Podcast appearances and mentions of Katha Pollitt

Tim Walz was a great choice for Kamala's VP - Harold Meyerson explains -- and takes up the question, what's happening to the Trump campaign?Also: JD Vance's remark about “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable” continues to reverberate in the news. Katha Pollitt has our analysis, and rebuts Vance's argument that people who don't have children don't have a stake in the country's future.Plus: Your Minnesota Moment: David Carr was a great New York Times media columnist; here he talks about his days as a drug addict in Minneapolis. His book is Night of the Gun. (originally broadcast 9/10/08)

J.D. Vance's remark about “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable” continues to reverberate in the news. Katha Pollitt has our analysis of Vance and his opponent Tim Walz, and takes up Vance's argument that people who don't have children don't have a stake in the country's future.Also: It's August and that means it's time for summer beach reading. We asked John Powers, critic at large for “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, for suggestions. His pick is Antonio Scurati's “M: Son of the Century,” a 750 page novel about the rise of Mussolini.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

J.D. Vance's remark about “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable” continues to reverberate in the news. Katha Pollitt has our analysis of Vance and his opponent Tim Walz, and takes up Vance's argument that people who don't have children don't have a stake in the country's future.Also: It's August and that means it's time for summer beach reading. We asked John Powers, critic at large for “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross, for suggestions. His pick is Antonio Scurati's “M: Son of the Century,” a 750 page novel about the rise of Mussolini.

Male Trump voters tend to have what researches call 'precarious manhood' – determined by the frequency of their search terms for things such as: "penis enlargement" "Viagra" and "hair restoration" – Harold Meyerson comments Also: The Israel lobby AIPAC is spending millions to defeat Representative Jamaal Bowman in the New York state Democratic primary. That's because he called for a permanent ceasefire back in October, and describes what's happening in Gaza now as “an ongoing genocide.” Alan Minsky has our analysis of the campaign – he's Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America.Plus: The Trump verdict and women voters: Exit polls have consistently shown women voting Democratic, and men voting Republican – especially with Trump. How much wider will the Gender Gap get, now that Trump has been found guilty-of lying about having had sex with a porn star? Katha Pollitt will comment.

What happened to the immediate Gaza cease-fire that Biden called for last week? Last Wednesday, Israel's national security advisor said that he expected Israel's war on Gaza would continue at least until the end of the year – if not longer. Harold Meyerson comments.Next: The punditocracy has been arguing that the guilty verdicts in the Trump trial won't matter much in the election – Marc Cooper disagrees, and explains what's wrong about the conventional wisdom.Plus: Jordan Peterson's books of advice for men have sold five million copies – he says men should work hard, be responsible, demand more of themselves—and make their beds.” Katha Pollitt joins the Start Making Sense podcast to discuss.

The punditocracy has been arguing that the guilty verdicts in the Trump trial won't matter much in the election – Marc Cooper disagrees, and explains what's wrong about the conventional wisdom. Also: The Trump verdict and women voters: Exit polls have consistently shown women voting Democratic, and men voting Republican – especially with Trump. How much wider will the Gender Gap get, now that Trump has been found guilty-of lying about having had sex with a porn star? Katha Pollitt will comment.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The punditocracy has been arguing that the guilty verdicts in the Trump trial won't matter much in the election – Marc Cooper disagrees, and explains what's wrong about the conventional wisdom. Also: The Trump verdict and women voters: Exit polls have consistently shown women voting Democratic, and men voting Republican – especially with Trump. How much wider will the Gender Gap get, now that Trump has been found guilty-of lying about having had sex with a porn star? Katha Pollitt will comment.

The most important event in the history of Israel and Palestine was not the 1948 founding of Israel and the Nakba, or Israel's 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories. It was the outlawing of immigration of Jews (and others) to the US from Russia, Poland, and Eastern and Southern Europe. That was the purpose of the immigration restriction act passed by Congress in May, 1924, 100 years ago this month. Without that, the Jews of Europe would never have moved to Palestine, Harold Meyerson argues.Also: The New Yorker's award-winning climate writer Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her fascinating new book, “H is for Hope: Climate Change from A to Z.'”Plus: Judith Butler may be the most famous feminist theorist in the world today. Now Butler has a new book out, with the provocative title, “Who's Afraid of Gender?” Katha Pollitt provides a critique.

