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Robert Tsai: Is Justice Possible? Your Supreme Court Questions Answered Jul 19, 2019

Show notes

You may have heard last week’s conversation on the Supreme Court.

Well, there’s something about the Supreme Court that gets listeners’ attention. I received a lot of follow-up questions – so many, that I wished I had immediate access to another constitutional scholar.

Turns out, I did.

I already had recorded the second half of the conversation you’ll hear today with Robert Tsai. Tsai is Professor of Law at American University and a prize-winning essayist in constitutional law and history. Previously, he clerked for two federal judges and worked civil rights lawyer in Georgia. He has written three books, the most recent of which is Practical Equality: Forging Justice in a Divided Nation.

When we consider remedies to the various inequalities that define these times – from voting restrictions and oppressive measures against migrants to the rights of sexual minorities, victims of police action, and even racism in the criminal justice system – existing laws to address equality are often incomplete.

But in exploring the Constitution and reexamining important historical cases, Tsai explains how legal ideas that aren’t necessarily about equality at all — ensuring fair play, acting reasonably, avoiding cruelty, and protecting free speech — have been used to overcome inequality in the past and can serve as potent alternative tools to promote equality today.

Simply, Tsai offers a distinct view and outlines the possible innovative legal measures to overcome injustice.

But with all the comments from last week’s podcast, I asked Robert for a favor – would he be willing to do a quick update call where I could ask him some of the Supreme Court follow-ups I got from listeners. He agreed, so here it is.

For show notes & my newsletter, go to chrisriback.com

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Adam Liptak: How Far Did Trump Tip the Supreme Court Balance? Jul 12, 2019

Show notes

It was the Supreme Court session Democrats feared and Republicans had waited a generation for – a solidly conservative 5-4 majority. It took the Merrick Garland block and Brett Kavanaugh hearings to get here, and now that first session is complete.

So how’d it go? Were the fears and hopes realized? That’s what I asked Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times.

As you’ll hear, for all of this session’s surprise alliances and shifting balance, it may turn out to be an important prelude that sets up a supreme bonanza: A 2020 election year session that confronts some of our most contentious issues – Immigration, the Second Amendment, discrimination against gay & transgender workers, and possibly abortion, as well as health care and the Affordable Care Act.

For show notes & my newsletter, go to chrisriback.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Angela Stent: Explaining Putin’s World Jul 05, 2019

Show notes

Here’s a parlor game: Outside of President Trump, who’s the most curious figure on the world stage today? China’s Xi? North Korea’s Kim? MBS of Saudi Arabia?
As Trump’s interactions with global leaders raise never-ending questions, few are as perplexing – or, if we only could understand it, might explain so much – as the one with Vladimir Putin.
When the Cold War ended, it all seemed so clear: History was over, and liberal democracy would deliver a new Russia. But as the so-called liberal modernizers and democratic reforms emerged, so too did a period of extreme poverty and oligarchic wealth – a debilitating era of Russian economic and social challenges, even humiliation. As that time ran its course, an apparent savior emerged – a single man who refused to consider Russian weakness and instead redefined Russian power and pride. A man who recently told the Financial Times: “The liberal idea has become obsolete.”
So what happened? How is today’s polarized, disrupted world one in which Russia can thrive?
That’s what Angela Stent explains through history and analysis in her remarkable new book, Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest.
Professor Stent is director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and a professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown University. She has served as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, as well as in the Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department. She has written numerous publications, including “The Limits of Partnership: US-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century, which earned her the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Douglas Dillon prize for the best book on the practice of American Diplomacy. She’s also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.
For show notes & my newsletter, go to chrisriback.com
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Jared Cohen: Accidental Presidents Jun 28, 2019

Show notes

With 20 candidates and 2 Democratic debates spread over 48 hours this week, the 2020 Presidential campaign season is officially underway. We know the process: For the next 16 months, candidates will debate, boast, fundraise, debate, and fundraise some more. Then on Nov. 3, 2020, we’ll have the decision – the President will be chosen.

