Current Affairs

We live in an age where economic success can depend a lot more on hype and branding than offering actual useful things that help people. Occasionally, we see extreme examples of fakers and frauds, like Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and Billy McFarland of the Fyre Festival. But those are the few that have seen their lies exposed and their careers come crashing down. There are others, like Tesla's Elon Musk, WeWork's Adam Neumann, and America's Donald Trump, who have reaped riches beyond comprehension by bullshitting and betraying people. Today on the podcast, journalist and attorney Gabrielle Bluestone joins to discuss how con artists get away with it, and the way scammers succeed in getting people to believe in images that depart completely from reality. Gabrielle is the author of Hype: How Scammers, Grifters, and Con Artists Are Taking Over The Internet and Why We're Following. She also produced the Netflix documentary FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. Gabrielle's work exposes the ways that con artists take advantage of people's desire for status and fulfillment, in particular the pernicious and fictitious content produced by social media "influencers." In this interview we discuss:- How much of what appears on social media is fake or secretly being paid for by someone- How little meaningful accountability there is for those who rip others off, how Americans are oddly unsympathetic to the victims of scammers and sometimes even seem to root for the grifter- The empty lives of full-time influencers, who must constantly be striving to sell their personal brands and maintain their followings- How the world of cryptocurrency and "NFTs" has taken all of this to new extremes- Why we could all stand to become a little more cynical and think more critically about the ways we might be being taken advantage of. If a product has 5-star reviews, are they real? If someone posts a picture of themselves on a private jet, are they really on one, or are they in a rented photo studio designed to look like the inside of a private jet? Gabrielle reminds us that online, almost nothing can be trusted to be what it seems.

Maureen Farrell is a business reporter with the New York Times and co-author of the book The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion, which documents one of the most bizarre stories in 21st century capitalism: the staggering rise (and subsequent collapse) of WeWork, an office space rental company that presented itself as a game-changing "technology company" that was going to revolutionize the world and change the way humans interacted with each other. Led by a strangely charismatic founder, Adam Neumann, who had sought his fortune in the baby clothes industry before pivoting to real estate, the company ascended to stunning heights, attracting investment from some of the most sophisticated capitalists in the world. Neumann successfully convinced legions of followers that WeWork was offering more than just co-working spaces, and developed what Farrell and co-author Eliot Brown call "the cult of We," infusing the company's culture with quasi-religious belief in a destiny to change the world and earn a trillion dollars.But it was a house of cards, and it eventually came tumbling down. When WeWork attempted to go public, it came under heavy scrutiny and Neumann's grandiose claims and messianic vision were widely mocked. And yet: Neumann himself came out of the situation rather well, showing that in the 21st century U.S. economy, failure can be incredibly lucrative.In this lively conversation about a fascinating story, Farrell and Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson discuss:- How Neumann, despite being manifestly full of shit, managed to charm seemingly everyone who met him (and got them to ignore such personal idiosyncrasies as his habit of being drunk at work) - How WeWork successfully branded itself as a "technology company" when it was, in fact, quite obviously a real estate company- How the company evaded scrutiny and managed to hoodwink so many supposedly smart investors for so long- Why Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos is going to prison while Adam Neumann, who in many ways was similarly misleading, is still a multi-millionaire who is now going back into the very industry he failed in- How the WeWork story illuminates broader trends in contemporary capitalism, namely the ability to pass off grandiose and delusional visions as viable companies - How the stories of Adam Neumann and Donald Trump both show that there is no justice in the worldFor more on WeWork, check out Current Affairs editor-at-large Yasmin Nair's article on it.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague is the place where war criminals are supposed to be tried and punished. It embodies a vision of global justice in which war crimes are universally forbidden, intended to carry forward humanitarian principles. But so far, the court has only completed a handful of trials, and it has been heavily criticized for focusing on crimes committed in Africa while ignoring Western atrocities. Yet the court has only existed since 2002, and many hold hope that it can someday be an institution that ensures victims of atrocities around the world receive justice. To better understand the court's operations, we are joined by ICC expert Richard Gaskins, Professor of Law and Social Welfare at Brandeis University and author of the book The Congo Trials in The International Criminal Court, available from Cambridge University Press. Having closely watched and studied the ICC's first complete trials, Prof. Gaskins speaks to Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson about what the court has managed to accomplish so far, what its limitations are, and how close it is to achieving its mission of being a place where war criminals from around the world are held to account. Incidentally, reviews of the ICC on Google are decidedly mixed:

Michael Hiltzik is a Pulitzer Prize-winning business columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has recently attracted a lot of (almost entirely negative) attention for a column and tweets arguing that mocking the deaths of anti-vaxxers is "necessary." Hiltzik joins to defend and explain his position to Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson, who believes that Hiltzik's stance is cruel and unhelpful. Michael argues that his argument is more nuanced than it is being characterized as. Nathan suggests that as the one who intentionally tweeted an offensive provocation, Michael is responsible for that characterization. Michael argues that dark humor is an important weapon, citing the Current Affairs article "The Necessity of Political Vulgarity." Nathan argues that while incivility can be tactically useful, directing it against people who have died of COVID does nothing to create more productive discourse on vaccines. But what about people in positions of power who use that power to spread damaging misinformation? Are they fair game? Should we "never speak ill of the dead"? With whom must we empathize? Are some people beyond empathy? Are we to show respect for the lives of those who do not respect the lives of others? These questions are hotly debated. Discussion of Michael's controversial column begins around 6:00. The "How to Talk to a Science Denier" interview is here.

