On this episode of The Time of Monsters, David Klion and Matt Duss on a popular right-wing fabulist.

Has former president Barack Obama secretly been running the American elite — including the media and wide parts of the government — for nearly 20 years? Has he been doing so on behalf of a subversive agenda to empower Iran and undermine American exceptionalism? That’s the argument made by David Samuels in a much-read piece in The Tablet. 

On this episode, I dissect Samuels arguments with two friends of the podcast, David Klion and Matt Duss. We not only look at the problems with Samuel’s reactionary fable, but also take up why it is so popular on the right and even draws on conspiratorial ideas that have a wider purchase among centrists and conservative liberals.

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The endlessly elusive Bob Dylan seems an unlikely candidate for a Hollywood biopic. John Powers, Critic-at-Large on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” talks about how the new movie “A Complete Unknown” captures a defining moment in his career -- and in American culture .

Also: Our holiday reading guide: Dozens of books about Trump were published at the end of his first term, some selling millions of copies. Now that he’s coming back, it’s time to look at what some of those books had to say about him. Host Jon Wiener presents his list, including the one with the best title: “A Very Stable Genius.” 

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Bob Dylan fans have been puzzled and troubled by his Christmas album ever since he released it in 2009. To help figure out what Dylan was doing, we turn to Sean Wilentz. He’s the official historian at BobDylan.com, and he also teaches history at Princeton.

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On this episode of American Prestige, our last news roundup before the holidays —but stay tuned for other fun AP programming! This week: in Palestine-Israel, yet more Gaza ceasefire talks (1:33) and two new reports on Israeli conduct in the Strip (6:54); in Syria, reports of reprisal attacks (12:18), the US fails to broker a Turkey-SDF ceasefire (16:23), and Israel occupies the country's south (20:40); Russia appears to have moved military assets from Ukraine to Libya (23:32); the RSF carries out more attacks in Sudan's Al-Fashir (27:13); South Korea's Yoon is impeached again (28:21); in Russia-Ukraine, a prominent Russian general is assassinated (30:46), Russian forces close in on Pokrovsk (32:47), and Zelenskyy is in Brussels to talk peacekeepers (34:52); and a New Cold War update featuring the US and China extending a research agreement (37:19), a US naval vessel docking in Cambodia (38:26), and the Trump FP team targeting China (40:59).

If you want to keep following AP over the break, you can access our feed over at americanprestigepod.com!

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Hotel and restaurant workers in Los Angeles won a $30 minimum wage last week, Disneyland workers are getting $233 million in back pay, and Wisconsin public employees regained collective bargaining rights. Harold Meyerson reports on some victories in the class struggle in America.

Also: a special feature: novelist Rachel Kushner reports on the world of Nostalgia Drag Racing, where people make machines – with their hands. One of them is her teenage son.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny speaks with Andrew deWaard, assistant professor of media and popular culture at UC San Diego, about his book Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture. The two discuss how the falling rate of profit shapes the modern media landscape, the increased drive toward consolidation in entertainment companies, the big movers like private equity firms, hedge funds, asset managers, and venture capitalists, artists' limited ability to defend themselves, the rise of IP, and more.

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On this week's American Prestige news roundup: 2024 is officially the hottest year on record (0:57), particularly because the Arctic is no longer a carbon sink, but rather a net carbon emitter (2:40); regarding the situation in Syria, an update on the political transition (5:16), renewed fighting between the SDF and Turkish proxies (10:56), and Israel makes a land grab for an extended "buffer zone" (15:01); in Israel-Palestine, Hamas makes a major ceasefire concession (18:22); rebels in Myanmar seize the Bangladesh border (21:29) while other factions call for a ceasefire (22:51); President Yoon of South Korea survives his first impeachment vote and chaos ensues (24:30); Ethiopia and Somalia strike a deal to settle their recent tensions (30:14); in Russia-Ukraine, Trump's demand for a ceasefire panics Zelenskyy (33:22); Romania's constitutional court annuls the first round of its presidential election (37:14); an armed group commits a massacre in Haiti (40:25); and the Biden administration is building migrant detention facilities (42:00).

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On this episode of Tech Won’t Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the data-informed decisions that are changing the way we all experience air travel, mostly for the worse. 

Amanda Mull is a senior reporter and Buying Power columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek.

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Kamala Harris lost not because Democratic voters switched to Trump, Steve Phillips shows, but because of a massive failure of the Democrats to turn out their base. 

Also: In a new episode of “The Children’s Hour,” Amy Wilentz reports on “Lives of the In-Laws” – Ivanka’s and Tiffany’s – and comments also on the rise of Eric’s wife Lara, and about the latest schemes of Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner.

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On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek speak with Jeff Stein, White House economics reporter for The Washington Post, about his series on US sanctions for the Post, "The Money War". They talk about the function of economic sanctions for the US and how that's changed over time, broader cases like Iran to targeted ones like Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg, how sanctions can "disconnect" war from the public, the humanitarian impact, and more.

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