Our annual look back at the stories that dominated our discourse this year.

From a pair of killings in New York City to the actions of Israel and Russia internationally, how we view these incidents often seems to be tied to how we view the concept of self-defense. Is there an innate right to self-defense? If not, who can claim self-defense and against whom? Is the right of self-defense tied to the means? If so, how far does it extend? What does it permit? Can self-defense only be invoked as a reaction to something/someone else? Can it be preemptive? We try to tease out our own thoughts on these questions in this conversation.

We're back to hit a series of topics that have been in the news over the past couple of weeks both in the U.S.--the murder of the UnitedHealth CEO, President Biden's pardon of his son Hunter, the rise of Bitcoin--and abroad--the overthrow of the Syrian government, the declaration of martial law by the South Korean government, and the collapse of the French government.

Republicans have won the Presidency, the Senate, and the House. Conservative justices dominate the Supreme Court. What was the cost of those victories? Where does the current environment leave people who don't align with this vision for the country? We ruminate on those questions and more in this episode.

With the election behind us, we turn our attention to the Supreme Court, which is sure to have a say in what happens over the next four years. Kevin J, McMahon, Trinity College professor and author of a trilogy of books examining the relationship between democracy and the Court, joins us to put this Court in historical context, analyze what the current composition of the Court says about the state of our democracy, and debate some potential Court reforms.

In the wake of another U.S. presidential election dominated by discussion of the electoral college, we are joined by Patrick Rosenstiel, senior consultant to the National Popular Vote campaign, who makes the case that the switching from the current electoral college system to a national popular vote would be the single biggest improvement we could make to our democracy--and that this election proves that we are ready for it.

We try to make sense of the election results, including what it says about our country now and what it means for our country moving forward, before we are joined by our good friend Ray Mooney to provide the Trump-voter perspective.

We wanted to fit in one more episode before the election looking at the state of the economy. Alana spent time on the ground of the swing states and told us what the vibes were like heading into election day. 

We were joined by Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Dr. John Fromson to discuss the potential and pitfalls of the legalization of psychedelics. We debated legalization through ballot initiatives versus legislatively, the hopes versus dangers medically, freedom versus safety, and much more.

We dive into each of the five questions on the Massachusetts ballot, explaining what a "yes" or "no" vote means and exploring the pros and cons of each measure. We also look at ballot questions nationally to identify trends we are seeing across the country and discuss how these questions might impact races up the ballot in the upcoming elections.