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Original Air Date: 2/8/2019
Amid the ongoing fallout of a contested presidential election, we take a look back, briefly, at the last 100 years of Venezuelan history to understand how they went from oil riches and inequality to revolution and social progress only to run afoul of American imperialism
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 2: How Did Venezuela Go From So Rich To So Poor - The Inquiry - Air Date 5-10-17
Ch. 4: Is Donald Trump waging a coup in Venezuela? - Majority Report (@MajorityFM) - Air Date 1-25-19
Ch. 9: Many Countries at UN Oppose Trump Interference in Venezuela - @TheRealNews - Air Date 1-29-19
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Air Date 8/6/2024
After the recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed governments to constitutionally purge unhoused people from public spaces, we are getting an immediate lesson in the difference between addressing systemic problems with solutions and using the police to clean up after governments that failed to act.
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KEY POINTS
KP 1: Criminalizing homelessness - Today, Explained - Air Date 7-2-24
KP 2: Sotomayor TORCHES Oregon Town Trying To Ban Homeless People - The Majority Report - Air Date 4-23-24
KP 5: Myths about Homeless People with Dr. Margot Kushel - Factually! - Air Date 5-8-24
KP 6: White House takes new action to lower housing costs - Morning Joe - Air Date 7-16-24
(45:37) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the layers of problems and solutions for addressing homelessness
Article:
With Sacramento's robust water infrastructure, why are homeless residents still dying of thirst?
DEEPER DIVES
(51:59) SECTION A - THE SUPREME COURT
(1:02:06) SECTION B - DEMONIZATION
(1:19:15) SECTION C - DIGITALIZATION OF RENTING
(1:33:27) SECTION D - SOLUTIONS
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: A photograph of a group of multicolored camping tents on a plaza outside City Hall in Los Angeles.
Credit: "Unhoused in Los Angeles" by Ron Reiring, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped
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Air Date: 8-4-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - The use of strategic ambiguity as a way to ensure everyone hears what they want to hear - How weird Republicans are now - How the joke about JD Vance having sex with a couch is viewed as plausible because his inability to deal with generational trauma has made him a bizarre person - How the right's bigotry runs so deep, they can't escape it even when they try their hardest - Seriously, the Trump era of the Republican Party is really weird!
REFERENCES: Those magic half-hours at Lozano Car Wash, where my dad was all mine
The Real Origin of Trump's Hannibal Lecter Obsession The deeper you go, the less sense it makes.
J.D. Vance didn't have sex with a couch. But he's still extremely weird.
Critics Question JD Vance's 'Weird' Defense Of Wife Usha After White Supremacist Attacks
JD Vance's Response to White Supremacist Attacks on His Wife Seen as Lacking Strength and Conviction
J. D. Vance's Sad, Strange Politics of Family
Trump: People who like family will support JD Vance
Trump faces backlash for 'in four years, you don't have to vote again' remark
Trump asked to clarify his remarks about how Christians won't need to vote again
Dems Go All-In on Blasting Trump and MAGA as 'Sick Freaks Who Everyone Hates'
How Trump and Vance went from a 'threat to democracy' to 'weird'
Inside the "Big Weirdo" Political Strategy That Democrats Are Using to Taunt Republicans
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Air Date 8/2/2024
The Kamala Harris presidential campaign has been on a wild ride since it unexpectedly began less than two weeks ago. Record fund raising, organic enthusiasm not seen since Obama, and the ugly pushback to match.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Political Plot Twists - Bad Queers - Air Date 7-29-24
KP 3: Israel Furious With Harris Over This Speech - The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder - Air Date 7-28-24
KP 4: Share & Rizz & Tell with Mina Kimes and Dan Le Batard - PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT - Air Date 7-26-24
KP 5: Black Women Lead - Woke AF Daily - Air Date 7-24-24
(48:51) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the power of excitement
DEEPER DIVES
(56:51) SECTION A: MISOGYNOIR DEFINED
A1: Misogynoir by Dr. Moya Bailey #Jubilee21 - Black Feminist Future - Air Date 12-11-21
A2: Digital Misogynoir - The Anti-Dystopians - Air Date 9-8-23
(1:10:32) SECTION B: MISOGYNOIR IN ACTION
(1:41:14) SECTION C: TALK OF THE TOWN
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Vice President Kamala Harris stands on stage holding a microphone with one hand on her hip in front of the stars of the U.S. flag.
Credit: "Kamala Harris" by Gage Skidmore, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Slight crop
Air Date 7/30/2024
The Republican Party is making it sound like they're trying to transform themselves into the party of working people. There's a mountain of evidence suggesting that you shouldn't believe them but there's also plenty of reason to sit up and take notice of the situation.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Trump, Vance, and the New Right at the RNC - Deconstructed - Air Date 7-19-24
KP 5: Why Hiking Tariffs Actually Protects Americans - Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 5-14-24
(43:44) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On the shifting political epoch toward pro-worker policies we're witnessing
Clip: Let's adopt the GOP's national platform - Jim Hightower - Air Date- 3-6-13
Article: Biden's labor report card: Historian gives 'Union Joe' a higher grade than any president since FDR
DEEPER DIVES
(54:05) SECTION A: TEAMSTER SPEECH AND FALSE POPULISM
(1:17:09) SECTION B: PRO-WORKER LEGISLATION
(1:28:24) SECTION C: JD VANCE AND THE "CENTER" RIGHT
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions)
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: J.D. Vance scowls with his face in partial shadow while standing at a podium.
