The Takeaway
1,674 episodes - English - Latest episode: 11 months ago - ★★★★ - 708 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
Retrograde Explores the Last Days of U.S. Involvement in Afghanistan
November 11, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBThe new film Retrograde is an unflinching portrait of what happened in the nine months after President Biden announced he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan in August 2021. The film follows one Afghan general, Sami Sadat, to tell an emotional story of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Award-winning filmmaker Matt Heineman and his team of Green Berets were there to capture the final months of some 20 years of U.S. involvement in the conflict prior to the fall of Kabul. When Preside...
Does The Indian Child Welfare Act Hang in Peril?
November 10, 2022 17:00 - 14 minutes - 13.4 MBOn Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Haaland v. Brackeen, which could strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The ICWA was intended to prevent Native children from being separated from their tribes and families. It was enacted in 1978 in response to US Government practices that forcibly removed hundreds of thousands of Native children from their homes. We speak with Rebecca Nagle, a freelance writer and member of the Cherokee Nation, about what this ...
If Not Blockbuster, What Does Tyler Alvarez Hope He Can Save?
November 10, 2022 17:00 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBThe new Netflix series “Blockbuster” premiered on November 3rd. The show stars a diverse cast of characters, fighting to save the last Blockbuster store. Cast member Tyler Alvarez joins us to discuss the new series, his connection to the character Carlos, and if not Blockbuster, what he hopes to save in this world.
Midterm 2022 Recap
November 09, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBAll the votes have been cast in Midterms 2022, and many of the results are in. Florida Republicans are celebrating statewide victories in the elections for Governor and Senate. But outside of the Sunshine state, it’s hard to find evidence of a significant "red wave" that many Republicans had hoped for. For the most part, Republican candidates won in Republican districts, and Democrats carried Democratic districts. The statewide races didn’t bring many surprises: Republican JD Vance took ...
A SHElection! Wrap Up
November 09, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBThis year, a record number of women ran for governorships at 25 candidates, while the number of women running for Congress fell short of the record-setting 2020 and 2018 cohorts. But 45 of those races for Governor, House or Senate featured two or more women candidates running against each other. We’ve brought you special coverage of some of those races in our SHE-lection series: a partnership between The Takeaway and the Center for American Women and Politics. What do the 2022 midterm result...
What State Level "Trifectas" Could Mean for Democracy
November 08, 2022 17:00 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBHeading into the 2022 Midterms, 37 states are governed by trifectas: a single party controls a majority in the state house, state senate, and also holds the governor’s seat. There are 23 Republican trifectas and 14 Democratic trifectas. This sort of single party control of states has increased since 2018, and in this election cycle, a handful of states could gain or lose trifectas. We speak with Archon Fung, Director of the Harvard Ash Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, about what t...
Zooming In On Rural Voters
November 08, 2022 17:00 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBJust a few years after graduating from college, Chloe Maxmin won a seat in Maine’s 88th legislative district. Two years later she was elected to Maine’s state Senate. She was the first Democrat to represent the 88th and the youngest woman elected to the state senate. We talk with Chloe about her strategy of deep canvassing and why she believes rural voters are the crucial to American democracy.
Takeaways From the Twitter Takeover
November 07, 2022 17:00 - 14 minutes - 12.9 MBOver the summer, major social media platforms including Twitter pledged to ban and remove misinformation about voting and elections. But last week, the media and technology watchdog group Free Press released a comprehensive analysis of the election and disinformation-related policies of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. It concluded that these sites have not lived up to their promises. Read the Free Press report here. The rampant spread of online disinformation in the run-up...
Voting While Trans
November 07, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 14.4 MBAccording to The Williams Institute, an LGBTQ think tank at UCLA and more than 800,000 transgender adults are eligible to vote, but barriers to access, or fears of voter intimidation may prevent some trans individuals from even attempting to cast their ballot. The Williams Institute says that 31 states conduct their elections primarily in person at polling places AND have voter ID laws – and half of voting-eligible transgender Americans living in these states do not have an ID that correc...
