Afleveringen
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In this recentWhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with John Lechner, author of Death Is Our Business. He details how private armies increasingly blur the lines between state power and mercenary force. The prospect of billionaires and politicians commanding their own military forces is no longer just a dystopian idea.
John Lechner’s five-year investigation into Russia’s notorious Wagner Group reveals a disturbing template for what privatized warfare could mean for America and the world.
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Americans see Canada as that friendly neighbor up north. Canadians now see America as their greatest threat. How did we get here, and what does it mean for both nations?
Joining me on this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast is veteran political analyst and Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne. Trump’s talk of annexation and punitive tariffs has profoundly transformed Canada’s relationship with the US, creating a mixture of bewilderment, fear and, unexpectedly for Canadians, fierce national pride.
For Coyne, author of the upcoming book The Crisis of Canadian Democracy, the impact goes far beyond politics: It’s forcing Canadians to question basic assumptions about their sovereignty and security that have held firm since World War II. What was once unthinkable — the need to defend against US aggression — has become part of the national conversation.
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For over two centuries, the American experiment has weathered crises that would have toppled lesser democracies — a resilience celebrated as uniquely American. But what if this story of perpetual reinvention through adaptation has reached its limits, our Constitution stretched too thin by the democratic achievements we cherish most?
In this WhoWhatWhy podcast, Yale professor Stephen Skowronek talks to me about his “adaptability paradox” theory: Our constitutional system functioned for centuries because it excluded many Americans, allowing a homogeneous elite to govern effectively. When the rights revolution of the ’60s and ’70s finally attempted to include everyone, the balancing act collapsed, leaving our institutions unable to manage diverse interests with competing demands.
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There was a time when geographic mobility defined America — one-third of the population relocated each year, chasing better jobs and brighter futures. But today, historian and journalist Yoni Appelbaum argues in his new book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity, that America’s once-robust engine of upward mobility is grinding to a halt.
Appelbaum challenges the long-held belief that income alone dictates housing choices. Instead, he reveals how restrictive housing policies — exclusionary zoning, historical redlining, and modern NIMBYism — have dramatically limited the supply of new housing, effectively blocking the paths that families once took toward prosperity.
Today, affluent neighborhoods, often proudly progressive, tout diversity while quietly building invisible walls against newcomers, turning geographic mobility into a privilege reserved mainly for the wealthy.
The result is profound economic stagnation, deepening political polarization, and psychological harm — leaving millions trapped, angry, and increasingly cynical about the future. Yet despite the immense costs, estimated at $2 trillion annually, Appelbaum sees genuine hope.
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What if Donald Trump’s strange fixation on William McKinley isn’t just historical trivia, but the key to understanding what happens next?
On this WhoWhatWhy podcast, long-time journalist and author Chris Lehmann argues we’re not necessarily headed for authoritarian collapse — we’re rewinding to the Gilded Age.
How might McKinley’s transformation from economic nationalist to global imperialist more than a century ago foreshadow Trump’s second term? Lehmann explores the forces that shaped McKinley’s presidency and how similar dynamics are at play today, from the influence of wealthy backers to the quest for historical legacy.
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The sports betting explosion has unleashed a $500 billion monster that engulfs everything game its path. Since the Supreme Court opened the floodgates in 2018, betting and its betting apps bombard fans during every game, turning each play into another chance to wager. As millions will trade their paychecks for the dopamine hit of a winning bet during March Madness, the same leagues that banned Pete Rose now cozy up to sportsbooks. States hungrily eye their cut while young men are scientifically targeted. Few understand this transformation better than my guest Jonathan D. Cohen, whose new book "Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling" takes us deep inside this revolution that happened so fast we barely had time to understand its implications.
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How did America transform from a nation of self-aware optimists to one of angry cynics in less than two decades?
In this recent WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with political scientist Yascha Mounk, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins’s School of Advanced International Studies. He witnessed this cultural metamorphosis first hand after arriving in the US in 2005; his insights on this podcast paint a startling picture of how our society has fundamentally changed, and not for the better.
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David Pakman, host of his eponymous podcast and program, joins me to talk about his book "The Echo Machine" and how right-wing extremism has methodically undermined America's shared information ecosystem over decades. Pakman and I discuss the deliberate fragmentation of media from talk radio through social media, explaining how this has eroded critical thinking and created parallel realities in American politics.
Drawing from his position as both media practitioner and analyst, Pakman illuminates the economic and psychological forces that incentivize division. Our conversation explores the compelling case for changes in the way the left understands poltics and media in a post-truth environment.
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Renowned evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin joins me for an epic journey to Earth's most extreme polar frontiers.
The author of the new book 'Ends of the Earth, explains why scientists are willing to brave bone-chilling environments where flesh freezes in seconds. Shubin shares with me stories of daring historical expeditions, cutting-edge climate research, and how these frozen landscapes hold the keys to our planet's past and future. We discuss human courage, scientific discovery, and the urgent stories emerging from Earth's poles……and from Greenland.
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Is China’s unstoppable rise actually a carefully constructed illusion?
In this recentWhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk with Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at RAND Corporation who spent over 15 years in the US government analyzing military and political issues related to China.
Heath peels back layers of propaganda to reveal a surprisingly fragile superpower wrestling with existential challenges.
