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Is everything you've been told about the American Dream a lie? In this explosive episode of Keeping it Real, Jillian Michaels sits down with democratic socialist author and professor Dr. Ben Burgis for a high-stakes, brutally honest clash over the economic frameworks controlling your life.
Dungeons & Dragons was a game designed for socialists, according to young socialists quoted by the LA Times. Did they miss the part about Gary Gygax being an unapologetic libertarian or what? This very wrong conclusion came up during a fundraiser for the Democratic Socialists of America in Hollywood. And, oh, some prominent personalities in the modern DnD scene are card carrying members. Shocker... Watch the podcast episodes on YouTube and all major podcast hosts including Spotify. CLOWNFISH TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary podcast that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer's point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles. Get more news, views and reviews on Clownfish TV News - https://more.clownfishtv.com/ On YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/ClownfishTV On Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4Tu83D1NcCmh7K1zHIedvg On Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clownfish-tv-audio-edition/id1726838629 MORE CLOWNFISH TV - Official Merch Store: http://ClownfishMinus.com Facebook - https://facebook.com/ClownfishTV X - https://x.com/ClownfishTVcom Clownfish TV subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClownfishTVOfficial/ Disclaimer: This series is produced by Clownfish Studios and WebReef Media, and is part of ClownfishTV.com. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of our guests, affiliates, sponsors, or advertisers. ClownfishTV.com is an unofficial news source and has no connection to any company that we may cover. This channel and website and the content made available through this site are for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. These so-called “fair uses” are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. #tabletop #socialism #DnD #DungeonsAndDragons #Podcast #Commentary #News #Reaction #Gaming #Comedy #Entertainment #Hollywood #PopCulture #Tech #Anime #FYP Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Preview for Later Today: Jeff Bliss profiles Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialist mayoral candidate in LA. He discusses her Hollywood ties, focus on homelessness, and the political impact of her progressive platform on the upcoming first city-wide election cycle.1900 LA
Approximately two years into the second Trump administration, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is at a critical crossroads. In this semi-annual check-in, we sit down with members of the Marxist Unity Group (MUG)—Cliff Connolly, Gene Allen, and Amy Wilhelm—to discuss the evolving landscape of American socialist politics.In this deep dive, our panel explores the significant shift following the passing of Resolution Seven, which officially declared the DSA's intent to transition into an independent, mass-based political party. We tackle the "New York contradictions," the limits of holding executive office without legislative support, and the struggle to maintain a revolutionary program in a "multi-tendency" organization.In This Episode, We Discuss:The Blueprint for a Party: Why the DSA is moving away from being a "political advocacy non-profit" toward a formal party structure.Executive vs. Legislative Power: Analyzing the challenges faced by elected officials like Zohran Mamdani in New York and the dangers of "shortcuts" to power.The Utility of Protests: Why street movements like "No Kings" are vital for recruitment even if they don't immediately "move the needle" on foreign policy.Building a Worker State: The development of a revolutionary program aimed at ending capitalism in the United States.Member Protagonism: How doubling down on internal democracy and STV (Single Transferable Vote) is the key to retaining the DSA's 100k+ membership.Connect with the Marxist Unity Group:Website: marxistunity.comPublications: Check out Light and Air and the Bulletin for internal and external socialist theory.Read: Cliff Connolly's latest piece in Democratic Left regarding the Security Commission's de-escalation and safety trainings.Send us Fan Mail Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" talks about Jeff Bezos shocking "Squawk Box's" Andrew Ross Sorkin with his brutally honest takedown of the tax policies of Zohran Mamdani and other Democratic Socialists who think they can improve the lives of the middle class with simple tax the rich policies; Jeff Bezos responding directly to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with some basic facts and math about how to become a billionaire; shocking footage of a wave of "teen takeovers" at multiple major cities where cops were helpless to stop the wave of youth crime; Nick Shirley telling Fox News' Will Cain why the walls are closing in on Ilhan Omar for her involvement in the widespread Minnesota fraud scandal in the Somali community; Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche getting a stunning crowd reaction in Miami when announcing the indictment of Raul Castro for the murder of the members of Brothers to the Rescue in 1996; Byron Donalds exposing of the hypocrisy of Democrats to the oppression of the Cuban people under communist rule; and much more. Dave also hosts a special "ask me anything" question-and-answer session on a wide range of topics, answering questions from the Rubin Report Locals community. Today's Sponsors: Polymarket -Go to http://polymarket.com to trade on the outcomes of live events from politics, pop culture, to sports and more!
We're talking with Janeese Lewis George. According to our new City Cast poll, she's leading the race for mayor. We talked about how she really thinks about public safety, how she wants to spend more on our safety net, and how it feels to be a Democratic Socialist candidate whose support comes from some of DC's best-educated and newest residents. I hope you'll stick around and listen. Want some more DC news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter Hey DC. You can text us or leave a voicemail at: (202) 642-2654. You can also become a member, with ad-free listening, for as little as $10 a month. Learn more about the sponsors of this May 21st episode: Window Nation Signature Theatre DC Department of Behavioral Health DC Board of Elections Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE.
NYC Mayor Mamdani has met with both JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon; Partnership for New York City Steven Fulop discusses the bridge between New York's business community and its Democratic Socialist mayor. Anthropic will begin sharing cyber flaws found by Mythos, while keeping Mythos private to a small circle of users. After a closely watched trial in Oakland, California, a federal jury found that Elon Musk waited too long to file his lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman. Plus, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has made a personal investment in GAME 7, a sports brand co-founded by NHL legend Mark Messier. The two athletes-turned-businessmen discuss their bets on the world of sports. Steven Fulop 10:28 Zak Brown & Mark Messier 20:07 In this episode: Zak Brown, @ZBrownCEO Steven Fulop, @StevenFulop Joe Kernen, @JoeSquawk Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
This episode is presented by Create A Video – The Democrat (and self-described communist) candidate for US Senate in Maine has a long history of posting terrible things online. But his comments about a Purple Heart recipient might be the worst. He is also the latest candidate/client of Morris Katz - a Democratic Socialists of America campaigner who helped elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zorhan Mamdani.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-kaliner-show--6946691/support.Subscribe to the podcast My preferred podcast platform: SpreakerAll the links to Pete's Prep are free!Get exclusive content here!Media Bias Check: GroundNews promo code!Advertising and Booking inquiries: Pete@ThePeteKalinerShow.com
Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, US politics has polarised sharply - with the rise of Trump and right-wing populism, but also a renewed class-based left around figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Zohran Mamdani.Part of what has given rise to these candidates is a Democratic Socialist political movement - and a key part of that movement is the publication Jacobin, which has sought to teach and lead debate about radical class politics, reviving Marxist critiques of capitalism and socialist ideology.In this chat, the founding editor of Jacobin, Bhaskar Sunkara, charts the history of the US democratic socialists and the role of Jacobin in particular. He unpacks the recent New York Mayoral Election campaign with Zohran Mamdani, exploring how the big but simple demands about free buses and rent freezes created a different imagination for what is possible from the state. He also shares a little about his upcoming book The Blueprint (with Mike Beggs and Ben Burgis), and some of the topics he will be talking about when he visits Australia in May and June 2026.For more information and to buy tickets for Bhaskar's Australian speaking tour: https://www.search.org.au/bhaskar_sunkara_live_in_sydney_get_your_tickets_todayThe Jacobin magazine is here.Bhaskar's earlier book, The Socialist Manifesto, can be bought here.Story NotesFor more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda's writing, have a look at:Amanda's website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, US politics has polarised sharply - with the rise of Trump and right-wing populism, but also a renewed class-based left around figures like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Zohran Mamdani.Part of what has given rise to these candidates is a Democratic Socialist political movement - and a key part of that movement is the publication Jacobin, which has sought to teach and lead debate about radical class politics, reviving Marxist critiques of capitalism and socialist ideology.In this chat, the founding editor of Jacobin, Bhaskar Sunkara, charts the history of the US democratic socialists and the role of Jacobin in particular. He unpacks the recent New York Mayoral Election campaign with Zohran Mamdani, exploring how the big but simple demands about free buses and rent freezes created a different imagination for what is possible from the state. He also shares a little about his upcoming book The Blueprint (with Mike Beggs and Ben Burgis), and some of the topics he will be talking about when he visits Australia in May and June 2026.For more information and to buy tickets for Bhaskar's Australian speaking tour: https://www.search.org.au/bhaskar_sunkara_live_in_sydney_get_your_tickets_todayThe Jacobin magazine is here.Bhaskar's earlier book, The Socialist Manifesto, can be bought here.Story NotesFor more on ChangeMakers check us out:Via our Website - https://changemakerspodcast.org (where you can also sign up to our email list!)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangeMakersPodcast/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/changemakerspodcast/Threads: https://www.threads.com/@changemakerspodcastBlue Sky: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall.bsky.socialFor more on the books and Amanda's writing, have a look at:Amanda's website - https://amandatattersall.com/ Conscious Tribes: thinking differently about making a difference - here and via Hardie GrantPeople Power in Cities - here and via Oxford Uni PressOn Substack - https://substack.com/@amandatattersallOn Medium - https://amandatatts.medium.com/And - her much earlier book about coalition building - Power in Coalition and via Cornell Uni PressAmanda is on Socials here:On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandatattersall/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.tattersallBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/amandatattersall.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@amandatattersall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In Episode 479 of The Andrew Parker Show, Andrew Parker discusses the political and economic transformation of Minneapolis over the past two decades.Andrew examines the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the influence of Keith Ellison and Ilhan Omar, the aftermath of the George Floyd riots, policing debates, business decline, and the changing political identity of Minneapolis.The episode also highlights the upcoming Minnesota Attorney General race and Andrew's support for challenger Ron Schutz.Topics:Minneapolis politicsDemocratic Socialists of America (DSA)Keith Ellison and Ilhan OmarGeorge Floyd aftermathMinneapolis business declineCrime, policing, and city leadershipMinnesota Attorney General raceRon Schutz campaign discussionSupport the showThe Andrew Parker Show - Politics, Israel & The Law. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and X. Subscribe to our email list at www.theandrewparkershow.comCopyright © 2026 The Andrew Parker Show - All Rights Reserved.
In the second half of our show, we spoke with David Orkin. He is an immigrant workers' rights attorney at Make the Road New York. He's running for Assembly District 38 in Queens as a democratic socialist who wants to bring the struggle against ICE and oligarchy into the state legislature. His opponent, Jennifer Rajkumar, is one of former Mayor Eric Adams's most notorious allies.
