OK Talks

In this episode, I summarize some of the early results of the 2022 midterm elections (and why I'm less depressed about them than I expected to be), and analyze some of the implications (again, mostly negative, but not as bad as anticipated) of those results. Views very much my own.

In this episode, a sick and tired Oliver recaps several global bad news stories for the future of Democracy, including Ukraine, Israel, Brazil, and the US in the context of the midterms. I also engage in some unsubtle eye-rolling at the state of the debate around inflation. Views very much my own.

2022 has been a rough year for women’s rights. In this second of a two-part episode in which I discuss this fact, I wrap up the US side of things, and look at a few other flashpoints around the world this year re women’s rights – Iran, Afghanistan, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Views very much my own. For those who have listened looking for links I mentioned, here are: - Masih Alinejad’s sp...

2022 has, in many ways, been a rough year for women's rights. In this episode, I begin that discussion, to be continued into a future part II, addressing the end of a nationally-protected right to abortion in the United States, the radicalism of the anti-abortion movement, and a bit of the background of how opposition to abortion became a galvanizing issue for the evangelical Christian extreme rig...

As the Russians formally annex four regions in Ukraine, I'm joined by Katya Firsova, who, hailing from one of those four regions which has been occupied by the Russians for the last eight years, shares her experience of what it's like living in a territory that's been illegally occupied by a hostile foreign power. Views are our own.

In a typically deranged speech complete with unsubtle nuclear saber-rattling, the Russian leader announced sham referendums in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, and the mobilization of 300,000 additional Russian soldiers to escalate his vicious, illegal, and thoroughly unjustified invasion of Ukraine. I discuss this breaking news, some of its implications, and points from the glorious dear l...

In this episode, I discuss another batch of good news for fans of liberal democracy, starting with good economic news in the US and how that relates to slightly less dim prospects for the upcoming midterm elections, President Biden's broadside against fascism in America, and Ukraine's stunning victories in taking back parts of their northeastern territory. Views very much just my own and not repre...

In this episode, I reflect on the tragic significance of Mikhail Gorbachev's recent passing - his impaction the world (particularly those parts whose fate is in someway attached to that of Russia), and how that looks now. Views very much my own.

Sorry for the absence! In this episode I explain why I disappeared, and that I'm hoping to bring OK Talks back in some form. I also reflect on some positive recent developments in the news. The views expressed on OK Talks are very much just my own.

In this episode, I look at Democrats narrow loss in last week's elections in Virginia. I discuss the context for that defeat, ranging from President Biden's temporarily low approval numbers (I go especially into detail on the Afghanistan of it all), to the Republican candidate's success in channeling what I think is voters broad concern about the excesses of the PC movement into the issue of "educ...

In this episode, I channel a bit of personal resentment grounded in some facts of life in Barcelona, where I live, to discuss why crime hurts the left and center-left politically in the US and in other democracies around the world. I focus on the importance of addressing the deep need for police reform while also taking crime seriously and proposing some solutions that feel a bit more concrete in...

In this episode, I discuss the reality that America's two political parties are held to a drastically different set of standards. From willingness to tank the US economy just to make their opponents look bad while claiming to be SuperPatriots, to complete disregard for the moral standards they set in their frequent pronouncements of extreme religiosity, the modern Republican Party puts on a clinic...

Despite clearly being in the majority in the US voting populace, the Democrats are often frustratingly bad at getting power, and then wielding it when they manage to. In contrast, the Republicans are ruthless and creative in the pursuit and exercise of power to implement their (mainly bad) policy ideas. ...that's terrible, and I basically complain about that reality in this episode.

In this brief episode, I reflect on 9/11, where we are 20 years later, and the tragic loss and sacrifice that started that day and has continued since.

In this episode, I discuss the laws, politics, and culture around paid vacation time in the U.S. versus most of the rest of the world, and the impact that has on the travel habits of Americans, with implications for our politics and collective psychology.

This track serves as the third and, for now, final installment of a multi-part look at some vulnerabilities in American democracy, and what could be done about them. In this episode, I review the importance of addressing these threats to American democracy, and discuss what is probably the biggest impediment to some of these solutions going into effect: the Senate filibuster.

This track serves as the second installment of a multi-part look at some vulnerabilities in American democracy, and what could be done about them. In this episode, I have a conversation with Democrats Abroad Global Chair Julia Bryan, focusing on those threats to democracy, and the steps being considered by Democrats in the House and Senate (HR1/S1/For The People Act) to enact reforms. https://www....

This episode will serve as the first installment in a multi-part look at some flaws in American democracy, and what could be done about them. In this episode, I go back in time to imagine what might have been prevented had the Democratic Party taken advantage of their huge majorities in 2009 to fix some of the vulnerabilities in America's democratic system, and discuss some of what could be done n...

In this episode, I review some of the negative impacts of the Trump presidency, and discuss the need for American voters to remember the damage that can be done in a single four-year Presidential term. We can't afford to gamble with our democracy by ever allowing something like this to happen again.

In this episode, we look at the January 6th attack by Trump supporters, incited by the President, on the Capitol. I discuss the recent history leading up to the attempted insurrection, and how the actions of not just Trump but a number of other figures in the Republican Party paved the way to the extreme-right violence we saw directed at our democracy. I also share the initial reactions of a numbe...

After the 2010 U.S. Census, aided by massive midterm wins, the Republicans gerrymandered themselves into unbreakable control of the House for almost a decade. With Democrats in 2020 on the cusp of an election that might look a lot like the Republican landslide in 2010, Republicans have sabotaged the census. This represents yet another attack on a fundamental, constitutionally-mandated part of Amer...

Several months ago, I put out an pod about the ways in which the Republicans have been actively working to undermine democracy in America. Unfortunately "The Democrats vs. The Anti-Democrats" has aged fairly well - new reporting has detailed a plan by some in the Republican Party to create chaos in the election which will allow them to reinstall Trump in the White House regardless of how the actua...

Ruth Bader Ginsberg's passing represents a devastating blow to her millions of fans, to American jurisprudence, and to the causes she fought for during her entire adult life - causes threatened by the Trump administration and the increasingly right-wing Supreme Court which will now lurch dramatically further in that direction with her passing. It also could represent very bad electoral news for th...

Professor Andrew Latham joins the podcast again to discuss the breaking developments out of the Middle East of a deal struck between Israel and the UAE to normalize relations between the two countries in exchange for Israel halting plans to formally annex the West Bank.

In this episode, I'm joined by Professor Andrew Latham for a fairly open and broad conversation touching on Russia’s recent history, strategic culture and self-image, how those things bring it into conflict with the west, where that might lead, and what the west can do about it.