Living in the USA

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Harold Meyerson analyzes the Republican failure to elect a Speaker of the House – and what it tells us about the future of the new Congress.

Teaching Assistants and other grad student employees at the University of California won a historic victory in their strike last month. What does that mean for other universities and other union organizing campaigns? Nelson Lichtenstein joins the show to comment.

Also this week, Andrew Bacevich talks about our “very long war” going back to the sixties, and the relative insignificance of Donald Trump. Bacevich’s new book is On Shedding an Obsolete Past: Bidding Farewell to the American Century.  1-5-2023

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For our end-of year show we are featuring some of our favorite book segments from 2022, starting with Elie Mystal, The Nation’s Justice Correspondent, who says our constitution is not good.  His new book is “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.”

Plus: “Bad Mexicans” – that’s what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border against the robber barons and their political allies. UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells that story, and talks about her book on race, empire, and revolution in the borderlands.

Also: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage explains; Her book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century.”  12-29-2022

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For our end-of year show we are featuring some of our favorite book segments from 2022, starting with Elie Mystal, The Nation’s Justice Correspondent, who says our constitution is not good.  His new book is “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.”

Plus: “Bad Mexicans” – that’s what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border against the robber barons and their political allies. UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells that story, and talks about her book on race, empire, and revolution in the borderlands.

Also: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage explains; Her book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century.”  12-29-2022

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The biggest strike in the country this year, and the biggest in the history of American universities, may be over– after five weeks of picketing and protests, the union representing 48,000 grad student employees at the University of California announced a settlement offer by the university, and members are voting this week. Nelson Lichtenstein has our analysis.

Also: For our holiday show, we want to talk about the Christmas Truce of World War I — it’s a unique event in the history of modern warefare.  Adam Hochschild will explain.

Plus, our Christmas music special: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album, “Christmas in the Heart”,  ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz–he’s the official historian at the official website BobDylan.com, and he also teaches American history at Princeton.  12-22-2022

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The new mayor in LA, Karen Bass, the former community organizer and former head of the Congressional Black caucus, LA’s first woman mayor, was sworn in on Sunday, and her first act was to declare a state of emergency to address homelessness.  Harold Meyerson comments.

plus: In the biggest strike in the nation this year, the strike by University of California graduate student employees, one group of strikers—the postdocs–settled, and another agreed to go into mediation—the Teaching Assistants, who are refusing to grade final exams for tens of thousands of students. Nelson Lichtenstein has our report.

Also: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage explains; Her new book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of the American Century.”  12-15-2022

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National Politics after the Raphael Warnock victory in Georgia – Harold Meyerson comments. Also, the UAW after the UC strike.

Plus: historian Nelson Lichtenstein on the divide-and-conquer strategy of the University of California administration in facing grad student employees on strike.  12-9-2022

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Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought here by their undocumented parents since 2007 are not eligible for DACA. But now they are eligible for jobs–at the University of California. UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham explains.

Also: The left has hated J. Edgar Hoover for a hundred years ever since the Palmer Raids of 1919, the attacks on radicals that began his career. Now there’s a terrific new biography of Hoover, called “G-Man” – the author is Beverly Gage.

Also: the fight against air pollution in the port communities of Los Angeles, where 300,000 people, mostly Latino, live next door to oil refineries, chemical facilities,  and one of the largest oilfields in the nation. For decades they’ve been fighting for basic rights and a cleaner environment.  Eliza Moreno has that story.  12-1-2022

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48,000 Grad student employees at the University of California are on strike in the largest strike in the history of higher education and the largest strike anywhere in the US this year. But how come the auto workers’ union represents teaching assistants and research assistants? Harold Meyerson explains.

Plus: For Thanksgiving we chat with Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries, a beacon of hope for young men in LA coming out of gangs and prison. (originally broadcast in January, 2018).  11-25-2022

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How the best Democratic candidates won – Harold Meyerson comments. Also, the inevitable announcement from Donald Trump.

Plus: LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano on the defeat of sheriff Alex Villaneuva, Rick Caruso’s campaign for Latino votes, and red-baiting in Orange County.

Also: Joan Walsh of The Nation says Herschel Walker looks like a loser in the Georgia senate runoff.  11-17-2022

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Barack Obama lost 63 seats in his first midterm. Trump lost 40. Biden will lose 6 or 8. How did the Dems do it? Harold Meyerson has been thinking about that.

Also, The Nation‘s top political writers analyze the good, the bad, and the ugly of the midterm elections, and find keys to building a winning coalition for 2024: D.D. Guttenplan, Elie Mystal, Joan Walsh, John Nichols, and Chris Lehmann.  11-10-2022