American Fever Dream

00:00 Welcome to your guide on media literacy. V and Sami explore how social media is used in hybrid warfare to manipulate public opinion through disinformation and emphasize the need to rebuild social trust. 16:00 How can you spot a bot? In a few easy steps you too can spot disinformation through fake accounts, false engagement, and artificial intelligence. 50:00 Don’t forget to mind the gap. Sam...

1:20 Sami and V are joined by Representative Ro Khanna to share his economic philosophies and proposed changes to the legislative and judicial branches, which already have bipartisan support among voters (though not lawmakers!) 9:00 They discuss the threat of AI to elections and discourse, and what regulations are needed around to rebuild trust in political information on social media. 16:30 They...

13:00 TEMP CHECK: Will this week’s headlines give you a fever or make you freeze? 45:00 MAIN NEWS: Sami and V define the term ‘Manufactured Consensus’ and how social media has been used to sway popular opinion towards believing that a third party has more support than we think. Not sure how to spot a bot? Make sure to tune in next week for an in depth media literacy lesson. 1:01:40 DOWN BALLOT: Ou...

7:55 TEMP CHECK: Sami and V are back this week to check your temperature on 6 new headlines. Have you ever heard of auto-brewery syndrome? 33:40 MAIN NEWS: After reviewing Trump’s convictions, Sami and V uncover how social media could be the end to elections and how foreign interference poses a significant threat to democratic processes (and also the Olympics). 1:01:30 DOWN BALLOT: Representative...

2:00 Sami and V are joined by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to discuss the impact of New York becoming the first state to create a paid family leave program for prenatal care. 8:00 A $1 billion plan was put forward to overhaul New York state’s mental health system, allocating $1.6 million specifically for maternal mental health initiatives. They discuss what happens when mental health issues and...

2:30 TEMP CHECK: New take on Temp Check where we cover 8 wild headlines. Does your fever spike or sink? 25:15 MAIN NEWS: In honor of Memorial Day, they sound the alarm against the treatment of veterans and the proposed changes to veterans’ benefits under Project 2025. But don’t worry, Biden dropped a new fiscal budget with $369 billion for the DoD and VA. 43:00 DOWN BALLOT: Our Down Ballot bestie...

Topics: Representative Colin Allred discusses his vision for a more equitable Texas and his campaign to unseat Ted Cruz, stressing the need for a more engaged and representative leader. Allred shares his journey from being an NFL linebacker to a lawyer and now a representative, driven by a desire to represent all 30 million Texans. Sami and V ask Allred to address looming issues such as the Texas...

4:27 TEMP CHECK: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister, and six passengers were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash on Monday, one month before the next election. Was it foul play or an inevitable accident? 20:30 MAIN NEWS: After uncovering the brutality of P. Diddy’s assault on Cassie Ventura and Sami, V exposes the deadly problem of not believing women, the uni...

Topics: Sami is joined by Sharon McMahon, the author of “The Small and the Mighty,” to share how history can be constructed and verified as accurately as possible. Sharon stresses the importance of local journalism and how it has been the backbone of America’s microcultures. How different generations navigate gathering information, disseminating it, and learning that the best way to be right is to...

15:55 TEMP CHECK: Vice President Harris spoke at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies’ annual legislative leadership summit and imparted some honest words to the group. 24:30 MAIN NEWS: Sami and V give a rundown of the MANY threats to the 2024 election, from AI and disinformation, to election denial, to voter suppression by Trump’s army of poll-watching volunteers. Plus,...

Topics: Sami and V are joined by the hosts of Strict Scrutiny to talk about how the Supreme Court’s handling of important cases like Mifepristone and EMTALA raises concerns about standing and the potential impact on reproductive rights. They predict the risks of the Supreme Court undermining federal supremacy over state law as constitutional principle and what the long term ripple effects are. Wha...

12:45 TEMP CHECK: V and Sami take the nation’s temperature after Drew Barrymore’s “Mamala Controversy” and how her interview with Vice President Harris became cringe-worthy and even inappropriate. 29:17 MAIN NEWS: Project 2025 outlines Trump’s policy plans, which aims to consolidate executive authority and implement conservative policies, potentially hinting to an authoritarian government. 50:53 D...

