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    • ROB JOHNSON & I talk about the State of the Union – Biden’s speech plus our own take on things

      ROB JOHNSON is a plain-speaking and passionate critic of an economic, financial, and political system that leaves too many behind. He and I do post-election shows – and we’ll do another this November, but this week we talk about the State of the Union as well as the state of the union. We talk about Biden’s speech and about how the two of us see things – the economy, the election, the two parties, the nation’s mood, how we got here, and how we might move forward. Rob is President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking and host of the podcast Economics and Beyond. You can learn more about him and his work at ineteconomics.org 

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    • TIM DeCHRISTOPHER-Courage & Conviction-Tim served 21 months in prison for civil disobedience protecting public lands

      We know Republicans exercise minority rule in the states, the House, and the Supreme Court. Now Biden is arming Israel without meaningful or effective demands for humanitarian treatment of innocent civilians. Is it time for civil disobedience? Here’s my 2013 conversation with Tim DeChristopher. In a disputed auction of oil leases on pubic lands, Tim bid and won the rights to 22K acres, which he had no plan to pay for or exploit. He was tried on federal felony charges and served 21 months in prison. I offer this example to remind us of the personal courage it may take to offer real resistance to policies and actions being done in our names. 

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    • ANGUS DEATON, co-author, Deaths of Despair – ECONOMICS IN AMERICA: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality

      ANGUS DEATON won the Nobel prize in Economics for work accomplished before he and his wife, economist Ann Case, wrote DEATHS OF DESPAIR and the Future of Capitalism. Pre pandemic, life expectancy in the US was no longer rising, and already falling among adults without 4 years of college, due in large part to alcoholism, drug overdoses, and suicides. In his newest book, ECONOMICS IN AMERICA: An Immigrant Economist Explores the Land of Inequality, Deaton reflects on 25 years of his writings from the perspective of 2023. He’s takes a hard look at the field of economics, and its role in a society and an economy that leaves out so many. His last words in this conversation: “I made a lot of mistakes in my life, and it’s good to be able to live long enough to be able to acknowledge them.” You can learn more at deaton.scholar.princeton.edu

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    • 5 BROKEN CAMERAS (2013)-EMAD BURNAT (Palestinian) & GUY DAVIDI (Israeli) co-directors, of the Oscar-nominated doc.

      This week the media offers Academy Award buzz as well as the horrors of Israel’s response to the horrors of October’s attack by Hamas. Here’s my 2013 conversation with Palestinian EMAD BURNAT and Israeli GUY DAVIDI, co-directors of the Oscar-nominated documentary, 5 BROKEN CAMERAS. The film tells the story of Burnat, a Palestinian West Bank farmer, his wife, and four small children. As we track the destruction of each of his cameras, we witness his village’s ancient olive trees bulldozed, protests intensify, and a son grow from a newborn to a young boy. 

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    • MARGOT SUSCA-HEDGED: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy

      We all know the newspaper business is in trouble. A weekday edition of the LA Times – once a “national” newspaper, along with the NYTimes, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal – now might be 32 pages and another 100 were recently laid off in the newsroom. The culprit is assumed to be the internet, stealing both stories and ads. Not so fast. I talk with MARGOT SUSCA, a former reporter, now a professor of Journalism, about her first book, HEDGED: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy. Her assessment: “What we have is not a crisis of profit. What we have is a crisis of greed and growing inequality.”

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    • ROBERT P. JONES-THE HIDDEN ROOTS OF WHITE SUPREMACY and the Path to a Shared American Future

      The last time a Democratic presidential candidate won a majority of White voters was in 1964. ROBERT P JONES, President and Founder of the Public Religion Research Insitute (PRRI) and author of THE HIDDEN ROOTS OF WHITE SUPREMACY and the Path to a Shared American Future, writes that “White Christian nationalism has become central to the…Republican Party, two thirds of whom identify as white and Christian.” To find the origins of white supremacy, he says we need to look beyond 1619 to 1493, when the Pope issued the Doctrine of Discovery – that all territory not already inhabited or controlled by Christians shall be claimed by Christians as their new promised land. Learn more at www.whitetoolong.net

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    • JONAH SACHS (2012)-Winning the STORY WARS-Key to persuasion & motivation – and as timely as ever

      In todays fractionalized & polarized world, facts and reality are too often less important than which narrative you embrace or which stories you believe. Here’s my 2012 conversation with JONAH SACHS, Co-Founder of Free Range Studios – the folks behindthe classic Story of Stuff – and author of WINNING THE STORY WARS. Learn how and why narrative works so well and how to use it to your advantage.

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    • CORPORATE BULLSH*T- JOAN WALSH-Six lies they use to hold onto power and hold back progress

      The market – using money in politics to write its own rules – cannot respond effectively to critical challenges we face . JOAN WALSH, formerly at Salon, CNN, and MSNBC and now national affairs correspondent for The Nation, authored CORPORATE BULLSH*T with Nick Hanauer (Pitchfork Economics; Civic Action) & Donald Cohen (The Public Interest). Digging into myths and strategies of the Right, they focus on six big lies used over and over again to hold onto power and hold back progress. To learn more, go to thenation.com – search for Joan Walsh. 

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    • DARING DEMOCRACY (2017)-FRANCES MOORE LAPPE (Diet For A Small Planet) & ADAM EICHEN-Pro-democracy activism near the end of Trump’s first year in office

      American democracy is under attack in 2024. Last week I talked with SAM DALEY-HARRIS about the life-tested lessons in his book RECLAIMING OUR DEMOCRACY: Every Citizen’s Guide to Transformational Advocacy. I recommend the book and the episode. I follow this week with my 2017 conversation with FRANCES MOORE LAPPE and ADAM EICHEN. LAPPE, who published Diet For A Small Planet over 50 years ago and whose work since has consistently updated the best the 60’s had to offer, and EICHEN, who graduated from college in 2015, met on a pro-democracy march. They co-authored DARING DEMOCRACY: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want – their report on pro-democracy movements near the end of Trump’s first year in office.

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    • SAM DALEY-HARRIS-Our work for 2024-RECLAIMING OUR DEMOCRACY-Learn to practice transformational advocacy

      We must up our game in 2024. We sign petitions and make donations, but how many meet with a Congressperson or write a letter to the editor? SAM DALEY-HARRIS, founder of anti-poverty lobby RESULTS and Civic Courage, has a new 2024 edition of RECLAIMING OUR DEMOCRACY: Every Citizen’s Guide to Transformational Advocacy. His message: Find and get involved this year with a group that offers a rich structure of support – that coaches you, empowers you, emboldens you, and educates you. To learn more go to civiccourage.org or reclaimingourdemocracy.com 

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