Best Jacob Torrey Podcasts (2025)

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Data Centers Are a Climate Enemy w/ Ketan Joshi | Tech Won't Save Us 58:30

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4h ago58:30

58:30

Paris Marx is joined by Ketan Joshi to discuss how hyperscale data centers are fueling the consumption of more oil and gas, what that means for climate targets, and the insidious relationship between the tech and fossil fuel industries. Ketan Joshi is a climate writer and data analyst based in Oslo working with climate and environmental groups. Our…

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Trump condemns Marjorie Taylor Greene, praises Mamdani; plus Alice Waters on ‘A School Lunch Revolution’ / Start Making Sense 41:08

1d ago41:08

41:08

Last Friday Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she was quitting after Trump excommunicated her from MAGA, while the same day Trump welcomed Zorhan Mamdani to the White House with open arms and high praise. What’s going on with Trump? Harold Meyerson comments - he's editor at large of The American Prospect. Also: Alice Waters, the legendary founder of…

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Chinese Prestige: From May Fourth to Mao w/ Yidi Wu | American Prestige 52:20

5h ago52:20

52:20

In lieu of a typical Tuesday episode this week, we are releasing the first episode of our new miniseries Chinese Prestige. Annual subscribers already have access, while everyone else can get the 8 episodes for a whopping $5 for two weeks only. Enjoy! In this first episode of Chinese Prestige, Yidi, Danny, and Derek trace the origins of the Chinese …

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Angelo Herndon and the Radical Politics of Free Speech w/ Randall Kennedy | The Nation Podcast 36:19

13h ago36:19

36:19

Angelo Herndon was a Black coal miner turned Communist activist who was repeatedly “arrested, convicted of vagrancy, and incarcerated” for his efforts to educate and mobilize workers. In 1932, he helped organize an interracial protest against a county decision to cut off relief for the poor. But it wasn’t simply the protest that led to his chain-ga…

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The Age of Larry Summers and Jeffrey Epstein w/ Doug Henwood | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 42:48

1d ago42:48

42:48

The famed economist Larry Summers, not for the first time, finds himself the center of a scandal. He’s had to take a leave from Harvard, where he teaches, because of embarrassing emails he had with his late friend Jeffrey Epstein. I talked to economic journalist and Nation contributor Doug Henwood, a long-time Summers watcher, about the career of t…

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Metaphysically Blown Away: Torrey Peters on Zoë Schlanger’s The Light Eaters | Reading Writers 1:08:45

5d ago1:08:45

1:08:45

Charlotte overcomes her resistance to novels about sexual abuse in order to read Kate Elizabeth Russell’s excellent My Dark Vanessa, after which Jo introduces listeners to the freewheeling criminality of Diane DiMassa’s Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian. The ferociously intelligent Torrey Peters then joins for a conversation about plant consciousne…

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MBS White House Visit, US Pushes New Ukraine Deal, UN Votes on Gaza | American Prestige 41:33

6d ago41:33

41:33

Danny and Derek are praying for Kim Kardashian to pass the bar. In this week’s news: Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia visits the White House (1:56); the U.S. pushes a new Ukraine peace deal (8:58); Israel continues killing people in Gaza (12:30), Palestinians’ shelters are failing in heavy rain (13:57), the UN votes on Trump’s Gaza plan (15:22),…

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Peter Thiel is the Real Antichrist w/ Gil Duran | Tech Won't Save Us 1:01:04

5d ago1:01:04

1:01:04

Paris Marx is joined by Gil Duran to discuss how Peter Thiel’s bizarre obsession with the antichrist is really a desperate and embarrassing attempt to divert attention from his own misdeeds. Gil Duran writes The Nerd Reich and is working on his first book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Global Democracy. Our Sponsors: * Check…

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House Republicans Defy Trump; plus, when WWII Vets Came Home | Start Making Sense 34:00

6d ago34:00

34:00

After almost a year of Trump stonewalling about the Epstein files, Republicans in the House finally took a stand against him. More than a hundred Republican members were prepared to vote for releasing the files. Facing a dramatic defeat, on Sunday night Trump caved, and Tuesday the vote in the House was nearly unanimous. John Nichols has our analys…

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Dignity, Memory, and Surveillance w/ Lea Ypi | American Prestige 57:43

