Emma hosts journalist Cole Stangler to discuss the recent French election results. Then, Emma is joined by investigate reporter Amanda Chicago Lewis to discuss her recent piece in the New Republic “Legalized Pot Was Supposed to Help Build Black Wealth in Los Angeles. It Failed.” First, Cole and Emma dive into the major takeaways from the first round of the French presidential election, setting up a fight between President Macron’s political establishment and the Far Right’s Marine Le Pen, and how the democratic socialist candidacy of Jean-Luc Mélenchon found a foothold despite a right-wing-dominated media empire, and a fractured support system in the National Assembly, by relying on a coalition of working-class voters, a recognition of multiculturalism, and a general set of bread and butter economic policy. Next, they dive into the second round matchup, as Cole covers Macron’s shift to the right over his candidacy, particularly in his embrace of Islamophobic fear-mongering, repeal of the wealth tax, and commitment to a law and order candidacy. They compare and contrast his hard pivot to racism with Le Pen’s more subtle shift away from overtly racist rhetoric (despite its continued role in her policy) as she found herself challenged from the right, before Cole covers the general anti-Macron sentiment grounding Le Pen’s campaign, and the establishment’s preparations to blame the left for any defeat from the right. Next, Amanda Chicago Lewis joins as they discuss the racial equity policy that is “all the rage” in progressive states legalizing marijuana, and the unsurprising manipulation of Black and brown business owners that’s going on behind the scenes. First, Amanda dives into the representation of the policy as a “license to generational wealth” for people of color, and how, instead, we’ve seen the process for an equity license drive business owners to predatory loans to meet absurd conditions just so they can even be considered. They wrap up the interview with the story of Kika Keith and her attempts to take advantage of this supposed equity program in her city, only to be stymied left and right by the US government (both state and federally), and look to past policies of Black Capitalism and redlining to explain the US’s need to have complete control over the terms and conditions of Black wealth. Emma also touches on the Sunset Park subway attack that occurred this morning and Joe Scarborough’s recommendation for Dems to focus on conservatives being canceled on social media… to win the midterms?

And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Nomiki Konst as they cover Ben Shapiro’s reminder that rising sea levels will AT WORST, contribute to mass homelessness, Zack from Tennessee dives into conservatism in the southeast and its relationship to legislative success, and Amy Wax’s absurd collection of violently racist rhetoric about her own students. Alex Walker goes OFF on those darn whiney leftists, Spencer from Utah discusses the anti-trans anti-teacher legislation from the teacher’s perspective, and Jennifer the GenX-er ends the show with a shower of positivity, plus, your calls and IMs!

Check out Cole’s work here: https://colestangler.com/

Check out Amanda’s piece in the New Republic here: https://newrepublic.com/article/16565…