Truth Decay Part 2: News in a Digital Age
Reading Time: 14 minutes A conversation with the author of RAND’s new follow-up report on the diminishing role of facts and data in the news.
We’ve Just Doubled Down On Revolutionary War Mythology
Reading Time: 13 minutes A look at what we don’t understand about the Revolutionary War, and why that’s so important today.
Why Election Integrity Is the Whole Ballgame
Reading Time: 13 minutes A look at why a dysfunctional world needs American democracy to work.
The Frightening Rise of Algorithms
Reading Time: 13 minutes Why and how algorithms are taking over our lives, why we should care, and what we can do about it.
Who Should Censor Online Speech?
Reading Time: 18 minutes David Kaye, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, distils the global challenges of our most consequential free-speech issue.
Why Trade Matters
Reading Time: 24 minutes RAND senior economist Dr. Howard Shatz gives us a primer on trade and globalization.
The End of Guns
Reading Time: 20 minutes Can tasers and electric pulse technology replace the need for traditional guns?
The Solution to Democracy Is Less Democracy, Author Says
Reading Time: 16 minutes Yale Professor Ian Shapiro argues that strong political parties, not grassroots citizen efforts, are what’s needed to restore our democracy.
Trying to Understand Trump’s Finances Is Taxing
Reading Time: 19 minutes Martin Sheil, a former IRS investigator, walks us through what we know about Trump’s taxes.
It’s All About the Benjamins: The Trouble With Philanthropy Today
Reading Time: 15 minutes A look at why the personal agendas of wealthy philanthropists do not always serve the public good.
Green Shoots in the Future of Voting
Reading Time: 18 minutes Some stories and blueprints for success in the voting-rights battle.
Democracies Are Not Forever… Is the US Headed Down the Same Path As Rome?
Reading Time: 14 minutes A preeminent scholar of Rome examines the parallels to what we are experiencing today.
The Mueller Report: Further Proof That a Savior Isn’t Coming
Reading Time: 13 minutes A conversation with author and activist Sarah Kendzior about just how bad things are.
The Life, Captivity, and Trial of Bowe Bergdahl: A Symbol of America’s Failure in Afghanistan?
Reading Time: 15 minutes Bowe Bergdahl’s story exemplifies government dysfunction, political posturing, and a failed American policy.
Could Everything You Know About Global Population Growth Be Wrong?
Reading Time: 15 minutes Contrary to popular and long held assumptions, global population is declining. The environmental consequences are good, the economic consequences are bad, says this podcast guest.
How Public-Private Partnerships Are Killing Us
Reading Time: 15 minutes The weakness of government regulators and why the fox should not be guarding the henhouse.
An Explanation of America to Americans
Reading Time: 19 minutes An alternative view of the contours of power and politics in America.
Why Climate Change Is Not Just an Environmental Issue
Reading Time: 21 minutes Mike Berners-Lee looks at ways our global problems and challenges are connected.
Socialism vs. Capitalism… We’re Having the Wrong Debate
Reading Time: 14 minutes A look at how the excesses of capitalism have taken over everything from the lines at Disneyland to the carpool lane of your daily commute.
Who’s Telling the Truth About the Israel Lobby and Anti-Semitism?
Reading Time: 17 minutes Scholars Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer discuss the influence of AIPAC and “the Israel lobby.”