Judge Judy Sheindlin has long been one of the highest-paid TV stars, earning a staggering $47 million per year for her show, Judge Judy. She is universally known and loved nationwide for her acerbic, "take no BS" style of dispute resolution. "Who doesn't love Judge Judy?" asked Barack Obama. Current Affairs editor-at-large Yasmin Nair does not love Judge Judy. In a new article for In These Times magazine, Nair reviews Sheindlin's new show for Amazon Studios, Judy Justice, and argues that Judge Judy's judgments are full of implicit disdain for the poor, contempt for dysfunctional and broken people, and "bootstraps" ideology.While many of the cases Judy judges are amusing and trivial disputes over the custody of adorable little dogs, others illustrate the tragedy of American financial struggles at the bottom of the class ladder. And the spectacle of an extremely wealthy person snapping commands at those with very little can come to feel grotesque. Nair writes:"Nearly all of the people who end up on the show are poor or close to indigency. [...] In exchange for their appearance, participants agree to be humiliated and berated for the supposed choices that landed them there. They are screamed at by a woman who only works five days a month and who, after the shooting is don, hops on her private jet to fly to her 23-acre home in Naples, Fla., to enjoy a daily lunch with her husband at the Ritz-Carlton."In this episode, Yasmin and Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson dive into the problems with Judge Judy. We discuss:- Typical Judge Judy cases and the strange way that the show pretends it's trying to sincerely resolve legal problems- The dubious ethics of the show's recruitment process and of pretending to be a judge - The ideology underlying Sheindlin's strict belief in Manners, Decorum, and Respect for Authority- Sheindlin's racism, including her despicable treatment of long-serving bailiff Petri Hawkins-Byrd - Her support for Michael Bloomberg and attack on Bernie Sanders, because of course Judge Judy loves Bloomberg and hates Sanders. (Judy: "[America] is the most perfect country in the world and those people that are trying to change it and revolutionize it, don’t have a chance, because I’ll fight them to the death.”)- Why, for all Judge Judy's repellent flaws, the actual American court system is even worse and more cruel Subscribe to In These Times today. Yasmin's article can also be read online at the In These Times website.Edited by Tim Gray.

Sheryll Cashin is the author of White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality. She has been called "one of the most important civil rights scholars of our time." Her book "exposes the ways in which American policy decisions, from the early twentieth century to the present, have constructed a ‘residential caste system’ resulting in the entrapment of Black people in high-poverty neighborhoods while ‘overinvesting in affluent white space.’" In this rich conversation she talks to Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson about how racial segregation was created and why it persists. We dive deep into the mechanisms by which inequality reproduces itself from generation to generation.

Editors of Current Affairs recently took Hillary Clinton's "MasterClass" and had a deeply unpleasant time. But Bill Clinton, too, has a MasterClass, and as public interest journalists committed to understanding and explaining the political world, we felt obligated to take this one, too. To save you the $180 MasterClass fee, we tell you everything you'll learn from Bill Clinton's "Inclusive Leadership" lessons, including:- How to associate yourself with the legacy of Nelson Mandela and other great civil rights leaders - How to discuss your record as a politician without mentioning anything you actually did, like gutting welfare and speeding up the death penalty - How to charm people while saying absolutely nothing- How to champion "inclusivity" without advocating anything that could fundamentally challenge the existing social hierarchy - How to produce a glossy course syllabus containing very little other than photos of yourself and your pets Bill Clinton is genuinely a master of the art of bullshitting people, a skilled and charismatic manipulator. In this episode we discuss how he does it and why the kind of politics he exemplifies need to be rejected and destroyed.To give you your own "coursepack" for this MasterClass, we're offering our Patrons a FREE digital copy of Nathan's book Superpredator: Bill Clinton's Use and Abuse of Black America, which gives an extremely thorough examination of his record and exposes all of the awful policies he continues to conceal and/or lie about. (See attached.) Print copies of Superpredator can be purchased on Amazon. Superpredator - Bill Clinton's Use and Abuse of Black America.pdf

Today, in our last episode of the year, we present a hopeful discussion about what leftists can accomplish in power. Sam Bell is a Rhode Island state senator and Democratic Socialists of America member. The Boston Globe has called him "the most outspoken member" of the RI state senate, and he has tried to use his position to advance left policies in a state historically dominated by extremely conservative Democrats and a powerful political machine. In this episode, we have what is hopefully an uplifting and exciting conversation about what it's like to take on "machine politics" and why some victories are more within reach than you might think. This episode is a useful primer not only on Rhode Island politics, but on the way that leftists can win office and then use that office effectively to change the politics of their state. We talk about: - How his state became dominated by extremely right-wing Democrats out of step with the progressive inclinations of the electorate- Why state legislators are more powerful than you might assume, and how to use that power - How many bills are passed without anyone scrutinizing them or exposing what they do, and why just putting in the effort to study and raise questions about bad legislation can thwart it- How machine politicians want you to think they're more powerful than they actually are- Why taking on the Democratic leadership can make you more popular with constituents, even if the leadership hates your guts- Why power doesn't always work the way you think it does, and how a seemingly weak left might able to do more than it assumes "When you do stand up and fight, sometimes you win. And when you lose, you gain power. You show that the machine is not as strong as it always was. When you have the dissent, you make it easier for the next person to stand up and dissent. And you weaken [the machine's] power. You push them to the left. When they're more afraid of the left than the right, then they move to the left." — Sam Bell We hope that this episode can offer encouragement and inspiration to those who want to take on the establishment and build the progressive left. In 2022, we will need to work harder than ever before. If you don't think you can change things, remember that those who hold power always want to make sure the powerless do not think they can successfully challenge the status quo. But often they're weaker than they seem and you have a greater capacity than you know. And if we don't do it, who will?

