Reasons for Hope in 2024: John Nichols, plus the Bill Gates Problem: Tim Schwab

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Hope is different from optimism – it’s an embrace of uncertainty, and a basis for action. The polls look bad for Joe Biden, but Democrats’ chances are much brighter in the House, and perhaps the Senate. John Nichols talks about reasons for hope in 2024, starting in the tipping point state of 2020, Wisconsin.

Also: Bill Gates is now the 6th richest man in the world, with 104 billion dollars. He’s spent the last 20 years giving away some of his money – the Gates Foundation gave away $7 billion in 2022. But with the money comes a host of problems. Tim Schwab will explain; his new book has a great title: “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire.”

Transcript HERE  01-04-2023

Dread and Hope in 2024: Harold Meyerson; Political forecast: John Nichols; Bill Gates:Tim Schwab

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For many,​ the upcoming presidential election ​is a source of dread and pessimism. Harold Meyerson talks about sources of hope in 202​4 – including Trump’s upcoming trial for attempted insurrection and the promise of ongoing progressive political action by America’s youth.

​Also: Hope is different from optimism – it’s an embrace of uncertainty, and a basis for action. The polls look bad for Joe Biden, but Democrats’ chances are much brighter in the House, and perhaps the Senate. John Nichols talks about reasons for hope in 2024, starting in the tipping point state of 2020, Wisconsin.

​Plus: Bill Gates is now the 6th richest man in the world, with 104 billion dollars. He’s spent the last 20 years giving away some of his money​ – the Gates Foundation gave away $7 billion in 2022. But with the money comes a host of problems. Tim Schwab will explain; his new book has a great title: “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire.”  01-04-2024

Katha Pollitt’s End-of-Year Giving List, plus Bob Dylan’s Xmas Album

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Our holiday giving list: Katha Pollitt presents her list of groups that need—and deserve—our support: Gaza aid, abortion assistance, and organizing against Trump.

Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album 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 BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.

Transcript HERE  12-28-2023

End-of-year Giving: Katha Pollitt; the Xmas Truce of 1914: Adam Hochschild; Bob Dylan’s Xmas: Sean Wilentz

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Our holiday giving list: Katha Pollitt presents her list of groups that need—and deserve—our support: Gaza aid, abortion assistance, and organizing against Trump.

Also: On Christmas Day, 1914, after five months of unparalleled industrial-scale slaughter, British and German soldiers stopped fighting and exchanged gifts, sang Christmas carols, and played soccer. It’s a unique event in the history of modern warfare. Adam Hochschild​ comments – originally recorded on the 100th anniversary in 2014.

Plus: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album 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 BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.  12-28-2-23

Feminists and rape: the case of Hamas; plus Moms for Liberty

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Why have American feminist groups been slow to condemn rapes of Israeli women and girls by Hamas? That’s the question posed by Katha Pollitt, The Nation’s award-winning columnist.

Also: They call it “the parents’ rights movement.” We call it a culture war against public education. It failed as a Republican election strategy in 2023, but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis – she’s president of the AFT.

Transcript HERE  12-21-2023

Class struggle in 2023: Harold Meyerson; Hamas and rape: Katha Pollitt; schools and politics: Randi Weingarten; plus Arthur Danto on Las Vegas

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Harold Meyerson comments on the Colorado supreme court’s ruling that the constitution prohibits Trump from serving as president because he participated in an insurrection. Also – class struggle in 2023 – the year in review.

Plus: Why have some feminists been reluctant even to acknowledge that Hamas members raped Israeli women and girls on Oct. 7? Katha Pollitt comments.

Also: “parents rights” failed as a Republican political tactic in the 2023 elections – but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis – she’s president of the AFT.

And from the archives: Arthur Danto on art in Las Vegas. This segment was recorded in 2000.  12-21-2023

Democrats are Sleepwalking Toward a Trump Victory; plus Israel’s future

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Joe Biden has historic achievements as president, but polls show him to be the candidate least able to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Democrats need someone else to run and an open primary. Harold Meyerson is editor-at-large of The American Prospect, and he joins the show to make the case for Biden to not run again.

Also on this episode: What conditions are needed for an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank? David Myers – professor of Jewish history at UCLA and contributor to the LA Times, the Forward, and the Atlantic – is on the podcast to comment on what it would take to get to Palestinian self-determination.

Transcript HERE  12-14-2023

The Palestinian Future: David Myers; Democrats are Sleepwalking toward disaster: Harold Meyerson; “Rebel Cinderella”: Adam Hochschild

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The War against Gaza: How we got here, where we need to go: David Myers comments. Also: The left in Israel today.

Also: Joe Biden has historic achievements as president, but polls show him to be the candidate least able to defeat Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Democrats need someone else to run and an open primary. Harold Meyerson will argue that Biden must not run again.

Plus: the story of an immigrant sweatshop worker who became one of the most charismatic radical leaders of the early 20th century.  Rose Pastor Stokes has been forgotten, but Adam Hochschild tells her amazing story: his book about her is titled “Rebel Cinderella.”  12-14-2023

The Israeli Left Today – THE NATION

A Q& A with David Myers, Distinguished Professor and Kahn Professor of Jewish History at UCLA.  He’s written for the Los Angeles Times Op-Ed page, The Forward, and The Atlantic.

Jon Wiener: The Netanyahu government has no plan for what happens after its war in Gaza. We know we need a genuine political solution to what Edward Said called “the Question of Palestine.”

David Myers: The existing paradigms seem to be two states or one state, both of which have been widely discredited. This is a time when we have to push towards greater political imagination in thinking about what exists between two and one…

… continued at The Nation, HERE 12-14-2023

Randi Weingarten on the Peace Movement in Israel; Gary Younge on ‘Rustin’

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Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, spent Thanksgiving weekend in Israel; she reports on meetings with shared society groups and peace movement leaders, and on the role of the US in bringing not just peace but equality and justice to Palestinians.

Also: Who was Bayard Rustin before the 1963 March on Washington? Gary Younge comments on the remarkable life of a gay Black pacifist and former communist, the subject of a new biopic on Netflix, ‘Rustin.’ Gary wrote “The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Dream.”

Transcript HERE  12-7-2023