Left Anchor

The WGA won their strike against the Hollywood studios, President Biden is on the UAW picket line, Trump is talking with scab parts workers, and New York City was flooded briefly. We talk about it. Note: we discuss the possibility of replacing Dianne Feinstein at the beginning, before it was known that California Governor Newsom would nominate former labor organizer and Uber lobbyist Laphonza Butler to serve out the remainder of her term.

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Apologies for the radio silence over the last couple weeks, Alexi has been in Greece, Denmark, and Germany, and Ryan has been on a reporting trip in Finland. We just haven't had time to record. But we're back to discuss what Ryan learned about Finland's S Group cooperative retailer and how the broader Finnish society compares with America. Enjoy!

Ryan is traveling in Finland, so for this week we're unlocking a recent theory episode. How is socialism related to liberalism? This time we read two works on this question: "The Relationship Between Liberalism and Socialism," by Ed Rooksby, and "Why I Am Not A Liberal," by Liam Kofi Bright. We discuss how liberalism evolved, if socialism contradicts it or evolves out of it, and why billionaires are ontologically unhappy. Enjoy!

Donald Trump has now been indicted four times (though this was recorded before the most recent Georgia indictment). We discuss why this is different from the Mueller investigation, how Trump might escape justice by dragging it out until after the election, and Ulysses S. Grant's view on what happens to people who attempt to overthrow the government, plus some more optimistic news. Enjoy!

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss how capitalist inequality breaks people's brains. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

In this episode, first Ryan discusses his Heatmap article about Tesla and Elon Musk, as well as the book Ludicrous by Edward Neidermeyer. Then he interviews the Prospect's Luke Goldstein about his investigative article about Q-Cells, a South Korean solar panel company that has set up shop in Dalton, Georgia--the district represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Today we are talking the death of Tony Bennett and socialism banana discourse. Subscribe now to hear the whole episode!

We are taking this week off, so this time we're unlocking an old episode with Phil Christman, talking about his book How to be Normal, a collection of essays about the pandemic, masculinity, whiteness, religion, and much else besides.

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Alexi is back, and we are talking current events: the imploded Titanic submarine, the Elon-Zuckerberg cage match, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny in Russia, the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Joe Biden’s embrace of Narendra Modi, the Greek election, and how freight rail workers finally got paid sick leave. Enjoy! Also don’t miss Yanis Varoufakis’s commentary on the Greek economy.

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, video game journalist, critic, and creator merritt k discusses the state of the gaming press. Subscribe now to hear the whole thing!

Today we've got John Nichols on to discuss the book he wrote with Bernie Sanders, It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. Topics include Bernie's favorite writing technology, the definition of socialism, where the American left goes from here, and more. Enjoy!

In this long preview of the latest bonus episode, Ryan and David Dayen explore what's in the debt ceiling deal negotiated between the Biden administration and House Republicans. Subscribe now to hear the rest!

Today we've got historian David Broder on to discuss his book Mussolini's Grandchildren: Fascism in Contemporary Italy. The new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is the most right-wing person to hold the post since the fascist dictatorship. Where did she come from, how has the Italian far right evolved, and where is it going?

Today we've got Tanja von Knorring on to discuss what is happening with trans issues in Finland. She's a longstanding expert in this area, and explains the historical context regarding trans rights, how policy has changed recently, where the recently transphobic backlash there has come from, and more. Enjoy!

Today we've got Professor Mark Paul on to talk about his book The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights. We discuss the idea of an economic bill of rights, how the right stole the idea of "freedom," how to fix America with a few simple policies, and more. Enjoy!

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss how "James Medlock" posted a million bucks out of a reactionary venture capitalist. Subscribe now to hear the rest!

In this preview of our latest bonus episode, we discuss the incredibly deserved firing of Tucker Carlson from Fox News. Subscribe now to hear our discussion on Supreme Court corruption and Republicans' new push for child labor.

Today we've got Justin Joque on to talk about his book Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism. It's all about Bayesian versus frequentist statistics, big data, machine learning, AI chatbots, and how they're used in modern capitalism--highly relevant stuff these days. Enjoy!