About Us
About Washington Whispers:
Jessie Seigel’s Washington Whispers column began its life in the Fall of 2020, at The Insider.
During its three years with The Insider, the column addressed most of the important public crises of our times—from the politics of the COVID pandemic to the January 6, 2021 insurrection, to Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, the anti-democratic schemes of Republican politicians, and the corruption of the Supreme Court’s majority. The column also shined a light on reactionary efforts to re-legalize discrimination, and silence speech and erase history by banning books, as well as the ongoing machinations to deprive citizens of the right to vote, to privacy, and to make one’s own health care decisions.
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In July 2023, The Insider ended its run. But the rising dangers to our nation’s democracy and the need to defend against them have not ended. Therefore, Washington Whispers is continuing here as an independent blog that will carry on addressing the major political and social issues of our day.
About the Columnist:
Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, writes reviews for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and occasionally dabbles in political cartooning at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at https://www.jessieseigel.com.