Current Affairs

UNLOCKED FROM THE PATREON BIRD FEED: Maryland Delegate Vaughn Stewart was once a normal "very online" progressive poster like the rest of us. But after a health scare, he decided to move from ideas into action, running for — and, with the help of the Metro DC DSA, winning! — a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates. Current Affairs host Pete Davis sits down with him to talk about running for office with DSA's endorsement, finding policy ideas through twitter, how corporate lobbyists woo delegates, and pushing innovative housing policy. Read the Governing magazine article on Vaughn's affordable housing push here. Read Ryan Cooper and Peter Gowan's social housing report from the People's Policy Project here. Read about Phillip Burton here. To listen to interviews when they first come out — and gain access to our patrons' "Bird Feed" — consider becoming a monthly patron at our Patreon page. Call into Current Affairs anytime at (504) 867-8851.

Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson is joined for the whole episode by The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald to talk animal welfare, public censorship, Charles Krauthammer and how to keep track of 26 dogs. Here's the New Yorker profile discussed early in the episode. And here's the New York Magazine profile also discussed. Here's Nathan defending Noam Chomsky from hit pieces. Here's Nathan waxing poetic on Chomsky. Here's Glenn's fundraiser for his anti-homelessness and animal welfare project. Tickets to the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, DC are here. Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. For the written form of Current Affairs — and to subscribe to the beautiful print magazine — visit: CurrentAffairs.org. To join the conversation, leave us a voicemail at 504-867-8851.

The Current Affairs panel learns about the Green New Deal, discusses the American loneliness epidemic, and share what we think is the worst example of American political amnesia. The Panel: Brianna Rennix, senior editor Briahna Joy Gray, contributing editor Vanessa A. Bee, social media editor Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief Pete Davis, host Tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE. Further reading on the Green New Deal: Here is Kate Aranoff with a great GND explainer. Here's Eric Levitz on what type of political action will be needed to make a GND happen. Here's Robinson Meyer on why a GND is exciting. Here's Vice on why a Green New Deal could destroy the GOP once and for all. Further reading on American loneliness: Here's a New York Times piece on why social isolation is killing us. Here's a Wall Street Journal piece on aging alone. And here's a loneliness epidemic story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Brianna's essay about working at a suicide hotline is here. The national suicide hotline number is: 1-800-273-8255. Miscellany: Here's Vanessa's essay on why every American deserves a nanny state. Tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE. Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. For the written form of Current Affairs — and to subscribe to the beautiful print magazine — visit: CurrentAffairs.org. To join the conversation, leave us a voicemail at 504-867-8851. Did we mention that tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE.

UNLOCKED FROM THE PATREON BIRD FEED: Lawyer and prison reform advocate Sam Weiss joins legal editor Oren Nimni and social media editor Vanessa A. Bee to talk about the state of prison reform and death penalty abolition. To listen to interviews when they first come out — and gain access to our patrons' "Bird Feed" — consider becoming a monthly patron at our Patreon page. Call into Current Affairs anytime at (504) 867-8851.

The Current Affairs panel discusses how they are approaching the 2020 Presidential campaign, we decide whether money is speech, and we all share what we think is the most important lesson that the left can learn from the right. Tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE. The Panel Lyta Gold, amusements editor Oren Nimni, legal editor Sparky Abraham, finance editor Nathan J. Robinson, editor in chief Pete Davis, host Tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE. Miscellany Nicholas Carnes' White Collar Government book is here. Nathan's Jacobin article on money and speech is here. Corey Robin's facebook post on money and speech is here. Information on the Seattle Democracy Voucher program is here. Tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE. Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. For the written form of Current Affairs — and to subscribe to the beautiful print magazine — visit: CurrentAffairs.org. To join the conversation, leave us a voicemail at 504-867-8851. Did we mention that tickets for the live show on January 26th at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, D.C. are HERE.

