The Nation Podcasts (The Nation Magazine)

Tuesday’s vote tested the potency of abortion rights as an issue for Democrats, with a referendum in Ohio and the election of a new state legislature in Virginia. John Nichols has our analysis of those elections, and some others.

Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: What is Israel’s endgame in its war with Hamas? Over the past 50 years they’ve tried two radically different strategies in Gaza, and neither succeeded. Fintan O'Toole explains that history. He teaches at Princeton and is an advising editor at the New York Review of Books, where he's been writing about Israel, Hamas, and Gaza.

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The Nation's political writers analyze the good, the bad, and the ugly in the midterms, and find keys to building a winning coalition for 2024.

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Alabama voters defeated Roy Moore and elected civil rights hero Doug Jones to the Senate—to take the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions. Howell Raines, the legendary Alabama journalist, explains what happened—and what it means for the future. Plus: What should happen with the “Me Too” campaign to expose sexual harassment, now that Al Franken has said he will leave the Senate?  Joan Walsh says Franken’s departure should be “a beginning, not an end.” Also, net neutrality: the FCC is planning to bring it to an end on Thursday. John Nichols thinks that’s a terrible idea.

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On this episode of the American Prestige podcast, Danny and Derek sit down with Adam Ganser and Michael Swaim of the 1Upsmanship podcast to discuss the confluence of history, U.S. foreign policy, and capitalism in video games. The group broaches topics like the implicit politics of first-person shooters, the capitalist logic in games based on survival and growth, the portrayal of governments in different series, and how far developers can go to portray the reality of war in a game.

Check out more of Adam and Michael's work at their Small Beans podcast network.

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So on today's See How They're Run, we're talking all things Pennsylvania. Where does the race stand there? What are the currents that could shift voters in one direction or another?

To discuss all of this, host D.D. Guttenplan is joined by two of the sharpest Pennsylvanians around: Will Bunch, longtime opinion columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Carrie Santoro, executive director of progressive advocacy group Pennsylvania Stands Up

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The new Omicron variant of Covid-19: Gregg Gonsalves argues that it serves as a reminder of how little we're doing on pandemic prevention. We need government action to address the inequalities in power, resources, and information that leave some people at far greater risk. Meanwhile, Republicans are describing Omicron as a Democratic plot to bring back mail-in voting.

Also: being Black in America, and being Black in France: Gary Younge talks about Josephine Baker, the Black American dancer who went to Paris in the twenties and later renounced her American citizenship. She’s being interred at the Pantheon, alongside Voltaire and Rousseau, this week.

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On this news episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek return with headlines from around the globe. This week: the ICJ decision on Israel (0:29), Israeli accusations of UNRWA (5:08), ceasefire talks (10:35), and Biden sanctions settlers (15:56); a U.S. outpost in Jordan is bombed by a drone (18:54); secret Sudan peace talks in Bahrain (23:52); several countries quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (25:37); in Ukraine, Zelensky fires a top commander (27:23); the Biden admin is reimposing sanctions on Venezuela (33:34); international intervention is in doubt in Haiti (37:13); and the U.S. had record arms sales last year (40:24).

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The right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court has returned to a case about racial gerrymandering in Alabama, where Republicans have defied the Court’s order. Dahlia Lithwick will comment about that, and about her book “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America”—it’s out now in paperback.

Also: Two girls grew up in the 1980s and ’90s in a small town in Arkansas. One made it out and became a successful journalist and writer; her best friend, who had been supersmart as a kid, fell into drugs,getting pregnant too young, and petty crime. How did their lives turn out so different? Katha Pollitt talks about the new memoir by Monica Potts, “The Forgotten Girls.”

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On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, we’re joined by Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner to discuss the complicity of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and how tech workers are organizing to stop it.

Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner are former Google software engineers and organizers with No Tech for Apartheid.

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On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Hussein Kesvani to discuss the far-right attacks that happened after the Southport stabbing in the UK and how larger structural issues in media, politics, and tech laid the groundwork for violence against visible minorities.

Hussein Kesvani is a co-host of Trashfuture and Ten Thousand Posts.

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Marc Cooper argues that the narrative for Joe Biden’s presidency has now been set – he’s “too old.” And the Supreme Court decision on immunity for Trump makes it essential that he be defeated. Kamala Harris would be the choice of the Party establishment, if he agreed to step aside; at the convention, she might be nominated by acclamation, without a vote among alternative choices.

Also: Harold Meyerson analyzes what it would take to get Biden to decline the nomination: polls about the opinion of the Democratic rank-and-file; the views of Democratic senators and House members-- those in danger of losing their seats and political careers; and Biden’s own circle--the crucial factor for them will be their assessment of Biden’s legacy.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Daniel Bessner interviews Derek Davison on whether he sees any way out of the status quo in Western/North Atlantic politics.

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The ongoing defamation suit launched by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News for its coverage of the 2020 election has already resulted in the release of an eye-opening tranche of documents that give an unprecedented window into the inner workings of the TV network. As National columnist Chris Lehmann has noted, the major revelation is how completely beholden the network is to its right-wing base, to the extent of knowingly pushing false stories to please that audience.

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Chris and I talked about what the Fox News revelations say not only about the powerful media site but also the state of journalism and American democracy. The problem is not just that Fox News lies but that millions of viewers have grown addicted to those lies, so much so that they’ll look for any source to bolster their worldview. More than a media problem, this is a democracy problem; one with few obvious answers. Using the Dominion lawsuit as a starting point, Chris and I talk about the broader problem of a post-truth society.

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On this week's news episode of American Prestige: Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks amble along (0:30), Netanyahu snubs Qatar (5:11), militants kill 21 IDF soldiers in a single attack (10:25), and more from Israel-Palestine; in Yemen, the U.S. prepares for a “sustained military campaign” (15:40) while a new report details the effect of sanctions on humanitarian relief (16:50); talk of (another) U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq (19:24); Pakistan and Iran agree to stand down (22:22); India’s Modi opens a controversial new temple (24:39); Cameroon begins implementing a malaria vaccine program (26:09); Somalia-Ethiopia tensions continue to simmer (27:24); Ukraine all but confirms it shot down a Russian plane carrying Ukrainian POWs (29:23); Turkey ratifies Sweden's NATO accession (31:01); and protests erupt in Argentina against Milei’s shock therapy policies (33:50).

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It’s all up to the states now, where activists are fighting to elect pro-choice candidates and strengthen laws protecting abortion rights, and grassroots groups are preparing an enormous logistics operation to move people across entire regions of the country that are about to go dark on abortion access. Amy Littlefield, The Nation’s abortion access correspondent, weighs in.

