Stress Test, from Mother Jones

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Trump's Stealth Attack on Skilled Migration Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

President Donald Trump has said he welcomes "brilliant" skilled immigrants to the United States. In this week's episode, Mother Jones senior data reporter Sinduja Rangarajan investigates the Trump administration's efforts to build a bureaucratic wall to keep out these very immigrants. As part of a 8-month collaboration with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, she reports on how the administration has been rejecting record numbers of applications for coveted H-1B "tech visas," spreading confusion and panic among visa holders, some of whom have lived in the country for years. She also built a database that documents an unprecedented flurry of lawsuits alleging that the administration is applying the H-1B rules arbitrarily and in violation of the spirit of the law. Listen as Sinduja profiles an Indian immigrant who saw his life suddenly upended and as she talks about her own connection to the story.

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Trump Is Winning the Border Wars. For Now. Nov 27, 2019

Show notes

The Trump administration touts its “Remain in Mexico” policy as resounding success. Critics call it cruel and illegal. What’s unquestionable is that Trump has made it virtually impossible for migrants to seek asylum in the United States, leaving tens of thousands of migrant families stuck in limbo in crowded shelters and tent camps in Mexico’s border cities. Reporters Fernanda Echavarri and Julia Lurie travel to Ciudad Juárez to examine the colossal impact of a policy that has become the new normal at the border.

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The Republican Conspiracy Frenzy Can Only Protect Trump for So Long Nov 20, 2019

Show notes

On our first big impeachment podcast show, Mother Jones Washington D.C. Bureau Chief David Corn gives you the latest news direct from the hallway outside the House Intelligence Committee room on Capitol Hill, reacting to the partisan theatrics as they unfold on live television, while detailing the mounting case against Trump.

Then you’ll hear from editor and reporter Hayes Brown, the host of the new daily podcast from BuzzFeed and iHeartRadio, Impeachment Today. Brown will help you get to the bottom of one of the biggest emerging themes: the weaponization of conspiracy theories and misinformation to intimidate and incriminate witnesses. It can be mind-boggling to understand all the moving pieces and multitudinous cast members on this impeachment stage, but Hayes breaks it down with a big shot of energy, and lots of laughs.

And finally: you know how everyone compares Trump to Richard Nixon? In fact, MoJo podcast favorite Tim Murphy returns to the studio to explain why the closest historical precedent to this Trump scandal is not Watergate, but the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

Keep up-to-date with all things impeachment on our daily Impeachapalooza blog at MotherJones.com/impeachment. And here are some of the stories you heard during this episode:

“Republicans Spent the First Day of Impeachment Hearings in an Alternate Reality”, by David Corn.
“Impeachment Day 3: Republicans Continue Their Attack on Reason and Reality," by David Corn.
Buzzfeed + iHeartRadio’s Impeachment Today Podcast
“Trump’s Not Richard Nixon. He’s Andrew Johnson," by Tim Murphy.

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A Fearless Pop Superstar Navigates Hong Kong’s Violent Stand-Off Nov 13, 2019

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Hong Kong resembles a war zone. Twenty-four weeks after millions demonstrated against a Chinese extradition bill, violent clashes between protesters and police are worse than ever. For this episode of the Mother Jones Podcast, host Jamilah King talks with Denise Ho, one of the most prominent leaders of the pro-democracy movement. Ho is an award-winning singer and songwriter who has been putting out hit albums since the late 1990s. But now, since becoming a political activist, her music has been banned in mainland China. Listen for a detailed analysis of what it’s like in Hong Kong today, Ho's opinions about the NBA Twitter dust up, and thoughts on the role of celebrity in this moment of political crisis. (And stay for a special performance, right at the end.)

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We Got 8 Presidential Candidates to Confront the World's Biggest Threat Nov 06, 2019

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Climate change is quickly becoming the defining issue of the 2020 presidential election. How the next American president confronts that threat will define where we live, what we eat, and how nations will survive. Despite the urgency, there hasn’t been a true forum for presidential candidates of both parties to thoughtfully discuss their plans to halt current climate. That changes Thursday night.⁠ The Weather Channel has teamed up with Climate Desk, a partnership of 18 media organizations working together on covering climate change (started by Mother Jones), to deliver an hour of climate conversations with nine candidates—five Democrats and three Republicans. It's called “2020: Race to Save the Planet,” and the special airs with limited commercial interruption Thursday, November 7 at 8 p.m. ET.⁠

On today's episode of the podcast, you'll get an exclusive preview from ⁠hurricane expert Dr. Rick Knabb from the Weather Channel, alongside Mother Jones's climate reporter Rebccea Leber, and you'll hear from candidates who visited communities on the frontlines of the current climate crisis: in the floodplains of Charleston, South Carolina; in South Bend, Indiana, and Dubuque, Iowa; as well as in Paradise, California, which was devastated by the Camp Fire almost exactly a year ago.

