Episodes

One of the interesting side effects of the post-Covid economy has been a surge in the power and influence employees hold. Wages in service industry jobs have risen dramatically as employers struggle to find workers. However, there have also been increasing stories of worker exploitation, leading to a surge in new unionization efforts. To discuss all of it, we’ve invited Michelle Eisen onto the show. Michelle is a Starbucks Barista and organizing member of Starbucks Workers United.

Many of us know about the Tulsa Massacre. But fewer of us know about the long history of innovation and the struggle for equity that continues in Greenwood to this day. Author Victor Luckerson aims to change that. Viktor is a journalist and author based in Tulsa who works to bring neglected black history to light. He is a former staff writer at The Ringer and business reporter for Time magazine. His new book Built from the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, America’ Black Wall S...

Over the past decade, bad policing has been a constant presence in the headlines, particularly in coverage of police violence against people of color. It makes us wonder if policing can be improved and changes in culture can be achieved. In his new book Walk the Walk, today’s guest Neil Gross examines three cities where he argues police chiefs were able to make significant improvements and culture changes in policing. In addition to being an author and former police officer, Neil is a professor ...

Since the right-wing activist judges on the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, pregnant people across the country have been put in great jeopardy. Our guests today are fighting back. Amanda Zurawski nearly lost her life when a Texas law prevented her from receiving an abortion after a medical emergency made her pregnancy nonviable. Molly Duane is an attorney helping Amanda and four other women sue the state of Texas in collaboration with the Center for Reproductive Rights.

46,000 deaths in America, every single year. We have more guns than people in the United States. And yet somehow, many states across the country are working to make it easier to get guns, easier to carry guns, and easier to kill people without consequence. This is partly because of the lies of the gun industry. To help us sort through the myths and find the truth, we’ve invited one of my favorite humans back on the show. Fred Guttenberg’s daughter Jaime was murdered in the Marjorie Stoneman Doug...

Ben the Producer here! Every so often, we like to switch things up here, and we're doing it again this week. Alyssa Milano switches roles and joins us as the guest to discuss the GOP's immoral and dangerous attacks against women and women's autonomy.

As Putin's war in Ukraine continues to rage on more than a year after his initial invasion, the toll it is taking is astonishing. A private Russian army seems to be running rampant without Kremlin oversight, civilians and civilian infrastructure are routinely and illegally attacked, and the people of Ukraine continue to suffer. To help make sense of it all, we've invited Owen Matthews on to the show. Owen is a longtime Moscow-based award-winning journalist who served as Newsweek's Moscow Bureau ...

Donald Trump fulfilled one of the decades-long goals of the American far right when he transformed the Supreme Court into a far-right majority body that will have huge impacts long after he is gone. To look at that shift, what it means for the court, and what it means for the country, we've invited Joan Biskupic into the show. Joan is CNN's Senior Supreme Court Analyst and author of the new book Nine Black Robes: Inside the Supreme Court's Drive to the Right and Its Historic Consequences.

Our guest this week is Jane Roper. Jane is the author of two previous books: a memoir, Double Time, and a novel, Eden Lake. Her short fiction, essays, and humor have appeared in publications including McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Millions, The Rumpus, Salon, and Poets & Writers and on NPR. Her new novel, The Society of Shame, is now available. ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF SHAME “If you liked Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, read The Society of Shame by Jane Roper.” —The Washington Post In ...

The past decades have seen a steady erosion of Democratic support from what used to be core voters: blue collar workers in factory towns. There are many reasons for this, and to explain what's happened and how to fix it, I've invited Mike Lux, founder of American Family Voices on to discuss. Mike is a writer and thought leader, and as the co-founder of Democracy Partners, one of the most influential voices in progressive politics in the United States.

If it seems like the richest people in the world are getting richer—at the expense of everyone else—it’s because they are. A recent report from Oxfam illustrates just how much richer the wealthiest people in the world are getting, and to discuss what it means for the rest of us, I’ve invited Nabil Ahmed onto the podcast. Nabil is the Director of Economic Justice for Oxfam America.

