TALLAHASSEE — At 10:50 p.m. Tuesday night outside Lee Hall on Florida A&M University’s campus, Democrat Andrew Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, stepped to the microphone. Florida’s first-ever black nominee for governor gave a gracious, hopeful concession speech to a devoted group of supporters after it became apparent that Republican …
Read More »From a Helicopter Crash in Afghanistan to a 2018 Congressional Run: MJ Hegar Loves 'Insurmountable Odds'
Mary Jennings “MJ” Hegar has overcome a lot of conflict in her life. The Round Rock, Texas, native faced sexual abuse in the military and domestic abuse at home before becoming an Air Force pilot, serving three tours in Afghanistan. When her helicopter was shot down by the Taliban in …
Read More »Jamil Smith: Trump Reveals Himself, Again
The president of the United States is now directly attacking a woman who has come forward with allegations of sexual assault. He is quite experienced at this. On Friday morning, after a week of media elites damning his “restraint” on the issue with faint praise, President Trump predictably used his …
Read More »The Survivors of the Rohingya Genocide
Rajuma Begum heard the first gunshots at eight in the morning. She was hauling furniture out of her family home in Tula Toli village, a small community of mostly Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, on the western coast of Myanmar. She knew Rohingya had been burned out of three nearby …
Read More »LeBron James Proved That Trump Fundamentally Misunderstands Sports
Of all the black athletes President Trump has slandered and scapegoated, he has never come after LeBron James. Not that I want him to, but I have to wonder why. The man who has insulted Colin Kaepernick for his civil rights protests and Stephen Curry for refusing to celebrate a …
Read More »Taibbi: Seymour Hersh's Memoir Is Full of Useful Reporting Secrets
Late in his new memoir, Reporter, muckraking legend Seymour Hersh recounts an episode from a story he wrote for the New Yorker in 1999, about the Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. Bill Clinton was believed to be preparing a pardon for Pollard. This infuriated the rank and file of the intelligence …
Read More »What Happens in Georgia Could Have National Implications for Years to Come
If you’re a Fox News Republican, you’re either freaked out by Stacey Abrams, or about to be. A Pandora’s Box of musty racial terrors, myths and prejudices – along with freshly updated Trumpian resentments – will be uncorked Tuesday if (as expected) the Yale Law School graduate, romance-novel writer, single …
Read More »Beto O'Rourke Has Millions to Spend, and Strong Words for Trump
When President Trump announced his plan this week to dispatch as many as 4,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, Rep. Beto O’Rourke thought back to 18-year-old Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., and of the United States Marine who killed him. Twenty-one years ago, President Clinton deployed American troops to patrol …
Read More »Before King Was a Myth, Martin Was a Man
Why do we look back on the day the bullet entered the body of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., shattering his jaw and severing his spinal cord? What are we supposed to feel when we see that image of shouting and pointing witnesses as he bled out onto the …
Read More »What Will Congress Do If Trump Tries to Fire Mueller?
Capitol Hill is still reeling from this week’s bombshell announcement that two senior Trump campaign officials have been indicted and another one has pleaded guilty in the independent investigation into whether there was collusion with Russian officials in the 2016 election. While many Democrats are now clamoring to take legislative …
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