We asked the top frontrunners to participate, and six Democrats and three Republicans said yes. We met with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) The Weather Channel interviewed Republican presidential hopefuls, too, including ex-Massachusetts governor William Weld, former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, and former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

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Ronan Farrow on How NBC Almost Derailed #MeToo Before It Began Oct 30, 2019

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Ronan Farrow’s reporting on Harvey Weinstein’s serial predatory behavior has earned a Pulitzer Prize. But in the months leading up to publication, a major news behemoth tried to kill the story. In Farrow’s latest book, "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators", he tells the story of how NBC executives worked for months to try to kill the Weinstein story. Farrow unspools the remarkable tale with Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery at a live event in San Francisco earlier this month.

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Inside the US Marshals' Secretive, Deadly Detention Empire Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

The US Marshals Service detains tens of thousands of people every day in jails across the United States, and thanks to President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies, that number is approaching historic highs. The Marshals are supposed to safeguard pre-trial detainees, but journalist Seth Freed Wessler's reporting reveals that America’s oldest law enforcement agency is suffering from a massive dereliction of duty—telling the story of widespread neglect, and deaths inside a system plagued by a lack of accountability. Seth teamed up with the award-winning radio producers behind NPR's Latino USA to produce this radio documentary based on his explosive reporting. For the full story for Mother Jones, reported in partnership with Type Investigations, visit http://www.motherjones.com/marshals.

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Trump's Reckless Gift to ISIS Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

President Donald Trump's sudden withdrawal of United States forces from Syria last week has pitted US allies against each other, liberated ISIS prisoners and terrorist detainees, strengthened the positions of Syria and Russia, and left the region in turmoil. Without US troops preventing Turkish forces from attacking the Kurds—who had been longtime US allies in the fight against ISIS in northern Syria—Turkey has swept into the region, with 160,000 civilians on the run, according to the United Nations. Now Turkey is bombing Kurdish territory and attacking Kurdish fighters and civilians. In 2018, Mother Jones reporter Shane Bauer traveled to Syria to document merica's involvement in one of the 21st century's bloodiest conflicts. He met the Kurds who Trump effectively gave Turkey permission to kill. On this week's episode of the Mother Jones podcast, Bauer talks to host Jamilah King about what it's like on the ground—and what's next. Also on the show, our sister podcast Bite has a new series about how climate change is affecting your food. Hosts Maddie Oatman and Kiera Butler give you the highlights from "Eating in Climate Chaos."

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Naomi Klein’s Blistering Warning: Fight for Your Lives. Oct 09, 2019

Show notes

Naomi Klein is a veteran activist and environmentalist, and author of the new book, “On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal,” which argues that the dire urgency of the climate crisis is now a global five-alarm fire. Klein details the entrenched systems, social prejudices, and political patterns that have now fused into a singularly existential threat—and shows how those in power, on every level, have refused to act against impending peril. Klein joins Mother Jones editor-in-chief Clara Jeffery on stage for this special live (and lively) recording in Oakland, California.

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Trump's Unexplained $50 Million Loan. Is It Tax Fraud? Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

Donald Trump’s massive debts—he owes hundreds of millions of dollars—are the subject of continuous congressional and journalistic scrutiny. But for years, one Trump loan has been particularly mystifying: a debt of more than $50 million that Trump claims he owes to one of his own companies. According to tax and financial experts, the loan, which Trump has never fully explained, might be part of a controversial tax avoidance scheme known as debt parking. Yet a Mother Jones investigation has uncovered information that raises questions about the very existence of this loan, presenting the possibility that this debt was concocted as a ploy to evade income taxes—a move that could constitute tax fraud. On today's show, host Jamilah King interviews Mother Jones investigative reporter Russ Choma about his dogged Trumpworld financial reporting, and the fresh questions it raises about Trump's debt.

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