We also have the elected District Attorney of San Francisco, Chesa Boudin, on progressive prosecutors and their opponents. Progressive prosecutors have been pushing for criminal justice reform for a while now, Boudin explains, seeking to end mass incarceration and deal with police misconduct, which began with the election of Larry Krasner in 2017, followed by Boudin in 2019, and George Gascon in 2020. Of course, the defeated law and order forces pushed back. In San Francisco, opponents have collected enough signatures to force a recall vote on Boudin on June 7.

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Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona senator who quit the Democratic Party in December, is up for reelection next year, and will be challenged by progressive Democrat Ruben Gallego. Steve Phillips points to evidence that her chances of reelection are poor. His new book, “How We Win the Civil War,” has a chapter on Arizona politics.

Also: What if government provided a basic income to all residents?  Something like $1000 a month? How much could that change inequality and poverty? Sasha Abramsky reports on the experiment in Los Angeles with Universal Basic Income.

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People with very different visions of what a just peace between Israel and the Palestinians might look like must work together to stop the war: That’s what D.D. Guttenplan argues.  He’s Editor of The Nation.

Also:Also: “Slow Horses,” the British spy series based on the books by Mick Herron, is starting its season 3 this week.  John Powers has our review.

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On this week's American Prestige news roundup: in Gaza, Israel carries out a hostage rescue operation, massacring more Palestinian civilians in the process (0:30), while ceasefire talks amble along (10:54); Israel also kills a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon prompting an armed response (14:32); the field is finalized for Iran’s upcoming presidential election (17:41); in Myanmar, rebels advance in Rakhine State (21:21); tensions rise between the DPRK/North Korea and South Korea (24:20); there's an update on Sudan and the situation in El Fasher (28:44); coalition talks begin in South Africa in the wake of the recent election (30:31); the Right sees wins in European Parliament elections, plus Macron tries a gambit amidst the fallout in France (35:20); the G7 meets and pledges further support for Ukraine (41:26); the US considers expanding its nuclear arsenal (44:14); and a new Pew poll finds that global support for America/Biden is declining (46:03).

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Producer’s note: This was recorded on Thursday, April 18, before Israel’s strike on Iran, hence us releasing this earlier than usual. Overnight, Israel did launch a strike on Iran.

On this week's news episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek bring you another world news roundup. This week: Israel's retaliation for Iran’s strike last week, Iran floats the possibility of developing nuclear weapons in response (0:31), and plans for an IDF Rafah operation in Gaza are underway (8:09); the US is still pursuing Saudi normalization with Israel (10:40) and vetoes a Palestinian statehood resolution at the UN (13:38); the US is trying to create an “independent” sanctions monitor for the DPRK/North Korea (15:11); in climate news, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is suffering the “worst” bleaching event ever (17:19); in Sudan, the fighting expands into North Darfur (19:46); the UN’s Libya envoy quits in frustration (21:18); a whistleblower says that the US is ignoring the order to withdraw from Niger (23:44); the US pushes back over oil refinery attacks in Ukraine (26:41) while the House of Representatives will take up military aid bills (30:01); and the US will reinstate sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector (32:12).

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Are we a nation of lunatics? Katha Pollitt has been thinking about that—about the millions of people who say that Satan-worshipping pedophiles control American politics and media, or that, if you’ve come down with Covid-19, you should pick up some Ivermectin at the local feed store.

Plus: The murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi in 1955 is probably the most famous lynching in American history. Now, there’s a novel about it that’s wild and funny. The author is Percival Everett—it’s called The Trees. And it’s really good. How is it possible to write a comic novel about a lynching? John Powers explains—he’s critic at large on NPR’s Fresh Air.

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On this episode of See How They Run, D.D. Guttenplan is joined by Jeet Heer and Swing Left’s Yasmin Radjy discuss the importance of getting out the vote.

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Hope is different from optimism – it’s an embrace of uncertainty, and a basis for action. The polls look bad for Joe Biden, but Democrats’ chances are much brighter in the House, and perhaps the Senate. John Nichols talks about reasons for hope in 2024, starting in the tipping point state of 2020, Wisconsin.

Also: Bill Gates is now the 6^th richest man in the world, with 104 billion dollars. He’s spent the last 20 years giving away some of his money--the Gates Foundation gave away $7 billion in 2022. But with the money comes a host of problems. Tim Schwab will explain; his new book has a great title: “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire.”

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On this episode of American Prestige, Natasha Wheatley, assistant professor of history at Princeton, sits down with our hosts, Danny and Derek, to talk about the transformation of the Habsburg Empire from a multinational collection of polities to discrete nation-states and how this century of radical change informs our ideas of sovereignty and the subsequent international order. The discussion explores the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, how the Empire navigated emerging nationalisms in the late 19th century compared with the Ottoman Empire, problems of post-Habsburg states after WWI and how they helped engender WWII, and more.

Grab a copy of Natasha’s book The Life and Death of States: Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek are pleased to welcome back to the podcast Luca Trenta, associate professor in International Relations at Swansea University and author of The President’s Kill List. The group discusses assassinations and international law, when and how assassination became a tool for US foreign policy, the difficulties in accessing declassified documents about this topic, the unsuccessful attempts on the life of Fidel Castro and successful operations against the likes of Osama Bin Laden and Patrice Lumumba, the intelligence community using assassination as a “low level” (i.e. not nuclear) form of retaliation in the Cold War, the contemporary justifications for assassinations as “self defense”, the notion of “imminence”, and more.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Derek speaks with Elizabeth Shackelford, former U.S. diplomat and current foreign affairs columnist for The Chicago Tribune, about U.S. involvement across Africa. They talk about Elizabeth’s own history in Somalia and South Sudan, America’s understanding of the places in which it’s involved, the generational timeline needed to change the trajectory of foreign policy, where the securitized view of Africa began, how the U.S. has approached places like Burkina Faso and Cameroon, and what a better U.S. policy in Africa might look like.

Elizabeth’s report with Ethan Kessler and Emma Sanderson, “Less is More: A New Strategy for US Security Assistance to Africa”.

Elizabeth’s book The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age.