Our latest installment of The UnPopulist Live took place on Friday, April 24, when senior editor Berny Belvedere sat down with Center for New Liberalism co-founder Jeremiah Johnson and New York City New Liberals political director Tibita Kaneene to discuss NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani's first 100-plus days in office.What follows is the full video and transcript (lightly edited for flow and clarity) of the conversation. We hope you enjoy.Berny Belvedere: Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Berny Belvedere, senior editor at The UnPopulist. I'm joined by Jeremiah Johnson of the Center for New Liberalism. Jeremiah, tell us about your newsletter.Jeremiah Johnson: I write a blog called Infinite Scroll where I talk about the politics of the social internet—the ways that social media is changing culture and politics and how we discuss things. It's a little bit unserious nonsense, and a little bit very serious stuff.Belvedere: As all good cultural commentary is, so you're within the acceptable range. Tibita, why don't you introduce yourself a little bit?Tibita Kaneene: Hi, I'm Tibita Kaneene. I'm the political director of the New York City chapter of the Center for New Liberalism. Belvedere: The topic today is New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. As liberals, we're [naturally] interested in how he's doing as mayor. I was hoping we could start with something that Mamdani himself said at an event marking his 100 days in office, which was about 10 days ago. I have a quote from Mamdani that sets up the first question I want to think about together with you—on this issue of democratic socialism versus other types of liberalism out there today, like an abundance variant or even more mainstream liberalism.So here are Mamdani's own words: “On January 1st, I told New Yorkers that City Hall would hold a singular purpose—to make this city belong to more of its people than it did the day before. For 102 days, we have endeavored to do exactly that.” And he cited achievements that he thinks fulfill that claim, such as the opening of new childcare centers and buses running faster. After he did that, he said: “That is the change that government can deliver.” And this is the critical part: “It's the change that democratic socialism can deliver.” He said: “I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist.”Sen. Bernie Sanders, whom Mamdani brought in for that 100-day event, said: “I have been on platforms with hundreds and hundreds of mayors and all kinds of public officials. This is the first time I've ever been introduced by someone who talked proudly about democratic socialism.”I want to start on this theme. Thoughts?Kaneene: I think it's interesting that the two accomplishments he highlighted were delivering actual positive change, abundance type change. More schools, more seats in preschool—the whole idea of abundance is that we should have more good things, and that government should be functional and competent. And then the buses operating better: more and better transit is a pretty fundamental abundance issue. Belvedere: Just to follow up on that point: he promised both faster and free busing, and he's been able to deliver on one of the two—on “faster,” but not “free.”Kaneene: Yeah. There's this idea going around: “affordability in the front, abundance in the back.” Affordability is a very popular campaign issue and idea, but it's also an empirical goal. So once that's established, to deliver on it you have to focus on consequences as opposed to ideological or rules-based things. You have to actually make the rent cheaper. [It's not enough] to merely enact policies that can be seen as pro-tenant and anti-landlord—they have to have the effect of making housing better, cheaper, more plentiful. Now that he's in office, he has to do that. Democratic socialism is a broad idea, but when it gets down to brass tacks and you're an executive, then you have to actually do things—appoint competent people and enact policies that actually have results. I think that's what his challenge is, and what he's doing for the most part.Johnson: The grand rhetorical gestures are what they are, and he has a point of view on how he views the world. I am not a socialist, but if you are going to tell me that I'm going to have a socialist mayor, probably the variant that I would want is what has sometimes been called sewer socialism. This comes from Milwaukee. Generations ago, they had a couple of mayors who called themselves socialist, but rather than focusing on revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, they really focused on civic governance. How do we make the city work better? How do we provide public infrastructure? How do we make the sewers operate without overflowing? And by solving practical problems, they maintained their popularity.That is what I see Mamdani doing, at least in the first 100 days. He's not been all that focused on the big rhetorical flourishes, the big ideological ideas. He'll talk about them if he's asked. He'll mention it in a speech. But if you're in New York and you see what's actually happening and you see the things he's doing on the ground, a lot of it is just more like: “We've got a big sidewalk shed problem and I'm going to tackle it.” Or we had a big multi-week blizzard here in New York and he had a campaign about shoveling the snow faster than it's ever been shoveled before. Just competent, good governance stuff.I think that's what's allowed him to maintain his popularity thus far. The question is, as he moves deeper into his term, past the first 100 days, as he starts to actually focus more and more on the grand ideological projects, the publicly owned grocery stores, the free buses, all these big ideas that he has—are those going to work as well as the more basic stuff has worked? Because no matter what you call it, everybody likes it when city government functions efficiently. What comes after that is not quite as clear.Belvedere: I think a fair assessment of Mamdani would have to include that he is taking a few shots here—not just the kinds of things that might be dismissed as [Band-Aids]. They've attempted to put a plan in place for free childcare, and they're extending that to younger and younger ages—for the first time, two-year-olds are in play for getting free childcare. That's not a small thing. That's not like filling a pothole. But he is including enough of that other stuff that makes me think there's going to be a significant element of incrementalist-style change that he's going to produce, and then there will be a battle about what is driving that—is some kind of democratic socialist vision driving it, or is this mainstream liberalism or abundance liberalism dressed up as something else?“There's this idea going around: ‘affordability in the front, abundance in the back.' Affordability is a very popular campaign issue and idea, but it's also an empirical goal. So once that's established, to deliver on it you have to focus on consequences as opposed to ideological or rules-based things. You have to actually make the rent cheaper. [It's not enough] to merely enact policies that can be seen as pro-tenant and anti-landlord—they have to have the effect of making housing better, cheaper, more plentiful. Now that he's in office, he has to do that. Democratic socialism is a broad idea, but when it gets down to brass tacks and you're an executive, then you have to actually do things—appoint competent people and enact policies that actually have results.” — Tibita KaneeneI think all of us invested in the wider Mamdani discourse have to keep a couple of things in mind at all times. First—and this is the thing from which all other evaluative mistakes about Mamdani flow—you have to know that he is committed to the advancement of democratic socialism. It's not just something he's flirting with, it's not something incidental. Time and again, he brings this up. Now, his actions might be different, but we're just talking about how he's casting his own story and the story of his government.Every politician at this level is capable of downplaying philosophical influences. They know how to make passing nods to their past associations or affiliations while simultaneously creating distance from those views now. They all know how to do that. Mamdani could easily, if he wanted, tell a compelling story about how the ideology was critical to his formation and that he will keep with him the good parts—kind of like Obama after the Reverend Wright situation—but that he owes the people of New York a commitment to their well-being, not a commitment to a political program. Or he could say that what matters are results, not labels. There are a thousand ways for a politician to put a philosophical influence in the passenger seat, the rear seat, or even outside the car entirely. But Mamdani is fully leaning in rhetorically to the advancement of democratic socialism. So the idea that it was empty campaign rhetoric, and that he would, once in office, pivot to a rhetorical downplaying of democratic socialism's influence on his decision-making—that idea should at this point be put to bed.When we think about that, the second thing naturally comes up about Mamdani, especially for those of us who really want to analyze him correctly. There's a lot of people out there who weaponize him as a prop in their broader culture war takes. But for those of us doing our best to give his mayorship a good-faith assessment—we have to focus on the things that he's doing, not on the story he's telling about the things that he's doing. We have to not worry so much about socialism as a term. What he does matters more than what he says. That's not a grand philosophical conclusion, but I think it has particular application to Mamdani in one extra way. Given that he's rhetorically committed to advancing democratic socialism, the invocations of it will continue—those won't go away. But here's the really interesting thing: he'll find ways to frame his actions and policies—even ones that aren't exclusively democratic socialist—as though socialism is the thing driving them.Johnson: Well, yeah, this is what happens when you win an election and you're a young, popular guy and you have a very good social media team—you get to set the terms of the debate. You get to set the framing through which you are viewed. And that's how things operate in the early days. But in the long run, it's hard to hide from the results. Whether you want to or not, four years from now—three and a half, I guess—he's going to be running for reelection. People are going to be asking: “Did my rent actually go down? Did groceries get less expensive? Is the city well run?”The free childcare thing, right now, is just a very limited pilot—it's like 2,000 seats. They have plans to expand it to the whole city, but for now it's very limited. The benefit of popularity is that it gives you a little bit of a leash. It lets you kick your own team to some extent. You can betray the cause a little bit and they'll forgive you. But ultimately, you do have to succeed. You do have to actually make things better. And that's the open question: Is there going to be enough funding to actually make free childcare a thing city-wide? Or is it going to remain a limited pilot?Belvedere: I agree—it's empirically going to be borne out whether he can achieve the things [he's promised]. He'll need to. We'll see in the data whether he's succeeding. But this actually happens more subtly than just, “let's check to see if the rents have gone down.” Think about the term you brought up—”sewer socialism.” That is a subtle way for him to retain the democratic socialist mold even though he's talking about things that mayors from totally different political persuasions would be doing also.Years ago, when Pete Buttigieg was first emerging as a candidate for [national political office], he went on Ezra Klein's podcast. Klein gave him a chance to talk about what he was proud of accomplishing as mayor. Buttigieg said: “filling potholes.” He expressed how it can seem silly and mundane, but that it makes people's lives materially better. He was giving an incrementalist pitch for what he was doing. If Mamdani is doing the same things, but leaning into the frame that instead encompasses all of that under democratic socialism—even when a lot of the policies are the kinds of things that candidates from other persuasions do—that's why I'm saying it's not so much the words or how he labels what he's doing but the actual things he's doing that matters.Johnson: What's interesting about that is this is very different from how democratic socialism normally operates in the United States. Because the median person who is a democratic socialist and is in a position of public power is a member of Congress. We don't have a lot of extremely far-left, explicitly socialist mayors, but we do have a lot of the Squad [in D.C.]—your AOC, your Bernie Sanders, that group of people. And the incentives when you are in Congress are frankly to just simply be as extreme as you'd like. You're in a deep blue district, probably D+70, and so you just need to be as pure and say as many outlandish things as you want to. There's no punishment for any of that.But being an executive is different. We're already seeing this with the budget hole that New York City faces. Mamdani has a budget hole that he constitutionally has to fix. New York City cannot run deficits. So he has to fix that, and there's a limited number of ways he can do it. He can't just pick the policy he wants. There are state laws about which taxes can be raised and which cannot. So he needs the cooperation of the governor and the legislature if he wants to do certain things.When he made a video about, “well, we're going to increase property taxes on second houses,” he made sure to highlight a particular person's $200 million mansion. But now that guy is upset that he got singled out and is saying, “maybe I'm going to cancel my $6 billion planned center in New York and take it somewhere else.” Actions have consequences when you are an executive in a way that they very much do not when you are a legislator. So that's something to watch—he's going to face a lot more constraints than are typical for his kind of politician.Kaneene: Yeah, that's true. I think we've seen him be very practical on policy [issues]—the biggest example would be the SEQRA reform at the state level that's been proposed by Kathy Hochul. He supported her version. If you look at it relative to other U.S. states, it's one of the best environmental review reform bills—better than California's, for example.Belvedere: What is SEQRA?Kaneene: It's the State Environmental Quality Review Act. It's an environmental review required for any project, be it housing or energy, and it generally slows things down a lot. Its purview extends far beyond things that you and I might describe as environmental, and it's a huge source of red tape. The state legislature was trying to attach a prevailing wage requirement to that bill, which would have made building housing particularly expensive. Mamdani did not support that. Carl Heastie, who's the assembly speaker, is not a DSA person—he's to the right of Mamdani. You could see a world where Mamdani would attach to that proposal in opposition to Gov. Hochul, but he did not. And it worked: just yesterday, the State Assembly removed the prevailing wage, and that battle has been won. So SEQRA will probably go through now with no prevailing wage.