Joe Biden broke through the Democratic primaries as the safe choice, the one to beat Trump and get stuff done by reaching across the aisle. But two years into his presidency, his approval rating has plunged, his own party has stymied most of his agenda, and the most effective political body in Washington is the conservative-majority Supreme Court. What’s Biden’s plan here?
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While the Supreme Court gets all the focus, lower federal courts are just as much in need of reform. Unfortunately, rigging the courts is a game the GOP knows how to play. In this episode, Leah talks with Rakim Brooks of Alliance for Justice, and Brandon Hasbrouck* of Washington & Lee Law School, about how federal judges get picked, how Mitch McConnell has played the long game, and how the Democrats need to move forward in the judicial selection process.
*Brandon also wrote an article called "Movement Judges," which just came out in the NYU Law Review. Check it out for more on this subject!
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
As a kid, Clarice Phelps dreamed of being an astronaut, or maybe an explorer like the characters on Star Trek. And while her path to a career in science was different than what she expected, it led her to being a part of something big: the discovery of a new element on the periodic table. Clarice talks to host Aaron Scott about her role in creating Tennessine, one of the heaviest elements known to humankind.
Do you have a great science discovery story? Tell us about it at shortwave@npr.org.
As the House's committee hearings on Jan. 6 continue, today's episode offers some context from The Atlantic reporter Mark Leibovich, who has a new book out this month titled Thank You For Your Servitude: Donald Trump's Washington and the Price of Submission. He sits down with Juana Summers to talk about the price of blind loyalty under the Trump administration, and how that affected the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
We dive back into chapter 11 – Full Circle – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. We revisit the Indigenous critique of how human civilization develops and where the political values underlying modern human societies originate. First outlined in the beginning of the book, we now further flesh out the Indigenous critique and drive home its key conclusions.
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Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
If you're interested in real estate then David Greene, host of the BiggerPockets Real Estate podcast, is probably a familiar voice. He weighs in on: - The current state of the housing market - Real estate data he considers most relevant to watch - Most common mistakes people make when listing their homes - Best neutral colors!
Host: Chris Hill Guests: David Greene Producer: Ricky Mulvey Engineer: Dan Boyd
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
(07:26) – Defining economics
(14:26) – Schools of economics
(38:45) – Karl Marx
(57:00) – Labor theory of value
(1:16:45) – Socialism
(1:31:48) – Soviet Union
(1:45:08) – China
(2:05:00) – Climate change
(2:27:03) – Economics vs Politics
(2:35:06) – Minsky’s model
(2:49:50) – Financial crisis
(2:55:07) – Inflation
(3:08:21) – Marxism
(3:15:42) – Space and AI
(3:21:47) – Advice for young people
(3:25:38) – Depression
(3:30:10) – Love
(3:34:11) – Mortality
On this week’s Long Reads Sunday, NLW reads the “essay” version of Balaji Srinivasan’s new book “The Network State”
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Ava Labs releases Core, the free, non-custodial browser extension, built for the power of Avalanche. Core is an all-in-one operating system bringing together Avalanche apps, Subnets, bridges and NFTs in one seamless, high-performance experience. Eager to start using Web3 dapps to their fullest potential? Download today at core.app!
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“The Breakdown” is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Michele Musso and research by Scott Hill. Jared Schwartz is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsors is “The Now” by Aaron Sprinkle. Image credit: Andriy Onufriyenko /Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk. Join the discussion at discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8.
On December 29, 1170, the Archbishop of Canterbury was brutally murdered on the floor of the Canterbury Cathedral by four armed knights while preparing for his evening prayers.
The ramifications of that incident shook the country of England, its king, and the Catholic Church.
Over 850 years later, it is still remembered and remains one of the most significant events in English history.
Learn more about the murder of Thomas Becket and why and how it happened on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