Rural America is Trump country. In 2016, Hillary got barely 30 percent of the rural vote. Biden did only a little better in 2020. But he can do a lot better than that this year—and he needs to, if he's going to carry some of the swing states. Anthony Flaccavento will explain – he's co-founder and executive director of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative.Also: Judith Butler may be the most famous feminist theorist in the world today. Now Butler has a new book out, with the provocative title, “Who's Afraid of Gender?” Katha Pollitt provides a critique.

Thanks to a referendum passed by Long Beach voters, hotel workers there will now get the highest minimum wage in the nation – Harold Meyerson comments.Next: After gangs took over most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, agreed to step aside. Long-time Haiti observer Amy Wilentz analyzes the forces at work shaping the country's next steps.Also: The polls and the pollsters are missing the political potential in 9 million people who have turned 18 since the last election. Steve Phillips explains – his book, ‘How We Win the Civil War,' is out now in a new edition, updated for the 2024 election.Plus: From the archives: Katha Pollitt learned to drive at age 51 – she wrote about that experience for The New Yorker; and in 2015, she was played by Patricia Clarkson opposite Ben Kingsley in the film version, Learning to Drive. This interview was first recorded in 2007.

Our holiday giving list: Katha Pollitt presents her list of groups that need—and deserve—our support: Gaza aid, abortion assistance, and organizing against Trump.Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz. He's the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Join Haymarket Books and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project for a conversation celebrating the launch of the anthology Going for Broke. Join Alissa Quart in conversation with Alex Miller, Annabelle Gurwitch, Katha Pollitt and Ray Suarez, to celebrate the launch of the anthology Going for Broke, a collaboration between Haymarket Books and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Get a copy of Going For Broke: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/... Check out the podcast series “Going for Broke” hosted by Ray Suarez in partnership between EHRP, The Nation and NPR: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/11683107... You can read Alex's latest article here: https://www.wired.com/story/tech-vide... Read this powerful op-ed from Annabelle: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outloo... Submit pitches to EHRP at info@economichardship.org Donate to EHRP at: https://economichardship.org/donate-t... Speakers: Alissa Quart is the author of Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream and executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She has written for many publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Time. Her honors include an Emmy Award, the SPJ Award, and a Nieman Fellowship. She is the author of four previous books of nonfiction, including Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America and Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, and two books of poetry, most recently Thoughts and Prayers. Alex Miller, a reporting journalism fellow for EHRP, is a navy veteran and native Chicagoan. He's been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Esquire, and Wired. In addition, he has also been featured in the anthologies The Byline Bible and The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook. He lives in New York and is writing a mid-grade memoir about his experience of going to school for the first time at eleven years old. Annabelle Gurwitch is a New York Times bestselling author of five books, a Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing finalist, and an actress. Her writing frequently appears in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Los Angeles Magazine. This essay, which was awarded an Excellence in Journalism citation by the Los Angeles Press Corp, is included in a longer form in her most recent collection of essays, You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility, a New York Times Favorite Book for Healthy Living 2022. Ray Suarez (@RaySuarezNews) was a senior correspondent for PBS News- Hour and host of the public radio show America Abroad. He is host of EHRP's podcast Going for Broke and co-hosts the program and podcast WorldAffairs for KQED-FM and the World Affairs Council. Katha Pollitt, the author of Virginity or Death!, is a poet, essayist, and columnist for The Nation. She has won many prizes and awards for her work, including the National Book Critics Circle Award for her first collection of poems, Antarctic Traveller, and two National Magazine Awards for essays and criticism. She lives in New York City. This event is co-sponsored by Haymarket Books and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Watch the live event recording: https://youtube.com/live/tFRHrFqF8ls Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks

Our holiday giving list: Katha Pollitt presents her list of groups that need—and deserve—our support: Gaza aid, abortion assistance, and organizing against Trump.Also: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz. He's the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.

