The Takeaway
1,513 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★ - 655 ratingsA fresh alternative in daily news featuring critical conversations, live reports from the field, and listener participation. The Takeaway provides a breadth and depth of world, national, and regional news coverage that is unprecedented in public media.
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Episodes
Replay: Understanding An Intersectional Framework of Economic Justice for People Living With Disabilities
February 03, 2023 15:45 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBAs many as 23 million people in the United States are struggling with long Covid. The sometimes debilitating symptoms include brain fog, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and depression or anxiety. But almost a year after the Biden administration released guidance stating that people with long Covid can be included under the Americans with Disabilities Act, receiving benefits has been a struggle. Even before the pandemic, roughly one in four Americans were living with a disability. And while...
Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism and What Comes Next
February 02, 2023 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBBrad Onishi is a professor of religion and a former evangelical Christian. As he watched the January 6, 2021 insurrection in progress, he wondered: “would I have been there?” That experience is the lens through which he explores history and the future in his new book: “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — and What Comes Next.”
Replay: Debunking Gender Roles in the Animal Kingdom
February 02, 2023 14:00 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MBAccording to zoologist Lucy Cooke, scientists have traditionally defined females in the animal kingdom with Victorian, sexist stereotypes. In her new book, “Bitch: On the Female of the Species,” Cooke debunks these outdated notions using examples throughout the animal kingdom of females breaking out of their passive roles and displaying aggression, competitiveness, and promiscuity. We spoke with Lucy Cooke about looking at female animals with a new lens, one that shows that males and femal...
Child Poverty Was Cut In Half-- Why Stop Now?
February 01, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBSNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is one of the most critical policy tools we have to address hunger and poverty in the U-S. And during the pandemic, it was a literal lifeline. Congress temporarily increased SNAP benefits giving a boost of 15 percent to everyone who needed it and allowing all families to max out their eligibility based on the size of the family. This month, the nearly three-year boost to a benefit used by more than 41 million Americans will end. And ...
Davante Lewis is Louisiana's First Openly LGBTQ+ Public Commissioner
February 01, 2023 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.2 MBThis Black History Month, Black.Queer.Rising. is back! We are profiling Black and Queer politicians/changemakers, artists, influencers, and more in this month-long series where we honor the impact of Black Queer legacies on today’s society and culture while we forge Black Queer futures. For our first edition, we speak to Davante Lewis, Public Commissioner for Lousiana’s Third District. Lewis is the first Black, openly LGBTQ+ person elected to Louisiana's state government. We spoke with him...
The Wellness to Qanon Pipeline
January 31, 2023 20:58 - 17 minutes - 16.1 MBThis past month, millions of Americans will have taken up new fitness, health and wellness pursuits. There is typically no shortage of influencers and so-called gurus ready to capitalize on this reliably-annual influx of customers, but that’s taken a more sinister turn in these recent, turbulent years. We discuss the increasing convergence of right-wing conspiracies with wellness circles, how authoritarianism became embedded in the modern history of yoga, and how to practice wellness with aw...
The Future of Police Abolition
January 31, 2023 15:46 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBOn January 7, Memphis Police officers pepper sprayed and brutally beat photographer and avid skateboarder Tyre Nichols. Nichols complained of shortness of breath, and waited 22 minutes before an ambulance arrived to transport him – in critical condition – to a local hospital. He died on January 10. Memphis police chief Ceralyn Davis called the beating of Nichols a “failure of basic humanity.” This brutal killing has renewed public discussions of police abolition. We talk with Professor ...
His Name Was Tyre Nichols
January 30, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBHis name was Tyre Nichols. He was 29 years old, the youngest of four children. Father to a 4-year-old son. Tyree loved to skateboard. He was just 80 yards away from his mother’s house when he was stopped by Memphis police. Tyre called out to his mother as he was being beaten by five Memphis police officers. On the evening of January 7, Memphis police stopped Tyre while he was driving. Initially, the police report indicated Tyre was stopped for reckless driving. But after extensive, initi...
Goldie Taylor's "The Love You Save"
January 30, 2023 17:00 - 17 minutes - 15.6 MBGoldie Taylor brings sharp analysis, keen insights, and deep empathy to her televised appearances and her journalistic coverage. The author of multiple novels, Goldie Taylor’s narrative voice is as memorable as her speaking voice. Earthy and resonant. Now Goldie has written her most personal story– an unflinching memoir, The Love You Save. The book details the brutal journey of her childhood marked by poverty, unkindness, and repeated experiences of childhood sexual assault, MHP sat down...
