FCC chair Brendan Carr’s “easy way or hard way” threat to TV broadcasters lit a censorship firestorm this week. Our Cato panel digs into the government's jawboning, broadcast licensees' “junior-varsity” First Amendment rights, and whether it’s time to scrap the FCC altogether. Plus, the latest on AI regulation and the art of the TikTok deal.
Featuring Gene Healy, Ryan Bourne, Brent Skorup and Jennifer Huddleston
Comedian, actor, & influencer Amanda Seales joins Bad Faith to reflect on the canonization of Charlie Kirk, her viral Jubilee debate video (who says the left is unwilling to debate?), being canceled by Hollywood for speaking out about Palestine and the failures of the Democratic Party, her IRL confrontation with Kamala Harris, staying sane in the public eye, and so much more. It's an intimate, funny, broad conversation with one of the internet's most engaging political personalities.
Men can be trained to regard their exploiters as the virtuous architects of safety and prosperity, as so many so-called "citizens" in America are so relentlessly trained to do.
The federal government’s approach to public health has changed more in the last eight months than it has in decades.
Since President Trump returned to office, he and members of his administration have challenged the safety of the covid vaccine, the overall childhood vaccine schedule, and the causes of autism.
This has upended public health guidance that doctors and patients have relied on for years.
Jen Brull, the President of the American Academy of Family Physicians talks about how doctors and patients are navigating this moment.
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The irony of the Jimmy Kimmel controversy is that he owed his spot at ABC precisely because his work was non-political. Unfortunately in modern America, professional clowns feel they must become political tools.
Since Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the Trump administration has been speed-running an attack on the “radical left.” And the tactics it has been using are darkly reminiscent of the Red Scare of the 1940s and ’50s. So what can that period teach us about the current moment and what the Trump administration might do next? How far could this go?
Corey Robin is a political theorist at Brooklyn College. He’s an expert on McCarthyism and the author of the book “The Reactionary Mind,” one of the most insightful books you can read on the Trumpist right. In this conversation, he walks through what happened in the first and second Red Scares and what made him start worrying about the Trump administration.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick and Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Kelsey Kudak. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Beverly Gage and Clay Risen.
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Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey says it was easier to deport illegal migrants to Europe when we were in the EU. Is that true?
Did the governor of the Bank of England get his numbers wrong on the UK’s ageing population?
Why is the price of beef up by 25% in a year?
Is it possible to prove that MPs are using AI to write their speeches?
If you’ve seen a number you think we should take a look at, email the team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporter: Lizzy McNeill
Producers: Nathan Gower and Nicholas Barrett
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Editor: Richard Vadon
Faced with declining enrollment, public school districts across the country are rethinking how many schools they can run. Fewer students often means less government funding, forcing schools to cut services. Yet school closures can disrupt communities and have negative effects on learning. On today’s show, the tough calculus parents and schools confront.
Disney briefly pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air last week for comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, after FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened action against Disney and ABC. But this is not the first time the government has tried to censor the media: Maria walks us through a brief history of presidents trying to limit what the press says. Then, Nate and Maria discuss whether cancel culture led us to this particular moment.
