How Is This Better?

Latest Episodes:

What 4 Generations of Veterans Think of Trump’s War in Iran Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

Are we at war or not? According to Trump, he's scoring a 15 out of 10 "on the war front," and Department of War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, says the fighting in Iran has "just begun." Yet House Speaker Mike Johnson insists "we're not at war."

Instead of debating the political spin, Akilah wanted to sit down with the people who've been asked to fight American battles. On this episode of How Is This Better?, Akilah sits down with five veterans across four generations – from baby boomers who fought in Vietnam to an Iraq War veteran and a Gen Z and Millennial veteran who filed for conscientious objector discharges based on their objections to the war in Gaza.

Some enlisted out of patriotism. Some out of faith. Some just wanted the uniform, or way to pay for student loans. But all of them describe a moment when America’s wars stopped making sense to them. Across fifty years of military experience, they all come back to the same question:

Are young Americans about to be asked to die for something no one can clearly explain?

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Show Notes:

Check out Veterans for Peace, Common Defense, and Friends of Fisher House, Phoenix.

Thanks to Joy Metzler, Juan Betancourt, Ben Feibleman, David Lucier, and Ed Anderson for sharing their stories.

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Is ICE More Like the Gestapo or Slave Patrols? Yes. Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

People keep comparing ICE to the Gestapo. But is that the right historical analogy?

We we talk with public historian Ashley Baron aka @ashleytheebarroness who went viral making the argument that the comparison overlooks a home-grown analogy. We also speak with Claire Aubin who is a Nazi-era historian and host of the podcast, This Guy Sucked, to break down what the Gestapo actually was — and why the ideology behind it matters more than any one-to-one comparison people point to.

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Rotisserie Chicken Killed the Housing Market (Apparently) Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

Homeownership used to be a starter pack for adulthood. Now it feels like a luxury good. This week, Akilah asks a question most of us have yelled at Zillow at least once: when did buying a house become a fantasy?

Business Insider's James Rodriguez joins to help explain how we got here and why the future might be… single-family homes you can never actually own.

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Bad Bunny, The Super Bowl, and the American Denial of Puerto Rico Feb 06, 2026

Show notes

Your conservative uncle is wrong about Bad Bunny. So are Trump, all of MAGA, and the angry drunk guys who watch the NFL. They're mad because Bad Bunny will be performing the half time show at the Superbowl this Sunday, and he'll be singing in Spanish - you know, the language the songs are written in - and believe that that makes him fundamentally un-american.

Unfortunately, this is not a unique experience. Puerto Rico, where Bad Bunny is from, has faced this same rejection and discrimination for years. But why? What did Puerto Rico ever do to them? Becca Ramos and I are going to find out.

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The Wrestling-ification of Politics (Unedited Bonus with Josie Riesman) Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

This is our last unedited bonus before we're back with a brand new episode next week! This week, we bring you the entirety of my conversation with Josephine Riesman who authored Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America. We talked about the parallels between wrestling and modern politics and had a blast doing it. Please enjoy and stay tuned for a new episode next week.

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There's No DEI in Baseball (Roy Wood Jr. Extended Conversation) Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

Is it DEI to honor one of the greatest baseball players of all time? Our president seems to think so. Comedian Roy Wood Jr. weighs in on Trump's crusade to end diversity initiatives and tarnish Jackie Robinson's legacy. Before we get back to new content, we thought we'd release some of our favorite conversations from 2025 in all their unedited glory.

For the full, edited episode featuring more conversations (and more of my commentary), click here.

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Adam Mockler on Masculinity and the Right-Wing Pipeline (BONUS) Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

Remember that conversation we had last year? The one with Adam Mockler, about the nightmare that is modern masculinity? Well, we have more where that came from. Before we get back to new content, we thought we'd release some of our favorite conversations from 2025 in all their unedited glory. To watch the original cut down version of this video, you can click here: https://tinyurl.com/32e7xvnj

More bonuses in the coming weeks and brand new, fully edited and produced episodes coming soon. Subscribe!

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A Surprising Grade for 2025 Dec 19, 2025

Show notes

As we all know, 2025 was the best year that any of us have ever had. Nothing went wrong, no evil was done, and things were generally really, really chill.

In reality, Akilah is joined this week by Ryan Broderick, host of COURIER’s Panic World, in order to review all of the political and pop culture chaos that went down over the past twelve months. Together they’ll try to answer the fateful question: was anything about this year better? The answer might surprise you.

You can find Ryan at @ryanhatesthis on IG, and you can listen to Panic World at @panicworldpod or on your favorite listening platforms.

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How Is This Better? is a @COURIERHQ production.

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Black Women Are Doubled Taxed in America. There's Data. Dec 12, 2025

Show notes

In a second-term Trump economy obsessed with the word “meritocracy,” Black women are being pushed out of the workforce at alarming rates — while the least qualified men fail upward. Akilah Hughes sits down with economist and author Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman to unpack her book, The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid.

You can find Anna and her book at www.annagifty.com

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Intro

00:54 Black women & the workforce

07:07 What is the Double Tax?

11:41 How much does Anna’s life show up in the book?

13:58 The DEI crackdown’s impact

17:49 How do we fight for an equitable future?

24:55 This is not better.

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Can Boycotts Fight Fascism? Dec 05, 2025

Show notes

You may have heard a lot about boycotting this year, especially when talking about Target or Amazon. Organized actions like these have been happening year-round, but are reaching peak intensity now that we’re well within the holiday season. One such boycott, called We Ain’t Buying It, aimed to draw attention to how giant retailers are using our money against our own interests: funding candidates like Trump and policies that endanger our communities, civil rights and economic interests.

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter who helped organize the campaign, joined the podcast this week to talk about what the campaign hoped to achieve, the history of boycotting as a political tool in the US, and why where you spend this holiday season actually matters.

You can find Latosha at @mslatoshabrown on IG, and learn more about the boycott at weaintbuyingit.com.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Intro

01:13 We Ain’t Buying It

09:27 How corporations are funding Trump

14:17 Why are boycotts effective?

17:54 Where should people redirect their money?

19:37 Your money talks!

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