Reflecting on History and Remembering Victims on International Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27, 2023 19:05 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MBJanuary 27th marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day in 1945, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated. The Remembrance Day is a day to commemorate the 6 million Jewish lives that were lost at the hands of the Nazi German regime, and the millions of other Europeans the Nazis saw as racially inferior. This included Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti populations, people with disabilities, and Polish people. But this commemoration of 78 years sinc...
Transformative Takeaway: Saving NOLA's Bike Share Program
January 27, 2023 17:00 - 8 minutes - 7.84 MBNew Orleans launched their bike share program, Blue Bikes, in 2017 in partnership with a for-profit bike share company called Social Bicycles, beginning with 700 pedal bicycles. Geoff Coats was hired to run the program. Soon after, Uber bought out Social Bicycles (which by then had changed its name to Jump) and Blue Bikes flourished: by 2020, the fleet size was upgraded and almost doubled to 1,350 pedal assist e-bikes. But then, the pandemic hit. Uber paused the program, and then spun it o...
Gun Violence in 2023: 40 Mass Shootings in 26 Days
January 26, 2023 17:06 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBWe are 26 days into 2023, and the United States has already experienced 40 mass shootings, as of today Thursday morning. California, a state with some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, has suffered three mass shootings in less than a week. In Monterey Park, California on Saturday, a man with a gun killed 11 people, and injured nine. On Monday, there were two more shootings. In Half Moon Bay, a man killed seven people, and injured one. And in Oakland, another armed individual killed one pe...
Gun Violence in 2023: Nearly 40 Mass Shootings in 26 Days
January 26, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBWe are 26 days into 2023, and the United States has already experienced nearly 40 mass shootings, as of today Thursday morning. California, a state with some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, has suffered three mass shootings in less than a week. In Monterey Park, California on Saturday, a man with a gun killed 11 people, and injured nine. On Monday, there were two more shootings. In Half Moon Bay, a man killed seven people, and injured one. And in Oakland, another armed individual killed...
Why Titus Kaphar Won't "Shut Up and Paint"
January 26, 2023 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBThe paintings produced by artist Titus Kaphar have become some of the most coveted pieces of art in America. His paintings – which reimagine the people included in American history – are displayed in museums from Seattle to New York City, and at auction, they’ve fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the message of the Michigan-born artist’s work – which critically examines how art historically excludes Black and Brown faces – is a source of discomfort for many art collectors, dealer...
Cop City: Forest Defender Killed by Police in Forest Raid
January 25, 2023 21:53 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBIn a recent interview on The Takeaway, Kamau Franklin said, "What seems to be underreported is that even at the beginning of the protest against Cop City, when people were doing demonstrations and marches on city sidewalks, we would have at the end of those demonstrations, police jumping in the middle of them and arresting people for just standing or talking after demonstrations. And they've come in during demonstrations. They've used pepper spray. They've violently thrown people to the grou...
Are We Being Gaslit on Gas Stoves?
January 25, 2023 21:50 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBWhen a debate over gas stove regulation blew up this month, it revealed that Americans have a deep affinity for these kitchen appliances. But like “natural” gas, it’s all rooted in marketing that the gas industry has fostered over decades as part of its efforts to combat the rise of electric and renewable energy. Research into the health risks of gas stoves as a source of indoor air pollution is growing, and the effects of methane on climate change are already well-established. We speak wi...
Got Student Loan Questions? We've Got Some Answers
January 24, 2023 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBThe Takeaway listeners and producers got the chance to get their student loans questions answered by student loan expert Betsy Moyette while the limbo over Biden's forgiveness plan continues. For the transcript, see above.
President Biden at the Halfway Mark
January 24, 2023 17:00 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBWe’ve just passed the two year anniversary of the inauguration of President Joe Biden. So how are the American people grading him, halfway through? It’s time for a look back at the accomplishments and setbacks of those first two years — and to consider what they mean for a potential Biden-2024 run. We speak with Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.
Tasers Kill
January 23, 2023 17:00 - 14 minutes - 12.8 MBOn January 3rd, Keenan Anderson returned to the familiarity of L-A for what was supposed to be a short visit. He’d recently set out to embark on a new professional career: that of educator as a high school English teacher in Washington, D-C. Kenan hoped to collect a few belongings left behind in the city after the move to his new home. Instead, the man remembered by his uncle for his fearlessness in the face of challenge and adversity, was killed by officers of the Los Angeles Police Depar...
