Beyond Politics

It's not as far-fetched as you might think.  Also, an epic failure from Ted Cruz's staff, lessons in bad crisis management from Andrew Cuomo, and how to make everyone stop hating the media so much.

At least 44 Americans are being held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad today. A few years ago, American freelance conflict journalist Jim Foley was one of them. After his public execution, his mother Diane Foley founded the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. Diane joins us to discuss the Foundation's critical work to advocate for the safety of Americans held abroad, and especially to promote the safety of journalists.  We explore difficult questions, like how do we protect Americans from being kidnapped, what should the US government do when they are, and what can listeners do to help?

Matt Robison sits down with Sarah Jones, the Editor-in-Chief of PoliticusUSA.com, to talk about how the Great Ideas show came about, why they both feel it is so important to explore serious, positive ideas for change, how the show and website are planning to collaborate, and why it's so important to hear constructive ideas from across the ideological spectrum -- even the ones you don't agree with. Great Ideas is available on Apple, Spotify, Google, Anchor, Breaker, PocketCasts, RadioPublic, and Stitcher. Excerpts from the first show available on PoliticusUSA.

We are so excited to announce a new show, broadcast on WKXL in New Hampshire, and launched as a podcast this week. It's called "Great Ideas." We all know that America faces challenges. But we’ve also got smart people who spend every day coming up with great ideas for how to meet those challenges. That's what this show is all about. Washington's top policy experts from across the ideological spectrum – the people that our leaders listen to – explaining how an issue or a policy really works, and then sharing their newest, most innovative ideas for making it work better. No shouting. No crossfire. Just ideas. Check out this one minute trailer, and then please subscribe to hear fresh episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Great Ideas is available on Apple, Spotify, Google, Anchor, Breaker, PocketCasts, RadioPublic, and Stitcher.

The roundtable tackles whether the Lincoln Project was all a con, should we re-open schools now, if the San Francisco school board vote to remove Abraham Lincoln's name from a school is a sign of the woke Left losing its mind, if its time for a change in federal marijuana policy, and whether a "low hanging fruit" approach is right on immigration. 

With so much focus on our domestic problems, it’s easy to lose sight of the very serious challenges, conflicts, and threats that face us around the world: an Iran that could be within weeks of having the materials to make a nuclear bomb, an aggressive and nuclear-armed Russia, ongoing and tragic warfare in Yemen, and deep tensions in the strait of Taiwan involving nuclear-armed China which also wields the largest military in the world. Our guest John Tierney is the Executive Director at Council for a Livable World, a leading NGO focused on peace and security. He lays out smart approaches for how America can better navigate a hostile, dangerous world to reduce nuclear weapons, promote dialogue, and achieve greater peace and security.

Senior Congressional Democratic leader and Intelligence Committee member Peter Welch describes efforts to fight extremists in America and the forces -- foreign and domestic -- that support them.  He also describes what practical climate legislation could accomplish for the American economy.  Then, Paul and Matt break down what it would take to really reform social media and protect American democracy from bots, trolls, foreign manipulations, and misinformation.

Former Congressman Paul Hodes, columnist/radio host Alicia Preston, and former congressional staffer/political analyst Matt Robison break down the politics and policy of Covid rescue negotiations, Republican infighting, and Jewish space lasers from the left, right, and center. 

Chris Hill is the host of Motley Fool Money, the #1 stock investing radio show in America.  He joins us to walk through the deeper implications of the Gamestop saga: what does the social media age of investing really mean for the market, investors, the economy, and businesses?  Is this democracy in action, or a social media flash mob run amok? Should the government do something? And how should regular investors think about all of this?

Congressman John Sarbanes authored the For the People Act, the single most important piece of legislation in Congress. Democrats have made it their very first bill introduced in both the House and Senate for a good reason: it might just save American democracy. What it does and why it's so critical, with Congressman Sarbanes, Paul, and Matt.