Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Podcast: Vital Signs of Democracy

Podcast: Vital Signs of Democracy

Every story we hear on the news, online or in a meme about government and our fellow citizens will become the future we create. That's what Vital Signs of Democracy is -- a quick score to let us assess how we in the USA are weakening or strengthening our collective story about our democratic republic. Are we telling stories that support autocracy? Or democracy? Our podcast is an overview of the latest competing narratives for the future of our nation. We will explore how the latest news impacts the score. We'll end each episode with stories we've found that tell a better story for us to consider.

In this extended, inaugural episode, we outline what Vital Signs of Democracy is, and examine how the news, in aggregate, tells us a story about the future of our democratic republic, or democracy for short. Included in this episode is an overview of the two primary "Make America Great" stories that are competing for our attention. One is the MAGA story or returning to a nostalgic past. The other story to make America great is to advance to a multicultural, pluralistic society. Each of these stories demonize the people who prefer the other story. We include commentary about corporate media, social media, the issues used to divide us to profit (for media) or to motivate voters issue by issues. Listen to this episode and find a new way to think about the news.


Listen here.

Read More

RFK Jr. Vowed To Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying To Do Just That.

Erin McCanlies spent almost two decades at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health studying how parents’ exposure to chemicals affects the chance that they will have a child with autism. This spring, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. eliminated her entire division.

Nate Smallwood for ProPublica

RFK Jr. Vowed To Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying To Do Just That.

Erin McCanlies was listening to the radio one morning in April when she heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promising to find the cause of autism by September. The secretary of Health and Human Services said he believed an environmental toxin was responsible for the dramatic increase in the condition and vowed to gather “the most credible scientists from all over the world” to solve the mystery.

Nothing like that has ever been done before, he told an interviewer.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Putting Local Democracy at Risk

U.S. President Donald Trump visits the U.S. Park Police Anacostia Operations Facility on August 21, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Anna Moneymaker

Trump’s Imperial Presidency: Putting Local Democracy at Risk

Trump says his deployment of federal law enforcement is about restoring order in Washington, D.C. But the real message isn’t about crime—it’s about power. By federalizing the District’s police, activating the National Guard, and bulldozing homeless encampments with just a day’s notice, Trump is flexing a new kind of presidential muscle: the authority to override local governments at will—a move that raises serious constitutional concerns.

And now, he promises that D.C. won’t be the last. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia—cities he derides as “crime-ridden”—could be next. Noticeably absent from his list are red-state cities with higher homicide rates, like New Orleans. The pattern is clear: Trump’s law-and-order agenda is less about public safety and more about partisan punishment.

Keep ReadingShow less