Today Nathan is joined by Wall Street Journal reporter Josh Mitchell, author of The Debt Trap: How Student Loans Became a National Catastrophe. Under pressure from progressive Democrats, Joe Biden recently agreed to continue a pause on student loan payments. There has been a great deal of debate over whether Biden should consider canceling large amounts of student debt outright. Mitchell has spent years studying every aspect of the student loan crisis. On this episode, he helps us better understand what the crisis is and how we got here. We discuss:- What makes student loans a "catastrophe" to begin with, and why there needs to be some public policy solution - The mountain of human misery beneath the statistics, what life is actually like for people who can't pay their debts- Why Josh thinks the establishment of Sallie Mae was one of the most disastrous trainwrecks in the history of Congressional legislation - How college financial advisers have misled students into thinking their degrees are more valuable than they actually are - The cases of people with over a million dollars in student debt, or those so old their Social Security checks are being garnished to pay their student loans- How much of the crisis was created by Wall Street greed versus well-intentioned but disastrous public policy- Whether a solution is just to make public colleges free, like public high schools Josh's Wall Street Journal article on borrowers who have crossed a million dollars in student debt is here. Read some Current Affairs coverage of student debt and the financing of higher education in these articles:- Is Student Debt Cancellation Regressive? NO.- Cancelling Student Debt Reduces The Racial Wealth Gap- If You Want To Enact Free College, Cancel Student Debt Immediately- The Taxonomy of Student Debt Arguments - Student Debt Forgiveness: Let's Do Some Math- How Student Debt Is Worsening Gender and Racial Injustice- The Case for Free College - What a Better Biden Would Say About Student Loan Debt

Kristin Henning directs the Juvenile Justice Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. She has worked as a public defender for juveniles in Washington, D.C. and is the author of the book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth. In the book, Prof. Henning "explains how discriminatory and aggressive policing has socialized a generation of Black teenagers to fear, resent, and resist the police, and details the long-term consequences of racism and trauma Black youth experience at the hands of police and their vigilante surrogates." In this episode, we talk about why over-policing destroys the ability of many Black children to have normal childhoods and why it's so essential to respond to the transgressions of kids with empathy and compassion rather than brutality. It's not that difficult: it just means treating all young people, regardless of race, with the kind of mercy and generous due process that some (e.g. Kyle Rittenhouse) are already given.

A UK court recently ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to the United States. Assange faces serious charges over violating the Espionage Act, based on WikiLeaks' publication of classified United States government documents and video related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The prosecution has been condemned by a number of press freedom and human rights organizations, but there are those who argue that Assange is a criminal or even a "terrorist."To discuss the case, Nathan is joined by one of the leading experts on it, Nils Melzer, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture. Prof. Melzer is a specialist in human rights law who has served as a legal adviser to the Red Cross, and is currently Human Rights Chair of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and Professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow. His book The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution is forthcoming from Verso.

Hillary Clinton has just released an online course on "The Power of Resilience" through the website MasterClass, where celebrities teach their skills. The course has made the news because in it, she delivers the speech she would have given had she won the presidency in 2016, which she did not. We were curious what else is in Hillary Clinton's MasterClass, so Current Affairs editors Yasmin Nair, Nathan J. Robinson, and Lily Sánchez paid the fee and took the class. In this episode, we reveal all of the class's secrets, so that you can take Hillary's MasterClass without actually taking Hillary's MasterClass. Her useful lessons on resilience, negotiation, and more are helpfully summarized in this delightful conversation. We discuss:- Why the class seems to be more about helping Clinton process her loss to Donald Trump than a good faith attempt to teach anyone anything- How the class rewrites history and leaves out all of the horrible things the Clintons have done over the course of their political careers- How Clinton presents politics as the struggle of ambitious people to achieve personal goals and fulfillment rather than as a collective struggle that necessitates social movements- Why it's necessary that nobody ever take the lessons of this class seriously, since the last thing we need is a new generation of vacuous Clintonian politicians- Why it's strange to get lessons on political success from someone whose decisions led to a catastrophic political failure (campaign in Wisconsin is not one of the class lessons) Yasmin's Baffler article on Clinton's dystopian elite feminism is here. Her article "Dynasties of Neoliberalism" also discusses Clinton. Nathan's book on Bill Clinton, Superpredator: Bill Clinton's Use and Abuse of Black America, is available here. His article dissecting the Clinton campaign is here. The quote from Bill Clinton about Obama is from a 2012 New Yorker article.

Prof. Aya Gruber teaches criminal law at the University of Colorado Law School. Her book The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women's Liberation in Mass Incarceration makes the case that many feminists have been too quick to push for more severe criminal punishments for crimes against women, and have as a result ended up legitimizing or even contributing to the expansion of mass incarceration. Prof. Gruber makes a strong argument against "carceral feminism," claiming that it sees "putting offenders in prison" as the solution to harms women face, but that this remedy at best only imperfectly guarantees justice, and at worst reproduces cruel racist state violence. In this provocative conversation, we discuss:- How Prof. Gruber's experience in a public defender's office helped her see that some of the legal changes mainstream feminists pushed for ultimately ended up unfairly punishing poor men of color without helping women who were the victims of crimes- Why courts, police, and prisons are not good at delivering anything resembling justice to the victims of sex crimes- How trying to use prisons to punish people after offenses gets in the way of thinking about how to prevent the offenses from happening in the first place - The Brock Turner case, in which a judge was recalled and removed from office after being perceived as lenient on a sex offender, and why Prof. Gruber thinks it was misguided to push for increased mandatory sentences for defendants like Turner- Why feminism should abandon new calls for criminalization and instead see criminal law as an absolute last resort, addressing harms at their root causes

Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy has been known for decades as a critic of Critical Race Theory, which was developed in part by his late colleague Derrick Bell. But Kennedy's critiques come from a position of intellectual respect, and over the years he has become more sympathetic to some of the central claims CRT makes about the pervasive and intractable nature of American racism. His new book Say It Loud! On Race, Law, History, and Culture collects his essays from the past several decades, many of which deal with the question of how American racism has functioned historically, how it has morphed over time, and what a rational way to think about it is. In this wide-ranging conversation, he and Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson discuss:- The way Black intellectual thought has long had "optimistic" and "pessimistic" camps, and CRT fits squarely in with a long tradition of Black pessimism about racial progress- Why Prof. Kennedy thinks there are ample factual grounds for holding that pessimistic perspective, even as someone born in the Jim Crow South who has witnessed certain kinds of major progress during his lifetime- Why Donald Trump's birtherism was a sign of a deep ugly undercurrent of lingering racism that Kennedy does not expect to see disappear, and the disturbing ways that Republicans are rolling back important democratic gains- How law professors foolishly pretend the Supreme Court is politically independent and why we need to acknowledge that it is a powerful unaccountable institution seized by reactionaries- Why Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer have had completely delusional views of the role of politics on the court- The greatness of Thurgood Marshall, for whom Prof. Kennedy once clerked, and why Marshall was no more "political" than other justices - Why Prof. Kennedy has developed a deep respect for CRT scholar Derrick Bell in the years since Bell's death and why Bell was an impressive example of someone who mixed great scholarship with uncompromising activism Say It Loud! is available from Pantheon Books. Kennedy's essay on Derrick Bell is available on SSRN. Nathan's essay on Ginsburg's decision not to retire and the illusion of the apolitical court is here, and his essay on critical race theory is here. The Manhattan Institute panel on CRT that Prof. Kennedy was on is here.

