Behind the News – November 26, 2020
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Upcoming Episode
Behind the News
12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Time: Thursdays
Host Doug Henwood covers the worlds of economics and politics and their complex interactions, from the local to the global.
Jennifer Berkshire, co-author of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, on the state of the education reform movement as Trump and DeVos leave: it’s now mostly about right-wing moves in the states to dismantle public education and to subsidize profit-making and religious schools. And Kate Sykes of DSA and an activist with People First Portland, on … Continued
Biden’s foreign policy, and then female desire
Andrew Bacevich on what Biden’s foreign policy might look like, and Alyson Spurgas on female desire
The historian Vijay Prashad and the political scientist Jodi Dean offer analyses of the longer-term meaning of the election—what Trump means, where he came from, where he might go, and how we might do better than these dismal choices.
Sex offender registries and the Chilean plebscite
NYC public defender Kat Pecore on the profound injustice of sex offender registries and Antonia Atria, a socialist and student activist in Chile, on that country’s vote to rewrite its Pinochet-era constitution.
Tech workers and Obama’s grim legacy
Ben Tarnoff and Moira Weigel, editors of Voices from the Valley, on what workers in the tech industry say about their jobs, and Paul Street, author of Hollow Resistance, on the grim post-presidency of Barack Obama.
Guest: David Quammen, science journalist, on zoonotic diseases, those like COVID-19 that leap from animals to humans. His latest book is Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. Then, Samuel Moyn, a professor of law and history at Yale, on all the things that are wrong with the Supreme Court. Both interviews were broadcast … Continued
Kathleen Belew, author of Bring the War Home, talks about this history of the white power movement from the Vietnam War through the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Today’s Proud Boys have a long history, as she shows.
Economist Max Sawicky explains why the postal service is in such trouble, and what could be done to save it. And securities analyst Kelly Grotke looks at the financial crisis in higher education—dining hall workers being laid off while the portfolio managers running the endowment make billions. Thanks to Ethan Hoover for sharing their work on … Continued
Frederik de Boer talks about his new book, The Cult of Smart, which is about reversing the dominance of academic stardom in determining “success.” And Matthew Snyder talks about creating a community land trust in the Inland Empire.
The Jakarta method, and schooling in a pandemic
Vincent Bevins, author of The Jakarta Method, on the US-sponsored strategy of mass murder during the Cold War • Kyle Beckham, lecturer in education at the University of San Francisco, on schooling during the pandemic Rebroadcast of a show that first ran in May