TPM’s KELLI MARSHALL lays out the brief history of the pledge of allegiance:

In his book To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance, Richard J. Ellis digs further into the nation’s “patriotic” school program of 1892. Ellis writes that the creation of the Pledge actually reflected “two widespread anxieties among native-born Americans” at the time: the fear of new immigrants (especially in the Northeast), and the complacency of post-Civil War Americans oblivious to the dangers facing the country.

Source: The Strange History Behind The Pledge Of Allegiance

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders’ correct and overly apologetic summary of the founding of our nation puts this in better perspective.

 

Over the past two decades, state legislatures and the U.S. Congress have passed measures to protect vulnerable people selling structured settlements. In 2000, Maryland inked the Structured Settlement Protection Act, which enumerated a series of requirements. First, a seller must seek the counsel of an independent professional adviser. Then the proposed deal must go before a county judge, who decides whether that agreement reflects the seller’s best interests. But today, critics say, that measure is failing

Source: How companies make millions off lead-poisoned, poor blacks – The Washington Post

The scathing report, commissioned by the American Psychological Association, says the C.I.A. used prominent outside psychologists to quell internal objections.

Source: Outside Psychologists Shielded U.S. Torture Program, Report Finds – The New York Times