Author: The Branch

Ravi Gupta welcomes back Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids and president of Let Grow, to explore how fear-driven parenting and digital distraction are reshaping childhood. From the 1980s milk-carton panic to today’s surveillance tech, they show how over-scheduling breeds helplessness instead of competence. Citing new polling, Skenazy reveals kids overwhelmingly prefer unstructured play with friends over screens or adult-run activities. They link these trends to rising youth anxiety, falling literacy, and weakened civic resilience—arguing that restoring children’s freedom is both a personal and political imperative.

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• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta

• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/

• Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com 

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• Listen to Where the Schools Went: https://thebranchmedia.org/show/where-the-schools-went/ 

Ravi dissects the assassination of Charlie Kirk and what it reveals about America’s escalating era of political violence. He examines the FBI’s failures, the right’s contradictions on free speech, and the Trump administration’s use of state power against ideological opponents. The episode also looks at media consolidation, TikTok’s looming takeover, foreign AI entanglements, and the widening economic divide in the U.S. Ravi closes by connecting these crises to global flashpoints—from Navalny’s poisoning to U.S. immigration raids—warning that the erosion of democratic norms may be as dangerous as any single act of violence.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta

• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/

• Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com 

• Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia

• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785

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Ravi sits down with bestselling author Cal Newport to unpack the hype and reality of artificial intelligence. They explore how AI may actually be hurting productivity by diminishing our ability to focus, and why that matters more than ever. Cal lays out a compelling “bear case” for AI, arguing that the revolution we’ve been promised may not materialize anytime soon. Ravi and Cal discuss why most jobs aren’t going away, why the future is likely to involve a thousand bespoke tools, instead of one all-powerful model, and how we should be thinking about AI like the early internet: revolutionary, but slow-moving and full of bubbles. Finally, Ravi and Cal share what kinds of careers are most future-proof, and why mastering focus might be the most valuable skill of all.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta

• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/

• Read more from Ravi on Substack: https://realravigupta.substack.com 

• Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia

• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785

• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xR9pch9DrQDiZfGB5oF0F

• Listen to Where the Schools Went: https://thebranchmedia.org/show/where-the-schools-went/ 

Ravi sits down with Doug Lemov and former UK Schools Minister Nick Gibb to discuss Nick’s new book, Reforming Lessons: Why English Schools Have Improved Since 2010 and How This Was Achieved, and explore one of the most ambitious education reform stories of the past two decades.

Nick lays out how a knowledge-rich curriculum, phonics, behavior expectations, and high-stakes accountability helped England leap from the bottom to near the top of global education rankings. Doug, Ravi, and Nick discuss the sharp contrast between this movement and the state of education in the U.S., where both parties are moving away from rigorous assessments and content standards. They also dig into the political strategy behind the reforms and what it takes to keep them in place.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
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Ravi sits down with legendary war correspondent Dexter Filkins for a closer look into how drones and AI are transforming modern warfare. They explore Dexter’s recent piece in The New Yorker, Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War?, and his on-the-ground reporting in Ukraine, where $500 kamikaze drones are inflicting massive damage on Russian forces and gamified drone warfare is reshaping combat strategy.

The conversation then turns to the implications for U.S. military readiness, China’s dominance in the defense supply chain, and the rise of autonomous weaponry. Finally, they examine Israel’s use of AI in Gaza and what it reveals about the moral cost of algorithmic war.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 201-305-0084⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
• Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia
• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785
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Years before the levees failed, New Orleans’ public schools were already in crisis. The corruption was so entrenched that the FBI even set up shop inside the district. The first episode of Where the Schools Went uncovers how decades of mismanagement and neglect turned New Orleans into a cautionary tale long before Hurricane Katrina ever made landfall, and how it set the stage for what would come after. We also follow a group of educators who fled to Houston in the aftermath of the storm and built a school for displaced students. And then we follow them – and their students – back to a city and school system struggling to rebuild.

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Where the Schools Went is an original podcast from The Branch in partnership with ⁠The 74⁠ and ⁠MeidasTouch⁠. For future episodes, make sure to follow the series on Apple ⁠here⁠ and on Spotify ⁠here⁠.

Let us know what you think of the show! Email us at ⁠wheretheschoolswent@thebranchmedia.org⁠ or follow us on ⁠X⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠ at @thebranchmedia.

Ravi is joined by hedge fund founder Spencer Hakimian for a deep dive into the state of the U.S. economy under Trump. They begin with the firing of the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a move that raises urgent questions about data integrity and the politicization of economic institutions. From there, they discuss Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s likely exit and what Trump’s next appointment could mean for the future of the Fed. Finally, Ravi and Spencer assess the growing risk of stagflation and share how they’re personally thinking about everything from gold and short-term bonds to international stocks and AI-fueled equities in this uncertain environment.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 321-200-0570⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
• Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia
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August 2025 marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina altered New Orleans forever. Much has been written about the storm’s destruction and the city’s long road to recovery. But tucked behind those headlines is another story. One that shaped the lives of thousands of children.

From The Branch in partnership with The 74 and MeidasTouch, Where the Schools Went is a five-part documentary series about what happened to the city’s schools after the levees broke, and how it led to the most radical education experiment in modern American history.

The first episode drops next Tuesday, August 12! Listen and subscribe on Apple here and on Spotify here.

Ravi opens the show by diving into the latest headlines, from Trump's reluctance to rule out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell to the latest attacks on FEMA and the US. dollar.

He then welcomes Gisela Salim-Peyer to the show to discuss her latest piece in The Atlantic, No One Was Supposed to Leave Alive. Gisela shares more about her investigation into El Salvador's mega-prison, where some individuals based in the U.S. have been sent without due process. Ravi and Gisela examine the legal gray zone CECOT operates in, the recent Venezuela-U.S. prisoner swap, and what it all reveals about the U.S. immigration system and authoritarianism abroad.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 321-200-0570⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
• Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia
• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785
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Ravi kicks off the show with the latest update in the Epstein scandal — a resurfaced birthday letter allegedly sent from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein. He unpacks the implications of Trump's denial, the GOP's strategic calls to "release the list," and what's really at stake in the fight over grand jury testimony. From there, he turns to Trump's latest attacks on Obama, FEMA, and the U.S. dollar, connecting the dots between the President's social media meltdowns, a hollowed-out disaster response agency, and the economic fallout of chaotic trade policy.

Carter Sherman then joins the show to talk about her new book, The Second Coming: Sex and the Next Generation’s Fight Over Its Future, which explores Gen Z’s shifting attitudes toward sex, porn, dating apps, and sexual education. Ravi and Carter discuss how digital culture, incel ideologies, and the collapse of comprehensive sex ed are shaping the next generation’s understanding of intimacy and power.

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Leave us a voicemail with your thoughts on the show! 321-200-0570⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Follow Ravi at @RaviMGupta
• Notes from this episode are also available on Substack: https://thelostdebate.substack.com/
• Follow The Branch at @thebranchmedia
• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lost-debate/id1591300785
• Listen to more episodes of Lost Debate on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xR9pch9DrQDiZfGB5oF0F