7d ago57:43

57:43

Danny and Derek speak with political theorist and author Lea Ypi about her new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined, which explores how personal memory intersects with imperial collapse, nationalism, and the surveillance state. They discuss her grandmother’s journey from Ottoman Salonika to Albania amid the rise of competing political projects; archiv…

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Jeffrey Epstein and the American Empire w/ Van Jackson | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 41:05

10d ago41:05

41:05

The scandal around Jeffrey Epstein, who trafficked and abused children and died in a prison cell in 2019, has never gone away. It continues to explode now that House Democrats have released thousands of emails from Epstein and his cronies. But while the political class and mainstream media are understandably focused on the sex scandal, another dime…

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Setting the House on Fire: Lauren Michele Jackson on Nettie Jones’ Fish Tales | Reading Writers 56:27

12d ago56:27

56:27

This week, Jo discovers the seminal elegance of Sylvia Wynter’s Black Metamorphosis: New Natives in a New World, while Charlotte considers how well she would fare if she traveled back in time to the era of Alexander the Great, as depicted in Mary Renault’s The Persian Boy. Then, the dazzling Lauren Michele Jackson joins to discuss the chaotic, thri…

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(Solar) Power to the People with Elizabeth Yeampierre | A People's Climate 25:09

11d ago25:09

25:09

In this episode of A People’s Climate, host Shilpi Chhotray sits down with Elizabeth Yeampierre, veteran organizer and executive director of UPROSE, Brooklyn’s oldest Latino community-based organization, to explore how frontline communities are taking climate action into their own hands. In a capitalist world that prioritizes bigger, faster, and mo…

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Thailand–Cambodia Ceasefire Breaks Down, U.S. Escalates Military Presence Around Venezuela, Gaza Ceasefire Framework Stalls w/ Nathaniel Powell | American Prestige 54:59

13d ago54:59

54:59

Subscribe now to skip the ads and get all of our content! Danny and Derek are vigorously programmed to bring you the news headlines. This week: the Thai-Cambodia ceasefire breaks down as border fire and incidents escalate (0:30); in Gaza, Trump’s framework stalls while governments debate the shape and purpose of an international security force (4:2…

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Saudi Arabia is Using Games to Improve Its Image w/ Nathan Grayson | Tech Won't Save Us 56:02

13d ago56:02

56:02

Paris Marx is joined by Nathan Grayson to discuss how Saudi Arabia is buying its way into the sports, comedy, and video game industries in order to broaden its investment portfolio and launder its international reputation. Nathan Grayson is a cofounder of Aftermath and the author of Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behi…

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Mamdani’s Momentum, plus ‘The Radical Fund’ | Start Making Sense 41:47

14d ago41:47

41:47

As mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani will be the first socialist in American history to hold significant power. It’s a huge opportunity, and a huge responsibility. Bhaskar Sunkara, president of The Nation and author of “The Socialist Manifesto,” will comment. Also: How a band of visionaries and a million dollars upended America – in the 1920s,…

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ThinkstScapes Research Roundup - Q3 - 2025 38:15

16d ago38:15

38:15

Q3’25 ThinkstScapes Microsoft-induced security woes One Token to rule them all - obtaining Global Admin in every Entra ID tenant via Actor tokens Dirk-jan Mollema [Blog post] Turning Microsoft's Login Page into our Phishing Infrastructure Keanu Nys [Slides] [Video] You snooze you lose: RPC-Racer winning RPC endpoints against services Ron Ben Yizhak…

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Silicon Valley and the Israeli Occupation w/ Omar Zahzah | American Prestige 49:04

15d ago49:04

49:04

Derek is joined by Omar Zahzah, Assistant Professor of Arab Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies at San Francisco State University, to talk about his book Terms of Servitude: Zionism, Silicon Valley, and Digital Settler Colonialism. They discuss the Sheikh Jarrah uprising and the digital front of the Palestinian struggle, the difference between…

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The Cult of the Cybertruck with Maya Vinokour | The Nation Podcast 32:24

16d ago32:24

32:24

Perhaps no single object embodies our dystopian, oligarchical, ugly present more than the Cybertruck—the hulking spacecraft-cum-tank that Elon Musk has foisted on the world. The Cybertruck is unpleasant to look at, unsafe to drive, and, judging from its anemic sales, unwanted by most of the public. It has been described as an even bigger flop than …

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The American Right’s Civil War Over Israel w/ David Austin Walsh | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 51:32

