Current Affairs

Sparky and Pete discuss what it means to love a place, to be from a place, and to center our organizing around smaller places. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our $5 Patreon subscribers. To listen to the whole episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus episodes, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41065491

Nathan and Sparky speak to Ryan Cooper (@ryanlcooper) of The Week and the Left Anchor podcast about 'truck bloat'—the phenomenon of increasingly big, dangerous trucks and SUVs, the environmental damage they cause, and their role in the violent fantasies that bubble under the surface of the culture wars. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our $5 Patreon subscribers. To listen to the whole episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus episodes, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

The panel discusses "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" by Jo Freeman, taking over politicians' houses, and how political movements become appealing. The print magazine is real, and it's good. Subscribe at https://www.currentaffairs.org/subscribe or, if you're already a Patreon subscriber, you can upgrade to the $10 tier for access to the print magazine, the digital magazine AND the podcast bonus episodes. "The Tyranny of Structurelessness" can be read here: https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA. Music: Acid Trumpet by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3340-acid-trumpet License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wind Of The Rainforest by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5729-wind-of-the-rainforest-preview License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In this super-special episode, Nathan and Oren speak to Lee Weiner, defendant in one of the most notorious trials of the 1960s—the trial of the Chicago Seven . Lee speaks about his childhood as a red diaper baby, becoming involved with radical anti-war politics, and being put on mass-televised trial for conspiracy and inciting to riot outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention. This is a preview of an episode now available in full to our $5 Patreon subscribers. To listen to the whole episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus episodes, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

"When it comes to jokes, The Simpsons uses every part of the animal." Current Affairs newsletter editor Nick Slater, amusements editor Lyta Gold and editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson discuss the most iconic sitcom of all time, why it's lodged so powerfully in our minds, and how it portrays bosses, government, schools and everything else. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our $5 Patreon subscribers. To listen to the whole episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus episodes, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

The team answers your questions! Topics include crowdfunding, teachers' strikes, Trump removal, cats versus dogs, positivity versus negativity, and the FBI. No-one asked a question about stamps, but the team talks about stamps anyway. The panel this week was finance editor Sparky "Spiky" Abraham, poet-at-large Cate Root, associate editor Vanessa A. Bee, and business manager Allegra Silcox. Your host this week was Nathan J. Robinson. New Orleans story where the guy says "neighborhoods are businessses": https://thelensnola.org/2020/07/28/a-major-paradigm-shift-new-orleans-hires-former-short-term-rental-executive-to-lead-land-use-regulation-with-new-business-minded-approach/ Prologue to Jane McAlevey's book with "Florida 2000" story: https://janemcalevey.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Florida-Recount.pdf Lev Menand on the Federal Reserve: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36068735 This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

Brianna Rennix, Lyta Gold and Allegra Silcox discuss the online culture of writing erotic stories about fictional characters, the portrayal of romance and sexuality in media, and what it means to remake a story according to our own desires. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our $5 Patreon subscribers. To listen to the whole episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus episodes, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

Nathan speaks to Adam F. Naughton (@adamfnaughton), a disabled activist in South Carolina and founder of www.notyourinspiration.org, about the differences between the medical and social models of disability, "inspiration porn", the barriers that keep disabled people marginalized, and more. This episode was previously released on our Patreon bonus feed, but is now free for all to listen to! This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

Nathan speaks to Samuel Miller McDonald, Current Affairs contributor and researcher at Oxford's school of geography and environment. Together, they discuss the factors and forces that steer the course of life on Earth. As you might imagine, this results in a very wide-ranging conversation, which covers everything from coal to anarcho-syndicalist peasants to sloths. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our $5 Patreon subscribers. To listen to the whole episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus episodes, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

The panel ponder the demise of anti-consumerist politics, debate a future with no cars, and reveal their weirdest hobby-horses. The panel this week was associate editor Vanessa A. Bee, legal editor Oren Nimni, finance editor Sparky Abraham, and podmaster-general Aisling McCrea. Your host is Pete Davis. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA. Music for 'Find the Cat' by Bensound.