Starting in 2016, U.S. diplomats and spies began reporting a wide range of mysterious and debilitating medical symptoms, first in Cuba and then around the world. Doctors who initially treated patients couldn’t come up with a diagnosis and some just called it “The Thing.” Patients said they felt like they were hit by an invisible, directed pressure while stationed on government property, or sometimes standing in their own homes or hotel rooms. The intense health effects, which some have referred ...
Feb 21, 2023•54 min
“I went because they didn’t want me there,” says Minnijean Brown-Trickey, our guest this week. It’s been more than 60 years since she made history. At 16-years-old, she and eight other black students found an angry mob and the national guard blocking their entry to Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas. Backed by 1,200 soldiers, they eventually made it inside for their first full day of class. White students threw hot food at them, called them names and even sprayed some of them with acid....
Feb 14, 2023•54 min
You’ve probably encountered an e-bike in some form or another. Maybe you’ve ridden one. Perhaps one has buzzed passed you on the street, in a bike lane, or on the sidewalk. We’ve seen your requests and we’re glad to finally dedicate an entire conversation to this topic. What’s fueling the e-bike revolution? Is it just a short-lived fad? E-bikes are selling more quickly than cars, according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association, and our guest this week points out that e-bikes aren’t going any...
Feb 07, 2023•57 min
You’ve probably heard about what Florida governor Ron DeSantis is up to. One of the most controversial things he’s done is sign the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the “Stop W.O.K.E Act,” short for Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees. The law, among many things, prohibits teaching certain concepts related to race. Although there’s currently an injunction against the law, its implementation had far-reaching consequences for students and professors alike. Jonathan Cox is an assistant socio...
Jan 31, 2023•45 min
Last year's Super Bowl featured a who's who of celebrities hawking cryptocurrency and crypto platforms like FTX. In retrospect that looks like the boom before the bust. This year, crypto prices have tumbled and one of the most valued exchanges, FTX, collapsed in a cloud of alleged fraud and federal indictments. So is it all a scam? A pyramid scheme? Will crypto endure? Our guest this week thinks it will, but says accused fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried has shown the world just how risky the market c...
Jan 24, 2023•59 min
Hi #WITHpod listeners! We have a special bonus episode for you. In the “National Day of Racial Healing: An MSNBC Town Hall,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Joy Reid and Trymaine Lee talk with activists, journalists, artists and experts to explore the harm racism has caused in our society, and to consider how we might heal from it. The program initially aired on MSNBC and was streamed on Peacock the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Day. The programming was recorded in New Orleans and was sponsored by the W...
Jan 21, 2023•54 min
The history of lotteries spans over four millennia. The modern version of them arose out of a need for a form of more state funding that wouldn’t raise taxes. Jackpots have reached record levels in the past few years. And "Americans now spend more on lottery tickets every year than on cigarettes, coffee or smartphones," writes historian and author Jonathan Cohen. Cohen is author of “For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America,” a comprehensive history of America’s lottery obsessi...
Jan 17, 2023•54 min
Join as you help us celebrate our 250th #WITHpod! In our recent Mailbag episode, we asked you all to send over clips sharing why you listen to WITHpod, where you listen and or what’s your favorite ep. We loved hearing all of your submissions. Here’s a compilation that we put together for our special milestone. Thank you and cheers!
Jan 10, 2023•6 min
The language that is used to talk about immigrants in America is something that really bothers Chris. A common and unproductive trope that’s heard in media is “a flood of immigrants to the border.” At the same time, there is a growing dependance at the foundational level on the labor of immigrants in the U.S. As natural disasters are happening with increasing frequency and intensity, communities are relying more and more on immigrant laborers. Saket Soni is director of Resilience Force, a nation...
Jan 10, 2023•55 min
“My argument is because [right wing authoritarianism] is the central struggle of the day, we need the most effective, principled and impactful progressive organizations that are seeking to challenge that,” says Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party. Mitchell is also an activist and co-founder of Blackbird, an organization that has provided infrastructure support for the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups around the country. The social movement strategist wro...
