Episode 92 Preview: L'Affaire Bretbug
Listen to Ryan's petty rant about how Bret Stephens has the easiest job on the planet, but can't even enjoy it. Subscribe here to hear the full episode!
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Left Anchor
Philosophy, politics, and the left.
Episodes
Episode 91 - Interview with John Thornton Jr., Socialist Southern Pastor
We've got a gen-u-ine lefty preacher, Rev. John Thornton Jr., on the podcast to talk about what it's like participating in organized leftist Christianity in 2019. We discuss " The Class Struggle and Christian Love ," by Herbert McCabe, plus two of John's articles on the failure of "compassionate conservatism" and why there has so far been no appearance of a serious religious left ....
Episode 90 Preview: The Bernie-Warren Criminal Justice Reform Agenda
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Episode 89 - Brian Fallon on Stomping out BigLaw Corruption
Today former press secretary for Hillary Clinton and spokesman for Chuck Schumer Brian Fallon jumps into the Left Anchor lion's den to advocate for his proposal for all 2020 Dem candidates to promise the following: "[no] more corporate lawyers on the federal bench during the next Democratic administration." We discuss the plague of corporate lawyer logrolling, how Brian came to believe in the need for stark reform to the Democratic Party (including breaking up its comfortable consultant monopoly...
Episode 88 - Chris Hooks on the The Texas Legislature Shitshow
Something is happening in the Texas legislature's Republican delegation ... but what it is ain't exactly clear. We bring on Chris Hooks to talk about his Texas Monthly article explaining how the state's GOP Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen punched himself directly in the dick through the medium of a loony right-wing crank, and how that bodes for the political future of Texas.
Episode 87 UNLOCKED - Adam Gaffney on Medicare for All
Adam Gaffney is the president of Physicians for a National Health Program and a doctor at the Harvard Medical School. He talks to us about the prospects for Medicare for All, whether moderate Democrats are serious about reform, and the best way to cut down America's ludicrously high health care costs.
Episode 86 - Atossa Araxia Abrahamian on the Arctic's Open Borders Island
Svalbard is a huge island about halfway between the north coast of Norway and the North Pole, which has the unusual characteristic of being accessible to anyone in the world without a visa (with some exceptions). Atossa Araxia Abrahamian joins us to talk about her trip there for an article in The Nation , as well as her book The Cosmopolites . The article in The Intercept about the late Jimmy Aldaoud can be found here ....
Episode 84 - Being a Socialist Judge with Franklin Bynum and Bryan LaVergne
Harris County (home of Houston, Texas) recently entered into a consent decree to overhaul the cash bail process in its courts -- which among other things makes it much harder to lock up poor people for minor offenses. Famed Judge of the Harris County Criminal Court No. 8 Franklin Bynum joins us for the second time , together with his friend, adviser, and fellow organizer Bryan LaVergne , to tell us what it all means and what being a judge is like after 6 months on the bench. Watch Franklin give ...
Episode 83 Preview: Rob Larson on BS Economics
In this excerpt , we've got Professor Rob Larson on the podcast to talk about his new book Capitalism vs. Freedom: The Toll Road to Serfdom. Subscribe now to hear all bonus episodes!
Episode 82 - The Liar Josh Hawley
This time we have some actual breaking news on the podcast! After discussing the Pelosi/Squad dispute ( TNR article here ) and the Mueller testimony today ( NR article here ), we turn to Senator Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) speech at the National Conservative Conference a few days ago. We discuss the deeply anti-Semitic overtones of singling out 3 Jewish academics (out of 4 mentioned) to blame for "cosmopolitan elites" who despise patriotism, have no national roots or identity, and sell out the working...
UNLOCKED: (Episode 58): Ilhan Omar and the Patriotism Question
For the free episode this week, we are UNLOCKING a bonus episode from back in April on Ilhan Omar and Patriotism. We are doing this for unfortunately timely reasons, in light of Trump's bigoted, xenophobic attacks that then were amplified by a chanting crowd at his rally soon thereafter. In this discussion from the bonus episode archives, we discuss the ongoing conservative hate campaign against Ilhan Omar, and then turn to the question of patriotism -- is there anything worth salvaging in the c...
Episode 80 Preview: Chris Arnade on American Poverty, Part II
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Episode 79 - Chris Arnade on American Poverty
This time we've got Jeff Spross filling in as guest host to chat with Chris Arnade , author of Dignity , a Studs Terkel-style ethnography of American poverty. We talk about what inspired him to leave Wall Street and start writing about poverty, the varied characteristics of broke Americans, and the real problem with the top 20 percent (hint: it's not their incomes, but their politics). The interview went long, so we'll be breaking it into two episodes. Stay tuned for part II tomorrow! Note: Ryan...
