Beyond Politics

Republicans have been flat-out winning the battle for the judiciary -- the “shadow war” in the fight for control of America’s government. We all know about the Supreme Court, but underneath the Supreme Court there are 13 courts of appeals, and below them 94 district courts.  Most of the time, it is those lower courts that have the final word on questions of federal law. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor once said they are “where policy is made.” Donald Trump substantially shifted the calculus of those courts. By the time he left office, he had appointed about one quarter of the total judges, and at ultra-important appellate level, Trump had shifted Republican-appointed judges from holding 40% of the seats to an outright majority at 54%. Trump also flipped 3 of those 13 courts to Republican-appointed majorities, meaning that 7 of the 13 Courts of Appeals are now controlled by jurists picked by Republicans.  Our guest today, calls this a "conservative fortress" in the federal judiciary. But he’s devised a smart, constitutional method for scaling that fortress…and it’s not court packing or term limits, or probably anything you’ve heard before. Chris Sprigman is the Murray and Kathleen Bring Professor of Law at the NYU School of Law, the author of numerous articles in law reviews and other scholarly publications, and he’s here to tell us all about it.

One night, New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice Justice Broderick awoke to find himself in the ICU.  He had been attacked by his son. The story made national news.  But it was only after the cameras left that the real story begins. Since that day, Justice Broderick has been on a journey of discovery and leadership on mental health in America. He’s working to improve understanding and awareness of mental illness in order to get rid of some of the myths, encourage discussion and treatment, and begin to change the unfair and shameful culture that surrounds mental health in America. Today on Beyond Politics, a remarkable story of health, struggle, recovery, and hope, and a look at the reality of one of America's greatest and least understood challenges. 

Michaeleen Crowell was Chief of Staff to US Senator Bernard Sanders for 5 years. She was Senior Advisor to the Bernie 2016 presidential campaign.  She built the social media empire that Senator Sanders uses to reach 25 million people each week. As if this wasn’t enough, she was Legislative Director for civil rights icon John Lewis before that.  Michaeleen joins the show to talk about how Bernie Sanders became a masterful inside player; how to pass bills in today's divided Washington; what Republicans are saying behind the scenes in the Senate; what working for John Lewis was really like; what she learned playing Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Sanders campaign prep debates; and what the future of the progressive movement looks like. 

Democratic data expert David Shor has a stark warning:t if Democrats think they're sitting pretty, they're deluding themselves. "We actually aren't winning the war of ideas as much as we think...and the Republican Party is more popular relative to the Democratic Party than people think.  The Democratic Party brand and agenda has shifted a lot in the last four to five years, and it's gone in a direction that a lot of voters aren't comfortable with.  People can easily overestimate how much support there is for the Democratic Party." Check out the whole show for more from this fascinating interview.  Shor is a data scientist who consults with progressive groups around the country and is one of the most trusted and widely respected voices on what’s actually happening with the American electorate. He's the Head of Data Science at OpenLabs R&D, and previously was the director of Political Data Science at Civis Analytics, overseeing a research and development program that interviewed millions of people for hundreds of individual campaigns and electoral organizations. Photo by Marvin Esteve on Unsplash

In the 1992 presidential race, the Clinton campaign famously came up with what they called a haiku to summarize what they wanted to make everything about. The economy, stupid…change vs. more of the same…and don’t forget health care. 30 years later, that’s also a really good summary of where we find ourselves as a country – and as a region, since we’re broadcast out of New England. Over the last year we’ve seen breathtaking change in our politics and our daily lives. The number one issue on our minds is the economy, and our worries about are far from stupid. And of course, we can’t forget health care…our health is front and center in our lives. Helping to navigate all of these concerns, and connect our businesses, cities, educational institutions and nonprofits with our government…in New England that job falls to the New England Council.  The New England Council is the nation’s oldest regional business organization. But it’s not just business, its an alliance of businesses, academic and health institutions, and public and private organizations throughout New England formed to promote economic growth and a high quality of life in the New England region. The President and Chief Executive Officer of The New England Council, Jim Brett, is with us to talk about the economy, change, health care…and everything else going on in New England and Beyond.

The numbers we hear about in government and politics are often so big that they lose all meaning.  This is a big deal -- we are after all in a democracy, and if we can't understand what we're even talking about in budgets and programs, it's hard to make smart decisions. That's why Cornell University Professor Steven Strogatz and his student Aiyanna Green wrote a New York Times op-ed explaining a smarter way to think about big numbers. Ms. Green is an undergraduate majoring in policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University, and she joins us to explain. Photo by Roman Mager on Unsplash

Victor Piniero is the author of Time Villains, an Amazon Best Book of the Month in July 2021. Kirkus Reviews, in a STARRED review says “Piñeiro scores with this tale of friendship, magic, and adventure.…Magnificent.”  Victor joins the show to talk about the book and give advice to other aspiring writers about how to get going and write their dream novel. 

Today we tackle Amazon, Amazon prime, and the many ways both obvious and unseen that Amazon has wormed its way into everything we do.  For many of us, Amazon is just a part of our daily lives. What we buy, what we watch, and what we say… Much of it runs through Amazon‘s computers and marketplaces. And from there of course, it is incorporated into Amazons algorithms, its data, it’s artificial intelligence. In a very real way, Amazon is inside our brains.  So what does that mean? How much control does Amazon really have over the American economy and over the choices we make as individuals? And is it time to take some more aggressive action place some limits on an entity that has really no precedent in human history? Our guess is Dr. Emily West, an associate professor of communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She’s the coeditor of The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture, and the author of the forthcoming book "Buy Now: How Amazon Branded Convenience and Normalized Monopoly."

What if I told you that there is clear, convincing, peer reviewed, and widely accepted research showing that things in the world around us that run on electric power could be hurting us in ways that we don’t even fully understand? It’s true.  My uncle Dr. Martin Blank -- professor at Columbia University -- was for decades one of the world-leading scientists when it came to the effect of the radiation that comes from all of the things that run on electric power on the cells in our body. After he died, his son (my cousin) decided to carry on his work. He joins the show today to describe the science -- both what we know and what we don't know -- and to offer some practical, common sense (and mostly free) solutions for mitigating risks.  He also hosts the Healthier Tech Podcast, a show about how best to live in balance with our increasing reliance on tech.  Listeners who want to learn more and get free information on the science and what they can do can visit http://shieldyourbody.com/beyondpolitics.

With the death of the For the People Act - and Republicans passing more voting laws at the state level aimed that independent analysts say gives them a partisan advantage or could even allow Trump-style factions to overturn election results - we ask Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse what on Earth Democrats can do to ensure fair elections with equal access for everyone. Also, Senator Whitehouse weighs in on the Manchin compromise, what one thing he would persuade Republicans on (if he could only choose one thing), and just how worried he is about the state of the Senate and our country.