Jan 03, 2023•1 hr 3 min
The pandemic hasn’t raged within China the way it has in the rest of the world over the past few years. However, that’s beginning to change. Following a wave of protests, Chinese leadership officially rolled back some of the country’s most stringent Covid restrictions. The end of “zero Covid” policies, combined with an already strained medical system, along with low vaccination and immunity levels, could lead to disastrous public health and economic consequences. China could see over a million d...
Dec 27, 2022•1 hr
We're thrilled to publish our second live WITHpod mailbag, which was originally hosted on Twitter Spaces earlier this month. Join as Chris and producer Doni Holloway go through your questions, discuss feedback you’ve sent and share pod updates. You’re also in for a special treat as Brendan O’Melia, who has been with WITHpod since it started, joins the conversation!
Dec 20, 2022•56 min
Gender norms, particularly related to child care, have shifted dramatically over the past few decades. Journalist Tim Lee, whose wife is a doctor and often has to work nights, weekends and unpredictable hours, made the decision to “lean out” of his career to focus more on child care. As their family grew, it became increasingly clear that Lee couldn’t spend off hours doing the in-depth research and reporting that he used to do. He now writes for “Full Stack Economics,” a Substack that allows him...
Dec 13, 2022•53 min
It’s been 174 years since Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote “The Communist Manifesto.” How is it still relevant today and what makes it such a vital guide to understanding present-day struggles? That’s the subject of China Mieville’s latest work, “A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto.” Miéville, a self-proclaimed Marxist and socialist, is a New York Times-bestselling author of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent book offers an analysis of what arguably remains the modern world...
Dec 06, 2022•52 min
Coming out of Thanksgiving week, we thought it was a good time to reshare our first WITHpod episode all about fitness. Fitness guru, writer and self-described “Swole Woman” Casey Johnston has written, “a lot of health content is focused on blowing smoke up you’re a-- about jade eggs and vitamins and toxin-dispersing cellulite-curing silver-thread leggings.” But why? What makes lifting and working out seem so complicated? We’re constantly bombarded with get-fit-quick marketing perpetuated by “bro...
Nov 29, 2022•53 min
As the war intensifies in Ukraine, we thought it was time to revisit what’s going on there. Although the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson was recently liberated, the battle for freedom continues in other regions. Harry Rowe, known as Macer Gifford, is a British volunteer soldier fighting in Ukraine. Gifford assumed the pseudonym Macer Gifford after needing a new identify while fighting in Syria from 2015 to 2017. The former currency trader arrived on the ground in Ukraine 10 days before the wa...
Nov 22, 2022•52 min
What in the heck is going on at Twitter since Elon Musk took over? From growing concerns about disinformation on the social network, to changes to how once coveted blue check marks are granted, there’s a lot to unpack. We couldn’t think of a better person to help make sense of it all than Kara Swisher, who has interviewed Musk numerous times and has covered tech for decades. Swisher is also host of the podcasts “On with Kara Swisher, “Pivot,” and is co-founder of the technology website Recode. S...
Nov 15, 2022•57 min
Lots of results continue coming in from the 2022 midterms. Control of the House and the Senate is still undecided and the outcome will come down to a handful of tight races. As we still await results, WITHpod is sharing a bonus behind the scenes episode as Chris Hayes and MSNBC political insiders break down the elections. Note that this special originally streamed on Peacock.
Nov 10, 2022•55 min
Thousands of people continue to rally on the streets of Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, who was detained for not wearing her hijab “properly.” Sussan Tahmasebi is director of FEMENA, an organization that promotes gender equality and supports women human rights defenders, their organizations and feminist movements in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia regions. Tahmasebi has over 20 years of experience in promoting women's rights, peace and security at the...
Nov 08, 2022•56 min
To understand the partisanship and bitterness of American politics today, we have to consider what happened in 1994, points out Steve Kornacki, National Political Correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. That’s the story he tells in a new six-part original podcast series called “The Revolution,” all about how Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich ushered in a wave of confrontation and conservatism. Lucky for us, Kornacki took some time away from the Big Board to walk through the history and distinct st...
