The Inscrutable Senator Kyrsten Sinema

During Sinema's brief time in office, she has gained a reputation for being particularly inscrutable. She is known for rarely holding town halls with constituents or taking questions from the press. Last week, five members of Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Veterans Advisory Council publicly stepped down, calling her “one of the principal obstacles to progress.” The Takeaway talks to one of those members, Sylvia González Andersh, a U.S. Air Force Veteran, to get some more insight on Kyrsten Sinema.

Delays in Reconciliation Deal Hamper Biden's Trip to Europe

President Biden is traveling through Europe this weekend, for a trip that includes meeting with world leaders at the Group of 20 summit in Rome and the UN’s climate summit, COP26. Anthony Adragna, Congressional reporter for POLITICO and author of the Congress Minutes, POLITICO’s guide to what’s happening on Capitol Hill, joined The Takeaway to discuss.

The State of Black Women's Representation in American Politics

In 2021, there are a record number of  Black women serving in state legislatures. More Black women than ever before contested for and won Congressional seats in 2020.  But after the Governor of California appointed a man to fill the former Senate seat of Vice President Kamala Harris, there is now not a single Black woman in the U.S. Senate. For more on all this, The Takeaway spoke to Kimberly Peeler-Allen, a visiting practitioner at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University and co-founder of Higher Heights,  a group focused on Black women’s political power as voters and representatives.

The Implications of Private Military Training Complexes in North Carolina

After the riots at the Capitol on January 6th, we learned that a number of the insurrectionists had received training at private, tactical training sites. Laura Flanders, host of The Laura Flanders Show, spoke to residents and council members in North Carolina who have seen these military complexes set up shop in their communities. Our host speaks with Laura and Christina Davis McCoy, secretary of the Hoke County NAACP about the rise in private military training sites, the greater implications, and what residents can do to keep them out of their backyards.

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.