International Women’s Day is March 8th. To talk about the state of women in the workplace in 2023, I’ve invited Laura Casselman on the show. Laura is a former Radio City Rockette who beat the boys club to become CEO of JVZoo.com. Her book "Trust Your Increments" is now available to order.

We live in a time where our speech has unlimited potential reach given the communications advancements of the 21stcentury. Of course, that has led to a national and international debate on free speech. Our guest today, Dennis Baron, literally wrote the book on Free Speech. His book, You Can’t Always Say What You Want, is now available to order.

This year, Alyssa is celebrating her twentieth year as a UNICEF ambassador. That work has taken her around the world, including a trip she made to Egypt in 2022. To talk about the state of affairs in Egypt, and the UNICEF Ambassador program in general, we’ve invited Dina Heikal, UNICEF’s Social and Behavioral Change officer, who Alyssa met while in Egypt.

Two things we know about our political leadership in America is that it is too old, and too white. Our guests this week are working to change that. I’m happy to be joined by Zak Malamed and Sydney Minetta Brown of The Next 50, a political action committee working to elect the next generation of Democratic Leaders.

Jared Yates Sexton is a political analyst and author. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, Politico, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere. He is the co-host of The Muckrake Podcast and his new book THE MIDNIGHT KINGDOM: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis is now available to order.

It shouldn’t be a secret that white supremacy was baked into the founding of this nation, but it’s still not a story we like to tell as part of our history. Our guest this week is working to change that. David Mura is an essayist, memoirist, poet and fiction writer who brings a unique perspective to our multi-racial and multi-cultural society. A third-generation Japanese-American, he has written intimately about his life as a man of color and the connections between race, culture and history. Hi...

Our guest this week is Cisco Aguilar. Cisco was elected as Nevada Secretary of State in 2022 and assumed office on January 2, 2023. As an attorney and small business owner, and with years of experience in the private and public sectors, Cisco brings a unique perspective and expertise into the Secretary of State’s Office.

We continue our week-long observation of MLK Day with Heather McGhee. On this episode we welcomed Heather McGhee back to the show. Heather is a bestselling author, a speaker, and the Board Chair for Color of Change, the country’s largest online racial justice organization. She’s also the host of the podcast The Sum of Us, which launched in July, 2022.

We're continuing our observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day by highlighting episodes in our archive with just some of the people we've interviewed doing the hard work of Racial Justice. People like Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who has been representing California’s 13th district since 1999. She was the only person in Congress to vote against the expanded use of force authorization immediately after the 9/11 attacks and has been a constant force for peace in Congress since. She is working now to...

We're continuing our week-long honoring of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by highlighting some of the episodes in our archives featuring people doing the hard work of racial justice, like Mondale Robinson. Mondale is the founder and Principal of Black Male Voter Project, an organization dedicated to overcoming systemic disenfranchisement of Black voters, and Black men in particular, in the electoral process.

In honor of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, we will be highlighting an episode from our archives each day this week with someone fighting for racial justice. To start, we're joined by Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman. Anna is a is a researcher, writer, science communicator and activist. She is the co-founder of The Sadie Collective, the only nonprofit organization addressing the lack of Black women in economics and related fields, and the editor of The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken...

We live in a culture which stresses self-sacrifice and perceived security and stability over the potential happiness and self-discovery which can come with quitting work and moving on to something new. Our guest this week is living proof of how fruitful quitting can be. Keith Boykin is a TV and film producer, a national political commentator, a New York Times bestselling author, and a former White House aide to President Bill Clinton. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Boyki...

If you've followed Alyssa or her career since the 1980s, you know that the only reason she cares that she has a platform is that it allows her to work to make the world a better place. And that's why I'm so excited about this episode. We've invited four of your (and our) favorite influencers from TikTok, who are using THEIR platforms, in exciting new ways. In this episode, you'll hear familiar voices talking about how and why they use those voices for change in 2023 and beyond, including Ashleln...