The Politics of Everything

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Too Fast or Too Furious? Mar 09, 2022

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Over the past few years, deaths from car accidents in the United States have spiked dramatically. Journalists and commentators have been quick to point to pandemic-induced stress and anxiety to explain the increase. But is that account too pat? On episode 44 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with three guests about road design, automobile regulation, and what’s wrong with blaming crashes on reckless drivers. Guests include Charles Marohn, the author of Confessions of a Recovering Engineer; Jessie Singer, the author of There Are No Accidents, and Jason Slaughter, the creator of the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes.

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The High Cost of Ikea Furniture Feb 23, 2022

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Romania is home to one of the largest and most important old-growth forests in the world—but its trees are disappearing at an astonishing rate. Meanwhile, a spate of attacks has shaken environmentalists and activists in the country. On episode 43 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with the reporter Alexander Sammon, who recently traveled to Romania to investigate illegal logging for The New Republic. Can Europe’s forests survive the global appetite for timber?

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Boris Johnson’s Wine-Party Woes Feb 03, 2022

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British politics are in an uproar over … happy hour. How did Prime Minister Boris Johnson—shameless, disheveled Boris Johnson—end up here? On episode 42 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene try to make sense of the scandal gripping 10 Downing Street. Guests include Libby Watson, a British writer living in the United States; Nate Bethea, an American writer living in London; and Edward Docx, a British novelist who has written about the appeal of Johnson’s clownish persona for The Guardian.

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Why Joe Biden Gave Up on Covid Jan 19, 2022

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When Joe Biden was elected, he promised to treat the pandemic differently from his predecessor. And, for a while, it seemed that his approach was working. But a year into his administration, omicron is surging, and many of Biden’s more ambitious plans have fallen by the wayside. On episode 41 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with Melody Schreiber, a regular contributor to The New Republic, and the social epidemiologist Justin Feldman. What happened to Biden’s promises? And what has his approach cost us?

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Bonus episode from our partners at 5–4: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld Dec 22, 2021

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5-4 is a podcast about the ideological battles at the heart of the Supreme Court’s most important landmark cases, and an irreverent tour of all the ways that politics shape the law.

On this episode, hosts Peter, Michael, and Rhiannon discuss Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, which recognized the power of the U.S. government to detain "enemy combatants." A foreign "prisoner of war" can communicate with their family. An American "traitor" can argue their case in court. But according to the Supreme Court, American "enemy combatants" can do neither: They belong to a third category of prisoner that has very few legal rights. America immediately post-9/11 was very chill and normal. Follow Peter (@The_Law_Boy), Rhiannon (@AywaRhiannon), and Michael (@_FleerUltra) on Twitter.

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The Illiberal Upstarts Trying to Reinvent the American Right Dec 08, 2021

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Today’s youth are overwhelmingly left-wing. So who are the young conservatives? On Episode 40 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk to Sam Adler-Bell, a writer and the host of the podcast Know Your Enemy, about an energetic cohort who call themselves the New Right. They differ in many ways from the median right-wing voter. They hate the Republican establishment. Their heroes are illiberal authoritarians. Are they going to remake conservatism?

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Rats on the Brain Nov 24, 2021

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The rats are everywhere, more of them all the time, in our streets and our apartment complexes, cavorting on picnic tables and playgrounds—or so the pandemic’s hyperventilating news reports would suggest. Is the rodential bonanza real, or are we just noticing rats more? How are outdoor dining, gentrification, and climate change implicated? And why does our anxiety about rats seem to intensify after large-scale disasters? On episode 39 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene look into what’s behind our rat fears with Robert Sullivan, the author of Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, and Liza Featherstone, a regular contributor to The New Republic.

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Hollywood Blues Nov 10, 2021

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In the past decade, the number of original, scripted television shows being produced each year has more than doubled. Meanwhile, subscriptions to streaming services have surpassed one billion worldwide. We have the shows; we have the access. Why does it feel next to impossible to find anything good to see? On episode 38 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene discuss how the streaming era has transformed what we’re watching, why we’re watching it, and the way movies and TV shows are getting made. Guests include Kyle Chayka, a staff writer at The New Yorker who’s written about streaming culture, and Peter Labuza, a historian of the creative industries.

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Tax Haven, South Dakota Oct 27, 2021

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For the extremely wealthy who want to stash their money where nobody can find it, South Dakota is the place to go—or so recent reporting in the Pandora Papers has suggested. The state’s lax regulations have made it possible for all kinds of unsavory characters to protect unthinkable sums from taxes or scrutiny. Is it time to make South Dakota just go away? On episode 37 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene discuss how the United States has become a tax haven and what would help solve the problem. Guests include Timothy Noah, a staff writer at The New Republic; Chuck Collins, the author of Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions; and Casey Michel, whose new book, American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the World’s Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History, will be published in November.

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Succession’s White-Collar Criminals Oct 13, 2021

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The acclaimed TV series Succession isa comedic drama about a handful of monstrously rich, often monstrous people fighting over who will succeed the patriarch in running the family business. But is Succession also a crime show? On Episode 36 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with Jennifer Taub, the author of Big Dirty Money: Making White Collar Criminals Pay, about what the show gets right about how we deal with white-collar crime as a society. Daniel D’Addario, the chief television critic at Variety, discusses how the series treats politics—and the money behind the political scenes.

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