But what about when we get a new President not over two years, but in a heart beat? When we don’t elect our President following an intense, 500-day process, but rather get our new leader instantaneously and by accident.

I’m talking, of course, about the times when we’ve gotten a new President because the sitting one died.

So what does history tell us about these leaders, the process, our country – about what happens when accidents occur?

Jared Cohen has written the NY Times best-selling book – “Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America.” Cohen offers a unique way look at our history – and the many ways our country evolved purely based on chance: Because an assassin or disease forced an immediate change in our land’s highest office.

For show notes & my newsletter, go to chrisriback.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Joseph Stiglitz: Saving Capitalism From Itself Jun 21, 2019

Show notes

It’s already one of the major issues of the 2020 presidential campaign: Does American capitalism still work?

In the face of ever widening income disparity – not just exponential upward movement at the top, but also, at best, stagnation near the bottom — economic inequality is a key social and political topic.

Which is why Joseph Stiglitz’ 55th high school reunion was so telling.

It was about four years ago, the Nobel Prize winning economist was reminiscing with old friends in Gary, IN, when he heard a story that made him stand up straight. Then he heard another. And another.

These classmates’ stories brought to life the statistics Stiglitz had been seeing in his economic charts: Lost jobs, poor access to health care, shorter life spans, diminishing hope. The numbers hadn’t lied, and now they were talking to Stiglitz at his high school reunion.

Their message: The economy was broken. In fact, more than just the economy wasn’t working – Capitalism itself seemed off.

Following that class reunion, Stiglitz further saw an erosion of society’s pillars, and – being an economist – connected them all: The economy, capitalism, and democracy. He sounded the alarm, and the result is his new, powerful book: “People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent.”

Beyond the Nobel Prize, Stiglitz' career highlights include: He served as President Clinton’s Chair of the US Council of Economic Advisers and Chief Economist of the World Bank. He’s the best-selling author of more than 10 books and today is a University Professor at Columbia University.

For show notes & my newsletter, go to chrisriback.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Sen. Maggie Hassan: 'No More Medical Surprises' Dec 06, 2018

Show notes

So you’re in a restaurant. Great meal. The bill comes, and it’s got a surprise – an unexpected $10 charge because, well it turns out your entrée required a special ingredient the server forgot to mention.
Would you pay it? Would you expect to have to pay it?
Now look at our health care. You go to the Emergency Room. They take your insurance. Only it turns out, your in-network ER is being staffed by out-of-network providers. Suddenly, in addition to the surprise of having landed in the ER in the first place, you’ve got thousands of dollars in surprise medical costs.
What you wouldn’t stand for in a restaurant can happen any day in an emergency room – and New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan wants to do something about it.
Sen. Hassan has introduced a bill titled the “No More Medical Surprises Act.” As you’ll hear, her bill aims not only to protect patients from the outrageous bills that suddenly land folks deep in medical debt, she borrows from baseball to find a market-based solution to the problem. And no, that doesn’t involve using a baseball bat… though I bet she wishes it could.
While I had Sen. Hassan for the conversation, I also wanted to take the opportunity to ask about another important and divisive issue that – like health care – went to the heart of the recent Midterm elections: Border Security and Immigration. Sen. Hassan sits on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and I wanted to know: Do Democrats have a clear message on border security and immigration?
In our extraordinarily partisan times, is it reasonable to hope for agreement on a health care bill? What about immigration? You’ll want to hear Sen. Hassan’s answers.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Live from Harvard's Kennedy School Oct 29, 2018

Show notes

This is a special live edition of Political Wire Conversations.

On Friday, I hosted an outstanding live event and discussion at Harvard’s Kennedy School: Midterm Elections Preview: Blue Wave or Red Save?

