Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories

Video: We the people

WE THE PEOPLE | NIMO PATEL | EMPTY HANDS MUSIC

It was a year ago in September 2021 that The Fulcrum introduced our Pop Culture section.

At that time we said:


In our increasingly complex world of trauma and travail, where we must care about the health of our democracy and strive relentlessly to strengthen our representative republic, we call upon the products and services of our artists and athletes to remind us of our heritages and traditions, our cooperative and competitive selves.

This past year we honored and celebrated culture as a bridge to the latest news and analysis of politics, policy, and the birth of a new civic and political voice to build greater social cohesion, civic engagement, and problem-solving.

We hope you have taken the journey with us as we shared stories, music, poetry and dance to inspire our better angels as part of our continuing coverage of the problems and solutions of our times.

We believe more than ever that art has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people.

Today we present a powerful example in “WeThe People,” produced by Empty Hands Music. Their mission is to spread seeds of goodness in the world through selfless service, music and love.

Founded by Nimo Patel, who went from his Ivy League education to Wall Street to fame and fortune as a rap star on MTV. However, at some point along Patel’s journey he realized that he was walking a path of suffering and that the only path to light was through selfless service to others and his own internal purification. For the past 10 years Patel has been serving and working with the underprivileged communities in India.

Enjoy the healing power of “We The People.”


Read More

Montanans Urged To Defend Voter Integrity in November Elections

The Trump administration’s Justice Department has filed 30 lawsuits against states refusing to hand over voter rolls, which include personal information including Social Security and driver’s license numbers.

Adobe Stock

Montanans Urged To Defend Voter Integrity in November Elections

Democracy watchdogs warned President Donald Trump is setting the stage to tap emergency powers to ensure Republicans do not lose control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

Since January, the Trump administration has used federal law enforcement to raid election facilities to seize ballots and voting machines in places like Georgia and Puerto Rico. Trump continues to cast doubt on the integrity of elections in Montana and across the nation.

Keep ReadingShow less
Political Corruption Is Often Not a Voting Issue in America

electoral fraud/voter apathy/totalitarism

Getty Images - digitally generated image

Political Corruption Is Often Not a Voting Issue in America

Almost every week, there seems to be another story about the pay-to-play ethos that is dominant in Donald Trump’s Washington, DC. On July 30, the Wall Street Journal added a new one to the list.

The Journal described the president’s fervent interest in fundraising and how he checks almost nightly with his top fundraiser, Meredith O’Rourke, to find out “which companies and donors have cut checks and which haven’t, and for how much.” The story highlighted the way she channels his interest into making her pitch.

Keep ReadingShow less
As Temperatures Rise and Federal Funding Falls, Drowning Risks Grow
a group of kids in a pool
Photo by Kevin Paes on Unsplash

As Temperatures Rise and Federal Funding Falls, Drowning Risks Grow

July 25 marked World Drowning Day. More than 4000 people die from unintentional drowning in the United States each year. This translates into an average of 11 drowning deaths per day. Children ages one to four are at greatest risk, making drowning the leading cause of death for that group and the second leading cause of death for children ages five to 14.

Two emerging trends could make those numbers worse: federal funding cuts that have weakened drowning prevention efforts and hotter summers that are driving more people to water to cool off. Together, these trends threaten to deepen long-standing disparities that already place Black, Indigenous, autistic, and low-income communities at greater risk.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. Capitol with a flag waving in front of it.

As Washington stalls, young bipartisan lawmakers in Alaska, Mississippi, and beyond are proving that cross-partisan collaboration still wins.

Douglas Rissing/Getty Images

The Politicians Who Can Fix America's Polarization Problem Will Win

Political predictions are notoriously unreliable, but here is one I am willing to stand behind: the elected officials who figure out how to govern across difference will dominate the next decade of American politics. With dysfunction and paralysis having become the status quo in Washington, elected officials who work together to get things done will turn heads, offering desperate voters a much-needed alternative to a broken system.

Consider what happened in Alaska last year. The state’s lawmaking structure does not encourage political independence. Alaska has the nation's highest veto-override threshold: three-quarters. So when a popular education bill promising smaller class sizes, a cellphone ban, and vocational training funding cleared the legislature, only to be vetoed twice by the governor, it looked dead in the water.

Keep ReadingShow less