Since it was founded 23 years ago, the Center for Economic and Policy Research has sought to challenge the right-wing consensus that often rules economic policymaking in Washington, D.C. CEPR co-founder Dean Baker joins Jon Schwarz to discuss his career, his thoughts on the Biden economy, and his ideas for the future.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By the time the Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in response to monkeypox last week, there were already nearly 7,000 cases in the U.S. Microbiologist Joseph Osmundson joins The Intercept’s Maia Hibbett to discuss the failings of U.S. medical infrastructure in confronting this latest viral epidemic. They also discuss his book "Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between," which uses queer theory to shed a novel light on our understanding of the viruses that shape our lives.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi< landed in Taiwan on Tuesday, ending speculation about whether she would visit the island during her tour of east Asia. Political reactions in the U.S. have been divided, particularly among progressives. Tobita Chow of Justice is Global and Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, join Intercept reporter Mara Hvistendahl to discuss.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Wednesday evening, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., put out a joint statement announcing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The more than 700-page bill the two came to terms on includes $369 billion for “energy security and climate change.” If it passes, that substantial level of investment is projected to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2030 by 40 percent. “An initial review of the agreement indicates that this will mark a historic direct investment in renewable energy and will unleash hundreds of billions of private investment for moonshot projects,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told Ryan Grim after the deal was announced.Khanna has spent months working with Manchin to keep him in talks. The bill also includes a 15 percent corporate minimum tax on companies with profits of more than $1 billion a year; $80 billion over 10 years for IRS tax enforcement; and an expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies. Khanna joins Grim to discuss the negotiations and the significance of the bill.If you’d like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/give. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s hearing of the House Select Committee on the January 6, 2021, attack revealed embarrassing new details about President Donald Trump and his supporters, including footage of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., fleeing the U.S. Capitol moments after encouraging the rioters. The hearings have undoubtedly been good TV, but what have they added to our substantive understanding of the legal questions surrounding Trump’s conduct? Washington Editor Nausicaa Renner talks with Intercept reporters Ken Klippenstein and Rob Mackey about the hearings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new collection of work by the late investigative reporter Robert Parry, titled “American Dispatches,” chronicles the late journalist’s career, from his origins as a student activist to his later reporting on corruption and wrongdoing at the highest heights of government. Parry’s son Nat, who edited the book, joins Jon Schwarz to discuss his father’s life and work.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Missouri Senate candidate Jason Kander was in the middle of a promising run for mayor of Kansas City when he unexpectedly dropped out of the race to seek treatment for mental health problems he was experiencing as a consequence of his time in Afghanistan. In a new book, “Invisible Storm: A Soldier's Memoir of Politics and PTSD,” Kander explains how he finally realized that he needed help — and how that realization led him to a whole new life.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Robert Kuttner’s new book, “Going Big: FDR’s Legacy, Biden’s New Deal, and the Struggle to Save Democracy,” he explains how we got to our present political inflection point, how high the stakes are, and what comes next. Kuttner — who co-founded the Economic Policy Institute as well as The American Prospect — joins Jon Schwarz to discuss.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After this week’s runoff elections in Colombia, former Bogotá Mayor Gustavo Petro is set to become the South American country’s first leftist president. Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, director for the Andes at the Washington Office on Latin America, joins Ryan Grim to discuss what Petro’s election means and how it happened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the Biden era, progressive groups in Washington have increasingly found themselves paralyzed by internal tumult at the very moment when their efforts are needed to push the more ambitious elements of the president’s agenda through Congress. Behind the scenes, the leaders of these groups express frustration with the organizational culture wrought by their younger employees and fear of becoming embroiled in a “callout” scandal. Ryan Grim talks with The Intercept’s Nausicaa Renner about his new story on the subject.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the capitol began hearings. We thought this would be a good time to revisit the interviews we did after January 6th, 2021. First, Ryan spoke with photographer Jon Farina and reporter Matt Fuller, who were reporting from inside the Capitol that day. Then he spoke to Rep. Pramila Jayapal about her experiences during the attack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In her new book, “Dirt Road Revival: How to Rebuild Rural Politics and Why Our Future Depends On It,” Maine state Sen. Chloe Maxmin tackles one of the most pressing problems confronting the modern Democratic Party: how to reverse its decadeslong backslide in rural support. Maxmin and her co-author and campaign manager Canyon Woodward join Ryan Grim to discuss.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In March, the Commerce Department announced that it would be investigating Chinese solar firms suspected of illegally dumping low-cost panels onto the international market. Some of the same companies are also suspected of employing Uyghur forced labor in making their products. That announcement has gotten <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/11/1097644931/solar-panels-solar-power-u-s-investigates-china-trade-rules">pushback</a> from even President Joe Biden’s close allies, who worry that new tariffs on Chinese solar imports will harm the U.S. solar industry. Ryan gets Senator Elizabeth Warren's thoughts on the trade war, then talks with Lori Wallach, director of Rethink Trade at the American Economic Liberties Project.