Amanda Holmes reads Stanley Kunitz’s “Halley’s Comet.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
Mia talks with Ez and Finnly of the Seminary Co-op Booksellers Union about black mold, bad management, and how union busting works like an abusive relationship.
Ryan welcomes Tom Moor, head of engineering at Linear, to discuss AI agents’ mixed results for productivity in the development lifecycle, the importance of context for maximizing agents’ effectiveness, and the role that junior developers need to take in a world increasingly driven by AI.
Episode notes:
Linear is a tool for planning and building products that streamline issues, projects, and product roadmaps.
Argentina’s dollar-denominated bonds surged in value following the victory of Liberty Advances, the party led by the country’s president, Javier Milei, in midterm elections.
Hurricane Melissa has intensified into the strongest possible storm category, five, as it heads towards Jamaica -- where it is expected to make landfall in the early hours of Tuesday. The authorities fear it could be the fiercest hurricane ever to hit the island. Meteorologists have described what they're seeing as 'satellite history'. We hear from Jamaica's information minister, Dana Morris Dixon.
Also in the programme: The Rapid Support Forces in Sudan claim to have taken the city of El-Fasher, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped; and ten people have gone on trial in France accused of cyber-bullying against the country's first lady, Brigitte Macron.
(Picture: Jamaica aid worker Craig Brown wraps a gas pump as Hurricane Melissa approaches in Kingston, Jamaica on October 27, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Octavio Jones)
It’s a call-in show! We respond to nineteen calls ranging from serious predictions about the Trump era and beyond, the future of the Middle East, Warren Zevon stories, books for kids and high schoolers, and trying to wean a friend off H3H3. Also: gossip about John Fetterman and Jair Bolsonaro.
YEAR ZERO: A Chapo Trap House Comic Anthology is back on sale! Buy it at badegg.co/products/year-zero-1. Hurry while supplies last!
Dangerous category 5 Hurricane Melissa barrels toward Jamaica with threats of severe flooding and landslides. Food assistance threatened as government shutdown continues. President Trump continues his Asia trip with a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister today.
CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Keiper with tonight's World News Roundup.
With the continued federal government shutdown and SNAP not being funded for November, San Antonio and many other communities are confronting a hunger crisis. The San Antonio Food Bank is working to meet the sudden rising need. We are joined by Eric Cooper, president and CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank.array(3) {
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We’re joined by Alyssa Battistoni — author of Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature — to discuss her new book which is really just Marxist political theory at its finest. We get into capitalism’s relationship to nature, the ways in which capital absorbs and subsumes so much of our world into its systems, restructuring and controlling so many social/natural processes through its logics. But also even more importantly, the great many ways that capital engages in withdrawal and retreat from the natural world; strategically neglecting to value nature, taking advantage of its “free gifts,” while also abdicating any responsibility for the vast world outside of capital’s confines. We then ask (and answer) the question: why is existentialism necessary for thinking about climate change?
••• Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature | Alyssa Battistoni https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691263465/free-gifts
••• Luddite Tribunal | November 27th, 6:30pm | Brunswick Library, Melbourne https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-luddite-tribunal-tickets-1836438871099
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)
The U.S. and China said they’ve agreed on a framework for a potential trade deal, once again trying to pull back from a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The announcement comes as President Trump’s tour through Asia takes him to Japan. Nick Schifrin reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy