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Talking about politics, thinking about the Left. Hosted by Jon Wiener, co-author of "Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties," contributing editor at The Nation, and broadcast live at KPFK 90.7FM in LA Thursdays at 4.
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History was made last Friday in Chattanooga, when workers at Volkswagen’s factory there voted to join the United Auto Workers -- by an overwhelming margin, 73 to 27 percent. This was the first major union victory in the South in many decades, and it may mark the rebirth of a powerful union movement. Harold Meyerson comments; he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.Plus: Transforming the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to meet today’s realities: a federation, something like the European Union. That’s the project of the visionary group A Land for All. May Pundak, co-executive director, explains.
Opposition to Biden's unqualified military support for Netanyahu now includes the center of the Democratic party. That reminds some people of 1968 - Harold Meyerson comments.Also: Trump has had a very bad week - in court, in the polls, on the stock market. John Nichols explains.Plus:: TV right now is featuring several prestige historical dramas. John Powers compares and contrasts two shows that feature Asians at the center rather than white men: “The Sympathizer,” centering on a spy for the Communists in Vietnam and then n California in the seventies, with “Shogun,” about feuding 17th century Japanese warlords. John is critic at large for Fresh Air with Terry Gross.
The Arizona Supreme Court's action affirming a near-total ban on abortion is great news for Democrats, and not just in that state: Harold Meyerson comments.Also: Why did Hamas decide to provoke massive Israeli retaliation now? Hussein Ibish, who writes for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Daily Beast, says Hamas had a clear political goal on October 7: to defeat the Palestinian secular nationalists of Fatah and gain control of the PLO.Plus: 61 years ago this week, in April, 1963, the Birmingham civil rights campaign directed by Martin Luther King was reaching a climax. April 7, Palm Sunday, police used dogs to attack Black people at a march. the dramatic photos appeared on front pages around the world. Then, 4 Black girls were killed at a church bombing, and then Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Diane McWhorter wrote the definitive history of that crucial campaign--her book is called “Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the climatic battle of the civil rights revolution." (broadcast originally in 2001.)
Cities throughout America are Democratic, often raising minimum wages and strengthening rent control. However, in states where Republicans hold unchecked power, state governments are blocking cities from acting. Harold Meyerson reports on preemption and “pre-preemption.”Plus: 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, will explain their vision, their strategy, and their recent actions.Also: from the archives, Gary Shteyngart talks about his novel "Super Sad True Love Story" --It’s about a world where the Bipartisan Party rules and where everybody gets their news either from Fox Liberty Prime or Fox Liberty Ultra. And then our hero Lenny meets Eunice. (recorded in July, 2011.)
Minimum wage initiatives on the ballot in battleground states could mobilize potential Democratic voters who are unenthusiastic about Biden. Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage is on the podcast to explain the strategy, and reports on organizing in Arizona, Michigan, and Ohio.Also: 100 American cities and towns have formally called for a cease-fire in Gaza—ranging from Chicago, the biggest, to small towns in Vermont. John Nichols has our report.Plus: 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 will explain; His new book is ‘Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.’ It’s being published in paperback next week.
In the Ohio primary this week, Sherrod Brown got the opponent he wanted - a MAGA car salesman who's never won anything. Harold Meyerson comments.Plus: In the campaign to end American funding for Israel’s war in Gaza, a key front is the fight against AIPAC. This week, more than a hundred prominent American Jews have joined in a statement opposing AIPAC and its efforts to defeat Democratic candidates who have criticized Israeli government policy toward Palestinians. The signers include author Ariel Dorfman, actors Elliott Gould and Wallace Shawn, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s. Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, will explain.Also David Cole, national legal director of the ACLU, will make the case for freedom of speech on campus and against cancel culture, starting from that confrontation between Elise Stefanik and the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn.
Thanks to a referendum passed by Long Beach voters, hotel workers there will now get the highest minimum wage in the nation – Harold Meyerson comments.Next: 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.Plus: From the archives: Katha Pollitt learned to drive at age 51 – she wrote about that experience for The New Yorker; and in 2015, she was played by Patricia Clarkson opposite Ben Kingsley in the film version, Learning to Drive. This interview was first recorded in 2007.
The presidential election began for real this week – and the Supreme Court is once again involved in presidential election politics – helping Trump – Harold Meyerson comments.Also: After Super Tuesday: John Nichols reports on the evidence of weaknesses of both Biden and Trump, as well as some signs of strength, in the wake of voting in primaries in 16 states.Plus: Now is the time to add the right to vote to the constitution – that’s what Richard Hasen says. And, he argues, there are good reasons why Republicans could support that – maybe not this year, but sometime soon. Rick is professor of law and political science at UCLA and author of the new book “A Real Right to Vote.”
An abortion rights amendment to Florida’s Constitution has gotten enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Now, it’s up to the state’s Supreme Court to decide whether people will get to vote on it, potentially transforming the electorate there in November. The Nation’s abortion access correspondent, Amy Littlefield, reports.Plus: Stories from the early days of HIV & AIDS: that’s the focus of a new podcast Called Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows. It's about how the epidemic decimated poor communities of color – and about the people who refused to stay out of sight. WNYC's Kai Wright and The Nation's Lizzy Ratner explain.Also: The blue-blood families that made fortunes in the opium trade: Amitav Ghosh traces the origins of much of the wealth for the 19th century New England elite. His new book is called Smoke and Ashes.
