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NBN Book of the Day - Matt Christman, “The Chapo Guide to Revolution: A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason” (Simon & Schuster, 2019)

Let’s face it, 2020 has been a hell of a year. We could all use a good laugh. But as historians and/or fans of history, we have to read something historically grounded, right? Well, fear not! Felix Biederman, Virgil Texas, Will Menaker, Brendan James, and Matt Christman, those rapscallions from the Chapo Trap House podcast wrote a book, The Chapo Guide to Revolution; A Manifesto Against Logic, Facts, and Reason (Simon & Schuster, 2018), and it’s got a lot of history in it. I sat down with Matt Christman to talk about history, humor, and the hell-world of late capitalism. He offers his critiques of American liberalism and conservatism, as well as discussing how history shapes his thinking and analysis.

Matt Christman co-hosts Chapo Trap House, a hugely popular and rather influential podcast. The Chapo crew includes the above authors (although the traitorous Brendan James was purged for revisionism and replaced with Amber A'Lee Frost). For the uninitiated, Chapo Trap House is a comedic political podcast that has been branded as the “Dirt Bag Left”. With a solid dose of scatological humor and subversive irony, it’s not for everyone, but I find it to be some of today’s smartest and most well-informed political and cultural criticism. On the Chapo podcast and in his other appearances, he displays an impressive command of history, frequently grounding his analysis in historical context. He also put out a few special episodes of Chapo Trap House called “The Inebriated Past”, the best of which offered insightful discussions of topics ranging from fascism to sewer socialism.

Michael G. Vann is a professor of world history at California State University, Sacramento. A specialist in imperialism and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, he is the author of The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empires, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam (Oxford University Press, 2018). When he’s not reading or talking about new books with smart people, Mike can be found surfing in Santa Cruz, California.

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Short Wave - Seeing Monsters? It Could Be Sleep Paralysis

It's a listener questions episode! Josh Smith wrote in to tell us that as a teenager, he was plagued by sleep paralysis. Now he's afraid his kid might be experiencing it too. Josh asks what the science says about this sleep disorder and what he can do to help his son. (Encore episode)

For more interesting science tidbits, follow Maddie and Emily on Twitter @maddie_sofia and @emilykwong1234. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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The NewsWorthy - Winter Storm, Trump vs. Congress & Christmas Movie Releases- Thursday, December 24th, 2020

The news to know for Thursday, December 24th, 2020!

We're talking about:

  • who's now in the path of a dangerous winter storm
  • the latest batch of controversial pardons from the president
  • why lawmakers might be coming back to the nation's Capitol just after leaving for the holidays
  • the first delays in the new NBA season
  • a bunch of Christmas Day movie debuts and where you can watch them
  • how you can see Santa's trip around the world or celebrate Kwanzaa

All that and more in around 10 minutes...

Head to www.theNewsWorthy.com/shownotes to read more about any of the stories mentioned.

This episode is brought to you by Ritual.com/newsworthy and BlueNile.com

Support the show and get ad-free episodes here: www.theNewsWorthy.com/insider

 

 

 

 

Sources:

U.S. Winter Storm: NY Times, NBC News, Weather Channel

Another Batch of Controversial Pardons: NY Times, ABC News, WaPo, White House

Trump Vetoes Defense Spending Bill: WaPo, WSJ, AP, CNBC, Pelosi Statement

U.S. Deadliest Week in Pandemic: Reuters, ABC News, COVID Tracker, Johns Hopkins

1M+ Americans Receive Shots: Miami Herald, Axios, CNBC, CDC

NY First Bans Facial Recognition in Schools: Engadget, Forbes, AP

NBA Postponed Game: ESPN, CBS Sports, Houston Chronicle, NBA

Xmas Movies Releases: USA Today, Variety, Deadline, Cinema Blend

NORAD Begins Tracking Santa: NORAD, Forbes, USA Today

Kwanza is Saturday: NatGeo, NY Times, Boston Globe

Thing to Know Thursday: Top American Holiday Travel Destinations: AP, ABC News, CNBC, Amadeus

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The Goods from the Woods - UNLOCKED – Patreon Episode #38 – “Santa with Muscles” with Kevin Anderson

Hey y'all! Today, as a special holiday treat, we're unlocking one of our all-time favorite Patreon episodes! Recorded back in August of 2020, Rivers and comedian Kevin Anderson are chatting about 1996's 'Santa with Muscles' starring Hulk Hogan! This movie is available on YouTube for free. Also, interesting to note, the movie was produced and partially financed by the real-life "Wolf of Wall Street", Jordan Belfort. Happy Holidays! Thank y'all so much for listening this year.

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Serious Inquiries Only - SIO269: Evolutionary Psychology and Sex Differences

It's part 2 of the Defending Evo-Psych series! This one was so much fun. Lindsey talks about sex differences in different species and how they are also present in human behavior. We talk about ridiculous birds, mating dollars, casual sex, and all kinds of fun stuff!

Studies referenced: Singh (2002) - REVIEW, WHR, attractiveness, and fecundity, Li et al. (2002) - necessities and luxuries of mate preferences

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Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - COVID-19 Relief Package Serves Airlines Steak, Leaves Restaurants Crumbs

President Trump attacked Congress’ $900 billion COVID-19 emergency relief package.

Reset talks to a congressional reporter and business writer covering the relief efforts, and a columnist who explains why the money earmarked for restaurants won’t be enough to keep businesses afloat.

For more Reset interviews, please subscribe to this podcast and leave us a rating. That helps other listeners find us.

For more about the program, you can head over to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.

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The Gist - Simply Having a COVID Christmas Time

On the Gist, Republican Grinches are scratching their heads while Santa Trump calls for more stimulus money. 

And, today in Remembrances of Things Trump: This president. He hasn’t talked so good. 

In the interview, we have Georgia on our mind yet again with Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Bill Nigut. He talks about the upcoming Georgia runoff including the impact of Republicans crying foul after the 2020 election, the (slim) chance that Republicans could blow an election that’s theirs to lose, and a deep cut involving a political jingle. Nigut is the host and executive producer of the Georgia politics podcast, Political Rewind. He’s also a program host and producer at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

In the spiel, that rare feeling of togetherness that now comes with waiting on line for a COVID-19 test.

Email us at thegist@slate.com

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder, Margaret Kelley, and Cheyna Roth.

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Consider This from NPR - U.S. Secures More Vaccine Doses As Distribution Continues For Essential Workers

Americans got some good news on Wednesday morning when the White House announced that it had secured another 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar released a statement afterward saying the U.S. will now have enough supply "to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021."

Even with these announcements questions remain on how exactly everyone will get vaccinated. States are having varying levels of success with the vaccine rollout process. Dr. Jose Romero, Arkansas health secretary and chair of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization advisory committee, discusses the success Arkansas has had with vaccine distribution and the lessons learned in the process.

In Seattle, NPR's Will Stone has been following vaccine distribution, including to health care workers who have been caring for COVID-19 patients for nearly a year.

One of the questions that remains as more people get vaccinated is should volunteers who got a placebo during the vaccine trials now be offered the real thing? NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with Dr. Steven Goodman of Stanford School of Medicine who is advising the Food and Drug Administration about this.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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