Living in the USA

Biden’s weak responses to the end of abortion rights and the Supreme Court majority’s obstacles to gun control have been disastrous for Democrats. Harold Meyerson comments, and on the Georgia races with Rev. Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams. Also: The end of abortion in 26 states will be deadly for many poor women, especially poor women of color. Law professor Michele Goodwin explains, reviewing the history of forced pregnancy under the slave regime in antebellum America, and how it was banned by the 13th Amendment’s prohibition of “involuntary servitude.” Plus: How will the war in Ukraine end? The Russians have failed to install a puppet government there but the Ukrainians are not going to recover the territory Russia seized in 2014. So some kind of negotiated settlement is necessary, and better sooner than later. Anatol Lieven, author of “Ukraine and Russia.” comments.

Harold Meyerson comments on Tuesday's historic testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson - and on the Supreme Court and abortion. Also: In understanding the January 6 insurrection, much of the focus has been on white nationalist militias like the Proud Boys. But white evangelicals also played a big part on January 6. Sarah Posner, author of Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind, joins the podcast to discuss religion's role in the riots.

This week's hearings of the Jan. 6 committee have been powerful and devastating in laying out the evidence of Trump's crimes, first in pressuring state officials to alter election results, and then in pressuring the Justice Department to declare the elections corrupted. John Nichols comments. Plus: Republicans have opened another front in the culture war with the slogan “parental rights”--not just banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory, whatever that is; now they are campaigning to ban comprehensive sex education. Joan Walsh explains.

Harold Meyerson comments on the most striking revelation of the Jan. 6 hearings thus far, especially the Proud Boys going straight to the capitol instead of to Trump's speech at the 'Stop the Steal' rally. Also: The recall of Chesa Boudin, the progressive prosecutor in San Francisco, has been taken by pundits everywhere to require the Democrats to abandon their efforts to reform the police and the criminal justice system. Peter Dreier explains what's wrong with that conclusion.

The results of Tuesday’s primaries in L.A. and San Francisco, according to the New York Times, were “a stark warning to the Democratic Party about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022.” Harold Meyerson disagrees. Also: our preview of the live TV hearings of the House committee on the January 6 insurrection. Plus: Also: Abortion and its opponents. Do opponents of abortion really believe abortion providers are “baby-killers”? There’s some new research about that that found opponents help family members and friends get abortions. Katha Pollitt explains. Also:“Bad Mexicans” – that's what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border against the robber barons and their political allies. UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells that story, which is the subject of her new book.

Harold Meyerson comments on the LA Mayoral race, where the police union is spending millions to defeat Karen Bass. Also: the coming end of constitutional protection for abortion gives us a lot of work to do–Katha Pollitt explains. And Lynn Garafola talks about "an Amazon of the Avant-Garde," the ballet dancer who went from revolutionary Russia to Kiev to Hollywood in the 1930s – "La Nijinska," sister of the legendary Nijinsky.

Reproductive rights initiatives and referendums on the ballot in November will boost Democratic turnout in swing states including Arizona and Michigan--Harold Meyerson reports. Also: Haiti is back on the front page–at least in the New York Times--and it’s not because of what’s happening there right now. The Times has published the results of a deep investigation into the history of Haiti’s forced payments to France, starting more than 200 years ago–an immense amount of money, Amy Wilentz comments. Plus: Peter Richardson discusses Hunter S. Thompson, the writer credited for inventing “Gonzo Journalism.” Thompson wrote a classic book about Richard Nixon,' Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, ‘72.' Richardson, author of Savage Journey: Hunter S. Thompson, explains how he did it.

