Mike Davis: Climate Change, Extreme Fires, and White Flight plus Rennie Davis on ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7′

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Mike Davis argues that climate change is bringing “extinction events” to native land cover around the world. Extreme fires are one of the main forces bringing this apocalypse—spurred in places like California by white flight among Trump supporters to high-fire-danger areas.
Also: The new Aaron Sorkin film, Trial of the Chicago 7, opened on Netflix this past weekend. Of course it’s about the 1969 trial of leaders of the antiwar movement, including Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Rennie Davis—and we have Rennie Davis as a guest. He was the New Left’s most talented organizer, and he talks about the film and the real history of those protests—and also politics today.  10-21-20

Disputed elections, past and present: Eric Foner; David Byrne’s utopia: Ella Taylor

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Maybe the November election will have a big enough vote for Biden so that it can’t be challenged in court; maybe the Republicans won’t dispute the outcome. But maybe they will – we’ve had other disputed elections in our history — of course we had the Supreme Court stopping the count in Florida in 2000–and there was another one, much less well known–the election of 1876. For some comparisons we turn to Eric Foner — he’s won the Pulitzer prize, the Bancroft Prize and the Lincoln prize for his work, most of which has been about Reconstruction.
Also: making music together in a dark time: that’s David Byrne’s utopia. there’s a movie about it, and it’s playing now on HBO Max: “American Utopia.” Ella Taylor comments. 10-23-20

Can ‘herd immunity’ lead to ‘re-opening America’? Gregg Gonsalves on Covid-19, plus Allissa Richardson on Black Cell-Phone Videos

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A group of scientists are calling it “The Great Barrington declaration”—a strategy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic by age-targeted reopening. The advocates call it “focused protection”; they say it would create herd immunity. Gregg Gonsalves argues that it will not—and that “we can do better.”
Also: Cell-phone videos of police killing Black people have had an immense political impact over the last couple of years. Allissa Richardson comments on the videos and the new Black protest journalism, based largely on Twitter. Her new book is Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism. 10-14-20

The fight for voting by mail: Pramila Jayapal; “Trial of the Chicago 7”: Ella Taylor

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When Attorney General Bill Barr told the House Judiciary Committee recently that voting by mail on a large scale presented a “high risk” for “massive voter fraud,” Pramila Jayapal challenged him—with evidence. She’s co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she represents Seattle, and she talks about the fight against Trump for voting by mail. Her new book is Her new book is “Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change.”
Plus: The new Aaron Sorkin film, “Trial of the Chicago 7,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, opens on Netlfix Friday–Ella Taylor comments on the film, and on other political films of the week.  10-16-20

Pence’s Lies in The VP Debate: Harold Meyerson; Lessons from Ohio: Sherrod Brown; Alex Gibney’s Covid-19 doc: Ella Taylor; John Lennon tribute

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Pence faced an impossible task in the VP debate Wednesday night – defending Trump’s inaction on the pandemic; but Kamala Harris also faced challenges: she couldn’t be an angry black woman. Harold Meyerson comments.
also: Ohio SenatorSherrod Brown talks politics and history, and the lessons Biden should learn from his recent reelection in Ohio, where he won by 8 points in a state Hillary lost by 6.
plus: “Totally Under Control” is Alex Gibney’s powerful new documentary on Trump’s Covid-19 failures – Ella Taylor comments.
Finally, we remember John Lennon – tomorrow, Oct. 9, would have been his 80th birthday.  10-8-2020

Trump Gets the Best Medical Care While Working to End Healthcare for Tens of Millions: Amy Wilentz on Covid-19, plus Ari Berman on Voting Rights

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When Trump left Walter Reed hospital, he tweeted “don’t be afraid of Covid-19.” Amy Wilentz disagrees, and argues that, while the president got the best medical care in the world—which we would want for any president—at the same time he’s trying to abolish Obamacare, which provides healthcare for tens of millions of Americans.
Also: Ari Berman talks about voting rights and voter suppression, about the voter protection efforts of the Biden campaign and the Democratic Party, and about recent Supreme Court decisions on voting rights cases.  10-7-2020

Republicans Needed this Debate like a Hole in the Head: Harold Meyerson, plus Ella Taylor on Political Women on TV

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Trump made no attempt in the first debate to win over undecideds- so what WAS his plan? And what is to be done to make future debates more bearable? Harold Meyerson comments.
Plus: Ella Taylor on women in politics on TV this week: “Mrs. America” with Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly; “The Glorias,” with Julianne Moore as Gloria Steinem, and “All In,” a voting rights documentary featuring Stacey Abrams.  1-01-2020

That Terrible Debate: John Nichols, plus Katha Pollitt on Melania

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Biden debated Trump on Tuesday night—John Nichols has our analysis, and suggests that it may be the Republicans who pull out of the remaining debates, given the damage their candidate did to his candidacy and the rest of the Republican candidates.
Also: Remember the days of the hashtag “Free Melania”? Remember how we said she was a hostage in the White House? Now there’s a book that says we were all wrong about that—Katha Pollitt talks about Stephanie Winston Wolkoff’s “tell-not-quite-all,” Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady.  9/30/2020