Today Nathan is joined by Edward Niedermeyer, an investigative journalist whose book Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors remains the definitive critical account of the rise of Elon Musk and Tesla. Edward is an auto industry expert whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg View, and elsewhere, and he currently hosts the Autonocast podcast about the development of autonomous cars. We discuss how Tesla motors has been built into a powerhouse in the automotive industry, and Edward argues that it has required a LOT of deception. We discuss:- Why Tesla has been so successful—is it mostly branding and hype or are there real innovations underneath it all?- Whether luxury electric cars are actually important in the fight against climate change- How government subsidies have played a role in making Musk's unprofitable venture survive- How dependent Tesla is on a constant hype machine that is not matched by its actual output- The strategies the company has used to discredit critics- The way economic value can be built on perceptions rather than reality- The parallels between Tesla's brazen violation of norms/standards and the similar behavior oof Donald Trump- The "culture of impunity" that lets corporate wrongdoers off the hook for ignoring laws and basic principles of safety and good design - How the lies of Elon Musk have now had deadly consequences: Tesla users have died in car accidents by taking the company's hyped-up claims about self-driving capabilities seriously - How the company is fine taking insane careless new risks like letting drivers play video games while they driveThe New York Times report Nathan refers to is here. Nathan's article on Elon Musk is here.

In this contentious conversation, Nathan speaks to Prof. John McWhorter about his book Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America. Prof. McWhorter is a linguist at Columbia University, regular New York Times contributor, and host of the Lexicon Valley podcast. His book argues that anti-racist social justice ideology is properly described as a "religion" and that its practitioners are beyond reasoning with. It's a thesis Nathan takes serious issue with and the conversation illuminates deep points of disagreement on questions like:- Whether something having "religious" qualities makes it irrational- Whether the people Prof. McWhorter describes are really "beyond reason" - Whether Prof. McWhorter's characterization of several incidents of excesses by "woke religion" are presented fairly and accurately - If the California Education Department's new mathematics teaching framework really does, as Prof. McWhorter argues, constitute an abandonment of standards of rigor - Whether it's right to say that certain questions are "off limits" - Whether Eminem disproves the idea that there is a prohibition on white people participating in Black culture - Whether Prof. McWhorter has tried hard enough to engage empathetically with those he disagrees with The conversation is brief, as Prof. McWhorter had a limited amount of time available, but touches on many of Prof. McWhorter's most provocative theses.

Today's guest is molecular biologist Dr. Alina Chan, a fellow at the Broad Institute and co-author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of Covid-19. She has been one of the most prominent commentators on the origins of COVID-19 and has attracted controversy for encouraging more serious consideration of the possibility that the pandemic began through an accident at a virology lab. She has been credited for changing the discussion about the issue and causing scientists and the media to pay more attention to the possibility of a lab accident than they were previously. In this episode we discuss:- The various possible ways the pandemic could have begun and why "lab leak" and "natural origin" can be somewhat misleading terms- How the politicization of the debate has gotten in the way of having a serious discussion about the facts, since the right is committed to the lab hypothesis and the left does not want to consider a hypothesis that the right is so committed to- What the actual evidence we currently have is (not much)- How investigations into COVID-19's origins have been compromised- What the stakes of finding the truth are, and how people's worldviews and narratives are threatened by conclusions they don't like- What a "lab accident" would look like and why it could easily come from well-intentioned research intending to stop pandemics, rather than nefarious attempts to manufacture a bioweaponThe articles in the Los Angeles Times and Science suggesting that the virus is unlikely to have been released from a lab are here and here. Nathan's own article on the origins of COVID-19 is here.

Prof. Harvey J. Kaye is the author of books like Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, The Fight for the Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great, and most recently Take Hold Of Our History: Make America Radical Again. Running through his work is the argument that the social democratic left should draw more on the richness of the American radical tradition and take greater pride in the history of those who have struggled to achieve the promise of democratic equality. In this interview, we talk about why Kaye rejects the idea of leftist history as pure "debunking" of nationalist myths and sees it as important to create our own inspiring story about the path trodden by our ancestors. We talk about:- Why Thomas Paine, without whom the American Revolution would probably not have happened, and who alienated the other Founding Fathers and made himself despised, is the one member of the Founding generation radicals can be proud of and should celebrate- How we can take pride in the good parts of the New Deal without whitewashing FDR's indefensible decisions like Japanese internment- How right-wingers like Reagan and Thatcher have successfully crafted inspiring (but false) historical narratives and how we can combat these with true ones- Why Harvey has a certain grudging respect for Newt Gingrich - Why Bernie should have pitched democratic socialism as American rather than Scandinavian The clip of "Let America Be America Again" is performed by Danez Smith.

