We're back with our 20th episode - right in time for another fast moving election season.  We're focusing on the growing concerns of post-Election Day issues, and reminding everyone that this, to has happened before -- in the 1876 presidential election.

Episode #4 - It HAS happened Here

Black Reconstrustion in America - W.E.B. Dubois

Rolling Stone - Swing State Election Deniers Article

Constitution Center.org - 1876 election review

Equal Justice Initiative - Reconstruction in America

The Podcast returns with a look back at the two highly consequential decisions from the Supreme Court's last term: Affirmative Action and the 303 Creative case.

Ed Blum speaks to Houstion Chinese Alliance, 2015

Affirmative Action, Mismatch, and Economic Mobility After California’s Proposition 209 (UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy)

Conservative activist behind US affirmative action cases sues venture capital fund (Reuters)

303 Creative LLC vs. Elenis (League of Women Voters)

Michigan hair salon Studio 8 turns away trans clients, limiting service for LGBTQ patrons (USA Today)

We're back with the second installment of our Courts & Constitution episodes! In Part II we continue the discussion about SCOTUS' role in interpreting the Constitution, and the potential of the highly important Moore vs. Harper case to set more uncharted precedent. We also examine the movement by well-funded groups to rewrite the Constitution, which could concentrate power even more in the hands of the few.

Moore v. Harper - SCOTUSBlog.com

Elections Clause, US Constitution

SCOTUS' biggest case this term threatens American Democracy - Washington Post

​​Republicans' next big play - re-writing the Constitution (Business Insider)

13th - ALEC & Stand your Ground laws (YouTube)

The right is seeking to re-write the Constitution - Center for Media & Democracy

Who is Barre Seid? (The Hill)

Patagonia founder donates company to fight climate change - CNBC.com

State of money in politics - opensecrets.org

Rebecca Solnit: Hope is an embrace of the unknown - The Guardian

The first of a two-part series on the Federal Courts & the Constitution, Part I focuses on the history & ideologies driving SCOTUS decisions today.

uscourts.gov - basic info on the Supreme Court

Justice Antonin Scalia on Charlie Rose Show: Philosophy of an Originalist

Elie Mystal: Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution

SCOTUS ‘should reconsider’ contraception, same-sex marriage rulings (POLITICO)

Justice Sotomayor on 60 Minutes, 2013 (excerpt)

A second Constitutional Convention? Some Republicans want to force one (NY Times)

We are back with Season #2 of Catch Me Up To Speed!  Our second season begins with a review of our 5 news tips in action. We showcase the coverage of California primary election results as an example of how these tips can work in concert to provide a fuller view of current news events.

NY Times: Progressive Backlash in CA Fuels Dem Debate on crime (June 8, 2022)

Newsweek: Progressives face urban revolt (June 8, 2022)

Mission Local: on the SF Recall (Prop H)

Alec Karakatsanis Substack: How to Spin an Election (June 9, 2022)

NY Magazine: CA 'Law & Order' narrative didn't survive late returns

LA Times: CA primary lesson for pundits:Don’t speak too soon in the age of mail-in voting (June 22nd)

Philadelphia Inquirer: PA House to investigate DA Krassner

Philadelphia Inquirer: Committee to Investigate DA Krassner's office selected (July 13th, 2022)

Our first podcast of 2022 features special guest Kortnei Morris, who gets us up to speed on 4 exceptional black women as a fitting send-off to Black History Month: Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Pauli Murray, and Susie Revels Cayton.

Bio of Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Fannie Lou Hamer

https://www.paulimurraycenter.com/

Susie Revels Cayton

https://www.jstor.org/

We're back with Episode #14, where we take a look at how  our foreign policy is shaped in politics & media, the array of think tanks that do the shaping, and two popular past foreign policy visions that are all but forgotten: FDR's 'Good Neighbor' policy and JFK's 'Alliance for Progress.'

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (Showtime)

Global Go-To Think Tank index report (2020)

Anti-colonial policies of FDR (JStor, Political Science Quarterly)

JFK & Hammarskjold vs. the Power Elite (James Dieugenio)

HR McMaster on Afghanistan (PBS News Hour, August 16, 2021)

Kennedy, Johnson & the nonaligned World (Robert Rakove)

Battling Wall Street (Donald Gibson)

Some call the Texas Heartbeat Act a novel way to ban abortions. But this style of law, enforced by bounty hunters instead of state governments, isn’t new: It’s a return to laws during slavery and Jim Crow. In this episode, we’ll look at how the courts permitted these laws in the past -- and how they paved the way for Texas’ current abortion law. 

Supreme Court declines hearing on Texas 'Heartbeat' Act (NY Times)

Is there a 'Fetal Heartbeat' at 6 weeks? (LiveScience)

Heather Cox Richardson: Texas law aims at Civil Rights as well as abortion

Justice Sotomayor's dissent (The Nation)

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Origins of the Religious Right (POLITICO)

The 'Fifth Circuit Four'

US Justice Dept. sues Texas over abortion law (NY Times)

We're back with the second podcast on our fifth news tip - seek out the news they DON'T tell you.  

In this episode we focus on three international news events that received differing, yet often incomplete, news coverage for the past month: the protests & political upheaval in Haiti, the protests (and reaction to them) in  Cuba, and the ongoing attempts to prosecute Julian Assange. 

NY Times op-ed on Haiti history: 'We owe Haiti a debt'

Major Gen. Smedley Butler (excerpt from Untold History of the U.S.)

Leaders of the 1991 coup of Aristide - NY Times

Washington Post Op-ed, July 2021: US must intervene in Haiti

Wikileaks release: State Dept. intervention in Haiti labor dispute (The Nation)

Democracy Now, June 28th 2021 - Assange extradition case update

Daniel Ellsburg's motivation to leak docs in 2021 (The Intercept)

op-ed on Haiti's democracy in wake of assassination of Pres. Moise (CNN.com)

Miami Herald op-ed on Haiti after assassination

Roland Martin Unfiltered - interview w/Haiti ambassador to U.S., July 2021

Frank Suarez calls for intervention in Cuba

Sen. Robert Menendez - 'challenge the regime' in Cuba

We're back with the first of a two-part series on our 5th news tip - look  out for the news they don't tell you.  Our focus in this episode is on  foreign  policy, starting with Venezuela...and showing how growing your list of news sources can give a better view of what is going on.

OAS calls for new elections in Honduras - NBC News/Assoc. Press, Dec. 2017

Why people are fleeing Honduras - NPR

Ryan Grim on U.S. History - 'Rising', The Hill, June 10 2021

Understanding Venezuela's economic collapse - Venezuela Blog,  2018

Venezuela's jailed, exiled or barred opposition politicians - Reuters, 2018

2018 Venezuelan election results - NPR, May 2018

Juan Guaido's quick ascent to self-declared Venezuelan president - NY Times, Jan. 2019

John Bolton on regime change in Venezuela - The Grayzone/Fox Business News, Jan. 2019

Elliott Abrams' controversial history in Latin America - CNN.com, Jan. 2019

Elliott Abrams State Dept. briefing, Feb. 7th 2019

U.S backed aid massed on Venezuela border - NPR, Feb. 16th 2019

Feb. 24th 2019 Venezuelan Aid incident on Tienditas Bridge - CNN.com

Feb. 24th Venezuelan Aid incident - TheGrayzone.com

NY Times' video review of Venezuelan aid incident - March 10, 2019, NY Times

USAID Inspector General report on 2019 Venezuelan aid incident - April 2021, Associated Press