CATEGORIES

In the Name of the Mother - How Shyamala Gopalan Harris raised a presidential contender

Shyamala Gopalan Harris did not believe in coddling. Pay her daughters, Kamala and Maya, an allowance for doing chores? “If you do the dishes, you should get two dollars,” scoffed the woman who this past summer, almost two decades after we spoke, would launch a million coconut memes. “You ate from the damn dishes!” Reward the future vice president of the United States—and possible future president—for good grades? Ridiculous. “What does that tell you?” her mother chided. “It says, ‘You know, I really thought you were stupid. Oh, you surprised Mommy!’ No.”

Kill the Messenger - The anti-disinformation field is retreating under attack.

A few months ago, a man crawling along a rooftop in Pennsylvania tried to murder Donald Trump at a campaign rally. Hours later, press releases started to circulate, from analysts, think tanks, politicians, and pundits, all offering to cut through the swell of confusion and misinformation.

Food + Health / Global Warning - Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making

When President Joe Biden took office, Democrats held a slim majority in the House of Representatives and a single-vote edge in the Senate. Despite the monumental odds, he has presided over the most productive presidential term for climate action in American history. Under Biden’s direction, the federal government took up the arduous task of incorporating climate considerations into scores of administrative operations and procedures. The epa cracked down on superpollutants and issued stricter emissions regulations for passenger vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate spending bill Congress has ever passed, brings the nation closer to its goal of slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030.

Trumpnesia - To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.

One of the most oft-quoted sentences ever penned by a philosopher is George Santayana’s observation that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In 2024, this aphorism is practically a campaign slogan. Donald Trump, seeking to become the first former president since Grover Cleveland to return to the White House after being voted out of the job, has waged war on remembrance. In fact, he’s depending on tens of millions of voters forgetting the recent past. This election is an experiment in how powerful a memory hole can be.

WHEN IN DROUGHT

This obscure yet adaptable grain could be a healthy staple for a warming planet.

BAD HABITS

A spate of recent horror movies recycle tired tropes about nuns-and reveal society's ongoing discomfort with independent women.

Taking the Fifth For a glimpse of the Supreme Court after a second Trump term, look at the radical circuit court that's already driving America to the right.

Imagine obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage.

THE ARCHITECT

TRUMP WANTS TO BE KING. RUSS VOUGHT HAS A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Losing Faith

As an evangelical leader, I enticed lawmakers and federal judges to adopt a conservative Christian agenda. Donald Trump’s rise proved how wrong I was.

GOD'S COUNTRY

These Christian nationalists have a plan to take over Americafrom small towns to the highest court in the land.

Data Blockers- Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too.

Overturning Roe didn't just bludgeon abortion access. It sabotaged science, too. In early May 2022, reproductive health researcher Liz Mosley was at a dinner celebrating her first day as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine when the news broke: A leaked draft of the Dobbs decision revealed the Supreme Court’s plan to gut abortion rights in the United States—the “worst-case scenario,” as one dinner guest put it.

Growing Pains - Why are governors rejecting funds for kids' summer meals?

The Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program for Children (EBT), the first new federal food aid initiative in decades, is a permanent extension of Congress’ Covid-era relief that sought to provide extra meals for more than 30 million school kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But more than 10 million children will miss out this summer, according to the USDA. Thirteen other states—Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming—also chose not to enroll. And they all have something else in common: Republican governors.

Mission from God. Church And Statehood– A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status.

A new Puerto Rican political party puts faith before status. Puerto Rico’s churches, which in recent decades were mostly confined to private life, are now reshaping political dynamics. Proyecto Dignidad is a reflection of a broader populist global trend, and it draws inspiration from the Trump playbook and other domestic right-wing currents that helped him win over significant numbers of Latino voters in 2020.

40 Acres and a Lie

We compiled Reconstruction-era documents to identify 1,250 formerly enslaved Black Americans given land-only to have it returned to their enslavers.

The Conversion Therapist Will See You Now

The counselors once discredited for their "ex-gay" theories have rebranded. And now they're coming after trans kids.

"I Hope My Hindsight Will Be Others' Foresight"

A decade after Elliot Rodger's horrific massacre, his mother is on a quest to help threat assessment experts-and other parents-prevent the next tragedy.

RAGING BULL DONALD TRUMP'S PUGILISTIC SPOKESMAN HAS TAKEN CAMPAIGNING TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF LOW.

IN late February, after Donald Trump had nearly vanquished the entirety of the Republican primary field, his spokesman, Steven Cheung, took aim at the one opponent still standing. \"Birdbrain, are you a liar or just plain stupid?\" he posted on X.

SAVED

Finding self-love after Christian conversion therapy

WHAT WE ARE OWED

Technology and genealogy have made the case for reparations specific-and undeniable.

PARADISE STOLEN

Black families were cheated out of their land on Skidaway Island. Now it's a wealthy white enclave

THE FAST AND THE SPURIOUS

Ohio GOP Senate hopeful Bernie Moreno built an empire selling cars-and stiffing workers.

Blood Money

How dialysis clinics are making a killing off deathly ill patients.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT - CRIME OF THE CROP

Will GMOs harm my kids? Your pediatrician's response might not be grounded in science.

ECONUNDRUMS - CHATBOT QUACKS

AI was supposed to fix online health misinformation. Instead, it's making it worse.

WELL PLAYED

One man’s mission to make gaming a little less white

FIGHTING CHANCE

RUBEN GALLEGO'S BATTLE AGAINST KARI LAKE COULD DECIDE THE FATE OF THE SENATE-AND DEMOCRACY ITSELF. NO PRESSURE.

Become Ungovernable

The spectacular implosion of the Libertarian Party

Spoiler Alert

Third-party candidates never win national elections, but they can still have serious consequences.

THE DEMOCRACY BOMB

A day ahead of the third anniversary of January 6, President Joe Biden traveled to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-where George Washington encamped during the Revolutionary War-before delivering what he described as a \"deadly serious\" speech framing the stakes of the 2024 election.

OH CRAP - SLUDGE REPORT

Can Maine lead the way to a future without forever chemicals?