18d ago51:32

51:32

Much has been written about how the Israel/Palestine conflict is dividing the left, but the same is true of the right. Tucker Carlson’s interview with the antisemitic critic of Israel Nick Fuentes has created an intense debate on the right about anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, currently playing itself out in turmoil at the Heritage Foundation. I sp…

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Reading Writers Is BACK, with Rumaan Alam | Reading Writers 1:02:54

17d ago1:02:54

1:02:54

Reading Writers is BACK, and in partnership with Bookforum Magazine! In this first episode of Season 3, hosts Jo and Charlotte delve into the (separate) letter collections of Vincent Van Gogh and D.H. Lawrence before they’re joined by superstar novelist Rumaan Alam to reflect on magazine eras of yore via Tina Brown’s The Vanity Fair Diaries. Also m…

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Seeds of Resistance with Vivien Sansour | A People's Climate 31:07

19d ago31:07

31:07

In this episode of A People’s Climate, host Shilpi Chhotray sits down with Vivien Sansour, founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, for a powerful conversation about resistance in the face of Israeli militarism, occupation, and ecological devastation. For two years, the world watched Israel’s genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing campaign ac…

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Why We Need a War on Cars w/ Doug Gordon and Sarah Goodyear | Tech Won't Save Us 1:02:46

20d ago1:02:46

1:02:46

Paris Marx is joined by Doug Gordon and Sarah Goodyear to discuss the many ways cars have negatively affected society, how tech companies seek to entrench those problems, and what can really be done to improve mobility in our communities. Doug Gordon is a TV producer and writer. Sarah Goodyear is a journalist and author. They are the co-hosts of Th…

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Dem Voters Triumph; plus That Springsteen Movie 39:05

20d ago39:05

39:05

Democratic candidates won everywhere they ran on Tuesday – Abagail Spanberger and a Democratic state legislature in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey, Gavin Newsom’s redistricting proposition in California, and of course Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Trump didn’t even campaign against any them. John Nichols has our analysis. Also: Greil Mar…

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The Wagner Group and the New Era of Private War w/ John Lechner | American Prestige 1:03:03

21d ago1:03:03

1:03:03

Danny and Derek welcome journalist and author John Lechner to discuss his book, Death is Our Business: Russian Mercenaries in the New Era of Warfare. The conversation cuts through the mainstream narrative of the Wagner Group to explore the true history of Yevgeny Prigozhin, from his start as a product of post-Soviet "gangster capitalism" in 1990s S…

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Why the Supreme Court Will Never Stand Up to Trump with Elie Mystal | The Nation Podcast 51:46

21d ago51:46

51:46

It can be tempting to look away from the Supreme Court. The cases are complicated, the traditions archaic, and these days the decisions are almost always devastating and the reasoning often perverse. But alas, the Court is too important to ignore, particularly as John Roberts and his five ultra- conservative colleagues have turned it into a rubber …

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After the American Empire w/ Trita Parsi | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 36:18

22d ago36:18

36:18

Donald Trump claims he wants to be the peace president and has even lobbied for a Nobel Peace Prize. But his foreign policy has been wildly contradictory. While the United States is clearly retrenching from many parts of the world, violence against hemispheric neighbors is increasing. I talked to Trita Parsi, co-founder and executive vice president…

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Memphis vs. Musk, with Rep. Justin J. Pearson | A People's Climate 37:00

25d ago37:00

37:00

Host Shilpi Chhotray is joined by Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson, a fierce advocate taking on corporate power — from Big Oil to Big Tech. You may know him as one of the two Black representatives who was expelled for demanding gun reform on the House floor after The Covenant school shooting in Nashville. But long before becoming on…

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Trump Asia Tour and Xi Summit, RSF Massacres in Sudan, US Continues Bombing Boats Off South America Coast | American Prestige 51:47

27d ago51:47

51:47

What’s spookier than international relations? This week in the news roundup: Trump tours Asia to talk trade deals (1:28), a Thai-Cambodia accord (7:11), and to meet with Xi (8:45); the RSF captures of Al-Fashir in Sudan with reports of mass killings (12:19); Gaza sees the deadliest day of Israeli bombardments since the ceasefire began (17:19); the …

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We Need to Cut Our Dependence on US Tech. Here’s How to Start. | Tech Won't Save Us 46:07