Republicans in this week’s primaries: it’s sort like news from another planet. Harold Meyerson reports on Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Ohio, on opportunities and challenges now that the Republicans have chosen their candidates. Also: John Nichols on Progressive Democrats in Tuesday’ primaries – and the deluge of money from the Israel lobby paying for ads attacking them—especially in Pittsburgh and in North Carolina. Plus: Chesa Boudin, the elected district attorney of San Francisco, on progressive prosecutors and their opponents. Progressive prosecutors have been pushing for criminal justice reform for a while now, seeking to end mass incarceration and deal with police misconduct. Of course the defeated law and order forces have been pushing back. In San Francisco, opponents have collected enough signatures to force a recall vote on Boudin on June 7.

Repealing Roe v. Wade will be a disaster for women, but a gift to Democrats in the upcoming midterms--an opportunity to win close races in swing states. Harold Meyerson runs down the key races where Dems should be able to win. Also: It’s all up to the states now, where grassroots groups are preparing an enormous logistics operation to move people across entire regions of the country that are about to go dark on abortion access. Amy Littlefield, The Nation’s abortion access correspondent, weighs in. Plus: Why did we stop believing that people can change? Don’t we want people who did bad things to understand the damage they caused? Don't we want them to acknowledge it and make reparations? Bestselling author, Rebecca Solnit explains.

The Democrats’ chances in the midterms depend on turnout, on door-to-door, face-to-face organizing—and “Democracy Summer” is their plan to join with allies in organizing that kind of effort in the swing states. Harold Meyerson explains. Also: the disgraceful policy of America toward refugees from Ukraine – historian David Nasaw comments. And the wonderful writer Margo Jefferson talks about her new memoir about growing up in a middle-class Black family in Chicago – it’s called “Constructing a Nervous System.”

Progressive Democrats will be challenging incumbent moderate Democrats across America this spring and summer—starting in Ohio as Nina Turner has a rematch with Shontel Brown for Ohio's 11th District on May 3rd, 2022—Alan Minsky comments. Next: The Amazon workers on Staten Island have won a historic victory—but now they must prepare to strike, and to win support for their strike from the community power structure. The Nation’s Strikes Correspondent, Jane McAlevey explains why, and how. Plus: Why are Danes so much happier than Americans? Joshua Holland says there’s more to it than that; we revisit an interview about his short film about Denmark from 2017.

What the Democrats have done wrong, and what they’ve done right: Michael Kazin on the party’s history, and its future. His new book is “What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party.” Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson won’t be seated on the Supreme Court until late June, but we’re still thinking about the significance of her confirmation as America’s first Black female supreme court justice and of that horrible confirmation hearing she endured. We have UC Irvine Law professor and Nation contributor, Michele Goodwin, on the show to reflect. Also: Many proposals to reform the police were made after the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the largest protest movement in American history. But the problem, Erwin Chemerinsky argues, is not just the police; the Supreme Court has empowered the police and subverted civil rights. Erwin is Dean of the law school at UC Berkeley, and author of many books— most recently "Presumed Guilty."

Inflation is a world-wide phenomenon right now- what can Biden do about prices in America? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: the French elections. Plus: The sheriff of LA County: he’s got 10,000 deputies, in America’s biggest county, with 10 million people – and he’s become LA’s biggest political problem as he faces reelection. LA Times columnist Gustavo Arellano comments. Also: How could the war in Ukraine end? Anatol Lieven says Russia could gain control of the entire Donbass region and then declare a cease-fire—but if we want Russia to withdraw, we’ve got to give it incentives to do so.

It’s been a week since workers at the Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island voted to form a union – what’s the next step for the first union ever at the second biggest employer in America, and for the rest of the labor movement? Harold Meyerson has our analysis. Also: What if everybody voted? What if voting was a duty, not just a right; an obligation, something like jury duty? E.J. Dionne and Miles Rapoport will explain; their new book is "100% Democracy: The Case for Universal Voting." Also: KPFK Sports! It’s opening day for Major League Baseball, and Peter Dreier will talk about baseball oligarchs and baseball rebels--and about Bernie Sanders’ blistering attack on the owners. Peter has two new books out: "Baseball Rebels" and "Major League Rebels."

