Current Affairs

This week, Current Affairs' resident immigration lawyers, Oren Nimni and Brianna Rennix, roll up their sleeves and delve into all the details of Bernie Sanders' plan for immigration policy, which was released November 7th. A few immigration terms that may be useful to know while listening to this episode: metering - limiting the number of people per day who can request asylum at points of entry, resulting in long waitlists and large numbers of people trapped in dangerous border cities. TPS - temporary protected status. This status allows people present in the U.S. who cannot safely return home due to a natural disaster, armed conflict, or other emergency to receive permission to live and work in the United States. Although the window of time to receive TPS is narrow (for example, if there’s a devastating earthquake in your country in 2010, the window to apply for TPS might close in 2011), once people have TPS, they can apply to continue renewing that status for as long as the government continues to extend it. (This means that TPS holders from some countries, like El Salvador or Honduras, have been legally living in the U.S. for decades.) 'safe third country' principle – a vague term for an agreement between two or more countries that purports to state that all the countries in the agreement are “safe” for asylum-seekers, and therefore that asylum-seekers should seek protection in whatever country they arrive in first. For example, the U.S. has had a safe third country agreement with Canada since 2004. The U.S. is now allegedly attempting to broker safe third country agreements with countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, even though refugees are fleeing these countries in large numbers. Matter of A-B - an asylum case decided by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in June 2018, which overturned a favorable precedent that had allowed many domestic violence survivors to qualify for asylum, and stated that “generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors will not qualify for asylum." IIRIRA - The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which greatly expanded the scope of detention, punishment and deportation for undocumented immigrants. You can read Bernie's plan here: https://berniesanders.com/en/issues/welcoming-and-safe-america-all/ You can find our previous episodes on immigration here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/30632925 https://www.patreon.com/posts/24173901 Brianna Rennix writes regularly on immigration here: https://www.currentaffairs.org/author/brianna-rennix And is interviewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5GCjTqhOqI

Legal editor Oren Nimni and associate editor Vanessa A. Bee speak to political science professor Corey Robin about his new book, The Enigma of Clarence Thomas. Together, they explore the life and ideology of the Supreme Court's quietest, most mysterious judge, whose perspective on race, power and justice defies simplistic conceptions of left and right.

In this episode, Current Affairs host Pete Davis speaks with Elias Crim, founder of the blog and online discussion group Solidarity Hall. Together, they discuss the eclectic blend of influences that have inspired their unique outlooks on politics: from Pope Francis, to Polish unions, to housewives who protest ill-considered expressways. Pete also describes the Current Affairs team as "a ragtag set of characters", which we have chosen to take as a compliment. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our Patreon subscribers. To gain full access to this episode, as well as lots of other delicious bonus content, please consider becoming one of our supporters at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

Editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson sits down with legendary sociologist and writer Arlie Hochschild. Together, they discuss her book Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, based on her experiences in the Tea Party stronghold of Lake Charles, Louisiana. This episode is a preview of an episode available in full to our Patreon subscribers. To gain full access to this episode, as well as lots of other exclusive bonus content, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/Current Affairs!

Take an hour off from being scared by climate change - be scared by our spooky Halloween podcast instead! This week, the panel discusses their deepest fears, the annual panic around poisoned candy, and their favorite Halloween movies. "You wake up, and you're in a cube. And there are doors, that are squares in the cube. And they go through the door, but then there's ANOTHER cube. And then they meet other people, and they're like "You're in the cube too?" and then they're like, "Yes."" The panel this week was editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson, newsletter editor Nick Slater, amusements and managing editor Lyta Gold, senior editor Brianna Rennix. Your host is Pete Davis. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA. Music by Alexander Blu.

Pete Davis, host of the Current Affairs podcast, is many things. Even we at the Current Affairs headquarters only know, at best, maybe 10% of the things that he is. For over a year now, Pete has remained shrouded in mystery, hosting the show without dominating the conversation, allowing the rest of the team to speak their minds, and referring only occasionally to his own thoughts. Well, here and now, for the first time ever, editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson and finance editor Sparky Abraham are ready to quiz Pete on his many thoughts, theories and stray ideas about the world. What is the difference between a prophet, a mystic and a sage? What unites borders and the concept of aether? Is tackiness a dilution of immorality? Are Donald Trump and Nathan J. Robinson using the same strategy for success? Is alchemy a secret form of self-help? Pete has some theories. This is a preview of an episode available in full to our supporters on Patreon. To gain full access to this episode, please consider becoming one of our supporters at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

In this episode, Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson and amusements editor Lyta Gold sit down with Osita Nwanevu, staff writer at The New Republic, to discuss his recent article 'The "Cancel Culture" Con'. This episode is a preview of an episode available in full to our Patreon subscribers. To gain full access to this episode, as well as lots of other brilliant bonus content, please consider becoming one of our subscribers at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs!

Today is apparently 'International Boss Day', so instead of celebrating labor exploitation, we've decided to unlock this Patreon-exclusive episode. Current Affairs editors Oren Nimni and Sparky Abraham discuss the legendary, heartbreaking, much-misunderstood music of Bruce Springsteen. It's okay if you cry. You can read the George Will review mentioned here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/09/13/bruce-springsteens-usa/f6502baa-a8eb-48ad-ba85-7fa848d8833e/ The two albums discussed are 'Nebraska' and 'Born in the USA'. You can find them on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/6yskFQZNlLYhkchAxELHi6 https://open.spotify.com/album/0PMasrHdpaoIRuHuhHp72O

This week, the team is very sleepy, podcasting late into the evening in their matching Current Affairs pajamas. Together, they tackle the question of impeachment, excoriate those who get too much credit, and take a few bites of humble pie. The panel this week is: podmaster-general Aisling McCrea, amusements and managing editor Lyta Gold, associate editor Vanessa A. Bee, and editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson. Your host is legal editor Oren Nimni. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA. Sound used in this episode: 'Meditative Ambience' - Alexander Blu 'AstroLanguage' - jobromedia 'Heroic Drums' - Alexander

This would usually be a Patreon-only episode, but given how vital this topic is, we've decided to unlock it. Current Affairs contributing editor Eli Massey interviews senior editor Brianna Rennix, an immigration lawyer working with asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border. Brianna does updates on immigration law at the Current Affairs website: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/09/this-week-in-terrible-immigration-news-4 Here's a flowchart we created to give a little insight into asylum law back in 2017 (may be slightly outdated, but helpful for getting a picture of what asylum seekers are up against!) This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.