On this week’s Past Present podcast, Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, and Neil Young discuss the jailing of Kim Davis and the history of civil disobedience, the new online marketplace called TeachersPayTeachers, and the controversy over Taylor Swift’s new video for “Wildest Dreams.”

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show:

The jailing of Kim Davis had her conservative defenders arguing this was an act of civil disobedience while her critics responded Davis’ defiance would ultimately benefit the gay rights movement.
The website TeachersPayTeachers received glowing coverage from the New York Times.
Taylor Swift’s new music video for “Wildest Dreams” inspired a swift critique from two African writers. Swift’s production team rushed to the video’s defense, making their own case for historical accuracy. But plenty others have criticized “Wildest Dreams” as promoting a colonial nostalgia.

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

Neil cited Bernie Sanders’ speech at Liberty University and compared it to Mitt Romney’s controversial appearance at Liberty in 2012.
Natalia discussed Germany’s response to the European refugee crisis in light of the country’s complicated national history.
Niki compared the stability of the American political system to that of Australia’s that, with the recent election of Malcolm Turnbull to prime minister in a leadership spill, has had five prime ministers in four years.

AIN'T THAT SWELL