Living in the USA

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It’s not just AIPAC that’s after Squad member and incumbent representative running for New York’s 16th congressional district, Jamaal Bowman – Hillary Clinton has just endorsed his opponent, George Latimer – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: On May 31, Joe Biden declared, “It is time for this war to end.” But the leaders of both Israel and Hamas seem content for the war in Gaza to grind on into the indefinite future. Hussein Ibish explains why.

Plus: From the archives: The Holocaust was not just murder on a mass-scale, it was a huge organizational undertaking that required vast amounts of information. IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation, documents the technology services rendered by US-based multinational corporation International Business Machines (IBM) and its German and other European subsidiaries for the government of Adolf Hitler – author, investigative journalist and historian Edwin Black discusses this history (first recorded May, 2001).  6-20-2024

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Male Trump voters tend to have what researches call ‘precarious manhood’ – determined by the frequency of their search terms for things such as: “penis enlargement” “Viagra” and “hair restoration” – Harold Meyerson comments

Also: The Israel lobby AIPAC is spending millions to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman in the New York state Democratic primary. That’s because he called for a permanent ceasefire back in October, and describes what’s happening in Gaza now as “an ongoing genocide.” Alan Minsky has our analysis of the campaign – he’s Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America.

Plus: The Trump verdict and women voters: Exit polls have consistently shown women voting Democratic, and men voting Republican – especially with Trump. How much wider will the Gender Gap get, now that Trump has been found guilty-of lying about having had sex with a porn star? Katha Pollitt will comment.  6-13-2024

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What happened to the immediate Gaza cease-fire that Biden called for last week? Last Wednesday, Israel’s national security advisor said that he expected Israel’s war on Gaza would continue at least until the end of the year – if not longer. Harold Meyerson comments.

Next: The punditocracy has been arguing that the guilty verdicts in the Trump trial won’t matter much in the election – Marc Cooper disagrees, and explains what’s wrong about the conventional wisdom.

Plus: Jordan Peterson’s books of advice for men have sold five million copies – he says men should work hard, be responsible, demand more of themselves—and make their beds.” Katha Pollitt comments.  6-6-2024

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Almost 3,000 students have been arrested at more than 60 college campuses protesting American support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Schools have a responsibility to maintain order. But they must not sacrifice the principles of free speech that are core to their educational mission. How have they been doing? Ben Wizner comments. He’s Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.

Next: Kenya finally is sending 1000 police officers to Haiti on what is called a “UN security mission,” and Joe Biden held a gala state dinner honoring the president of Kenya for doing it. Amy Wilentz will comment on what she calls “the Devils’ Ball.”

Plus: Since Roe was overturned, pregnant people seeking medication abortions in red states have found help from providers operating at the edge of the law. Amy Littlefield reports.  5-30-2024

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Recent polls show Biden’s level of support among non-college voters of all races is down to 39% – that’s 9 points less than his level of support from those same voters in the 2020 election – Harold Meyerson comments.

Next: Democrats in the Senate are going to lose the seat vacated by Joe Manchin in West Virginia – can they hold all the others in November? John Nichols has our analysis, starting with Maryland, where Democrat Angela Alsobrooks will face Republican “moderate” Larry Hogan, the popular anti-Trump former governor.

Plus: The wonderful writer Margo Jefferson talks about “Constructing a Nervous System” – her memoir about growing up in a middle-class Black family in Chicago. (First recorded in April 2022)  5-23-2024

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The most important event in the history of Israel and Palestine was not the 1948 founding of Israel and the Nakba, or Israel’s 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories. It was the outlawing of immigration of Jews (and others) to the US from Russia, Poland, and Eastern and Southern Europe. That was the purpose of the immigration restriction act passed by Congress in May, 1924, 100 years ago this month. Without that, the Jews of Europe would never have moved to Palestine, Harold Meyerson argues.

Also: The New Yorker’s award-winning climate writer Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her fascinating new book, “H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.’”

Plus: Judith Butler may be the most famous feminist theorist in the world today. Now Butler has a new book out, with the provocative title, “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” Katha Pollitt provides a critique.  5-16-2024

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Lots of pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses have been attacked by local police, but UCLA was different: a pro-Israel mob attacked the encampment on April 30.  The attack continued for three hours before police stepped in, and they didn’t arrest any of the attackers.  The next night, the police themselves attacked and shut down the encampment.  David Myers has our report.

Also: There’s no doubt that Israeli women and girls were raped during the Hamas attack on Oct. 7; but there is little evidence to support Israel’s charge that rape was a “premediated, systematic” strategy by Hamas—offererd as a justification for their destruction of Gaza and killing 35,000 civilians.  At the same time, evidence is growing of sexual abuse of Palestinian women held in detention by Israel.  Azadeh Moaveni reports on the findings of her reporting for the LRB.

Plus: There are two kinds of insecurity in our lives today, Astra Taylor argues: existential insecurity, the unavoidable issues of life and death, and manufactured insecurity—intended to make workers more submissive to authority. Communal action can do a lot to reduce that. Her book is “The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together As Things Fall Apart.”  (First broadcast in September, 2023.)  5-7-2024

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On Tuesday, April 30, UCLA failed to protect students when 200 pro-Israel militants — who were not students — attacked the pro-Palestine encampment on campus. On Wednesday, thousands of pro-Palestine supporters gathered outside Royce hall; and during the early morning hours on Thursday, May 2, police raided the pro-Palestine encampment themselves and made over 200 arrests. Harold Meyerson contrasts UCLA’s treatment of peaceful protests against Israel’s destruction of Gaza with that of other US universities (recorded after Tuesday, before the Thursday morning raid).

Also: Rural America is Trump country. In 2016, Hillary got barely 30 percent of the rural vote. Biden did only a little better in 2020. But he can do a lot better than that this year — and he needs to, if he’s going to carry some of the swing states. Anthony Flaccavento will explain — he’s co-founder and executive director of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative.

Plus: Arthur Danto visits Las Vegas — not to gamble, but to look at the art. Arthur was an American art critic, philosopher, and professor at Columbia University. He died in October 25, 2013. (This interview was recorded in March 2000.)  5-2-2024

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History was made last Friday in Chattanooga, when  workers at Volkswagen’s factory there voted to join the United Auto Workers — by an overwhelming margin, 73 to 27 percent. This was the first major union victory in the South in many decades, and it may mark the rebirth of a powerful union movement. Harold Meyerson comments; he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.

Plus: Transforming the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to meet today’s realities: a federation, something like the European Union.  That’s the project of the visionary group A Land for All. May Pundak, co-executive director, explains.  4-25-2024

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Opposition to Biden’s unqualified military support for Netanyahu now includes the center of the Democratic party. That reminds some people of 1968 – Harold Meyerson comments.

Also: Trump has had a very bad week – in court, in the polls, on the stock market. John Nichols explains.

Plus:: TV right now is featuring several prestige historical dramas.  John Powers compares and contrasts two shows that feature Asians at the center rather than white men: “The Sympathizer,” centering on a spy for the Communists in Vietnam and then n California in the seventies, with “Shogun,” about feuding 17th century Japanese warlords.  John is critic at large for Fresh Air with Terry Gross.  4-17-2024