Wajahat Ali on "Go Back to Where You Came From"
January 23, 2023 17:00 - 8 minutes - 8.1 MBWajahat Ali, columnist for The Daily Beast, and author of Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become American, begins his book with humorous responses to “fan mail.” “Go back to where you came from!” writes one fan, to which Wajahat responds “Fremont, California! I’d love to but I can’t afford the rent. I’m priced out.” Wajahat’s book highlights the struggles and triumphs of growing up in a white America with immigrant parents from Pakistan. He c...
TV Shows Are Still Missing the Mark On Abortion
January 22, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MBHow has entertainment television in the U.S. reckoned with the reversal of Roe vs. Wade? A report from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California—San Fransisco found that for the first time in a decade, at least one third of shows in 2022 actually depicted barriers to abortion access. While it's progress, it's still a far cry from reality — for most of the past decade, the majority of women of reproductive age have lived in states that are hostile...
A Look At The Darker Side of Omegle
January 21, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBOmegle is an online platform where strangers from across the world are paired together for video and text chats. In March of 2022, The United Nations’ Human Rights Council launched a special cyber investigation into the platform and found that many adult men use the site as a space for sexual activity. The site, which collects no identifying information from its users, is grappling with allegations of enabling child predation. Freelance journalist David Alm reported on Omegle for Mother...
Music In Their Own Words: Sylvan Esso
January 20, 2023 17:00 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBAmelia Meath and Nick Sanborn — the duo behind the electronic pop outfit, Sylvan Esso — have been creative partners for over a decade. Their fourth and latest album, "No Rules Sandy," sees them attempt to shed the pressures of global fame, get out of their own heads, and break the rules they realized had been holding them back. "No Rules Sandy" was created primarily over the course of three weeks in LA, the fastest Sylvan Esso has ever made a record — spontaneous and instinctive. The album...
North Carolina's Status as Abortion Safe Haven In Jeopardy
January 20, 2023 16:43 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBThe North Carolina General Assembly convened last week for the start of its new legislative session. Republicans sit on the cusp of a supermajority that would give them the power to override any veto handed down from the Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. And they’ve got their eyes set on abortion. Some of that support could come from the Democratic side of the house. In 2019 and 2021 two abortion restriction bills were vetoed by the Governor, but not before receiving support from members of ...
23 MAYORS IN 2023: Craig Greenberg, Louisville, Kentucky
January 20, 2023 03:39 - 15 minutes - 14.5 MBWe’re beginning our “23 Mayors in 2023” series and heading to Louisville, Kentucky! Mayor Craig Greenberg was elected in November, and just took office after a campaign in which he survived a politically motivated shooting at his campaign office. His background is as a lawyer and an entrepreneur who co-founded a luxury hotel chain and served as its CEO for a number of years. And while he’s a relative newcomer in the political arena, he’s no stranger to a good skirmish. He also is a m...
House Republicans Face Off With Democrats Again Over Raising the Nation’s Debt Ceiling
January 19, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBLawmakers in the 118th Congress now face a clash in the House of Representatives that could bring the American economy to the brink of crisis — the fight over raising the debt ceiling. In a letter sent to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the United States government will reach its debt limit of about $31.4 trillion, today — on Thursday Jan 19… after that, the Treasury Department will have to start taking QUOTE: “extraordinary measures” to p...
Egg-onomics: Why are the Eggs so Expensive?
January 18, 2023 17:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBIn December, the index for eggs rose 11.1 percent, meaning there was some serious “egg-flation.” Eggs saw the highest month-over-month inflation of any expenditure category, so why are the prices of eggs going up? Chickens. The egg, bird, and the food have played multiple roles in the lives of African American women. Chickens have provided food and a source of income for many Black families, and helped women define and exert themselves in a hostile and racist society. The chicken and the ...
Why Does Broadway Keep Doing Drag?
January 18, 2023 17:00 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBA musical adaptation of the 1959 movie, "Some Like It Hot," is now on Broadway. The movie has been acclaimed as one of the best comedy films of all time, but much of that comedy relies on the trope of men using drag as a disguise. It's a trope that Broadway is no stranger to, as evidenced by recent adaptations of "Mrs. Doubtfire" and "Tootsie." The "Some Like It Hot" musical attempts to alleviate this tension between historic and often harmful portrayals of drag and the rich reality of drag ...
Cop City
January 17, 2023 23:08 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBIn Atlanta, Georgia, community activists remain locked in a nearly 2-year struggle against the development of a massive police training center in a forest just outside the city, dubbed "cop city." Only weeks after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 and the 2020 police killing of Rayshard Brooks, calls to "demilitarize" and "defund the police" amassed all over the country. It was difficult for Atlanta, as it was for many cities across the country. The city’s 14 percent increase in homicides was...