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Once again, it’s your patented American Prestige News Roundup™. This week: in Palestine/Israel, Biden pushes a new ceasefire plan (0:30), an update on the situation on the ground in Gaza (8:06), Slovenia recognizes Palestinian statehood (11:37), and Congress (prematurely?) announces a Netanyahu visit (12:37); things further escalate between Hezbollah and Israel on the border with Lebanon (13:55); registration opens for candidates in Iran’s upcoming presidential election (16:45); India’s election sees another Modi victory, but the end of his BJP party’s 10-year majority (19:41); in Sudan, accusations of genocide in Darfur while another RSF atrocity is carried out in the country’s Gezira state (22:49); the results of South Africa’s election, where the African National Congress (ANC) has lost its parliamentary majority (25:21); Ukraine appears to have taken Blinken’s cue to begin using US/Western weapons in Russia (28:01); the results of Mexico’s election (31:02); Joe Biden issues a new executive order limiting asylum at the southern border (32:06); and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that May 2024 confirms 12 consecutive months of record-breaking global temperatures (35:12).

Check out our pre- and post-Mexican election specials with Alexander Aviña.

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On this episode of American Prestige, we welcome to the podcast, actor Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man, Call Me By Your Name, Boardwalk Empire) to discuss his role in the new Broadway play, Patriots, which portrays billionaire Boris Berezovsky’s (Stuhlbarg) relationship with Vladimir Putin (Will Keen) in 1991. The group discusses the challenges in nuanced portrayals of Berezovsky and Putin, how preparing for the character pushed Michael to reframe his perspective on the end of the USSR, the resonance between the events of the play and the current situation in the United States, notions of homeland and patriotism for Berezovsky, and more.

Patriots is playing now on Broadway through June 23 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

The documentary series, Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone, that Michael referenced was created by Adam Curtis.

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Last month, the Canadian parliament embarrassed itself during an official visit by Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky when the entire legislative body gave a standing ovation to a veteran of the Waffen SS, the paramilitary wing of the Nazi movement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later apologized for incident. 

To understand what happened, it’s important to realize that Canada, like other Western nations, has a long history of sheltering Nazi war criminals. This was not a matter of negligence but official policy. During the Cold War, these hardened Nazi criminals were seen as valuable allies against the Soviet Union. This policy is all the more shameful because during World War II, the vast majority of Ukrainians who took up arms did so in the Red Army against Nazism.

Lev Golinkin, a Ukrainian-American reporter, has been doing excellent work for The Forward and The Nation bringing this shameful history to light. On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I sat down with Lev to talk about the long history of Canada’s hospitality to Nazi war criminals. In the podcast, he references this enlightening video.

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The Democrats triumphed in Arizona this November, electing the governor and the secretary of state, and reelecting senator Mark Kelly --in what used to be a red state. But then Senator Kyrsten Sinema quit the Democratic Party, and Progressives moved towards a primary election to challenge her. On this week's podcast, Steve Phillips explains how the victories happened, and what's to be done about Sinema.

Also on this episode of Start Making Sense– the largest strike in the nation entered its fifth week. 36,000 grad student employees of the University of California –including teaching assistants– are not grading final exams. The union agreed to mediation—which seems unlikely to succeed. Nelson Lichtenstein has our update.

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The American judicial system is facing a far reaching legitimacy crisis, with the Republican ominated judges continuing to push an extremist ideological vision and Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Neal Gorsuch standing accused of serious conflict of interest violations.

Moira Donegan, who wrote on the issue in her column for The Guardian, joins the podcast to discuss how the courts are leading the country into a constitutional crisis. We also take up the failure of Democrats to use what power they have in the Senate to check right-wing judicial extremism and possible corruption.

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Public Libraries are often wonderful places, but they have become targets of right-wing attack in the culture war. On this episode of the Start Making Sense podcast, Sasha Abramsky talks about his reporting on the battle in one small town in Washington state. 

Also on this episode: Peter Matthiessen’s exploration of suffering, impermanence, and beauty in his book “The Snow Leopard,” an account of his trek in the Himalayas. Pico Iyer, who wrote the introduction to the Penguin Classics paperback edition, is on the show to talk about the book. The conversation with Iyer was recorded in 2008.

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Rural America is Trump country. In 2016, Hillary got barely 30 percent of the rural vote. Biden did only a little better in 2020. But he can do a lot better than that this year—and he needs to, if he’s going to carry some of the swing states. Anthony Flaccavento will explain – he’s co-founder and executive director of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative.

Also: Judith Butler may be the most famous feminist theorist in the world today. Now Butler has a new book out, with the provocative title, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Katha Pollitt provides a critique.

NOTE: The views expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of The Nation.

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Bhaskar Sunkara, the founder of Jacobin, has become President of The Nation. He joins us to talk about what independent media can and should do during wartime.

Also: “the Left in Purgatory”-- at the end of a period of rapid politicization, settling into either gradual decline or slow advance.

Plus: the changing politics of comic books, from WWII to today: critic J. Hoberman explains how comics served as wartime propaganda in the 1940s, how they were condemned as causing juvenile delinquency in the 1950s, how new kinds of superheroes emerged and then conquered Hollywood, and made billions for the studios--at a time when America was definitely NOT a superhero in the world. Hoberman reviewed the book “Pulp Empire” by Paul S. Hirsch.

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Abortion rights voters are reshaping politics in the coming political season—starting with a special election to the Virginia State Senate. Also: the most important election of 2023 is for the open seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. John Nichols explains.

Also: Walmart is the biggest employer in America, and the Walton family, the children of Walmart founder Sam Walton, is the richest family in the world. The company has raised wages and become more socially conscious-but it provides a case study of the limits of socially conscious capitalism. Rick Wartzman will explain – his new book on Walmart and its workers is titled “Still Broke.”

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On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Trita Parsi on the dangers of a lame duck president with spiraling crisis.

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On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I am joined by David Klion to talk about this fascinating movie. David wrote about the movie for The New Republic and my review appeared here.

______

Martin Scorsese’s masterful new movie, Killers of the Flower Moon strikes out to new territory for the famed director. It’s his first foray into the American West (although set a generation after the traditional western and overturning many of the conventions of the genre).

The film also explores many of his familiar themes: toxic masculinity, domestic violence, gangs, criminal conspiracies, spirituality and the limits of the law. 

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I am joined by David Klion to talk about this fascinating movie. David wrote about the movie for The New Republic and my review appeared here. In the course of the discussion, I mentioned a novel about the Osage murders recommended by Lily Gladstone. The novel is Charles Red Corn’s A Pipe for February.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Derek and Danny are joined by Eli Clifton, senior advisor and investigative journalist at large at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, to talk about the role of foreign policy in US presidential elections (including tomorrow's). They talk about chatter on the ground regarding Gaza/Lebanon, whether the Democrats are capable of "learning lessons" from a loss, how to once again make foreign policy relevant to American voters, the broken discourse around China, how money in politics defines the parameters of FP discussion in Washington, and more.