The Current Affairs panel opens up the phone lines, answering listener questions on postmodernism, growth, effective altruism, New Orleans and jokes. The Panel Brianna Rennix, senior editor Oren Nimni, legal editor Lyta Gold, amusements editor Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief Pete Davis, host Miscellany Here's Nathan's original article on the problem of academic language. Here is the 80,000 hours blog referenced in the Effective Altruism segment. Here is Nathan and Brianna's podcast on the morality of wealth. Here is a great book by John Cort on Christian socialism and here is a piece on Martin Luther King's economic radicalism. Here's more on activist Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and here's more on Islamic socialism. Labor's Joke Book, mentioned in the footnotes, is here. Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. For the written form of Current Affairs — and to subscribe to the beautiful print magazine — visit: CurrentAffairs.org. To join the conversation, leave us a voicemail at 504-867-8851.

The Current Affairs panel discusses the politics of tragedy, we attempt to define fascism, and we all share something that gives us hope in the 2018 elections. The Panel: Briahna Joy Gray, contributing editor Vanessa A. Bee, social media editor Sparky Abraham, finance editor Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief Pete Davis, host Further reading on the politics of tragedy Nathan's piece on politicizing tragedies is here. The Outline had an essay on politicizing tragedies here and The Guardian had one on the conservative theory of tragedies here. Plus, here's Nathan's inciteful/insightful architecture article. Further reading on fascism Brendan O’Neill makes the case we should stop calling everything fascist here. Vox explains fascism here, Jason Stanley explains fascism here, and Peter Beinart grapples with whether Trump is a fascist here. Further reading on Election 2018 hope More on Lancaster Stands Up is here and here. More on unanimous juries is here. More on Florida's voter restoration is here. Briahna's piece on hope in Red America is here. More on the youth voter surge is here. Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. For the written form of Current Affairs — and to subscribe to the beautiful print magazine — visit: CurrentAffairs.org. To join the conversation, leave us a voicemail at 504-867-8851.

UNLOCKED from the bird feed to the main feed: Current Affairs host Pete Davis invites Jesse Eisinger — Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist with ProPublica and author of The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives — to the Current Affairs World Headquarters to enlighten us on the topic of corporate crime, feckless white collar prosecutors, and why we should care about the underfunding of the IRS. Read Jesse's piece on the IRS dropping the ball here. Read Jesse's piece on why only one banker went to jail after the financial crisis here. Read The New York Times' huge report on the Trump family tax fraud here. Read George Scialabba's new book, which Pete quoted at the end of the episode, here. Many thanks to the amazing Dan Thorn for editing help on this episode. To listen to interviews when they first come out — and gain access to our patrons' "Bird Feed" — consider becoming a monthly patron at our Patreon page. Call into Current Affairs anytime at (504) 867-8851.

In our unlucky 13th episode, the Current Affairs panel gets into the Halloween spirit: we investigate the murder of American democracy, Pete makes the case that Halloween is the best holiday, and we all share our favorite unsolved mysteries. The Death Panel: Brianna Rennix, senior editor Oren Nimni, legal editor Lyta Gold, amusements editor Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief Pete Davis, host Miscellaneous Reading: The books Pete referenced in segment one are Democracy's Discontent by Michael Sandel and The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism by Daniel Bell. A James Joyce halloween costume is here and a sultry Edgar Allen Poe costume is here. Nathan's writing on the joy of Mardi Gras is here. More on the sinister Countess Báthory is here. More on Ireland's Land War is here. More on Carlo Tresca is here. Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron on our Patreon page. For the written form of Current Affairs — and to subscribe to the beautiful print magazine — visit: CurrentAffairs.org. To join the conversation, leave us a voicemail at 504-867-8851.

An excerpt from today's bonus episode, available in full to our Patreon patrons, in which Current Affairs host Pete Davis invites Jesse Eisinger — Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist with ProPublica and author of The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives — to the Current Affairs World Headquarters to enlighten us on the topic of corporate crime, feckless white collar prosecutors, and why we should care about the underfunding of the IRS. To listen to this episode — and gain access to our patrons' "Bird Feed" — consider becoming a monthly patron at our Patreon page. Call into Current Affairs anytime at (504) 867-8851.