Today Nathan is joined by legendary former Harper's editor Lewis Lapham. Lapham is the author of numerous books including Money and Class in America, Age of Folly, and Lapham's Rules of Influence. He currently edits Lapham's Quarterly. He also wrote and starred in the delightfully strange documentary/musical The American Ruling Class. He was called "without doubt our greatest satirist" by Kurt Vonnegut, is a member of the American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame, and went to India with the Beatles. The New York Times once called him "amusing." Lapham's books focus heavily on the culture of the American financial and political elite. In Money and Class in America he writes about his own privileged upbringing and the spiritual emptiness of life among those who see price as synonymous with value. We discuss:- The way that rich people go to great lengths to pretend they don't care about money even when it's the main thing they care about- The shallowness of an Ivy League education, and the emphasis on networking over learning anything valuable- How journalists self-censor to avoid hurting their access to the powerful- The social effects of having a publishing industry that cares far more about marketable books than good ones- Why David Graeber and David Wengrow's new book The Dawn of Everything offers a hopeful vision for a possible alternative society that does not worship money and consumer goods

Julia Serano is a PhD molecular biologist, writer, and musician whose books include Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Outspoken: A Decade of Transgender Activism and Trans Feminism, and the surrealist novel 99 Erics. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Salon, and elsewhere.Dr. Serano is a patient debunker of anti-trans talking points, and has written a number of articles patiently taking apart common misconceptions. Her "transgender glossary of sorts" is also an essential resource for those who find gender and sexuality terms confusing or imprecise. Dr. Serano joined to go through some of the most common arguments made about trans people in the popular press and show why they are pernicious, factually incorrect nonsense. Having previously spent two decades as a professional biologist, she corrects the laughably ignorant claims that transgender people misunderstand or ignore "biology." In fact, it is the critics who are unacquainted with the basics of science. In this episode, we look at claims made by J.K. Rowling, Helen Joyce, Deborah Soh, Abigail Shrier, and Ben Shapiro. Julia applies the same kind of patient and informed explanatory approach that characterizes her prolific writing on the subject. We didn't get to all of the major talking points but you can check out Julia's writings on some of the common ones here:- Bathrooms and Sexual Predators - examining the claim that allowing people to use the bathroom of their choice will increase instances of sexual victimization. In fact, the opposite is the case. - Extinction of Lesbians - examining the claim that increased trans identification is a threat to the existence of lesbians - Social Contagion - examining the claim that young girls are experiencing "rapid onset gender dysphoria" and becoming trans because of peer influence - Autogynephilia - examining the claim that trans identities are built around sexual desire - Desistance and Detransition - examining the claim that trans children will grow out of it or are being pressured to - "Trans Women Aren't Women" - examining the claim that trans people are delusional about their biology- "Biological sex" - examining faulty claims made about biologyIn Current Affairs you can read Nathan's own articles on J.K. Rowling, Abigail Shrier's Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, and the debate about trans women in sports. Natalie Wynn's video about Ben Shapiro is here. The Current Affairs article about a lack of access to supportive medical interventions for trans youth is here.

Dean Preston represents District 5 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. A tenants' rights attorney and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he was the first democratic socialist elected to the board in 40 years. Recently, a campaign by a group called the "YIMBYs" has accused Preston of denying housing to thousands of people. In this episode, we talk about why San Francisco has a housing crisis and how to solve it. We also talk about how pro-developer groups produce propaganda that portrays affordable housing activists as "opposed to affordable housing." Dean responds to the YIMBY charges and shows how corporate disinformation against socialists works. We discuss:- Why rent control is actually a very good thing - How the hypocrisy of San Francisco rich people has driven inequality spiraling out of control in the city- How the "YIMBY movement" paints anyone who opposes developers' interests as an anti-housing "NIMBY"- The things cities need to actually be affordable - How elected officials can use their positions to exact concessions from developers (and why this shouldn't be considered "opposing the development of housing")- How disinformation campaigns try to massage the facts to manipulate voters (and why voters are often too smart to be fooled) Nathan's article on YIMBYism is here. '

Aziz Huq is an expert in constitutional law at the University of Chicago law school. He is the author of the book The Collapse of Constitutional Remedies, available from Oxford University Press. Prof. Huq's book focuses on the fact that constitutional rights are meaningless unless there are remedies for violations of those rights, and that while we ostensibly have the same rights as always, courts have steadily eroded our ability to get anything if the government chooses to violate our rights. We discuss:- Why cops get away with brutality and lying- How the US court system is not set up to protect people's rights, but we still did have some once- How the right-wing turn of the courts has meant strong protections for corporate rights and few protections for personal rights against state violence - How we can perhaps one day have some rights that are more than just words on a piece of paper Our "cynical know-your-rights poster," mentioned in the episode, is here.

Today's guest is Glenn Loury, professor of economics at Brown University. Prof. Loury has had a distinguished career—he was the youngest-ever tenured Black economics professor at Harvard and is known for coining the term "social capital." Prof. Loury is generally associated with political conservatism, but his books The Anatomy of Racial Inequality and Race, Incarceration, and American Values actually offer a rebuke to conservative "color blindness" rhetoric and sketch precise explanations for why contemporary racial inequality can only be understood in the context of historical racism. In this interview, Nathan tries to get at some of the seeming contradictions between Prof. Loury's written work on systemic racial inequality and his public statements heavily emphasizing the role of "culture." It is a contentious and challenging conversation. The Anatomy of Racial Inequality was recently reissued with a new preface. Prof. Loury's 2012 lecture "Race, Incarceration, and American Values," can be found here.

Today's guest is Stephen Bright, one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the United States. Prof. Bright teaches at Yale Law School and Georgetown Law, but has spent most of his life working as an advocate for poor people accused of serious crimes. During his decades in charge of the Southern Center For Human Rights, he argued multiple times in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and represented defendants some of the most difficult death penalty cases. Today we discuss the status of the right to a lawyer in the United States. Constitutionally, everyone is guaranteed an adequate defense, but in practice, the amount of representation one gets is based on the amount of money one can spend, and public defenders offices vary wildly across the country. Nobody is better familiar with the situation than Prof. Bright, whose writings include:Counsel for the Poor: The Death Penalty Not for the Worst Crime But for the Worst Lawyer (1994)Fifty Years of Defiance and Resistance After Gideon v. Wainwright (2013) (w/ Sia Sanneh)Prof. Bright has produced an entire 40-part online course on issues of race and class as they apply to capital punishment, which is available for free on YouTube:Capital Punishment: Race, Poverty, and DisadvantageMore of his work defending capital cases can be seen in the 2005 documentary film Fighting For Life In The Death Belt, which can be viewed free online. His lecture to Stanford law students on the ethical responsibilities of lawyers can be viewed here.

