A former war correspondent sees the civil rights movement as a kind of military campaign—and helps us envision how to win the current war for democracy.

Inside the Trump Administration’s Attack on Smith College and Title IX

The Education Department investigates the venerable women’s school for admitting transgender women and granting them access to “women-only” spaces like dorms. A Smith College scholar shows how Trump’s perverse probe fits a conservative Republican pattern.

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by Carrie N. Baker May 28, 2026May 28, 2026

Social Capital: Which U.S. Regions Are Bowling Alone?

You’ve probably heard of Bowling Alone, the hugely influential 2000 book diagnosing our country’s malaise by Robert Putnam, the Harvard University political scientist. In it, Putnam showed that Americans’ stock of social capital—the fabric of a community’s trust and cooperation—had been plummeting since the 1950s, and that its decline was harming our well-being, personal relationships, health, lifespan, and economic growth. In the quarter-century since the book received widespread attention, social trust, accepted norms, and community cohesion continue to come undone, paving the way for the rise of authoritarian populism and damage to the republic. Indeed, the number of people saying…

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Debra Dickerson

How to Get From Bravery to Victory

Two-fer: How to stab both your race and your gender in the back with one post

We have met the enemy

Barack Obama was right

It’s No Theory That This is a Conspiracy

George Will, his own worst enemy

Affirmative action is un-American, racist, condescending, infantilizing, and the final sign of the Apocalypse/Rapture. Unless it’s the right kind of affirmative action

Proof that a little knowledge is dangerous

What nerds dream about

Dudes. Quit Bogarting

How AI Broke the Entry-Level Job

If You Called for Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales to be Expelled, Then You Should Impeach Donald Trump

Inside the Trump Administration’s Attack on Smith College and Title IX

Janet Mills Should Unsuspend Her U.S. Senate Campaign

The French Rejection

Social Capital: Which U.S. Regions Are Bowling Alone?

The Democratic Party Is Divided (But Not How You Think)