Our holiday giving list: Katha Pollitt presents her list of groups that need—and deserve—our support: Gaza aid, abortion assistance, and organizing against Trump.Also: On Christmas Day, 1914, after five months of unparalleled industrial-scale slaughter, British and German soldiers stopped fighting and exchanged gifts, sang Christmas carols, and played soccer. It's a unique event in the history of modern warfare. Adam Hochschild​ comments – originally recorded on the 100th anniversary in 2014.Plus: Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turned to Sean Wilentz. He's the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.

Harold Meyerson comments on the Colorado supreme court's ruling that the constitution prohibits Trump from serving as president because he participated in an insurrection. Also - class struggle in 2023 - the year in review.Plus: Why have some feminists been reluctant even to acknowledge that Hamas members raped Israeli women and girls on Oct. 7? Katha Pollitt comments.Also: "parents rights" failed as a Republican political tactic in the 2023 elections - but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis - she's president of the AFT.And from the archives: Arthur Danto on art in Las Vegas. This segment was recorded in 2000.

Why have American feminist groups been slow to condemn rapes of Israeli women and girls by Hamas? that's the question posed by Katha Pollitt, The Nation's award-winning columnist.Also: They call it “the parents' rights movement.” we call it a culture war against public education. It failed as a Republican election strategy in 2023, but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis – she's president of the AFT.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Why have American feminist groups been slow to condemn rapes of Israeli women and girls by Hamas? that's the question posed by Katha Pollitt.Also: They call it “the parents' rights movement.” we call it a culture war against public education. It failed as a Republican election strategy in 2023, but what about 2024? Randi Weingarten has our analysis – she's president of the AFT.

The UAW won a historic victory when GM agreed that workers in EV and battery factories would be covered by the union contract. Harold Meyerson comments on that, and on Israel's war with Hamas.Plus: Voters in Maine will decide next month whether to turn the state's private utilities public. If that happens, it would be a huge step toward dealing with the climate crisis, and a model for other states. Bill McKibben will explain.Also: Two girls grew up in the 1980s and '90s in a small town in Arkansas. One made it out and became a successful journalist and writer; her best friend, who had been super smart as a kid, fell into drugs, getting pregnant too young, and petty crime. How did their lives turn out to be so different? Katha Pollitt talks about the wonderful new memoir by Monica Potts, The Forgotten Girls.

The right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court has returned to a case about racial gerrymandering in Alabama, where Republicans have defied the Court's order. Dahlia Lithwick will comment about that, and about her book “Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America”—it's out now in paperback.Also: Two girls grew up in the 1980s and '90s in a small town in Arkansas. One made it out and became a successful journalist and writer; her best friend, who had been supersmart as a kid, fell into drugs,getting pregnant too young, and petty crime. How did their lives turn out so different? Katha Pollitt talks about the new memoir by Monica Potts, “The Forgotten Girls.”Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court has returned to a case about racial gerrymandering in Alabama, where Republicans have defied the Court's order. Dahlia Lithwick will comment about that, and about her book Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America—it's out now in paperback.Also on this episode: Two girls grew up in the 1980s and '90s in a small town in Arkansas. One made it out and became a successful journalist and writer; her best friend, who had been super smart as a kid, fell into drugs, getting pregnant too young, and petty crime. How did their lives turn out so different? Katha Pollitt is on the podcast to talk about the new memoir by Monica Potts, The Forgotten Girls.

Ohio voted on a referendum that would make it harder to amend the state constitution – including the addition of the right to abortion. The amendment lost, abortion rights won – Harold Meyerson comments. Next: Should Trump have been charged with incitement of insurrection, or at least violence? What's the line between free speech and incitement? If Trump sincerely believed he'd won the election, can he still be prosecuted for conspiracy? Erwin Chemerinsky explains – he's dean of the law school at UC Berkeley.Plus: What's bad about Barbie the doll, and what's good about “Barbie” the movie—Katha Pollitt comments.