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Progressive Democrats scored a number of high-profile wins in the Pennsylvania primaries this week. State Rep. Summer Lee seems poised to win her race in the blue-leaning 12th District and become the first Black woman to represent Pennsylvania in Congress; meanwhile, Izzy Smith-Wade-El, associated with the grassroots group Lancaster Stands Up in southern Pennsylvania, won his Democratic primary for a seat in the state legislature. Smith-Wade-El joins Ryan Grim to talk about what Pennsylvania’s apparent left-wing surge means for the midterms.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As their country’s economic crisis continues to spiral out of control, Afghans are finding themselves forced to resort to increasingly desperate measures just to get enough food for their families. The crisis is driven by the US refusal to release frozen Afghan central bank reserves, a measure that might restore some semblance of normalcy to the economy. Afghan journalist Masood Shnizai rejoins the podcast to discuss the situation in his country.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early days of the pandemic, the theory that Covid-19 may have originated in a virology lab was often dismissed as a xenophobic right-wing conspiracy theory. Over the intervening months and years, new information has cast a different light on the idea. Reporters Katherine Eban, Mara Hvistendahl, and Sharon Lerner join Ryan Grim to discuss the lab-leak theory.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Earlier this evening, Politico reported on what appears to be a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court striking down Roe V. Wade. In light of the news, we're re-running our interview with Ilyse Hogue of NARAL Pro-Choice from October 2020. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, after nearly 1,000 days of arbitrary detention, the environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger was released from house arrest. On this week’s podcast, Donziger talks to Intercept investigative reporter Sharon Lerner and Ryan Grim about his <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/01/29/chevron-ecuador-lawsuit-steven-donziger/">decadelong legal battle</a> with Chevron over land contamination in Ecuador. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As deputy campaign manager for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential run, Ari Rabin-Havt got an intimate look at the daily life of the independent senator from Vermont. Now he’s chronicled those experiences in a new book, “The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders.”https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2020, former foster child Mackenzie Fierceton received a Rhodes Scholarship as a self-identified “first generation, low income” student at the University of Pennsylvania. But the acclaim quickly devolved into acrimony as the university and the Rhodes Trust began questioning aspects of Fierceton’s backstory. The battle between her and the school was chronicled by Rachel Aviv in the New Yorker earlier this month. Fierceton joins Ryan Grim to discuss the saga of her battle with UPenn and why the Ivy League institution seems to have so much trouble recognizing the complexity of poverty in America.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Yemen cease-fire, which took effect last week, is the first serious truce between the country's warring parties in six years. The factions in Yemen agreed to a two-month truce proposed by the United Nations. And on Thursday, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, Yemen’s exiled president, said he would transfer power to an eight-member presidential council, suggesting progress in ending the war. All of this comes on the heels of a new Yemen War Powers Resolution — announced by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. — to end U.S. involvement in the war. Hassan El-Tayyab, the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s legislative director for Middle East policy, joins Ryan Grim to discuss the cease-fire, efforts to end the war in Yemen, factors at play, and the likelihood of finally seeing an end to the war and humanitarian crisis in the country.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Sirota went from advising Sen. Bernie Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign to co-developing the story for Adam McKay’s film “Don’t Look Up,” which was nominated for — among other things — the Academy Award for best picture. It didn’t win, but Sirota was in Hollywood for the big night. He joins Ryan Grim to discuss why Hollywood is so averse to political films, the difficulty of generating interest in the climate crisis, and, yes, the slap.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Biden administration is drafting an executive order to invoke the Defense Production Act to develop green energy storage technology — an essential element for a clean energy future. The war in Ukraine and soaring oil and gas prices have renewed conversations in Washington about passing a major clean energy package. Recently at CERAWeek, a major energy conference, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin shared his views on what he would and would not support. Ryan Grim and Duchuy Huynh, CEO and director at Green Cooling Tower Solutions, unpack Manchin’s thoughts on transitioning to clean energy. They also discuss the present state of clean energy technology and what’s needed to fully bring about a green energy future and displace fossil fuels.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In standard economic theory, prices are simply expressions of information about the scarcity of (and demand for) goods. But in his new book “Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World,” writer and filmmaker Rupert Russell argues that the modern era of algorithm-driven speculation has normalized unpredictable price swings in commodity markets and turned prices into “engines of chaos.” Russell joins Ryan Grim to discuss.