Stay ConnectedThe news is stressful. Talking about it doesn’t have to be. Join The Guardian’s Kai Wright and Carter Sherman for conversations with the best journalists and biggest thinkers. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday
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The vast majority of Americans say they are struggling to pay for gas and groceries, and are cutting back on luxuries. But what or who is actually behind these price rises? We asked you to tell us what's gotten too expensive in your own life. Now, Kai Wright and Carter Sherman enlist Guardian columnist and former labor secretary Robert Reich to explain why you’re feeling the pinch. From breaking down the market factors behind the cost of a $16 cheesesteak, to explaining why AI is playing into the price of a Nintendo Switch 2, Reich reveals who you should point the finger at in this economy. Additional music by Epidemic Sound
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As the midterms approach, Donald Trumpis continuing to make strongman moves: banning reporters from the White House; trying to remake Washington DC’s architecture in his name; putting "Dear leader"-style videos on television. But historian Timothy Snyder tells Kai Wright that what this really is, is a sign of weakness. And even as the Democrats seemed poised to win the midterms, Snyder argues that the Democrats need to take bold, decisive action if they do win. They have to investigate cases of obvious personal corruption among the people surrounding Trump and try everything they can to get money out of politics. Snyder is the author of On Tyranny and one of the first scholars to warn that the Trump movement presented a threat that looked like fascism.
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The biggest question in US politics may be whether Democrats can ever win in the south. In this year’s midterms, Georgia has once again emerged as a bellwether. The state has shifted from deep red to purple for the last several election cycles and remains a frontline state in the battle over voting rights. In a recent Stateside with Kai and Carter live event in collaboration On Air Presents, hosts Kai Wright and Carter Sherman were joined by Guardian contributing writer Charles Blow and political reporter Shrai Popat for a lively conversation about everything at stake in Georgia – including why Jon Ossoff needs Keisha Lance Bottoms to win the governor’s race if he hopes to run for president in 2028, what Donald Trump might do to intervene in the election, and how any voter suppression moves could backfire in the south.
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The internet is on fire with demands for justice for Jane Doe, the anonymous woman who alleges she was gang-raped at a Cornell fraternity house in 2024. Doe has filed a civil lawsuit, and law enforcement has reopened her case – but did Cornell fumble its Title IX investigation into her case? Title IX is a federal civil rights law that is supposed to protect against sexual discrimination in schools, including protecting young people against sexual assault and harassment. But in practice, it rarely works. Host Carter Sherman, a longtime sexual violence reporter, speaks with civil rights lawyer and Title IX expert Alexandra Brodsky about how the Trump administration has spent the last decade warping Title IX – and why #metoo never really made its way onto college campuses. If the law is broken, what can be done to fix it?
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
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Earlier this year, the ACLU filed more than 50 legal claims across 17 states on behalf of people harmed by federal immigration agents. One of them is Norma Bowe. Norma is a nurse and grandmother who was working at her mobile medical clinic outside the Delaney Hall immigration center when protests broke out there in May. An ICE officer flung her to the ground while she was still wearing her stethoscope. In today’s episode Kai Wright speaks to Norma about why she is fighting back, and why her work continues to be vital for family members of people stuck in immigration detention.
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After more than a year of legal limbo, Mahmoud Khalil is preparing to ask the US supreme court to hear his deportation case – and if they take it up, the outcome could have sweeping ramifications for political speech in the US. When Khalil was detained by ICE for his role in student protests at Columbia University, it was widely understood as a test case. Khalil was a legal permanent resident with a green card. The Trump administration claimed his advocacy on behalf of Palestinian people made him a threat to US foreign policy. Kai Wright speaks with Khalil about his new book, No Land To Stand On, which details what happened after ICE snatched him up, flew him across the country and deposited him in a for-profit detention center. Khalil and his wife, Noor Abdalla, share their family’s experience – how, with a newborn child, they fought to keep Khalil in the US, and how they’re facing the reality that the Trump administration is still trying to deport him.
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When the documentary NAZA premiered at the Venice international film festival earlier this month, it sent shockwaves across the globe. Composed of interviews with 24 anonymous Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers, NAZA is a haunting exposé of the tools that the Israeli military uses to carry out the remote killing of Palestinians in Gaza – including AI, mass surveillance, and devastating airstrikes that kill civilians and raze homes. Now, the Israeli government is treating NAZA like a national security crisis. Its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is even pushing for legislation that could strip the film's two directors of their Israeli citizenship. Host Carter Sherman speaks with the directors of NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, in one of their first interviews with an American journalist. The film, which was produced by the Guardian, will open in New York on September 30th and will play in theaters across the US starting October 9th. It will also stream, for free, on the Guardian website in November.
Read some of the Guardian reporting that NAZA builds on:
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Benjamin Netanyahu lands in New York today to speak at the UN general assembly. This visit marks the Israeli prime minister's first time in the city since Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to arrest him for war crimes – and it's happening as support for Israel among US voters is taking an unprecedented plunge. Sixty percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Israel. (In 2022, only 42% of Americans said the same.) But what does this mean for Netanyahu’s hold on US politics? And how will it play into Israel’s October elections? Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are joined by two reporters with different perspectives on the Netanyahu story. Andrew Roth spent time reporting from Israel and the West Bank this summer, and Alice Speri has covered the pushback against Israel in Democratic politics here in the US.
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John Green is probably as famous as an author can get. His 2012 young adult novel The Fault In Our Starssold more than 20m copies, got adapted into a Hollywood hit film, and catapulted to a level of success that he’d always longed for. And yet, all that left him feeling empty. Now, after nearly a decade away from fiction, Green is back with his first novel for adults, Hollywood, Ending.In a very meta conversation with Carter Sherman, Green explains how interviews can be maddening, explores his own insecurities around fame, and argues that social media has trained all of us to sell our private lives as products. Carter and John also talk about his success as a pioneering YouTube creator alongside his brother Hank Green and Hank's recent dustup over his use of AI.
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In a new book,writers Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor have created a term to define the era we are living in: End Times Fascism. A response to the climate crisis, the rise of the far-right and advancing AI technology, they spell out how the damage being wrought by the super-rich is becoming normalized. Klein and Taylor join Carter Sherman to talk about the recent events that have made us all feel like we’re hurtling towards the apocalypse, and how we can fight back through ‘hereness’.
End Times Fascism And The Fight For The Living World is out now.
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