“Some of this is messaging strategy. Mamdani comes from a family in the arts. His mom is a professional filmmaker. His videos are very well produced. He understands clipping culture—what really matters is not the event itself, it's the 20-second clip that comes out of it that will get played a million times on social media. Part of it is just the messaging strategy itself. But I also think—look at what Mamdani doesn't do. He doesn't dress weird, he doesn't try to do memes. His accounts never post memes. He's never dressing in funny outfits. He's not cursing. He's well-dressed and presentable and optimistic and he talks like he wants to change things. I think there's an impulse among middle-aged, moderate liberals sometimes to be like, ‘To chase the kids, we've got to do the memes. Someone get me a 20-year-old who knows memes for my internet account.' And it's just very cringe-worthy. It's terrible. What people respond to is when you believe what you're saying.” — Jeremiah JohnsonAnother thing—shortly after the election, a DSA candidate named Chi Ossé announced that he was going to take on Hakeem Jeffries, who's the Democratic leader in the House, in a primary challenge. And Mamdani not only declined to endorse—he publicly said, “You should not run.” He went to a DSA meeting and made a speech saying, “We should not endorse Ossé.” And Ossé actually dropped out. So that is him going to bat, not for a DSA person, but for a centrist Democratic leader. He's done very practical things both on the politics and on the broad policy side that I would say deviate from purely ideological DSA framing.Johnson: I want to give the two possible paths forward if you are Mamdani, speaking in broad generalities. I think what a successful Mamdani mayorship looks like is: he essentially uses his popularity to kick in the teeth of certain special interests. Political popularity lets you do things that piss off your own side, and they'll forgive you for it. If Mamdani wants to take on certain union requirements—New York has hundreds of regulations about when you have to use union labor, and it drives up costs and there's a lot of bureaucracy around it—if he wanted to take some of that on, the left would forgive him because he's so charismatic and popular among his base, and it would lower costs. Whether it's the environmental laws that Tibita is talking about, or unions, or getting rid of the community board veto that makes it so hard to build housing—using his popularity to kill off some progressive sacred cows could let him get a lot accomplished.The other thing that could happen is that he falls into the “everything bagel” paradigm—where, “I want to maintain my popularity, so I'm not going to try to piss off anybody in my coalition. I'll give the environmentalists all the environmental regulations they want, I'll give the unions everything they want, I'll give this group and that group” … until you end up in the same place the Biden administration ended up. They passed a lot of really ambitious legislation without actually being able to accomplish any of it because of this thicket of red tape, this kind of anti-abundance approach. There's a middle ground in between, but those are the two paths I see in terms of how he actually uses and leverages his current popularity. It's an open question. It's still early days.Belvedere: So, Tibita, I wanted to bring up the piece that you wrote for us a while back, where you did a profile of Mamdani.What I thought was brilliant about that piece—and I hadn't seen it anywhere else—was that you took the abundance liberalism frame, assessed his democratic socialist tendencies and some early manifestations of what that could look like, looked at some of his projected hiring, and assessed what his mayorship was trending toward. I wanted to see if you had a follow-up to your own pre-Mamdani-in-office assessment now that he's governing. The title was: “Will Mamdani Govern More as a Democratic Socialist or as an Abundance Liberal?” And the subtitle was: “His policy evolution and the team he's assembling suggests that he could be moving in a market-friendly direction.” What do you think about that now?Kaneene: Sure. So that piece came out three days before the election. On election day, Mamdani came out in support of the pro-housing initiatives on the ballot. Those were very abundance-oriented. We already thought he supported them, but that was good confirmation. Then his first deputy mayor, Fuleihan, is just a very experienced, very competent person to run the city. He's not ideological—he's competent, has experience under a variety of past administrations; he's older, senior, knows a lot of people, and just helps get things done. Would be a good deputy mayor for a Democrat of a variety of political stripes. His Deputy Mayor for Housing, Leila Bozorg, is just an amazing person. She was Deputy Commissioner of HPD. Everyone there who I know thinks she's amazing. The most prominent DSA person would be Cea Weaver—she's a longtime tenant advocate. But there's really not a super ideological DSA person in the senior executive team.Then I mentioned some of the things he's done from a policy standpoint. On the rent freeze—since that piece came out, he's reconciled somewhat with the guidelines board. They're voting on May 7. They're probably going to freeze it for a year. But he has had to come up with ways to offset the rent freeze by lowering costs for landlords. He looked at the math, he has good advisors around him, and so for the first year he's going to provide some relief on insurance costs. Affordability in the front, but abundance in the back in the sense that he has to make the math work. He can't actually force landlords to lose money because many of these buildings are already underwater. What would happen is we'd just lose supply because these buildings would fail to operate.Belvedere: Let me ask you about that, because “abundance in the back”—abundance is very far in the back there. I don't know many YIMBY advocates who on this point would say the answer is to freeze rent.Kaneene: Yeah, I mean—among his housing policies, it's the most problematic. That's why I focused on it in the piece. It's a price control, which reduces supply, which is counterproductive for trying to increase housing supply and thereby reduce the price of housing. Now, he has done some other positive supply-side things. For example, the ELURP—the Expedited Land Use Review Procedure—he's actually used that process to approve a housing development in the Bronx that was previously blocked by Vicky Paladino, the only MAGA city council member who, prior to the ballot initiatives, was able through member deference to unilaterally block development in her district. She even made a speech saying, “before, I blocked it; now because of this expedited process, I'm not able to block it.” So she's letting it happen. So that's a victory. He was able to green-light new housing supply within the first few months based on a new law that he has shown no shyness in using.There are a bunch of other projects. There's one in my community board district, the Bloomingdale Library, where they put out an RFP for a private developer to come in, build a new library and build a bunch of housing—mainly market rate with some affordable housing built in—at no cost to the city. He also has the Sunnyside Yards, a project in Queens above a rail yard that should produce over 12,000 homes. He famously went to see Trump at the White House and convinced him to sign on.Belvedere: I want to get to his relationship with Trump in a second. But first, you've given us good information about how Mamdani is doing on the housing front, and you've mentioned some things you wish he'd do differently. Let's move on to some of his food policies for a second. He had the food vendor reforms, and then the grocery store stuff. He wants essentially a publicly run store—one per borough?Kaneene: Yeah, one per borough.Belvedere: Maybe that's an incremental approach where he wants more over time, but the plan is for one per borough for now. Some essential goods would be at a significant discount, and not necessarily all products. The rest would be at normal price. Thoughts?Johnson: Yeah, I think this has the potential to quietly undermine … and none of this has broken ground yet, none of this is happening as of right now, but there's a plan, and the details of the plan do not fill me with confidence. What you need to know is that grocery stores, by their nature, are a very competitive, very low-margin business. This is already a fiercely competitive field. It's very hard to make money in it. And so anybody with any sort of rational expectation here should expect the publicly owned grocery stores to lose a lot of money, because they're going to be poorly run relative to traditional private grocery stores. And maybe you just don't care—maybe you're like, “I don't care if they lose money because I just value having a public grocery store.” But this is one of those things where it really easily could turn into that second scenario I talked about: he makes sure to give unions a lot of giveaways when he's building this type of grocery store, the actual building of the thing takes twice as long as we thought and twice as much money because of all the rules we had to follow.“I think there is moral clarity. I don't think there's been any moral compromise. I think that [Mamdani] can say, ‘Trump, I want you to pay for this housing development in Queens,' and morally there's been no compromise at all. … he still says Trump is a fascist. He still speaks out against a lot of his policies. I don't think there's been any moral compromise. I think he's like a moral beacon in a time where we don't really have any kind of moral leadership in the executive branch in Washington.” — Tibita KaneeneHe's already talking about the one they want for Manhattan. They've picked out a site. It's going to be something like three years and an obscene amount of money—far more money than it should take. Thirty million dollars to build one grocery store, which is far above what it would cost a private actor. And on top of that, the original justification for this whole thing was that there are food deserts in the city. Where he's chosen to build it is not a food desert. There's like five grocery stores within a 10-minute walk of this place.Belvedere: He talks about people being priced out of essential goods. And so he would need to substantiate that in a way that justifies this kind of cost and disruption.Johnson: We have tools to address that. If people can't afford food, that's why SNAP exists, that's why food stamps exist. Giving people money is such an easier solution than trying to build an entire public-sector grocery store that is going to be terribly run. Every time anything happens at that grocery store, the media is going to pounce on it. There's going to be shoplifting. If Mamdani lets them shoplift, it turns into a national story. If he has them arrested, also a story—that pisses off the left. There are landmines all over this, and it seems to me like he's going to end up stepping on some of them. There's going to be needless scandals about how they were built, which contractors got cushy deals. If you have a limited amount of political capital, one grocery store per borough is meaningless. It doesn't do anything. Why would you waste your time on this?Belvedere: And what you were saying, when you called food assistance just the easier option—not only is it the easier option, but it's the option where there is the least amount of state intervention required to achieve the eventual goal of getting people these goods. You don't have to have a state-run market—you can give people the tool that they use to then exchange at that market. It's a more back-end kind of assistance. But it also, as you were saying, allows you to focus on a whole lot of other things you said that you wanted to do for the city, rather than engaging in something where, yes, you're connecting a campaign promise to an actual thing that you're doing—there's consistency there, you can win from that—but the potential pitfalls you noted could really be an albatross. And as a different kind of objection to just “easier”: as liberals, we want to do the least government-involved version that we can whenever we can.Kaneene: I'm a little more sanguine about it. I'm agnostic about whether we should have a state grocery store or not. The main thing for me is I don't think it's going to provide any savings, for the reasons Jeremiah said—they're low-margin businesses. This one is a 17-minute walk from a Costco. You're not going to beat the ability to use your SNAP card and order from Amazon. All that being said, this was a campaign promise he focused on. I think during the campaign he realized that these stores are not going to actually be able to provide cheaper food without the city simply taking a big loss—and that's why he kept repeating that it's going to be one per borough, it's going to be a pilot. So I think it's something that he needs to do. He'll struggle to break even, he'll do his five, and the positive side is it will actually prove that these grocery store chains, whatever you might think about them, are operating pretty efficiently. And we might have reasons to hate Amazon, rightly or wrongly, but that's actually the cheapest food you can get. So I don't think it's as terrible as maybe Jeremiah thinks.But I do share the concern of it becoming a bigger issue, where he says now we're going to have publicly owned gas stations. I don't think there's any risk of that. I would bet money there's not going to be more than five. There might not even be five.Johnson: And my thing is more just—look, this is not going to sink the city, the fact that we try this experiment with five grocery stores. This city of nine million people will be fine. But it's one of those things that if I were him, if I put myself in his shoes trying to accomplish his goals, I would not want to waste my time on this, because there are just landmines everywhere. You're going to get caught up in some extremely stupid controversy—some worker at the store is going to complain that their boss mistreated them. And all of a sudden, it becomes DEFCON 5 because you're a socialist and how can you not side with the workers? There are so many things like that that have the potential to sap away your political capital. Why would you want to spend your political capital on something that frankly does not matter? It will not make food more affordable for nine million New Yorkers. It will be a cute little thing for like a couple hundred people who live near it. Why are you wasting your time on it?Kaneene: The base wants it. So he has to—while he's doing all the efficient and effective things that we want him to do, he does have to maintain his base. There are a lot of people who, if you ask them—casual people who don't follow politics—“name three things that Mamdani says he's going to do,” they would say: freeze the rent, fast and free buses, and grocery stores. They might not know anything else about him.Belvedere: And there's a listener who just chimed in and said: “I thought the idea was to bring fresh food to food deserts, not replace grocery stores.” That tees off a question about Mamdani that we'll find out as his mayorship continues: is this incrementalist approach—this sewer socialism, now recast in a positive light as something worth doing, this more bite-sized approach to reform—is it a beginning point to a far broader vision for how things need to be organized and done? Or is it the terminal point, where he's okay with one per borough?I think that question goes to how we interpret these actions. Are they a kind of red carpet for a farther-reaching democratic socialist reconfiguration? Or something you're just sprinkling in? Some people fear that it's the prelude to a far greater push. The way they're doing childcare is in that kind of phased, gradual way—by this year we're going to hit this amount of two-year-olds, then eventually we're going to cover down to six-week-old children, etc. So are we fine with the grocery stores because of their limited nature? If they were a prelude to a greater push, would people worry about them a little more?Johnson: Well, I'm sure there are some people out there who have that view, that Mamdani is doing this and we're going to build on it, it's going to be more and more of this kind of thing until we finally reach utopia. But reality has a way of smacking you in the face. The grocery stores are not going to be very successful, and therefore you won't get many more of them. The childcare is nice right now as a pilot for just 2,000 kids, but it's also very expensive even for just 2,000 kids—the price tag is well over a billion dollars. Somebody's going to have to pay for that, and it's not going to be the city. The city absolutely does not have that money. So it has to be the state.Belvedere: Can I tell you what he said? You evaluate it—you and Tibita. What do you think about this promise? He said: if you make less than a million dollars, you don't have to worry about any further taxes. And if the tax burden doesn't increase on people making fewer than a million dollars per year, that's something that many New Yorkers will find palatable.Johnson: Well, but it's also nonsense. Like—reality will slap you upside the head. This is the thing that Democrats have been doing that pisses me off, frankly. Mamdani says it's up to a million dollars. Cory Booker is trying to introduce some bill in Congress: if you make less than $120,000, you shouldn't have to pay income taxes. Everybody's saying no tax on tips, no tax on pet products, no tax on Social Security, no tax for the elderly, no tax on property. Everybody wants to be the anti-tax party, and say only millionaires and billionaires should ever have to pay a tax of any kind.Look, I'm not on the far left, but if you want to have a welfare state, if that's a thing you desire out of your government, the middle class has to pay taxes. There is no way to make the math work, that you can just tax billionaires exclusively and have this rich, lush, Scandinavian-style social democracy. It does not work. Reality will kick you in the face. You're going to eventually have to break your promises or deal with the reality that you can't deliver. Some of this stuff is fantasy land, and that's where it ultimately will come down.Kaneene: Yeah, I mean—that's the main bulwark against any expectation or fear of him really bringing on real European-style socialism, is that he's not willing to tax the middle class. And that's the real reason we don't have to expect—or worry, to put it neutrally—that we'll have any such program in the United States, because a middle-class tax increase is just politically untenable.