Aly Richards and Amanda Janoo come from the same county and went to rural elementary schools. But their approaches to government are different. We lay it all out and give them a chance to explain themselves.

The Peabody winning journalist/podcaster talks about small town Vermont life and the characters that make life real.  And we did it LIVE before a packed house at the Montpelier Performing Arts HUB.

Check our Erica's hit podcast:

rumblestripvermont.com

We don't actually know much about the progressive icon and that is exactly the way he wants it. But for those who want more, who need more, it is all there in Dan Chiasson's new memoir about growing up in Burlington, VT as Bernie came to power. Turns out it takes an accomplished poet to do the digging and talk to the people who were there at the beginning of the Bernie story. It can be maddening, hilarious, and inspiring to be around this guy. And it's all there in this great new book. 

The corporate overlords that own Ben & Jerry's want the profits but not the social responsibility. Cohen says he wants "less money - more justice.'' He joined me in Montpelier, VT for the first LIVE episode of the Conflict of Interest podcast.

Turns out shortly after birth. My psychologist classmate explains how MAGA got that way. And a lot more. 

How did an Obama speechwriter find himself getting rolled in the freezing Jersey shore surf? A search for something better, some common ground with a Joe Rogan brother-in-law. He didn't find "common'' ground. But he may have found something better. We compare our surf journeys. (His is funnier than mine).

The Pulitzer Prize winner discusses his new book about the role of the CIA since 9-11. What should they be doing? What are they getting wrong? It turns out that CIA is really bad at some things - torture and running prisons around the world. They are fairly good at other things - namely espionage and intelligence. And Weiner ends with a straight-up warning about the perils of making the CIA a play toy for Donald Trump. 

Gates, Summers, Prince Andrew and the rest of them thought they were untouchable, that the rules didn't apply to them. How did we get here - to a system of rules for some and none for everyone else? And why didn't anyone in real power do anything? Dr. Felicia Kornbluh - who specializes in the histories of feminism, gender, social welfare, and reproductive politics - explains.

Andrew Luger was the top cop in Minnesota under Obama and Biden.  He says the ICE surge was a failure because it violates what law enforcement should be about.  

Note: Luger predicted that Trump would recognize defeat and pull out, which it did shortly after we talked.  

How did we get here? Buckley had a lot to do with it and writer Sam Tanenhaus lays it all bare in his fabulous biography of the conservative writer and provocateur who planted the seeds for Goldwater to Reagan to Trump. What would he say today?