The Supreme Court has decided NOT to challenge rent control – a huge victory for the progressive renters' rights movements across the country. Also, the Supreme Court will leave in place the diversity-oriented admissions plan for Thomas Jefferson High School – Harold Meyerson comments.Next: 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. Peter Dreier has that story.Plus: The latest US moves in Haiti are framed in democratic rhetoric but are deeply anti-democratic in their effect. Amy Wilentz is on the podcast to explain. She’s written two books about Haiti, most recently the award-winning Farewell Fred Voodoo.
The special election this week on Long Island, to replace the disgraced fraud George Santos, resulted in a win for Democrat Tom Suozzi – in "one of the most Republican areas in the United States" – Harold Meyerson reports. Also, discussed: two centennials this week: one of immigration law and, one of "a landmark in the rise of the culture of urban diversity," George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" – the first recording.Plus: Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon is one of our leading progressives, and one of five senators to call for a cease-fire in Gaza; he explains why, and discusses his new book, Filibustered! How to Fix the Broken Senate and Save America.
Trump's immunity defense has been denied by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals; the Republican-controlled House has failed to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; and other GOP failures – Harold Meyerson comments.Also: The case for disqualifying Trump as a candidate, based on the 14th Amendment banning those who have engaged in insurrection from holding public office. That case went before the Supreme Court this week. Princeton historian Sean Wilentz has our analysis. Plus: The Nation’s annual Progressive Honor Roll features movement leaders who provide hope for 2024. John Nichols tells their stories.
Trump's legal and financial crises are deepening, and Nikki Haley isn't quitting - his mental deterioration is becoming more evident, and she is making it a campaign issue. Harold Meyerson comments.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 will report.Plus: Adam Shatz will talk 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.
In the New Hampshire Republican primary, the first in the nation, Trump got 54%, Nikki Haley got 43% – and, 42% of NH Republicans say that if Trump is convicted of a crime, they would not vote for him – Harold Meyerson comments.Also: John Nichols talks about Biden's big win in NH, and Trump's furious victory speech.Plus: Mazie Hirono, Senator from Hawaii: Last week, out of a 100-member chamber, only 11 Senators supported Bernie Sanders' measure that would require Israel to provide a human rights report; Hirono was one of them. In this episode from the archives, she talks about the need for filibuster reform and Supreme Court reform, and about the storming of the capitol on January 6. Her autobiography is "Heart of Fire: An Immigrant Daughter’s Story." (First recorded May, 2021.)
John Nichols reports on Monday’s Republican caucuses in Iowa, and explains why Iowa is the state with the biggest shift from blue to red between Obama in 2008 and Trump in 2020.Also: The new film "American Fiction," starring Jeffrey Wright, takes up the question, do Black writers have to "write Black"? The film is based on the novel "Erasure" by Percival Everett, which is considerably wilder and more uncompromising than the film. John Powers comments—he’s critic at Large on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Plus: 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. (Originally recorded in February, 2023.)
“Trump’s Lawyers Invite Biden to Assassinate Him.” That's the headline at Prospect.org -- Harold Meyerson explains.Plus: Only Joe Biden can stop the war in Gaza: Israel's war in Gaza has been going on now for three months, and the IDF said over the weekend they plan to keep the war going for another year. Amy Wilentz talks about Netanhayu’s use of the war to hold on to power.Also: the lies that protect profit, power and wealth in America: they are documented, and dealt with, in a wonderful new book co-authored by Joan Walsh. It's called Corporate Bullsh*t.
For many, the upcoming presidential election is a source of dread and pessimism. Harold Meyerson talks about sources of hope in 2024 – including Trump's upcoming trial for attempted insurrection and the promise of ongoing progressive political action by America's youth.Also: 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.Plus: Bill Gates is now the 6th 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.”
Our holiday giving list: Katha Pollitt presents her list of groups that need—and deserve—our support: Gaza aid, abortion assistance, and organizing against Trump.Also: On Christmas Day, 1914, after five months of unparalleled industrial-scale slaughter, British and German soldiers stopped fighting and exchanged gifts, sang Christmas carols, and played soccer. It’s a unique event in the history of modern warfare. Adam Hochschild comments – originally recorded on the 100th anniversary in 2014.Plus: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz. He’s the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.
Harold Meyerson comments on the Colorado supreme court's ruling that the constitution prohibits Trump from serving as president because he participated in an insurrection. Also - class struggle in 2023 - the year in review.Plus: Why have some feminists been reluctant even to acknowledge that Hamas members raped Israeli women and girls on Oct. 7? Katha Pollitt comments.Also: "parents rights" failed as a Republican political tactic in the 2023 elections - but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis - she's president of the AFT.And from the archives: Arthur Danto on art in Las Vegas. This segment was recorded in 2000.
The War against Gaza: How we got here, where we need to go: David Myers comments. Also: The left in Israel today.Also: 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 will argue that Biden must not run again.Plus: the story of an immigrant sweatshop worker who became one of the most charismatic radical leaders of the early 20th century. Rose Pastor Stokes has been forgotten, but Adam Hochschild tells her amazing story: his book about her is titled “Rebel Cinderella.”
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There's plenty of shame to go around. First the WH has done a terrible job selling the BBB package and infrastructure bills. The entire cabinet should have been on TV, radio and in local markets promoting the package and the benefits. Where has VP Harris gone? She has proven to be a dud. Then you have Manchin shredding everything, and silent and clownish Sinema offering nothing positive. Then in the House the clueless,inflated egos of the ever immature progressives with the all or nothing posturing leaves this fiasco a display of incompetence and dithering all the more disgraceful and distasteful with complete Republican opposition and their March towards lunacy. We as a country are lacking leadership and sanity.
I can't believe you hesitate to call this even an attempted coup. yep, things will continue as they should but that isn't because there was no attempt, it was that it failed. they had zipties and a gallows. these were only for show?
stupid liberal bullshit