Living in the USA

The latest polls indicate voters think Biden is too old. Should the Democrats nominate someone else? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: an update on the Writers’ Guild strike against the hollywood studios, with Josh Gondelman – he’s an Emmy-award winning writer for his work on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, on HBO. He’s also a regular on NPR’s news quiz show, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. Also: one o...

At midnight on Monday, 11,500 Writers' Guild of America writers went on strike seeking a new film and TV contract. The writers voted for the strike by a historic margin: 98% in favor; 2% opposed. Harold Meyerson of The American Prospect comments. Also: Anatol Lieven is back after three weeks in Ukraine, where he found soldiers determined to win, and Russian bombardment doing surprisingly...

Tucker Carlson's audience, 3.5 million, is a lot smaller than his pioneering predecessors in right-wing media; Harold Meyerson comments. Also: recent labor victories in LA. Plus: A neighborhood in Port-au-Prince fights back against the gangs. Amy Wilentz comments on the news from Haiti. Also: Anatol Lieven is back after three weeks in Ukraine, where he found soldiers determined to win, and Russian...

Fox News created a frankenstein - and the story isn't over yet: Harold Meyerson comments on the Dominion Voting Systems settlement. Also: Afghan girls who escaped from the Taliban: the boarding school that evacuated its students from Kabul during the chaotic withdrawal of the Americans. SOLA, the School of Leadership Afghanistan is the place where Afghan girls study to become members of the genera...

The latest move by a Republican judge to ban the abortion drug Mefipristone is likely to turn out more Democratic voters, says Harold Meyerson. Also: Trump's Easter Sunday tweet. Plus: We know a lot about the bad things J. Edgar Hoover did, but it turns out there’s a lot we didn’t know. Historian Beverly Gage joins the podcast to explain. Her new book is “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover & the Making of...

Progressive Brandon Johnson won the Chicago mayoral election: Harold Meyerson explains how he did it, and the lessons for progressives. Also: The landslide victory of the progressive candidate in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, Janet Protaisewicz, ten times bigger than Biden's, shows how abortion wins elections--John Nichols explains. plus: Will Trump's indictment on 34 felonies change anything in...

Last week's 3-day strike in LA by public school custodians, food service workers, teachers' aides and bus drivers won a 30% pay increase--Harold Meyerson reports. Also: How minor league baseball players organized a union for the first time in history: Kelley Candaele and Peter Dreier report. And Dahlia Lithwick talks about some of the heroes of the Trump years: the women lawyers who fought him on...

Harold Meyerson comments on the fed, the banks, and the billionaires; also, the coming indictment of Donald Trump. Plus: American women in 2023: the news is bad, but it’s not all bad. Katha Pollitt explains. Also: the largest anti-war demonstrations in American history were protests in the fall of 1969--with more than two million people in the streets demanding “End the War in Vietnam.” But d...

Harold Meyerson reports on the Democrats who supported reducing regulation of mid-sized banks like Silicon Valley Bank – and on the Democrats who are taking a stand against Netanyahu’s moves against democracy for Israeli Jews. Also: John Nichols reports on the promising situation in the most important election before the 2024 presidential race: the Wisconsin Supreme Court election coming up on Apr...

Kamala Harris is not a popular figure in American politics, and the vice presidential candidate for Biden's reelection campaign in 2024 is unusually important because of his age. What to do? Harold Meyerson comments. Plus: COVID remains the number 3 cause of death in the US, after heart disease and cancer, with almost 3,000 deaths every week. But Biden and the Democrats are ending the federal COVI...

Israel’s new far-right government, headed, again, by Benjamin Netanyahu, is working to undermine democracy for Israelis and advance Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land. Provocations by Israel in the West Bank have been followed by settler pogroms against Palestinian villages. Saree Makdisi provides  comment and analysis  of how Israel is “destroying the fantasies of liberal Zionism.”...

Harold Meyerson says American Jewish organizations haven't said much about the recent attacks by the Netanyahu government on Palestinians, and on Israeli democracy. The big exception is J Street, which is leading a delegation of members of Congress to Israel this week. Also: John Nichols reports on the good news from Wisconsin, where the liberal candidate came out way ahead in the primary for a ne...