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The CERAWeek conference took place this week in Houston. CERAWeek is an annual gathering of major players in the energy sector; CEOs, government officials, and financiers are among the conference's attendees. The major theme this year, of course, was the effect of Russia’s war in Ukraine on global oil and gas markets — in particular, President Joe Biden’s announcement Tuesday that the U.S. would move to ban imports of Russian oil. The New Republic’s Kate Aronoff was there in Houston to witness the conference. She joins Ryan Grim to discuss what she saw and heard, including — yes, actually — a Broadway song parody titled “Don’t Cry for Me, Hydrocarbons.”https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us,” declared Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. “It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space.” This conception of Ukrainian history forms the bedrock of Putin’s justification for invading the former Soviet republic, independent since 1991. On this week’s podcast, Ryan Grim talks with Ukrainian sociologist Volodymyr Ishchenko about his country’s history, from the Dark Ages up the current war. They discuss Ukraine’s history of anarchist politics, the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution that toppled pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, and the tangled question of modern Ukrainian identity.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Crime is surging in Houston, and homicide detectives are given free rein as they race to close cases. Investigators are certain that Charles Raby is guilty of Edna Franklin’s murder — and that DNA evidence will prove it. But once Charles confesses, the forensic investigation stops.Murderville, an investigative podcast hosted by senior Intercept reporters Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith, examines the systemic failures that lead to wrongful convictions. Season Two takes Segura and Smith to the death penalty capital of the country, Harris County, Texas, where they investigate a disturbing crime, a startling confession, and a story that doesn’t add up. To follow the series, subscribe to Murderville wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more at https://theintercept.com/podcasts/murderville/If you’d like to support our work, go to theintercept.com/donate — your donation, no matter what the amount, makes a real difference. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The proposed Social Security 2100 Act would bolster the nearly century-old social insurance program through additions like caregiver credits and increased minimum benefits. Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the architect of the plan, joins Intercept reporters Ryan Grim and Jon Schwarz to discuss why he thinks an expansion of Social Security is overdue.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the waning hours of his presidency, Donald Trump issued an order designating the Houthis in Yemen as a terrorist organization; one of Joe Biden’s first actions upon taking office was to reverse that designation. Now, under pressure from the United Arab Emirates, he may be having second thoughts. Intercept reporter Ken Klippenstein and Michigan State University assistant professor Shireen Al-Adeimi join Ryan Grim to discuss the potential consequences of restoring Trump’s last-minute order.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his new book, congressman Ro Khanna tackles the question of how the prosperity generated by technology can be more broadly shared. In the foreword, Indian economist Amartya Sen writes “just as people can move to technology, technology can move to people. People need not be compelled to move from one place to another to reap the benefits offered by technological progress”. Khanna, who represents Silicon Valley in Congress, joins Ryan Grim to discuss the book and more.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I was a racketeer; a gangster for capitalism." So declared famed Marine Corps officer Smedley Butler in 1935, at the end of a long career spent blazing a path for American interests in Cuba, Nicaragua, China, The Philippines, Panama, and Haiti. In a new book on Butler’s career, Gangsters of Capitalism, Jonathan Katz details Butler’s life and explains how it dovetails with the broader story of American empire at the turn of the century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The normally reserved International Committee of the Red Cross recently made a surprisingly direct statement about the unfolding economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. They said, “Can the international community” — meaning the U.S. — “hold 39 million people hostage to the fact that they do not want to recognise the authorities that are now in place in Kabul and in Afghanistan?”Masood Shnizai is a journalist based in Kabul, Afghanistan. He joins Ryan Grim to discuss the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/01/09/afghanistan-sanctions-human-rights-hawks/">devastating effects</a> of the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/12/28/afghanistan-economy-collapse-us-sanctions/">ongoing U.S. sanctions</a>, and why the calls for help seem to be falling on deaf ears in the Biden administration.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former senate majority leader Harry Reid died on December 28th at the age of 82. Reid, who was born into extreme poverty in Nevada in 1939, rose to become one of the most influential politicians in the modern Democratic party. Three of his former aides, Kristen Orthman, Faiz Shakir, and Ari Rabin-Havt, join Ryan Grim to discuss Reid’s life and impact on American politics.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Introduced during the Trump administration, “direct contracting” is a Medicare payment model that allows private medical practices and insurance companies to arrange set payments from Medicare for the year, rather than bill the administration for services. But critics warn that the system, which has continued under the Biden administration, is being exploited by venture capitalists. Merrill Goozner is a health care reporter who has spent decades covering the slow-moving crisis of American healthcare, and he joins to Ryan Grim to discuss the present and possible future of Medicare.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week the senate voted down a resolution that would have blocked a defensive weapons sale to Saudi Arabia. The measure attracted support from senators of both parties for its potential to pressure the Saudis to end the war in Yemen. Intercept reporters Sara Sirota and Ken Klippenstein join Ryan Grim to discuss what the politics surrounding Saudi Arabia look like with a democrat back in the White House.