Samantha Vinograd, senior national security counselor and assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention at the DHS, joins Sami and V to talk about how the council is approaching Holocaust denialism and the lack of Holocaust education. Lawmakers proposed the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of an...

5:40 TEMP CHECK: V and Sami check the temperature on the Columbia University protest, clarifying the motivation behind the protests and discussing how they’ve expanded nationwide. 25:45 MAIN NEWS: Why does it seem like every headline is about a court case? They highlight the latest developments at SCOTUS, criminal cases, and more… while reflecting on America’s long standing reputation of being one...

Topics: President Biden signed a bill that will force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest from its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban. V updates us on the details of this bill and the consequences TikTok will face if they do not cooperate. Sami is joined by Jesse Washington, film director of Hip-Hop And The White House, a documentary that examines the relationship between the emergence...

2:40 TEMP CHECK: Sami and V check the nation’s pulse after Taylor Swift’s double album release and the discourse that followed. 11:56 MAIN NEWS: This week, Maine joined The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). Under the proposed compact, each state would allocate all its electoral votes to whoever wins the national popular vote for president, regardless of how individual states voted...

TEMP CHECK: Sami and V discuss the 4B movement which renounces dating men, marriage, sex with men, and having children. It originated in South Korea in 2019 with 4,000 members, but now TikTok has caught wind and amassed over 60K videos with some form of #4B. MAIN NEWS: In the midst of his trial, Donald Trump drops a sneak peek of what we can expect from his desired second term, starting with a bri...

We’re switching/SWISHing it up this week, with our mini-sode today and our main episode out on Thursday, because there is just so much rolling news right now. Today, Sami and V are joined by Kara Swisher, tech journalist, Pivot co-host, co-founder of Recode, and New York Times bestselling author of Burn Book. Her memoir chronicles her decades-long career covering the rise of Silicon Valley, what t...

Topics: The king of subprime car loans, Don Hankey, stepped forward to offer Trump his $175 million bond — but will he even be allowed to pay it? State Attorney General Letitia James is questioning whether Hankey's insurance group, Knight Company, is qualified to issue bonds in New York and that's even if the funds are legitimate. Following the Supreme Court’s mention of the Comstock Act, Sami and...

Topics: Republicans call President Biden anti-Catholic because he dared to acknowledge Trans Day of Visibility, which fell on the same day as Easter Sunday Family members of the late labor leader César Chavez tell RFK Jr. to stop using their dad’s likeness for clout. A major dive into Beyonce’s new album Cowboy Carter and its history lessons, plus a legendary (and definitely untold) story from V a...

Topics: Sami is joined by Emily Amick to provide an update on Kate Middleton and how the public reacted to the conclusion of the royal conspiracies. V interviews Julie F. Kay, Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Abortion Coalition of Telemedicine (ACT), on how the Supreme Court is attempting to limit abortion access. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics: Run For Something’s latest research revealed that 61% of young democrats say they are most likely to turn out to vote if there is a young progressive candidate running. NBC hires Ronna McDaniel as an on-air commentator and faces major backlash. Truth Social has made a surprise IPO on the NASDAQ and its biggest investor is the company founded by TikTok’s savior Jeff Yass, Susquehanna Intern...

Topics: An overview of Emily Amick’s Substack piece: Kate Middleton & the Conspiratization of Modern Mass Communications Identifying how conspiracies become discredited to cover up truth. Is it malevolence or is it just messiness? Pre-order Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Topics: Discussing the rising issue of “Moral Narcissism”. A primer on what’s happening in Haiti Shouting out Democratic candidates that voted against the TikTok ban. The gap in our court system that allows hypothetical court cases to make it to the Supreme Court without consequence. Come back on Thursday for a minisode where V, Sami, and @emilyinyourphone chat about missing Kate Middleton. Learn...

Topics: After predicting some possible options for TikTok saviors, Kellyanne Conway is beginning to lobby on behalf of TikTok in Congress. Trump posted a $91.6 Million dollar bond on Friday to cover the financial penalty that he owes Jean Carroll. Texas down ballot results for Greg Casar, Jasmine Crockett, and Jessica Cisneros. Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna has proposed bipartisan legis...