The House voted to strip Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments for spreading conspiracy theories and endorsing violence against Democrats on social media.
President Biden announced that the United States will end its support of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen. A war that has helped create what the UN calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. We spoke to California Representative Ro Khanna about the decision, what led to it, and what it means for progressives and activists who want their voices heard on issues of US foreign policy.
And in headlines: McKinsey to pay states nearly $600 million for its role in the opioid crisis, another voting tech company sues conspiracy-mongering Trump allies, and Trump won’t testify in his Senate impeachment trial.
Thomas Sowell is considered by many to be one of the most influential and brilliant minds of the past half-century. He is most famous for his work as an economist, but is also a bestselling author, syndicated columnist, historian, and academic.
Yet he hasn't received much recognition. "When people talk about the great black intellectuals today, you hear names like Henry Louis Gates at Harvard or Cornel West ... or today you hear Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ibram X. Kendi," says Jason Riley, a journalist, scholar, and member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board.
"But in my view, Tom has written circles around those guys and is much broader in subjects that he's covered as well as much deeper and his analysis is much more rigorous than those guys'," Riley says.
Riley, who narrates the film, joins the show to discuss the documentary and the personal impact Sowell has had on his own life.
You can watch the full-length documentary here or by visiting SowellFilm.com.
Plus, John Cooper, associate director of The Heritage Foundation’s Institute Communications and a big football fan, joins us to talk about what we can expect to see during Super Bowl LV this weekend.
We also cover these stories:
Democrats urge President Joe Biden to cancel up to $50,000 in debt for student loan borrowers.
Biden addresses the National Prayer Breakfast.
Former Vice President Mike Pence is joining The Heritage Foundation as a distinguished fellow.
Check out the great post from Laura Nolan, a senior engineer at Slack, breaking down their outage. Paul wants some simple command line utilities for "fix-server" and "boot-it-all-up."
Clubhouse was known early on for being popular with Silicon Valley, but it's increasingly becoming a global phenomenon. You don't have to wait for it to go public to invest, you can buy shares right now in Agora, the Chinese company powering its real time audio chat.
Got ideas for how we can version Q&A on Stack Overflow to ensure questions with accepted answers don't become outdated or obsolete? We're planning to work on this problem, so send suggestions our way.
This is a jam-packed, extra-length show that covers as many of the pressing stories in the news that we could cover!
We begin with the breaking news that Kyle Rittenhouse's lawyers perjured themselves by filing a fraudulent address in defiance of a court order; we tell you why that's bad and what's next for the domestic terrorist.
After that, it's time for a lengthy breakdown of the DC Statehood Bill, including a discussion of the potential future legal challenges (and solutions!) as well as the timing for when we can expect 2 new Senators to be seated!
On the Gist, stripping Majorie Taylor Greene of her committee membership, but Republicans still want to keep her around.
In the Interview, it’s coup talk. It’s part one of an interview with Jonah Blank, an anthropologist, writer, author, and former policy director for South and Southeast Asia on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Blank joins Mike to talk about the Myanmar coup, the default of cheering on populism, conflicts and communal violence, and the threat to democracy. Blank is author of Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God, and Mullahs on the Mainframe, and currently based in Singapore. He’ll be back on the show next week.
In the spiel, Representatives Nancy Mace and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are fighting.
Email us at thegist@slate.com
Podcast production by Margaret Kelley and Cheyna Roth.
Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now.
The Trump Administration rushed more than a dozen federal executions in its final months, but the death penalty itself is now historically unpopular even among conservatives. Hannah Cox with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty discusses the broad trend away from support for one form of state-sanctioned killing.
The Trump Administration rushed more than a dozen federal executions in its final months, but the death penalty itself is now historically unpopular even among conservatives. Hannah Cox with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty discusses the broad trend away from support for one form of state-sanctioned killing.
Democrats choose to go big and fast on Covid relief, Republicans choose applause over punishment for Marjorie Taylor Greene, and control of the House could hinge on the redistricting battles set to begin soon. Then journalist Farai Chideya talks to Dan about building a media that’s more representative and better connected to all communities.
Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is one of President Biden's priorities with the newest COVID-19 relief package. But Republicans say it will hurt small businesses too much and some swing voting Democrats are hesitant too.
The history of the minimum wage in the U.S. is tied closely to civil rights. Ellora Derenoncourt, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, says one theme of the 1963 March on Washington was a call for a higher minimum wage.
Many states have a higher minimum wage than the federally mandated $7.25. Arindrajit Dube from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst discusses how those states have fared.
Chicago recorded 51 homicides in the first month of 2021 — the highest number of January homicides in four years. This comes as city leaders grapple with a recent spike in carjackings. Mayor Lightfoot says CPD is adding 40 more police officers to address the growing number of cases. Reset brings on the head of the Chicago Police Department for more on the city’s response. For more Reset interviews, subscribe to this podcast and please leave us a rating. That helps other listeners find us. For more about the program, go to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.
