Start Making Sense

Paris Marx is joined by Edward Ongweso Jr. to discuss Kara Swisher’s attempt to rebrand herself as the most feared journalist in Silicon Valley, how she spent her career forwarding the industry’s narratives, and the larger problems with access journalism.Edward Ongweso Jr. is finance editor at Logics Magazine and co-host of This Machine Kills.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The issues and the language that win for Democrats: research shows it’s not just “jobs,” but attacking the rich. Bhaskar Sunkara, President of The Nation and author of The Socialist Manifesto, explains.Also: why did Hamas decide to provoke massive Israeli retaliation now? Hussein Ibish, who writes for The Atlantic, the New York Times, and Daily Beast, says Hamas had a clear political goal on October 7: to defeat the Palestinian secular nationalists of Fatah and the PLO.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek again chat with Penny Von Eschen, William R. Kennan Jr. professor of American studies and professor of history at UVA, about her book Paradoxes of Nostalgia: Cold War Triumphalism and Global Disorder since 1989. This second part of the conversation picks up with Cold War nostalgia in American pop culture, the 90s search for a new “bad guy” in places like DPRK/North Korea and the Balkans, the “kitschification” of the Cold War, ways this nostalgia manifested throughout the War on Terror, how U.S.-Russia relations were reshaped in the 1990s and 2000s, and the influences of this refracted view of the Cold War on the “New Cold War” dynamic we’re seeing today.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this week's news episode of American Prestige, Derek and Danny return with the news. This week: In Gaza, the IDF kills members of the World Central Kitchen organization (0:31), Biden follows up with Netanyahu (6:18), more reports on the IDF’s AI targeting systems (10:35), and more; Israeli airstrikes hit Iranian IRGC officers in Syria (20:59); a drone strike in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw (25:04); the DPRK/North Korea tests a hypersonic missile (26:51); the results of Senegal’s election (29:01); Somalia expels the Ethiopian ambassador (31:02); a terrorist attack in Moscow (32:43); NATO discusses a Ukraine fund (35:27); a UN update on displacement in Haiti (38:42); and a New Cold War update featuring a Biden-Xi phone call (41:28).Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Kat Tenbarge to discuss the proliferation of AI-generated, non-consensual sexual images, their impact on the victims, and the potential fallout for tech companies who helped make it all possible. Note there is some discussion of self-harm and suicide in this episode.Kat Tenbarge is a tech and culture writer at NBC News.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Standing Together, Israel’s biggest Jewish-Palestinian grassroots movement, is organizing against the war and for a Palestinian state. Sally Abed, one of the group’s founders, explains their vision, their strategy, and their recent actions.Also: Cities everywhere in America are Democratic, and often raising minimum wages and strengthening rent control. But in states where Republicans hold unchecked power, state governments are blocking cities from acting. Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of The American Prospects. Reports on preemption—and on “pre-preemption.”Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, we chat with Penny Von Eschen, William R. Kennan Jr. professor of American Studies and professor of history at UVA, about her book Paradoxes of Nostalgia: Cold War Triumphalism and Global Disorder since 1989.In this first part of the discussion, the group explores the affective dimension of nostalgia, how the “end of history” and “clash of civilizations” narratives influenced U.S. policy starting in the 1990s. We also discuss the post-Cold War malaise that took hold, and the proliferation of anti-government ideologies amidst a massive increase in military spending.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, Michael Brenes and Stephen discuss the new volume Danny and Michael edited, Rethinking U.S. World Power: Domestic Histories of U.S. Foreign Relations. They talk about the current tenor in DC around foreign policy, the degree to which domestic factors affect U.S. decisions therein, and how their careers thus far have shaped their thinking.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Zach Weinersmith to discuss the impracticalities of space colonies some interested parties keep forgetting to mention.Zach Weinersmith co-wrote A City On Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? with Kelly Weinersmith. He also makes the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Minimum wage initiatives on the ballot in battleground states could mobilize potential Democratic voters who are unenthusiastic about Biden. Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage explains the strategy for Arizona, Michigan, and Ohio.Also: 100 American cities and towns have formally called for a ceasefire in Gaza. John Nichols has our report.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek speak with Michael G. Vann, professor of history at California State University, Sacramento, about Indonesia, which recently held an election resulting in Prabowo Subianto as president-elect. They discuss the country’s era of reform (Reformasi) since the end of Suharto’s rule in 1998, the composition of its elite class, Prabowo’s controversial career long predating his 2024 campaign, the issues motivating voters in this election, and potential legal challenges to him ultimately taking power.Check out Michael’s work in Jacobin, as well as his book The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Jeet Heer talks to Jacob Heilbrunn about the American right’s long history of opposing democracy.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of American Prestige, Antony Blinken plays the blues while Danny and Derek bring you the news. This week: in Gaza, famine sets in (0:29), U.S.-Israel tensions rise over a potential Rafah invasion (3:52), and more; Pakistan conducts airstrikes in Afghanistan (12:11); Indonesia’s general election results are confirmed (14:37); the DPRK/North Korea tests a hypersonic missile engine (17:28); there’s new evidence of coral bleaching in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (19:15); a Sudan humanitarian update (20:55); Niger’s junta government kicks out U.S. forces (23:00); Vladimir Putin wins reelection in Russia (26:42); Ukraine strikes targets in Russia and is debating a new conscription bill (27:52); the EU debates using Russian assets to support Ukraine* (32:52); the Colombian government is in peace talks with the Clan Del Golfo (Gulf Clan) (35:41); an update on CARICOM’s transition plan for Haiti (37:26); and a new study finds no evidence of brain damage from Havana Syndrome (40:02).Advertising Inquir