Nov 01, 2022•54 min
Oct 25, 2022•52 min
Throughout history, the judicial system has employed many more men than women. “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America” tells the story of heroic women in law who, in the face of Trumpism and MAGA movements, have stepped up to fight injustice. Part biography and part analysis, the book, written by author, journalist and podcast host Dahlia Lithwick, profiles a variety of women lawyers, judges, and activists who have stood up against racism, sexism, and xenophobia. She joins...
Oct 18, 2022•58 min
What more can we say? Rachel Maddow is incredible. Luckily for us, her decision to dial back from the nightly cable news grind has allowed her to create a work in new media. One of her new projects is “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra,” a podcast all about the history of pre-World-War-two American fascism, and those who worked to stop it. The historical, narrative style pod could hardly be more relevant, as the plot revolves around a sedition trial quite similar to the ongoing Oath Keepers one. As ...
Oct 11, 2022•52 min
Seth Rich was a young DNC staffer in Washington, DC who was tragically murdered early one morning in 2016. Our WITHpod guest this week described him as smart, ambitious, telegenic and someone who might run a presidential campaign someday. In the absence of an arrest, questions remain about who killed Rich. Unfounded theories about the motives for his murder continue to circulate on social media, including ones that enmeshed the Clintons and other high-profile figures. The search for answers, and...
Oct 04, 2022•58 min
With less than two months to the midterms, a lot is at stake for the future of American democracy. Understanding the political mood of the country is something that’s been on Chris’ mind. The past few years have been filled with immense disruption, social reckoning and intense political debate. At the same time, conservative activists have gone out of their way to pass laws banning the teaching of critical race theory. There’s a lot going on. Unpacking everything that’s been happening, and how p...
Sep 27, 2022•48 min
Over the past few years, we’ve seen enormous shifts in the ideological and intellectual foundations of government policy. Trillions of dollars have been allocated through programs including the Infrastructure Bill, the CHIPS Act, and the American Rescue Plan. At the same time, we’re seeing inflation at levels unseen since the late 70s. Have we arrived in a new economic era? For over three decades, the Roosevelt Institute has fought to “develop progressive ideas and bold leadership in the service...
Sep 20, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 1
The United States hasn’t seen inflation like current levels since the late 1970s. The pandemic prompted unusually high levels of fiscal stimulus, including the rollout of relief through programs like the American Rescue Plan, which some have blamed for inflation. But our guest this week shares that increased economic relief isn’t really the biggest contributing factor leading to inflation. Author Matthew Klein points out that supply chain disruptions created by the COVID crisis, along with the w...
Sep 13, 2022•58 min
Which school a child attends and with who has an enormous effect on their life trajectory. For decades, the question of which kids get access to which schools has been a central point of conflict in American democratic politics. The de-segregation efforts after Brown have, in the last few decades largely reversed and schools are growing more and more racially segregated. Making the intentional choice to swim against this tide is the subject of “Learning in Public: Lessons for a Racially Divided ...
Sep 06, 2022•53 min
The pandemic has transformed the way work is done. For many, gone are the days of dressing up, commuting to an office, and working in-person five days a week. But with the broad availability of vaccines and boosters, as well as relaxed COVID guidelines, employers are increasingly encouraging employees to return to the office. Yet, not everyone wants to go back to the way things were. 87% of workers who have the chance to work flexibly take it, according to the American Opportunity Survey, conduc...
Aug 30, 2022•59 min
The COVID pandemic has been going on for more than two years. Will it ever end? It’s a question that doesn’t have a straightforward answer, as much as we all desperately want one. Dr. Ellie Murray is an epidemiology assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health. She also runs the Murray Causal Decision Lab and co-hosts the “Casual Inference” podcast in partnership with the American Journal of Epidemiology. Murray joins WITHpod to discuss the importance of smart public heal...
Aug 23, 2022•1 hr