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The Georgia Senate runoff campaign has begun--Joan Walsh has just returned from Atlanta, and explains why Trump’s candidate Herschel Walker seems likely to lose. Also: comment on what happened in Stacey Abrams’ tragic loss.

Plus: in Los Angeles the terrible sheriff has lost his re-election campaign. Gustavo Arellano, the LA Times columnist, comments, and reports on how the billionaire developer running for mayor campaigned for the Latino vote.

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Standing Together, Israel’s biggest Jewish-Palestinian grassroots movement, is organizing against the war and for a Palestinian state. Sally Abed, one of the group’s founders, explains their vision, their strategy, and their recent actions.

Also: Cities everywhere in America are Democratic, and often raising minimum wages and strengthening rent control. But in states where Republicans hold unchecked power, state governments are blocking cities from acting. Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of The American Prospects. Reports on preemption—and on “pre-preemption.”

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Amazon is a radically new kind of monopoly that seeks to control all of online commerce. Stacy Mitchell says it’s time for anti-trust action to separate the Amazon Marketplace from Amazon’s own retail operations. Also: Why have wages stagnated since the seventies? Bryce Covert says one reason is the mandatory noncompete and no-poaching agreements that prevent low-wage workers from taking better-paying jobs. California, Oklahoma and North Dakota have made them unenforceable; the rest of the states should do the same. Plus: Our Russiagate reporter Bob Dreyfuss explains the indictments of 13 Russians for crimes that involved supporting Trump for president—and talks about the next steps Special Counsel Robert Mueller might take—following the trail left by the Russian hacker group “Cozy Bear.”

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Plus Joshua Holland on Trump voters and David Cole on the resistance.

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The court ended its most recent term completely off the chain. Having already killed reproductive rights, it accomplished another longstanding conservative goal: banning affirmative action in college admissions. That's not even the half of it.

And yet, a lot of the mainstream media coverage suggested that the Court turned *moderate* and worked hard to achieve a mainstream consensus.

Why does the media keep feeding us this bullshit? Let’s talk about it.

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On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Grafton Tanner to discuss the dangers and consequences of companies and politicians leveraging nostalgia for their own purposes.

Grafton Tanner is the author of Foreverism. He also teaches at the University of Georgia.

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Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, spent Thanksgiving weekend in Israel; she reports on meetings with shared society groups and peace movement leaders, and on the role of the US in bringing not just peace but equality and justice to Palestinians.

Also: Who was Bayard Rustin before the 1963 March on Washington? Gary Younge comments on the remarkable life of a gay Black pacifist and former communist, the subject of a new biopic on Netflix, ‘Rustin.’ Gary wrote “The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream.”

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The punditocracy has been arguing that the guilty verdicts in the Trump trial won’t matter much in the election – Marc Cooper disagrees, and explains what’s wrong about the conventional wisdom. 

Also: The Trump verdict and women voters: Exit polls have consistently shown women voting Democratic, and men voting Republican – especially with Trump. How much wider will the Gender Gap get, now that Trump has been found guilty-of lying about having had sex with a porn star? Katha Pollitt will comment.

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On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the motivations behind the proposed TikTok ban and what the effort tells us about US tech policy.

Jacob Silverman is a tech journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.

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Republicans continue to work to ban teaching about Black Americans’ place in our history – their legislation, proposed in 27 states, would prohibit teaching the 1619 Project, which has just published a book offering what the authors call “a new origin story” about the United States. Martha Jones, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, and one of the contributors, talks about the battle, the book, and the larger project.

Plus: Father Greg Boyle is the founder of Homebody Industries, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program on the planet. He’s got a new book out now, it’s about “the power of extravagant tenderness” and it’s called “The Whole Language.”

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Our hot labor summer continues. Harold Meyerson, editor at large of The American Prospect, comes on the Start Making Sense podcast to discuss the coming auto strike, the continuing Hollywood strikes, the Teamsters’ big victory, and a historic action by the NLRB which will make union organizing possible again. 

Also on this episode: Melania and Ivanka Trump have been mostly absent from the former president’s side as he rages against the 91 felony charges brought against him in four different trials. Amy Wilentz comments on the news, the rumors, and the photos.

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Revelations about the January 6 insurrection include striking new information about the Trump kids that day: Who did what, and also who didn’t do anything. Amy Wilentz reports.

Also: A report from Kwajalein, one of the Marshall islands in the Pacific that’s a major US military base. Tom Lutz says it’s completely paved over, and the only greenery is the golf course. The runway is one foot above sea level. The island will be under water by about 2035. Tom also describes life in some other places—his new book is The Kindness of Strangers.

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This week on the American Prestige news roundup: Israel’s assassinations of Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and Fuad Shukr of Hezbollah (1:02); a mini-New Cold War update featuring Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin in East Asia (9:31); Sudan coming close to engaging in ceasefire talks before collapsing at the last minute (12:30); a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict with M23 (14:58); a large prisoner swap between Russia and the US (17:10); fallout from this week’s presidential election in Venezuela (19:31); and the US striking a plea deal with three detainees accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks (24:11).

Be sure to also check out our specials on Israel’s assassinations and the Venezuela election.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome to the pod Maria Sengovaya, senior fellow at the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, to talk about her book When Left Moves Right: The Decline of the Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe. The explore what changed for the working class in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism, cases of the Left moving Right in Hungary and Poland, the role of austerity, the characterization of right wing parties vs. the reality, how left wing and centrist parties can offer meaningful alternatives to the Right, and more.

More of Maria’s work:

• “Populism and the Decline of Social Democracy” (with Sheri Berman), Journal of Democracy
• “How Ex-Communist Left Reformed and Lost,” West European Politics

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On this episode of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast, Paris Marx is joined by Victor Pickard to discuss the continued layoffs in news media, and how they are symptomatic of a deeper, structural crisis in journalism.

Victor Pickard is Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at University of Pennsylvania. He’s also the author of Democracy Without Journalism?: Confronting the Misinformation Society.

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The ideological roots of the January 6 insurrection go back decades before Trump entered politics -- back to the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. Jeffrey Toobin joins the podcast to explain. His new book is Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.

Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: Ron DeSantis is campaigning for president promising to “stop woke history.” That is, to stop teaching about slavery and its legacy of institutional racism. Adam Hochschild found the history guide DeSantis wants: the Hillsdale College “1776 Curriculum.” He reports on what’s in it —and what’s not.