I was joined onstage by an All Star cast of panelists:

Rick Wilson, Republican Political Strategist

Asha Rangappa, CNN Legal & National Affairs Analyst

Clare Malone, 538 Political Reporter

Taegan Goddard, Political Wire Publisher

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Richard Clarke: Democracy Is On the Ballot Oct 19, 2018

Show notes

The countdown to Midterms is on. With less than three weeks to go, many questions remain and the stakes couldn’t be higher. How high? According to my guest today, “the nature of our democracy is on the ballot.” I’m not sure I disagree.You may remember Richard Clarke for his 30 years in the U.S government, including 10 continuous years as a White House official, serving three consecutive presidents as Special Assistant to the President for Global Affairs, Special Adviser to the President for Cyberspace, and National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism.His first book, "Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror," was a New York Times #1 bestseller, and he has stood on the front lines warning us about the risks and realities of cyber attacks.Now he’s got a new outlet – a podcast (c’mon, who doesn’t have a podcast these days?) called Future State. The 10 episode run started last month and ends the day before the Midterms. Once you’re done listening to all of my podcasts, I really recommend listening to Clarke’s. I’m just kidding of course. You don’t have to listen to all of my conversations first. Just most of them.Clarke and I discussed the important news of the day – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, and of course, cyber.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Michael Lewis: Who’s Actually Running Our Government? Oct 12, 2018

Show notes

How do you make the most arcane, overlooked, eyes-glaze-over – and most critical – aspect of the U.S. government – interesting? How do you help folks understand that the so-called deep state – the parts of the bureaucracy that some people ignore and belittle – is actually vital to our safety, well-being and, frankly, our future?Simple: Have Michael Lewis write about.And now he has. In his new book, The Fifth Risk, goes inside several government departments – Energy, Agriculture, Interior, EPA – and reveals the truths that might seem funny if they weren’t so scary: Not only was the Trump Administration unprepared to run the government, the plan may have been crafted and executed by design. Want to shrink government? The easiest way is simply not to staff it.And why does this matter? Well, do natural disasters like hurricanes or fires matter? Is it important to find black market uranium before terrorists do? What if we no longer feed kids at school?Lewis does for government bureaucracy what he’s done for the unsung part of a football team’s offensive line, credit default swaps and a baseball executive’s approach to talent: He pulls it apart and exposes the fascinating, essential elements.Lewis does what no politician has taken the time – or, seemingly, has the ability to do: Make clear why government matters. Reagan famously said, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Maybe that’s because Reagan never read Michael Lewis’ new book.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

Rebecca Traister: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger Oct 02, 2018

Show notes

One thing is sure about the extraordinary, once-in-a-generation Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing last week: There was a lot of anger in the room.Judge Brett Kavanaugh: Angry. Senator Lindsay Graham: Angry.But it might have been the anger outside the room that changed everything. You’ve seen the video – two women somehow got hold of Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator, and they unleashed: “Look at me when I’m talking to you,” one shouted. “Don’t look away from me!”For many, watching that scene felt uncomfortable – not just the cornering of a U.S. Senator. The scene of women getting mad in public. But for others, including author Rebecca Traister, the scene was a remarkable, appropriate and much-needed display of what they already knew: Women have been angry for a long time – in fact, very likely as long as there have been women.Most of the time, as Rebecca Traister wrote in Sunday’s NY Times, “female anger is discouraged, repressed, ignored, swallowed.” That time, Traister argues in her landmark, must-read new book “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger,” that time should be fully behind us.Keep your eyes open – something massive and important is happening again in America. The role and impact of women’s anger is evolving.The anger has always been there, of course. Even before Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton and the women’s suffrage movement, there was Abigail Adams and others. We saw it in the 60s and 70s. We saw Anita Hill.But something new has been developing – through movements like #MeToo and new voices like Emma Gonzalez. And now, certainly, through Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.A note: I spoke with Rebecca last week, before the hearings occurred. But as you’ll hear, if you want to understand what’s happening – where we’ve been and where we’re going? Rebecca Traister is the one to explain.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chrisriback.com/subscribe

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