Mark Riley: The Intersection of Politics and Culture

Upheaval in France; why is the right wing linking the Manhattan District Attorney to George Soros. George Soros? How does that work? Members of Congress rake the CEO of Tik Tok over the coals, while Utah is thinking about banning the app for kids. And what's this about the huge number of guns stolen from cars?

Will Donald Trump get indicted? He seems to think so and has called on supporters to protest. And as that unfolds, his Proud Boys supporters are turning their trials into shambolic spectacles. Top it off with the reports that Trump tried in a second phone call to get the results of the Georgia vote overturned in 2020 and you have a trifecta of rough road ahead for the former president. What exactl...

As President Xi Jinping consolidates his power, the Chinese broker a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia that leaves the US sitting on the sidelines. This as President Biden bans Tik Tok from all federal devices. Where is Tik Tok based. You guessed it. Speaking of the president, when he ran, he had a proposal to shore up Social Security's finances. Presto chango, his latest budget has no tax or spe...

In this episode, golden chocolate bars, Trump Jr. mocks Fetterman, booing Nikki Haley, and Trump is staying. A clown show? No, CPAC! Lawmakers want more action on child migrant labor, and well they should! Google has bowed to pressure and is now auditing its products for racial biases. They're only following Meta and Apple. What took it so long? And how many paid vacation days do you get? And how...

In this episode, we take a long look and a deep dive into the extraordinary erosion of the Republican Party in the United States.  A sitting member of Congress calls for what she says is a national divorce. Funny, I thought that was settled in 1865. The Speaker of the House decides to outsource the GOP revision of the January 6 th insurrection by granting exclusive access to surveillance footage t...

Some embarrassing communication among Fox News stars about the 2020 election and whether it was stolen. Democrats and Republicans have sharply differing views on how to "fix" Social Security and Medicare. What can US youth learn from an insurgent candidacy in Nigeria that's drawn massive support from young people? And could an indictment of Donald Trump actually be in the cards in the near future?

The tragedy of Turkey and Syria. Beyond the number of people killed and left homeless, politics is rearing its ugly head. The US, and now he US and Canada are shooting flying objects out of the sky, including three just this past weekend. Are they all Chinese spy balloons? 21 Attorneys General, including New York's formidable Leticia James, are asking a Texas judge to reject efforts to ban an abor...

Lots to talk about, starting with the Chinese spy balloon that the US shot down this past weekend. We talked before about the nation's overall economic picture, and how it's been getting better. Figures late last week show things are better than even expert economists thought. The question is, will the public notice? The College Board waffles on AP black studies in deference, I guess, to Florida....

What's up with presidents and classified documents, and why saying one is worse than the other is a zero-sum game. Andrew Tate is still detained in Romania, yet another example of why influencers should find something else to do. Another sad sack is George Santos, Republican Congressman from Long Island, at least for now. New reports say high level Republicans knew about his tissue of lies. The We...

Kevin McCarthy, the price of fame, and how low can one Speaker go? South Carolina's Supreme Court rules the state's constitution includes the right to abortion. The US economy isn't as bad as some have predicted, with the latest jobs numbers telling an interesting story. 

In this episode, anti-abortionists want to jail people who traffic in the abortion pills that have become popular since the Supreme Court gutted Roe v. Wade. President Joe Biden wants to improve relations with countries in Africa, in part to keep up with China. Will it work? Florida Governor DeSantis facing opposition from, of all people, the right flank of his own party. A Republican gala in New...

Donald Trump, remember him, now wants to shred the Constitution because, wait for it, voter fraud from 2020. He also got himself a couple of setbacks in recent days! Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russian gulag, but not everyone is happy. The House passes legislation to protect same sex and interracial marriages; and Germany arrests some right-wing coup plotters. 

In his episode, as we head into the Holiday season, are the gaps between haves and have-nots getting wider?  Why are some in Media just started to pay attention? The real heroes of the 2022 World Cup aren't much talked about, and they'll remain heroes no matter the outcome of the games. Wonder how many mass shootings there have been since the start of November? The answer may surprise you. I know...