Build Back Better never made it through congress. So, what's in Biden's new budget proposal? Harold Meyerson of The prospect comments. Plus: Monday April 4 is the Day Of Action to Abolish Student Debt, when thousands of young people will gather in Washington D.C. to say "Pick Up the Pen, Joe" -- and abolish student debt via executive action. Astra Taylor will explain; she’s co-founder of the Debt Collective. Also, the dangers (and the benefits) of antidepressants: P.E. Moskowitz talks about the science, and about personal experiences. Their report, “Breaking Off My Chemical Romance,” is featured in the magazine’s special issue on drugs.

Since the demise of Biden’s Build Back Better bill, the Democrats need other achievements to run on in the midterm campaigns. That means Biden should start using executive action. Harold Meyerson talks about the most politically important possibilities: student debt cancellation and action on prescription drug prices. Also: the Senate confirmation hearings for Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson follow a familiar script. Progressives instead should be arguing--inside and outside the hearings--that the Constitution requires protecting our “republican form of government” from becoming a “moneyed aristocracy” or “oligarchy.” Joseph Fishkin and William E. Forbath explain; their new book is The Anti-Oligarchy Constitution: Reconstructing the Economic Foundations of American Democracy. Plus: Congressman Jamie Raskin, member of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, talked about the committee’s evidence against Trump–-and the committee’s future if Republicans prevail in the midterms. He was manager of Trump’s second impeachment trial.

After Zelensky's speech to Congress: Harold Meyerson analyzes the forces at work in Ukraine. Also: news of the class struggle in America. Plus: Bhaskar Sunkara, the new president of The Nation magazine, talks about what independent media should do during wartime. And Katha Pollitt takes up the question, "is there a right to sex?"

“Our constitution is not good. It urgently needs to be reimagined if we want justice and equality for all,” That’s what Elie Mystal says–he’s The Nation’s justice correspondent, and his new book is “Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution.” Also: slavery and its political legacy in Congress: More than 1,700 congressmen owned Black slaves, according to The Washington Post. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, hundreds of men who had owned slaves were senators and members of the House of Representatives. The last senator who had owned slaves served in 1922. Eric Foner comments on the political power of slavery in America’s past. Plus: Dirty work—and the people who do it: the low-income workers who do our most ethically troubled jobs. What does that have to do with the rest of us? Eyal Press explains—his new book is Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America.

Biden chose bipartisanship in his State of the Union speech--but the Republicans show no signs of cooperating, Harold Meyerson says. Also: progressive gains in the Texas midterm primary elections. plus: Katrina vanden Heuvel on what she calls "Putin's War" in Ukraine, and how Russians are responding. Also: The Canadian truckers' protest is over--what are the lessons for American Progressives? Jeet Heer comments.

Republicans and Ukraine - this segment recorded Wednesday afternoon, before Putin's attack on Thursday. Harold Meyerson comments. Also: news of the class struggle in America. plus: Amy Wilentz on Paul Farmer - he founded Partners in Health, bringing high quality health care to some of the world's poorest people. Also: Biden and the Border: Ahilan Arulanantham of the UCLA Law School comments on Biden's broken promises about immigration and asylum.

Bernie Sanders blames both US Policy and Putin for the Ukraine crisis - much smarter than DSA, which barely mentions Putin in its statement, as Harold Meyerson explains. Also: Mitch McConnell thinks Republicans are going to lose the Senate in November if Trump’s candidates and issues dominate the election. Is McConnell right? John Nichols comments.

The Democrats are not doomed to defeat in the midterms, says Ro Khanna. Politics can turn around in the next few months. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress, where he’s a prominent figure in the Progressive Caucus. His new book is Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us. Also: Amy Wilentz discusses Haiti: a country that should be inaugurating a new president. It has done so every five years on February 7—except for glitches, coups, and postponements—ever since Baby Doc Duvalier fled the island 37 years ago. But not this year. Wilentz explains why it’s struggling to get the new beginning in needs, and how it might make it there. One more thing: Donald Trump is responsible for about 100,000 unnecessary deaths from Covid-19 during his presidency, according to scientists at The Lancet. John Nichols explains who in his administration made which of the deadly decisions, and who made money off of the pandemic: a topic he delves into in his new book, Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers.

