WhoWhatWhy's Podcasts

If the Democratic debates told us anything, it's that some of our would-be leaders don't see the proverbial forest for the trees.   So many signs indicate that our democracy is not working. The infrastructure of our electoral system is failing, the Supreme Court just Ok'd gerrymandering for political gain, Russians keep interfering in our elections, climate change is an existential threat, kids ar...

Why and how algorithms are taking over our lives, why we should care and what we can do about it.

There are few First Amendment issues more pressing today than how online speech should be governed. It impacts our interpersonal relationships, our views of almost every aspect of society and of course our politics. Now, absent an easy solution, Congress wants to dive in and claim that they actually have a clue. The internet was supposed to set a million voices free...It didn't work out quite that...

As Democratic leaders offer their "Green New Deal" modeled on FDR's "New Deal," veteran environmental leader Randy Hayes has drafted the "New Green Deal," a seven-point plan to address what he calls "a deep planetary emergency." While Hayes supports all the goals of the Democrats' proposal, he focuses more intently on the essential requirements to sustain human life on the planet. Hayes wants to s...

RAND senior economist Dr. Howard Shatz gives us a primer on trade and globalization.

As the new chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) is being showered with campaign contributions — more than a half million dollars in the first quarter of 2019. Journalist David Daley, who lives in Neal's district, reviewed the fundraising and spending reports in a recent column in the Boston Globe (see link below) . He found contributions from lobbyists and the corp...

Can tasers and electric pulse technology replace the need for traditional guns?

We keep trying to reform our political system to make it more "democratic." Grassroots organizations across the world are pushing reforms, trying to bring politics closer to the people. Parties have turned to primaries and local caucuses to select candidates. Ballot initiatives and referenda allow citizens to enact laws directly. Many democracies now use proportional representation, encouraging sm...

Martin Sheil, a former IRS investigator, walks us through what we know about Trump's taxes.

It seems that every time we experience a "gilded age," the rich, perhaps worried that the pitchforks will soon be at the gates, increase their giving. According to David Callahan, our guest on this week's WhoWhatWhy podcast and the founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy , political polarization has divided the world of large-scale giving as never before. Each side looks askance at the philanthr...

Given the ongoing standoff between Congress and the White House, it's becoming clearer each day that the "tiebreaker" will be the 2020 election. So it's encouraging to learn that the prospects for voting reform are not as bleak as some stories might lead us to believe. Amid voter apathy and voter suppression efforts, there are leaders and activists in some states and local communities across the c...

French Canadian journalist Hugo Meunier specializes in "immersion reporting." He spent three months working at a Walmart store and offers an insider's account of the plight of low-paid worker bees who stock the shelves and endure abuse from bargain-hunting shoppers. In this WhoWhatWhy podcast interview, Meunier explains the training and indoctrination he received, as well as the company's attempts...

A preeminent scholar of Rome examines the parallels to what we are experiencing today.

A conversation with author and activist Sarah Kendzior about just how bad things are.

Starting in 2007, Ecuador reformed its police and decriminalized gang membership. A study in 2017 showed the murder rate dropped by over 400 percent.

Bowe Bergdahl's story exemplifies government dysfunction, political posturing, and a failed American policy.

Contrary to popular and long held assumptions, global population is declining. The environmental consequences are good, the economic consequences are bad, says this podcast guest.

The controversial Keystone XL pipeline is not dead yet. On March 15 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court injunction that blocks construction of the proposed pipeline. This important decision, which has received little media coverage, is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Our podcast guest today is Stephan Volker, the veteran environmental lawyer who represents the lea...

The FAA's decision allowing Boeing to do its own safety assessments — while the company president told President Trump that all was fine with the 737 Max — raises serious questions about the effectiveness of regulatory agencies charged with protecting our health and safety. In another critical public health area, the government has virtually partnered with the pharmaceutical industry to deal with...

Victor Wallis is a professor at the Berklee College of Music and was for 20 years the managing editor of Socialism and Democracy . Several months ago he joined us to talk about the radical intervention he saw as necessary to deal with the threat from climate change. He outlined this in his book Red-Green Revolution . Now Victor Wallis returns to WhoWhatWhy to talk about his broad alternative frame...

Some have decried the Green New Deal because it touches on numerous areas outside of climate change, including universal health care, a universal basic income, job guarantees and worker rights. The assumption has been that climate change exists in some kind of a vacuum. Mike Berners-Lee, an English researcher, writer on greenhouse gases, professor at Lancaster University, and our guest on this wee...

A headline in the Economist shouted recently that "socialism is storming back." Certainly, with the wealth gap, declining social mobility, and climate change, it's easy to see why some are losing faith in a capitalist society. But should the debate really be about capitalism vs. socialism — or is it a question of too much of a good thing that needs rebalancing?. After all, we once couldn't get eno...

A great deal remains to be discovered about the disgraced lawyer's Russia ties and the nature of his nearly two-decade dalliance with Trump. Will Congress ask?

Spoiler Alert! This podcast features a detailed discussion of the story portrayed in the film Green Book . If you haven't seen it yet, and plan to, please save this podcast for later. The movie Green Book has earned accolades and attacks since it was released in December. The controversies are sure to be rekindled by 91st Academy Awards Sunday, Feb. 24   — Green Book received five Oscar nomination...

The number of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination next year could smash all records. But such a large field also means that most voters will likely end up disappointed because their preferred candidate is eliminated. Is an election where most people's preferred candidate loses a good thing? Ranked choice voting (RCV) could help fix that problem. San Francisco has used RCV — also known a...