Shipwrecks, Cars, and Human Remains: The Mississippi River's Drying Up
November 06, 2022 17:39 - 7 minutes - 7.31 MBDiscarded cars and a 19th Century Shipwreck are being discovered, human remains have been found, and barges are running aground as the Mississippi River has reached historic lows due to persistent drought throughout the Central U.S. Last Saturday, October 22nd, the river fell to a new low of -10.81 feet in Memphis, Tennessee. We speak with a scientist who studies water and rivers about what is causing the drop, the economic fallout, and what it spells for the future of the River in a c...
The Right-Wing Movement Aimed at Drawing in Young People
November 06, 2022 17:32 - 10 minutes - 9.8 MBIn her new book, “Raising Them Right,” award-winning journalist Kyle Spencer documents a coordinated and well-funded right-wing movement aimed at young people to bring ultra-conservative and radical ideas into the mainstream. Right-wing organizations have spent millions of dollars recruiting and training young people. They use social media, flashy trips to conservative conferences in vacation hotspots, celebrity conservatives, and wedge issues from the so-called culture wars to draw them ...
Bashir Salahuddin Brings the South Side of Chicago to Hollywood
November 05, 2022 15:19 - 18 minutes - 17 MBWriter, actor, and comedian Bashir Salahuddin is co-creator and star of the variety show Sherman’s Showcase and the HBO Max sitcom South Side. We talk to Bashir about how his career in Hollywood has taken him back to the South Side of Chicago, his inspirations for writing television, and his words of wisdom for young creators who want to get a start in the industry.
The Ethics of "Fast Fashion"
November 05, 2022 15:17 - 7 minutes - 6.97 MBHow many new clothing garments do you buy each year? Data from the American Apparel & Footwear Association says that the average American bought about 69 items of clothing and 7 and a half pairs of shoes in the year 2020. The days of buying two pairs of jeans and two nice tops for each new season seem to be out of fashion in recent years. It's easier than ever to buy lots of clothes, but what are the consequences of that ease? We look at our fashion consumption habits, the ethical ramifi...
In Her Novel "Mika in Real Life," Emiko Jean Explores and Deconstructs the 'Model Minority Myth'
November 04, 2022 16:00 - 8 minutes - 7.81 MBEmiko Jean is a Japanese-American author-- but, before she was an author, she was an entomologist (bug catcher), candle maker, florist, and teacher. She strongly believes in “faking it till you make it” and asking for forgiveness rather than permission. Emiko has written many YA novels, like, Tokyo Ever After, which was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club YA Pick. But her most recent novel, Mika in Real Life, is a bit more grown-up. With themes about sexual assault, motherhood, adoption, and com...
SHElection!: Closing Arguments
November 04, 2022 16:00 - 19 minutes - 18.1 MBIt's the final weekend before Election Day 2022! According to the US Election project, more than 33 million people have already cast their ballots, but that doesn't mean parties, campaigns, or candidates are ready to rest their cases. These heady final days are what we like to call — closing arguments. Here at The Takeaway, we’ve been following the 2022 midterm elections through the stories of SHElection!, which is a political matchups where both candidates are women. So, in today's final ...
Georgia at the Intersections: Voting Rights
November 03, 2022 20:45 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBSince 2020, election officials are “leaving in droves,” in many cases due to the misinformation campaigns and the subsequent threats made against them. In fact, the FBI issued a warning a few weeks ago that in seven states, including Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Wisconsin, there have been an unusual level of threats continuing against election officials. In states like Arizona and Georgia, we’ve also seen how voter intimidation and suppression tactics are...