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After years of getting beaten in state legislative races, the Democrats have a new energy and a new wave of candidates—especially after last year’s stunning victories in Virginia. Joan Walsh reports. Plus: Should Ivanka be indicted? She’s been part of some of the Trump administration's conspiracies to obstruct justice, including the decision to fire James Comey as FBI director. Amy Wilentz reviews the evidence and considers the arguments. Also: Anna Deveare Smith talks about the school-to-prison pipeline—that’s the subject of her one-woman show, called Notes from the Field, which dramatizes the real-life accounts of students, parents, teachers and administrators caught in a system where young people of color who live in poverty get pushed out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system. It’s playing on HBO through the end of March.

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“The government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation”—that’s QAnon’s crazy idea, and 30 million Americans say they mostly agree. Chris Lehmann comments.

Also: Fintan O’Toole’s personal history of Ireland since the fifties: how a country dominated by a corrupt Catholic church came to legalize gay marriage and abortion -- by referendum. His much-honored ‘personal history’ of Ireland, titled “We Don’t Know Ourselves,” is out now in paperback.

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Biden’s “new and improved” procedure for admitting Ukrainian refugees to the U.S. is “disgraceful." Historian and Nation contributor, David Nasaw joins us to discuss the shortcomings of the policy, and how it excludes all asylum-seekers who aren’t white and European. 

Also: Abortion and its opponents. Do opponents of abortion really believe abortion providers are “baby-killers”? There’s some new research about that that found opponents help family members and friends get abortions. Katha Pollitt explains.

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Donald Trump and his 34 felonies: can he really be brought to justice for paying off Stormy Daniels? We feature highlights of The Nation’s roundtable discussion among Elie Mystal, Justice Correspondent, Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent, and Chris Lehmann, D.C. Editor.

Also: Afghan girls who escaped from the Taliban. The story of a boarding school that evacuated its students from Kabul during the chaotic withdrawal of the Americans, and moved -- to Kigali, Rwanda. SOLA, the School of Leadership Afghanistan is the place where Afghan girls study to become members of the generation that will one day lead a peaceful and united Afghanistan. The founder, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, explains.

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On this episode, we start with the most powerful reform available: court expansion. 

As a matter of Constitutional structure, Court expansion has always been the constitutionally preferred way of handling a court that has overstepped its bounds. But as a political matter: court expansion has been treated like it is a radical solution. But It’s not. It is the way a President and Congress can check the Supreme Court, and it’s the easiest and most simple method of court reform. 

Chris Kang and Congressman Jamaal Bowman join Contempt of Court to explore what court expansion actually is, and how attitudes around it are finally changing. 

CREDITS:

Host: Elie Mystal

Producer: Babette Thomas

Executive Producer: Ludwig Hurtado

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The GOP held their first presidential debate for the 2024 election cycle and the crowded stage was notable for a significant absence.

Former president Donald Trump was nowhere to be seen. Enjoying a commanding lead in the polls, Trump rightly felt that it was beneath his dignity to share a stage with a crew of also-rans. So the evening became a contest to see who could imitate Trump best. But Trump did remain in the news thanks to fresh new indictments in Georgia over his alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

To examine the debates and Trump’s domination of the GOP, fellow Nation writer Chris Lehmann joins the Time of Monsters podcast. He's written on these topics lately, and we had a robust discussion about a party in deep trouble.

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A day late and a lira short, Danny and Derek are back with this week's American Prestige news roundup. This week: in Gaza, Israel announces “tactical pauses” (1:44), Netanyahu disbands his war cabinet (4:27), friction between Bibi and the Biden administration (7:59), friction between Bibi and the IDF (11:53), and an update on the humanitarian situation (14:05); fears of war are rising in Lebanon, meanwhile Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah threatens Cyprus over the island nation’s potential collaboration with Israel (16:11); another cargo ship is sunk off the coast of Yemen by Ansar Allah/Houthi forces (19:16); a report on China’s nuclear program (21:01); Putin visits the DPRK/North Korea (23:29); an update on the crisis in Sudan (27:02); a governing coalition is formed in South Africa (30:53); Mark Rutte gets approval to become the new secretary general of NATO (32:51); a Swiss “peace conference” for Ukraine, plus the US promises more air defense ammo (34:57); and shocking revelations about the US engaging in an “anti-vax propaganda effort” (40:01).

Be sure to check out The Night Won’t End: Biden's War on Gaza from Fault Lines on Al Jazeera English, produced by friend of the show Laila Al-Arian.

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In an earlier podcast, Moira Donegan, frequent Time of Monsters guest and columnist for the Guardian, predicted that Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk would strike down FDA approval of mifepristone, the medication used in most abortions in the United States. Donegan’s prediction came true on Friday.

Moira returns to the podcast this week to discuss the impact of this decision. We talk about how outrageous Kacsmaryk’s ruling was on both legal and factual grounds as well as the way the decision will likely end up being reviewed by the Supreme Court. We also talk about the political divides over how to deal with abortion inside both the Democratic and Republican Party as the Dobbs effect reshapes politics.

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The Mar-a-Lago raid by the FBI put Donald Trump back at the center of American politics, just before the midterms. Is that good for the Democrats? John Nichols comments.

Also: Dirty work—and the people who do it: the low-income workers who do our most ethically troubled jobs. What does that have to do with the rest of us? Eyal Press explains—his book “Dirty Work” is out now in paperback.

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On this episode of the American Prestige, podcast, hosts Danny and Derek welcome back Samuel Huneke, assistant professor of history at George Mason University, to talk about his new book, A Queer Theory of the State.

The group discusses the various notions of queer theory and the state, how queer politics and activism can engage in state power, the neoliberal contingent of the queer community, where thinkers from Michel Foucault to Judith Sklar fit into this, and Huneke’s vision of what a queer state might look like.

Be sure to check out Sam’s past AP appearances in Queer Theory and the Queer Germany series.

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Joe Biden has historic achievements as president, but polls show him to be the candidate least able to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Democrats need someone else to run and an open primary. Harold Meyerson is editor-at-large of The American Prospect, and he joins the show to make the case for Biden to not run again.

Also on this episode: What conditions are needed for an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank? David Myers – professor of Jewish history at UCLA and contributor to the LA Times, the Forward, and the Atlantic – is on the podcast to comment on what it would take to get to Palestinian self-determination.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Emily Conroy-Krutz on the global history of the early American republic.

On this episode of American Prestige, we sit down with Emily Conroy-Krutz, historian of nineteenth-century America specializing in the global history of the early American republic, to talk about the volume she co-edited with Michael Blaakman and Noelani Arista, The Early Imperial Republic: From the American Revolution to the U.S.–Mexican War. They explore the delineation of empire vs. republic vs. nation-state, challenging the narrative of 1898 being America’s imperial turn, settler colonialism and the dispossession of Indigenous Americans, shifting notions of imperialism over time, and how the framing of America as an imperial project from the beginning can better help us understand its history.

