The Same, but Worse

Welcome to This Is Fine episode 1.10: Fox Populi. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, guest Sam Thielman helps us understand the business model that has sustained Fox News. We also talk about the ways in which state and local politicians have conspired with large corporations in places like Chattanooga, Tennessee to keep rural services like broadband expensive and on...

Welcome to This Is Fine episode 1.9: Sons of Autarky. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, we talk about how the crisis of declining male labor force participation, the opioid epidemic, the Trump vote, and racism are all connected by one powerful narrative, autarkic patriarchal white labor (APWL). That’s the belief that a man's purpose is to provide for his family and...

Welcome to This is Fine, Episode 1.8: Any Organized Party. Thank you for listening, Finers. In this week's podcast, we talk with writer, academic, activist, and erstwhile Twitter-opinion-haver Freddie DeBoer about the challenges of left organizing in the runup to the 2018 elections. We contemplate whether the left can usefully cooperate with the Democratic Party, ask what a more small-d-democratic...

Welcome to This Is Fine, episode 1.7: How Deep Is Your State? Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, we talk Turkey, or specifically the differences between the Deep State in a country like Turkey and the law enforcement and intelligence services in the U.S., particularly their leaks about the Trump campaign's involvement with Russia. As always, the show notes are avail...

Episode 1.6 - part 2 - It's Time For Some Game Theory by Andrew Hart, Marshall Steinbaum, Jerry Vinokurov

Episode 1.6 - part 1 - Organize, Organize, Organize by Andrew Hart, Marshall Steinbaum, Jerry Vinokurov

Welcome to This Is Fine, episode 1.5: Trump of the Elites. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, we use Chris Hayes' Twilight of the Elites as a jumping off point for a discussion of elites, experts, and ways that we might improve institutional trust and accountability. As always, the show notes are available at www.thisisfine.net.

Welcome to This Is Fine, episode 1.4, no state solution. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, we look at foreign policy in the Obama and Trump eras, asking whether Obama really constitutes a break from previous presidencies, when intervention might be justified, how much disruption we can expect from Trump, and whether there's any hope for Israel. Here's hoping we sur...

Hello friends, and welcome to the second half of our discussion of the state of American news media. You can find the show notes at our website (http://www.thisisfine.net/2016/12/21/episode-1-3-the-media-is-the-message/), and make sure you take a listen to part 1 to get the full context.

Welcome to This Is Fine, episode 1.3, part 1: the media is the message. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, we look at the Shorenstein Center's review of media coverage in the election, shake our heads in disbelief at the Times' need for approval and dismal new public editor, and ask if the media's coverage of Trump is newly dangerous or part of a continuum of declin...

Welcome to This Is Fine, episode 1.2: argumentum ad populum. Thank you very much for listening, Finers. In this week’s podcast, we share our origin story in Southern California; explore what populism is and if it can turn left (verdict: not an ambi-turner); make the case that a Nazi political theorist is not in the best position to diagnose liberalism's faults; and sketch out our visions of protes...

Welcome to This Is Fine, episode 1.1: WTF? This is Not Fine! Thank you very much for listening. In this week's podcast, we ask: How the fuck did that happen? How heroic really were Wright Patman and other segregationist Democrats who fought against corporate power until the changing of the Democratic guard in the 1970s? How did Trump make hate taste so great to so many? And what are our views of t...