Friends,

Welcome back to our Saturday coffee klatch with Heather Lofthouse (Executive Director of Inequality Media Civic Action, and my former student), as we plumb the depths of the past week. Grab a cup, pull up a chair, take our poll (if you wish), and join us.

Today we explore:

— Alex Murdaugh’s sentence for murder, and why the country is so fixated on this case.

— The revolt of the citizens of East Palestine, Ohio, against the Norfolk Southern Railway, and how they exemplify what’s gone wrong in America.

— The Conservative Political Action Coalition’s annual blowout, and why the GOP is coming apart.

— Trump’s outrage with Rupert Murdoch for conceding that Trump has been pushing a Big Lie, and what Murdoch’s admission reveals about his non-news organization.

— And more.

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