The Sounds of Blackness
January 16, 2023 21:11 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBNegro spirituals and Freedom songs carry within them expressions of joy, pain and the realities of living as a Black person in the United States. These songs provided the sonic background of the Civil Rights Movement. Today, a new sound provides the sonic background in the ongoing movement for Black liberation and agency: Trap music. Trap music traces its roots to the heart of the Black American south. It’s part of the continuing evolution of Hip-Hop in America with lyrics that paint a pic...
Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow on The Big Payback
January 16, 2023 17:00 - 16 minutes - 15 MBThe Big Payback is a new documentary film that chronicles the efforts for reparations on both the national level with H.R. 40 through Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and on the local level in Evanston, Illinois by following the work of Alderman Ruth Rue Simmons. Co-Directors Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow talk about their film which makes its television premiere on PBS’ Independent Lens on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
What's the 411 on 411?
January 15, 2023 17:00 - 9 minutes - 8.26 MB411, the number that embedded itself into our vocabulary as a synonym for “information” is going the way of the dinosaur. AT&T announced the end of the service this month for their landline customers. It’s a move that impacts three million subscribers. We’re talking about the history of 411, what it means to say goodbye to the service and who’s impacted by its end. We get the 411 from Associate Professor of Communication at the University of New Hampshire, Josh Lauer. To read the full ...
Over 10,000 NYC Nurses On Strike
January 15, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.4 MBMore than 10,000 nurses at five hospital facilities across New York City are on strike today. They're protesting staffing shortages and demanding wage increases and better working conditions as they head into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, hospitals have scaled back services, canceled some elective surgeries, and are diverting the majority of ambulances to other hospitals. We speak with Nancy Hagans, President of the New York State Nurses Association and a frontline n...
New FDA Rules on Medication Abortion Are Still Full of Red Tape
January 14, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBIt’s been more than six months since The Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade in June. Since then, anti-abortion activists have continued to try and restrict access to abortion care, even in states where abortion is legal. And The Food and Drug Administration and its oversight of the abortion medication, Mifepristone, has been one of their targets. Medication abortions account for half of abortions in the United States, and Mifepristone is the first of two pills used in ...
The Art of Hammer Throwing
January 13, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBLast summer, Janeé Kassanavoid made history as the first Native American woman to medal at the World Athletics Track & Field Championship in Oregon. Kassanavoid is a professional track & field athlete, member of Comanche Nation, and a Women’s hammer throwing for Team USA and we spoke to her about what this feat meant to her, her identity as an indigenous woman in sports, and about her side passion: the culinary arts.
The New 9-8-8 Hotline Has Seen a Surge of Callers
January 13, 2023 17:00 - 8 minutes - 8.06 MBThe new federally mandated mental health assistance and suicide prevention hotline, 9-8-8, launched in July. Since July, according to data from SAMHSA, calls and texts to the lifeline have risen significantly before the adoption of 9-8-8. But questions still remain whether state and local authorities have the infrastructure to provide services for this great demand. We hear from Dan Gorenstein, executive producer and host of the podcast Tradeoffs, who provides updates on how things are g...
When Women’s Survival is Criminalized
January 13, 2023 17:00 - 19 minutes - 18.2 MBMany women who encounter domestic abuse and are caught up in our criminal legal system are punished — both for when they fight back and when they don't. "Criminalized survival" refers to this highly gendered and racialized phenomenon, and we see it in stories of self-defense, like Tracy McCarter and Pieper Lewis. Criminalized survival is also, in many states, essentially codified into law with "failure to protect" laws that punish parents who allegedly did not protect their children from ab...
Malcolm-Jamal Warner's No Longer Hiding
January 12, 2023 21:33 - 8 minutes - 7.55 MBEmmy nominated actor and Grammy award winning poet and musician Malcolm-Jamal Warner has spent over 40 years sharing parts of himself with the public. His latest album Hiding in Plain View is also nominated for a Grammy and it’s some of his most vulnerable work to date. In it, he shares reflections on his journey to radical self-acceptance and explores his hopes and dreams surrounding Black masculinity and Black futures.
Look Back At It: The House of Representatives
January 12, 2023 18:39 - 8 minutes - 7.55 MBThe Takeaway checks back in with stories we’ve covered before. We look at updates on The House of Representatives.