In this, the second part of our look into the realities of abortion in the contemporary United States, Nathan talks to Prof. Diana Greene Foster, Director of Research at the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) collaborative research group at UC-San Francisco. Prof. Foster is the author of the new book The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women, and the Consequences of Having―or Being Denied―an Abortion. The book is based on a remarkable study that followed a thousand women over a decade, some of whom had abortions and some of whom were denied abortions. The study compared life outcomes for the two groups and found that not only does having an abortion not cause lasting regret or harm, but not having a desired abortion creates a host of negative life outcomes. We also discuss: - How those who are denied abortions accurately predict the negative life consequences they will face from the denial - Why access to contraception is still a long way from being universal - How the need to quickly gather enough money to pay for a procedure can mean the difference between having an abortion and not having one - Why, regardless of debates over the moral status of the fetus, we need to acknowledge that allowing people choice objectively makes them better off

Carol Joffe is one of the foremost experts on reproductive rights in the United States. A professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, she has been studying and writing about the battle over abortion rights for decades and received lifetime achievement awards from the Abortion Care Network and the Society of Family Planning. She is the co-author of the book Obstacle Course: The Everyday Struggle to Get an Abortion In America, and joined Nathan to discuss the various ways that the anti-abortion movement has already succeeded in creating obstacles to having abortions, as well as: - What a post-Roe America will actually look like: why it may not be quite as bleak as the pre-Roe era thanks to abortion pills, but will be worse if criminal punishments are widely deployed - The sneaky tactics that anti-abortion campaigners often use, including placing fake clinics next to real ones - Why the volunteer actions of ordinary people are essential to ensuring the protection of the right to choose Edited by Tim Gray

Andrew Cockburn is a veteran journalist who serves as the Washington Editor of Harper's magazine. His new book, The Spoils of War: Power, Profit, and the American War Machine, available from Verso collects his reporting on the military-industrial complex and the way the public coffers are looted by profiteers. He joined Nathan to discuss why he thinks the ever-bloating military has become an out-of-control "virus," as well as: - The bureaucratic waste that means the US military isn't even good at defense - Why profit, rather than war, is what the military is built for - The defense companies that depend on constantly manufacturing new threats, which conveniently pop up just when it looks like the military budget might be scaled back - Why the new stories about Chinese hypersonic missiles are exactly this kind of self-interested threat inflation - The alarming situation with nuclear weapons, which are far too close to being used for anyone's comfort - Why defense spending isn't even a good way to "create jobs" - Why progressives should not just focus on critiquing "militarism" and disastrous wars but on scaling back the giant institution that channels so many of our social resources into manufacturing "weapons that don't work for threats that don't exist"

Tara Isabella Burton is the author of Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World. She joined Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson to discuss changing religious practices in the United States. Traditional organized religion has been on the decline for years, as more and more young people are identifying as nonreligious. But are we really? Tara's book looks at the way that new communities and spiritual practices, from SoulCycle to astrology to online political communities, have arisen in the place of churches. We discuss: - To what extent these are identities versus beliefs - What a "religion" is and whether the term should apply to these other kinds of beliefs and practices - How charlatans sell people the promise of spiritual fulfillment - The pluses and minuses of having "bespoke" religions for everyone. On the one hand, everyone gets the faith that suits them best. On the other, we may lose our sense of belonging in the broader human community Edited by Tim Gray Nathan's audio is absolutely horrible for reasons unknown. Many apologies for this. Figuring out the problem so it can be fixed in future.

Today Nathan is joined by Oxford University philosophy professor Henry Shue, author of Climate Justice and most recently The Pivotal Generation: Why We Have a Moral Responsibility to Slow Climate Change Right Now. Prof. Shue's new book is about the moral obligations conferred on people by the historical circumstances they find themselves in. The actions of living people have huge consequences for those born to subsequent generations. What responsibilities do we have to those who come after us? We discuss: - The important questions of justice that need to be central to the climate discussion - Why people living in the future are just as morally important as people living now - What elementary principles of moral philosophy can tell us about the political action we need to take on climate - Why individual lifestyle choices are insufficient to fulfill our moral responsibilities - What those countries most responsible for the climate crisis owe to those who will suffer the most from it Edited by Tim Gray

Ross Barkan, author of The Prince: Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus, and the Fall of New York, joins Nathan to discuss the career of the infamous ex-New York governor. We talk about: - How an un-charismatic and unpleasant bully made his inspiring journey from humble beginnings as the son of the governor of New York to become the governor of New York - How Cuomo managed to keep a blue state from actually passing progressive legislation - How his Machiavellian ruthlessness, and New York's broken election system, kept him in power for so long - How the media allows politicians like Cuomo to portray themselves as heroes when their actual policies are disastrous Ross' book is an important document of the lies and manipulation of one of our time's shadiest state leaders. It offers an important case study in how centrists govern and the kind of politics we need to overthrow. Edited by Tim Gray

Current Affairs editor and physician Dr. Lily Sánchez joins Nathan to discuss her new (and first) Current Affairs article, "Continuing The Pandemic Is A Choice." Lily explains: - the many things the U.S. could do differently if it was actually trying to get COVID-19 cases as close to 0 as possible - the weird lack of a serious public education and messaging campaign around vaccination - why having 50 different state policies makes no sense when you're trying to control a pandemic - the need for us to refuse to accept the status quo, and demand the elimination of preventable suffering Correction: the horrifying Rosa Parks tweet is in fact from contrarian writer James Lindsay, not a Daily Wire writer. Nathan was thinking of a different horrifying recent tweet that was from a Daily Wire writer. That one was in defense of genocide. Point of clarification from Lily: "I did not mean to imply I endorsed a "vax or test" approach when I was talking about vaccine outreach and testing. "Vax or test" doesn't really make sense because anyone can spread the virus regardless of vaccination status. I do support a universal testing approach. What I meant was that doing a universal testing program can keep people safe even if you cannot convince everyone to get vaccinated." You can follow Lily on Twitter @lefty_md

