Lost Debate

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start on the new Florida law whose supporters and opponents call it by different names: Parental Rights in Education vs. “Don’t Say Gay.” We discuss what’s really in the legislation and the impact it could have on classrooms there. America might have an Adderall problem. We’ll talk about the companies behind the flood of prescriptions, and Facebook’s full-on opposition resear...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki lead off with the newly leaked texts from Supreme Court spouse Ginni Thomas. We discuss what her 2020 election conspiracizing means for her and her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas. Bill Gates is calling on rich nations to transition to 100% synthetic meat to fight climate change. We go over the environmental and ethical cases for just such a move. Biden seemingly calls for r...

Ravi and guest host Liz Wolfe start by unpacking the New York Times’ recent editorial stating “America Has a Free Speech Problem.” They discuss what took the paper so long to say so and the countless examples that prove them right. Citigroup says it will pay travel costs for Texas-based employees to get out-of-state abortions. We’ll explain how that fight fits into the national debate around abort...

Two years into the pandemic, Ravi, Cory, and Rikki look back on how much has changed since COVID-19 entered our lives. Standardized testing may be getting less standard. We discuss what makes the testing debate so key to our education system. Journalists are under attack in Ukraine – the most chilling front of Russia’s assault on the truth. And a majority of Americans agree: the Supreme Court need...

Tulsi Gabbard is being accused of “treasonous lies” after tweeting about purportedly U.S.-affiliated “biolabs” in Ukraine. Ravi, Cory, and Rikki sort through the noise. Liberal cities are shifting their approach on homelessness. We discuss whether punitive measures are the answer. Then we dive into a surprisingly murky third-rail debate in America: teen vaping. Finally, breaking news: Jeff Zucker’...

Uber and Lyft launch a new campaign to make sure their drivers can’t hail a union. Ravi, Cory, and Rikki discuss that labor fight playing out in Washington, as well as another in Minneapolis, where thousands of teachers are on strike. We cover alarming new data on pandemic learning loss before turning to the NFL’s Calvin Ridley and the fast-growing world of sports betting. Plus, we unpack “Black P...

U.S. gas prices hit an all-time high the same day Biden announces a ban on Russian oil imports. Ravi, Cory, and Rikki discuss the global energy fallout of the war in Ukraine. Cyberattacks could also be a retaliatory measure Moscow looks to use in undermining the West. We discuss U.S. readiness to defend and respond. Law students at UC Hastings drown out a guest speaker over accusations of racist s...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been met with an avalanche of Western economic sanctions. Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start off by going through the laundry list of financial measures before turning to Russia’s false narrative of the invasion, censorship of war-related content on TikTok, and non-white refugees facing racism as they flee the country. Homeschooling is sharply rising across America. We di...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start on Russia’s intensifying invasion of Ukraine. We discuss where things stand today and how all the many evolving pieces of this conflict – military, economic, diplomatic and political – all fit together. We go through the sweeping updates to CDC guidance on masking and vaccination in the U.S., as well as new studies pointing back to a Wuhan market, rather than a lab, as...

Ravi sits down with Matt Homewood, a dumper diver who is making it his mission to spread the word about the world's No. 1 solution to climate change: food waste. Born in the suburbs of west London, Matt started dumpster diving during a cross-country bike tour of the United States and later continued the trend while studying climate change in Denmark. Astonished by the sheer amount of perfectly sui...

We sit down with Bridget Phetasy, host of “Dumpster Fire” on YouTube and the “Walk-Ins Welcome” podcast. Bridget is a comedian and former Playboy columnist turned politically homeless thought leader. She’s cultivated a vibrant following of those who defy the political binary and value individualism over partisanship. We discuss the problems with the two-party system and the difficulty not falling...

The Regressives Ep. 4 | In America, it's all too common that we measure success by whether you leave the town you grew up in. The best and brightest, it's assumed, are those that get out. Why do we accept that as a country? Urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter says we shouldn't, and we won't see real improvement in our low-income neighborhoods until we approach them differently. Ravi and...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start on the oversimplified narratives surrounding 40-year high inflation. We discuss the implications for Donald Trump after his longtime accounting firm cut ties with the family business. We present the best and worst sides of TikTok and why we need a more nuanced discussion about how it affects society. Three members of San Francisco’s school board, ousted in a landslide v...

