Several hundred people demonstrate outside the Hamilton Country courthouse in downtown Cincinnati, April 6, 1990, against a scheduled exhibit of photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe.

When America’s Culture Wars Were Fought in Art Galleries

by David Masciotra June 23, 2026June 22, 2026

Late 20th-century battles over artists like Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano set the stage for the transgressive Age of Trump.

Bill Clinton and Jim Hunt had much in common as moderate southern Democratic governors in a conservative age. They were competitive but also friends.

Politics

What Bill Clinton Learned from Jim Hunt and Why It Still Matters

by Adam Shapiro December 23, 2025December 23, 2025

It was a beautiful North Carolina spring day in 2000 at the governor’s mansion in Raleigh, and Governor Jim Hunt was sprinting down the giant ruby-red stairs. I was his then-young press aide, and we were running late because he had been on the phone with President Bill Clinton. Naively, I noted something about their […]

Politics

The Divestment Encampments Don’t Make Any Sense

by Bill Scher April 25, 2024April 24, 2024

The demand that universities unload any investments having to do with Israel is half-baked and bound to fail.

Political Animal

The Right’s Lethal Loathing of the LGBTQ Community

by D.R. Tucker August 26, 2018January 9, 2022

I guess plotting to have people of color harmed or killed at the hands of law enforcement didn’t provide enough of a rush for these folks. Now, they think threatening the lives of LGBTQ Americans is one heck of a way to make America great again: Vermont’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who is transgender, said Tuesday […]

Political Animal

Is Doug Jones Doomed?

by D.R. Tucker December 3, 2017January 9, 2022

You may recall that in the aftermath of Bob Dylan’s controversial experimentation with gospel music, there was a brief period of time when some gospel acts enjoyed some success among “secular” audiences. One such act was a group known as the Clark Sisters, who had a fairly popular tune called “Expect Your Miracle”: I’m looking […]

Political Animal

Moore’s the Pity: The Moral Horror of Alabama’s GOP Senate Nominee

by D.R. Tucker November 18, 2017January 9, 2022

C’mon. Despite the revelations of this past week, despite the polls showing his Democratic opponent ahead (remember those polls last November showing Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump?), you might as well start calling him Senator Moore right now. It seemingly still has not dawned upon rational and logical Americans just how deep the rabbit […]