On this episode of American Prestige: Iran attacks targets in Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan (1:01); U.S. strikes on Ansar Allah (Houthi) targets fail to deter attacks on shipping (10:17); an Israel-Palestine update (12:55) including a Qatari medicine deal (15:26) and Netanyahu’s take on a Palestinian state (17:41); Taiwan’s presidential election (22:18); Kim of the DPRK (North Korea) lashes out at the South (25:16); tensions continue to escalate between Somalia and Ethiopia (27:06); a Ukraine War up...
Jan 19, 2024•39 min
On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Timnit Gebru to discuss the past year in AI hype, how AI companies have shaped regulation, and tech’s relationship to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 1 min
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...
Jan 17, 2024•34 min
On this episode of American Prestige, John Gray, emeritus professor of European thought at the London School of Economics, joins Danny for a lively chat about liberalism, the powers that be, and what the duo calls “the bads”. Centering John’s recent book The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism , this wide-ranging discussion tries to make sense of the post-Cold War world, assess the threats posed by political and environmental factors, and reckon with what John sees as the extreme default c...
Jan 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Recorded Monday, January 15, 2024: Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior foreign affairs reporter at HuffPost , returns to the American Prestige podcast to discuss his recent pieces covering the post-Gaza plans of top White House official Brett McGurk and the imminent departure of the White House’s special Middle East envoy on humanitarian issues . Then, for American Prestige subscribers, the group gets into the NSC’s attempts to discredit Akbar’s reporting, the media backlash, how this compares to treatme...
Jan 16, 2024•11 min
On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek come off the hottest year on record with the new year’s cold, hard facts. This week, South Africa brings a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) (2:39) while Antony Blinken tours the region (8:48); Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani is looking to request the withdrawal of U.S. forces (19:09); the Israel-Hizbollah border battles continue to escalate (22:23); the U.S. and U.K. launch strikes on Yemen (25:31); r...
Jan 12, 2024•47 min
On this episode of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast, Paris Marx is joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss the mass protests of the 2010s, the role that social and traditional media played in them, and why the horizontalism of those movements ultimately didn’t work. Vincent Bevins is a longtime foreign correspondent who has worked for the Washington Post , Financial Times , and LA Times . He’s the author of The Jakarta Method and If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution . Adverti...
Jan 11, 2024•57 min
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. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/p...
Jan 10, 2024•37 min
On this episode of American Prestige , an exploration of Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon’s joint pursuit of war in Southeast Asia during the '60s and '70s. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Jan 09, 2024•57 min
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 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 2...
Jan 03, 2024•35 min
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: 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. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Ou...
Dec 27, 2023•35 min
Why have American feminist groups been slow to condemn rapes of Israeli women and girls by Hamas? that’s the question posed by Katha Pollitt, The Nation's award-winning columnist. Also: They call it “the parents’ rights movement.” we call it a culture war against public education. It failed as a Republican election strategy in 2023, but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis – she’s president of the AFT. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https...
Dec 20, 2023•24 min
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 ...
Dec 13, 2023•37 min
On this episode of The Time of Monsters , I talked to Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American analyst who heads the Palestine/Israel Program at the Arab Center in Washington, DC. He offered an informed perspective on the ideological origins of the bear hug strategy and how it has manifestly failed in its stated goal of trying to restrain Israel from excessive violence. We also discuss the way Biden’s strategy is bad for American national interest and hurts Biden’s re-election chances. We also ta...
Dec 10, 2023•33 min
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...
Dec 06, 2023•37 min
Matt Duss and Jeet Heer on moving on beyond war. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Dec 03, 2023•42 min
In Part 6 of our series, Basketball Butterfly Effect, Arya Shirazi joins the show again to discuss the 2009 NBA draft and the Knicks coming close to getting Davidson sharpshooter Steph Curry, the most revolutionary player of his generation. You don’t want to miss this episode! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Dec 01, 2023•59 min
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. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Nov 29, 2023•31 min
What comes after Israel’s war on Hamas? The Israeli government seems incapable of thinking about that. Now, the ideas of Israel’s left-wing, pro-peace camp are needed more than ever. Dahlia Scheindlin, a political scientist based in Tel Aviv, is on the podcast to explain. Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: “California has always been a place to write home about.” David Kipen reads letters and diary entries from Charles Mingus, Vita Sackville-West, Marilyn Monroe, Susan Sontag, Thomas Py...
Nov 22, 2023•43 min
On Wednesday, Alex Sammon reported in Slate that “one of the biggest, bitterest, and most expensive political battles of the 2024 election cycle has emerged: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC], one of the most powerful, best-funded influence operations in Washington, is planning to go all out to knock the famed “Squad”—the small group of highly visible and popular progressive legislators of color, most of them women—out of office.” AIPAC is planning on spending more than $100 m...
Nov 19, 2023•28 min
For this week’s Start Making Sense podcast we have two archival segments about Palestinians; neither is about the current war. In 2016, Rachel Kushner visited Shuafat, the only Palestinian refugee camp inside Jerusalem. She went alongside a community organizer as he tried to solve massive problems. Her report, published originally in the New York Times Magazine , appears in her 2021 book of nonfiction, The Hard Crowd . Also on this episode, Adam Shatz talks about Edward Said, the leading voice o...
Nov 15, 2023•45 min
On this episode of the Edge of Sports podcast, it's Part 5 of our series, Basketball Butterfly Effect, Arya Shirazi joins the show again to discuss the 1993 NBA draft and a crucial trade that takes place that changes the course of 90s basketball. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Nov 13, 2023•38 min
On this episode of the Time of Monsters podcast, Chris Lehmann and Jeet Heer discuss Pentecostal beliefs about the Middle East, the Cold War, Trumpism, the prosperity gospel and the Americanization of the faith. The news from the Middle East remains bleak, with the Israeli response to the Hamas massacre leading to more than 10,000 deaths, mainly of civilians. Most people regard the unfolding news with horror, but there is a subset of people who are not hiding the fact they are thrilled. A subset...
Nov 12, 2023•32 min
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 ad...
Nov 08, 2023•40 min
Inclusion for trans athletes in sports has become a flashpoint in the culture war that extends from schools to international competitions. Katie Barnes joins Edge of Sports to discuss their new book, Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates , which offers one of the most comprehensive views yet on how the struggle for inclusion in the realm of sports has much wider social and political consequences. We also have Choice Words about why the public financing of stadiums is little more than co...
Nov 06, 2023•51 min
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 hi...
Nov 05, 2023•58 min
A cease-fire in Gaza is only the beginning of what Israel and the Palestinians need. D.D. Guttenplan, The Nation ’s editor, argues that “both peoples will have to find a way to share the land—in peace, yes, but also with justice.” Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: victory for the United Auto Workers in their strike against the big three automakers, GM, Ford, and Stellantis. Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of The American Prospect , explains what’s in the new contract, and what it took...
Nov 01, 2023•38 min
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 B...
Oct 25, 2023•26 min
This week on the Edge of Sports podcast, we speak to Jean Jacques Taylor, author of the new book, Coach Prime . With near total access to Deion Sanders, Taylor explains what makes Deion Deion. Also on this episode, we speak to best selling author Adam Mansbach about his incredible book, The Golem of Brooklyn . We have some Choice Words for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the NAIA. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr 18 min
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 neglig...
Oct 22, 2023•37 min