27d ago46:07

46:07

Paris Marx celebrates the 300th episode of Tech Won’t Save Us by sharing his reasons to push for digital sovereignty and get off US tech. On top of explaining how that dependence gives the US governments and its tech companies power over us, Paris also provides tips of alternative services to consider migrating to. Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado…

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Voters, Democrats, and Redistricting—Plus, Confederate Monuments in LA | Start Making Sense 42:02

28d ago42:02

42:02

Voters can take a stand against Trump’s candidates in next Tuesday’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, and New York City – and move toward redistricting that favors Democrats. Harold Meyerson explains. Also: a new art exhibit in Los Angeles, called ‘Monuments,’ displays ten decommissioned Confederate monuments alongside t…

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ICE and the Age of Grift w/ Alex Aviña | American Prestige 57:46

30d ago57:46

57:46

Alex Aviña is back on the podcast, this time to talk about the evolution of ICE and the U.S. security state. They discuss the convergence of the war on terror, the war on drugs, and the war on migrants; the transformation of the border into a domestic counterinsurgency project; ICE’s roots in settler colonialism; the role of whiteness and assimilat…

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The Rush to War Against Venezuela with Van Jackson | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 43:24

29d ago43:24

43:24

On Friday, the self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced the US was sending an aircraft carrier to bolster its attacks on Venezuelan boats (which the Trump administration alleges, without evidence, are trafficking drugs). I spoke to international relations scholar Van Jackson (whose work can be found here) about the motives for this new…

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Trump's Designs on Latin America with Greg Grandin | The Nation Podcast 34:48

1M ago34:48

34:48

On October 14, Donald Trump announced that the United States had blown up a boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people on board. It was the fifth such US strike on a vessel in the Caribbean in the last six weeks. In total, 27 people have been killed in the attacks. Trump has claimed that the bombings are part of a fight against drug cartel…

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All Revolution Is Based On Land with Leah Penniman | A People's Climate 35:40

1M ago35:40

35:40

Solving the climate crisis isn’t about reinventing the wheel or the latest tech scheme — it can be as simple as growing food and building community. Host Shilpi Chhotray chats with Leah Penniman, farmer, educator, and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, about the intersection of land, food justice, and racial equity. Leah shares how Afro-Indigenous farmi…

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Gaza Ceasefire Tenuous, US Strikes More “Drug Boats,” Saudi State Visit | American Prestige 52:53

1M ago52:53

52:53

Rest assured, no one on the AP team has any undeclared tattoos. In this week’s news roundup: In Israel-Palestine, Gaza’s so-called ceasefire holds after another weekend of Israeli strikes (1:36), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders Israel to allow more humanitarian aid (8:16), and reports emerge of a plan to partition Gaza (11:48) as J.…

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Silicon Valley Doesn’t Know What Makes a Good City w/ Joanne McNeil | Tech Won't Save Us 55:08

1M ago55:08

55:08

Paris Marx is joined by Joanne McNeil to discuss the proliferation of delivery bots and robotaxis and how they recycle disproven claims about how technology will improve transportation. Joanne McNeil is a freelance writer and the author of Wrong Way and Lurking: How a Person Became a User. Our Sponsors: * Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://a…

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Rebecca Solnit on No Kings—Plus, Reforming the LAPD after Rodney King | Start Making Sense 42:07

1M ago42:07

42:07

No Kings Day on Oct. 18 was the largest peaceful protest in American history. Rebecca Solnit comments, and refutes Republican statements about violence on the left. Her most recent book is “Orwell’s Roses.” Also: the fight to control the LA police: a decades long effort that culminated in 1992, after the Rodney King riots, when longtime police chie…

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The Myth of Free Speech w/ Fara Dabhoiwala | American Prestige 58:12

1M ago58:12

58:12

Danny and Derek speak with historian Fara Dabhoiwala, author of What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea, about the complex history of one of liberalism’s proudest ideals, and how it largely emerged from hypocrisy and self-interest. They trace its 18th-century birth in the polemics of corrupt British journalists, its exclusion of women …

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Trump’s Theory of Politics w/ Kim Phillips-Fein | The Nation Podcast 22:44

1M ago22:44

22:44

"Are Trump and Trumpism best understood as the consolidation of an elite economic program, as a nostalgia-laced brew of prejudice and rage, or as a coherent, forceful new style of authoritarian rule—and if it’s the latter, why is this happening now?" That's the question that historian and Columbia professor Kim Phillips-Fein asks in her latest pie…

