Sam and Emma host Meron Rapoport, editor of Local Call, to discuss his recent reporting on the protests in Israel over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms for +972 Magazine and Mekomit. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on yesterday’s mass shooting in Nashville, testimony from banking regulators about $13 Billion of SVB’s uninsured deposits coming from 10 billionaires, NC expanding Medicaid, […]

Sam and Emma host Alex de Waal, Executive Director of The World Peace Foundation and Professor at Tufts University, to discuss the ongoing civil conflict in Ethiopia and how it is affecting the Tigrayan people. First, Sam and Emma run through updates on the US funding bill, GOP killing cannabis reform, the final DOJ criminal referrals coming out of […]

Sam and Emma host Adam Hochschild, lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism, to discuss his recent book American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis. First, Sam and Emma run through this weekend’s updates on the Georgia runoff, the North Carolina power station sabotage, this week’s Supreme Court cases, and […]

Sam and Emma host Adolph Reed, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, to discuss his recent book The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives, on the lasting legacy of the racial order that defined the post-reconstruction era, and its intrinsic ties to labor and exploiting the Black workforce. Professor Reed first situates when the […]

Sam and Emma host writer and filmmaker Rupert Russell to discuss his recent book Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World, on how the profits in Wall Street come from placing bets on the products most central to our society’s functioning. First, Rupert situates his studies over the past decade, originating with his work on the […]

Yale historian Timothy Snyder, author of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, explains his understanding of totalitarian regimes. How do institutions and democracies fall apart. Trump’s fascist impulse. Terrorism and justification for unrelated things. Differences and similarities and historical examples. What Trump and Hitler share in common. Why we should not obey in advance. […]

FBI Director James Comey confirms that Russia’s role in the election is being investigated. The hearings for Neil Gorsuch begin. Journalist Masha Gessen, explains that Trump is attempting to create an autocracy. Trump’s attacks on government and the media. The rules for fighting autocracy. How Trump is degrading public norms on corruption. Searching for signs […]

The Roosevelt Institute’s Mike Konczal, explains why austerity defined the Obama age. The foreclosure crisis and the Trump vote. The culture of limitation. Smart phones and the culture of ruthless efficiency. Lifestyle minimalism. Why the Obama Administration failed on foreclosure. why we didn’t get the recovery we deserve. Obama’s 2010 austerity pivot and why Republican […]

Why Trump’s Cabinet is a nightmare for the environment and workers and a giveaway to the Koch brothers. Journalist and historian Rick Perlstein, talks about the danger posed by the authoritarian impulse of the Trump age. Lying and authoritarians. How news needs to work when the President always lies. Steve Bannon and the lying culture. The […]

On today’s show Vox’s Amanda Taub (@amandataub) join us to discuss her new article The Rise of American Authoritarianism. How do you measure authoritarian attitudes? The four parenting questions that reveal the authoritarian mindset. The Republican Party’s anxiety about social change and what voters that appeals to. How crisis can activate the authoritarian value society. Vox’s polling and […]