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The Black Venus Josephine Baker: "The Nazis were racists. They were bigots. I despised that sort of thing and was determined that they must be defeated." Katie Phang Aug 9 If you’ve been following me here at Substack, you know that I love to highlight people who are unlikely heroes, or more accurately, who were always heroes, but didn’t meet the traditional definition of the word. I often learn about individuals who had something to lose, but decided to risk it anyway: whistleblowers, witnesses, people who put their careers on the line because staying quiet was worse than the consequences of speaking up. In my mind, that’s a beautiful form of courage. But, courage doesn’t fit just one mold. Sometimes courage can look like a woman dressed in a feathered and sequined gown, blowing kisses to a room full of Nazi officers, with military secrets pinned inside her underwear. That, my friends, was Josephine Baker. During one of the darkest moments in history, she made a choice most p...

  Todd Blanche Is Already Historically Awful How Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department stacks up against the best and worst Attorneys General in U.S. history. Greg Olear Todd Blanche should not and must not be confirmed as Attorney General. He is grossly unfit and manifestly unworthy. His confirmation would be a death knell for the rule of law in the United States. Blanche still thinks he’s Donald Trump’s defense attorney. About his “boss,” he told the world , point blank, and unironically, “I love you, sir.” In his limited time as Acting AG, he has used the Justice Department as a vendetta machine, attempted to whitewash the nation’s history, and obstructed justice by withholding release of the Epstein Files. Not only that, but he’s an asshole of galactic proportions. His nomination is an abomination. The New York City Bar Association took the extreme step of writing a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee , urging the Senate to r...

  —→July Flash Sale:🔓 Unlock the full story. > For a limited time, you can tear down the paywall for 40% off —Just $6/month. . Get unfiltered, deep-dive political analysis from the sharpest strategists in the game when you upgrade now for just 16 cents per day! Honorless Men Max Miller, John Cornyn, and Thom Tillis symbolize the rot in the Republican Party. Rick Wilson Aug 9 ∙ Preview   Honor is out of fashion in this age of decline. The simple definition—the one that has any meaning in real political practice—is in fact much more difficult. Honor is doing the right thing when it costs you. A vote which involves no cost is not true courage, and a statement of concern with no risk involved is not actually a stand; the only test that has ever been important in this field is what a man does when acting rightly has a price attached, when that price is real, and he pays it anyway. That leads me to John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who this week had to go through that test with the...