“This is what happens when you win an election and you're a young, popular guy and you have a very good social media team—you get to set the terms of the debate. You get to set the framing through which you are viewed. And that's how things operate in the early days. But in the long run, it's hard to hide from the results. Whether you want to or not, four years from now—three and a half, I guess—he's going to be running for reelection. People are going to be asking: ‘Did my rent actually go down? Did groceries get less expensive? Is the city well run?'” — Jeremiah JohnsonBut to go back to the idea of the childcare pilot—actually, if you look at it, already the numbers of new seats are behind the ramp-up he had said he was going to do. And if you look at the budget, he's not budgeting for more money for pre-K seats. There's no more money. He's not increased the money coming from the state. And other examples—like the city FHEPS, which are basically housing vouchers—during the campaign he said he would support a lawsuit to increase housing vouchers, a classic demand subsidy which, as we know, is not good for increasing housing supply or lowering prices. But he came into office and now he's not going to increase housing subsidies. Again, the reality presented itself and he's made a choice. There are things he has to continue with as pilot programs, as ideological statements, that he's not going to bust the budget for or increase taxes on the middle class for. He's at least being advised correctly that even on taxing the wealthy, there's a maximum point of revenue—there's a point beyond which if you increase the marginal tax rate, you actually bring in less money. Taxing the rich has an actual objective limit, which he has to take into account because he cannot run a budget deficit at the city level.Belvedere: I want to ask about his relationship with Trump, but in the form of a thought experiment, to put the point provocatively.Imagine we're all sitting around 30 years from now talking about this era in politics, and we're talking to people who didn't live through it, telling them about the world-historical awfulness of Trump, and threat that he was—the would-be authoritarian who did more than any other president in our annals to degrade our institutions and veer us off a liberal democratic path, even in a fascist direction. Biden famously said “semi-fascist,” some people have moved beyond that [and have dropped the qualifier]. This is the kind of figure we're talking about. The man who defied federal judges to deport hundreds of people to foreign gulags. And they're now flipping through images and footage from this era and they see Mamdani in photos with Trump. They see and hear him in interviews, maybe downplaying his awfulness. He's had a recent interview where he said he has a “productive relationship” with Trump. Trump threatened to deport Mamdani—a U.S. citizen. What do you think about his stance toward Trump? Is there any worry there? Is it refreshing that he's able to just work with him despite his awfulness? I have some issues with the way he's approached the Trump relationship. What do you guys think?Johnson: Yeah—again, this is something I've said several times here, but the purpose of popularity is that it lets you kind of stab your own team in the back, at least a little bit. If a moderate Democrat went down to the White House and shook hands with Donald Trump and took a smiling picture with him and said, “I have a productive relationship with him and we're going to work together on important things,” the left would howl in outrage about how this is an unbelievable betrayal, that this person is a Republican in disguise enabling fascism, and so on. If Mamdani does it—he's popular. He's their guy. He's so charismatic and popular among his base that they're like, “oh cool, it's a strategic play, he's doing this for us.” It lets you get away with things that you otherwise couldn't get away with. From the perspective that Mamdani's got a strategic streak to him, it makes sense that he would rather the president not be persecuting the city, and so he's going to try to make that happen.Kaneene: I'm a consequentialist. He went to the White House with a goal of getting funding for the Sunnyside Yards project. He thought making that a Daily News cover would be a means to that end. He was correct. He went down there, took a picture, came back. During this time he was asked if he still thinks Trump is a fascist. He said yes. Trump has since lashed out at him on social media saying he's terrible. I don't think that privately he's saying nice things to Trump, or that Trump has any illusion that Mamdani likes him. I think Trump is actually impressed with Mamdani and kind of respects what he did—something that Trump could never do, which is get elected mayor of New York City, winning over the kind of elite Manhattan class that never liked Trump. He realizes Mamdani has a very powerful political base that he has to reckon with.So I don't have any issue with what he's done with Trump. He's constantly opining on issues—whether it's the Iran war or tariffs—on which he disagrees with Trump, doing so eloquently and powerfully on social media.Belvedere: Take the Iran war, for example. He told a story in an interview of a woman who was being harassed because she maybe looked Iranian or Middle Eastern, and it's a powerful story about how the war is creating divisions at home. He told it through a vivid narrative. You hear it and you start to gravitate toward his side because he's telling something that matters to human beings. He's a really capable politician. I'll give him that, and I want to see how he continues to navigate what is an extremely thorny proposition, but I'm a little worried. He's been able to keep ICE off New York City streets based on whatever overtures he's made to Trump—that is a real gain, for sure. He's essentially told Trump, “You can be the FDR to my LaGuardia.” He's casting Trump as someone who is actually going to make a positive contribution to New York. It's just too glowing, for me, about a guy who's undoing a lot of what we think of as important in America.In the most prominent interviews he's given [recently], he's backed off from that strong language about Trump. That's something to think about moving forward, how he handles that relationship. I would like a little more moral clarity from him when it comes to Trump, [even given that he has to have a working relationship with him].Kaneene: I think there is moral clarity. I don't think there's been any moral compromise. I think that he can say, “Trump, I want you to pay for this housing development in Queens,” and morally there's been no compromise at all. I think that in a time where we have …Belvedere: … He was asked directly, “Is Trump trustworthy?” And he said, “I'm going to keep talking to him.” To me, it's like—are we at a point where we can't say he's not been trustworthy? He absolutely has not been trustworthy. Declining to say he's untrustworthy … it's just a small warning to me that he's not willing to interact with Trump in the way Trump deserves.Kaneene: Yeah, but—it might be the case that he feels he can trust what Trump says to him in a personal meeting. That might genuinely be true. And he still says Trump is a fascist. He still speaks out against a lot of his policies. I don't think there's been any moral compromise. I think he's like a moral beacon in a time where we don't really have any kind of moral leadership in the executive branch in Washington.Johnson: It's just, what are you trying to accomplish? Is anyone's life better off because he called Trump a fat pig who deserves to die? What are we talking about here? It would be one thing if he was being like, “Well, Trump is going to help us fund this housing project, so we're going to help him with ICE in the city.” But he's not doing that. He's just being less than maximally mean.Belvedere: We're almost out of time, so let's get from you guys your broadest possible assessment of his mayorship so far. A hundred days in, a little more than that now, what do we think? What's your assessment?Johnson: Given what I expected out of him, seven out of ten so far.Belvedere: Tibita?Kaneene: I'd give him a B so far. A big reason—we'll see what happens with the city budget and with the rent freeze. Those are, I think, the two things for the first year. He has a chance to move to a B-minus/C-plus or up to a B-plus in the next 60 days based on those two things.Belvedere: What would it look like for him to crush the next part of the year, from your perspective?Kaneene: On the budget, on the merits, I think the city council is correct. If he came around to that, that would be a big deal. If he followed through on proposing substantive property tax reform—which I think he will do eventually—but if he did that, that would be a big deal.Johnson: That's the white whale of New York politics, actually reforming our property tax system.Kaneene: In particular, if he got rid of the tax disadvantage for multifamily homes, I think that part is doable. That would be a big deal.Johnson: If you're outside New York City, you should just know our property tax system is a mess. We have high property taxes, but beyond the fact that they're high—maybe that's fair, New York does a lot of things—the system itself is just a confusing maze. The valuations are all over the place. There's just weird stuff all over the place with our property tax system. Every mayor would love to regularize it, normalize it. And there's enough special exceptions that it's really hard to do without people getting furiously angry who benefit from the special exceptions. So if he could get that done—holy crap, yeah.Kaneene: Yeah. Speaking of pissing off some supporters—I think he has the political capital to piss off some homeowners in order to reduce the costs for apartment dwellers. I think he can do that, especially if he's seen as someone who is freezing the rent and doing the grocery stores and what have you.Belvedere: Jeremiah, one last question for you. You're a culture watcher. You spot trends and memes and people's reactions to politics. What do you think it is about Mamdani—and some of the others in his cohort—that they seem to do really well with younger people? What can liberal politicians learn from this cohort? They have vastly different characteristics—Bernie Sanders is an old white dude, Mamdani is very different—and yet they have the same kind of buzz and ability on that front. What can liberal politicians do better to match that?Johnson: Yeah, I mean, some of this is messaging strategy. Mamdani comes from a family in the arts. His mom is a professional filmmaker. His videos are very well produced. He understands clipping culture—what really matters is not the event itself, it's the 20-second clip that comes out of it that will get played a million times on social media. Part of it is just the messaging strategy itself.But I also think—look at what Mamdani doesn't do. He doesn't dress weird, he doesn't try to do memes. His accounts never post memes. He's never dressing in funny outfits. He's not cursing. He's well-dressed and presentable and optimistic and he talks like he wants to change things. I think there's an impulse among middle-aged, moderate liberals sometimes to be like, “To chase the kids, we've got to do the memes. Someone get me a 20-year-old who knows memes for my internet account.” And it's just very cringe-worthy. It's terrible. What people respond to is when you believe what you're saying.Belvedere: That wraps up our time together today. Thank you guys for joining me. I'm Berny, senior editor at The UnPopulist. Tibita is the political director of the New York City chapter of the Center for New Liberalism. And Jeremiah Johnson is co-founder of the Center for New Liberalism, and his newsletter is excellent. Thanks for joining. See you next time.Thanks for reading The UnPopulist! Subscribe to support our project.© The UnPopulist, 2026Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.We welcome your reactions and replies. Please adhere to our comments policy. Get full access to The UnPopulist at www.theunpopulist.net/subscribe
STREAMING MAKING OF THE JBS, FEATURING JEFF BLISS AND MICHAEL VLAHOS, 5-1-2026.1905 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, LACalifornia's high-speed rail project is a primary subject of controversy, with projected costs ballooning from $128 billion to $231 billion, potentially reaching half a trillion dollars. The project has been scaled back to a single-track system originally described as connecting a prison town to a cemetery. Because it will likely use existing heavy and light rail tracks, the "high-speed" trains will be forced to travel at lower speeds, making an LA-to-San Francisco trip take eight hours or more. Additionally, planned stations have been reduced to mere platforms with very limited daily capacity.In state politics, the gubernatorial race to succeed Gavin Newsom features Republican Steve Hilton as the current leader. Other notable contenders include Xavier Becerra, billionaire Tom Steyer, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan. A central issue is homelessness, with reports indicating that $24 billion in state funding for the crisis is "missing" and unaccounted for.The Los Angeles mayoral race sees incumbent Karen Bass slipping in polls against Spencer Pratt, a reality TV figure gaining traction with a message of government accountability. He is competing alongside Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialist who has faced backlash from constituents over her handling of local crime and encampments.In the corporate sector, Disney has appointed Josh D'Amaro as its new boss. While a veteran of the company, his tenure begins as patrons face staggering costs for park entry and amenities.