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Build Back Better Act is one of the biggest and most complicated pieces of spending legislation in American history. If it becomes law, it will be (among other things) the biggest investment in climate mitigation ever made. So what does it actually do on the climate front? Eric Deeble from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition joins Ryan Grim to discuss the bill’s climate and agriculture provisions.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Historians tend to frown on the practice of imagining “alternate histories”. Two people who don’t are Danny Bessner and Matt Christman, hosts of the new podcast “Hinge Points.” On each episode, they take an historical “hinge” moment and ask, could it have been different? What if, for example, the German Social Democrats had not fallen in line behind the march to war in 1914?https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much of President Biden’s agenda rests on the minutiae of Senate rules and parliamentary procedures; this has led to a renewed interest in the obscure but enormously consequential role of the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. An unelected official, she nonetheless has an extraordinary amount of influence over the current budget negotiations. Ari Rabin-Havt, former deputy campaign manager to Bernie Sanders, joins Ryan Grim to discuss the parliamentarian’s role in the legislative process.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fallout from the 2008 financial crisis has defined national politics ever since. If he wants his “Build Back Better” agenda to have a chance of success, argues journalist and political commentator David Sirota in his new podcast Meltdown, he’ll have to take the lessons of the last twelve years seriously.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three days after he was sworn in to his first term as a U.S. congressman, Jamaal Bowman watched as the Capitol was stormed by a Trump-incited mob. It was the start of a very eventful year on the Hill. Bowman joins Ryan Grim to discuss his first 10 months in congress and the battle over President Biden's budget reconciliation bill.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the negotiations over President Biden’s sweeping budget reconciliation bill drag on, Democrats are struggling to find a set of compromises that will satisfy congressional progressives while still securing the votes of intransigent senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. California representative Ro Khanna, a member of the House Progressive Caucus, joins Ryan Grim to discuss the state of play. Then, investigative reporter Dan Boguslaw talks about his recent reporting for the Intercept on Senator Manchin’s coal entanglements in West Virginia.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the US continues to pursue Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition from the UK, an explosive story from Yahoo News has revealed that top officials including the then CIA Director Mike Pompeo discussed extraditing and even assassinating him. Michael Isikoff, one of the reporters on that story, joins Ryan Grim to discuss Assange’s fate as well as his recent portrayal in the FX show American Crime Story, which dramatizes his role in the revelation of the Monica Lewinsky affair.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Sunday, a former Facebook data scientist went on 60 Minutes to accuse the company of defrauding its advertising customers and deliberately engineering social division and ethnic strife. Then on Monday, the entire Facebook product family went offline for six hours: Instagram, Whatsapp, and of course Facebook.com itself.Then on Wednesday, big tech critic and antitrust advocate Jonathan Kanter got a highly favorable reception from the Senate Commerce Subcommittee, suggesting that he will likely be confirmed as head of the antitrust division at the Justice Department. So where does all this leave Zuckerberg, Inc.? Conservative Partnership Institute Policy Director Rachel Bovard and economist and author Matt Stoller join Ryan Grim to discuss where big tech antitrust is headed.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, progressives in the House of Representatives were able to stall an effort by the centrist dark money group No Labels to separate the infrastructure portion of President Biden’s reconciliation bill from the tax reform and social spending components, hoping that the latter could then be defeated at a later date. One of the leaders of the effort, New Jersey representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, joins Ryan Grim to discuss where the fight to pass the bill goes from here.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In December, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge was nominated to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development by president-elect Biden. Former Ohio state senator and surrogate for both the 2016 and 2020 Bernie Sanders campaigns Nina Turner quickly emerged as the candidate to beat in the race to fill her seat. Yet when the dust of the primary had cleared on August 3rd, Shontel Brown, the favored candidate of the Democratic Party establishment, was victorious. Turner joins Ryan Grim to discuss what went wrong, her future political ambitions, and what progressives can learn from the race.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The next few weeks will be crucial for the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, which is central to Joe Biden’s agenda. Pennsylvania congressman Brendan Boyle of the House Ways and Means Committee joins Ryan Grim to discuss how the bill could reshape the American economy.https://join.theintercept.com/donate/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s become a familiar pattern for West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin: first, announce your opposition to a Biden legislative priority. Second, extract some concessions on the theory that this will attract Republican support. Finally, announce that you’ve had a change of heart and can support the bill, which is of course meaningless since the longed for Republican votes never materialize and no floor vote ever happens. Now Manchin appears to be doing the same old dance with Biden’s budget plan. Whatever the merits of this political strategy, it has certainly turned Manchin into the and most talked-about Senator among DC pundits. But who is he really, and what do West Virginians think of him? West Virginia native Stephen Smith, founder of West Virginia Can’t Wait, joins Ryan Grim to discuss his state’s senior senator. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.