Coach James Wade Addresses Brittney Griner's Imprisonment
November 03, 2022 16:00 - 11 minutes - 10.9 MBWNBA head coach James Wade is coming off an historic coaching stretch, winning a WNBA championship and the WNBA’s 2022 Executive of the Year Award in the past two seasons with the Chicago Sky. But before his WNBA success, Coach Wade coached the same team in Russia that Brittney Griner- who's serving a cruel, nine-year sentence in Russia- played for before her arrest. We talk to coach Wade about the experience for American basketball players overseas and about Brittney Griner’s incarcerat...
Alan Cumming Shares Why He Can't Live Without Fun
November 02, 2022 19:23 - 7 minutes - 7.31 MBScottish-born actor, Alan Cumming has had a long career. He’s been in everything from cult classics like "Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion." To Mainstream blockbusters like "X2: X Men United." Alan is eclectic. Time Magazine once called him one of the three most fun people in show business (the others were Cher and Stanley Tucci). Alan Cumming’s new book Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life is about how his life, including his work life, has been shaped by his baggage and how he h...
SHElection!: Kansas' 3rd Congressional District
November 02, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 19 MBFor the final installment of our SHE-lection! series, we're headed to Kansas’s Third Congressional district where Democratic Representative Sharice Davids is running for her third term against former Kansas Republican Party chair Amanda Adkins, who also challenged Davids for the seat in 2020. Davids is one of the first Native American women and one of the first openly LGBTQ persons elected to the House. In the run-up to Election Day, Adkins and Davids have been squaring off on the economy,...
Jemele Hill Shares Her Story of Trauma and Perseverance
November 01, 2022 16:00 - 18 minutes - 17.1 MBJemele Hill joins us to discuss her new memoir, Uphill, which chronicles the events of her upbringing that shaped her life and career, as well as the story behind the better-known moments of her time at ESPN.
Affirmative Action On Trial At The Supreme Court
November 01, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 15 MBThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments this Monday in two cases that challenge the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions. The Court’s decisions in these cases will undoubtedly shape the future of American higher education for millions of students. In previous challenges to affirmative action, the Court has continued to uphold the principles of affirmative action and the notion that diversity in higher education serves a compelling governmental interest. But the plaintiffs in bot...
How The White Wall Contributes to the Racial Wealth Gap
October 31, 2022 20:34 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBNew York Times finance reporter Emily Flitter joins us to talk about her new book, The White Wall: How Big Finance Bankrupts Black America, which includes a deeply reported look into systemic racism within the American financial industry and the practices keeping the racial wealth gap in place. "She also gives a voice to victims, from single mothers to professional athletes to employees themselves: people who were scammed, lied to, and defrauded by the systems they trusted with their money,...
Iran's Digital Warfare
October 31, 2022 20:31 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBIt has been over a month now since the death of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini who died while in the custody of Iran’s morality police in September. Her death ignited a movement across the country, and protests have continued throughout the country. The response from Iranian authorities has been brutal, with human rights groups saying at least 253 people have been killed, including 34 children. On top of the brute force being used to crackdown on dissidents, a new report from The Interce...
Trick or Treat: Movie Prescriptions for Halloween
October 28, 2022 16:00 - 19 minutes - 17.4 MBNothing says Halloween more like the time-honored tradition of settling in for a scary movie. Kristen Meinzer is a culture critic and host of the podcast "By The Book" and Rafer Guzman is a film critic for Newsday. Together Kristen and Rafer are the co-hosts of the podcast, Movie Therapy, and they joined The Takeaway to give their picks for Halloween movie prescriptions for different occasions. KRISTEN’S PICKS: Movie prescription for a romantic night: Warm Bodies (2013) A zombie romantic...
Wisconsin: A Swing State or One Dominated by the GOP?
October 28, 2022 16:00 - 13 minutes - 12.3 MBWith 11 days until the 2022 Midterms we check in on Wisconsin and Florida. We speak with Ari Berman, senior reporter for Mother Jones. We check in on the hotly contested races in Wisconsin and Georgia. Plus, we hear how, despite being a true swing state in statewide elections, the GOP has a stranglehold on Wisconsin's state level politics due to extreme gerrymandering.