Today, Chuck talks with Oliver Larkin, a candidate for congress in Florida's 23rd congressional district. Oliver is an activist, union organizer, and proud Democratic Socialist looking to unseat pro-Iran War democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz.Also, Chuck talks about the recent SCOTUS decision to further gut the Voting Rights Act and how Marsha Blackburn plans on using this to dilute the voting power of Black Tennesseans.Links https://www.oliverforcongress.com/Timestamps:Intro: 01:01Interview: 16:00Intro/Outro/Transition Music: “Barefoot and Pregnant” by Gwen Levy and the Breakdown https://www.gwenleveyandthebreakdown.com/-----------------------------------------------HELP SUPPORT APPODLACHIA! patreon.com/appodlachia-----------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on this show are the personal opinions of the host, Chuck Corra, and do not represent the opinions of his employer. This show is an opinion and commentary show, NOT a news show. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Send us Fan MailSupport the show
The American mandate for mass deportations has been sidelined, not by the will of the voters, but by a calculated surrender to political optics and donor pressure. From the high-level internal sabotage described by Greg Bovino to the targeted doxing of federal agents, the infrastructure of national sovereignty is being dismantled in real-time. As "evil-doers" in power leverage street chaos to stall the removal of millions, the citizens who voted for the restoration of the rule of law find themselves ignored, while the federal apparatus, once the guardian of the border, is forced into a strategic retreat.In the laboratories of authoritarianism like "Communist Colorado," the assault has shifted from the borders to the dinner table. Legislation like the "Kelly Loving Act" (HB 25-1312) effectively criminalizes traditional parenting, reclassifying the use of biological pronouns as "coercive control" and a precursor to stripping custody. This is not about inclusivity; it is a systemic effort to run cover for radical ideologies that groom children in secret school clubs and prioritize the "comfort" of criminals over the safety of the public. Whether it is removing anti-crime signs in Michigan or destroying the booking photos of convicted terror-funders to satisfy Islamic demands, the message is clear: American norms are being supplanted by a culture of subversion.Behind the political theater lies a deeper financial and judicial rot. While the Democratic Socialists of America tighten their grip on major hubs like Los Angeles protecting drug encampments outside school gates the global economy is signaling a historic shift. As gold and silver enter a "price discovery" phase and decouple from paper suppression, investors are left to navigate a world where central banks are hoarding physical assets in anticipation of a systemic reset. We dive deep into this "Stagflation Playbook" with experts Ben Kelleran and Vince Lanci, exposing how to protect your legacy while the institutional titans who threatened the Republic, like James Comey, finally face their day of reckoning.
Alan Skorski recently interviewed Award-winning journalist and author of the watchdog Jewish news Substack, AFTER OCTOBER 7, Kevin Deutsch, to talk about the new state of America where Jews are being targeted by both the far left and far right. The interview opened with Skorski stating that deep blue states like NY elected Mamdani for Mayor in NYC, while in a solid red state like Florida, antisemite James Fishback is running as a GOP candidate for Governor while Dan Blizerian is challenging Jewish Republican Randy Fine for his Congressional seat. According to Deutsch, the Far left began their campaign against Israel as part of their “social justice” agenda, promoting the blood-libel accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. On the far right, antisemites like James Fishback, running for Governor in Florida, exploited the left's antisemitism to advance their own vitriol against Jews. Deutsch revealed that so-called America-ONLY Fishback has received substantial donations form Democratic Muslims who support his antisemitism. According to Deutsch, the Democrats are done with Israel as was evidenced by 40 Democrat Senators who supported Bernie Sanders' bill to stop all military aid to Israel. Deutsch said that the GOP must put up a firewall to stop people like Fishback, or Israel will have no support in America, and Jews will be isolated. On drawing parallels between America today and 1930's Germany, Skorski said that Hitler created the “Nazi movement,” whereas today, movements have been created to turn the government against Israel. Deutsch said that Israel is being attacked by a professional propaganda campaign funded by Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, and supported by other left-wing NGO's that have overwhelmed Israel and their ability to fight the destructive information war. “The DSA, Democratic Socialist of America, like the Nazis, are employing a purity test” according to Deutsch, where opposing Israel, regardless of any other issue, is mandatory. The DSA is seating candidates at every level in every contest in America. Whether it's the school board or local civil rights commissions, the DSA are getting their candidates in. It's a bottom-up movement that is turning Jews into proxies for Israel. On the topic of AIPAC-TRACKER, which posts which candidates receive funding from AIPAC, the 2-person group is made up of a Marxist and Groyper. They have singled out AIPAC in order to strip Jews of their civil rights to support Israel. Kevin Deutsch talked about “tokenization,” where he cited J Street, Rahm Emmanuel, and disappointingly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who, through their public bashing of Israel, have created a “social permission structure” to the left to bash Israel, and by extension, the Jews. The Jewish Truth Bomb 29APR2026 - PODCAST
In today's edition of The Update Journal, we begin with a full-blown financial identity crisis—because nothing says “start your day strong” like standing at the register wondering if a $2 bill is going to buy your breakfast… or get you investigated by the Secret Service. Is it rare? Yes. Is it legal tender? Also yes. Will the cashier look at you like you just handed them pirate treasure? Absolutely.Then, the return of our favorite series: Great Ideas… On Paper, featuring OMNY—New York City's bold leap into the future where “tap to pay” really means “tap… again… no, again… one more time… actually never mind, just walk.” Nothing builds character quite like holding up an entire bus while the machine decides if it respects your bank account today.And finally, in our Honorable Mention, we dive into a study asking the age-old question: who are the real gold diggers? Men or women? The answer is apparently “yes,” and honestly, at this point, everyone's just trying to secure the bag in an economy where even the subway fare machine has trust issues.It's money, mayhem, and mild emotional damage—just another perfectly balanced day around here.In the headlines on #TheUpdate this Thursday, a baby girl was left abandoned in her overturned stroller in Times Square by her heartless father— with cops now looking for the deadbeat dad, police and sources say. Mayor Mamdani quickly served up solidarity to his Democratic Socialists of America comrade Chi Ossé — calling out the Brooklyn councilman's “concerning” arrest where he was filmed blocking authorities during an anti-eviction protest.And in Washington, Navy Secretary John Phelan is leaving his job, the Pentagon abruptly announced, the first head of a military service to depart during President Trump's second term but just the latest top defense leader to step down or be ousted.
THE MAKING OF THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, FEATURING THADDEUS MCCOTTER, 4-21-261940 WINSTON CHURCHILLThe current political landscape of 2026 bears a striking resemblance to the 2006 and 2008 election cycles, suggesting a potential midterm realignment. In 2006, the Democratic Party, led by strategist Rahm Emanuel, successfully utilized the mantra "send George Bush a message" to dismantle what was then considered a "permanent" Republican majority. This shift was driven by public dissatisfaction with the Iraq War and emerging economic fissures that eventually led to the 2008 Great Deflation.Today, the Republican Party faces similar "headwinds" as it navigates the midterm of Donald Trump's second term. The sources indicate that the American economy is currently fragile, plagued by inflation, rising oil prices, and supply chain disruptions exacerbated by the conflict with Iran. Thaddius Mart observes that while macroeconomic numbers might not look "terrible" to some, many Americans feel the "hearth of home" is endangered due to the high cost of gas, food staples, and the threat of AI destroying entry-level jobs. This economic anxiety mirrors the "distressing period" of 2006, where the public sought a "better path" away from the incumbent party.A significant challenge for the current Republican majority is that President Trump "sucks the oxygen out of the room," making it nearly impossible for individual members to campaign independently of his polarizing presence. This dynamic was also present with George W. Bush in 2006 and Barack Obama during his midterms, where the president's low approval ratings weighed down the entire ticket. Internal GOP friction is further evidenced by figures like Senator Tom Tillis, who chose retirement over a campaign centered on personal loyalty to the president rather than policy.Conversely, the sources suggest the Democratic Party possesses a "deeper bench" of potential candidates for 2028, such as Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer. Mart predicts that Democrats may attempt to "break the glass ceiling" by nominating a moderate female candidate with executive experience, similar to how the "fresh face" of Barack Obama energized the base in 2008. While the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) present internal "fissures," the party remains united by a shared goal of defeating the MAGA movement.Ultimately, the Republican majority is described as "hanging by a thread". To avoid a "deluge" similar to 2006, the GOP must move beyond "whimsical" policies and pass legislation that offers "palpable benefits" to the public, particularly regarding healthcare and affordability. However, with time running out before the midterms, the sources conclude that history appears poised to repeat itself, with a Democratic surge.