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The Political Consequences of Gaza w/ Yousef Munayyer | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 38:40

1M ago38:40

38:40

The fragile ceasefire negotiated between Israel and Hamas hasn’t ended the violence, but it has for now lessened it. But even if the ceasefire holds, the need for a political solution to Palestinian dispossession remains. To discuss the issue of accountability, I spoke to Yousef Munayyer, who is the head of the Palestine/Israel Program and Senior F…

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The Water Remembers with Amy Bowers Cordalis | A People's Climate 30:55

1M ago30:55

30:55

For the first time in over a century, the Klamath River flows free again—thanks to the vision, courage, and determination of the Yurok Tribe. In this episode of A People’s Climate, Shilpi Chhotray talks with Amy Bowers Cordalis, a member of the Yurok Tribe and leader in the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. From devastating fish kills an…

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Gaza Ceasefire, CIA in Venezuela, Madagascar Coup w/ Nathaniel Powell | American Prestige 1:02:36

1M ago1:02:36

1:02:36

Lead might be in our protein supplements, but Danny and Derek bring you the news free of most heavy metals. This week: the ceasefire in Gaza begins with prisoner exchanges (1:38), but controversy arises over deceased captives (5:30), plus Israeli violations and Hamas clashes with armed factions (9:35), and a summit in Sharm El Sheikh (14:36); a Uni…

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Smart Glasses Are Ushering In An Anti-Social World w/ Chris Gilliard | Tech Won't Save Us 55:18

1M ago55:18

55:18

Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss how tech CEOs are pushing a new generation of AI-powered smart glasses by promising they’ll be stylish and indispensable to workers in a desperate attempt to convince us we should want their luxury surveillance gadgets. Chris Gilliard is the co-director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute and…

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No Kings Day: “It’s Gonna be Fun,” plus “One Battle After Another” | Start Making Sense 34:48

1M ago34:48

34:48

Saturday is the second No Kings Day – it should be the biggest single day of protest in American history, with more than 2,500 events planned. Leah Greenberg will explain the preparations – she’s co-founder of Indivisible, the group that called the first No Kings day, June 14 – five million people participated in that one, held the same day as Trum…

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American Sociocide w/ Charles Derber | American Prestige 1:27:02

1M ago1:27:02

1:27:02

Danny and Derek speak with sociologist Charles Derber about how American society is tearing itself apart, as explored in his book Bonfire: American Sociocide, Broken Relations, and the Quest for Democracy. They discuss the decline of civic trust, the rise of atomized “me” culture, the tech-driven Gilded Age, neoliberalism and loneliness, Silicon Va…

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Revolutionary Violence and One Battle After Another w/ David Klion | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer 50:20

2M ago50:20

50:20

Few movies have ever been as timely as Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film One Battle After Another, which traces the battle between revolutionary resistance groups trying to protect immigrants and an authoritarian government run by racists. There are scenes from the movie that feel like they are being played out right now on the streets of Chicago,…

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It’s Never A Strategy To Remain Quiet with Nick Tilsen | A People's Climate 29:08

2M ago29:08

29:08

What does true climate justice look like when it’s rooted in sovereignty, resistance, and liberation? In this powerful episode of A People’s Climate, Shilpi Chhotray sits down with Nick Tilsen—Oglala Lakota land defender and CEO of NDN Collective—to unpack the meaning of LandBack, the historic fight for the Black Hills, the release of political pri…

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Venezuela-US Escalation, Myanmar Airstrike, France’s Political Crisis | American Prestige 38:33

2M ago38:33

38:33

Yes, we will be releasing 25 subtle variations of this news roundup in order to catapult ourselves to the top of the podcast charts, and no, we are not sorry. This week: a ceasefire agreement was reached for Gaza, but there was too much information for us to cover in the news, so please check out our special here. Syria’s interim government handpic…

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The Gilded Rage of Tech Billionaires w/ Jacob Silverman | Tech Won't Save Us 55:01

2M ago55:01

55:01

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss Jacob’s new book Gilded Rage, which explores the radicalization of Silicon Valley leaders, who are exerting their growing influence to shape our society for the worse. Jacob Silverman is an independent journalist and the author of ⁠Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley⁠. O…