Credit: "J.D. Vance" by Gage Skidmore, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Air Date: 7-29-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - All of our hope-y, fearful feelings about this political moment - The sexist, racist insults already being hurled at Harris - The perceived threat of a woman's laugh - Men's deep-seeded struggle with masculinity
REFERENCES: Trump campaign finally reveals why ex president continues to profess love for Hannibal Lecter in speeches
What people mean when they call Kamala Harris a 'DEI candidate'
Kamala Harris and the Threat of a Woman's Laugh
'It is a train that is never late': Trump, GOP escalate racist and predictable attacks on VP Harris
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Air Date 7/26/2024
It's clear where the vast majority of violent rhetoric is coming from in the country and it's clear which party is a cult of personality and which puts country before personal power. This is the state of play in our politics.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Who Really is Stoking Violence in America? - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 7-15-24
KP 3: The Long Simmer of Political Violence in America - The Atlantic - Air Date 7-15-24
KP 5: Jon Stewart on Biden 2024: It Is What It Is? - The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart - Air Date 7-11-24
KP 6: You did it, Joe - Today, Explained - Air Date 7-22-24
(51:48) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On why it's OK to have a bit of hope even if it's uncomfortable
DEEPER DIVES
(57:02) SECTION A: BIDEN STEPS DOWN
A2: Fox News MELTS DOWN Over Kamala Harris - The Rational National - Air Date 7-22-24
(1:12:23) SECTION B: VIOLENCE AND VIOLENT RHETORIC
(1:21:33) SECTION C: THE RNC
(1:57:29) SECTION D: CONSPIRACY
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Composite image: In background, a photo from the RNC with image of Trump making a fist after the assassination attempt on every screen. In the foreground, Biden's letter telling America he is not running for reelection. Beside it, a photo of a smiling Vice President Kamala Harris.
Credit: Composite design by A. Hoffman. Photo: "Kamala Harris" by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped around subject
Original Air Date: 11/15/2022
Today, we take a look at our extremely steady history of political violence from the Revolution, through the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow, into the Civil Rights era, the Militia Movement and domestic terrorism, and now to our current once-again-radicalized, right-wing movement willing to use and tacitly condone violence as a political tactic.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Capitol Attack Wasn't the 1st Violent Incident in Congress - Inside Edition - Air Date 1-20-22
Ch. 2: A history of US political violence Part 1 - Americast - Air Date 11-2-22
Ch. 4: Political Violence Is No Anomaly in American History - System Check - Air Date 1-8-21
Ch. 5: Today's Republicans were made in the 1990s - The Gray Area with Sean Illing - Air Date 11-7-22
Ch. 8: Paul Pelosi attacked with hammer in his home - ABC News - Air Date 10-29-22
Ch. 9: A history of US political violence Part 2 - Americast - Air Date 11-2-22
Ch. 10: Political Violence - In the Thick - Air Date 11-4-22
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Show Image:
Description: A newspaper cartoon/drawing of Senator Sumner being beaten on the floor of the Senate with a cane by Sen. Preston Brooks in 1856.
Credit: "Southern Chivalry - Argument vs. Clubs" by J.L. Magee, 1856 | Public Domain
Air Date: 7-21-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, and Deon (Erin couldn't join us) discuss: - Deon's hatred of old people - How the media industry's failing state led to ineffective coverage of the Biden age story - Amanda's excellent sports analogy - The factors that have lead to America's worsening gerontocracy
REFERENCES: Did the media botch the Biden age story?
Jon Stewart Examines Biden's Future Amidst Calls For Him to Drop Out | The Daily Show
Inside the Complicated Reality of Being America's Oldest President
Biden, turning 80, faces renewed age questions as he weighs reelection
Our U.S. Gerontocracy Needs to Go (and Biden Isn't Even the Worst)
Why American politicians are so old
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Air Date 7/20/2024
Extremism comes in many forms and we live in an era in which way too many of them are on display simultaneously, but it's not coincidence. The far right has been working toward an extremist Supreme Court for decades. Christian Nationalists have similarly been trying to impose their rigid view of far-right Christianity on the rest of us for a very long time. The far-right Heritage Foundation now deems this to be the time to attempt to radicalize the federal bureaucracy, and far-right calls for political violence and lax gun laws resulted in an environment where no one was really all that surprised about the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.
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KEY POINTS
KP 1: Opinionpalooza The Supreme Court End-of-Term Breakfast Table - Amicus - Air Date 7-6-24
KP 3: Just Decide the EMTALA Case Already, You Cowards - Boom! Lawyered - Air Date 6-27-24
KP 4: What is Project 2025 - Today, Explained - Air Date 7-11-24
KP 6: Republicans issue vile reaction to Trump shooting - No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen - Air Date 7-15-24
(57:30) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On what should come next for the Democrats
DEEPER DIVES
(1:05:02) SECTION A: SUPREME COURT
(1:51:47) SECTION B: PROJECT 2025
(2:07:10) SECTION C: POLITICAL VIOLENCE
(2:16:21) SECTION D: CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: Composite. Photo of Trump giving a speech at a podium with the overlaid words "The Plot Against America" next to him against the black background.
Credit: Composite by A. Hoffman. Photo: "Donald Trump" by Matt Johnson, Flickr | License: CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Cropped, overlaid text added
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