Continuing our discourse, Germanicus notes a profound shift: the citizen-militia that once defended the republic has been replaced by a professional force, decoupling the public from the costs of war. Modern "ceremonial war" relies on missiles or foreign proxies like Ukraine to do the dying, yet fails to reach strategic conclusions. The coming midterm elections represent a "body blow" that could see the opposition seize control of the House, while the potential rise of "Democratic Socialists" — compared to the Bolshevik revolution — threatens identity politics and wealth confiscation that would lead to a "time of troubles." We conclude that both parties are essentially eating from the same soup bowl while the empire erodes. (2)1572 AFTER THE FALL OF CONSTANTIOPLE.
A political shift is accelerating—and it's not subtle anymore. From the rise of openly socialist leadership in major U.S. cities to growing concerns over international pressure on free speech platforms, today's episode dives into a rapidly changing political and global landscape. As power, policy, and speech collide, the stakes heading into the next election cycle couldn't be higher.
Karl Rove joins the Brian Kilmeade Show to pull back the curtain on the scandals rocking Capitol Hill. Rove previews his latest Wall Street Journal column, contrasting the "performance art" of Rep. Eric Swalwell with the tragic downfall of Rep. Tony Gonzales. Plus, Rove sounds the alarm on "Democratic Socialists" and the exodus of businesses from New York to states like Texas and Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today on What's Right:Teen suicides and social mediaEric Swalwell to resign from CongressSocialist Democrats find their constituency: little kidsHasan Piker and the Left's desperation for a Joe Rogan Thanks for tuning into today's episode of What's Right! If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and make sure you leave us a 5-star review.Have personal injury questions? Visit Sam & Ash Injury Law to get free answers 24/7.Connect with us on our socials:TWITTERSam @WhatsRightSamWhat's Right Show @WhatsRightShowFACEBOOKWhat's Right Show https://www.facebook.com/WhatsRightShow/INSTAGRAMWhat's Right Show @WhatsRightShowEMAILSam sam@whatsrightshow.comProducer Robbie robbie@whatsrightshow.comTo request a transcript of this episode, email marketing@samandashlaw.com
PLUS: CBS News White correspondent Olivia Rinaldi on Trump's 'Strait talk' & Tucker says the obvious (for once)Wednesday night, WXIA-TV (11 Alive) will livestream online a Democratic gubernatorial debate (live on WATL-TV as well) with just three of the six candidates running, culling the field to three based on a six-week-old poll while ignoring a two-week old poll that shows it's at minimum a four-person race. I'm curious how that best serves the electorate, frankly. Meanwhile, former Biden administration heavyweights (VP Kamala Harris and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg) are now openly toying with 2028 presidential runs, and I'm okay with that; I'd just like Democrats to pivot from just focusing on Trump and undoing his damage and start pitching themselves and the party as more aspirational - giving Americans a future to hearken to. CBS News' White House correspondent Olivia Rinaldi hopped on a call early Monday morning to discuss the corner President Trump has painted himself into and the logistics and shortcomings in a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as a bullying tactic in the immediate aftermath of a mere 21 hours of negotiating yielding nothing substantive. Then there's the "Dr. Jesus" posting to get into.Politics certainly puts you in camps with folks you don't often think you'll be in, but Rep. Esther Panitch and I are both on the same page in the gubernatorial primary. That said, she and I have broad disagreement on the affinity for US/Israel "unquestioned" support and her aversion for Democratic Socialists in the party at all. She likens them to the left's version of "MAGA," while not discussing the issues that separate her from her opponent in the throes of a party primary. That and more in Monday's Ron Show.
A pair of Democratic Socialists of America candidates are trying to unseat establishment Democrats in two Southern Nevada assembly races, betting that a message centered on affordability can break through. Nevada Current reporter Matthew Mondschein explains to host Sonja Cho Swanson how the candidates are rejecting corporate money, leaning on grassroots organizing, and tapping into voter frustration. But can that strategy translate into wins in Nevada's political landscape? Learn more about the sponsors of this April 7th episode: Southern Nevada Water Authority L.V. Academy of the Arts Taskrabbit Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Learn more about becoming a City Cast Las Vegas Neighbor at membership.citycast.fm. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise.
We talk with the Democratic Socialists of America, break down the Data Center Abatement deal, examine Jay Chapa's influence at City Hall, and cover new classroom rules and the latest board meeting at Fort Worth Independent School District.Join the 817 Gather Discord, and follow us on Instagram & TikTok.
Ralph welcomes international security expert Paul Rogers to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran. Then, Ralph speaks to constitutional law experts Bruce Fein and John Bonifaz about their upcoming impeachment symposium.Paul Rogers is Emeritus Professor of Peace Studies in the Department of Peace Studies and International Relations at Bradford University, and an Honorary Fellow at the Joint Service Command and Staff College. He is open Democracy's international security correspondent.I think if you look at the war overall, then essentially of the three (I use the term as a crude term) participants, the one that is basically doing most badly is the United States, followed by Israel, followed least by Iran. Relatively speaking, the Iranians (particularly the Revolutionary Guard Corps) are closer to where they wanted to be, which is not true of the United States and certainly isn't true to a very large extent of the Israelis as well. In other words, the war is going badly. for the people who are determined to try and defeat Iran.Paul RogersPeople tend to think Iran is on its own against these huge odds. Well, it isn't. In many ways, certainly Russia and certainly China have a real interest in what is happening. But as far as China is concerned, they will not help directly. They will not, in other words, as far as we know, arm Iran without payment. They will see them as a reasonable customer. I think (more widely than we realize) as far as you get away from D.C., then I think you see the world in a rather different way, particularly across the global south it is certainly seen in a different way…And I would come back to a point which I think is a fair point made earlier—essentially, the Iranian Republican Revolutionary Guard Corps has been working towards this time for decades. And they will not be easily dislodged. It could happen eventually, but I think it's highly unlikely.Paul RogersJohn Bonifaz is a constitutional attorney and the co-founder and president of Free Speech For People. Mr. Bonifaz previously served as the executive director and general counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, and as the legal director of Voter Action. He is the author of Warrior-King: The Case For Impeaching George W. Bush and the co-author (with Ron Fein and Ben Clements) of The Constitution Demands It: The Case For The Impeachment of Donald Trump.Threatening to execute members of Congress is unique to Trump. Kidnapping people off the streets and sending them to foreign torture prisons is unique to Trump. Freezing public funds that have been duly appropriated by the United States Congress and not distributing those funds is unique to Trump. Attacking the United States judiciary, refusing to comply with multiple court orders issued by federal courts across the country is unique to Trump. Engaging in these murders on the high seas…these paramilitary attacks on people in the Pacific and in the Caribbean is unique to Trump. Now, it's true that there have been other violations of the War Powers Clause…But the scale of the War Powers violations today is unique to Trump. And this current new, illegal, and unconstitutional war against Iran is threatening the entire world. And so I think that whether they be Democrats or Republicans or Independents, they have to wake up and recognize they have a duty here.John BonifazBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law. Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.Ralph, me and John have been trying to impeach Presidents—Democrat, Republican—for decades for these illegalities. The idea that we picked out Trump is absurd. Look at my history. Half of my life has been devoted to getting Presidents impeached and removed from office…So the idea that this is partisan, at least among us, is factually absurd.Bruce FeinI think we need to be even more candid about the nature of the crimes. This is not just illegal wars under the Constitution. He is committing the crime of aggression, the same crime that we sentence Nazis to death at Nuremberg for committing aggression against Poland, against Denmark, against Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, etc.Bruce FeinThis is what is defined as a dictator by any ordinary use of the English language. We need to get away from “authoritarian,” “Oh, he's pushing the envelope.” This is what dictators do. He stated, “I can do anything I want.” And he does it. He kills people. He deports them without due process. He spies on them. He suppresses free speech by using the government to penalize anyone who says anything that's critical, detracts from Mr. Trump. I mean, it is impossible to conceive of the framers thinking anyone like Donald Trump, given his words and his actions, would remain in office more than a fortnight if Congress was doing its duty.Bruce FeinNews 4/3/26* This week, the Trump administration backed down and allowed the Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin to pass through the American blockade and deliver a shipment of 730,000 barrels of oil to Cuba. The AP writes, the shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba's daily energy demand for nine or 10 days. Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío commented on the situation, “The arrival of an oil tanker to a country has likely never generated so much news as the Russian one to Cuba…It's a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It's a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.” Trump's public statements on the matter however loom ominously over the island nation. On Sunday night, Trump told reporters “Cuba's finished…whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going to matter.”* In more news of Trump backing down, or “chickening out” as the saying goes, the Wall Street Journal reports that Trump is telling his inner circle that he is willing to end the military operation in Iran without reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, he wants the U.S. to stick to its original 4-6 week timeline and focus on “hobbling Iran's navy and its missile stocks…while pressuring Tehran diplomatically.” This report adds that if this fails, Trump plans to “press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait.” This aligns with Trump's recent statements on Truth Social, telling allies like the UK to “Go get your own oil!” With all of this said, Trump has sent the USS Tripoli and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to the region, is weighing the deployment of another 10,000 ground troops, and is considering a “complex and risky mission to seize the regime's uranium,” all while calling the war an “excursion” and “a lovely stay.”* Meanwhile, 25 Senate Democrats have signed a letter by Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia requesting that Senator Roger Wicker, the Republican Chairman of the Armed Services Committee launch a bipartisan probe – complete with hearings and a report – into the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School for girls in Minab, Iran at the beginning of the war. This letter notes that the majority of those killed were girls between ages seven and 12. Moreover, this letter implies that the Pentagon chose this target based on wildly outdated intelligence, raising grave questions about the competence of the military apparatus. While several high-ranking Democrats signed this letter, including Dick Durbin and Cory Booker, along with progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's name is nowhere to be found.