Rebekah Sager

I think it’s fair to say that most people in the Black, brown, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ communities have long believed that there is scant difference between the ideologies of Republicans, the right-wing media, and the Ku Klux Klan. History proves it, and present-day commentary verifies it.

A new video from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah places right-wing media talking heads—like Tucker Carlson and Greg Kelly—alongside GOP elected officials—like Rep.

Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney, a fourth-generation Wyomingite, lost her congressional seat in Wyoming to Harriet Hageman, an attorney reviled for her unrelenting attacks on the environment who has, most recently, been seen offering rage-inducing and boggling comments about President Joe Biden.

Rudy Giuliani can slither away no more. The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney has informed former President Donald Trump’s slimy private lawyer that he is the target of a criminal investigation into the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia.

According to reporting from The New York Times, just last week Giuliani told prosecutors that he was too unhealthy to fly to Georgia to appear in front of the special grand jury.

Black men in Georgia are being disproportionately impacted by the latest terrifying virus to hit the planet. Monkeypox, early data shows, is spreading fastest in Atlanta among Black men.

“A few weeks ago, when this was circulating in Europe, this wasn’t even being talked about in our communities of color.

Indiana state Rep. John L. Bartlett proposed an amendment Thursday to a bill as ludicrous as the anti-abortion bill the state is attempting to pass. The congressman suggested that if pregnancy was “an act of god,” then “impotency” must also be. Obviously, he was illustrating a point about bodily autonomy.

“We’re forcing young girls to mothers, but not forcing the men to be fathers,” Bartlett argues.

As if Metropolitan D.C. police officer Michael Fanone hadn’t been through enough while fighting a violent mob during the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, now he’s forced to deal with protestors harassing him.

According to reporting from The Washington Post, as Fanone, who retired from the police force last year, was leaving the House select committee hearings on Jan.

It’s only been a couple of weeks since California Gov. Gavin Newsom dragged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in an eviscerating ad. Now, Newsom has other red state governors in his sights—and even the Democratic Party itself.

In an interview on the July 16 episode of The Issue Is, Newsom answered questions about whether or not he’s running for president in 2024. Spoiler alert: He’s not.

As most of us have figured out by now, the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was likely just the beginning. If the court can reverse the hands of time on millions of Americans and their much-needed reproductive health care, they obviously have zero issue with reversing same-sex or interracial marriage, taking away contraception, or even the ability to get lifesaving medicine.

According to The Advocate, a conservative attorney in Texas is a prime example.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but … monkeypox is coming for us. In fact, according to epidemiologists and public health officials, it’s already here. And although we have a vaccine that’s approved to prevent the virus, the red tape took forever to cut. 

Monkeypox is quickly spiraling into epidemic levels in the U.S., The Washington Post reports.

To some, the idea of a presidential run from California Gov. Gavin Newsom sounds like a thrilling and shiny new Democratic option. A Harvard CAPS–Harris Poll survey shared exclusively with The Hill found that 71% of Americans are not in favor of President Joe Biden running for a second term.

A day following the mass shooting during a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, disgraced Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly went on an asinine and (even for him) deeply racist rant on his No Spin News and Analysis podcast in response to a recent press conference by Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker.

“There are no words for the kind of evil that turns a community celebration into a tragedy,” Pritzker said.

A police department located in a neighborhood just outside Detroit, Michigan, is in hot water after a Boy Scouts field trip to the department’s shooting range revealed officers are using photos of Black men holding guns as target practice.  

VICE News reports the Boy Scout troop discovered the targets while exploring the headquarters of the Farmington Hills Police Department in April.

All of sudden, after four years of complete devotion to the Trump administration, former secretary of education Betsy DeVos is speaking out against the former president. She was never equipped to do the job to which she was appointed, and has zero experience in education, so she should feel loyal to him. But DeVos’ latest claim that she left the administration after seeing Trump’s reaction (or inaction) on Jan.

The House Judiciary Committee is meeting Thursday to discuss a package of bills that would stiffen gun laws in the nation after three separate mass shootings in the past 10 days. The Democratic-led panel is trying to get bipartisan agreement, but that, as we know, is highly unlikely.

The Democrats are hoping to push the “Protecting Our Kids Act” in front of the full House as soon as next week, CBS News reports.

At a time when the world seems to be spinning off its axis with children and adults slaughtered by gunfire, a power-hungry dictator invading a country, and the rights of Americans being stripped away at every turn, it’s important to take a second to remember a few wonderful moments that are also happening.

One such moment dates back to 2009, when a 5-year-old got the chance to visit the White House and meet then-President Barack Obama. His name is Jacob Philadelphia.