You can also grab a copy of Emily’s book Missionary Diplomacy: Religion and Nineteenth-Century American Foreign Relations.

Further Reading:

• Michael Blaakman – Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic
• Daniel Immerwahr – How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
• Paul Kramer

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American women in 2023: the news is bad, but it’s not all bad. Katha Pollitt is on the Start Making Sense podcast to explain.

Also: the largest anti-war demonstrations in American history were the protests in the fall of 1969--with more than two million people in the streets demanding “End the War in Vietnam.” But did those demonstrations help end the war? Historian Chris Appy comments on the new documentary, “The Movement and the ‘Madman,’” out on PBS American Experience March 28.

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On this week’s edition of the American Prestige world news roundup: It’s another dose of doom, but we tacked on a relatively feel-good animal story. It appears that Israel has killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar (1:32), the IDF’s brutal operation continues in northern Gaza (4:56), and the Biden administration floats withholding arms over the Strip’s humanitarian situation (6:42); an update on Israel’s invasion of Lebanon (13:09); the world continues to await Israel’s response to Iran’s ballistic missile strike (16:07); a diplomatic crisis for India and Canada (19:28); the DPRK/North Korea strikes unused rail lines connecting it with South Korea (21:04); an update on the war in Sudan (22:50); a devastating drought in southern Africa (26:12); in Russia-Ukraine, a Russian counteroffensive in Kursk makes progress (27:44) while Zelenskyy reveals part of his Victory Plan (31:19); stock prices soar for US defense contractors (34:22); and China has sent pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, DC (36:04).

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The Israel lobby AIPAC is spending millions to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman in the New York state Democratic primary. That’s because he called for a permanent ceasefire back in October, and describes what’s happening in Gaza now as “an ongoing genocide.” Alan Minsky has our analysis fo the campaign--he’s Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America.

Also: at a time when Republicans have a lock on the Supreme Court, state constitutions can provide a basis not only for protecting abortion rights, but for criminal justice reform,voting rights protection, the right to public education and even, in some states, the right to breathe clean air. Eyal Press reports.

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The growth of the Black Lives Matter movement through the 2010s catalyzed a resurgence of Black activism in professional sports that had its climax in 2020 with the athletes' boycott following the shooting of Jacob Blake. Just a few years later, this energy seems to have dissipated. What happened, and how can we comprehend these recent events in the longer arc of Black activism in sports? Sports journalist and author Howard Bryant joins the Edge of Sports for a look at the build-up to 2020 and how many athletes' politics were co-opted in the aftermath.

Later in the show, we have Choice Words about the social cost of smartphone sports gambling becoming the economic lifeblood of sports.

And in our segment, Ask a Sports Scholar, we speak with Hofstra University Professor Brenda Elsey, whose research focuses on the development of women’s soccer internationally, as the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament approaches.

Howard Bryant is the author of ten books, including the forthcoming Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America. He has been a senior writer for ESPN since 2007 and has served as the sports correspondent for NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday since 2006.

Dr. Brenda Elsey is a professor of history at Hofstra University, where she focuses on the history of popular culture and politics in twentieth century Latin America, in addition to gender, social theory, sports, and Pan-Americanism. She is the author of Futbolera: Women and Sport in Latin America.

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The most important event in the history of Israel and Palestine was not the 1948 founding of Israel and the Nakba, or Israel’s 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories. It was the outlawing of immigration of Jews (and others) to the US from Russia, Poland, and Eastern and Southern Europe. That was the purpose of the immigration restriction act passed by Congress in May, 1924, 100 years ago this month. Without that, the Jews of Europe would never have moved to Palestine, Harold Meyerson argues.

Also: The New Yorker’s award-winning climate writer Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her fascinating new book, “H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.’”

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From 1979 to 1991, the Los Angeles Lakers would become a dominant force in the world of professional basketball and in American culture more broadly. Led by coach Pat Riley and star players Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the “Showtime” era of the Lakers is still, in many ways, the standard by which other sports dynasties are measured today. On the court, in the locker room, and beyond, the legendary Lakers franchise was both a reflection and a driver of a culture, a sport, and a country undergoing seismic changes, and the HBO dramatized series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty tells the story of the the larger-than-life personalities and politics that defined the Showtime era.

This week on Edge of Sports, host Dave Zirin speaks with actor Solomon Hughes about Winning Time, which is debuting its second season on August 6, and about stepping into the role of playing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar himself. Later in this episode, Zirin shares some choice words on the Oakland A’s and Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred; then, in “Ask a Sports Scholar,” we talk with Amira Rose Davis, assistant professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin, about her forthcoming book “Can’t Eat a Medal”: The Lives and Labors of Black Women Athletes in the Age of Jim Crow.

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This week we speak to Theresa Runstedler, author of the book Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation that Saved the Soul of the NBA.

We'll have Choice Words about what Caitlin Clark has taught us throughout the fallout after the NCAA women’s championship game. We also have Jake’s Takes on the NBA finals and more. 

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On this special episode of American Prestige: In light of the untimely death of engineer/producer/musician Steve Albini, we wanted to share an interview Danny did with him for an upcoming (non-American Prestige) podcast on grunge music. This was recorded in August 2020.

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The mass shooting at that high school in Parkland, Florida, two weeks ago, where 17 kids were killed, is still in the news, because of the brilliant political work being done by the students who survived. George Zornick analyzes the big picture: the decline of the gun industry, the growth in popular support for an assault weapons ban, and campaigns to shame companies that support the NRA and haven't divested from gun manufacturers. Plus: This week the supreme court heard a case that could cripple public-sector unions, some of the last strong unions in America. Jane McAlevey talks about Janus v. AFSCME and what the unions need to do to recover the ground they have lost. And we have another episode of The Children’s Hour: stories from Amy Wilentz—this week, about Ivanka in Korea, Don Junior in India, and Jared in trouble—over his security clearance.

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The most important election of 2023 is in Wisconsin next month, where voters can change the state's supreme court and end domination by conservatives. They’ve banned abortion and enforced the worst gerrymandering in the nation. John Nichols joins the show to talk about the results of Tuesday's primary, which look good for Democrats.