* Elsewhere in the region, the Israeli Knesset has passed a new law effectively proscribing the death penalty exclusively to Palestinians. Human Rights Watch states “the bill imposes the death penalty for the deliberate killing of a person with the intention of negating the existence of the State of Israel.'” HRW adds that the new law “mandates execution by hanging, restricts access to legal counsel and visits from family members, limits external oversight, and grants immunity to those involved in carrying out executions.” In a piece calling for the immediate repeal of this law, Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International writes “By authorizing military courts, which have a conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants and which are notorious for disregarding due process and fair trial safeguards, to impose effectively mandatory death sentences and ordering the execution within just 90 days of the final ruling, Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards.” In an interview with CNN, Mustafa Barghouti said this law “confirms very serious fascist tendencies in Israel” and “consolidates further the system of apartheid.”* Anti-Palestinian extremism continues to grow within the United States as well. Al Jazeera reports that last week, domestic law enforcement “foiled a plot against prominent Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani in New York City.” Kiswani is the founder of Within Our Lifetime, a pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist group active in the City. The suspect, apprehended by the FBI in an undercover operation, has been identified as a New Jersey man named Andrew Heifler, a young man affiliated with an offshoot of the far-right Jewish Defense League (JDL), described as an extremist group with a history of violent attacks targeting Arab American activists during the 1970s and 1980s. Heifler was reportedly planning to target Kiswani's home with Molotov cocktails. Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the plot, saying “We will not tolerate violent extremism in our city. No one should face violence for their political beliefs or their advocacy…Our city must meet hate with solidarity, and meet fear with an unshakable commitment to justice and to one another.” Kiswani vowed that she “will not stop speaking up for the people of Palestine.”* Also in New York, Congresswoman and possible 2028 presidential candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a private meeting with the powerful local branch of the Democratic Socialists of America. During this meeting AOC was asked whether she would support the imposition of an arms embargo on Israel. According to City and State NY, AOC affirmed that she would and stated that “The Israeli government should be able to finance their own weapons if they seek to arm themselves.” Pressed on whether she would vote against so-called defensive capabilities – namely the Iron Dome – Rep. Ocasio-Cortez definitively answered “yes.” This marks an evolution of her position; AOC previously voted “present” on a bill to provide $1 billion in funding for the Iron Dome in 2021. Many read this as an acknowledgment from AOC that the politics of this issue have shifted, particularly on the Left, and in order to shore up her progressive support she needs to stake out a bold position now.* Turning to the international progressive movement, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has led Spain in a Leftward direction since 2018 despite the rise of the European Right is convening a summit of progressive forces in Barcelona slated for April 17th and 18th. Sánchez, who has chaired the Socialist International since 2022, emphasized that the Right has “for years woven a network of alliances to propagate their national populist discourses adapted to each country,” and stressed that the Left must do the same to remain politically viable, per El País. Notable attendees include Brazilian President Lula, outgoing Colombian President Gustavo Petro and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. There have been many attempts to unite the international Left, with mixed results, but it is never too late to try.* In our final story on the international Left, the New Democratic Party of Canada – the country's third largest and most progressive major party – has selected former journalist and activist Avi Lewis as their new leader, the BBC reports. This story notes that Lewis' elevation comes in the context of the NDP suffering a steep decline in recent years, going from the main opposition party in 2011, to holding just six seats in Canada's House of Commons today. Lewis – grandson of one of the party's founding members and son of Stephen Lewis, who led the Ontario NDP and served as the Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations – ran on a platform designed to revive the struggling party by “prioritising worker rights in the age of artificial intelligence, ending new oil and gas pipelines and projects, and exploring state-owned, non-profit grocery stores.” Despite his illustrious lineage, Lewis holds no seat in parliament and therefore cannot participate in official debates. The NDP faces an uphill climb not only back to power but even to relevance. According to this story, “a quarter of past voters…see the party as ‘irrelevant'...and 40% say its best days are behind it.”* In Los Angeles, a shocking new poll shows City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who entered the race at the last possible moment, in a commanding lead. In this poll, Raman drew 33% support, with incumbent Mayor Karen Bass trailing at 17%, statistically tied with another insurgent progressive candidate, Rae Huang. Other candidates – tech executive Adam Miller and former reality television personality and registered Republican Spencer Pratt – round out the field with 13% and 12% respectively. This poll appears to be an outlier. Other recent polls have shown Bass at 20% to Raman's 9%, and Bass at 25% with Raman at 17%. But, if this poll is accurate, it would be a stunning testament to the success of Raman's campaign thus far and a massive warning signal to Bass. If the Mayor slips any further, she could find herself locked out of the general election by Los Angeles' top-two “jungle primary” structure. This from the LA Times.* Finally, we turn to the world of professional sports. This week, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Greg Casar introduced the Home Team Act, which, if passed, would require the owners of major league sports teams to allow local communities the option to buy a team before unilaterally relocating across state lines or to a different metro area. This announcement sent ripples through the sports world, with many fans excited by the prospect of keeping their home teams at home. ABC7 Chicago notes that “Sanders specifically mentioned the Bears' threat to leave Chicago,” while the San Diego Union-Tribune believes this bill could keep the Padres in San Diego despite multiple offers to sell. San Diego has been particularly sensitive to this threat since the Chargers left for LA in 2017. In the press conference announcing this bill, Bernie unsubtly displayed the jerseys of the Brooklyn Dodgers, his hometown team, which famously relocated to Los Angeles ahead of the 1958 baseball season.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe
Send us Fan MailMarjorie Simon, a lifelong Democrat, has had enough with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and creeping communism in the Democratic party.Simon had a candid conversation with Liz Collin on her podcast about how she believes socialism has been spreading through Minnesota politics—and what she's doing to fight back.Support the show
Minneapolis City Council Member Latrisha Vetaw (Ward 4) joins Jay and Kenny at the Crabby Coffee Shop for an in-depth conversation on the current state of Minneapolis politics.She opens up about the deep divisions within the City Council — particularly the split with the Democratic Socialists — and shares her perspective on how a city should actually be run. From public safety and housing to economic development and quality of life, Vetaw discusses what's working, what's broken, and the practical steps needed to create a safer, stronger, and more thriving Minneapolis for everyone.Raw, honest, and insightful — this episode pulls back the curtain on local governance in one of America's most watched cities.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
On this week's Mean Age Daydream, Irish rap band Kneecap showcases how idiotically hypocritical they are living it up in luxury with the traveling Democratic Socialists while fighting for Cuban "freedom." Also: Stephen Colbert confirms he will be writing a new Lord of the Rings sequel, dooming it to instant failure. Buy my new card game: WOKE WORD WARS - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLF8Y16S
On this week's Mean Age Daydream, Irish rap band Kneecap showcases how idiotically hypocritical they are living it up in luxury with the traveling Democratic Socialists while fighting for Cuban "freedom." Also: Stephen Colbert confirms he will be writing a new Lord of the Rings sequel, dooming it to instant failure. Buy my new card game: WOKE WORD WARS - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLF8Y16S
On this week's Mean Age Daydream, Irish rap band Kneecap showcases how idiotically hypocritical they are living it up in luxury with the traveling Democratic Socialists while fighting for Cuban "freedom." Also: Stephen Colbert confirms he will be writing a new Lord of the Rings sequel, dooming it to instant failure. Buy my new card game: WOKE WORD WARS - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLF8Y16S
We explore the unexpected electoral challenge to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass by Councilmember Nithya Raman. Are the Democratic Socialists a new force in Los Angeles politics?
The Democratic Party shift did not happen overnight. The Democratic Party shift was the result of a decades-long ideological capture. In this episode, Professor Nick Giordano breaks down the dramatic transformation of the Democratic Party. From the common-sense Clinton-era positions on border security and national sovereignty to today's Democratic Socialist influence, this episode exposes how the party shifted from mainstream policies to an activist-driven agenda. Heading into the 2026 midterms, this episode analyzes the Three Pillars of the modern Democratic strategy: Anti-Trump mobilization, government expansion, and identity politics. It also examines the Texas Senate primary and the rise of figures like James Talarico to illustrate how far the political goalposts have moved. What You'll Learn: The Clinton vs. Talarico Contrast: Why 90s Democrats sound like conservatives by today's standards. The DSA Takeover: How the Democratic Socialists of America moved from the fringe to the center of Democratic Party power. Biological Reality vs. Rhetoric: How the Texas Senate race reflects the party's continued shift toward radical identity politics. The 2026 Midterm Warning: Why Republican complacency and rising gas prices from the Iran conflict could create a "perfect storm" for the Left. Governing vs. Grievance: Why bigger government became a substitute for solving actual American problems.
Actively Unwoke: Fighting back against woke insanity in your life
I'm pretty sure the Democratic Socialists of America almost cried yesterday when they announced on their organizing call that I was streaming them live. They claim I cut them out of context, but all I did was stream their full meeting.Why don't they want you to see? Find the full stream here. It starts about 3 hours in.Decode The Left with Karlyn Borysenko is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit karlyn.substack.com/subscribe
Chuck Warren, co-host of Breaking Battlegrounds, heard every Saturday at 9 AM right here on 960 The Patriot, joins Seth in studio for the full hour to talk about the recent joint American-Israeli strikes on Iran. They discuss the current state of American society, from the lack of celebration over the victory in Iran to the growing distrust of the U.S. government. Chuck shares his thoughts on the Democratic Party's stance on key issues and the influence of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) on the party's apparatus. They also touch on the importance of civic engagement and the need for politicians to connect with people who disagree with them. The conversation covers the intersection of politics, history, and culture, offering a unique perspective on the current state of America.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The FAQ NYC hosts discuss the messaging from Zohran Mamdani about America's new war, the mayor's meeting with the president days earlier and much more. Plus, New York Working Families Party Director Jasmine Gripper joins the pod to talk about its agenda, “how the left ecosystem in New York is evolving in a beautiful way” and the split between the WFP and Mamdani's Democratic Socialists of America in the race to replace Rep. Nydia Velazquez. “He's only been endorsing socialists” in district races, Gripper said..”The WFP sometimes endorses socialists, and sometimes we endorse people who wear a progressive hat, a liberal hat. I think the mayor is promoting one ideology. We're promoting a slightly different one. I don't think this stops us from working together.”