Okay, I’ll admit that I rarely watch Fox News, much less Tucker Carlson, but even from what I have watched, his latest attack Tuesday on the new White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was more homophobic and racist than usual.

I guess Carlson really wanted to say how much he hates that a Black, out LGBTQ+ person was in a position of power. That wouldn’t fill enough air-time, though, so he went on a vicious, bigoted attack.

Educator and activist Constanza Eliana Chinea explains that her decolonization lessons aren’t designed with white people in mind. Rather, the classes are for people of color; those who “have been colonized” and are “trying to move away from assimilation.”

Chinea was born in New York, then moved to her parent’s birthplace in Puerto Rico at around 8 years old.

A chilling video of an incident in North Charleston, South Carolina, showing dozens of kids and adults scrambling for cover as a barrage of gunshots rings out has left a community traumatized.

In the video, as gunfire is heard, a frightening scene unfolds Monday night at the Dixie Youth league baseball game, leaving players, coaches, and parents running for safety. The video was taken by Lori Ferguson, a parent at the game, The Post and Courier reports.

Famed civil rights activist and author Ruby Bridges testified before Congress in a hearing Thursday titled “Free Speech Under Attack: Book Bans and Academic Censorship.”

The panel included Bridges along with three high school students, a parent, a teacher, a librarian, and vice president of academic affairs at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, Dr. Jonathan W. Pidluzny.

We all hope we’ll live to be 100—at least, I do—if not older. But most of us would love to grow old and still be able to do what we love and contribute to society. National Park Service (NPS) Ranger Betty Reid Soskin did both. She’s 100 years old now and although she retired Thursday, she’s spent the past decade-and-a-half doing what she loves.

It’s been 246 years since the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment and the abolishment of slavery in 1865. And in the time since, 157 years to be exact, the issue of unpaid reparations remains unsolved. Many would say that without acknowledgment of the brutal history of slavery in the U.S., not only will the system of racism never change, the nation itself will remain unjust and unhealed.

I’m an avid Academy Awards watcher. I’ve watched for years, and can’t remember missing one. I cheered when Halle Berry won for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball, the year after Denzel Washington won the award for Best Actor for Training Day, and have for years lamented how few Black actors, Latino actors, Asian actors, LGBTQ+ actors, disabled actors, etc. have won awards.

MacKenzie Scott is worth billions, but she’s not trying to keep it. Unlike most rich folks, she’s generously giving the bulk of it away to worthy causes. 

A Tuesday announcement revealed that Scott donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates.

Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who ran in the 2020 presidential race as a Democrat, is apparently putting a bow on her total transmutation to a hardcore conservative—complete with a donation from an alleged Russian spy. Okay, that’s not totally fair; the donation to Gabbard happened when she was still a Dem. But …

Elena Branson, aka Elena Chernykh, 61, is a dual Russian-U.S. citizen.

Monday, San Francisco Police Officer Terrance Stangel was found not guilty of three felony counts in what the Los Angeles Times reports as the first excessive-force trial for an on-duty officer in the city’s history. The jury was deadlocked on a fourth charge of unlawfully beating Spiers under the colors of authority.

On Oct. 7, 2019, Decari Spiers was out on a date with his then girlfriend at Fisherman’s Wharf. The couple had not committed any crimes.

Long before she was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential individuals, received the White House Champions of Change award from President Barack Obama, became the executive director of the AAPI Equity Alliance (AAPI Equity), or co-founded Stop AAPI Hate, Manjusha Kulkarni witnessed the fight against racism first-hand. 

Her family immigrated from India to the U.S.

While most of us watch in horror as Russian president Vladimir Putin orders his armies to blatantly invade neighboring Ukraine, it’s difficult not to fear that the same sort of mentality that makes that crime possible is brewing right here in the U.S.

The first concert I ever saw was Prince in Washington, D.C. in 1984. I snuck out of my house and joined up with four of my closest girlfriends. Terrified for my little preteen life, we gathered together in a small group to protect ourselves from the massive and sexually charged crowd, but that night I became a lifelong Prince fan. 

Truthfully, I fell in love with the Purple One with the Dirty Mind album.

NBC News has confirmed that Justice Stephen Breyer will retire at the end of this term, paving the way for President Joe Biden to name his successor. Breyer, 83, is one of the three remaining liberal justices, and for several months progressives and activists have encouraged him to step down while Democrats still hold both the House and the Senate—something that could likely change after the 2022 midterms.

It’s hard for me to even imagine having billions of dollars. What would I do with it? Where would I donate it? Whose life could I change forever with my generous donation? MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, has apparently figured out the conundrum of wealth and philanthropy quite well. In the past two years, she’s given away more money than Bezos has in his entire lifetime.