Ben Burgis is the author of the upcoming book: Christopher Hitchens: What He Got Right, How He Went Wrong, and Why He Still Matters, as well as the host of "Give Them An Argument" on YouTube. His previous book Give Them An Argument: Logic for the Left was covered in Current Affairs and he and Nathan have co-written before. In today's episode, Ben and Nathan discuss Hitchens' career, writings, and beliefs, including: - The enduring value of Hitchens' leftist polemics against Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton - The roots of Hitchens' repugnant and despicable views on Islam and the Iraq War - The question of how useful his strident "anti-theism" was - The way the 80s and 90s neoliberal consensus caused certain socialists to lose their way - The need for the left to avoid Hitchens' worst tendencies while learning from his erudition, debating flair, and love of skewering overrated sacred figures The Trial of Henry Kissinger can be seen on YouTube. Ben's book on Hitchens is now available for pre-order. Edited by Tim Gray

Lee McIntyre is a philosopher of science who serves as a research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. His new book, How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason, is about how we can actually successfully talk people out of dangerous erroneous beliefs. Lee recognizes that merely providing people with correct facts does little, but also believes it's a terrible idea to let bad ideas go unrebutted, or conclude that there's "no point trying to reason with people." His book discusses the importance of building relationships and trust as part of the process of getting people to be open to new ideas, and shows why it's essential in an age of vaccine skepticism and climate denial that we learn how to effectively defend scientific truths. He joined Current Affairs editor Nathan J. Robinson to discuss what works and what doesn't when it comes to talking people out of irrational beliefs. Nathan's article on QAnon is here. The story of the QAnoner who gave up his beliefs is from the Washington Post. The George Orwell piece about flat earth beliefs that Nathan quotes is here. If you enjoy the Current Affairs podcast, consider subscribing to our glorious print magazine. Current Affairs is entirely funded by the donations and subscriptions of readers and listeners, and depends on your support to survive.

Thom Hartmann is the #1 progressive talk radio show host in the country. Today, he joins Current Affairs editor in chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss the world of talk radio, as well as his book "The Hidden History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed The American Dream." Nathan asks why the right has been so dominant in talk radio, and how leftists can effectively counter them. We talk about: - Why Rush Limbaugh was so good at what he did - Whether there is anything about talk radio as a medium that is inherently favorable to conservatives - How giant radio corporations limit the reach of progressive voices (including the billionaire station owner who once told Thom "I won't put anyone on the air who wants to raise my taxes") - What it takes to hold people's attention for 3 hours straight on the air - How to do a professional "radio voice" - How the left can produce successful radio (and why we need to) Thom's book on big business is here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49195416-the-hidden-history-of-monopolies Thom's Nation article about why the left should enter the talk radio field is here: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/conservative-talk-radio/

Author Jim Freeman discusses his book "Rich Thanks To Racism: How The Ultra-Wealthy Profit From Racial Injustice." Jim looks at three issue areas, education, policing, and immigration, and how in each, the ultra-wealthy have found ways to make vast fortunes off the suffering of Black and Brown people. Jim directs the Social Movement Support Lab, which provides multidisciplinary assistance to communities fighting for racial justice. He was formerly a Senior Attorney at Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization, where he directed the Ending the Schoolhouse-to-Jailhouse Track project. He served under President Obama as a Commissioner on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. His book is available here: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501755132/rich-thanks-to-racism/ Nathan's audio quality is crap because he accidentally used his computer microphone instead of his podcasting mic. He will try to avoid doing this again. Edited by Tim Gray.

Seattle city council member Kshama Sawant was elected as an open socialist in 2013, long before the present wave of local socialist political victories began. During her time in office, she has taken on Amazon and helped make Seattle the first large city in the country to adopt the $15 minimum wage. In this interview, she discusses how she was able to get elected as a socialist during the Obama years, how movements can successfully pressure useless centrist Democrats to do what they are otherwise disinclined to do, why she doesn't think it's a good idea to associate with the Democratic party under any circumstances (but she supported Bernie anyway), and why she has recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America.

Author Jeremy Lent discusses his new book "The Web Of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place In The Universe." Jeremy's book shows how the individualistic philosophical underpinnings of capitalism destroy our ability to find meaning and our appreciation of the wonders of nature. He shows us the environmental horrors that are unleashed by free market thinking, but then begins to construct an alternative worldview that can help us live harmoniously and sustainably in the universe. He integrates both the insights of the hard sciences and wisdom from traditional religious and cultural practices around the world, showing how even slime molds have something to teach us. The Web Of Meaning can be purchased from New Society Press: https://newsociety.com/books/w/the-web-of-meaning Jeremy's demolition of Steven Pinker can be read here: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/steven-pinker-s-ideas-are-fatally-flawed-these-eight-graphs-show-why/ and the article in which Nathan J. Robinson cites Jeremy is here: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/05/the-worlds-most-annoying-man https://www.jeremylent.com/

Current Affairs is joined this week by Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage! Together, the panel asks if there are countries that exist outside the US and if they are bad, investigate the trope "the left are so crazy that they drove me to the right", and give some TV recommendations. The flock this week was made up of Luke Savage, senior editor Brianna Rennix, business manager Allegra Silcox, and bird-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

The Current Affairs flock investigate how the right created a moral panic around "critical race theory", dare to make all tax records public, and dream of utopia. The flock this week is made up of senior editor Brianna Rennix, finance editor Sparky Abraham, editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson. Your host is Lyta Gold. "How a Conservative Activist Invented the Conflict over Critical Race Theory": https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/how-a-conservative-activist-invented-the-conflict-over-critical-race-theory/amp "Solidarity Never" by Current Affairs lyrebird Danny Bradley. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

