Today’s podcast features an interview that first appeared on our sister podcast "The Right Side of History." Co-host Jarrett Stepman speaks with presidential historian Tevi Troy about his most recent book "Fight House: Rivalries in the White House From Truman to Trump."
Troy describes how rivalries and conflict on the president's staff and Cabinet often have been instrumental in success or failure during an administration. The historian also addresses President Woodrow Wilson's mismanagement of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1917.
We also cover these stories:
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, says his state will assess an eventual coronavirus vaccine on its own.
A federal appeals court rules 12-3 in favor of North Carolina’s plan to allow ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Nov. 3 and arrive before Nov. 12.
The maker of the pain medication OxyContin says it will plead guilty to federal charges as part of a settlement that includes over $8 billion in fines.
Baratunde digs into the feeling of disconnect and neglect felt by the black community in Milwaukee during the 2016 election and learns from Angela Lang, Executive Director of Black Leaders Organizing Communities (BLOC MKE). They are changing what it means to get people politically engaged in their community, and it doesn’t start with knocking on doors, begging for votes two months before an election! Quentin Palfrey also weighs in on how data scientists and lawyers are uniting on the ground to stop voter suppression, especially targeting communities of color.
Show Notes + Links
We are grateful to Angela Lang and Quentin Palfrey for joining us.
Follow @angela_lang and @blocbyblocMKE on Twitter. You can learn more about the BLOC MKE at https://www.blocbybloc.org/and in this press piece here.
Follow @qpalfrey and @protectthevote on Twitter. You can learn more about Voter Protection Corp at https://www.voter-protection.org/.
We will post this episode, a transcript, show notes and more at howtocitizen.com.
Please show your support for the show in the form of a review and rating. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords!
HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW. ACTIONS FOR THIS EPISODE.
INTERNAL ACTIONS (Actions that help you reflect and explore your emotions and experiences related to these topics or personal actions that don’t involve others)
What does it mean for your community to thrive?
This is the question BLOC asks the people of Milwaukee, and we want you to answer it for yourself. Yes, it could be speedbumps. It is probably more. Think about it. Write it down.
Real change starts by doing the hard internal work. Let’s keep it up!
In June, many of us participated in Black Lives Matter protests, posted BLM messages on our instagrams and bought all the books on how to be anti-racist. Have you read the books, continued to share content from organizations, activists, artists, and business owners within the Black community since then? Time to revisit and re-engage.
EXTERNAL ACTIONS (Public actions that require relationships and interaction with others)
Support BLOC MKE
As a grassroots organization, they need our support to be able to go deep in engaging their community in and out of election cycles. You can give to their non-partisan or partisan arm at https://www.blocbybloc.org/donations.
Volunteer to be a Voter Guardian in Milwaukee.
BLOC MKE is training people to monitor the polls for intimidation and are trained to de-escalate situations in lieu of calling the police. You can message them if you’d like to be trained and help ensure people feel free and safe to cast their ballots. Contact them at https://www.blocbybloc.org/contact/ and mention Voter Guardian and How to Citizen in the subject line.
If you take any of these actions, share that with us - action@howtocitizen.com. Mention Making Our Presence Felt in the subject line. And brag online about your citizening on social media using #howtocitizen.
We love feedback from our listeners - comments@howtocitizen.com.
Rob explores the 1992 jangle-rock hit “Hey Jealousy” and how it integrates the darkness of its lyrical content into its bright sonic framework.
This episode was originally produced as a Music and Talk show available exclusively on Spotify. Find the full song on Spotify or wherever you get your music.
OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
00:00 – Introduction
07:02 – Will human civilization destroy itself?
09:49 – Where are the aliens?
14:36 – Tic Tac UFO and Bob Lazar
17:04 – Conspiracy theories
19:07 – The programming language of life
23:28 – The games that humans play
31:58 – Memory leaks in the simulation
34:29 – Theories of everything
36:14 – Ethereum startup story
44:02 – Cryptocurrency
53:28 – Self-help advice
57:08 – Comma.ai
59:02 – Comma two
1:07:50 – Tesla vs Comma.ai
1:16:53 – Driver monitoring
1:30:34 – Communicating uncertainty
1:32:22 – Tesla Dojo
1:38:50 – Tesla Autopilot big rewrite
1:45:09 – How to install the Comma Two
1:49:44 – Openpilot is Android & Autopilot is iOS
1:58:59 – Waymo
2:10:12 – Autonomous driving and society
2:12:24 – Moving
2:15:29 – Advice to Startups
2:28:32 – Programming setup
2:31:32 – Ideas that changed my life
2:39:37 – GPT-3
2:42:57 – AGI
2:47:00 – Programming languages that everyone should learn
2:53:33 – How to learn anything
2:56:05 – Book recommendations
3:04:28 – Love
3:06:17 – Psychedelics
3:08:38 – Crazy
When I interviewed Tristan Harris about The Social Dilemma earlier this month, my mentions filled with people saying, "You should speak to the people who were critical of the social web long before the film.” One name, MeredithWhittaker, stood out. An A.I. researcher and former big tech employee, Whittaker helped lead Google’s walkout in 2018 amid a season of activism inside the company.
On this edition of the Big Technology Podcast, we spoke not only about her views on the film, but of the future of workplace activism inside tech companies in a moment where some are questioning if it belongs at all.
A podcast aims to detail the changes brought by gentrification to one school and leaves many critical questions unasked. Robert Pondiscio of the Fordham Foundation offers his thoughts.
A podcast aims to detail the changes brought by gentrification to one school and leaves many critical questions unasked. Robert Pondiscio of the Fordham Foundation offers his thoughts.
This is Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s full budget address from the morning of Oct. 21, 2020. The mayor outlines the fiscal challenges faced by the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures she would like to take to right the fiscal ship. For expert analysis and to hear two key aldermen’s reaction to the speech, look for the other Reset podcast that dropped in your feed today.
With Chicago already facing difficult pension problems, the COVID-19 crisis has dealt an even bigger blow to the city’s economy. WBEZ city politics reporter Becky Vevea and two Chicago aldermen break down and react to Mayor Lightfoot’s budget address as she tries to navigate some very choppy fiscal waters for 2021.