Like a bad penny, like a recurring boil, he's back. I predicted wrongly on this, but why is Donald Trump running for president again? Elon Musk may have inflicted a death blow on Twitter. Can he stop the bleeding? Quick takes on Nancy Pelosi stepping aside from her role as House Speaker, more homophobic murders, this time in Colorado. And a conversation with one of New York City's early nightlife...

Well, the midterms are done, and all I can say is "Mea Culpa". While I never thought there would be a red wave, or tsunami, or anything else the punditocracy predicted. I did, however, think that the Democrats might lose both houses of Congress. Thankfully, that doesn't look like it's going to happen. And who dos the Trumpster blame for the GOP's lackluster showing? Anybody but him, who else? Plus...

we talked about Kanye West and Anti-Semitism last week. Well now, it's Kyrie Irving's turn. Why do these tropes keep coming up? It's become intergenerational. And why do some people spring to the defense and Irving and West? The FBI issues a waning to synagogues in New Jersey. Will Republicans run the table in Wisconsin? Barack Obama joins President Biden in an effort to try to save the midterms f...

The midterms are coming up in a hurry, and if the polls are to be believed, I can say I told you so. Are Republicans injecting race into some races across the country? Are Black Americans going to stay home election day? We'll talk about all that, and Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. A letter in Ukraine has a lot of people upset, and the New York Times has a scary look at life after climate change...

Could Vladimir Putin use nukes to counter losses in Ukraine? The nation's jobs growth slows, so who wins and who loses? President Biden pardons stoners...er..I mean, marijuana users caught by the Feds. And we've got two abortion stories: one a judge in Arizona presses pause on a new total ban; and Herschel Walker's ex says he urged her to get an abortion not once, but twice. He denies it, but…..

Vladimir Putin decides Russia has annexed four regions of Ukraine. Trouble is, Russian forces have had to retreat from a major city in one of those same regions. The Conservative government in the UK is under severe pressure, and some in their own party think it's a self-inflicted wound. Back in the day, then congressman Ron DeSantis voted against federal help for New York City in the wake of Hurr...

New York's Attorney General Leticia James takes center stage as she sues the Trump Organization in an action that could cost $250 million dollars. Meanwhile, Trump says he can declassify documents just by thinking about it. That's right, just by thinking. Further afield, the referenda on whether some regions of the Ukraine want to be annexed by Russia exposes some fault lines inside the US. This a...

The battle between the Justice Dept. and Donald Trump goes on, while his biggest problem may be in Georgia. Why are Republican governors sending migrants north to cities like New York and now, Martha's Vineyard? Yeah, we know what they're saying, but what's the real reason? Insurance companies are taking police departments to task, we'll tell you why. Can Ukrainian military gains against Russia be...

The world watches as HM Queen Elizabeth II passes away and Prince Charles becomes King Charles III. Will the war in Ukraine throw large parts of the developed world into recession, and will Ukraine's biggest supporters stay the course Threats of political violence a year and a half after January 6 th are now focusing on individual lawmakers. One case in point is Washington State Congresswoman Pram...

Joe Biden takes the gloves off, guess who his target might be? Donald Trump throws a left jab and the Department of Justice responds with an uppercut. A United Nations report on Chinese mistreatment of Uyghurs is devastating to Beijing. Mississippi, the poorest state in the nation, is a lesson in climate change, and how the effects of aging infrastructure, and a lack of investment can cripple an e...

It seems we've got those Old Mar-a Lago Blues again. Donald Trump's supporters can't figure out who to badmouth these days as a redacted version of the affidavit in support of the Mar-a Lago raid is made public. President Biden cancels student loan debt for a huge number of Americans. Some of the people who had their own loans forgiven aren't happy. Democrats are expressing guarded optimism about...

Trump's former lieutenant pled guilty on tax charges and the success of Trump endorsed candidates (including beating Liz Chaney) is apparently making some Republicans jittery...A pair of abortion stories,(Florida, Nebraska), show some parts of the country are more than a little off the wall on the subject...the Centers for Disease Control throws itself under the bus...and a star quarterback is sus...