The Fulcrum
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Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan easily won Minnesota’s Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat, according to Decision Desk HQ, putting her a step closer to becoming the first Native American woman elected to the chamber. Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, is not the only Native woman who could make history this year: In New Mexico, former Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a…
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is on a warpath against a lot of things, but one of them is women. Just this week, the New York Times reported that the percentage of high-ranking officer nominations going to women is at its lowest level in at least 25 years. As obsessed as Hegseth is with firing–and intervening in the promotions of–qualified officers in the name of making the U.S. military the…
After Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was released in theaters, Elon Musk declared he would use Grok to create a more “historically accurate” version of the ancient epic poem. The uproar over the film’s supposedly woke casting has been loud and sustained, but the people most upset have ignored a pretty significant detail: The Odyssey is not real. It is a story filled with gods, goddesses, and…
Scan the faces on this summer’s European World Cup squads: France, England, Germany, the Netherlands. The jerseys hang on shoulders brown, black, olive, fair. These are not the sanitized, single-story teams that once stood for “nation.” They’re unruly, multicolored, undeniably global. And for once, the United States—so often an outlier—seems less exceptional and more like a willing participant in…
I suspected that my answer to the gentle but surprisingly direct query about my politics would have a bearing on my long-term prospects to be welcomed at the dog park. Picking up on my questioner’s left-of-center sensibilities, I’d hoped my confession about being Strom Thurmond’s illegitimate child would not kill my chances to be welcomed back and deny Sadie, my ten-year-old beagle-dachshund pup,…
Joseph and Nellie Gamble were born in 1905 and 1910 in Jim Crow Alabama – which meant that for much of their adult lives, they were unable to vote alongside their fellow citizens on Election Day. Across the South for nearly a century after Reconstruction, Black Americans like the Gambles were legally blocked from the ballot box by a system of racist laws that made them second-class citizens denied…
"What did Black people do to this administration that has allowed it to really stigmatize folks of color?" Whoopi Goldberg asked Vice President JD Vance last week, when he joined The View to discuss his new memoir. Rather than answer the question, Vance's first response was to feign ignorance. But he wasn't confused. Vance has simply learned that feigned confusion buys him room to say what an…
I didn’t love seeing the charge for the baseball tickets hit my credit card. Like Americans, I’ve watched expenses and discretionary costs rise. A night at the ballpark felt like a luxury rather than a routine outing. Still, I wanted time with my two grandsons—one a devoted Los Angeles Dodgers fan, the other a loyal Arizona Diamondbacks fan. That alone promised an interesting evening. But when we…
As the United States prepares to mark the 250th anniversary of its founding later this summer, there will be extensive celebration and reflection about our democracy and the values it embodies. But the 250th is not the only anniversary that should capture our attention. Indeed, our nation’s story is an evolution of moments built over time. One of these building blocks occurred 175 years ago, in…
LILBURN, GEORGIA — When state Rep. Jasmine Clark launched her campaign for Congress on a mission to enact generational change, she didn’t realize she could also make history. Now, she’s poised to become the first Black woman Ph.D. scientist to serve in Congress. If she wins, she’ll be representing Georgia’s 13th Congressional District. “Whenever you’re the first, it’s almost like you become…