Also on this week's episode: COVID remains the number 3 cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer, with almost 3,000 deaths every week. However, Biden and the Democrats are ending the federal COVID emergency. Is that really a good idea? The Nation’s public health correspondent and Yale professor of epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves comes on to comment.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Derek and Danny are joined by Khalid Medani, associate professor of political science, director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and chair of the African Studies Program at McGill University, to talk about the state of play in Sudan's civil war. They delve into the military stalemate between the Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the humanitarian crisis reaching 13 million displaced and 26 million on the brink of starvation, involvement from outsider actors including Egypt and the UAE, the strategic importance of the besieged city El Fasher in Darfur, the defection of the RSF’s Gezira commander, Abuagla Keikal, over to the Sudanese military, and more.

Note: After the recording of this episode, the RSF massacred 120 people in eastern Sudan.

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After four years as a professional linebacker for football teams in the U.S. and Canada, Aaron Maybin put down his helmet and picked up a range of new hats off the gridiron. As a public school teacher, artist, and activist, Maybin's best days are still yet to come. Aaron Maybin joins Edge of Sports for a wide-ranging conversation on the boxes athletes get placed in, racism within the NFL, and his life after football.

—

http://www.edgeofsportspodcast.com/ | http://twitter.com/EdgeOfSportsPod | http://fb.com/edgeofsportspod | email us: edgeofsports@gmail.com | Edge of Sports hotline: 401-426-3343 (EDGE)

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In response to Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, Adam Shatz says Israel’s disregard for Palestinian life has never been more callous or more flagrant. But Israel can’t extinguish Palestinian resistance by violence any more than the Palestinians can win an Algerian-style liberation war. 

The only thing that can save the people of Israel and Palestine is a political solution that recognizes both as equal citizens. Shatz is the former literary editor of The Nation and now US editor of the London Review of Books, where he wrote about Israel and Gaza.

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Donald Trump announced Friday that he would be voting against a abortion rights ballot measure in his home state of Florida. Amy Littlefield reports on the crucial battle in the state that had been the South’s last refuge for abortion access.

Plus: Rachel Kushner talks about the informant and provacateur who infiltrates an anarchist eco-commune in rural France – the central character in her new novel, “Creation Lake.”

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Will the assassination attempt change Trump’s campaign—make it more a call for unity and less a demand for retribution? Harold Meyerson reports on the evidence from the Republican National Convention.

Also: The Nation’s Joan Walsh has been following Kamala Harris for months, as she campaigns for Biden -- but also provides evidence of her own potential as a presidential candidate.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek speak with David Halperin, retired professor of Jewish studies at UNC Chapel Hill, about his book Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO. The group looks at the phenomenon of UFO encounters as part of a longer tradition of mythology, examining their relationship to the historical epochs in which they occur, their place in politics and culture, and what ultimately the search for aliens says about our own views of humanity.

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Over the last thirty years, Republicans, when in control the House of Representatives, have repeatedly used the debt ceiling to force Democratic presidents to make draconian budget cuts. This drama took place under both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. We are now witnessing a replay under Joe Biden. Under pressure from divergent political forces, Biden is being forced to make a choice between negotiating with the Republicans or figuring out a way to squash the debt ceiling threat.

In a recent statement, Jeff Hauser, founder of The Revolving Door Project, makes the case for a direct fight: “GOP leaders have sent a wildly exploitative ransom note to the public. The administration should not accept its terms. Biden, Yellen, and Garland have many executive branch pathways to avoid doing so, including by refusing to defend the debt ceiling against the recent lawsuit from government employees arguing that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to not pay its debts. The Biden Administration must not cave in to extremists and overwrite the best of the administration’s legacy merely in order to sustain the legal incoherence that is elites’ understanding of the debt ceiling.” I spoke to Jeff about the dangers of the debt ceiling as a threat to the constitutional order and how Biden can fight it.

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The Nation’s annual Progressive Honor Roll features movement leaders who provide hope for 2024. John Nichols tells their stories.

Also: California moved one step closer to universal healthcare on January 1, when it expanded coverage to all low-income residents, regardless of immigration status. Sasha Abramsky reports.

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On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Zach Weinersmith to discuss the impracticalities of space colonies some interested parties keep forgetting to mention.

Zach Weinersmith co-wrote A City On Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? with Kelly Weinersmith. He also makes the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic.

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On the eve of the XXXIII Olympiad, the world remains complicated.

This week on American Prestige's news roundup: Joe Biden suspends his 2024 presidential campaign (0:32); in Palestine/Israel news, Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a fawning US Congress (2:26), the ICJ rules on the legality of Israel’s occupation (6:13), the IDF shrinks the “protected zone” around Khan Younis in Gaza (9:13), China brokers a Palestinian “national unity” agreement (11:19); Houthi/Ansar Allah carry out a drone strike on Tel Aviv (13:48); in Bangladesh, a pause for the protests primarily aimed against a government job quota system (17:21); the US opens an embassy in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu (20:01); a new round of ceasefire talks are scheduled for Sudan (21:18); in Russia, the Gershkovich and Kurmasheva trials are wrapped up quickly (23:09); in another diplomatic move, China hosts Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba in a prelude to potential peace talks (25:03); a preview of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela (26:54); and the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that Sunday was the hottest recorded day ever, a record only to be broken on Monday (28:48).

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome writer and co-executive producer John Orloff to the pod to discuss Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air miniseries. They go into John’s background, his work on HBO’s seminal Band of Brothers, the distinct horror of WWII aerial warfare, how MOTA tackled the POW experience, the challenge of writing and shooting such a massive production, and how a WWII-era drama is informed by the current global climate.

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The end of abortion in 26 states will be deadly for many poor women, especially poor women of color. Law professor Michele Goodwin explains, reviewing the history of forced pregnancy under the slave regime in antebellum America, and how it was banned by the 13^th Amendment’s prohibition of “involuntary servitude.”

Also: How will the war in Ukraine end? The Russians have failed to install a puppet government there but the Ukrainians are not going to recover the territory Russia seized in 2014. So some kind of negotiated settlement is necessary, and better sooner than later. Anatol Lieven, author of “Ukraine and Russia” joins the podcast to discuss.

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The good news is we have one less thing to worry about: so-called Havana Syndrome turns out not to be caused by a mysterious super-weapon to harm American diplomats and military personnel, despite numerous press reports warning of a hypothetical ray gun created by a foreign foe (Cuba? Russia? China?). Instead, an assessment by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) concluded that the symptoms of Havana Syndrome, reported by hundreds of government officials working all over the world) likely had “medical, environmental, and social factors that plausibly can explain.” In less polite terms, this was an example of a mass psychogenic illness, a product of hysteria and over-active imaginations. 

