How the Democratic Party Became a Vehicle of Aristocracy
In the second part of a two-part interview, Thomas Frank explores how anti-populism made liberals comfortable with plutocracy.
Dec 04, 2020•42 min
Scheer Intelligence
Scheer Intelligence features thoughtful and provocative conversations with "American Originals" -- people who, through a lifetime of engagement with political issues, offer unique and often surprising perspectives on the day's most important issues.
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Episodes
Benjamin Madley and a California Genocide
Robert Scheer sits down with professor and author Benjamin Madley to talk about a little known part of California's history.
Nov 27, 2020•34 min
Don’t Believe Anything You Were Told About Populism
Thomas Frank examines the history of American populism, and how it was distorted by Democrats and co-opted by Republicans.
Nov 20, 2020•55 min
The Real Reason the Blue Wave Never Materialized
Dennis Kucinich, former Ohio congressman and mayor of Cleveland, weighs in on what the Democratic Party keeps getting wrong.
Nov 13, 2020•49 min
The Only Meaningful Way to Save American Journalism
Publicly-funded media models make a lot of Americans nervous, but Victor Pickard argues it may be the only way to repair our tattered democracy.
Nov 06, 2020•51 min
Tracing America’s Brutal Imperialist History Through Its Military Bases
Political anthropologist David Vine argues that the most visible evidence of the country’s global empire are the thousands of military installations it has around the world.
Oct 30, 2020•46 min
America’s Prized Legal System Only Works for the Rich
Attorney Ronald Goldfarb offers a scathing indictment of American law and lawyers in his new book, The Price of Justice.
Oct 23, 2020•54 min
Big Oil weaponized our judicial system against an attorney and the Indigenous people he represented
The epic battle by Steve Donziger to get Chevron to pay a $9.5 billion judgment he won in 2011 for its “mass industrial poisoning” of Indigenous Amazonian tribes in Ecuador has left him under house arrest for 13 months, disbarred, with a lien on his home, frozen bank accounts, $32 million in legal fees and no way to make a living. The judgment has not yet been paid.
Oct 16, 2020•57 min
Wrestling Back Privacy From the Jaws of Big Tech
James Steyer is taking on Mark Zuckerberg and other tech barons and he wants to empower the rest of us to do the same.
Oct 09, 2020•45 min
The Socialist Lesson Bernie Sanders Left Out of His Message
Rabbi Michael Lerner, a lifelong progressive, talks about his new book and what he found lacking in the Democratic Socialist’s presidential campaign.
Oct 02, 2020•43 min
How Today’s Uprisings Compare to the 1960s Rebellions
The movements of the sixties, which are captured in detail in Mike Davis and Jon Wiener’s new book Set the Night on Fire , are seen as wildly successful. Is it possible Black Lives Matter will be even more significant?
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Trump Is the Sweaty Armpit of Monopoly Capitalism
Journalist David Dayen examines how the greatest danger to our American society doesn’t come from the White House, but from a few obscenely powerful corporations.
Sep 11, 2020•52 min
The Devastating 1918 “Spanish Flu” Was Exported from the United States, But Don’t Call it the Kansas Virus.
“The Great Influenza” author John Barry gave us a warning 16 years ago that is extremely relevant to today’s Covid-19 pandemic: It is always fatal to allow politics to trump science.
Sep 04, 2020•48 min
Attacks on the Post Office Aim to Destroy American Democracy
Communications scholar Mark Lloyd explains how the USPS, which is enshrined in the Constitution, became a political battleground.
Aug 28, 2020•53 min
Something’s Rotten in the Corporate States of America
A new book by Barbara Freese explores eight stories about the unfettered corporate greed that has corrupted modern society and led to an astounding loss of life.
Aug 21, 2020•35 min
Questioning Corporate Media’s Thirst for Scandal in the Age of #MeToo
Journalist JoAnn Wypijewski’s latest book, “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About #MeToo: Essays on Sex, Authority and the Mess of Life” issues a blistering challenge to “scandal media,” which she dismisses as a distorted Cliff Notes version of reality.
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 11 min
How Brooklyn Turned Bernie Sanders Into a Democratic Socialist
In his new book, Theodore Hamm examines the New York figures and policies that inspired Sanders to become a champion of working class Americans.
Aug 07, 2020•45 min
Are Russia and the US Actually Different When It Comes to Meddling in Foreign Elections?
In “Rigged,” historian David Shimer documents both countries attempts to manipulate democracies abroad — and comes to some questionable conclusions
Jul 31, 2020•1 hr 6 min
The Unbearable Violence of Being American
Oliver Stone and Maj. Danny Sjursen frame their nation’s past and present in the context of the imperialist U.S. wars that stole their youth.
Jul 24, 2020•1 hr 13 min
A new book by the cartoonist the cops didn’t let get away
The former L.A. Times cartoonist thought he was protected by freedom of the press until his own newspaper came after him for a blog post about LAPD abuses.
Jul 17, 2020•57 min
The Price of Ignoring the Ferguson Uprising
Throughout the uprisings inspired by the killings of Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray and so many other Black victims, white leaders refused to learn from Black Lives Matter, a group inspired by the police killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, in 2012 and catalyzed by the killing of Michael Brown.
Jul 10, 2020•44 min
The Great Con of American Patriotism
In conversation with Robert Scheer, Ron Kovic and Maj. Danny Sjursen examine their roles in our nation's bloody trajectory since the Vietnam War.
Jul 03, 2020•35 min
For Many Young People, Socialism Is as American as Apple Pie
Bernie Sanders may never make it to the White House, but, just when we need them most, socialists like “Bigger than Bernie” co-author Meagan Day have picked up his torch.
Jun 26, 2020•38 min
The Powerful Past, Present and Future of Black Lives Matter
As BLM protests sweep the globe, the movement’s co-founder Melina Abdullah talks about its roots and her hopes for the coming years.
Jun 19, 2020•44 min
The Cynical Forces Behind America’s Forever Wars
Journalist Patrick Cockburn examines the disastrous inevitability of America’s failures in the Middle East as the region continues to reel from decades of U.S.-sponsored turmoil.
Jun 12, 2020•43 min
Harnessing Humor to Unveil America’s Ugliest Truths
Political comedian Lee Camp wants to dismantle systems of oppression with a molotov cocktail filled with facts and some good old fashioned laughter.
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 9 min
The ‘Mass Murder Program’ Behind America’s Rise to Power
In a new book, journalist Vincent Bevins traces the Cold War massacres in Asia and Latin America that still define global political dynamics today.
May 29, 2020•1 hr 4 min
A Global Look at the Virus That Upended the World
The series “ Decoding Covid-19 ” offers a hopeful account of the international cooperation that has stemmed from the unprecedented crisis.
May 22, 2020•34 min
Big Banks Got the Sweetest Deal From the Covid-19 Bailouts
Banking expert Nomi Prins explains why Congress’ stimulus bill has been a boon for Wall Street and not the small businesses that need it most.
May 15, 2020•48 min
Does Medicare for All Await Us at the End of This Viral Massacre?
Dr. Margaret Flowers predicts how the coronavirus pandemic will impact the ongoing struggle for universal health care in the U.S.
May 08, 2020•45 min
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