The Dig

Chapo went on The Dig. Dan talks to @cushbomb about optimism, pessimism, Manitowoc, reptilians, why the internet might be mostly bad, and Dan’s personal connection to the PizzaGate coverup. Toss us some cash love at Patreon.com/thedig and check out The End of Policing by Alex Vitale, from our sponsors at Verso Books. https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing

Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner talks about being horrified by Trump, why single-payer is suddenly hot among likely 2020 Democratic contenders, and the work that Our Revolution is doing nationwide to fight the Democratic Party’s neoliberal leadership. Thanks to our supporters at Verso Books, who just published Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis by George Monbiot. Also, catch me in Atlanta at the International Drug Policy Reform conference on October 14.

Prevailing debate obscures the fact that we already have a form of gun control in the United States. As legal scholar Ben Levin explains, the problem is that it’s a form of gun control that is mostly about locking up poor black men in huge numbers. The Left should demand a society without readily available weapons of war on the streets and a society without mass incarceration. Thanks to our supporters at University of California Press. Check out their new title Race and America’s Long War from Nikhil Pal Singh. And check out Dan’s Jacobin article on carceral gun control here. Also, catch Dan in Atlanta at the International Drug Policy Reform conference on October 14.

Here’s Dan’s full interview with civil rights attorney and Democratic nominee for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. You heard some of it yesterday on the first in a four-part series on mass incarceration that we are co-producing with Cited, a podcast out of the University of British Columbia. Sponsorship from Harvard Law’s Fair Punishment Project (sign up for their newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cZMccH) and The University of Washington Center for Human Rights.

In the late 1960s, criminologists like Todd Clear predicted America would soon start closing its prisons. They couldn’t have been more wrong. Interviews with Clear, formerly incarcerated poet and legal scholar Dwayne Betts, and civil rights attorney and Democratic nominee for Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. Today’s show is the first in a four-part series on mass incarceration that we are co-producing with @citedpodcast, which is out of the University of British Columbia. Special guest hosts are Cited’s @Samadeus and scholar Katherine Beckett. Sponsorship from Harvard Law’s Fair Punishment Project (sign up for the FPP newsletter: http://eepurl.com/cZMccH) and The University of Washington Center for Human Rights.

Today’s Diglet is not really diminutive at all. Dan has two interviews with two separate guests because too much has happened over the past few weeks and there are too many smart people to analyze it all. First, scholar @marisollebron on how Wall Street-imposed austerity set Puerto Rico up for devastation, and why it will be an obstacle to a just recovery. Then, Twitter expert @BrandyLJensen on recent Republican grotesqueries. Donate to Taller Salud in PR at facebook.com/taller.salud, check out puertoricosyllabus.com and support this podcast at patreon.com/thedig

Islamophobia is conventionally regarded as racist and bigoted views about Muslims expressed by ignorant individuals, including the one who somehow became president. But legal and critical race scholar @KhaledBeydoun explains that the reality is more complicated. The War on Terror perpetrated state-backed Islamophobia, which nurtured and bolstered popular anti-Muslim bigotry. Support us at Patreon.com/TheDig. Check out Beydoun’s article http://columbialawreview.org/content/islamophobia-toward-a-legal-definition-and-framework/

For this Diglet, Dan and Eve discuss Hillary Clinton’s new book What Happened. Eve also talks about spending time with Jill Stein recently, and argues that it’s wrongheaded to blame Stein for Trump. Thanks to our supporters at University of California Press. Check out their new title How All Politics Became Reproductive Politics: From Welfare Reform to Foreclosure to Trump https://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520281912“

Trump is normal in more ways than people care to admit, but he is different in that he parts from the bedrock ideology of American exceptionalism that has governed this country from its violent founding. Foreign policy scholar @stephenwertheim makes the case that the Trump Doctrine could reignite extreme nationalism and militarism but also provides the Left with an opening to finally launch a movement against American Empire. Thanks to University of California Press for their support. Check out their new title A Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in Iran https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520965843

The so-called Olympic spirit doesn’t match the reality of a highly-corporatized Games that often leaves taxpayers picking up the tab, engenders abusive policing and justifies the remaking of cities for the rich at the expense of ordinary and poor people. Dan’s guests today are Molly Lambert, a writer and member of Los Angeles DSA, and Jules Boykoff, the author of “Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics” from Verso. Support this pod with your money at patreon.com/thedig