Should Trump have been charged with incitement of insurrection, or at least violence? What's the line between free speech and incitement? If Trump sincerely believed he'd won the election, can he still be prosecuted for conspiracy? Erwin Chemerinsky explains – he's dean of the law school at UC Berkeley.Also: What's bad about Barbie the doll, and what's good about “Barbie” the movie—Katha Pollitt comments.

Should Trump have been charged with incitement of insurrection, or at least violence? What's the line between free speech and incitement? If Trump sincerely believed he'd won the election, can he still be prosecuted for conspiracy? Erwin Chemerinsky explains – he's dean of the law school at UC Berkeley.Also: What's bad about Barbie the doll, and what's good about “Barbie” the movie—Katha Pollitt comments.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

There are two big strikes in the works in L.A. right now: hotel workers and actors. 15,000 hotel workers are preparing to strike; and 200 people – including City Council and State Assembly members – were arrested during a UNITE HERE local 11 protest. Also, 160,000 actors are on the verge of joining the 11,500 writers already on strike. Harold Meyerson comments.Next: Crossing the abortion borderland from Texas to New Mexico: Amy Littlefield describes the heroic work being done in both states to provide help to people seeking abortions, one year after the repeal of Roe, and reports on the new obstacles being raised by anti-abortion forces.Plus: From the archives: Katha Pollitt learned to drive at age 51 – she wrote about that experience for The New Yorker; and in 2015, she was played by Patricia Clarkson opposite Ben Kingsley in the film version, Learning to Drive. This interview was first recorded in 2007.

Cornel West is running for president as a third party candidate, so he's not going to get many votes. Nevertheless, Joan Walsh argues, he could discourage Democrats from voting, which would make Trump's election more likely. Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: you might think Republicans would take a breather after banning abortion in the states they control, but no! Instead, they've set their sights on a new target: no-fault divorce. The Nation's Katha Pollitt is on the podcast to discuss.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

Cornel West is running for president - he can only help Trump win, argues Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation.also: You might think Republicans would take a breather after banning abortion in the states they control, but no! Instead, they've set their sights on a new target: no-fault divorce. The Nation‘s Katha Pollitt reports.Also: historian Brenda Stevenson talks about the Black family under slavery and after. Her book, a history of the enslaved family in America. is “What Sorrows Labour in My Parent's Breast.”And we have an episode of Your Minnesota Moment: the state joins National Popular Vote!

