57Recent Stories
When Presidents Can't Take a Joke, Democracy Suffers
Humor has long been a hallmark of American democracy, with presidents from Reagan to Obama proving they could laugh at themselves. But when leaders can’t take a joke—and instead try to silence comedians—the threat goes beyond late-night TV. It strikes at the very heart of freedom
A Forgotten Chapter of Hope: What the Readjusters Teach Us About Healing Our Divided Country
A Forgotten Chapter of Hope examines the Readjuster Party of post–Civil War Virginia, showing how Black and white working-class families once united to protect public education and opportunity for all children — a powerful lesson for bridging today’s political and racial divides.
Rising Waters Will Not Drown the American Spirit
On the Fourth of July, Donald Trump signed his “megabill.” The law boosts the dying fossil fuel industry with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars. It invites an additional 470 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2035 – that’s the equivalent annual emissions of more than 100 million gas-powered cars. And it aims to stop dead in its tracks the clean energy transition and the green manufacturing jobs boom the Inflation Reduction Act was already starting to create.
This Independence Day, Remember Fighting Back is America’s Great Tradition
I told my son recently that we’re descendants of the youngest combatant in the battle of Lexington and Concord. Our ancestor’s teenage ears were among the first to hear “the shot heard ‘round the world.”
American Democracy is at a Pivotal Moment and None of Us Should be Silent
None of us should be silent about the recent use of federal agents by this administration to bully, arrest, and investigate political opponents. Just as none of us should accept as normal or okay its use of the military against Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.
In Iowa, a Pipeline Fight Shows What the People Can Do
It is easy to be cynical about politics these days. More than cynical. The rise of political violence, fueled by partisan division and anti-democracy extremism, continues to leave Americans of every race, religion, state, and political stripe horrified.
The Truth Makes Us Free
My grandmother taught me we are all born into a great, unfinished struggle. She meant the struggle for justice. For truth. For dignity.
Are Any of Us Really Ready for Fire Season?
The smoke has already arrived. This past week, thick plumes from wildfires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have drifted into the US, triggering air quality alerts across the Midwest. Cities like Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago are experiencing hazy skies and dangerous air conditions, with the Air Quality Index reaching levels unhealthy for sensitive groups.
When Demagogues Blame the Vulnerable, We All Lose
In hard times, people look for answers. The decimation of American manufacturing starting in the 1990s with trade agreements like NAFTA led to decades of downward economic mobility for working families. That creates ripe conditions for demagogues to come out of the woodwork offering an easy answer for people’s pain. And if history teaches us anything, that answer is usually someone else to blame.
Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Cruelty is a National Scourge – And Would Be Made Worse by the MAGA Budget Bill
“Our neighbors are living in fear. And that’s what the administration wants. They want people to be scared. So, we’re combatting that by bringing the neighborhood together and saying, ‘you’re not going to frighten us into complicity; you’re not going to frighten us into hiding; we’re one neighborhood, regardless of anyone’s immigration status, and we’re going to stay one neighborhood.’”