Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa and Sarah Kendzior

Lessons from Ukraine Five Years After the Revolution

Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk, the head of the independent media network Hromadske TV, co-founded by a journalist - Mustafa Nayyem - that launched the EuroMaidan revolution with a Facebook post, looks back on lessons from Ukraine for the West. The discussion includes important insights for understanding international conflicts generally, like Ukraine and Venezuela, by focusing on the people caught in the middle and resisting seeing the world as a geopolitical chessboard.

Roger Stone: Democracy's Undertaker

The government may be back open, but the US is not out of danger–we are merely in the eye of the hurricane as damage from the shutdown mounts and Trump threatens both another shutdown and a scheduled “national emergency.” We note how female representatives like Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grasp the stakes and are acting as responsible leaders while Congress and the justice system, on the whole, continues to fail citizens.

The Comey Effect

This isn’t just a shutdown – it’s a hostile restructuring. Sarah and Andrea discuss the incredible toll it’s taken on workers, the economy and national security. We discuss the apocalyptic vision of much of the GOP elite, including rapture-fiend Mike Pompeo. We also discuss the NYT non-revelation that Trump is a Russian asset and ask yet again why the FBI didn’t do anything earlier. Andrea explains how “The Comey Effect” is the new butterfly effect.

Cabinet of Horrors

There is treason in the treasury, nepotism in the government, and corruption everywhere – it may be a new year, but it’s the same sad story for the US! This week Sarah and Andrea discuss the cabinet shakeups that have left our government in the hands of a criminal syndicate; the retirement of James Mattis and what it means for US foreign policy, especially in Russia and Ukraine; the explosive Buzzfeed expose on how the Treasury was compromised by the Kremlin in 2015 with the help of complicit Americans.

Individual One: The New Name of the GOP

It’s another wild week in the United States of America, where any child can grow up to be Individual One! Actually, that’s not true, you have to choose a life of crime and complicity, and this week’s Gaslit Nation discusses what’s new for the indicted, the people who failed to stop them, the accomplices, and the new guy who will likely let everyone walk, Iran-Contra style. We discuss how extreme wealth and corruption of the justice system have created a stratified class that can in a sense do no wro

Gaslit Nation Featurette: Pass a Law

In this special episode of Gaslit Nation, Andrea interviews her mother Tanya Chalupa who championed the child carseat law and the seatbelt law in California, as well as working on other child safety bills. She explains how to get a law passed even if, as she was, you're an outsider with very little experience. And yes, the big news of Manafort Monday is broken down - the explosive Guardian scoop - and Russia's escalation of its invasion of Ukraine.

The Blue Wave Continues: Kansas Rising

In this episode of Gaslit Nation, Sarah and Andrea are still way too excited about the midterm elections! The Blue Wave turned out to be a slow motion river flowing through the country and reshaping the political map in the process.

Gaslit Nation Featurette: Every District

We're excited to share this important discussion with Every District, a grassroots fundraising and data-driven effort to turn state governments blue. Regardless of the results of the 2018 midterms, we have a long way to go to rebuild our democracy. As we've covered before on Gaslit Nation, in our interview with Future Now, the battleground is in the states. Affordable health care, voting rights, a fair living wage are just some of the fundamental issues decided by our local representatives.

A Foreign Policy for the Left: Put Gas Station Dictatorships Out of Business

We call on a strong foreign policy for the left, one that's driven by turning America into a world leader of renewable energy to finally put gas station dictatorships like Putin's oil-rich Russia and MSB's Saudi Arabia out of business. It's far past time to confront the heinous human rights crimes of these regimes that kill journalists, kill and torture LGBTQ people and opposition leaders. By doing so, we will confront other urgent man-made dangers – the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Robert Mueller Will Not Save You

Goodbye checks and balances, hello authoritarian shitshow! In the latest Gaslit Nation, Sarah and Andrea discuss the demolishment of checks and balances now that the independence and integrity of the judiciary are gone – joining a legislature that has been, in the words of Senator Patrick Leahy, reduced to little more than an arm of the Trump White House. This was a historic week for America that will be remembered as a turning point toward consolidated autocracy. Speak out and vote while you still can.

The American Crisis: The View from Flyover Country, Part 2

In episode 6, Gaslit Nation continues its look at the decades of American crises that gave rise to Trumpism and paved the way for Russian interference in our democracy.

Computer Scientist Barbara Simons on Hacking, Paper Ballots, and Securing U.S. Elections

Sarah and Andrea interview Barbara Simons PhD, a computer scientist who specializes in election security, to answer the question on everyone’s mind: can our voting machines be attacked? Were they attacked in 2016? What’s in store for the midterms, and what can we, as citizens, do to protect our democracy? Plus a news recap, including Oleg Sentsov's 100th day on hunger strike protesting the treatment of political prisoners in Russia (#FreeSentsov), Omarosa's receipts, and Manafort's endless trial.

Harry Reid, Access Hollywood, and the Comey Chameleon

Amid the arrests of Maria Butina and other Russian agents for influencing the U.S. election, here we are with the second in a three-part series in which Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa look back at what was going on during that year, what signs were there, the media's misplaced focus on Clinton's emails, and how to ensure the 2018 midterms aren't a repeat of 2016.  Links: Patreon: patreon.com/gaslit Harry Reid's letter: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3035844-Reid-Letter-to-Comey.html

Welcome to Gaslit Nation

Join writers Sarah Kendzior and Andrea Chalupa for Gaslit Nation, a new bi-monthly podcast from DAME magazine that cuts through the noise of the news cycle to help listeners gain a sense of control in an out- of- control world.