Cornel West is running for president as a third party candidate, so he's not going to get many votes. Nevertheless, Joan Walsh argues, he could discourage Democrats from voting, which would make Trump's election more likely. Also on this episode of Start Making Sense: you might think Republicans would take a breather after banning abortion in the states they control, but no! Instead, they've set their sights on a new target: no-fault divorce. The Nation's Katha Pollitt is on the podcast to discuss.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Reading list:* Corey Robin's Facebook Page* Not Yet Falling Apart: Two thinkers on the left offer a guide to navigating the stormy seas of modernity, by moi* Straight Outta Chappaqua: How Westchester-bred lefty prof Corey Robin came to loathe Israel, defend Steven Salaita, and help cats, by Phoebe Maltz Bovy* Online Fracas for a Critic of the Right, by Jennifer Schuessler* Scholar Behind U. of Illinois Boycotts Is a Longtime Activist, by Marc ParryA few years ago, I got this text from a friend after my guest on this episode of the podcast, Corey Robin, said something nice about my book on Facebook: “When Corey Robin is praising you on Facebook, you've arrived, my friend.”He was being funny, but also just saying a true thing. Corey Robin is a big deal on the intellectual left in America, and for the better part of a decade, from about 2012 to 2019, his Facebook page was one of the most vital and interesting spaces on the American intellectual left. Back in 2017, I wrote this about Corey and his most influential book, The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin:The Reactionary Mind has emerged as one of the more influential political works of the last decade. Robin himself has become, since the book's publication, one of the more aura-laden figures on the intellectual left. Paul Krugman cites him and the book periodically in his New York Times columns and on his blog. Robin's Facebook page, which he uses as a blog and discussion forum, has become one of the places to watch to understand where thinking on the left is. Another key node of the intellectual left is Crooked Timber, a group blog of left-wing academics to which Robin is a long-time contributor, and another is Jacobin, a socialist magazine that often re-publishes Robin's blog posts sans edits, like dispatches from the oracle.I've long been fascinated by Corey's Facebook page, in particular, because it was such a novel space. It couldn't exist prior to the internet, and if there were any other important writers who used the platform in that way, as a real venue for thoughtful and vigorous political discussion, I'm not familiar with them. It didn't replace or render obsolete the magazines, like The Nation and Dissent, that were the traditional places where the left talked to itself. It was just a different thing, an improvisational, unpredictable, rolling forum where you went to see what people of a certain bent were talking about, who the key players were, what the key debates were. And Corey himself, in this context, had a charismatic presence. To even get him to respond seriously to a comment you made on one of his posts was to get a little thrill. To be praised by Corey, in the main text of a post, was to feel like you were a made man. Over the past few weeks I've spent some time dipping into the archives of his page, and while there I compiled a list of notable names who showed up as commenters. My list included: Lauren Berlant, Matt Karp, Tim Lacy, Miriam Markowitz, Annette Gordon Reed,  Doug Henwood, Jeet Heer, Freddie Deboer, Raina Lipsitz, Elayne Tobin, Scott Lemieux, Paul Buhle, Jedediah Purdy, Jodi Dean, Alex Gourevitch, Tamsin Shaw, Rick Perlstein, Greg Grandin, Katha Pollitt, Joel Whitney, Liza Featherstone, Andrew Hartman, Rebecca Vilkomerson, Samuel Moyn, Tim Lacy, Yasmin Nair, Bhaskar Sunsara, Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor, Gideon Lewis Kraus.This is just the people I recognized (or googled ) in my brief time skimming. The full list of eminent leftist Americans who populated Corey's page over the years would surely run to hundreds of names, which is to say that a significant portion, maybe even a majority, of the writers and intellectuals who comprised the intellectual left in those years was reading and participating in his page. How this came about, and what it meant, is one of the topics we cover in the podcast, which ended up being a kind of stock-taking of sorts of the very recent history of the American left. We also talk about Corey's involvement as an organizer with GESO, Yale's graduate student union, when he was getting his PhD in political science; his retrospective thoughts on why he over-estimated the strength of the American left in the mid-2010s; what he got right about Trump and Trumpism; and why Clarence Thomas may be corrupt, but is at least intellectually honest about it. Corey is a professor at Brooklyn College and the author of three books: Fear: The History of a Political Idea, The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin (revised and re-issued as Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump), and most recently The Enigma of Clarence Thomas. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, and Jacobin, among many other places.  Eminent Americans is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Eminent Americans at danieloppenheimer.substack.com/subscribe

Harold Meyerson comments on the fed, the banks, and the billionaires; also, the coming indictment of Donald Trump.Plus: American women in 2023: the news is bad, but it's not all bad. Katha Pollitt explains.Also: the largest anti-war demonstrations in American history were protests in the fall of 1969--with more than two million people in the streets demanding “End the War in Vietnam.” But did those demonstrations help end the war? Historian Chris Appy comments on the new documentary, “The Movement and the ‘Madman,'” on PBS American Experience March 28.