How We Win the Fight Between Democracy and White Supremacy
October 27, 2022 20:29 - 8 minutes - 7.69 MBFounder of Democracy in Color and New York Times Bestselling author Steve Phillips, joins us to discuss his new book "How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good."
Latino Voters Are The Real Swing State
October 27, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 18.4 MBThis week, Futuro Media released its first ever-poll of Latino voters and the results offer critical insights into the fastest-growing racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate – making up more than 34 million eligible voters. The polling looked closely at the battleground states of Florida, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. In the sunshine state, where Latinos account for more than 1 in 5 eligible voters – it’s incumbent Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis who earned higher ratings that...
Unpacking Pennsylvania's Only Senate Debate
October 26, 2022 20:45 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBThe Pennsylvania Senate race between Dr. Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman had its one and only debate on Tuesday evening. On the road to the midterm elections, which are less than two weeks away, how important will this sole debate be for voters to decide on a candidate? We discuss this and more with Oliver Morrison, a general assignment reporter for WESA-FM who’s been covering the Senate race in Pennsylvania.
Yeva Skalietska Writes about The Early Days of Putin's War in Ukraine
October 26, 2022 20:44 - 8 minutes - 7.87 MBThis month the U.N. announced that there were 7.7 million Ukrainian refugees scattered across Europe. Nearly one-third of all Ukrainians have been displaced. Among them is a 12-year-old girl, Yeva Skalietska. During the early days of the war on Ukraine, Yeva picked up an empty notebook and began to write everything she was experiencing. She begins her journey on the day of her 12th birthday and through her diary we see the normal life of a 12-year-old girl change to a war zone. Now safe wit...
Learning About Young Voters with Teen Vogue's Editor in Chief
October 25, 2022 21:21 - 8 minutes - 7.74 MBTeen Vogue and Change Research conducted a poll targeting 1,173 young voters across the country for their “Midterms Vibe Check” series. Versha Sharma, Editor in Chief of Teen Vogue, joins us to discuss the results and what they say about voters under 35 in the United States.
SCOTUS is Weighing a Case About Pigs
October 25, 2022 16:43 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBIn 2018, California voters passed Proposition 12 with a 63-percent margin. The measure attempts to increase the living conditions for farm raised animals such as chickens and pigs. It requires pork sold in California comply with certain living standards for breeding sows, mandating that they have 24 square feet of usable floor space per pig. Most pork raised on pig farms in other states are confined to metal gestation crates where they are unable to turn around for their entire lives. Be...
The Human Toll of U.S. Border Policy for Venezuelan Migrants
October 24, 2022 19:10 - 8 minutes - 7.8 MBEconomic and political turmoil in Venezuela has led to a record number of Venezuelan migrants making the dangerous trek across Central America to seek refuge in the United States. Since last October, more than 150 thousand Venezuelans have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. For the first time on record, in August of this year, the number of Venezuelan migrants detained by Mexican authorities exceeded the number of migrants from Central America. Until recently Venezuelan migrants were allow...
SHElection!: Texas's 15th Congressional District
October 24, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBHaving gained two seats after the last census, Texas will now send 38 people to the House of Representatives in January, the second largest delegation after California. Because of redistricting, nearly every other seat is pretty safely in the red or blue column based on how voters decided between Trump and Biden two years ago. Republican Monica De LaCruz is a small business owner and insurance agent. She has a massive fundraising advantage. She’s brought in nearly $4 million compared to De...
A Conversation with MacArthur Fellow Sky Hopinka
October 24, 2022 02:42 - 7 minutes - 6.93 MBThe MacArthur Foundation just announced its newest class of fellows for 2022. Colloquially known as the MacArthur ‘Geniuses’, each class is meant to include some of the brightest minds across multiple disciplines. This year, the cohort is made up of authors, filmmakers, digital archivists, scientists, scholars and more. Artist, photographer and filmmaker Sky Hopinka centers Indigenous perspectives in his films, layering abstract sounds, bright imagery and occasionally his own poems. Hopinka...