In the 6 AM Hour: Larry O’Connor and Cassie Smedile discussed: The FBI subpoenaed Kash Patel's and Susie Wiles' phone records in 2022 and 2023, when both were private citizens and as part of a federal probe into President Trump, Fox News has confirmed. Hillary Clinton to testify in House Oversight's Epstein probe on Thursday, Bill Clinton on Friday A Missouri driver encountered an illegal alien driving the wrong way for miles on Highway 61, narrowly avoiding a head-on crash before the truck sped off southbound. A questionnaire for political candidates developed by the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) Metro DC chapter demands that candidates “refrain from any and all affiliation” with organizations that support Zionism, the right of Jewish self-determination. Where to find more about WMAL's morning show: Follow the Show Podcasts on Apple podcasts, Audible and Spotify. Follow WMAL's "O'Connor and Company" on X: @WMALDC, @LarryOConnor, @Jgunlock, @patricepinkfile, @CMSmedile and @heatherhunterdc. Facebook: WMALDC and Larry O'Connor Instagram: WMALDCShow Website: https://www.wmal.com/oconnor-company/ How to listen live weekdays from 5 to 9 AM: https://www.wmal.com/listenlive/ Episode: Thursday, February 26, 2026 / 6 AM Hour See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
WMAL GUEST: RON HALBER (CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington) on the political candidate questionnaire from the Metro DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which he characterizes as encouraging the systematic erasure of Jewish and pro-Israel Americans from public life. WEBSITE: JCouncil.org READ: JCRC Urges Candidates Not to Participate in "Revolting" DSA Questionnaire Where to find more about WMAL's morning show: Follow Podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Audible, and Spotify Follow WMAL's "O'Connor and Company" on X: @WMALDC, @LarryOConnor, @JGunlock, @PatricePinkfile, and @HeatherHunterDC Facebook: WMALDC and Larry O'Connor Instagram: WMALDC Website: WMAL.com/OConnor-Company Episode: Thursday, February 26, 2026 / 7 AM HourSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In the 7 AM Hour: Larry O’Connor and Cassie Smedile discussed: WMAL GUEST 7:05 AM - INTERVIEW - MATT SCHLAPP - chairman of the American Conservative Union and CPAC TOPIC: React to State of the Union and CPAC coming up in Texas NJ DEVILS CROWD GOES NUTS WHEN JACK HUGHES GOES OUT ON THE ICE IN HIS FIRST GAME BACK AFTER THE OLYMPICS.WMAL GUEST 7:35 AM - INTERVIEW - RON HALBER - Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington TOPIC: Halber called out the political candidate questionnaire developed by the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) Metro DC chapter for "encouraging the systematic erasure of Jewish and pro-Israel Americans from public life." Trump administration considers requiring banks to collect citizenship information Where to find more about WMAL's morning show: Follow the Show Podcasts on Apple podcasts, Audible and Spotify. Follow WMAL's "O'Connor and Company" on X: @WMALDC, @LarryOConnor, @Jgunlock, @patricepinkfile, @CMSmedile and @heatherhunterdc. Facebook: WMALDC and Larry O'Connor Instagram: WMALDC Show Website: https://www.wmal.com/oconnor-company/ How to listen live weekdays from 5 to 9 AM: https://www.wmal.com/listenlive/ Episode: Thursday, February 26, 2026 / 7 AM Hour See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
NYC-DSA co-chairs Grace Mausser and Gustavo Gordillo respond to Mayor Mamdani's preliminary budget and tax hike proposals, as well as some recent policies, like restarting sweeps of homeless encampments. Photo: Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani releases the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Preliminary Budget. City Hall. Tuesday, February 17, 2026. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
Actively Unwoke: Fighting back against woke insanity in your life
Today, I infiltrated a "Know Your Rights" Anti-ICE training hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America calling to abolish ICE.When they found out I was recording them, they literally canceled the entire training.Why would they do that if they're not doing anything wrong?Decode The Left with Karlyn Borysenko is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Find the full SPY STREAM archive here: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit karlyn.substack.com/subscribe
Are Democrats really ready for a comeback—or are we about to revisit the graveyard of their own failed experiments? The so-called “new paradigms” of the Obama-Biden years—open borders, DEI mandates, deficit socialism, disarmament, and radical gender ideology—didn't just falter… they collapsed under their own weight, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words:”
Claire Valdez, a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York's 7th Congressional District (which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens), joined the show to discuss her campaign to succeed the retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez in the House of Representatives. Valdez is a state Assembly member from Queens and Democratic Socialist running for Congress with the support of NYC-DSA and Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The primary is in June 2026. (Ep 569)
What does leadership look like when your city is under federal occupation? When ICE agents are killing civilians in your streets? When thousands of your neighbors are being hunted, arrested, and deported—and you're the one people are looking to for answers?In this urgent conversation, Dr. David Johns sits down with Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley, the council's Minority Leader and the first Democratic Socialist to hold leadership on the council. Robin represents Ward 2, home to one of the largest Somali communities in the country, and she's been on the front lines of what's been called the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history: Operation Metro Surge.Robin doesn't just talk about what happened in Minneapolis—she was there. She was at the scene when Renée Good was killed by federal agents. She's been organizing eviction moratoriums, securing rental assistance, calling for ICE to be abolished, and building communities of care in the middle of a crisis designed to break people.Most importantly, Robin teaches us about revolutionary love—how Minneapolis chose to lean into care and compassion instead of bitterness when faced with state-sanctioned terror. She shows us what a politics of care looks like: starting with your neighbors, your workplace, your school, your faith community. Building the networks that sustain us when institutions fail us.Class is in session. And this lesson is for everyone.CONNECT WITH ROBIN WONSLEY:Instagram/Twitter/TikTok/Bluesky: @Robin4MPLS or @RobinForMPLSEmail: robin4mpls@gmail.comWebsite: Robin4MPLS.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/teach-the-babies-w-dr-david-j-johns--6173854/support.
Max and 99 are back this week to debut an experimental new format for the podcast—that is yet to be named—which mixes Show Notes vibes with a little more structure. The two dive into a mix of on-topic and off-topic headlines before heading into listener feedback and emails. They wrap up the episode with their Top 5 lists focused on formative protest songs, and of course some member shout outs. Enjoy! Chapters Intro: 00:00:34 Headlines: 00:13:35 Emails: 00:42:47 "Carve Outs": 01:16:31 Top 5: 01:24:32 Memberships: 01:44:15 Outro: 01:46:00 Resources The Verge: Discord says ‘vast majority’ of users won’t see its new age verification setup BIG by Matt Stoller: The Beginning of the End for Big Corporate Medicine Politico: MAHA and Mike Tyson want you to ‘eat real food’ during the Super Bowl Super Bowl Ad: Processed Food Kills, Eat Real Food The Ringer: How Hannibal Lecter Made His Film Debut in ‘Manhunter’ Yahoo News: JD Vance says U.S. Olympic athletes are 'not there to pop off about politics.' Here's what they've said. Democratic Socialists of America Working Families Party Top 5s (And Beyond) Nina Simone: Mississippi Goddam John Lennon: Working Class Hero Sting: Russians XTC: Dear God Simple Minds: Belfast Child Green Day: American Idiot Joni Mitchell: Big Yellow Taxi Marvin Gaye: What's Going On Sly & The Family Stone: Everyday People Childish Gambino: This Is America Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son Johnny Paycheck: Take This Job And Shove It Buffalo Springfield: For What It's Worth 4 Non Blondes: What's Up Brandi Carlile: The Joke The Chicks: Travelin' Soldier The Chicks: Not Ready To Make Nice Bob Dylan: Masters of War T-Pain: War Pigs Gil Scott-Heron: Revolution Will Not Be Televised Kendrick Lamar: Alright NWA: Fuck Tha Police Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The Message Public Enemy: Fight The Power Sam Cooke: A Change Is Gonna Come UNFTR Resources Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The American Drug Cartel. UNFTR Resources Page -- If you like #UNFTR, please leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify: unftr.com/rate and follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram at @UNFTRpod. Visit us online at unftr.com. Become a member at unftr.com/memberships. Buy yourself some Unf*cking Coffee at shop.unftr.com. Visit our bookshop.org page at bookshop.org/shop/UNFTRpod to find the full UNFTR book list, and find book recommendations from our Unf*ckers at bookshop.org/lists/unf-cker-book-recommendations. Access the UNFTR Musicless feed by following the instructions at unftr.com/accessibility. Unf*cking the Republic is produced by 99 and engineered by Manny Faces Media (mannyfacesmedia.com). The show is hosted by Max and distributed by 99.Support the show: https://www.unftr.com/membershipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As Minnesota, the only state not to have voted for Ronald Reagan, continues to dominate the headlines, a question arises: Just how radical is the state, and its largest city, Minneapolis, anyway? A recent decision on the organization of the Minneapolis City Council indicates that the city is extremely radical. While one-party city legislatures in places […]
Encore of our episode remembering Martin Luther King Jr.: Radical, Democratic Socialist and Opponent of State Violence.In this MLK day episode, we talk about the radical politics of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We discuss King's democratic socialist beliefs, his stance against the war in Vietnam, the campaigns he worked on, --including the 1968 Olympic Boycott and the Poor People's Campaign--, and his position on property destruction. ------------------------
In this hard-hitting special series on Joe Oltmann Untamed, host Joe Oltmann teams up with military analyst “B” to rip the veil off the coordinated radical networks infiltrating American cities, politics, and youth culture. It all starts with Zohran Mamdani's rapid rise—far from grassroots politics. A leaked video from one of his aides exposes the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Steering Committee's calculated playbook, linked to Alicia T. Signham and a sprawling web that includes ANTIFA, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, and INCA for Social Justice. With “B” mapping out the connections, we trace Linda Sarsour's direct pipeline from the DSA straight to Mamdani, showing how these groups hide behind “social justice” rhetoric to push a subversive, anti-American agenda. The videos and documents don't lie, this is deliberate, organized infiltration.Building on that explosive foundation, the series exposes the hidden threads tying it all together. Linda Sarsour stands out as the central bridge, her deep ties to ANTIFA and radical activism laid bare in a game-changing video played at the perfect moment. The swamp stench is overwhelming: coordinated efforts to inject anti-American ideologies into local politics while mainstream media stays silent or complicit. These aren't lone wolves, they're part of a deliberate network exploiting progressive cover to embed radicalism in our communities. Joe and “B” make it crystal clear: the threat is real, it's accelerating, and it's unfolding right in front of us.In the third episode, we go straight for the jugular. “B,” our military analyst, walks us through the speakers of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) , the group that poses as a harmless charity but operates as the primary pipeline for dangerous voices inside the United States. Coming on the heels of a massive pro-jihad rally in Pakistan involving Hamas, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Lashkar-e-Taiba (with clear U.S. connections), we spotlight ICNA's own chosen platform guests: convicted Pakistani spy Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, banned extremist scholar Tariq Ramadan, Jamaat-e-Islami insider Dr. Nakibur Rahman, and Linda Sarsour herself. Every guilty plea, banned-from-America ruling, and damning document flashes on screen. The conclusion is that ICNA isn't a charity, it's the command center for jihadist influence in American communities. The series presses on, and the truth keeps getting louder.Check the Map Out Here: https://graphcommons.com/graphs/c72e75e7-6b90-41bd-b059-cd59f1ea0bac Please check out Joe's Givesendgo at: https://www.givesendgo.com/JoeOltmann https://untamednation.com/ Make sure to check out https://honorboundusa.com for all your Untamed Nation merch needs!Go to honorboundusa.com to get FREE TINA stickers and use Promo Code “FREETINA” for 20% off!Go to https://DCFguns.com and use Promo Code UNTAMEDNATION for 5% OFF Byrna ProductsProtect your family from hackers by going to https://sns.pidoxa.com NOW
Dave Rubin of "The Rubin Report" shares the best Direct Message moments of 2025 discussing the clash between Elon Musk and Donald Trump; the rise of Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists; Ilhan Omar's connections to the massive Somali community fraud scandal in Minnesota; Donald Trump's inauguration; the assassination of Charlie Kirk; the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's The Late Show; Trump's attack on Iran's nuclear sites; Hamas releasing the remaining Israeli hostages; Gavin Newsom trying to be presidential; Jasmine Crockett announcing her run for Texas senate; as well as the best and worst moments of Whoopi Goldberg and the hosts of "The View", White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt; and much more. Watch ALL the FULL DIRECT MESSAGES HERE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEbhOtC9klbDG22n--rCDbv02-n8l6agL Check out the NEW RUBIN REPORT MERCH here: https://daverubin.store/ --------- Today's Sponsors: Tax Network USA - If you owe back taxes or have unfiled returns, don't let the government take advantage of you. Whether you owe a few thousand or a few million, they can help you. Call 1(800)-958-1000 for a private, free consultation or Go to: https://tnusa.com/dave Noble Gold Investments - Whether you're looking to roll over an old 401(k) into a Gold IRA or you want physical gold delivered right to your home Noble Gold makes the process simple. Download the free wealth protection kit and open a new qualified account and get a FREE 10-ounce Silver Flag Bar plus a Silver American Eagle Proof Coin. Go to http://DaveRubinGold.com Rumble Premium - Corporate America is fighting to remove speech, Rumble is fighting to keep it. If you really believe in this fight Rumble is offering $10 off with the promo code RUBIN when you purchase an annual subscription. Go to: https://Rumble.com/premium/RUBIN and use promo code RUBIN