Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

Podcast playlist: insurrection at the Capitol

podcast
Podcast playlist: What's next for democracy?
Stefan Ilic/Getty Images

Following the attack on the Capitol last week, The Democracy Group podcast network quickly created episodes to help listeners make sense of what transpired and what these events mean for the future of American democracy.

These episodes discuss how the proliferation of right-wing violence and extremism show that democracy reform is more urgently needed than ever. Hear perspectives from Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig, New America's Lee Drutman and more.


This playlist is part of The Fulcrum's partnership with The Democracy Group, a podcast network at Penn State University. All of its shows are committed to engaging in civil discourse, inspiring civic engagement and exploring the future of our democracy.


Read More

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump speaks before signing the Secure America Act in the Oval Office of the White House on June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Federal Court Blocks Trump’s ‘Loyalty Question’ on Civil Service Job Applications

A court’s decision to block the Trump administration from including a “loyalty question” on federal job applications was a win not only for the nonpartisan civil service, but also for the communities public employees serve, said one labor leader whose union was among the plaintiffs in the case against the Office of Personnel Management.

Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union, said Friday that the loyalty questions the OPM placed on job applications for public servants were a “blatantly illegal attempt to hire partisan cronies who would endanger our communities by putting politics before people, rather than dedicated, qualified public service workers.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Flooding around a highway.

Taken from Buffalo Bayou Park Houston Texas after Hurricane Beryl 2024

Mathew Risley/Getty Images

From Information to Muscle Memory: Disaster Preparedness in Texas

A flood warning can arrive on a phone in seconds. What happens next is much harder to predict.

Texas saw that difference again this July, when severe flooding across South and Central Texas triggered emergency warnings, evacuations, and hundreds of rescues. The state had warnings, emergency responders, and evacuation orders. But for an individual family, preparedness ultimately came down to a much smaller question: Do we know what to do now?

Keep ReadingShow less
Tattered American flag

Trump's "Restoring Truth and Sanity" order targets how museums and parks present slavery and racism. Why one writer says Americans should push back.

Nisian Hughes/Getty Images

Trump's Mendacious, Deceitful Rewriting of American History

History is made of two parts. One is indisputable facts and the other is the interpretation of those facts. The history of history is filled with varying interpretations of the basic facts, usually tinted by the perspective of the historian or commentator. That perspective can be the writer's political leanings, his philosophy, or any number of personal biases.

All historians, however, whether conservative or liberal, regardless of philosophy generally agree on the basic facts. For example, while there are fringe groups and individuals who deny that the Holocaust happened—that 6 millions Jews were killed by the Nazis—no reputable historian disputes that fact.

Keep ReadingShow less