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As the embers go cold, the smoke clears and the ashes are carted off in Los Angeles a stark reality emerges: not just winds but climate change played a significant role in this deadly and destructive event.
A new World Weather Attribution study found that human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of extreme fire conditions by 35 percent and intensified their severity.
In this recentWhoWhatWhy podcast, Daniel Swain, a leading climate scientist at UCLA and the University of California’s Agricultural and Natural Resources division, frames the January disaster not simply as a fire event, but as “an extreme weather event with fire embedded in it.” This distinction, he explains, is crucial for understanding how climate change is reshaping fire risks.
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On a recent WhoWhatWhy podcast, I spoke with Princeton historian Julian Zelizer who offers a provocative argument from his new book In Defense of Partisanship. At a time when nearly a third of Americans view both major parties with disgust and many blame partisan loyalty for our democratic decay, Zelizer says that strong, disciplined political parties — not feel-good Biden-style bipartisanship — have historically been crucial to America’s greatest achievements.
The problem isn’t that parties fight hard for their beliefs; it’s that we’ve lost the guardrails that once transformed partisan combat into incremental but lasting progress.
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Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive, housed in a former San Francisco church with Greek columns that echo the ancient Library of Alexandria, discusses his three-decade mission to preserve humanity's digital knowledge and culture. Now facing unprecedented challenges, including a major cyberattack and legal battles with publishers over the site's distribution of copyrighted materials, Kahle reflects on the growing threats to digital preservation while reaffirming his commitment to universal access to all knowledge. We begin the year by looking back.
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When LA’s hydrants failed during massive fires, misinformation spread. What really happened – and the hard truths about our urban water systems.
In my latest WhoWhatWhy podcast, I talk to one of California’s leading water experts who cuts through the noise to explain what really happened.
Gregory Pierce — director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and of the Human Rights to Water Solutions Lab — delivers a masterclass in understanding this infrastructure crisis.
The story that emerged about what led to this deadly failure has been animated by finger-pointing, misinformation, and political opportunism.
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Oh, how the party has changed.
At a moment when the Republican Party has shifted dramatically from its Reaganite roots, I talk with Washington Post columnist Max Boot, whose definitive biography of Ronald Reagan arrives with particular resonance.
Through a decade of research, Boot reveals a pragmatic leader who would likely be puzzled by today's GOP—a president who supported immigration reform, worked with Gorbachev to reduce nuclear weapons, and prided himself on compromise, getting "80 percent of what he wanted" rather than demanding everything. Boot shares with me a fascinating exploration of Reagan's true legacy.
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What if we’ve been asking the wrong question about technology all along? Not “What can it do for us?” but “What is it doing to us?”
In my recent WhoWhatWhy podcast we talk with Chris Colbert, former managing director of the Harvard Innovation Labs, to explore a provocative idea: that technology as we know it may be dead — and that’s exactly what humanity needs to thrive.
Drawing from his new book, Technology is Dead: The Path to a More Human Future, Colbert talks to me about how our obsession with innovation and productivity has eroded our connections, amplified our vulnerabilities, and left us more isolated than ever.
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In this WhoWhatWhy podcast, veteran journalist Sasha Abramsky reveals a striking paradox: Progressives, long suspicious of states’ rights — once a reactionary battle cry against civil rights and federal reforms — are now embracing state power as their best defense against growing authoritarianism.
As the federal government tilts rightward, blue states are forming unprecedented coalitions to preserve democratic values and progressive policies. But could these defensive measures actually accelerate America’s political fracturing?
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In a world drowning in misinformation, we keep pointing fingers at those who create and spread false narratives. But what if the real story isn’t about them — it’s about us?
In this recentWhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with professor Dannagal Goldthwaite Young, author of Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive Our Appetite for Misinformation, we discover a surprising truth: Humans are naturally drawn to misinformation.
It’s not just about believing what we want to believe — it’s about satisfying our fundamental needs for what Young calls “comprehension, control, and community,” even if that means embracing falsehoods.
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The recent election has sparked new discussions about changing demographics across America. Austin, Texas is no exception. Long celebrated as a liberal bubble in the heart of red Texas, this once magical and creative city is transforming dramatically. From the controversial new University of Austin, featured this past Sunday on 60 Minutes, to Elon Musk's growing presence with SpaceX, to the influx of tech giants like Larry Ellison and Oracle, along with characters like Joe Rogan and Alex Jones, the city's character is shifting. Add to this the mounting challenges of climate change making Austin hotter and drier than ever. Journalist Alex Hannaford, who lived in Austin for nearly two decades, talks to me aboutthis transformation and his eventual departure from a city that has changed beyond recognition. He writes about it in his new book “Lost in Austin.”
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While women have yet to shatter the ultimate glass ceiling of the White House, they've been steadily scaling the towering heights of Wall Street since the 1960s. The author of the groundbreaking book "She Wolves: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street," historian Paulina Bren talks to me about how these trailblazers navigated the male-dominated world of finance. From Muriel Siebert becoming the first woman to own a NYSE seat in 1967 to the waves of female graduates entering finance in the 1980s, women transformed the financial sector despite facing persistent discrimination. Bren explains how these pioneering women rose from secretarial pools to trading floors and executive suites, reshaping one of America's most powerful industries.
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