10 things you didn't know about the history of Halloween

10) While today's costumes channel an inner fantasy, they started with a much more solemn purpose.

  One of the earliest examples we have of people donning costumes comes from Hallow Mass, a ceremonial mass dedicated to prayers for the dead. People appealed to their ancestors for everything from happy marriages to fertility, and costumes were a part of that.

  It wasn't until the Victorian era that the idea of dressing up really went mainstream, and a lot of that started with the Robert Burns poem "Halloween." Originally, the best costumes were the ones that were creepy, which isn't entirely surprising. The Victorians were obsessed with the idea of spirituality and the afterlife, so pioneering the ghost costume made a lot of sense.

Women are driving the resistance

  The 2016 election season was a troubling reminder of the stubborn persistence of sexism and misogyny. Whether or not they chose to vote, millions of women across the United States were forced to confront a stark reality: Their country had elected a president who built his campaign on division, professing to want to empower women even as he consistently embraced and deployed hostile, disparaging rhetoric about and toward women. President Donald Trump has also surrounded himself with and elevated men—such as Vice President Mike Pence, former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Attorney General Jeff Sessions—who have consistently supported anti-women policies.

Trauma, not rehabilitation, in juvenile detention centers

  Elord Revolte died a tragic death in Florida’s juvenile justice system after he tried to get a carton of milk without permission.

  In a gut-wrenching series called “Fight Club,” The Miami Herald investigated more than a decade’s worth of records from the state’s juvenile justice system and found a culture of inconceivable violence that has resulted in at least 12 deaths of detained youths since 2000.

  It was such violence that cost Elord his life.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1585: Crazy can be good!

  Crazy. He is crazy. She is crazy. You are crazy. I am crazy. You are so crazy. Crazy can mean so much from a “low down put down” to a term of endearment. It can also mean beyond exceptional. I want to explore the beyond exceptional. Have you heard people say that “crazy” people are stronger, run faster, lift more, have greater stamina and perform all kinds of feats way beyond the ability of “normal” people? I don’t know whether there is truth in this perception of “crazy,” but I know I have heard it a lot. In fact, I sometimes apply it to myself. When we are crazy, we don’t know our own limitations so we keep exceeding them.

Jacob G. Hornberger: Isolationism and open borders

  In an implicit rebuke of President Trump, former President Bush delivered a speech last week in which he warned against “isolationism sentiments.”

  Isolationist sentiments? Is he kidding? Don’t make me laugh. Trump has made it very clear that he is firmly committed to continuing the forever wars that Bush launched in Afghanistan and Iraq more than 15 years ago and Bush’s perpetual “war on terrorism,” which he used to justify the adoption of such totalitarian powers as indefinite detention, torture, and assassination.

Poverty expert explains how we make it a crime to be poor

  Officially, the United States ended debtors’ prisons in 1833. Unofficially, as we saw in the Justice Department’s report on racially biased policing in Ferguson, there is a system of fines and fees for minor crimes that often result in jail time for the poor, mostly black citizens who cannot afford to pay them.

  To provide more context on the issue, I talked with Peter Edelman, Georgetown University law professor and former staffer for Robert F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, about his new book Not a Crime to be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Around Alabama

  There have been quite a few political happenings in the Heart of Dixie during October. Birmingham has elected a new mayor. 36-year-old Randall Woodfin defeated two-term mayor William Bell. 

  I never got to know Bell that well; however, the few times I visited with him he seemed to be an affable fellow. He surely looked like a mayor. His distinguished demeanor and exquisite diction and appearance gave an elegant impression for Birmingham. He looked like he came out of Hollywood central casting.

Trump is the reason the Constitution has an anti-corruption clause

  The investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the Trump campaign’s involvement in the Russian attack on the U.S. election system has garnered significant attention. But, more quietly, another effort to limit foreign influence over our government continues apace.

  On October 18, a federal district court in New York heard arguments in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump, in which the plaintiffs argued that President Donald Trump has violated the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause, an anti-corruption clause that prohibits government officials from receiving anything of value from foreign governments without the consent of Congress. While these cases are just beginning, the ongoing investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia have made clear that the problem of foreign influence in this administration is both very real and very dangerous.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1584: God bless the child that’s got its own

  Mama may have, Papa may have, but God bless the child that’s got his own. That is a key verse in the Billie Holiday song, "God Bless the Child." It captures a profound truth about the power of ownership. I will change the word “his” to “its” as I employ the verse as a refrain in this Sketches. God bless the child that’s got its own.

  I learned the power of ownership through an unforgettable childhood experience. Our family lived on heir property (real property inherited upon death resulting in multiple owners). However, my father Sam Sanders was not an heir to the property because my grandfather, Miles Sanders, was still alive. We had no ownership.

Craig Ford: Career tech should be just as much of a priority as college prep

  The largest school district in Maryland recently received a report from a consulting firm they hired to help improve their education system. The report’s conclusion was simple: career preparation has been marginalized as a priority, and the school system’s programs are not keeping pace with the changing nature of employment.

  More specifically, the report showed that the school system is putting most of its energy and resources into college preparation despite the fact that most of the available jobs are middle-skill positions that require less than a bachelor’s degree.

  Why should people in Alabama care about a report on Maryland’s school system? Because we – and the rest of America – have the same problem.