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the motivations behind the proposed TikTok ban and what the effort tells us about US tech policy.Jacob Silverman is a tech journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the campaign to end American funding for Israel’s war in Gaza, a key front is the fight against AIPAC. This week, more than a hundred prominent American Jews have joined in a statement opposing AIPAC and its efforts to defeat Democratic candidates who have criticized Israeli government policy toward Palestinians. The signers include author Ariel Dorfman, actors Elliott Gould and Wallace Shawn, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s. Alan Minsky, Executive Director of Progressive Democrats of America, is on the podcast to explain.Also on this episode: David Cole, National Legal Director of the ACLU, makes the case for freedom of speech on campus and against cancel culture, starting from the confrontation between Elise Stefanik and the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of the American Prestige podcast, we speak with Jemima Pierre, professor of global race in the Institute of Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Justice (GRSJ) at the University of British Columbia, about foreign intervention in Haiti—namely instances led by the U.S. and European powers— from the country’s inception to Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation last week.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of The Time of Monsters, Marshall Steinbaum on economics as a toxic discipline.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week on American Prestige: Russia kicks off its presidential election (1:47); a Gaza humanitarian update (4:29) and Biden speaks on a Rafah invasion (11:24); more Israeli strikes in Lebanon (15:30); U.S. policy potentially shifts on DPRK/North Korea (17:17); in Sudan, the military makes gains in Omdurman (20:20); Ukraine attacks Russian oil facilities (24:26) and receives a U.S. stopgap aid package (26:54); the right surges in Portugal’s election (29:37); PM Ariel Henry resigns as chaos ensues in Haiti (32:20); and the U.S. expands its lead in global arms sales (35:17).Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by Ed Zitron to discuss the public’s growing disillusionment with the tech industry as it pivoted to chasing profits instead of providing us with anything useful.Ed Zitron is the host of Better Offline and writes the Where’s Your Ed At newsletter. He’s also the CEO of EZPR.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

After gangs took over most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, agreed to step aside. Long-time Haiti observer Amy Wilentz analyzes the forces at work shaping the country’s next steps.Also: the polls and the pollsters are missing the political potential in 9 million people who have turned 18 since the last election. Steve Phillips explains – his book, ‘How We Win the Civil War,’ is out now in a new edition, updated for the 2024 election.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy