Current Affairs

A convoy to Cuba, Grok doxxes a sex worker,  Mamdani cuts the library, Pakistan has really fast jets, MGP declares war on sea lions, Andrew is arrested, and bugs are more popular than Trump.

📰 SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRIEFING: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Abigail Thorn is an actor, writer, and the creator of the widely acclaimed YouTube channel Philosophy Tube, where she explores politics, culture, and philosophy through performance and storytelling. She is currently starring in BLINK, a London stage play about livestreaming, voyeurism, and parasocial intimacy written years before those concepts entered mainstream discourse.

🎭 Subscribe to Philosophy Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ0HX-m_eSY

🎭 Get tickets to BLINK: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/blink-df19

0:00-3:21 BLINK and Parasocial Intimacy

3:21-7:39 Parasocial Relationships and Boundaries

7:39-11:08 Building Philosophy Tube

11:08-13:51 Aesthetics, Performance, and Ideas

13:51-22:36 Theatre vs. YouTube as Mediums

22:36-30:01 Performance in Politics Without Sacrificing Substance

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

1. 🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

🦩 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

The core right-wing principle is a belief in hierarchy, not the limitation of state power. 

🐍 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/07/why-conservatives-hate-the-government-but-love-the-cops 

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/ 

🦩 Use the code "15OFF" for a discount on Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

For Peter Thiel, JD Vance, and other figures on today’s far right, the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have become a cultural touchstone. Pity they don’t understand the first thing about them.

🧙‍♂️ Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-the-right-abuses-tolkien

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

EPA to stop animal testing, Palestinians go on general strike, Ye apologizes for his Nazism again, TikTok claims apparent censorship was caused by a power outage, and the government repeals workplace protections because they protect trans people.

📰 SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRIEFING: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Ro Khanna is the U.S. representative for California’s 17th Congressional district, more commonly known as “Silicon Valley.” He was a co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign in 2020, and there’s been speculation he may run for president himself in 2028. He joined Current Affairs associate editor Alex Skopic to discuss his bipartisan efforts to release the Epstein files, a “new FDR moment” for the Democratic Party, and the dangerous state of U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump.

🦩 Read Alex Skopic's Article on Ro Khanna: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/every-argument-against-the-california-billionaire-tax-is-wrong

🦩 Interview Transcript: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/ro-khanna

0:00–4:22 Why the Epstein Files Still Aren’t Public

4:22–5:18 Impeaching Attorney General Pam Bondi

5:18–7:05 What’s Inside the Epstein Files

7:05–8:38 Will the Epstein Files Ever Be Fully Released?

8:38–15:39 The Billionaire Tax & an FDR-Style Economic Vision

15:39–21:20 Should Billionaires Exist at All?

21:20–24:25 Gavin Newsom, Ben Shapiro, and Gaza

24:25–29:36 Ro Khanna Explains His Israel Aid Vote

29:36–31:58 Offensive vs. Defensive Weapons to Israel

31:58–35:36 China, Competition, and Rejecting a New Cold War

35:36–37:38 Can Congress Stop Trump’s Wars?

37:38–40:42 Should Trump Face War Crimes Charges?

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership 

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs 

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

The "Keep America Beautiful" campaign urged Americans to pick up their trash—so that companies could keep producing it.

🗑️ Read the full article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-sinister-origins-of-americas-anti-litter-movement

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Climate change is sinking posh London homes, pro-Palestine protesters face felony charges, Ugandan president cuts internet during election, Trump’s new Board of Peace, and Nike’s tone-deaf MLK Day basketball shoe.

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Will Sloan is a film critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Jacobin, and the Toronto Star. He is the co-host, with Luke Savage, of the podcast Michael and Us, which examines politics and ideology through popular film and television.

He is the author of Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, a critical reappraisal of the famously maligned filmmaker that challenges conventional ideas of “bad” art and cultural taste. Sloan joined Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson to discuss Ed Wood’s films, queer cinema, and what the politics of taste reveal about Hollywood, capitalism, and outsider art.

🎬 Get the book: https://orbooks.com/catalog/ed-wood/

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/

Donald Trump's overthrow of Nicolás Maduro sets a terrible precedent that severely erodes international sovereignty. Can other countries depose any leader they accuse of a crime?

🇻🇪 Read the article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-coup-in-venezuela-is-an-assault-on-the-whole-world

🦩SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT AFFAIRS MAGAZINE: https://www.currentaffairs.org/membership

🦩 PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/CurrentAffairs

🦩THE MYTH OF AMERICAN IDEALISM: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738224/the-myth-of-american-idealism-by-noam-chomsky-and-nathan-j-robinson/