Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry

Evangelical voters have been a key constituency for the GOP for decades. But as that party veers to Trumpism and extremism, often with words and actions that fly in the face of their faith, will evangelicals stay with them? This week, we’re joined by Tim Alberta. Tim is a staff writer for The Atlantic whose new book “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in the Age of Extremism” is now available.

I like to think we’re living in a more consent-aware world than we used to be. We speak about the sexual ideal of enthusiastic consent required before engaging in sexual acts. And yet, recent research demonstrates that in the medical community, what happens with our bodies is often far outside that consent, with almost 90% of medical students being asked to perform pelvic examinations on patients under anesthesia. Our guest this week, A’magine Goddard, is a filmmaker whose new documentary “At Your Cervix” examines how this happens and the effects of these exams. And listeners, be aware that this episode contains frank discussions of these non-consensual examinations.

The Democratic Party used to view the rural voter as part of its base. That’s shifted, with many attributing the shift to social, religious, and racial beliefs. Our guests today argue that the reasons are quite different from what we believe. Nick Jacobs and Dan Shea are professors of government at Colby College and the authors of The Rural Voter: The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America.

We live in a time where technology is advancing faster than our ability to regulate and culturally adapt to it—and sometimes that results in truly terrifying realities. Our guest this week is Kashmir Hill. Kashmir is a tech reporter at the New York Times. She digs into the intersection of facial recognition, Artificial Intelligence, unfettered capitalism, and privacy rights in her new book Your Face Belongs To Us: A Secretive Startup's Quest to End Privacy as We Know It, which is now available at bookstores everywhere.

In what's become a Thanksgiving week tradition, we revisit our 2020 Thanksgiving episode with Denise Kiernan. At this time, Joe Biden had been elected but had not yet taken office. Donald Trump was signaling the treason that would boil over into unthinkable violence aimed at our Democratic institutions on January 6th. Covid was roaring. And still, the national celebration of gratitude was taking place. As difficult as things are, and again, they seem fairly hopeless, we want you to know that Alyssa and the entire team at Sorry Not Sorry are grateful for you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

It’s Thanksgiving week, and we have an episode for you that will change the way you see the holiday. My guest today is Denise Kiernan. Denise is an author, journalist and producer. Her books, The Last Castle, and The Girls of Atomic City were national bestsellers. She joins us to discuss her new book We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, A President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace.

Every day since October 7th, our hearts have been breaking. The unconscionable terrorist attack on Israel killed so many innocents. And yet, in the Israeli response, many times more innocents in Gaza have been killed. Across the region, children and civilians are suffering and dying unnecessarily. To help us understand the situation on the ground in Gaza and Israel and the role of aid organizations, I’ve invited Abby Maxman on the show. Abby is the President and CEO of Oxfam America.

We hear about mass shootings all of the time. They dominate our news for a couple of days, and then we move on, doing nothing. Sometimes, in our local news, we might hear about a local shooting which kills one or two or three people. But what we rarely hear about is the constant background of gun violence that takes place in our country every day when about 120 people die from gunshot wounds, and about 200 are shot and survive. People like Ethan Song, a teenager who was accidentally shot and killed when a gun was discovered in a cardboard box at a friend’s house. Ethan’s mother Kristin is fighting to make sure no other family experiences her heartbreak, and she joins us today.

It’s Halloween week, and we thought we’d cap off spooky season with a look back at some of the scariest stories we’ve covered over the years here at Sorry Not Sorry. So sit back, turn on all the lights, and prepare to be terrified.

The world feels very hopeless right now. This week's episode is a piece of magic that we hope makes it easier, even if just for an hour. We're revisiting one of our very favorite episodes with one of our very favorite people. Kwame Alexander joined us in 2021 to discuss his book "Light for the World To See: 1,000 Words on Race and Hope." His poetry, his words, and his spirit lifted us then, and we hope they will lift you now.