Bad Faith

It's a twofer this week. Brie traveled to Seattle to speak to activist Andre Stackhouse of Whole Washington about his group's effort to achieve Medicare for All in Washington State. He addressed skepticism about the ability to fund universal healthcare on the state level, concerns that a state-by-state approach drains focus from the national effort, and the strategic barriers to success. But first, I spoke to 2016 Green Party VP candidate and national spokesperson for Black Alliance for Peace Ajamu Baraka about third party politics, the importance of internationalism, BLM's controversial statement in support of the Cuban government, how being drafted into the Vietnam War radicalized him, and more. (No spoilers ;)).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Millions of Americans have had their student loan payments on hold since the start of the pandemic, but with the deadline on debt postponement looming, so does the question: if Biden asks us to start paying again, will we? This week, I spoke to founder of the Debt Collective Astra Taylor about the possibility of a student debt strike, and how to address the bad faith arguments against student debt relief from both sides of the aisle. We revisit some 2020 campaign moments from Pete and Liz, discuss the biblical roots of the debt jubilee, and strategize about how to capitalize on the heightened consciousness around student debt cancellation now that Biden has broken campaign promise to immediately cancel at least $10k.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube to access our full video library. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod)and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

What does an ideologically diverse group of Black marxists have to say about Jim Clyburn, CRT, identity politics, and the future of left politics post-Bernie? It turns out, quite a bit. We convened this panel to talk about Haiti, but this conversation was too good to cut off prematurely. We'll be delivering hour two -- the Haiti conversation -- in a bonus episode, but tune in to this episode to hear us debate how to beat Jim Clyburn at his own game, whether calls to defund the police and meaningfully address climate change are ultra left, and whether the left can be saved by a Black Bernie Sanders.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to join the Bad Faith Discord and instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Last summer, the country was engaged in a robust conversation about how Democrats could reform the court to compensate for the last 40 years of conservative judicial dominance which culminated in the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. But Biden punted on the question of court reform, vowing to host a commission on the subject instead. Well, the commission happened last week, and while it was mostly theatre, the question of court reform remains an important one. This week, we brought two ideologically diverse law professors who testified on the Biden commission together to discuss their preferred approaches to court reform, along with friend of the show Eric Segall, Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law at Georgia State; Niko Bowie, Assistant Professor at Harvard Law; and Ilan Wurman, associate professor at Arizona state join us for a spirited debate about how to improve the court, whether we should even have a constitution, and the Hungarian judicial system. It's a good one.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube to access our full video library. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod)and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Has geoengineering gotten a bad rap? More and more people on the left are saying . . . maybe? Historically, carbon capture and solar radiation modification technology have been exploited by the fossil fuel industry as alternatives to cutting carbon emissions. But things have gotten so bad on the climate front that some environmentalists now think geoengineering must be a part of a broader climate management solution. This week Brie speaks to three experts in the field about the ethical, policy, and technological implications of geoengineering: Assistant Professor at University of Buffalo and author of After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration Holly Jean Buck, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University and author of the upcoming book Reconsidering Reparations Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, and Alexander C. Kaufman, a senior reporter at HuffPost covering climate change, energy, and environmental policy.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to join the Bad Faith Discord and instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Republicans are big mad about Critical Racial Theory, liberals are arguing about the definition of CRT, and the left is mostly sniping about how much they hate Robin DiAngelo. But should we be responding more substantively?

Christopher Rufo, the man who started the war on CRT knows exactly what he's doing. And it's no casual project: "‘Political correctness’ is a dated term and, more importantly, doesn’t apply anymore... The other frames are wrong, too: ‘cancel culture’ is a vacuous term and doesn’t translate into a political program; ‘woke’ is a good epithet, but it’s too broad, too terminal, too easily brushed aside. ‘Critical race theory’ is the perfect villain," he told the New Yorker.

Conservatives realize that CRT is the perfect cultural war distraction. It avoids the issue of how little Republicans are working to improve the lives of their voters, while also taking aim at a Marxist academic approach that shines light on the fact that our legal and political system is rigged in favor of elites. But liberals seem not to realize quite what they're up against, or how powerful anti-CRT arguments based in individualism are to social conservatives of all races. This week, we spoke to writer Freddie deBoer & host of The Black Athenians Irami Osei-Frimpong about whether the left should defend CRT, how to devalue the wages of whiteness, and how much money it would take for Freddie to give up being white.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube to access our full video library. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod)and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

In honor of the Bad Faith YouTube channel hitting 40,000 subscribers, we've unlocked Part 2 of our two-part interview with Boots Riley, conducted November of last year. Listen to Part 1 here.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to join the Bad Faith Discord and instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

This week, we cover the crisis in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, where civil war has been raging since last November. The conflict has lead to what may become the worst humanitarian crisis in the region in decades, with 350,000 Ethiopians facing famine conditions, and reports of sexual violence and ethnic cleansing. Brie speaks to Swedish-Eritrean human rights advocate Vanessa Tsehaye about the origins of the conflict, and why theories about the root of the conflict are so controversial on social media. Why does one political camp cast the Tigray People's Liberation Front as "terrorists," while another views the Ethiopian Federal Government as enabling and denying genocide? Vanessa attempts to explain how ethnic conflict, federalism, and colonialism are affecting the dispute, and how the American left should weight calls for humanitarian intervention against concerns about US imperialism.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to join the Bad Faith Discord and instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

After Nathan Robinson wrote a lengthy critique of Glenn Greenwald accusing him of "serving the right" and "spouting dangerous conservative hyperbole against the left," Glenn had a few choice words for him on Twitter. Hating to see friends-of-the-pod fight, we invited them both to a Bad Faith Pod Cancel Court (TM) session, during which they could develop their arguments in full without character limits or character attacks. Topics include whether Glenn's appearances on conservative media implicitly validate right wing narratives about Democrats, how journalists should deal with facts that undermine their own political agendas, Noam Chomsky's climate-based vote-blue-no-matter-whoism, how to and whether to cover detransitioning, accusations of racism against Lee Fang, Glenn's recent choice choice to publish an article making the case for a link between reformist prosecutors and rising crime rates, whether the Senate should be abolished (or preserved because it protects minority interests), whether cancel culture is real, whether corporate appropriation of BLM/Pride means the left has won the culture wars, and more. It's an epic, 2.5 hour journey, and you're going to want to hear every minute.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube to access our full video library. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod)and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

We brought back hill aficionado & veteran journalist David Sirota to attempt to explain the unexplainable: Why did Democrats agree to two separate infrastructure bills when doing so drains their leverage?; Why are progressives suddenly willing to withhold their vote over climate policy when they bent the knee over the fight for $15?; Why does Bernie still go on Pod Save America? Ok, we didn't really discuss the last one. But we did analyze clips from Bernie's recent PSA interview, AOC's Morning Joe interview, and other notable media clips from the week.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to join the Bad Faith Discord and instantly unlock our full premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Ben Dalton (@wbend).

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).