Kickass News

Melissa Bernstein co-founded the wildly successful toy company Melissa & Doug.  You might think that this happily-married mother of 6, who has created over 5,000 toys which have sold over a billion dollars, is always chipper and full of positivity, but Melissa reveals that many days she wonders if she'll make it tomorrow.  She opens up about how her lifelong battle with existential anxiety and depression almost drove her to suicide, why she finally learned to manage it at age 50, and how she’s now on

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Former commander of NATO Admiral James Stavridis and decorated Marine and novelist Elliott Ackerman envision how a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea could lead to World War III in their disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction titled 2034: A Novel of the Next World War.  They discuss how they came together on this project and the power of fiction to draw attention to real world issues and potential areas of crisis.  Admiral Stavridis talks about the China’s increas

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It's official!  We're launching a brand new podcast network called Airwave this May!  In addition to Kickass News, Airwave will be the new home for many of your other favorite podcasts.  Airwave will also debut over a dozen original shows hosted by some of the leading thought leaders and storytellers in audio entertainment, including many of my most popular past guests.  

We can't do it without you though!  We need your financial support to fund our full production slate.  Please become a part of

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Bestselling author Walter Isaacson (Jobs, Leonardo DaVinci) shares how Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna and her collaborators blazed a trail in a field dominated by men and turned a curiosity of nature into an something that will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA.  He reveals how the technology known as CRISPR has launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.  Walter talks the controversy over so-called

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Howie Mandel talks about making his first comedy special in 20 years, his childhood growing up in Toronto, and how the show Candid Camera inspired him to pull an elaborate prank that got him expelled form high school. He shares how "winging it" the first time he want on stage turned into his signature improvisational style, and how he still finds much of his comedic inspiration from interacting with his audience.  He recalls opening for Diana Ross in Vegas, his very first TONIGHT SHOW appearance, how the H

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Dr. Zahi Hawass is the former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities and Director of Excavations at Giza, Saqqara, the Bahariya Oasis, and the Valley of the Kings. He is often referred to as “the real Indiana Jones, and some of his major finds include the Tombs of the Pyramid Builders at Giza, the Valley of the Golden Mummies, and multiple undiscovered pyramids.  Now he’s leading the biggest archeological excavation ever attempted in Egypt, and he is documenting the adventure in a new 2-hour special for dis

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James Beard Award-winning food writer and #1 bestselling author Mark Bittman offers a panoramic view of how the frenzy for food has driven human history to some of its most catastrophic moments, from slavery and genocide to our current moment, wherein Big Food exacerbates climate change, plunders our planet, and sickens its people.  Mark reveals how he first got the world to take food issues seriously, how we can rethink our food distribution systems, and take a different approach to feeding the wo

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Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious, The Butler) talks about his latest film The United States vs. Billie Holiday and how the 1971 movie Lady Sings the Blues inspired him to go into entertainment.  He reveals that he always has a personal connection to each of his films, that The United States vs Billie Holiday was the first movie that he has ever directed sober. and how his own struggle with drugs and alcohol gave him insight into Holiday’s lifelong addiction.  We discuss how the iconic s

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Journalist and author Gayle Tzemach Lemmon talks about the women who fought ISIS in Syria.  She discusses how the female fighters of Kobani helped to deliver the first blow to the previously unstoppable forces of the Islamic State and how that victory convinced the US that it had a reliable partner against ISIS.  She shares the individual stories of some of the brave women she encountered, including some who rose to command both women and men in combat, and some who were forced to marry ISIS fighters,

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Pulitzer Prize-winning author, scientist, and renowned polymath Jared Diamond reveals that many of the factors in how individuals cope with personal crises can also predict how countries survive national crises.  He profiles six nations in transition in his book Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, and shares his personal experiences and observations about those countries including why one should never utter the word "Finlandization" in Finland, how Chileans in the 1960’s never thought that

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