Writing in Jacobin, Branko Marcetic links the Havana Syndrome frenzy to other examples of national security paranoia such as the false reports of Russians paying for Taliban bounty hunters and the recent meltdown over Chinese surveillance balloons. I talked with Branko about both the Havana Syndrome, and the reasons – political and psychological–that the military-industrial complex is going into over drive conjuring up imaginary or overhyped threats.

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On this news episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek bring you another dose of Reality™️. This week: Congress passes Biden’s war funding package (0:59); Israel prepares to invade Rafah (7:31); the US begins construction of a Gaza pier (10:33); Antony Blinken may blacklist an IDF unit (12:58); mass graves are discovered in Gaza hospitals (16:57); US forces come under attack in Iraq and Syria (19:01); the IDF makes a small retaliation against Iran (21:42); Azerbaijan and Armenia make progress toward a peace agreement (24:06); Myanmar rebels withdraw from Myawaddy (27:18); the US finally agrees to withdraw forces from Niger (29:36); Russia makes gains in Ukraine (32:32); the US is sending long range weapons to and negotiating a military agreement with Kyiv (35:16); Ariel Henry resigns and a new Haitian council takes office (37:53); and a New Cold War update featuring Blinken visiting China (40:31) while Biden suggests that his uncle was eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea (43:02).

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On this episode of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast, Paris Marx is joined by Nitasha Tiku to discuss how US tech companies are flocking to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fund their expensive AI ambitions.

Nitasha Tiku is a tech culture reporter at the Washington Post.

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What will it take for Republicans to pass “the biggest tax scam in history” (Paul Krugman’s phrase)?  George Zornick reports on the obstacles the GOP is facing in the Senate, and the pressure its members are feeling from donors.  Still to come, if the bill passes the Senate: problems in the House, where the Tea Party Republicans may be more serious about the deficit and the debt. Plus: Sexual harassment in Washington—we’ve learned a lot about that in the last week, and about the way Congress deals with complaints against its members.  The procedures have been called “flawed.”  Joan Walsh comments, starting with the different cases of John Conyers and Al Franken. Also: Republicans who have stood up to Trump—like Jeff Flake and John McCain—seem like truth-telling heroes to a lot of liberals; but not to Rick Perlstein.  The author of the classic political history Nixonland talks about the trouble with anti-Trump Republicans.

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A political battle is underway in Los Angeles, where landlords, multi-millionaires, and the police are trying to defeat the leading progressive on the city council. Their key issues are protection for renters and new taxes on mansions.

Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: A new podcast brings us stories from the early days of HIV & AIDS. It's about how the epidemic decimated poor communities of color and the people who refused to stay out of sight. WNYC's Kai Wright and The Nation's Lizzy Ratner are behind the new show, Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows.

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This week on the Edge of Sports Podcast, part three of our discussion with basketball savant Arya Shirazi about basketball butterfly effects. This time we're talking what would have happened if Michael Jordan, on draft night in 1984, had not been drafted by the Chicago Bulls and had instead been selected by the Portland Trail Blazers. Also we have words about the controversy surrounding Michael Oher and the Blind Side.

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Voters in Maine will decide next month whether to turn the state’s private utilities public. If that happens, it would be a huge step toward dealing with the climate crisis, and a model for other states. Bill McKibben explains -- of course he’s an author and environmentalist and co-founder of 350.org, currently working with the new environmental group Third Act, for people over 60.

Also: Our politics today is haunted by the failures of Bill Clinton—the “centrist” who “triangulated” with Republicans, lost on healthcare, and proclaimed that “The era of big government is over.”  Nelson Lichtenstein explains Clinton’s turn to the right, and the lessons for today’s Democrats – his new book on Clinton is “A Fabulous Failure.”

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On this episode of Start Making Sense, John Nichols has our analysis on the New Hampshire primary--Biden's big win, and Trump's furious victory speech.

Also: Adam Shatz talks about Franz Fanon, whose books Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Masks made him a huge figure on the left, not just in the '60s when they were published, but in the era of Black Lives Matter when “his shadow looms larger than ever.” Now he's the subject of Adam's new book, The Rebel's Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon. Adam is the US editor of the London Review of Books, and former Literary Editor of The Nation.

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After gangs took over most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, agreed to step aside. Long-time Haiti observer Amy Wilentz analyzes the forces at work shaping the country’s next steps.

Also: the polls and the pollsters are missing the political potential in 9 million people who have turned 18 since the last election. Steve Phillips explains – his book, ‘How We Win the Civil War,’ is out now in a new edition, updated for the 2024 election.

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On Tuesday the January 6 committee held yet another dramatic hearing, this one on the origins of the ‘Stop the Steal” rally and the events that provoked that 1:30 am tweet of Trump’s urging supporters to come to Washington, where it “will be wild.” John Nichols has our analysis.

Also on this week's episode, Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua say it’s not too late to act to slow climate change. Their new project, Not Too Late, invites newcomers to join the climate movement, and guides people from despair to possibilities. 

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This week, on American Prestige: Danny and Derek are just the messengers. This week: in Gaza, ceasefire talks may be heating up again, America assesses the UNRWA allegations, and more (0:42); Yemen’s Ansar Allah (Houthi) militants potentially sink a cargo ship, damage another ship, and attack Eilat (12:11); a potential governing coalition is formed in Pakistan (14:31); tensions between Taiwan and China over the Kinmen Islands (17:13); in Senegal, Macky Sall agrees to reschedule the election, but hasn’t offered a new date yet (19:07); Somalia cuts new military deals with Turkey and the U.S. (21:19); Alexei Navalny dies in Russia (25:44); in Ukraine, the Russians take Avdiivka as we approach the second anniversary of the invasion (28:52); Hungary schedules a NATO ratification vote for Sweden (34:10); the ELN suspends peace talks in Colombia (35:06); the government of Ecuador backs out of a deal to send arms to Ukraine (38:35); and a New Cold War update featuring the restoration of panda relations between China and the U.S. (40:16).

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On this episode of the American Prestige podcast, we speak with Jemima Pierre, professor of global race in the Institute of Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) at the University of British Columbia, about foreign intervention in Haiti—namely instances led by the U.S. and European powers— from the country’s inception to Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation last week.

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On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I speak with Trita Parsi, vice president and co-founder of The Quincy Institute, about the cascading violence in the region. We also take up the Biden administration’s decision to double down on its push for a Saudi/Israeli alliance, a program that could itself deepen the violence. As an alternative, we consider the possibility of other great powers taking over the job of negotiating a settlement to the regions problems. Trita has written on these issues in many venues, including The Nation.

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