On the Gist, we’ve got something a little different. In this episode, Mike has brought together the New Republic’s Osita Nwenavu, and Yascha Mounk, a contributor to the Atlantic and the founder of Persuasion, to debate the state of public discourse. They discuss the complexities of platform regulation, whether or not the concerns rise to a level of social contagion, and how social media factors into the reactions on all sides.
Candidate for LA City Council Nithya Raman returns to the show to talk to Will about making the runoffs in her race, addressing LA’s homelessness in the time of COVID and taking on entrenched police power in the wake of June’s George Floyd protests.
Join Nithya at the March for Mely starting 2pm Sunday, July 19th, at the Northeast LAPD (3353 N. San Fernando Rd.) station and ending at the Trader Joe’s in Silverlake.
Donate to Nithya’s campaign: https://www.efundraisingconnections.com/c/RamanforCityCouncil/
Volunteer for the campaign: https://www.nithyaforthecity.com/signup
http://www.nithyaforthecity.com
If you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: White parents. A five-part series from Serial Productions, a New York Times Company. Hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt.
Notorious political dirty trickster and federal inmate Roger Stone got a commutation from the President. Was it corrupt? Is the pardon power truly plenary? Gene Healy comments.
Notorious political dirty trickster and federal inmate Roger Stone got a commutation from the President. Was it corrupt? Is the pardon power truly plenary? Gene Healy comments.
Andy and Tammy here with a bonus episode, interviewing Darren Byler, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado and an expert on the Uyghur people, a Muslim community in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China.
9:50 – What is Xinjiang? Who are the Uyghurs? And how has the relationship between Uyghurs and Han (ethnic Chinese) people changed from the 1950s to the present? In recent decades, Xinjiang has become a source for energy resources, the cotton in our clothing, and the tomatoes in our food.
We recount the path from “opening up the west” (1990s) to “the people’s war on terror” (2000-10s) to the most recent “reeducation camps.”
21:05 – Darren argues that the moralistic paradigm of “cultural difference” and “ethnic genocide” are inadequate. He explains why we need a broader analysis of the social forces producing violence, exploitation, and state repression. Hint: capitalism?
Also, how has China appropriated the US’s rhetoric of “war on terror” to racialize the Muslim Uyghurs? Aka “I learned it by watching you, Dad!”
Referenced: a new report on Uyghur labor in export-oriented factories in China (Australian Strategic Policy Institute)
56:50 – What’s a good leftist to do? Is it okay to back right-wingers who call China morally evil? What are potential avenues for international solidarity (what about the Uyghur diaspora? the Chinese diaspora?)?
Also, Darren cites recommended reading on the region and tells us what traps to avoid — and also defends journalists at The New York Times (the ones who wrote this) against Andy’s snobbish dismissal of reportage!
Miami considers the possibility of a new lockdown. Hospitals overwhelmed in several states. A Redskins sexual harassment scandal. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.
In the interview, former mayor of Minneapolis Betsy Hodges joins Mike to talk about her most recent op-ed in the New York Times, “As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change.” In it, Hodges challenges white liberals to confront the status quo of comfort and move the horizon of racial disparity that breeds police brutality.
In the spiel, is the scientific method white? The Smithsonian seems to think so