Afghan Girls Refuse to Give Up on Education
January 12, 2023 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.5 MBIt’s been more than 3 weeks since the Taliban government in Afghanistan announced that women were banned from attending colleges and universities. It’s yet another gut-wrenching — but not unexpected — reversal of the regime’s initial promises to respect women’s rights. The college ban effectively means that the highest level of education most Afghan girls will now be able to receive is 6th grade. We speak with Shabana Basij-Rasikh, co-founder and president of the School of Leadership, Afgha...
Communities Grapple with Legacy of Water Contamination
January 11, 2023 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBWhen Derek Lowen was 14, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and underwent surgery to remove a tumor the size of a baseball from his brain. He soon discovered that he was one of many Tartan High School students in Oakdale, Minnesota, to be suffering from cancer. In the 18 years since, Derek and the rest of the Twin Cities East Metro community have been left to wonder how much a local manufacturing plant has to do with it. Manufacturing giant 3M dumped industrial waste in the area s...
Margaret Cho is Livid!
January 10, 2023 23:03 - 15 minutes - 14.6 MBMargaret Cho began her comedy career 40 years ago. Now, after groundbreaking TV shows, Off-Broadway debuts, sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall, Grammy nominations, Films, and Reality TV shows– just to name a few– the outspoken Comedian is celebrating 40 years with a comedy tour: Margaret Cho is Live & Livid. To read the full transcript, see above.
Brazil's Democracy Under Siege
January 10, 2023 20:10 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBOn Sunday, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro attacked the nation’s highest seats of power in the capital Brasília, just a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was inaugurated on Jan. 1. They were protesting what they falsely claim was a stolen election. Pro-Bolsonaro protesters stormed Brazil’s Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace in striking similarities to the U.S.'s Jan 6. Insurrection. We speak to Mac Margolis, contri...
Wrongful Convictions
January 09, 2023 22:15 - 9 minutes - 8.33 MB"Wrongful Conviction with Maggie Freleng" is a podcast that features intimate conversations with men and women who have spent years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Some have been fully exonerated and reunited with family and friends while others continue to languish in prison with some even facing execution on death row. MHP talks with Maggie about wrongful convictions.
Reparations for Black America Is Becoming More than A Possibility
January 09, 2023 22:13 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBLast week, marked the 100-year anniversary of the race riots of 1923 in Rosewood, FL. After a white woman accused a Black man of assaulting her, a white mob destroyed the town and displaced hundreds of Black middle- and working-class families. This rural town was one of several Black communities in the US that suffered racial violence and destruction, and the violence resulted in the loss of economic opportunity and inequality for generations of people of color. The massacre was dramatiz...
Off to the Race in Kentucky
January 08, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBThe race for Kentucky governor is one of the most closely watched contests in the nation. The popular incumbent, Democrat Andy Beshear, hopes to repeat his upset victory of 2019 against a crowded primary field of twelve Republican hopefuls. Running to secure the Republican nomination is Kentucky State Attorney General Daniel Cameron whose platform includes his support of the state’s near-total abortion ban. If Governor Beshear is reelected, his strategy could provide insights to other D...
What's Going On in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives?
January 08, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBEarlier this week, Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives backed Democratic State Representative Mark Rozzi as their candidate of choice for Pennsylvania House Speaker. The move shocked many analysts across the state, given that Pennsylvania Republicans had a slight numeric advantage going into this deliberation. Gillian McGoldrick, Harrisburg Reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, joins us to discuss this surprising bi-partisan collaboration.
Taking Care of the Caregivers
January 07, 2023 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11 MBThe CDC reports “25-percent of U-S adults” serve as caregivers to those who need support and assistance. Caregivers need support, too. Without a network of support, they face burnout and high levels of stress. We talk with Karen Warner Schueler, author of The Sudden Caregiver about what it means to be a caregiver, and how those who support others can find the support they need for themselves.
Is Facebook Responsible in Ethiopia?
January 07, 2023 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBTwo Ethiopians recently filed a lawsuit against Meta, Facebook's parent company, alleging that the company not only allowed hate speech to spread online during the country's recent civil war — it prioritized hate speech. Facebook’s content moderation practices have been under scrutiny for years, particularly after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal documents that showed Facebook was well aware that its practices for finding and removing hate speech in a number of countries — incl...
What if the January 6th Insurrectionists Succeeded?
January 06, 2023 23:27 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBAs the two-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection approaches, the new graphic novel 1/6 explores a dystopian alternate history: What if the insurrectionists had been successful and violently overturned the election? We speak with co-author Alan Jenkins, professor of practice at Harvard Law School and co-author of the graphic novel 1/6, about the premise, inspiration, and characters in this alternative historical fiction graphic novel.