by Ja'han Jones | Aug 17, 2026 | Civil Rights, Opinion, White House
The Army appears to be tight-lipped about what, if any, punishment was handed down to one of its chaplains after he allegedly told a Black subordinate that he would “need to tie you to a tree and beat you” if she didn’t complete a spreadsheet on time.
Military.com reported that the Army took what it called “appropriate action” against Chaplain Maj. Edward Blackledge. According to the outlet, Army Capt. Tatyana Jordan said the Army had substantiated her allegation as counterproductive leadership. Jordan previously said the remark carried racist overtones because of the documented history of white slave drivers tying enslaved Black people to trees and whipping them as a form of torture and forced submission.
Per Military.com:
Jordan told Military.com on Friday, Aug. 14, that the investigation was substantiated for counterproductive leadership, and appropriate action was taken against the individual (Blackledge) involved.
The information was relayed to Jordan in person by Maj. Gen. Daryl O. Hood, the Fort Jackson commanding general.
“The investigation is complete, appropriate action was taken, and we consider this matter closed,” Christopher Surridge, a U.S. Army spokesperson, told Military.com.
It’s unclear what specific action was taken against Blackledge. Military.com inquired but received no direct response.
When asked for comment, the Army provided MS NOW with the same statement as above: “The investigation is complete, appropriate action was taken, and we consider this matter closed.” (Jordan reportedly said Blackledge told her at the time that he was “joking.”)
For what it’s worth, Jordan’s quotes in the report make it seem as if she’s at least somewhat satisfied with how the investigation concluded — though she said that in addition to support, she also received “a
by Erum Salam | Aug 16, 2026 | Civil Rights, elections, News, Supreme Court
The Trump administration “absolutely” is considering taking its voter roll litigation to the Supreme Court, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.
“We’re not going to stop doing what I think every American should expect us to do, which is make sure that we have elections that are fair. And as that relates to the Department of Justice, that means making sure that there are no constitutional, legal violations, even at the state level,” Blanche said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
President Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly claimed, without providing proof, that voter fraud is widespread. Blanche’s remarks come after the Trump administration has lost more than 20 court cases across the country trying to force states to hand over voter roll information ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, which will decide which party controls Congress.
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the administration’s petition to reconsider a ruling by a three-judge panel that had denied the Trump administration access to Michigan’s complete voter rolls. Michigan’s attorney general called the Justice Department’s demands “invasive” and “a transparent attempt to intimidate and spread fear among voters.”
A federal judge in Nevada also ruled against the DOJ on Friday in its attempts to obtain Nevada’s unredacted voter registration records. Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar called the ruling “a victory for Nevada voters and their right to have their sensitive personal information protected.”
State officials have repeatedly cited the Constitution, which gives states power over their elections — not the federal government — in their pushback. Blanche said Sunday that “doesn’t mean the federal government should play no role.”
“And so the
by Anthony L. Fisher | Aug 15, 2026 | Civil Rights, Opinion, White House
Ross Douthat — the outgoing New York Times opinion columnist and incoming “60 Minutes” correspondent — penned a farewell column for “The Gray Lady” this week that neatly encapsulated a certain vibe surrounding the respectable right’s dilemma regarding President Donald Trump’s lawless, corrupt and deeply unpopular second administration. Both sides have bad qualities, but nothing’s worse than wokeness, so we’ll default to siding with Trump.
I’ve enjoyed reading (and mostly disagreeing with) Douthat’s commentary for a long time, but one line in his final column struck me as particularly risible, in light of the second Trump administration’s myriad abuses: “I lived through the years of peak woke, and it was a McCarthyite experience.”
I also lived through “peak woke” — as a reporter, editor and eventually opinion columnist. I have heterodox politics that would be rather hard to characterize as “woke” — and this isn’t remotely a “both sides” situation. During the period that Douthat likens to the Red Scare, I criticized antisemitism in left-wing activism; the mealy-mouthed excuses for rioting from some liberals; the waves of zero-tolerance cancellations for nonpublic figures; unnecessarily long Covid school closures; corporations, schools and government agencies adopting simplistic racial essentialism clumsily masquerading as groundbreaking anti-bigotry philosophy; and the culture of “well-meaning” censorship on college campuses. I could go on, but the point is I criticized the left’s (and establishment’s) excesses in mainstream publications and didn’t get fired for it. Just like Douthat didn’t.
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Report: WV lawmakers spent $3M on ‘anti-woke’ university program. One student enrolled
July 12, 2026 / 06:22
Mind you, I find attempts by the likes of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and others seeking to retcon the excesses
by Michael A. Cohen | Aug 15, 2026 | Civil Rights, Opinion
On Wednesday morning, I spoke to Barak Mendelsohn, an Israeli American professor of political science at Haverford College, outside Philadelphia. He recounted the wave of antisemitic intimidation and violence that had overtaken the prestigious liberal arts school after Hamas massacred more than 1,000 Jews and set off a war with Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, leading this week to a landmark agreement by the college to confront antisemitism on campus and ensure Jewish safety.
Since Oct. 7, Mendelsohn’s classes have been boycotted; he was investigated by the college for suggesting on social media a link between anti-Zionism and antisemitism; he was chased by an angry mob after he gave a talk at nearby Swarthmore College and even had the mezuzah on his university office door stolen.
As we talked, he asked me to hold on a second so he could soothe his crying baby. When he returned, he mentioned matter-of-factly that there had been so many threats on his life and that of his family that it wasn’t safe for his children — who are all under age 6 — to play in their front yard.
Mendelsohn was not being hyperbolic. He sent me X posts that called him a “filthy Jew” and wished him a “Happy Holocaust Day” while including his home address.
Mendelsohn, who said he “didn’t really identify as an Israeli or a Jew before Oct. 7,” nonetheless became, for Haverford’s militant pro-Palestinian activists, “that Jew from Israel.”
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Trump says he is ‘low-keying it’ with Iran war, focuses on economic pressure
August 10, 2026 / 08:15
For Mendelsohn and other Jews at Haverford, an almost three-year nightmare of near-constant antisemitic abuse began days after
by Julia Conley | Aug 14, 2026 | Civil Rights, doj, Justice Department, News, Trump Administration
Eighteen months into President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, the administration has systematically gutted the infrastructure within the federal government that for decades had worked to ensure that civil rights and anti-discrimination laws were being enforced—and has turned agencies “against the communities they were meant to protect,” as one researcher at Human Rights Watch said…
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by Erum Salam | Aug 14, 2026 | Civil Rights, News, White House, World
The State Department announced the creation of a task force that targets so-called birth tourism, which aims to prevent people from traveling to the U.S. on tourist visas for the primary purpose of giving birth to secure U.S. citizenship for their children.
According to the State Department, the “Task Force to End Birth Tourism” reviews the activities of U.S. visa holders to monitor for potential activity it deems as “instances of birth tourism,” then revokes visas “of those who engage in or facilitate it.” The task force has already revoked more than 600 visas from foreign nationals, according to a government fact sheet.
The State Department did not disclose how the task force would be reviewing the activity, but said it analyzes information held by the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.
The new task forces come after President Donald Trump signed two executive orders last week aimed at limiting the scope of birthright citizenship, a key objective of his second term.
The first executive order expanded the definition of people the administration says are ineligible for birthright citizenship. The second executive order targeted “birth tourism,” in which foreign nationals travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children automatically receive U.S. citizenship. Trump called birthright citizenship “a disgrace” when signing the new orders.
“As President Trump has made clear, citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through the calculated exploitation of U.S. immigration laws,” the State Department said in a statement on the task force.
It is already illegal for people to obtain tourist visas “for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the
