This week's episode of Democracy Apprentice.

Welcome to the first in our new series Democracy Apprentice.

The outbreak of racist, sexist and xenophobic harassment across the US is alarming. People have reported almost 900 instances of hate speech since Nov. 8, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Many are on high alert, wondering how they might respond to a hate crime.

For the second time in as many decades, a constitutional appendix has foiled the will of the majority of US voters.

A colleague's question prompts us to look back into the history of why the debates are the way they are.

How to keep an eye on what's true, false or somewhere in between.

Whether or not adding your name to an online petition will make a difference to a cause depends on who created the petition, its timing, its target, its aim and what you do next.

Native Americans from tribes all over the country are protesting the construction of a crude-oil pipeline slated to snake through sacred sites and under the water supply for the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

We explore some theories on why the president continues to back a deal that his own party has largely turned its back on.

In response to a reader's question, we tackle "free trade” and “fair trade” and take a quick look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade pact that President Obama is energetically pushing.