Saagar Enjeti is a political journalist & commentator, co-host of Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar and The Realignment Podcast. He is exceptionally well-read, and the books he recommends are always fascinating and eye-opening. You can check out all the books he mentions in this episode here: https://lexfridman.com/saagar-books
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At age 18, Nelly Roach sat in a Planned Parenthood clinic with $246 to pay for an abortion.
“I found myself there, as many many people find themselves, in a place where they don't feel that they have any options,” Roach says.
Roach was born into a Catholic family on the small island nation of Palau in the Pacific Ocean. When she was 13, her family moved to Missouri so she could receive a better education. She says she was raised with a sense of cultural responsibility to help and serve her family and her people, known as Palauans.
Waiting in the Planned Parenthood, Roach recalls, her mind raced. She felt she had to have the abortion for “the great good” of being able to help fellow Palauans one day, but also that what she was about to do was “wrong, but maybe I don't care.”
When her name was called, Roach stood up. “Had I turned left ... I would have had an abortion in a matter of minutes. But, you know, God pulled me out, and so I turned right [and walked out], and my baby is now 32 years old.”
After giving birth to her son, Roach entered the field of marketing and eventually had her own marketing company. For 25 years, Roach kept her story of nearly aborting her son private. In fact, her mother was the only one who knew she had ever visited Planned Parenthood.
But when her son was 23, she spoke at a marketing conference and was approached by a pro-life organization about how to reach more women who are considering having an abortion.
“I still believe that it was a divine conversation because it's such a polarizing topic. I wasn't talking about being pro-life, yet they felt comfortable coming to me,” Roach says.
Today I’m speaking with Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins about the new, edited volume, Did It Happen Here? Perspectives on Fascism and America(W.W. Norton, 2024). Danny is Assistant Professor in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University and the steward of a fantastic interview series in The Nation magazine. Did it Happen Here? presents a snapshot of the fascism debate being waged on American campuses, in magazines, and on social media. The most recent iteration of the fascism debate began, as with many debates about the state of American politics, with the election of Donald Trump. Since his first term in 2016, speculation about the true nature of Trumpism has generated countless think-pieces and books. Did It Happen Here? is the definitive summary of the major scholarly views on whether fascism has come to America. As Danny puts it, “the fascism debate is Rorschach test for understanding what is truly ailing American society.”
Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins is Assistant Professor in the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan University.
The United States and Canada share the world's longest undefended border. The United States and the United Kingdom have shared what has been called a “special relationship” since the Second World War.
The idea of these countries going to war with each other today is unthinkable.
Yet, this was not always the case. There was a time when this was very thinkable, and that time was far more recent than most people realize.
Learn more about the planning for a US/Canadian war and how both sides made plans to invade the other on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
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In 1972, the federal government launched a program to support the poorest disabled and elderly Americans. Supplemental Security Income, run by the Social Security Administration, provides monthly checks that are a lifeline for some of the most vulnerable people in this country.
SSI was intended to serve as a powerful safety net and a tool for fighting poverty. But a recent NPR Investigation led by correspondent Joseph Shapiro has discovered a very different reality today.
In today's episode of The Sunday Story, Shapiro explains how SSI's outdated rules have made the system difficult to run and almost impossible for its beneficiaries to navigate. Impoverished disabled and elderly people say they have been penalized for trying to improve their lives—for saving money, getting married, and even daring to have careers.
Spotify is shaping listening habits, so much so that musicians are shaping themselves for Spotify. It makes your musical world a little more prescribed, a little smaller.
If it feels like everything’s getting a little stale, how do we get out?
Guest: Tiffany Ng, culture and tech writer.
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Before Kelly Bishop found her way into our hearts as Emily Gilmore, she danced her way into history in Broadway's "A Chorus Line" and the movie "Dirty Dancing."
Most recently, you might have seen her as Mrs. Ivey in Hulu's "The Watchful Eye."
But chances are you probably recognize the Tony-Award winner from her role as the matriarch of Stars Hollow. She joins us to talk about her new memoir, "The Third Gilmore Girl."
