LA’s Political Scandals: Harold Meyerson; Bryce Covert on Nurses’ Strikes; John Powers on “The Trees”

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LA’s political scandal is about the racism of some Latino politicians. Harold Meyerson has the big picture: Ethnic succession is the history of urban politics in the US. In America today, progressives need ethnic and racial alliances, and the participants in this taped conversation have to go.

Also: Nurses have taken the lead in the wave of this year’s labor activism. The largest private-sector nurses’ strike in American history took place recently in Minnesota. Bryce Covert reports a key front in the fight for better health care in America.

Plus: There’s a novel, which is sort of about the murder of Emmett Till in Money Mississippi in 1955, written by a professor at USC, that’s been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The author is Percival Everett, and the book is called “The Trees.” John Powers comments. (originally broadcast in October 2021).  10-13-2022

Nurses on Strike, plus Women Lawyers who Challenged Trump: Bryce Covert on hospitals, plus Dahlia Litwick on the Courts

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Nurses have taken the lead in the wave of this year’s labor activism. The largest private-sector nurses’ strike in American history took place recently in Minnesota – 15,000 nurses walked off the job for three days in the Twin Cities and the Twin Ports. Other nurses threatened strikes in half a dozen other places. Bryce Covert reports a key front in the fight for better health care in America.

Plus: Dahlia Lithwick talks about some of the heroes of the Trump years: the women lawyers who fought him on the big issues—the Muslim ban, neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, and voting rights. Her new book is “Lady Justice.”  10-6-2022

Bernie in 2024? Bhaskar Sunkara; The Senate campaigns: John Nichols; The Brooks Brothers Riot: Chris Lehmann

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Should Bernie Sanders run in the Democratic primaries in 2024? Bhaskar Sunkara, President of The Nation, says “yes” IF Biden doesn’t. Sanders transformed American politics and, Bhaskar argues, he remains a uniquely important figure for Democrats and the left.

Plus: can Republicans win control of the Senate? Trump’s candidates are the GOP’s biggest problem, starting in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. The Nation’s National Affairs Correspondent, John Nichols has our analysis.

Also: 20 years before the January 6 attack on the capitol, a Republican mob attacked a central hub of government operations claiming the vote count in the presidential election that year was fraudulent, trying to reverse the results. That was the “Brooks Brothers Riot” in Miami, a Republican effort long before Trump. The Nation’s DC Bureau Chief, Chris Lehmann reviews that history.  10-6-2022

Ivanka in Jared’s book: TLS letter

“Michael Wolff’s wonderful review of Jared Kushner’s memoir says “everyone hated Jared” (September 9). But what about Ivanka?”
Letter to the TLS, Times Literary Supplement, Oct. 7, 2022,
Here:   https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-decline-of-metaphysics/

Ken Burns Gets at the Nasty Underbelly of American History – THENATION.COM

David Nasaw in conversation with Jon Wiener on the new PBS documentary The U.S. and the Holocaust.

Jon Wiener:  Before I saw the new Ken Burns documentary, I thought, “We already know this history. We’ve been reading about it our whole lives.” Ken Burns knows that. He’s got one of his historian experts, Daniel Mendelsohn, saying, “You think you’ve heard it all, but trust me: you haven’t.” I ended up agreeing with him completely. I found the show riveting. What did you think?

David Nasaw:  I agree totally. I began watching it almost as a duty. I didn’t think I was going to learn anything, or be nearly as moved as I was. It is an extraordinary accomplishment. It comes at the right time. I hope it gets the widest possible viewing, that it makes its way into high schools and colleges. It’s remarkable, especially because it gets at the nasty underbelly of American history.

… continued at TheNation.com, HERE   9-29-2022

 

Can the Democrats hold the Senate? Plus Ken Burns’s “Holocaust”

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Can Republicans win control of the Senate? Trump’s candidates are the GOP’s biggest problem, starting in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin. The Nation’s National Affairs Correspondent, John Nichols has our analysis.

Also on this week’s episode of the Start Making Sense podcast, a discussion about Ken Burns’ new documentary on PBS, “The US and the Holocaust.” Historian David Nasaw comes on the show to discuss why the film may be the most politically engaged and relevant work of Burns’ career.  9-29-2022

The Youth Vote: Harold Meyerson; Ken Burns’s ‘Holocaust’: David Nasaw; ‘Bad Mexicans’: Kelly Lytle Hernandez

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To increase young voters’ turnout, we need to appeal not only to abortion rights but also to economic issues, Harold Meyerson concludes after reading the polls.

Also: Ken Burns’ new documentary on PBS, “The US and the Holocaust,” searches for heroes and happy endings – but there aren’t any, Historian David Nasaw argues.

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, which is the subject of https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324004370 (her new book)–it’s been long-listed for the National Book Award.  9-29-2022

 

Bhaskar Sunkara: Bernie in 2024? plus Chris Lehmann on the Brooks Brothers Riot

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Should Bernie Sanders run in the Democratic primaries in 2024? President of The Nation, Bhaskar Sunkara says “yes” IF Biden doesn’t. Sanders transformed American politics and, Bhaskar argues, he remains a uniquely important figure for Democrats and the left.

Also: 20 years before the January 6 attack on the capitol, a Republican mob attacked a central hub of government operations claiming the vote count in the presidential election that year was fraudulent, trying to reverse the results. That was the “Brooks Brothers Riot” in Miami, a Republican effort long before Trump. On this week’s episode of Start Making SenseThe Nation’s DC Bureau Chief, Chris Lehmann reviews that history.  9-22-2022

Gustavo Arellano on L.A.’s Lying Sheriff; Eyal Press on Dirty Work; Eric Foner on 1776 & 2022

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We’re still thinking about LA County Sheriff Alex Villaneuva ordering a raid on the home of Sheila Kuehl last Wednesday–she’s one of the county supervisors who has called for his resignation. He says she’s the target of an investigation of corruption in the award of contracts by the supervisors – but he says all kinds of things, many of which are lies. Gustavo Arellano reports – he’s a columnist for the LA Times.

Plus: Dirty work—and the people who do it: the low-income workers who do our most ethically troubled jobs. What does that have to do with the rest of us? Eyal Press will explain—his book “Dirty Work” is out now in paperback.

Also:Historian Eric Foner comments on the ways Republicans have made the teaching of American history a key battleground in their culture war against Democrats in the upcoming elections —especially the history of the American revolution.

And we’ll also have Your Minnesota Moment: the Pillow Guy and the FBI.  9-22-2022

Sarah Posner on the Conservative Takeover of the Southern Baptists, plus Amy Wilentz on Jared

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The transformation of the Southern Baptist Convention into a powerful right wing political force developed over the last 50 years. Before 1973, when abortion became a constitutional right, the Southern Baptists did not have a political position on abortion. Then came what they call the “conservative resurgence”—we call it the “fundamentalist takeover.” Sarah Posner explains that history. Her book “Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind” is out now in paperback.

Also on this episode, a new installment of The Children’s Hour: stories about Ivanka, Jared, Don Junior and Little Eric. This week: Jared writes a book! He called it “Breaking History.” We have comment from our Chief Jared Correspondent, Amy Wilentz.  9-15-2022