Studio H3 of the Current Affairs World Headquarters is closed for renovations this week, so instead of the usual panel format, we have something different for you. Aisling, Allegra and Lyta discuss Aisling's article "Satanic Panic and the Death of Mythos" and use it as a jumping-off point for a freewheeling conversation about the current cultural landscape, including overly literal readings of art, fandom, moralizing, and YA...just, YA in general. "Satanic Panics and the Death of Mythos": https://www.currentaffairs.org/2021/02/satanic-panics-and-the-death-of-mythos Red Letter Media video on Darth Vader lore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVzc20Bm8Xo "The Buzzfeed-ification of Mental Health": https://mentalhellth.xyz/p/the-buzzfeed-ification-of-mental Allegra's favorite tweet: https://twitter.com/ambientGillian/status/1391880931724648451?s=20 Petscop: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZKQv0ZFHpeIUkOtNjtq4KA This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

This episode was originally on our bonus feed, but as Tiffany's election is tomorrow we're putting it out today for everyone! Pete speaks to Tiffany Cabán, public defender and organizer with the Working Families Party, whose campaign for Queens County District Attorney drew national attention last year, and who is now running for New York City Council in District 22. https://www.cabanforqueens.com/ This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

The panel give their NFT takes, propose a universal database of all human knowledge, and share some hard-earned life lessons. The nest this week was inhabited by finance editor Sparky Abraham, poet-at-large Cate Root, editor-in-chief Nathan Robinson, and amusements and managing editor Lyta Gold. "The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free": https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/the-truth-is-paywalled-but-the-lies-are-free/ "As Google Fights Fake News, Voices on the Margins Raise Alarm": https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/technology/google-search-bias-claims.html This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

You've been asking for it, you've been waiting for it. Now, episodes 6 through 12 of Is MMT Real? are available to our Patreon subscribers. They will eventually be made free to the public, but for those who can't wait, you can pay just $5 to subscribe to our bonus feed and gain access to all the episodes now, as well as all our other bonus episodes. Go to www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs to learn more! Episode 6: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49309389 Episode 7: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49366210 Episode 8: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49413998 Episode 9: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49433441 Episode 10: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49516234 Episode 11: https://www.patreon.com/posts/49796660 Episode 12: https://www.patreon.com/posts/51225458

This episode was originally released on our Patreon feed last year, but we've decided to release it to everyone. Aisling McCrea and Oren Nimni discuss that time the American police firebombed Philadelphia. Along the way they discuss the stigma against communal living, death row, black liberation, the military-to-police pipeline, and the way the left deals with the more problematic aspects of its past. Please note that even though it happened in 1985, the story of the MOVE Bombing is still ongoing; in April it was revealed that the Penn Museum had kept the remains of some of the victims, and used them for research and teaching rather than return them to the grieving family. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/penn-museum-city-of-philadelphia-to-investigate-move-bombing-remains/2792675/ This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

Once again, we dig into your voicemails. (We hear you, and we see you.) Topics include personality tests, cryptids, political arguments with relatives, and rebooting the left after the pandemic. The bird's nest this week was made up of five eggs: amusements and managing editor Lyta Gold, finance editor Sparky Abraham, senior editor Brianna Rennix, editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson, and business manager Allegra Silcox. "An Oral History of Cryptid Currency": https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/08/an-oral-history-of-cryptid-currency This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

The Current Affairs flock discuss the right to live wherever you want, the dubious value of patriotism, and the things we love to do even though we're terrible at them. (Please note this episode was recorded before the recent escalation of violence against Palestinians, hence why it doesn't come up despite being relevant to some parts of this episode.) The flock this week are senior editor Brianna Rennix, editor-in-chief Nathan Robinson, finance editor Sparky Abraham, and baby bird Charlie Abraham. Today's head bird in charge is Allegra Silcox. "Libertarian Lullaby", like pretty much all our original music, is by Danny Bradley and available here: https://dannybradleymusic.com/songsforcurrentaffairs/libertarianlullaby This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

Pete returns to talk about his new book Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing. Book is here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Dedicated/Pete-Davis/9781982140908 How a Surprisingly Anti-Capitalist Self-Help Book Could Help Deepen Our Democracy - Progressive.org This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

This episode was originally posted to our Patreon feed a month ago, but we've decided to make it free for everyone. If you enjoy this kind of content, please consider subscribing to our bonus feed at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs! Contributing editor Eli Massey begins a series of in-depth interviews with local activists. To begin with, he speaks to his friend Lesley Williams (@lesleywilliams), a librarian and activist with Jewish Voice for Peace, and based in Evanston, IL. Amongst other things, they discuss the influences of Black and Jewish culture in her life, her travails arranging pro-Palestinian programmes for the local community, and her critique of Evanston's "reparations" policy. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

The panel discuss the recent slate of anti-trans bills, theorize on politics as fandom, and announce their vows for post-pandemic life. Today's flock consists of legal editor Oren Nimni, senior editor Brianna Rennix, amusements and managing editor Lyta Gold, and editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.

The team talk through the question of "vaccine passports", reimagine taxes, and judge whether it is obligatory to stay informed. For the vaccine passport discussion, they are joined by Magnus Jamieson, who has previously guested on the podcast to talk about risk and resilience, and who has been following the COVID situation closely in his capacity as a stats geek (not, he would like us to stress, as an epidemiologist). In some brief patches, Magnus's audio features interference due to extraterrestrial whales careening through the universe, for which we can only apologize. "Is MMT Real?" is an ongoing in-depth series that follows Sparky and Pete as they interview a series of economists and try to puzzle out the truth of MMT. You can listen to it now (along with all our other bonus episodes) for just $5 a month at www.patreon.com/CurrentAffairs. The panel this week was associate editor Vanessa A. Bee, finance editor Sparky Abraham, poet-at-large Cate Root, contributing editor Eli Massey, editor-in-chief Nathan Robinson, guest science guy Magnus Jamieson, and host Aisling McCrea. This episode was edited by Dan Thorn of Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.