Current Affairs

By Current AffairsComedy News Government

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per episode

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Current Affairs episodes

April 25, 2019 UNLOCKED: Jane McAlevey on organizing vs. mobilizing
UNLOCKED FROM THE BIRD FEED: Current Affairs host Pete Davis sits down with labor organizer and scholar Jane McAlevey to talk about organizing for power in the New Gilded Age. Jane is a contributing writer at The Nation and is the author of Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell) and No Shortcuts: Organizing For Power in the New Gilded Age.
Watch her speech at The Harvard Law Forum here. Read her recent Nation article on the power of the strike here.
Get bonus episodes immediately when they are released by becoming a patron at our patreon page.
42 min
April 15, 2019 UNLOCKED: Virgil Texas on the Chapo Trap House phenomenon
UNLOCKED FROM THE PATREON BIRD FEED: Current Affairs host Pete Davis talks with Virgil Texas about his hit podcast, Chapo Trap House: its origins, its philosophy, its style, its future.
Read Virgil's old Carl Diggler dispatches here.
This episode was edited by Dan Thorn at Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.
To listen to Bird Feed episodes right when they come out, become a patron at our Patreon page: Patreon.com/CurrentAffairs.
51 min
April 12, 2019#23: You Can Call Me (Weird) Al
The Current Affairs panel discuss why they fight in the first place and then share what cultural products are their favorite lefty gateway drugs.
The Panel
Sparky Abraham, finance editor
Lyta Gold, amusements editor
Aisling McCrea, contributing editor
Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief
Pete Davis, host
Our lefty gateway drugs
Kurt Vonnegut's God Bless You Mr. Rosewater
[Black Star](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Star_(rap_duo)
Mos Def's Black on Both Sides
A Bug’s Life
Star Trek
Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"
The musical [Cabaret](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabaret_(musical)
Soylent Green
Hey Arnold!
The Ralph Nader documentary An Unreasonable Man
Weird Al's UHF
The Noam Chomsky piece Pete referred to is "When Chomsky Wept."
This episode was edited by Dan Thorn at Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, MA.
Support Current Affairs — and gain access to bonus episodes — by becoming a patron at our patreon page: Patreon.com/CurrentAffairs.
52 min
March 29, 2019#22: Meet the Candidates! (Part 2)
The entire Current Affairs team comes together (again!) to finish briefing listeners on as many of the Democratic presidential candidates as they can in two hours.
The Panel:
Vanessa A. Bee, social media editor
Brianna Rennix, senior editor
Sparky Abraham, finance editor
Oren Nimni, legal editor
Nick Slater, newsletter editor
Eli Massey, business manager
Lyta Gold, amusements editor
Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief
Pete Davis, host
Candidates discussed:
Pete Buttigieg
Beto O'Rourke
Jay Inslee
Kirsten Gillibrand
Bill Weld
John Delaney
Kamala Harris
Cory Booker
John Hickenlooper
Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel's 2008 video, "rock," is here.
Support Current Affairs — and gain access to the Bird Feed of bonus episodes — by becoming a patron at our Patreon page.
Many thanks to Dan Thorn, at Pink Noise Studios, for editing this episode.
1 hr 54 min
March 22, 2019 UNLOCKED: Rhiana Gunn-Wright on insurgent left policymaking
UNLOCKED FROM THE PATREON BIRD FEED: Current Affairs editor Nathan J. Robinson talks with lefty policy whiz Rhiana Gunn-Wright, the policy lead for the Green New Deal with New Consensus and former Policy Director for Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El Sayed. Topics discussed: making policy accessible, the Green New Deal, intersectionality in policymaking, and more!
Get bonus episodes immediately when they are released by becoming a patron at our patreon page.
1 hr 1 min
March 16, 2019#21: Meet the Candidates! (Part 1)
The entire Current Affairs team comes together to brief listeners on as many of the Democratic presidential candidates as they can in two hours (spoiler alert: we only could get through half!)
The Panel:
Briahna Joy Gray, contributing editor
Vanessa A. Bee, social media editor
Brianna Rennix, senior editor
Sparky Abraham, finance editor
Oren Nimni, legal editor
Nick Slater, newsletter editor
Lyta Gold, amusements eidtor
Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief
Pete Davis, host
Candidates discussed:
Joe Biden (read about his feud with Elizabeth Warren over banks here)
Marianne Williamson (read about the debate over 2020 and reparations here)
Amy Klobuchar (read Elizabeth Bruenig on feminism and her workplace abuse here)
Bernie Sanders (listen to his folk album here; watch his Debs documentary here)
Julian Castro (read about the HUD Mortgage Sale scandal here)
Elizabeth Warren (read about her groundbreaking Two-Income Trap book here)
Andrew Yang (read about the "Yang Gang"'s meme problem here)
Tulsi Gabbard (read about the mystery of Gabbard's values here)
Howard Schultz (read a profile of his feuds with the city of Seattle here)
Support Current Affairs — and gain access to the Bird Feed of bonus episodes — by becoming a patron at our Patreon page.
Many thanks to Dan Thorn, at Pink Noise Studios, for editing this episode.
2 hr
March 12, 2019 UNLOCKED: Maximillian Alvarez on amplifying the voices of working people
UNLOCKED FROM THE PATREON BIRD FEED: Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson sits down with Maximillian Alvarez, the host of Working People, a podcast in which ordinary people talk about their lives, jobs, struggles, and aspirations. Read excerpts from Maximillian's podcast here — and read his piece "Can the Working Class Speak?" here.
Get bonus episodes immediately when they are released by becoming a patron at our patreon page.
1 hr 9 min
March 02, 2019 UNLOCKED: Astra Taylor on her radically democratic life
UNLOCKED FROM THE BIRD FEED TO THE MAIN FEED: Current Affairs host Pete Davis sits down with filmmaker, writer and activist Astra Taylor. Check out Astra's three films — Zizek!, Examined Life, and What is Democracy? See her writing in The Nation and in her upcoming book, Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone. Learn about the debt strike project Astra co-founded here.
Learn more about Agnès Varda's The Gleaners and I is here.
Many thanks to Dan Thorn, at Pink Noise Studios, for editing the episode.
Get bonus episodes immediately when they are released by becoming a patreon at our patreon page.
34 min
February 27, 2019#20: Voicemailbag IV
Every fifth episode, we like to open up the phone lines and take callers. Join us as we answer questions about: science, Beto, doctors, reverse racism and Douglas Adams!
Our panel:
Briahna Joy Gray, contributing editor
Sparky Abraham, finance editor
Vanessa A. Bee, social media editor
Lyta Gold, amusements editor
Nathan J. Robinson, editor-in-chief
Pete Davis, host
Miscellaneous items
Douglas Adams's cookie story
Einstein's article on socialism
Chomsky's on the responsibility of intellectuals
Nathan on how rights don't mean slavery
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw's essay that coined the phrase "intersectionality"
Corrections
Vanessa said she likes "Vice" — she meant "Veep"
This episode was edited by Dan Thorn at Pink Noise Studios in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Support us by becoming a patron at Patreon.com/CurrentAffairs. Subscribe to the print edition at CurrentAffairs.org. Call into the next voicemail show at 504-867-8851.
1 hr 6 min
February 12, 2019 #19: The Chomsky Drop (ft. Noam Chomsky)
Yes, you read right. Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson sits down with the Patron Saint of Current Affairs, himself: Noam Chomsky!
Topics discussed include: consciousness, the limits of human knowledge, Steven Pinker, Jordan Peterson, academia, artificial intelligence and more.
Read Nathan's tribute to Chomsky here.
Support Current Affairs by becoming a patron at our patreon page.
55 min