Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic
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Sep 22, 2017 • 58min

What Are Public Schools For?

The podcast explores the purpose and perception of public schools in America, highlighting concerns of declining grades, crumbling infrastructure, and inadequate teacher quality. It emphasizes the importance of investing in the development of individual students and navigating challenges while embracing diversity. The chapter also discusses the challenges of measuring school quality and the impact of attending religious schools. Additionally, the hosts reminisce about attending concerts and discuss their favorite funky beat song.
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Sep 15, 2017 • 57min

Will America's Institutions Survive President Trump?

Eight months into the Trump administration, we're taking stock: What is shaping up to be President Trump's effect on America’s institutions? Will subsequent presidents preserve or disregard the norms he's tossed aside? What are his political allies and opponents learning from his actions?Jack Goldsmith, author of The Atlantic's October cover story, explores these and many other questions with editor-in-chief Jeffrey Golberg. Then, Matt Thompson and Alex Wagner discuss Trump's impact on the GOP with longtime Republican strategist Mindy Finn and The Atlantic's politics and policy editor, Yoni Appelbaum.For links and other show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Sep 8, 2017 • 42min

A Memo to the Huddled Masses

Immigrants flock to the U.S. in pursuit of the American Dream. But does the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program mean a wake-up call for millions of undocumented Americans? In this episode of Radio Atlantic, reporter Jeremy Raff and editor Priscilla Alvarez join Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson to discuss what the suspension of DACA means for those directly affected ... and what it means for America as a whole. For links and show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Sep 2, 2017 • 17min

News Update: The Questions After Harvey

If history is any guide, the biggest problems for residents of the Houston area will come into focus only after the nation's attention has already turned elsewhere. In this Radio Atlantic extra, Matt Thompson talks with Atlantic staff writer David Graham about the questions we should be asking now, while Harvey remains in the headlines. As the recovery gets under way, what should we be watching? Plus, a Houston-area resident talks about what she's seen over the last week that she wants to hold on to in the months and years ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Sep 1, 2017 • 45min

What Game of Thrones Has Taught Us About Politics

"Winter is coming," they warned us, and the seventh season of Game of Thrones might have proved them right. But no one mentioned that winter in Westeros would coincide with so many troubling events in real-world politics. In this episode, Megan Garber, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins Radio Atlantic cohosts Alex Wagner and Matt Thompson for a conversation about lessons from the show, and other recent pop culture.- If you're not a Game of Thrones fan, or don't want to be spoiled, worry not: the second segment of our conversation (around the 16:30 mark) turns beyond the show to discuss recent movies, books, and TV shows with political lessons to offer. - If you are a Game of Thrones fan, be forewarned: we discuss spoilers up to and including the final episode of season 7.For links and other show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Aug 25, 2017 • 48min

Are Smartphones Harming Our Kids?

It's been ten years since the iPhone came out, and now the first generation to grow up with smartphones is coming of age. Jean Twenge, a psychologist who has studied generational behaviors, has found troubling signals that these devices seem to be taking a visible toll on the mental health of post-Millennials. In the September 2017 issue of The Atlantic, Twenge shares her findings in a story adapted from her new book, iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy—and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood—and What That Means for the Rest of Us. In this episode, we talk with Twenge about her findings, hear from a few members of the post-Millennial generation about their relationships with their devices, and discuss what the research means for parents.For links and other show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Aug 17, 2017 • 59min

Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yoni Appelbaum on Charlottesville's Aftermath

After white supremacists and neo-Nazis rallied in Virginia, resulting in the deaths of three Americans, President Trump's equivocating responses shocked Republicans and Democrats alike. Did this represent a major breakpoint in American politics? Why have Confederate symbols and ideas suddenly returned to the public sphere, not to mention HBO? And how should Americans comprehend the relationship between these extremist currents and the Trump administration? Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yoni Appelbaum explore these questions with Jeffrey Goldberg, Alex Wagner, and Matt Thompson.For links and other show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Aug 11, 2017 • 50min

Kurt Andersen on How America Lost Its Mind

When did the reality-based community start losing to reality show celebrity? Why are "alternative facts" and fake news suddenly ubiquitous features of the landscape? The spread of American magical thinking isn't, in fact, sudden, argues Kurt Andersen in the September 2017 Atlantic. It was rooted in the very origins of the nation, and started to blossom in the '60s. Andersen explores how these forces made their way to the White House in conversation with our Radio Atlantic cohosts, Jeffrey Goldberg, Alex Wagner, and Matt Thompson. For links and other show notes, go here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Aug 9, 2017 • 23min

News Update: Mark Bowden on North Korea

Given new revelations about North Korea's nuclear capabilities—and newly harsh rhetoric from President Trump—Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson talk with Mark Bowden, author of The Atlantic's July/August cover story on how to deal with North Korea. In that story, Bowden laid out the four options a U.S. administration has for handling North Korea's nuclear ambitions—trying to prevent its progress, turning the screws on the country's leadership, decapitating its leaders, and accepting that a nuclear North Korea is inevitable—and why all of those options are bad. In this conversation, he talks about how this week's news affects that calculus, and whether any one of those paths has grown more likely.This is a bonus episode. In our August 11 episode, our co-host Alex Wagner will rejoin us, and our guest will be Kurt Anderson, the author of our September cover story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Aug 4, 2017 • 54min

Ask Not What Your Robots Can Do For You

Our increasingly smart machines aren’t just changing the workforce, they’re changing us. Already, algorithms are directing human activity in all sorts of ways, from choosing what news people see to highlighting new gigs for workers in the gig economy. What will human life look like as machine learning overtakes more aspects of our society?Alexis Madrigal, who covers technology for The Atlantic, shares what he’s learned from his reporting on the past, present, and future of automation with our Radio Atlantic co-hosts, Jeffrey Goldberg (editor-in-chief), Alex Wagner (contributing editor and CBS anchor), and Matt Thompson (executive editor).For links and other show notes, go here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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