Republican strategies in the coming Supreme Court nomination fight: Harold Meyerson comments. Also: A billionaire for mayor in L.A.? also: It's Black History Month, and we feature Isabel Wilkerson and her unforgettable book about the Great Migration, "The Warmth of Other Suns.” Plus: Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, talks about her path from immigrant to organizer to member of Congress. Her book is "Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change.”

Harold Meyerson on The Supreme Court vacancy, and how things could get beter for the Dems. Also: Gustavo Arellano on "A People's Guide to Orange County" Plus Ellen Schrecker on "The Lost Promise: American Universities in the Sixties"

What can the Dems do to dig themselves out of the hole they are now stuck in? Harold Meyerson says they need to pass the most popular parts of Build Back Better - ASAP. Plus: Beto O'Rourke's strategy for winning the governorship of Texas focuses on organizing everywhere to massively boost Democratic voter turnout—the strategy Stacey Abrams has followed in Georgia. Steve Phillips explains how more than a million young voters of color will be eligible to vote in 2022 who were not old enough four years ago—when Beto first ran statewide and came within 214,921 votes of winning. Also: new discoveries about America’s atom spies. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in June, 1953. We know that Julius did not give ‘the secret of the a-bomb’ to the Russians—that was the work of a couple of other people. And the FBI knew it at the time. So: why did the FBI go after the Rosenbergs, instead of the person they knew was the real spy? His name was Ted Hall—a brilliant young physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project. The FBI investigated him, but never charged him with a crime. Now Dave Lindorff has found out why.

What is to be done about inflation? Harold Meyerson says it's not Joe Biden's fault. Plus: Is Omicron the kinder, gentler covid we could live with? Mike Davis has some criticisms of that view. Also: The 1619 Project examines the consequences of slavery for American history - Martha Jones comments on the 1619 Project's new book.

It looks like Joe Manchin will torpedo filibuster reform, this killing voting rights legislation: Harold Meyerson reports from Washington. Also: Eric Foner and Henry Louis Gates talk about W.E.B. DuBois, the Black historian and activist of the first part of the 20th century, and his book Black Reconstruction 1860-1880—published originally in 1935, and out now in a new edition from the Library of America, edited by Foner and Gates. Plus: Adam Hochschild on his book "Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes.”

2021, the year in review: Gary Younge on the Insurrection: what was the plan? Mike Davis on the Pandemic: beware of talk about "light at the end of the tunnel" Rick Perlstein on the Republicans' 40-year campaign to ban abortion. plus: we remember Rennie Davis- he died in February.

Trump is going to be indicted for racketeering and fraud, because of his financial crimes, and that will prevent him from being the Republican candidate: that’s what David Cay Johnston says—he’s an award-winning investigative reporter, and his new book is 'The Big Cheat: How Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family.' Also: Revelations about the January 6 insurrection include striking new information about the Trump kids that day: Who did what, and also who didn’t do anything. Amy Wilentz reports. Plus: : A report from Kwajalein, one of the Marshall islands in the Pacific that’s a major US military base. Tom Lutz says it’s completely paved over, and the only greenery is the golf course. The runway is one foot above sea level. The island will be under water by about 2035. Tom also describes life in some other places—his new book is 'The Kindness of Strangers.'

