Category: Briefings

What We Can Be Thankful For in This Otherwise Bleak Time

We begin on this Thanksgiving with an exploration of what we can be thankful for in this otherwise bleak time of creeping fascism, looming war abroad and civil war at home, political polarization and societal division. Joining us is Richard Parker, who teaches economics and public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is a Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center. He is a former managing editor of Ramparts, was a cofounder of Mother Jones magazine, and serves on the editorial board of The Nation. His books include, The Myth of the Middle Class and John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics.

Talking Turkey About the Turkey Industry and Its lobbying Clout

Then as Trump pardoned turkeys following the annual White House tradition, he was unable to resist insults against Schumer and Pelosi and J.B. Pritzker instead of celebrating a holiday of goodwill, family, friends and feasting. Joining us to talk turkey is Jackie Mitchell, a political data analyst at OpenSecrets with experience covering ballot measures, campaign finance, and direct democracy law at Ballotpedia. She has also worked with local nonprofit organizations as well as a national political action committee and she has a new report at OpenSecrets we discuss, “Gobbling up influence: What’s on the turkey industry’s political plate?”

How Art in Activism Can Uplift Dissent and Inspire Community Organizing

Then finally Sasha Linden Cohen speaks with Brian Holmes, a cultural critic, ecologist and activist who has worked with activists and artists in Europe and the Americas. He’s the co-founder of Watershed Art & Ecology in Chicago, a gallery and community space that explores the intersections of artistic and political practice. Sasha explores how art in activism can uplift political dissent and inspire community organizing at a time when all hands on deck are needed to stop Trump from destroying America and its democracy.