Living in the USA

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Black Votes Matter — in Ferguson: A federal trial challenging the city’s discriminatory election system is underway. ARI BERMAN reports—he’s The Nation’s expert on voting rights struggles, past and present.

Also: Feminists and Hillary, for and against: LIZA FEATHERSTONE and KATHA POLLITT consider whether Hillary or Bernie offers the most promise, especially for poor and working women.

Plus: The Gay Revolution: LILLIAN FADERMAN explores the 50-year fight for gay, lesbian, and trans civil rights—the years of outrageous injustice, the early battles, the heart-breaking defeats, and the victories beyond the dreams of the gay rights pioneers.  Her new book is The Gay Revolution.

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Katha Pollitt says feminists should vote for Hillary–she’s good for women, and, unlike Bernie, she can get elected.
But Liza Featherstone says feminists should not vote for Hillary—her record is full of attacks on poor women, starting with “welfare reform.”

And Tavis Smiley talks about Martin Luther King’s last year—the year that began with his speech condemning the war in Vietnam, where he called the US “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”
Tavis’s book, Death of a King: The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year, is out now in paperback.

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In Obama’s final State of the Union speech, he condemned anti-Muslim bigotry and argued for action on climate change. JOHN NICHOLS of The Nation will comment.

And we’ll also talk about DAVID BOWIE, who died earlier this week. PLAYLIST: “Heroes”— recorded in Berlin, about the Berlin wall; “Young Americans,” with the unforgettable line “Do you remember/Your President Nixon?”; “Fame” – the song he wrote and recorded with John Lennon.  READ John Nichols on David Bowie HERE.

Plus: How a small number of people can accomplish great things–and change history. We’ll speak with ERIC FONER about the hidden history of the underground railroad—his book Gateway to Freedom is out in paperback now.

Also,  RICK PERLSTEIN  says The attempt to cover up the police killing of Laquan McDonald in Chicago ought to end Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s career.

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The attempt to cover up the police killing of Laquan McDonald in Chicago ought to end Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s career, says Rick Perlstein, who reviews Rahm’s life in politics going back to the Clinton era and Obama’s first term.

Also: It’s the first anniversary of the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Charb, the editor-in-chief, finished a manifesto two days before he was killed; we have comment from Amy Wilentz and Adam Gopnik—he wrote the forward to Charb’s book.

Plus: Dolpo Radio, with Rebecca Solnit—she went hiking in the remote Dolpo region of Nepal to help with a traveling medical clinic and to see what climate change looked like in the Himalayas.

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Barbara Ehrenreich talks about the alarming rise in the death rate of middle-aged white working-class men, who are committing suicide and dying of drug overdoses and alcoholism–or else voting for Donald Trump.  But is there another path?

Also: Harold Meyerson says if you want to understand exactly what caused the evisceration of the American middle class, you have to follow the money—and look at the fundamental redefinition of the corporate mission that has transformed U.S. business over the past 35 years.
READ  Harold at The American Prospect, HERE.

Plus: Kenneth Turan of the LA Times talks about “The Big Short”:  A true crime story and a wild  comedy, a heist film and a movie with a message, “The Big Short” tells the story of “outsiders who saw the giant lie at the heart of the economy.”  READ Turan’s review HERE – WATCH the trailer HERE.

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The great GORE VIDAL: before he died in 2012, Vidal asked JAY PARINI to write his biography. The book is out now: Empire of Self—Jay says he wanted to “look at the angel and the monster alike.”
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Also: JOHN POWERS reports on Canada’s popular new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has already welcomed Syrian refugees—and defended the Alberta tar sands. John writes about politics and film for Vogue and Vogue.Com, and is editor-at-large on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, where he has an audience of four million listeners.

Plus: the best of the year 2015: TAVIS SMILEY on Martin Luther King’s last year: it was “hell.”  That was 1967, the year his speech criticising the Vietnam war was denounced not only by the mainstream media—the NY Times called it “disastrous and self-defeating”—but also by most of black America as well. Tavis’s book is DEATH OF A KING:The Real Story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final Year.  (Originally broadcast 2/4/15)

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The most valuable activist, the biggest ideological comeback, the best newspaper front page, and more: JOHN NICHOLS presents The Nation’s Progressive Honor Roll for 2015–the season’s most unusual “best” list.

Also: guns in America: what is to be done? AMY WILENTZ comments—starting with her friend who keeps his guns under his bed.

Plus: The great GORE VIDAL: before he died in 2012, Vidal asked JAY PARINI to write his biography. The book is out now: Empire of Self—Jay says he wanted to “look at the angel and the monster alike.”

Listen online HERE
American Muslims, according to ISIS, are “hypocrites” who occupy “the grey zone” between their Caliphate and their enemies, “the Crusaders”: LAILA LALAMI explains–she wrote the novel The Moor’s Account, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Literature.

Also: TOM LUTZ reports on his trip to Minsk, in Belarus, just before the city’s greatest writer, Svetlana Alexievich, won the Nobel Prize for Literature for her oral history of Chernobyl.
Tom is editor-in-chief of the LA Review of Books.  (One more thing: He did NOT go from Minsk to Pinsk.)

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On this week’s podcast, Barbara Ehrenreich talks about the alarming rise in the death rate of middle-aged white working class men, who are committing suicide and dying of drug overdoses and alcoholism.

Also: Rebecca Solnit explains the amazing Paris climate agreement, along with the not-so-amazing parts—and talks about the tasks facing the environmental movement now.

And John Powers reports on Canada’s popular new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who has already welcomed Syrian refugees—and defended the Alberta tar sands.
Podcast home page HERE

Listen online HERE  iTunes podcast HERE
On this week’s podcast, Laila Lalami says ISIS wants to eliminate what they call “the grey zone” between their Caliphate and “the Crusaders,” even though that’s where most of the world’s Muslims live.

Also: Joan Walsh talks about the real reason we don’t have gun control: far-right fantasies about Obama coming to take your guns.

And we remember Chernobyl, thanks to the greatest writer about that disaster, Svetlana Alexievich—she was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature this week. Amy Wilentz and Tom Lutz comment.