Biden’s signature social programs are not going to pass before the New Year, and maybe not at all, because of Joe Manchin’s obstructionism: Harold Meyerson reports. Also: some good news on unions, especially at the University of California. Later in the show, how climate change will transform the coming face-off between the US and China – historian Alfred McCoy says China will be the world’s number one military & economic power by 2030 but Chinese domination will last for only 20 years, because rising temperatures and rising sea levels will bring crisis and disaster to China’s economy—and to ours as well. His new book is 'To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change.' Also: Mutual aid and racial justice during the year of Covid: Kristina Wong explains how, in the darkest days of the pandemic, she started the Auntie Sewing Squad to make masks for the most vulnerable communities—and how she became, in her words, a sweatshop overlord. Her new co-edited book is 'The Auntie Sewing Squad Guide to Mask Making, Radical Care, and Racial Justice.'

Some really good news from Georgia: Stacey Abrams is running for governor! Alongside Raphael Warnock for reelection as senator. Harold Meyerson comments - also, news from Texas and California. Also: being Black in America, and being Black in France: Gary Younge will talk about Josephine Baker, the Black American dancer who went to Paris in the twenties and later renounced her American citizenship. She was interred at the Pantheon, alongside Voltaire and Rousseau, last week. Plus: Father Greg Boyle -- the founder of Homebody Industries, the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and reentry program on the planet-- has a new book out now, it’s about “the power of extravagant tenderness” and it’s called “The Whole Language.”

Unions are taking up the fight against Amazon - notably the Teamsters, notably in Southern California. Harold Meyerson explains. Also: gerrymandering - and the wild card at the Supreme Court. Plus: The new Omicron variant of Covid-19: Gregg Gonsalves argues that it serves as a reminder of how little we're doing on pandemic prevention. Meanwhile, Republicans are describing Omicron as a Democratic plot to bring back mail-in voting. Also: Gustavo Arellano talks about "The Beatles: Get Back," the amazing and indispensable new 8-hour documentary.

Racial justice and injustice in America today. We are relieved by the guilty verdicts and life sentences for all three men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick Georgia. But we’re still thinking about the Not Guilty verdict for Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with shooting three people, killing two, during the street protests over the police shooting of a black man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. John Nichols comments on that trial, and its broader significance. Also: Racism in America for decades led to strict housing segregation. But historians are now showing that that wasn’t simply the result of white people refusing to live near Blacks--segregated housing was the result of a carefully organized, long-term effort to establish a legal basis for systematic racial discrimination. And the groups that succeeded were not the KKK or White Power groups. It was realtors’ organizations. Eric Foner reviews that history.

Our politics commentary with Harold Meyerson starts with the House preparing to pass Biden's Build Back Better bill, then to Glasgow for the climate summit, then Texas where Beto is running for governor. Plus: We’ll talk about politics and pleasure with Rebecca Solnit --she’s probably best known as the author of “Men explain things to me.” Now she has a new book out - it’s called “Orwell’s Roses.” Also: Your Minnesota moment, news from my home town of St Paul, where the city attorney has announced he’s not going to prosecute any cases involving broken taillights - he says he hasn’t been able to forget about Philando Castile.

The House will pass a Build Back Better bill next week, maybe--Harold Meyerson explains. Plus: A comic novel about Ethel Rosenberg? Francine Prose has written one--"The Vixen"--and it's terrific. Also: EllaTaylor on "Passing," the film about a Black woman passing for white in New York City in the 1920s - playing now on Netflix.

Tuesday was a dark day for Democrats: Republican Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia was not particularly surprising. But how did he manage to present himself both as a Trump supporter and as a more moderate, less crazy kind of country club Republican? Harold Meyerson has our analysis. Plus: how a small group of people challenged an unjust law and changed history: Eric Foner talks about the Underground Railroad and its challenge to the Fugitive Slave Act in the years leading up to the Civil War. His book is “Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad." (first broadcast in January, 2015).

Obama spent months negotating with reluctant Dems over his health care bill. The result: massive losses in the midterms. Is Biden making the same mistake with Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: who really runs Haiti: the government, or the gangs? the kidnappings suggest it’s the gangs – and the leader of the gang that kidnapped 16 Americans has openly expressed political ambitions. Amy Wilentz will explain. Plus: John Coltrane: of course he was the tenor player who started out with Miles Davis in the fifties and then, in the mid-sixties, set out to pursue music as a quest for spiritual enlightenment. His classic work was “A Love Supreme” -- a single piece, 33 minutes long, it became the most popular record of his career. Now, a live performance from 1965 has been discovered and released – and Coltrane people are calling it “nothing short of a revelation.” Adam Shatz will comment.