Samara Joy, A Jazz Phenomenon
October 23, 2022 17:57 - 12 minutes - 11.1 MB22-year-old jazz phenom Samara Joy is out with her debut album, Linger Awhile. With comparisons to the likes of Sarah Vaughan and other great jazz artists, Samara is taking the music world by storm. She talks to us about her career, when she knew music was her “thing,” and keeping it all together at such a young age.
DOWNBALLOT: How to Judge a Judge
October 21, 2022 20:13 - 11 minutes - 10.3 MBWe're wrapping up our #DOWNBALLOT series with a trip to the local courtroom. 39 states elect judges in some form, so chances are you may see judges up for vote on your ballot in November. But what is the difference between all the different circuit courts in which judges preside over? And how can voters access information about the judges on their ballot? And... should judges even be elected? Everything you can think of that impacts human beings happens in our courts. And judges are the on...
SHElection!: Ohio's 13th Congressional District
October 21, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 18.9 MBOhio 13 might be the most competitive congressional SHElection! match up in the country right now. The race for Ohio’s 13th Congressional district is between Ohio State representative Emilia Sykes and Trump-backed attorney Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, who disagree on everything from the economy to abortion to who won the 2020 election... Trump was able to carry Ohio both in 2016 and 2020 by about eight points. Until 2022, because of redistricting, Akron was broken apart, diluting its power and...
How Midterm Campaigns are Framing Crime
October 20, 2022 23:40 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBAccording to data from AdImpact, Republican candidates nationwide have recently increased their spending on ads attacking Democrats' approaches to crime and public safety. We look at how these narratives might impact voters' perception of their own safety and dig deeper into the data available on crimes rates — and what it can tell us about both causes and solutions to crime. We're joined by Rena Karefa-Johnson, Director of National programming at FWD.us, and Ames Grawert, Senior Counsel at...
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Resigns
October 20, 2022 23:38 - 7 minutes - 7.23 MBOn 20 October 2022, amid a continuing economic and political crisis, Truss announced her intention to resign as Prime Minister. Installed by the UK's Conservative Party just last month, after her predecessor Boris Johnson was dramatically ousted, Truss had been in office less than six weeks before beginning the dizzying economic roller coaster she has been largely blamed for. But since her first days, some have said her days on the job are numbered. Turns out that the number of days Truss h...
DOWNBALLOT: What Does a County Clerk Do Anyway?
October 20, 2022 16:00 - 9 minutes - 8.91 MBCounties in 26 states elect county clerks. One of the primary responsibilities of the position is to administer elections. After the 2020 election, and false claims of election fraud by former President Trump and his supporters, county clerks and many of the election workers who work with them found themselves targeted by threats and harassment. Those are the states that local elections administrators are really dealing with some brand new problems that I don't think any of us really expe...
Where Have All the Snow Crabs Gone?
October 19, 2022 16:00 - 8 minutes - 7.83 MBMedia outlets began reporting this week that nearly the entire population of Alaskan snow crabs — over a billion — had “disappeared,” forcing the state to cancel winter crab season, an important part of its economy. Government agencies and scientists have suspected side effects of climate change, such as increased predation and disease, contributed to the population collapse. But science journalist and ecologist Spencer Roberts points to evidence that melting sea ice increasingly allowed cr...
DOWNBALLOT: Consider This When Voting For Coroner
October 19, 2022 16:00 - 8 minutes - 7.58 MBThis week we are running an entire series dedicated to the #DOWNBALLOT. Coroners are elected in counties in 20 states in the country. To learn more about about what a coroner does, and what is important to consider when voting for a coroner, we speak with Darnell Hartwell. He is currently chief deputy coroner of Berkeley County, South Carolina, which encompasses parts of North Charleston and its outskirts. He is also a Republican candidate for coroner of Berkeley County running unopposed i...
