The Takeaway

Do you think your child has what it takes to figure out the biggest fib?

Deborah Goldstein, executive producer, head writer and host of The Big Fib Podcast joins us to talk about the show and give us some tips on how to win.

Even in her first term, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been unusually influential over the Democratic party's agenda — often by simply saying "no." But with her recent announcement that she is changing her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent, the balance of power within the Democratic party is shifting. What effects will her departure from the party have on the 118th Congress and President Biden’s agenda next year? We also check back in on what progress can be made before the end of the lame duck session on "last chance" bills for Democrats.

We're joined by Natalie Jennings, the Senior Politics editor at Vox, and Sophia Cai, Congressional reporter at Axios.

Baking phenom Michael Platt joins us to talk about his new book Michaels Desserts: Sweets for a Cause, and how he merges his love for baking with his desire to help combat food insecurity. Michael also shares with us some of the baking tips he’s learned along the way.

As the 117th Congress comes to an end in the next couple of weeks, we are once again facing a looming government shutdown. Congress has until midnight on Friday to reach a deal to avoid a partial government closure. 

This comes as Democrats and Republicans debate over a $1.5 trillion dollar omnibus bill that would fund the government through the end of September 2023.

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked for members to be prepared to pass a short-term continuing resolution that would give Congress an extra week to hash out the funding bill before the holidays.

But this isn’t the first time we’ve faced a potential government shutdown this year. On September 30th, Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown by 12 hours, by passing a stopgap measure that kicked the shutdown can down the road to where we are today. And if it feels like the threat of a looming shutdown happens on an annual basis, that’s because it does. Just last December, Congress punted their spending deadline into the new year, and didn’t pass a government funding bill until March of THIS year. The government has shut down 21 times since 1976. 

And while it might seem like shutting things down saves a little money – it turns out that turning off the federal government is expensive! The 35 day shutdown during the Trump administration was the  longest in history and according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) it reduced Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by a total of $11 billion dollars. A Senate report estimated the last three shutdowns cost taxpayers about $4 billion.

We speak more about the looming government shutdown with Roben Farzad, host of Full Disclosure on NPR’s member station station Virginia Public Radio.

Last Thursday, more than 1,100 New York Times journalists and other staff members walked off the job in a historic 24 hour strike, punctuating nearly two years of contract negotiations over better compensation, pensions and healthcare benefits. Despite the image of prestige that working at a legacy news outlet conjures, workers describe being unable to make ends meet on the pay the Times provides. 

The situation is similar for part-time faculty at The New School, a private university with a public image bolstered by its history of fostering radical inquiry. These 2,600 adjuncts teach nearly 90% of the school's classes, but many say they work multiple jobs due to low pay. The portion who were teaching this semester recently ended the longest adjunct strike in U.S. history — three weeks.

These labor disputes are an expression of the inherent tension for mission-driven creative and intellectual workers: holding management accountable while continuing to be accountable to the public they serve.

We're joined by Alex Press, labor reporter and staff writer at Jacobin Magazine, and Natasha Lennard, columnist at The Intercept and part-time faculty member at The New School.

With the "tripledemic" surging—that is flu, RSV, and COVID-19—parts of the country are also seeing a medicine shortage. Last week, the CDC addressed the surge in illness across the country, and acknowledged some medicine shortages in some parts of the country. 

Moore County, N.C.-- On Saturday, December 3rd, a shooting attack was carried out on two power substations located in Moore County, NC. Residents were without power for nearly 5 days. This power grid attack happened about 3 weeks after a gunman entered Club Q in Colorado Springs and killed 5 people while injuring over 20 others and during a time when white supremacist protests of drag events have popped up in places like Boston and Ohio. 

According to CNN, the power outage caused by the attack had real harm on Moore County's community. Residents in nursing homes who rely on electrical medical equipment were forced to go without electricity, some falling ill because of the lack of power. Homes lacked heat as the temperature dipped. One person was even found dead; details of their death have yet to be confirmed by investigators. 

While the motivation behind the attacks is still under investigation, the same day Moore County lost power from the attack, a group of permitted protesters and counter protesters gathered outside of the Southern Theatre in Southern Pines to protest The Downtown Divas Drag Show that Naomi Dix was headlining.  

The drag show was a fundraiser for Sandhills Pride, a local nonprofit supporting the LGBTQ+ community and was headlined by Durham-based drag artist and House of Cox (H.O.C.) house member Naomi Dix. Naomi tells us her story of the events that night and Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, joins to give some context around the alarming rate of violent backlash to drag performances and drag artists we've been seeing all over the country.

Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka will premiere her first comedy special The Intruder on HBO & HBO MAX on December 10th.

She drops in to talk to us about the comedy special, representation in comedy, and her comedy inspiration.

On Thursday, Brittney Griner was released from Russian custody. The WNBA star had been sentenced in August to serve nine years in a penal colony, after being convicted for having trace amounts of CBD oil in her luggage. 

In order to bring her home, the U.S. agreed to release Viktor Bout, a Russian weapons dealer who has served 11 years of a 25 year sentence in the U.S. for illegal arms trading.

We speak with Amira Rose Davis, Assistant Professor of Black Studies at the University of Texas—Austin and co-host of Burn It All Down, a feminist sports podcast; and Jemele Hill, author of "Uphill: A Memoir" and contributing writer for The Atlantic.

The indie folk-rock band Fleet Foxes released their first EP in 2008, and since then have evolved from a fixture of the Pacific Northwest music scene into an internationally-acclaimed ensemble known for their richly-layered sounds and resonant, timeless lyrics. Their latest album, Shore (2020), was nominated for a Grammy.

Lead vocalist and principal songwriter Robin Pecknold recently released the book, "Wading in Waist-High Water: The Lyrics of Fleet Foxes." It collects his entire catalogue of lyrics, with notes on his creative inspirations and approaches. He joined The Takeaway to give a window into his songwriting process.

"Compiling and notating the lyrics here was maybe the first time I'd read them together. And one thing I kept noticing was the preponderance of question marks," Pecknold writes. 

"To me, a song is good if it is asking interesting questions. And a song is done when those questions are no longer confusing the song's maker."