The latest on the Democrats’ reconciliation bill: Harold Meyerson reports on the big cuts demanded by Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. Also: gubernatorial elections threaten Democratic power in Virginia, and Republican power in Texas. Plus: The Nation’s sports editor Dave Zirin talks about what he calls “The Kaepernick Effect” – how an NFL quarterback who had never been an activist made “Taking a knee” THE symbol of protest against racial injustice, & how hundreds, if not thousands, of young athletes followed his example. Many of them—often high school students, women as well as men—faced ostracism, condemnation, death threats, and more. Dave Zirin’s new book is “The Kaepernick Effect.”

What’s the best strategy for the Democrats for 2022, when the odds are against them for holding the House and Senate? Pundits say the Dems should stop talking about climate, immigration, and the police. Harold Meyerson disagrees. Plus: draft resistance in the Vietnam era: there’s a new documentary, “The Boys Who Said NO!" with it’s online launch this weekend, and an online event Sunday at 5pm featuring Joan Baez, Daniel Ellsberg, and others--we’ll speak with one of the resisters featured in the film, Bruce Dancis, about his time in prison – he served 19 months. Also: our TV and film critic Ella Taylor talks about the new documentary about Pauli Murray, one of the most fascinating, and little known, activists and strategists of the civil rights and feminist movements. It’s playing now on Amazon Prime Video.

Biden backed the Progressive Caucus in insisting that the bipartisan infrastructure bill not be voted separately from the reconciliation bill. But the question remains: What does Kyrsten Sinema want? Harold Meyerson comments. Also: The co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA, Melina Abdullah, will talk about the LAPD showing up in force at her house twice in the week since she filed a lawsuit over last year’s similar incident – we call it ‘swatting,’ and we also call it retaliation. plus: we’ll talk about the use of the concept of ‘freedom’ during the cold war – Louis Menand will explain - His book is ‘The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War’--has been longlisted for the National Book Award.

How to cut the cost of the Democrats’ “Reconciliation Bill” without eliminating programs? Harold Meyerson says make it a four-year bill program instead of ten. Also: reapportionment in California, and a new mayor for LA. Plus: Civil rights attorney Carol Sobel talks about the LAPD’s dramatic increase in the use of dispersal orders in response to the protests of the last couple of years--declaring “this is an unlawful assembly” & “you are ordered to disperse.” Carol represents Black Lives Matter Los Angeles in a lawsuit against the LAPD. And we’re still thinking about Occupy Wall Street,which began 10 years ago--Ruth Milkman and Stephanie Luce of the City University of New York have been studying, and thinking about, the achievements and limitations of the Occupy movement.

Our Washington political update starts with the Fox News report, “Democrats tee up filibuster reform by forcing issue on immigration, voting rights.” Harold Meyerson comments on that – and on reports that Dan Quayle saved American democracy on January 6. Also: Amy Wilentz on Haitians and Haiti – and Joe Biden’s disastrous decision to deport those 15,000 Haitian refugees who crossed the border at Del Rio, Texas, sending them back to a country ravaged by assassination, earthquake, poverty, and gang violence. And we have the story of a Black writer who moved to Paris in the fifties and discovered French racism – aimed at Algerians. Adam Shatz explains—he’s written the introduction to the new edition of a novel called “The Stone Face,” by William Gardner Smith, originally published in 1963 and now republished by New York Review Books.

