A Gentlemen’s Disagreement

We are joined this week by David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center (SUPRC) and one of the preeminent pollsters in the country (8:19-53:46). David shares how he got into the world of polling, how he turned Suffolk into a polling powerhouse, how polling has changed over the years, lessons from the 2016 polls, and what to watch for with the 2024 polls.  

After a run of great guests, we are back just the two of us to discuss some of the topics that have been in the news over the past month. We start with a trio of Republican topics: the current state of the presidential candidate field, the election of a new Speaker of the House, and the latest development in the George Santos saga. We then talked about SCOTUS releasing its first code of ethics, wh...

We are joined this week by University of Galway Professor Larry Donnelly to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict from a different angle (4:57-43:50). We began by comparing the reactions to the conflict in Western Europe, Ireland, and the U.S., and then dove into some of the history of the Troubles in Ireland, the eventual peace agreement, and the current state of affairs in Northern Ireland. We t...

We were joined this week by former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (3:55-53:40). We discussed how his childhood experiences led him to become a public defender and then to launch a longshot bid to become the District Attorney of San Francisco, his historic election and becoming one of the faces of progressive prosecution in the country, the politics behind his eventual recall from tha...

We are joined by Framingham, Massachusetts City Council candidate Brandon Ward for a discussion about what it is like to run for local office. Brandon talks about why he wanted to run, what he would bring to the office, and the many things he has learned on the campaign trail. 

We are joined this week by Suffolk University Law School Professor Renee Landers for a breakdown of the major cases on the Supreme Court docket this term (3:48-1:00:05). We discuss the two First Amendment/social media cases, the Second Amendment case, the racial gerrymandering case, and several cases presenting challenges to administrative agencies. A great listen for lawyers and non-lawyers alike...

We started this week's episode with a discussion of the Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day debate (0:30-20:10). We then spent the majority of the episode trying to examine the enormously complicated, difficult, and tragic situation currently unfolding in Israel and Palestine (20:18-1:10:40). We concluded with a brief conversation about the historic ouster of Speaker McCarthy (1:10:45-1:13:27).

Ricky wanted to zoom out a little bit for this episode and engage in a discussion on how we currently think about capitalism and how capitalism does--or does not--meet the current moment in our economics and in our politics. 

We are joined this week by current Boston Globe and former Wall Street Journal writer and reporter Carine Hajjar to discuss the many angles of the current immigration crisis (4:18-33:04). Carine has been writing about this mounting crisis for years now from Texas, New York City, and now Boston, and she provides us with some excellent knowledge and perspective to ground this tremendously tricky top...

A big news week, so we return to our model of covering six of the major topics in (about) an hour. We start domestically by discussing the UAW Strike (7:38-21:35), the road to another presidential impeachment (21:36-31:31), and President Trump's recent comments on abortion (31:32-39-24). We then move abroad to break down the implications of the Russia-North Korea meeting (39:28-50:00) and the U.S....

We are back after a brief hiatus to talk about what the phrase "equal justice under the law" means in our society today. We examine this idea by looking at the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the four indictments of President Trump, and the legal saga of Hunter Biden.

A milestone episode for us, and we spend it diving into the first Republican primary debate. We discussed President Trump's physical absence yet looming presence, the winners and losers of the night, and what the entire debate says about the current state of the Republican Party (11:51-1:01:51). We then spend a little time reflecting on our first one hundred episodes (1:01:57-1:09:57).

We are joined this week by Mother Jones reporter and senior editor Kiera Butler to discuss some of the current major issues in education and politics (4:03-46:58). Kiera talks about her two trips to Moms4Liberty's National Conference and what she learned about the parental rights movement at those conferences. She also explores the politicization of reading instruction, the debates on how to make...

We were joined once again this week by Pepperdine Law professor and constitutional law expert Barry McDonald to break down some of the major cases from the Supreme Court's term (12:08-1:03:03). We dive into the legal reasoning behind the affirmative action, voting rights, independent state legislature, free speech, and student loan forgiveness cases, and then Professor McDonald shares some of his...

We touch on the touchy subject of how old is too old, following the recent health episodes of two prominent and long-serving senators, Mitch McConnell and Diane Fienstein (6:58-33:14). We switch gears to another story that's made headline news recently out of North Carolina State House of Representatives. A pro-reproductive rights Democrat shocked her party and crossed the aisle, delivering Republ...

We've got an international version of "six in sixty" this week, as we discuss the takeaways from last week's NATO summit (5:15-17:02), the fallout from the Russian coup (17:02-24:14), the Biden Administration's decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine (24:24-35:57), Israel's military operations in the West Bank (36:03-46:34), the migrant boat that sank off the coast of Greece (46:39-56:41), a...

With the Supreme Court's latest term in the books, we spent this week discussing how some of their major decisions will affect American society and politics moving forward. We began by looking at the Court's term from a high level perspective, and then dug into their decision in the Harvard and UNC affirmative action cases (5:52-32:58). We then discussed the fallout from the Court's decision on Pr...

We are joined this week by St. Louis Treasurer Adam Layne for a wide-ranging conversation about his path from growing up in Boston, to going to college in Washington D.C., to teaching and then working in and for the city of St. Louis. We also discuss the sometimes competing ideas of opportunity and agency, particularly in the wake of SCOTUS ending affirmative action in higher education, get Adam's...

This week we use the celebration of Juneteenth to take a hard look at our history. We discuss and debate the merits of reparations, whether the U.S. is a land of opportunity or oppression or both, and why it is so difficult for us to tell the full story of U.S. history. We conclude by highlighting two Black American figures who may have fallen through the cracks of that story.

We discussed the two big stories of the week: the stunning LIV-PGA merger and the deal to raise the debt ceiling.

We are joined this week by Dr. Bertha Madras who is a Professor of Psychobiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Madras is one of the founders of the new "Council on Academic Freedom" at Harvard University, which is a faculty-led organization that is devoted to free inquiry, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse. Dr. Madras discusses why she felt like this Council was necessary at Harvard, in...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and, in that spirit, we were joined by graduate student Wendy-Myrbell Napoleon who has been researching the intersection of social media and mental health among adolescents and young adults (5:10-43:05). We used her research as a foundation to have a larger conversation about mental health issues in our society, and she provided some policy recommendations our...

We are joined this week by Nicaela Chinnaswamy and Maureen McInerney for a draft of sixteen potential Republican presidential candidates. We run through the true favorites, the outside contenders, the dark horses and the longshots for the nomination. Fun conversation and a great primer of the 2024 Republican presidential field.

We hit six topics (plus a bonus topic!) that have been in the news lately in (roughly) ten minute segments. We begin by talking about all of the goings-on at Fox News (8:05-22:26), the ethics of the Supreme Court (22:30-32:00), JPMorgan buying First Republic Bank (32:04-43:35), the impending debt ceiling (43:39-55:53), President Biden's re-election campaign (55:58-1:03:10), and recent incidents of...

We are joined this week by Jennifer Nassour, former chairperson of the Massachusetts Republican Party, founder of The Pocketbook Project, and host of the Political Contessa podcast (4:16-39:28). We talk to Jenn about her crusades to get more women into politics and to bring fiscal conservatism back to government, as well as the importance of having a legitimate opposition party for the sake of dem...