This week’s media blitz around Dave Chappelle as an anti-affordable housing crusader missed a lot of nuance around the development proposal in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Ravi, Cory, and Rikki dive in. “A new low for global democracy.” We discuss the 2021 Democracy Index and the dire picture it paints for democratic values around the world. We debate the latest front in the CRT fight in schools: curricu...

A recent exposé in New York Magazine outlines the murky finances of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. Ravi, Cory, and Rikki discuss the allegations in the piece. We take a look at an egregiously gerrymandered map in Alabama before diving into the wider issue with partisan gerrymandering nationwide. Rikki shows us a new ad FIRE is running with Enes Kanter Freedom during the Beijing...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start with yet another Joe Rogan controversy, this time over his use of the N-word and racist jokes. Mike Pence and the RNC are getting even further apart on the Big Lie. What’s that say about the state of the GOP? Canada’s Freedom Convoy is still going strong in Ottawa. We discuss how the protests started, where they stand now, and the troubling precedent of GoFundMe picking...

Camden, NJ was once among the lowest performing school districts in the country. A system that had thirteen superintendents in twenty years and that routinely ranked in the bottom of New Jersey school districts. That changed in 2013, when an unlikely coalition united behind a different kind of education leader and playbook. We look back to one of the most overlooked and important education stories...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki jump into Brian Flores’ suit accusing the NFL of widespread racism. Newly leaked documents suggest the Biden administration was as disorganized as they appeared in the days before the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Talks in Washington over the child tax credit appear to be back on the table, and two new studies cast serious doubt on separate policies we’ve heard a lot abou...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start things off with Spotify’s response to controversy over their top podcaster, Joe Rogan. We then discuss what’s behind an unsettling spike in book bans across the country. Americans are moving out of cities, but just how many? We delve into the urban exodus. Rikki walks us through a controversial criminal sentencing in Los Angeles that’s going underreported. And finally,...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start on Jordan Peterson’s much-criticized comments on climate change in a marathon interview with Joe Rogan. We then discuss Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to fill the new opening on the Supreme Court. Ravi walks us through the alarming forecasts of a market “superbubble,” and lawsuits from Cardi B and Sarah Palin have libel laws in the spotlight. Finally, we chec...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki begin with an alarming spike in crime in New York, including the fatal shooting of two NYPD officers this weekend. We go through new Mayor Eric Adams’ plans to address gun violence and the nationwide rise in crime. Then we discuss the looming possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, where the U.S. figures in and how Biden might respond going forward. Then we take a look...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start off on a bill making its way through the Florida state legislature that would ban schools and companies from making people feel guilty on account of their race. Then we look at President Biden, one year in. How rough are his approval ratings, and does he have any hope of turning things around? Our hosts take a wider lens to the controversy around Chamath Palihapitiya’s...

America has a housing crisis, and it cuts both red and blue. But blue strongholds like Illinois, New York, and California struggle even more than their red counterparts to live up to a progressive policy ideal: affordable, equitable housing. Ravi interviews the New York Times' Conor Dougherty, whose new book, "Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream" takes a critica...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki dive into a jam-packed episode, starting with a new push from President Biden to pass a series of bills expanding voting rights. Then we get into a sweeping discussion about the Wuhan lab leak theory and how the more we learn, the more plausible it appears to be. Trump takes a subtle jab at DeSantis on vaccines and booster shots. The growing controversy around Education Secre...

Ravi, Cory, and Rikki start on the vaccine mandates before the Supreme Court, then turn to states prioritizing Covid treatments by race and ethnicity. Democrats are rebranding ahead of this year’s midterms, but can they head off a red wave? Then Ravi takes us into the Metaverse and Rikki goes through Covid crackdowns on college campuses. [0:50] Supreme Court Vax Mandate [14:07] Covid treatments by...