (Similar to today’s Republicans with Donald Trump) while Jackson’s foremost opponent, Henry Clay became a member of a new party called the Whigs which basically was a bunch of people […]
Florida’s commercial aviation future post airline-bailout
Florida’s economy which remains highly dependent of tourism is going to take a major hit thanks to COVID-19. The question now is whether or not the recovery here can be as swift as in other parts of the nation with more diversified economies. That largely depends on how aggressively airlines restore service to Florida after […]
Trump’s leftward economic lurch well within global “conservative” populist playbook.
President Trump’s lack of a hardened ideology and die-in-the-wool electoral base makes it far easier for someone like him to nimbly position himself wherever he needs to be, without serious political consequence. Very cleverly while much of the media obsesses about how he handled the early stages of COVID-19, Trump is completing a ideological shift […]
#Stayathome Reading suggestion: A Land Remembered
In the event you are scrambling for a late Florida-themed Christmas gift, I have a suggestion. A Land Remembered is perhaps the most fascinating historical fiction book about the state of Florida. No book describes old Florida and the transformation to modern state quite like A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith. The author who was nominated […]
#Stayathome reading and viewing suggestion: FDR and the birth of modern liberalism.
Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR–and How America Was Changed Forever, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, and American Experience: FDR Being a Democrat today inevitably leads back to the New Deal and how the party structure in the United States essentially changed at that point […]
Trump and DeSantis have been irresponsible – that does not mean Democrats and cable news have been white knights. We must all be accountable and do better to save ourselves.
President Donald Trump and his administration deserve blame for taking their eyes off the ball and leaving Americans vulnerable to the worst pandemic since 1918. Governor Ron DeSantis similarly has been slow and excessively ideological in his approach to the crisis. But does that means Democrats have been benevolent actors championing public safety? Does that […]
#Stayathome reading and listening suggestion: FDR takes the first ever Presidential flight
In Episode 17 of The Florida History Podcast presented by The Florida Squeeze we chronicle the rise of Pan American World Airways Florida links, from birth in Key West to development of the US’ first major international airport on Dinner Key in Coconut Grove, Miami. We also discuss President Franklin Roosevelt becoming the first US President […]
Robert Searle’s St Augustine raid and the founding of South Carolina
In this week’s Florida History Podcast we discuss a critical event that led to the building of the Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine. May 28, 1668 was the 82nd anniversary of Sir Frances Drake’s successful raid on St Augustine. That afternoon the 120 soldiers guarding St Augustine had been put on alert as […]
The Florida Squeeze 