A quick glance at the headlines any given morning probably gives all of us a similar feeling: powerlessness.
Just this week, gas prices have skyrocketed (again), the GOP held a midterm convention where they threw thirsttrap photos of Hasan Piker on the Jumbotron, Heather Cox Richardson unlocked a new level of fascist hell in her most recent Substack, and an Anthropic researcher quit, warning that “[t]he people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Hey there, Secular FAM! Have I mentioned lately how much I love public libraries? OUR public libraries? Since becoming a grandmother, I am once again a regular at OUR local libraries. No matter where you live in the Valley, a local PUBLIC library exists somewhere nearby.
I’m nostalgic for kindness, decency, and empathy. I’m a child of the 70s, and Fred Rogers and Kermit the Frog set the tone of my childhood. I remember when Mr. Hooper died, and the cast of Sesame Street turned it into a lesson about death and grieving. I remember when Mr. Rogers shared his pool with the Black police officer, Officer Clemmons.
Now these two examples of just being a decent fucking human being would be considered “woke” by many.
Citizens’ Impeachment is a nonpartisan movement powered by everyday Americans with a unifying mission: to uphold the Constitution of the United States and impeach, convict, and remove officials who violate their oath of office.
Citizens’ Impeachment was co-founded by a former senate staffer who worked inside the legislative branch during both impeachments, and Keira Havens, a United States Air Force veteran, a former scientist, and a longtime political activist.
Join us on August 21 at noon/PT as we welcome director Liz Smith and producer Noelle Cook to discuss their new documentary film, The Conspiracists, in which a January 6th insurrectionist takes a British filmmaker and an American researcher on a road trip and attempts to convert them to her world of conspiracy theories. We recommend watching the film before the presentation on 8/21; you can rent it here for $4.99, check your local library catalog, or watch for free (with ads) on Roku.
Three women set off on a road trip across America. One of them is a MAGA supporter and conspiracy theorist. She has just been sentenced to 30 months in prison for her role in the storming of The US Capitol. They meet other “patriots” along the way and as the journey unfolds she leads her travel companions deeper into her labyrinth of conspiracy, determined to open their eyes to what she sees as the real truth. By the trip’s end will she have converted them to her “5D world”?
Noelle Cook is an ethnographer and researcher examining how identity, belief, and belonging shape women’s participation in conspiratorial and right-wing movements. She is the author of The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging and is featured in the documentary The Conspiracists.
Liz Smith is an award-winning British documentary filmmaker. Her work is centred around human rights. The films she makes at Page 75 Productions are the outcome of years of study on the issues driving the rise of populism and the erosion of our democratic rights. However, researching the issues can only go so far. Her approach of spending time with affected communities on the frontline delivers a much deeper understanding of the forces driving these trends.
Her recent feature documentaries include I Am Gen Z, The Line We Crossed and The Conspiracists. I Am Gen Z investigates the impact of digital technology on the first generation to grow up with mobiles in their pockets. It premiered at CPH:DOX in 2021 and won Best Feature Film at the Lower East Side Film Festival.
The Conspiracists explores the profound and unsettling impact of conspiracy theories on individuals and society and won the award for Best Documentary Feature at The Miami Women Festival 2025. The Line We Crossed exposes the alarming erosion of the right to protest in the UK and had a successful theatrical release in the UK in 2025 as well as winning the award for Best Feature Film at the Environmental Film & Screenplay Festival.
She is currently completing the feature documentary, The Humanitarians, about the right to asylum and the rise of anti-immigration sentiment across Europe. She is also in the early stages of production of an investigative documentary about the growing anti-rights movement in the UK and writes about human rights issues in her Substack.
Dr. Julia Azari is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Marquette University. She holds Ph.D., M.A. and M.Phil. degrees in political science from Yale University, and a B.A. in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research and teaching interests include the American presidency, American political parties, political communication and American political development. Her research has been supported by the Marquette University Regular Research Grant, the Harry Middleton Fellowship in Presidential Studies, the Gerald Ford Presidential Library Foundation Travel Grant, the Harry Truman Library Institute Scholars Award, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Library of Congress.
Prof. Azari is a regular contributor at the political science blog The Mischiefs of Faction. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog and in Politico.
Winner of the Richard E. Neustadt Award, Julia Azari’s Backlash Presidents reveals a recurring pattern in American history: administrations that challenge the racial status quo are systematically followed by successors who weaponize racially charged politics and executive lawlessness, leading to impeachment crises.
By pairing Abraham Lincoln with Andrew Johnson, Lyndon Johnson with Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama with Donald Trump, Azari traces how normal presidential politics upholds an unsustainable racial hierarchy. The book demonstrates how these backlash presidencies trigger intense instability, weaponize federal institutions, and perpetuate systemic inequalities even after impeachment.
Last night, I put a reminder on my phone, telling me to watch the entire video of President Obama and NYC Mayor, Zohran Mamdani reading and singing to a preschool class somewhere in New York. I had seen a few clips of it, and even sent some to my daughter to show to my grandson since they sang one of his favorite, absolute BANGERS, “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Hey Secular FAM! The world is moving at lightning speed, so today I’m leaning into that vibe.
I celebrated my fourth anniversary with Secular AZ at the end of last year, and I swear, this spring has been the busiest on record. This year, Secular AZ has been at dozens of in-person street fairs, festivals, and home tours, tracked hundreds of bills, spoken at countless events, and collaborated with stakeholder groups in Arizona and nationally. We also do our best to track the most problematic governing bodies in the state, like the PUSD governing board and the Mohave County Board of Supervisors.
Join us Friday, May 22 at noon/PT as we welcome Dr. Matthew Taylor.
The media treats “Christian nationalism” and the MAGA movement as a single, unified force. They’re not. MAGA and Christian nationalism have always been an uneasy coalition — a blend of competing theologies, rival ideologies, and clashing leadership networks. Now that coalition is cracking. This presentation maps the fault lines of a low-grade civil war erupting inside Donald Trump’s base: who the key players are, what they actually believe, and what their conflict could mean for the future of American politics.
Matthew D. Taylor is an award-winning author, public scholar, and nationally recognized speaker focused on religion, politics, and democracy in the United States. He is the author of Scripture People, The Violent Take It by Force, and the forthcoming book Defying Tyrants, which will be published in October ’26. His work has appeared or been featured in the New York Times, CNN, Weekend Edition, On the Media, Rolling Stone, The Bulwark, Politico, Sojourners, and Religion News Service.
A theologian and religious studies scholar who specializes in American Islam, Christian nationalism, and Christian extremism, he is also the creator of two limited podcast series — American Unexceptionalism and Charismatic Revival Fury. Taylor holds a PhD from Georgetown University and an MA from Fuller Theological Seminary. He currently serves as a visiting scholar at the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University.
Every year, we get a year further away from memory, and not just our personal memories, but our collective memory. Turns out, in an individualistic society, we struggle to share more than just our toys, there are those among us who deny our collective memories.
Hey hey, Secular FAM! 2025 is almost in the rearview mirror, and I for one cannot wait to let the figurative door hit it in its ass. I’ve been bidding an aggressive adieu to every single year since 2016, but this year of our lordT, 2025, can really go f*ck itself.
Noelle Cook is an ethnographer and researcher examining how identity, belief, and belonging shape women’s participation in conspiratorial and right-wing movements. She is the author of The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging and is featured in the documentary The Conspiracists.
ent. Her research has been supported by the Marquette University Regular Research Grant, the Harry Middleton Fellowship in Presidential Studies, the Gerald Ford Presidential Library Foundation Travel Grant, the Harry Truman Library Institute Scholars Award, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Library of Congress.