"The 1619 Project" miniseries on Hulu sets a new standard for documentaries about Black life and history in America: Robin Kelley explains. Also Black history, banned in Florida—and excluded from the College Board’s recommended AP Black Studies course. Robin is one of the historians whose work has been targeted. Also: the Royal Family and “The Crown”– you know, Queen Elizabeth and Charles and Dian...

Joe Biden's State of the Union – where shouts and jeers from the wild and crazy Republicans seemed to end up helping him – Harold Meyerson comments. Next: “The government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation”—that’s QAnon’s crazy idea, and 30 million Americans say they mostly agree....

House Republicans are refusing to raise the debt limit, threatening that the US will default on its bond payments.  But the Constitution has the solution for President Biden – that’s what historian Eric Foner says.  He joins the podcast to shed light on a little-known section of the 14th Amendment.  Next: Republicans continue to work to limit teaching about Black Americans...

Every Republican voted against the clean energy tax credits that made up the bulk of the Inflation Reduction Act.  Yet, the clean energy projects, for solar, wind and battery technology – are going to Republican states.  Why?  Harold Meyerson comments.  Plus: Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona senator who quit the Democratic Party in December, is up for reelection next year, and will...

Senator Bernie Sanders gave a major speech on Tuesday about the lives of working Americans – Harold Meyerson comments. Also: the coming primary for Diane Feinstein's senate seat. Plus: the UC TA strike: just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in – with "attestation" forms to dock back pay. Nelson Lichtenstein explains. Also: Abortion remains a potent force mobilizing liberal and pro...

After a 30-year campaign, Yale finally recognized UNITE-HERE as the union representing TAs. Harold Meyerson reports - and also on the Teamsters as they prepare to strike against UPS in August. Plus: If you were planning a future coup, what could you learn from the failure of Trump’s efforts on January 6? Fintan O’Toole says it would need a better story—not attacking Congress, but “defending democr...

Harold Meyerson analyzes the Republican failure to elect a Speaker of the House - and what it tells us about the future of the new Congress. Teaching Assistants and other grad student employees at the University of California won a historic victory in their strike last month. What does that mean for other universities and other union organizing campaigns? Nelson Lichtenstein joins the show to comm...

For our end-of year show we are featuring some of our favorite book segments from 2022, starting with Elie Mystal, The Nation’s Justice Correspondent, who says our constitution is not good.  His new book is “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.” Plus: “Bad Mexicans” – that’s what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico bord...

The biggest strike in the country this year, and the biggest in the history of American universities, may be over-- after five weeks of picketing and protests, the union representing 48,000 grad student employees at the University of California announced a settlement offer by the university, and members are voting this week. Nelson Lichtenstein has our analysis. Also: For our holiday show, we...

The new mayor in LA, Karen Bass, the former community organizer and former head of the Congressional Black caucus, LA’s first woman mayor, was sworn in on Sunday, and her first act was to declare a state of emergency to address homelessness.  Harold Meyerson comments. plus: In the biggest strike in the nation this year, the strike by University of California graduate student employees, one gr...

National Politics after the Raphael Warnock victory in Georgia - Harold Meyerson comments. Also, the UAW after the UC strike. Plus: historian Nelson Lichtenstein on the divide-and-conquer strategy of the University of California administration in facing grad student employees on strike. And Joan Walsh on how Warnock won - she's National Affairs correspondent for The Nation.

Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants brought here by their undocumented parents since 2007 are not eligible for DACA. But now they are eligible for jobs–at the University of California. UCLA law professor Ahilan Arulanantham explains. Also: The left has hated J. Edgar Hoover for a hundred years ever since the Palmer Raids of 1919, the attacks on radicals that began his career. Now there’s a t...

48,000 Grad student employees at the University of California are on strike in the largest strike in the history of higher education and the largest strike anywhere in the US this year. But how come the auto workers' union represents teaching assistants and research assistants? Harold Meyerson explains. Plus: For Thanksgiving we chat with Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries, a beacon of hope f...