American women in 2023: the news is bad, but it's not all bad. Katha Pollitt is on the Start Making Sense podcast to explain.Also: the largest anti-war demonstrations in American history were the protests in the fall of 1969--with more than two million people in the streets demanding “End the War in Vietnam.” But did those demonstrations help end the war? Historian Chris Appy comments on the new documentary, “The Movement and the ‘Madman,'” out on PBS American Experience March 28.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

American women in 2023: the news is bad, but it's not all bad. Katha Pollitt is on the Start Making Sense podcast to explain.Also: the largest anti-war demonstrations in American history were the protests in the fall of 1969--with more than two million people in the streets demanding “End the War in Vietnam.” But did those demonstrations help end the war? Historian Chris Appy comments on the new documentary, “The Movement and the ‘Madman,'” out on PBS American Experience March 28.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

Wanda Sykes covers Splash Mountain's closing, the 2023 Oscar nominations, classified documents found in the home of Mike Pence, and Taylor Swift fans watching the Ticketmaster hearing. Columnist for The Nation and "Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights" author Katha Pollitt discusses how the Dobbs decision empowered more women to support abortion rights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a 30-year campaign, Yale finally recognized UNITE-HERE as the union representing TAs. Harold Meyerson reports - and also on the Teamsters as they prepare to strike against UPS in August.Plus: If you were planning a future coup, what could you learn from the failure of Trump's efforts on January 6? Fintan O'Toole says it would need a better story—not attacking Congress, but “defending democracy.” He teaches at Princeton, and is the author most recently of We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland.Also: who'd want to see a movie about Harvey Weinstein? Well, the film She Said, about the two New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story, is not about Harvey; it's about the system that protected him. And it's really good. Katha Pollitt comments.

If you were planning a future coup, what could you learn from the failure of Trump's efforts on January 6? Fintan O'Toole says it would need a better story – not attacking Congress, but “defending democracy.” He teaches at Princeton, and is the author most recently of We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland.Also: Who'd want to see a movie about Harvey Weinstein? But the film “She Said,” about the two New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story, is not about Harvey; it's about the system that protected him. And it's really good. Katha Pollitt comments.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Barbara Ehrenreich was a renowned social critic, journalist, feminist and author. She was born in Butte, Montana and studied chemistry at Reed College in Oregon and later received a Ph.D. in cellular immunology at Rockefeller University in New York. But she left a possible career in science and teaching to become a seasoned muckraker in the tradition of Ida B. Wells and Lincoln Steffens. She wrote many books. Her articles appeared in Ms., Mother Jones, and The Progressive. She wrote incisively and with compassion about working people and the hardships they endure. To write about the underclass she went undercover and took low-wage jobs such as hotel maid, cleaning houses, nursing home aide and waitressing. Through her work, she made the invisible working poor visible. She was long active in the DSA, Democratic Socialists of America. In 2012 she founded the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, seeking to place the crisis of poverty and economic insecurity at the center of the national political conversation. Her best-known book Nickel and Dimed, a classic in social justice literature, has sold millions of copies. She passed away on September 1, 2022. Katha Pollitt in The Nation wrote “Barbara accomplished so much, but what I love most about her work is that it was never boilerplate. She always found a way to take her argument to a deeper level. And there was always empathy—for the people who are overlooked, whose struggles are disregarded, who have to fight for food and shelter and a halfway decent life, for every shred of dignity and recognition.”

Liz Cheney's big loss in Wyoming marks the end of the traditional GOP, says Harold Meyerson; also: Amazon workers on strike in the Inland Empire. Plus: Some surprising abortion rights victories in red states: Katha Pollitt reports. And what is to be done about the gangs in Port-au-Prince - send in the marines? Amy Wilentz comments.

Jordan Peterson's books of advice for men have sold five million copies – he says men should work hard, be responsible, demand more of themselves—and make their beds. Katha Pollitt has some comments about that. Also: The synergy between politics and popular culture has never been clearer or stronger than in the Age of Reagan. J. Hoberman, author of “Make My Day: Film Culture in the Age of Reagan," explains how this came to be. Hoberman was a legendary film critic for the Village Voice for 30 years and now writes for the New York Review, the New York Times, and The Nation.

