Host Ruben Navarrette, the son of a retired cop who was on the job for 37 years, bemoans the fact that so many police officers are quitting and hanging up their badges amid the low morale in the profession following the murder of George Floyd.
Jul 21, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette delves into the controversy at ESPN, over remarks by host Rachel Nichols who griped about the fact that her colleague, Maria Taylor, got a hosting gig she didn’t. Nichols is White, Taylor is Black. And yet, there is no racism here.
Jul 19, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette interviews his old friend, and former LA radio co-host, Tavis Smiley about his career, his canceling, his comeback, and his take on the state of Black Americans in the post-George Floyd era. Guest: Tavis Smiley, TV/Radio Host/Author & Media Entrepreneur
Jul 18, 2021•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette explains — in blunt and clear language — exactly what Republicans do wrong when they talk about immigration, and why they can’t help themselves from screwing this up.
Jul 14, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette reflects on President Biden’s solution to the worker shortage: “Pay them more” and suggests the real solution is not monetary but to treat workers as equals deserving of respect and dignity.
Jul 12, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette interviews Alberto Pando, his friend and fellow lifelong journalist — and a media executive who has worked in news, sports and scripted entertainment over the last three decades — about the lack of public trust in the modern media. Guest: Alberto Pando, Journalist & Media Executive
Jul 10, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette explores the interesting phenomenon of a Democratic administration (Biden/Harris) that got 2/3 of the Latino vote — and yet, still, seems to not know the first thing about Latinos.
Jul 07, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette reflects on what America means to him and his family, at a time when this country appears to be stuck somewhere between lockdown and freedom.
Jul 06, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette visits with his friend — and compadre -- Enrique Morones, who was at the heart of the public protests and pressure campaign over the recent tortilla tossing incident that led the Coronado High School basketball team to be stripped this week of their championship title. Guest: Enrique Morones, human rights activist, immigrant advocate, and founder/executive director of the organization "Gente Unida."
Jul 06, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette applauds two members of the U.S. Senate who refuse to go along with their Democratic colleagues just to get along: Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. They’re not the problem. They’re the solution.
Jun 30, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette looks at the so-called “tortilla toss” near San Diego, where White fans and high school basketball players tossed tortillas at the players of an opposing team who just happened to be Latino. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.
Jun 29, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette visits with Kevin Faulconer about the former San Diego mayor’s bid to become the first Republican governor of California in 15 years, and only the second one in the last 23 years.
Jun 26, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette examines whether police reform could be in the cards as more cities and communities begin to “reimagine” what policing in America could look like if it had a much-needed overhaul.
Jun 23, 2021•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette roasts Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for creating his own immigration policy and build a border wall, in violation of both the Constitution and Republican rhetoric about how states can’t go rogue and sidestep the federal government.
Jun 22, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette interviews his friend John Manzella, a Buffalo NY-based columnist, author, and expert on U.S. trade policy about this week’s NATO meeting in Brussel’s and the decision to end a trade war in the West — to focus on the East. Guest: John Manzella, columnist, author, and expert on U.S. trade policy
Jun 19, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette returns to the timely and controversial subject of the current worker shortage and explores the reasons for it beyond low wages and higher-than-usual unemployment benefits.
Jun 16, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette examines the bizarre case of a North Carolina high school student who decided to celebrate his ethnic heritage by wearing the Mexican flag on his high school graduation gown and was denied his diploma because of it.
Jun 14, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette interviews San Diego-based journalist Jean Guerrero about her recent piece in the LA Times about Vice President Kamala Harris’ ill-fated trip south of the border, and the turmoil it caused.
Jun 13, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette looks at the so-called “Democracy Reform” movement, which has been taken up by both Republicans who want to stop their ideological enemies from voting, and Democrats who are hell-bent on stopping Republicans.
Jun 09, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette takes a critical look at his own profession in light of the scandal/non-scandal involving CNN’s Chris Cuomo advising his brother, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, about how to get out of a scape of his own. But that’s just the beginning.
Jun 07, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Guest: Laura Gomez, Author and UCLA Professor of Law Host Ruben Navarrette welcomes back his friend, and former college classmate, UCLA Law Professor Laura Gomez to discuss one of her specialties which also happens to be the latest boogeyman for white male conservatives: critical race theory.
Jun 05, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette explores America’s blind spot with Latinos (aka “The other non-white meat”) who — according to a new survey — are less like African-Americans than they are the Italian and Irish immigrants of 100 years ago.
Jun 02, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette speaks with his friend Chris Valadez, CEO of The Grower-Shipper Association of Central California about a new vaccination project aimed at farmworkers and a new California drought as well as old challenges over labor and trade as farming plows through the 21st Century.
May 28, 2021•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette discusses how mega-podcaster Joe Rogan — a straight white male who recently signed a $100M deal with Spotify — believes that straight white men are being oppressed, canceled, and silenced. Seriously.
May 26, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette reflects on his own visit to Israel in 2012 and offers his analysis on what’s causing the latest round of Middle East violence — and the one before that. Hint: It’s not land, politics or religion. It’s hate, bigotry, and revenge.
May 25, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Topic: “California Politics: Where the Pacific Meets the Crazy” Guest: Arnold Torres Host Ruben Navarrette interviews his longtime friend and foil, Sacramento-based policy analyst and political consultant Arnold Torres about the strange happenings in California politics: including the attempted recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom and whether a Latino Democrat couldn’t be the party’s best chance of keeping the governor’s mansion.
May 22, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette delves into the hilarious episode of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being harassed and harangued by the GOP’s version of AOC: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently chased the Democratic congresswoman through the halls of Congress demanding that she debate her. This sounds familiar. AOC has engaged in her share of theatrics. This is justice.
May 19, 2021•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette unpacks the recent criticism of “woke-ism” by some liberal Democrats — some White liberal Democrats — who fear that it is driving voters away from the Democratic Party. Latinos aren’t fans of the woke movement because it runs afoul of freedom and patriotism. Meanwhile, the GOP gets it wrong by playing the victim against the woke; it has little to worry about.
May 19, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette interviews his friend, Todd Bensman -- an ex-journalist and now senior fellow at the Washington DC-based anti-immigrant group The Center for Immigration Studies -- about the refugee border crisis and his new book on how Islamic radicals infiltrate the U.S.-Mexico border. Guest: Todd Bensman, Author of “America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration” and Texas-based Senior Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies....
May 14, 2021•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Host Ruben Navarrette debunks the rumored demise of the Golden State, which is still home to 40 million people, controls 10% of the U.S. economy, and holds 20% of the electoral votes necessary to elect the president of the United States. California is the state of second chances, and those never go out of style.
May 13, 2021•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast