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Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs

Just the Facts: Canadian Tariffs

Coins on top of countries.

If Countries Stop Buying U.S. Debt, Everything Changes.

​The U.S. Constitution.

Call for a Constitutional Convention Veils Anti-Constitutionalism and Portends Political Chaos

Redistricting

Redistricting

The End of the American Era

The End of the American Era

Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs on stage

Luke Combs, politics and healing our nation's divide

Ode to Ukraine

Ode to Ukraine

Kutay Tanir/Getty Images
Rob Stein
By Rob SteinMar 15, 2022
Rob Stein
Rob Stein is the founder of the Democracy Alliance and co-founder of the Committee on States. An attorney by training, Rob has founded and run several non-profit organizations, was senior strategist to the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was Chief of Staff of the Washington Office of the Clinton-Gore Transition, served as Chief of Staff of the United States Department of Commerce, and was a private equity investor working with dozens of early-stage companies. Rob’s research about the funding, management and overall infrastructure of the conservative movement over the last three decades, and his recruitment of leading progressive strategists, activists and donors, resulted in the formation of the Democracy Alliance, and he co-founded the Committee on States. Rob co-led the “Strengthening Our American Republic” research sponsored by the Fetzer Institute and Stand Together with Carolyn Lukensmeyer. Since 2017, he has been a champion of, and commentator on, cross-partisanship in American culture and politics; and currently advises a diverse range of center-right, center-left and independent cultural and political organizations and leaders.
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Stein is an organizational and political strategist who has worked with dozens of for-profit, not-for-profit and political and public sector organizations over the past 50 years. He currently serves as a researcher/writer, consultant and champion of the work of cross-partisan cultural and political organizations and initiatives.

I know it is difficult to be optimistic in desperate times, but the burdens of healing the world are ours and ours alone - there is no one but us.

Thus, I proffer this “Ode to Ukraine” to encourage you to discover your own courage, belief, hope and faith in the possibilities of a better, more humane, evolved enlightened world:

Ukraine, thy individual acts of courage inspire our eternal belief in your cause;

thy personal resilience to defend your homeland is our hope for humanity

thy collective resolve to prevail in the face of unspeakable inhumanity waged against you sparks our faith in one another;

thy rejection of the forces of evil is the inspiration required to secure freedom, justice, and opportunity for ourselves and our posterity.

For this, and so much more, thy breath is our life

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The White Lotus Politics: Is Hollywood Storytelling Shifting Right?

Premiere of HBO Original Series "The White Lotus" Season 3 at Paramount Theatre on February 10, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.

(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

The White Lotus Politics: Is Hollywood Storytelling Shifting Right?

As HBO's The White Lotus nears its season three finale, Mike White's dark exploration of the human condition through privilege and class has not only continued to seep into our cultural conversations but has increasingly woven itself into our political ones. The series, which has always been inherently political, made it more overt this season through the friendship of three women with clashing political views (played by Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, and Leslie Bibb)—that culminated in a now-infamous dinner scene that captured the current political malaise defining so many of our American interactions today.

For an entertainment industry long viewed as American culture's most progressive stronghold, this show exists at a time when the Trump administration is censoring museums and muzzling news organizations, all coinciding with a swell of conservative voices gaining more visibility within the broader culture. Take NBC's Saturday Night Live, which, this March, invited country singer Morgan Wallen to perform for a secondtime, years after a video surfaced of him using a racial slur outside his Nashville home in 2021.

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Ben Folds Upcoming Tour: Offers His Fans a Time to Reflect

Ben Folds performs on stage with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall on January 28, 2021 in Perth, Australia.

Getty Images, Matt Jelonek

Ben Folds Upcoming Tour: Offers His Fans a Time to Reflect

In February, Ben Folds resigned as artistic adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, shortly after President Donald Trump took charge of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO,” Folds wrote on Instagram on February 12. “Not for me.”

While Folds is not overtly political, he has used his music as a platform to encourage dialogue and understanding within his audience. He has the opportunity to do so in his recently announced 2025 concert tour, which includes the “Paper Airplane Request Tour,” where members of the audience can request songs by sending paper airplanes to the stage.

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A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood screenshot
Sony Pictures Entertainment

Movies that show us at our weaving best

The Aspen Institute’s Weave: The Social Fabric Project tackles the problem of broken trust that has left Americans divided, lonely and in social gridlock. Weave connects and invests in grassroots leaders stepping up to weave a new, inclusive social fabric where they live. This is part of an ongoing series telling the stories of community weavers from across the country.

With the weather getting colder across the northern hemisphere and some holiday time with family and friends coming up, you might want to kick back with a movie. We’ve got you. Here are some movies that will give you hope, leave you smiling and maybe inspire you to get out and rebuild social trust in your community in 2025.

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