Harold Meyerson on the sweeping Democratic victory in the California recall: its national significance for the 2022 midterms, and where it leaves California Republicans (with Larry Elder as their leader?). Also, our national politics update: today’s Reconciliation Report, and episode 15 of What Does Joe Manchin Want? Today: the Dems’ revised voting rights bill. Later in the show: this week is the 10th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street and “we are the 99 per cent” - we’ll have an assessment of the achievements and limitations of that movement with Alan Minsky, now executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, and at the time an Occupy activist.

Democrats are headed toward passage of both the bipartisan infrastructure bill AND the reconciliation bill: Harold Meyerson reports. Plus: Abortion politics and Republican power – Rick Perlstein explains the long history of how abortion became a Republican issue – starting in 1972, His latest book is “Reaganland.” Also: our favorite documentary of the summer that just ended was “Summer of Soul” -- John Powers liked it too – he'll explain why.

America’s longest war came to an end on Monday as the last troops left Afghanistan, 20 years after we started fighting there. How much have the disasters around the Afghan pullout hurt Joe Biden and his agenda? How much will it hurt the Democrats in the midterms next November? Alan Misnky comments. Also: The life, and death, of Ethel Rosenberg, the accused “atom spy”: who was she before she was framed by the FBI, before she called their bluff, and went to her execution? Anne Sebba has written a really good book about that—it’s called “Ethel Rosenberg: An American Tragedy.” Plus: our TV critic Ella Taylor will talk about Ed Asner, who died on Sunday – he was one of the most active progressives in Hollywood for decades--and he helped transform television. Also: our Labor Day weekend pick: “The Big Scary “S“ Word,” a new doc about democratic socialism.

Joe Biden is betting that voters care more about health, education and jobs than about Afghanistan--Alan Minsky explains. Plus: What Americans owe Afghan women: Katha Pollitt has been talking to women who lead Afghan women's organizations. Also: 'Chair' is the new campus comedy starring Sandra Oh, on Netflix: Ella Taylor has our review.

Afghanistan in American politics, past and present: Harold Meyerson explains why the disastrous end of our Afghan war won’t matter in the elections in 2022 and 2024. Plus: the Taliban Triumph: Andrew Bacevich comments on 20 years of American hubris and ignorance, promises made, and promises broken. Also: there was only one member of Congress who voted against the authorization for the use of force in Afghanistan, back in 2002: Barbara Lee from northern California. Now there’s a documentary out about her: “Barbara Lee: Speaking Truth to Power.” Ella Taylor has our review.

The great comics artist Art Spiegelman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Maus, has a new book out: Street Cop, illustrations for a story by Robert Coover, published by Isolarii.com. He talks about working on that during the pandemic, and about his most controversial drawings – at the New Yorker, and The Nation. Also: here’s a new book about the sixties--about the heroism, and the disasters, of the movements of that decade. The authors are the brother and sister team David Talbot and Margaret Talbot--David is the founder of Salon.com, and Margaret writes for the New Yorker. And our critic Ella Taylor reviews “Not Going Quietly,” the documentary about activist Ady Barkan, who is dying of ALS.

The deficiencies in the bipartisan infrastructure bill will be remedied in the big one that Dems aim to pass via reconciliation, says Harold Meyerson. Also: The significance for Progressives of the defeat of Nina Turner in the Cleveland House primary: Alan Minsky comments. And Gregg Gonsalves explains three things Biden needs to do to stop the gobal spread of the Delta variant, and the next variants that will come along.

The one trillion dollar infrastructure bill has made it to the floor of the Senate—where it is expected to pass. Bipartisanship lives! Harold Meyerson comments – also on the California recall, and on the most successful economic justice movement of the past decade: the Fight for $15. Plus: the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights. It’s known today as the heartland of Chicano culture. Historian George Sanchez will explain how its multicultural, interracial past made it a bastion of progressive democracy. His new book is Boyle Heights. Also our TV critic Ella Taylor talks about a documentary on the life of Dick Gregory, the Black comedian of the sixties turned political activist. It’s called “The One and Only Dick Gregory,” and it’s on Showtime.