Inside the Meme Wars Jeopardizing U.S. Democracy
October 19, 2022 16:00 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBA new book, “Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America,” explains how the “Stop the Steal” movement started online and resulted in the January 6 insurrection, using examples from Gamergate, the Occupy Wall Street movement and Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency to develop its playbook. "Meme wars are about the struggle or battle over the definition of a situation or the definition of what it means to be on one side of an issue," book co-author Dr. Joa...
LA City Council Crisis Highlights Issues of Anti-Blackness
October 18, 2022 16:00 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBThe fallout from the leaked audio of racist and derogatory comments made by Los Angeles City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin De Leon continues. How does the city heal and move on from this? We’re joined by Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson who represents the 8th district in Los Angeles and Dr. Danielle Clealand, associate professor in the departments of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies and African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin...
DOWNBALLOT: High Schooler Serving on School Board
October 18, 2022 16:00 - 13 minutes - 12 MBFor our #DOWNBALLOT series, we're looking at the role and importance of school board elected officials. Here's a highlight from today's interview: Folks were very supportive of my campaign. I think people realized that, hey, it's a no brainer to have a student on the school board. You know, we're boots on the ground in the classroom. We know what our peers are facing. We know what's going on in our schools. So, it doesn't make sense not to have us included in the decision making and the pol...
Tim Robbins Celebrates 40 Years of The Actor's Gang
October 17, 2022 20:36 - 15 minutes - 13.9 MBOscar-winning actor Tim Robbins joins us to discuss the 40th anniversary of The Actor’s Gang and their reprisal of the Play Ubu the King in Los Angeles. Robbins also discusses the ongoing work of their internationally recognized rehabilitation program, The Actor’s Gang Prison Project.
DOWNBALLOT: The 101 on Voting Your Entire Ballot
October 17, 2022 16:00 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MBWe kick off our "DOWNBALLOT" series to explore why local elections and politics matter. Research shows that more than 30% of voters often don’t even bother filling out their entire ballot. Is it apathy or a lack of information about some of the less covered and more obscure races and candidates? This week we'll be exploring what some of those down ballot elected officials actually do, what you should consider when you're voting for them, and how you can get research the candidates so that...
A Conversation with MacArthur Fellow Jennifer Carlson
October 17, 2022 16:00 - 7 minutes - 6.53 MBThe MacArthur Foundation just announced its newest class of fellows for 2022. Colloquially known as the MacArthur ‘Geniuses’, each class is meant to include some of the brightest minds across multiple disciplines. This year, the cohort is made up of authors, filmmakers, digital archivists, scientists, scholars and more. Jennifer Carlson is a sociologist and author "Policing the Second Amendment: Guns, Law Enforcement, and the Politics of Race." She joined The Takeaway to discuss her work st...
Unpacking the Parkland Shooter Verdict
October 14, 2022 16:00 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBFour years ago, in February, 2018, Nikolas Cruz entered his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and opened fire. He killed 17 people. After pleading guilty last year, he was up for the death penalty. Yesterday, a jury decided to not sentence him to death, and instead he will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. We speak to Alexis Hoag-Fordjour, Assistant Professor of Law & Co-director of the Center for Criminal Justice at Brooklyn Law...
Iran Protests Are Entering a Second Month
October 14, 2022 16:00 - 8 minutes - 7.35 MBIt's been a month since 22-year old Masah Jina Amini died after her brutal arrest by Iran's morality police who enforce the country's compulsory hijab law. As Iranians from all walks of life have taken to the streets, the government has responded with mass violence, with human rights groups reporting that at least 200 people have been killed. Despite the regime's internet blackouts, Iranians continue to share videos and reporting of the scope of the protests and brutality. We're joined by I...