It’s hard to watch the news and not feel like the world is sliding off its axis. In this episode of “Almost Above Average,” Jonathan Travis and I peel back the headlines you can’t quite shake — from the latest twists in the Trump-Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell spiral (with Congress dangling the possibility of immunity in exchange for the ultimate tell-all), to a horrific mass shooting in Manhattan that leaves us, once again, reeling from American gun violence. We don’t shy away from the discomfort, the doubts, or the questions no one seems willing to ask about who pulls the strings in our public life — or what it means when politicians treat women as trophies and spectators as accessories.

But even as darkness dominates the cycle, there are sparks: like Israela, a newborn whose name carries both a tribute and a blessing. Born to a Filipino captive freed from Gaza, her very existence is a reminder that resilience still blooms even in the scorched earth of tragedy.

We talk about media, about memory, about not letting the conversation die just because the screen changes or our feeds refresh. These stories matter. And so does the conversation.

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