Jill Lepore, professor of American History at Harvard University, staff writer at The New Yorker, and the author of many books, including her latest, These Truths: A History of the United States (W. W. Norton & Company, 2018), talks about her new take on the full scope of U.S. history -- an exploration of how well American democracy has satisfied the three "self-evident" truths in the Declaration of Independence.

Prof Jill Lepore: "It is in fact a right to revolution that's inscribed in our founding documents."

What did the founding fathers mean by "happiness"?Jill Lepore: Happiness wasn't exactly an emotional state in the 18th century--it was almost religious. It's not what we would think of as attending to personal needs or having the new iPhone. It's more about the commonweal. pic.twitter.com/dfQdXvc9ph

Jill Lepore pegs the 1930s as the first time "Fake News" was used: Joseph Goebbels used the radio to tell the German people what to think and sent out richly produced false news reports. Newspapers in England and US called it fake news.

Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump talks about the day's national political news and the latest regarding the allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Ben Chapman, education reporter at The New York Daily News, discusses his reporting on the problems NYC DOE is having with school buses this year: missed stops, long rides, and lack of vetting of drivers.

While the Kavanaugh hearings demand attention, Politico national political reporter Daniel Strauss talks about the stories we might be missing, including new tariffs on Chinese goods, a declassification in the Russia investigation and the Trump administration's new record-low cap on refugees allowed in the country.

Kate Zernike, political reporter at The New York Times covering women in politics, speaks about the latest on the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and the extent to which Anita Hill's testimony at the 1991 confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas are influencing Republicans and Democrats on the Judiciary Committee today.

Bryan Doerries, director and translator of Antigone and artistic director of Theater of War, NYC community activist Marcelle Davies Lashley and Latricia Allen, a St. Louis police lieutenant, talk about the new play "Antigone in Ferguson," which gives voice to police violence through the lens of Sophocles' Greek tragedy. 

Kassandra Frederique, New York State Director at the Drug Policy Alliance, breaks down a report from the Department of Health that reveals that though overdoses are still climbing, the pace is slower than in past years. The report also shows that for the first time in a decade, African Americans are experiencing more overdoses than whites in New York City.

@Kassandra_Fred says the overdose rate went up 25% in the past year for people in the highest poverty neighborhoods; she says that means resource distribution is not as effective as it should be.

As people in NYC talked about the overdose crisis and overdose deaths, people talked about Staten Island - but when you look at rate vs. number, we've known for a while the Bronx was always losing more people, says @Kassandra_Fred.

@Kassandra_Fred says rhetoric around the overdose crisis has emphasized a compassionate approach, but policy hasn't caught up -- people are still getting arrested, there's been a huge investment in narcotics policing.

@Kassandra_Fred: "Drug use is a part of our lives, it has always been a part of every society...we have to have a conversation, and take a responsibility for that. That means everyone should know how to reverse an overdose."

Madina Touré, New York City education reporter for Politico New York, and Clara Hemphill, founder of InsideSchools at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs, discuss proposals to change admissions policies at NYC’s specialized high schools.

On the new schools chancellor Richard Carranza's talk about integration, @madinatoure says people are impressed but are wondering when there will be a citywide integration plan.

The underrepresentation of girls in specialized high schools points to the idea that there's something wrong with the test. Girls get better grades, have the same preparation, do better in college, yet aren't getting in at same rate as boys, says @ClaraHemphill.

@madinatoure says after the November elections, there will be some new faces in the State Senate - so what does that mean for the mayor's specialized high school plan?

@ClaraHemphill says one solution she'd like to see is more seats at the specialized high schools -- like at Queens High School for the Sciences -- which currently only has 500 students.

Nathan Schneider, journalist and professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the author of Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy (Nation Books, 2018), explains why cooperative businesses are a feasible alternative to traditional economic models. Saduf Syal, coordinating director at the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives (NYC NOWC), talks about the local picture for coops, including house cleaning, homecare, childcare, catering, bookkeeping, and home renovation.

Cooperatives are actually everywhere, says @ntnsndr. More than one third of Americans are members of credit unions, for example. Land o' Lakes butter is a farmer cooperative. The Associated Press is a cooperative of news agencies. "This model is everywhere," says @ntnsndr.

NYC supports worker cooperatives -- the first city across the country to do this, says @nycworker's Saduf Syal. These worker cooperatives are more likely to be led by women, people of color & immigrant communities, who turn to it for collective ownership + generating jobs.

Ibram X. Kendi, director of The Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, columnist at The Atlantic and the author of Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Nation Books, 2016), talks about his essay in the Atlantic's special issue dedicated to the question "Is Democracy Dying?" where he writes that our government "cannot endure, permanently half racist and half antiracist...Only a renewed commitment to antiracist policies can save the endangered American project.”

@DrIbram says "in order to treat some people equally, we must treat them differently...it's hard to create equity without figuring out ways to repair the past."