Episode 78 preview - Robert Manduca on 1940s Business Propaganda
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Episode 77 - David Sessions on Milquetoast Liberalism
This time we've got David Sessions on to talk about the extraordinarily weak tea contained in Adam Gopnik's new book A Thousand Small Sanities . Are liberals responsible for all the good things that have happened in the last 300 years, or is penny-ante moderation the appropriate response to all problems? Tune in to find out! (Read David's review of Gopnik here .)...
Episode 76 UNLOCKED - Maximillian Alvarez on the Politics of Higher Ed
Max Alvarez joins us again to talk about his experience navigating the treacherous waters of higher education this time. We discuss how he came to end up in graduate school, how the logic of markets has penetrated the university, and the political function thereof. Find some of his writing on this here , here , or here ....
Episode 75 - Carl Beijer on the Global Green New Deal
For once we've got a timely episode! Today we're talking with Carl Beijer , whose People's Policy Project paper on the international financing of climate change policy came out today. Tackling this problem is going to require an eye-watering quantity of international subsidies, and it's worth thinking about how that might happen.
Episode 74 Preview - The Neocons
Here we discuss a section of Jeane Kirkpatrick's famous essay on why America should support right-wing dictatorships. Subscribe now to hear the full episode!
Episode 73 - Greg Grandin on the American Frontier
This time we've got historian Greg Grandin on to talk about his new book The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America , about the history of the American frontier, how it has functioned politically over the years, and how Trump is drawing on that legacy today. (Also listen for an interlude about whether it was appropriate for Bernie Sanders to oppose Reagan's death squad policy in Central America.)...
Episode 72 - Elizabeth Warren Policypalooza Preview
In this excerpt we talk about some strengths and blind spots in Warren's foreign policy ideas. Subscribe here to hear the full episode!
Episode 71 - Astra Taylor on Democracy
We bring on Astra Taylor to talk about her twinned book and documentary on democracy ( What Is Democracy and Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone ). We discuss the theory and practice of self-government, how she developed her film and book, and what lessons she learned in the process.
Episode 70 Preview - Karl vs. Karl
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Episode 69 - Natasha Lennard on Violence and Anti-Fascism
Did you know Vidal Sassoon was a committed anti-fascist who brawled with Oswald Mosley's followers after the Second World War? Today we learn that and more from Natasha Lennard , author of the recent essay collection Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life . We talk about the psychological and economic roots of fascism, the role of violence in defeating it, and how society might be changed to allow people to live better lives....
Episode 68 Preview - EU Elections and Politico's (((Bernie Sanders))) Article
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Episode 67 - Bernie Policypalooza
Today we take a partial look at Bernie's policy platform -- his anti-usury bill, his agriculture policy, his ideas to desegregate education, Medicare for all, his plan to fix Puerto Rico, and more!
Episode 66 Preview: Jeff Spross on the Job Guarantee
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Episode 65 - Jeff Spross on MMT
We've got all-time champion returning guest Jeff Spross on to talk about Modern Monetary Theory -- what does it say, what are its implications, and does it provide better policy guidance than other theoretical economic frameworks? Tune in to find out!
Episode 63 - Corey Robin on Freedom and Clarence Thomas
This time we've got Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind and professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center, on to talk about freedom and his excellent upcoming book The Enigma of Clarence Thomas ( pre-order now !). We talk about how most workers experience a severe lack of freedom in the workplace , and then move on to discuss Clarence Thomas's history and peculiar brand of black nationalism....
Episode 61 - Interview with Manu Saadia ( @trekonomics) on Macron and the Yellow Vests
This time we've got a real live Frenchman on the pod! Manu Saadia , author of the book Trekonomics , comes on to discuss two scholarly analyses of the Yellow Vests protests, their complicated class and racial politics, and how Emmanuel Macron's presidency is playing out . Is he the Mayor Pete of France? Listen to find out!...
Episode 59 - Interview with @Econ_Marshall on Elizabeth Warren's Free College Proposal
This time we bring on economist Marshall Steinbaum to talk about his article praising Elizabeth Warren's free college/student debt cancellation proposal, plus his previous articles discussing ending segregation in higher education, and a broader theory of why college should be considered a public good, not a method of building up "human capital." Enjoy!...