Jordan Peterson's books of advice for men have sold five million copies – he says men should work hard, be responsible, demand more of themselves—and make their beds.” Katha Pollitt joins the Start Making Sense podcast to discuss.Also: The synergy between politics and popular culture has never been clearer or stronger than in the Age of Reagan. J. Hoberman, author of “Make My Day: Film Culture in the Age of Reagan," explains how this came to be. Hoberman was a legendary film critic for the Village Voice for 30 years and now writes for the New York Review, the New York Times, and The Nation. Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A longtime Institute member, Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her column for The Nation magazine, “Subject to Debate” won a National Magazine Award in 2003. In this episode from the Institute's Vault, Pollitt talks about her 2007 book, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories, a collection of personal essays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A longtime Institute member, Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her column for The Nation magazine, “Subject to Debate” won a National Magazine Award in 2003. In this episode from the Institute's Vault, Pollitt talks about her 2007 book, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories, a collection of personal essays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A longtime Institute member, Katha Pollitt is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her column for The Nation magazine, “Subject to Debate” won a National Magazine Award in 2003. In this episode from the Institute's Vault, Pollitt talks about her 2007 book, Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories, a collection of personal essays. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/roe-v-wade-is-gone-a-wave-of-criminalization-is-comingThe recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case achieved something the right has pursued for decades—overturning Roe v. Wade. From legislation recognizing "fetal personhood" in Georgia and Alabama to a new Louisiana law that outlaws sending abortion pills in the mail, state legislatures are wasting no time finding new ways to criminalize and surveil abortion. In an age of Big Data and digital surveillance, the coming crackdown could lead to a future even bleaker than the days before Roe v. Wade. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Katha Pollitt, a columnist for The Nation, lays out just what our new reality means for reproductive rights in the United States.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/roe-v-wade-is-gone-a-wave-of-criminalization-is-comingThe recent Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case achieved something the right has pursued for decades—overturning Roe v. Wade. From legislation recognizing "fetal personhood" in Georgia and Alabama to a new Louisiana law that outlaws sending abortion pills in the mail, state legislatures are wasting no time finding new ways to criminalize and surveil abortion. In an age of Big Data and digital surveillance, the coming crackdown could lead to a future even bleaker than the days before Roe v. Wade. In this episode of The Marc Steiner Show, Katha Pollitt, a columnist for The Nation, lays out just what our new reality means for reproductive rights in the United States.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Monday on TRNN, and subscribe to the TRNN YouTube channel for video versions of The Marc Steiner Show podcast.Pre-Production/Studio: Dwayne GladdenPost-Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

Following on from the landmark decision by the US Supreme Court last week to overturn Roe v Wade, abortion is now restricted in at least seven states, with trigger bans set to take effect in several more. In today's episode, Róisín Ingle is joined by women's rights advocate Dr Erica Goldblatt Hyatt and American journalist, poet and essayist Katha Pollitt to discuss this “assault on human rights” and the impact it will have on the millions of American women who now face restricted access to reproductive healthcare. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The results of Tuesday's primaries in L.A. and San Francisco, according to the New York Times, were “a stark warning to the Democratic Party about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022.” Harold Meyerson disagrees. Also: our preview of the live TV hearings of the House committee on the January 6 insurrection. Plus: Also: Abortion and its opponents. Do opponents of abortion really believe abortion providers are “baby-killers”? There's some new research about that that found opponents help family members and friends get abortions. Katha Pollitt explains. Also:“Bad Mexicans” – that's what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border against the robber barons and their political allies. UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells that story, which is the subject of her new book.

The coming repeal of constitutional protection for abortion leaves us with a lot of work to do--to protect and expand abortion rights in the states where it will remain legal, and to help women in states where it will be banned. Katha Pollitt joins the Start Making Sense podcast to explain what we need to do now – in politics, health care, and funding.Plus: “Bad Mexicans” – that what the revolutionaries of 1910 were called as they fought on both sides of the US-Mexico border against the robber barons and their political allies. UCLA historian Kelly Lytle Hernandez tells that story, which is the subject of her new book.Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Harold Meyerson comments on the LA Mayoral race, where the police union is spending millions to defeat Karen Bass. Also: the coming end of constitutional protection for abortion gives us a lot of work to do–Katha Pollitt explains. And Lynn Garafola talks about "an Amazon of the Avant-Garde," the ballet dancer who went from revolutionary Russia to Kiev to Hollywood in the 1930s – "La Nijinska," sister of the legendary Nijinsky.

BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE, you have got to check out this link. I didn't spot it until after writing my script, and it's probably a good thing that I didn't, or this would have morphed into a seven-episode series: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/proabortion-slogans-and-how-to-handle-them-9553 Ok, as promised in the episode, here's some of the cutting-room-floor text as well as some helpful links. CUTTING ROOM FLOOR: Another argument states that babies aren't actually living people with human rights because they're not “viable.” This one is weak. Babies aren't even “viable” long after they're born! Those with severe cerebral palsy or advanced muscular dystrophy aren't “viable” for their whole lives! On the topic, many state that since the baby isn't sentient until a certain amount of weeks, it's morally acceptable to dismember or otherwise terminate the baby's life until it is sentient and can tell what's going on and/or feel pain. Barring the notion that people in comas are also not sentient, it nonetheless remains morally unacceptable due to the fact that babies are indeed sentient even as early as 12 weeks and can feel pain as early as 8 weeks. Many (such as popular pro-abortion activist Katha Pollitt) say that although modern translations of Exodus 21:22–23 confer a financial penalty for an early delivery of a child due to abuse at the hands of an offender (see this link for more on that: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/the-bible-say-about-abortion.html), Katha and many, many others like her hold that the earliest Rabbinical traditions state that there was a fine for miscarriage, not pre-term birth, thus indicating that since the death penalty wasn't carried out for the miscarriage, the unborn child was seen as less than human. Well, that would be all well and good, except for these pesky little things called historical documents. The famed historian Josephus, writing in the very first century (two thousand years ago), was fully aware that the Torah forbade abortions and stated clearly as much in his writings. Another early source which contradicts this is a first-century document called the Didache, which was a sort of church instruction manual written by Christians who knew their Torah inside and out. In it, it states “thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born.” Furthermore, the Letter of Barnabas, a second-century work, states “You shall not abort a child nor, again, commit infanticide.” Oh, and there's no word for “fetus” in the Bible because the Greek word “brephos” is used in the Bible to refer to both an unborn child and an infant. There's no distinction, and such a distinction is actually quite novel. So tell me again how opposition to abortion is some new idea, Miss Pollitt? In 2014, the same lady went on record as saying the following: “[Jewish tradition] does not have the concept of the personhood of the fetus (much less the embryo or fertilized egg). In Jewish law, you become a person when you draw your first breath.” So let's address that one, too. First, most arguments in this realm enter weird territory pretty quick, going so far as to include Ezekiel's vision in the valley of dry bones or Adam having received the breath of life as some sort of prescriptive argument for when life begins. It's wildly outlandish. But for what it's worth, it's really popular to make the claim that life doesn't begin until the first breath. But is this what the Bible teaches? No. Here's a link for more on this: https://www.str.org/w/does-bible-teach-life-begins-first-breath. Source on statistics of reasons for abortions: http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html Lastly, here's a really, really cool page that very fairly shows arguments for and against abortion: https://abortion.procon.org/

Biden's “new and improved” procedure for admitting Ukrainian refugees to the U.S. is “disgraceful." Historian and Nation contributor, David Nasaw joins us to discuss the shortcomings of the policy, and how it excludes all asylum-seekers who aren't white and European. Also: Abortion and its opponents. Do opponents of abortion really believe abortion providers are “baby-killers”? There's some new research about that that found opponents help family members and friends get abortions. Katha Pollitt explains.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The Democrats are not doomed to defeat in the midterms, says Ro Khanna. Politics can turn around in the next few months. Khanna represents Silicon Valley in Congress, where he's a prominent figure in the Progressive Caucus. His new book is Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us.Additionally, Katha Pollitt comments on The Right to Sex, a provocative title by the feminist philosopher Amia Srinivasan. Does anyone have a right to sex? Who does? Who doesn't?   Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy