The United States invaded Afghanistan on October 7th, 2001 and remains embroiled in the conflict almost two decades later, making this the longest war in US history. Leaders from both of the dominant political parties continually argued that this was a winnable war, proposing new strategies, more troops, and more surges. Yet documents obtained by The Washington Post show that the long-running internal conversations painted a different -- and vastly more disturbing -- picture. Tune in to learn more about the Afghanistan Papers in tonight's Classic episode.
It’s Tax Day in the U.S., a moment when many of us think about how we fund collective life. So today’s story? It’s about layoffs — but not the kind we’ve come to expect.
We’re often told democracy is too slow or messy for hard moments. But this episode shows that it’s exactly in those moments that shared power matters most. This isn’t just a story about layoffs. It’s a rejection of the authoritarian reflex in boardrooms, governments, and beyond. It’s about choosing to citizen, even — and especially — when it’s hard.
This story is not the teary CEO on Zoom. Not the cold memo. Not the decision handed down from above. This story is different. Kate “Sassy” Sassoon helped an organization in financial crisis involve everyone in the decision-making process. Together, they:
Cut costs with consent
Shared the burden of leadership
Kept more people employed — and all people respected
“They felt like complete, full humans. Seen. Heard. Valued.” — Kate
The recent winter proved deadly for honey bee colonies. The Washington State University’s Honey Bees and Pollinators Program reports mass die-offs for commercial beekeepers. Honey bees, butterflies, and even small vertebrates like bats and birds are important to agriculture and are indicators of a healthy ecosystem. Their populations fluctuate and are affected by pesticide use, habitat loss, and climate change. Tribes and Native groups like the Euchee Butterfly Farm are among those devoting resources to pollinator restoration work. We’ll talk with Native pollinator protectors about efforts to help turn the threat to pollinators around.
Have you scrubbed down the top of your fridge lately? Home & garden correspondent Sarah Archer is here to tell us how and when we got so obsessed with the antiseptically clean house as a status symbol, and whether we really need to worry about every bit of dust on that baseboard.
In this episode, the Goods from the Woods Boys are THRILLED to welcome the hilarious Heather Winter back to Disgraceland Studios for an absolute banger of an episode. We kick this one off with an Ardor Energy Seltzer and we talk about its slob-coded owner. Then, we talk about a YouTube idiot who went to a forbidden island and a teacher who tried to hire a student as a hitman. Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" is our JAM OF THE WEEK. Get into it, y'all! Follow Heather on all forms of social media @HeatherRWinter Follow the show on all the socials @TheGoodsPod Rivers is @RiversLangley Sam is @SlamHarter Carter is @Carter_Glascock Subscribe on Patreon for the UNCUT video version of this episode as well as TONS of bonus content! http://patreon.com/TheGoodsPod Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt here: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
James and Gare discuss the terrible impact of the earthquake that hit Sagaing in late March, how the Junta has blocked aid workers, and how the revolution has responded. We also talk about how you can help.
Better Offline & Weird Little Guys are nominated for this year’s Webby Awards! Get your votes in by April 17th! 🗳️🗳️🗳️
Watch this first video story from the Week of Citizening on Instagram or LinkedIn: https://newsletter.baratunde.com/p/1st-story-libraries-are-hubs-for?r=204q7
What if every library in the world was a hub for citizening—a space where people could come together, tell their own stories, and build new ones? It’s already happening. And Cossit Llibrary in downtown Memphis is leading the way.
🎙️ Meet Ena Esco — Innovator-in-Residence for podcast programming. In a city that’s majority Black and shaped by deep economic challenges, Ena is turning a traditional library into a platform for power.
Inside this public library you’ll find:
📸 A podcast studio
🎥 A video + photo lab
🎭 A performance space
All free. All open to the public.
“We live in an era where a lot of people are being silenced. I’m proud to mentor folks and watch them realize: they can say what they truly want to say.” — Ena Esco
This is what it looks like to practice power. To citizen.
We are joined by yet another TMK favorite, Quinn Slobodian, who is author of Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right. We discuss Quinn’s analysis of “new fusionism” or a mutant strain of neoliberalism that crystallized in the 1990s, which sought to ground and defend neoliberal policies through their own bastardization of biological sciences — cognitive, behavioral, evolutionary, genetic, and so on. They then used scientism to justify and propagate political ideas and economic models based on hardwired human nature and hierarchical differences between races, cultures, and intelligence. The fringes of the 1990s have now become the mainstream of the 2020s.
••• Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right | Quinn Slobodian https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9781890951917/hayeks-bastards
Standing Plugs:
••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble
••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)
It's been almost two years, and I (Baratunde) am back with an experimental drop because democracy is something we DO, not something we HAVE (or don't), and this moment calls for that reminder. So...
I’m teaming up with my friend and fellow citizenist Jon Alexander (author of CITIZENS) to do something we believe is urgent and necessary: shine a light on the everyday people practicing democracy in extraordinary ways.
We’ve gathered a week’s worth of short, powerful stories from across the U.S.—people showing up for their communities, bridging divides, building something better.
We’re releasing one story per day this week on LinkedIn and Instagram. But we know there are more.
We’re not doing this for clicks. We’re doing this to prove there’s demand for a different kind of story.
One where people aren’t problems to be fixed, but solutions already in motion.
✅ Follow @baratunde, Jon (@thecitizensguy), and @HowToCitizen on Instagram
💬 Engage. Comment. Share. Tag someone doing similar work.
📣 Know someone with a platform or newsletter? Ask them to help spread the word.
We want to show funders—and each other—that this kind of storytelling matters.
Let’s make this the week we saw the democracy we deserve and counterprogram the nonsense and chaos with something beautiful and joyful already happening.
Major appreciation to Shira Abramowitz who has run point on finding the stories we are releasing this week. And to Elizabeth Stewart for great partnership.
In his day, American labor union leader James "Jimmy" Riddle Hoffa was one of the most well-known figures in the US. On July 30th, 1975, Hoffa disappeared. He has not been seen, living or dead, since that day. In the decades following his death numerous investigators have tried (and failed) to figure out what exactly happened to this infamous American icon. So what actually happened to Jimmy Hoffa? Tune in to learn more in tonight's Classic episode.
