The Empty Architect
Rebuilding state capacity is not just about saving money or improving efficiency. It is about reclaiming our collective sovereignty.
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Woke 2 Must Build Institutions
It is easy to critique. It is harder to build.
The End of Trans Rights in the UK Is the Start of Democratic Collapse
It's never just one minority.
The Interracial Cuck Porn Theory of Everything
Everything is gender, but to understand gender you must understand sex.
We Owe Each Other Better: Reject Slopulism, Embrace Building the Republic
We must end the permanent retreat that began with Reagan.
Fighting the Omni-Flamewar (The Editors' Chat #14)
Note: If you support us on Patreon you can find the episode on that platform. The Editors' Chat is a monthly, freewheeling discussion among the editors of Liberal Currents. Today's episode discusses social media, which Contributing Editors Katherine Alejandra Cross and Alan Elrod, along with Publisher Adam
Richard Dawkins Finds Love, and Other AI News (Half the Answer #84, with Hagen Blix)
Is this chatbot sentient? Is AI my friend? Is isolation hackable? Trent and Caitlin discuss recent AI news, Sam Altman's troubles legal and otherwise, labor organizing as a strategy against the worst fears of AI experts, and whether Richard Dawkins is conscious, in this news digest episode with
NATO Should Stay Out of Iran
Strategic self-interest says that NATO should stay out of Trump's misbegotten war.
Thurgood Marshall Saw It Coming
The supercharged bad faith of “constitutional originalism” threatens everything we hold dear.
Editor's Notes: Can We Defy Courts While Believing In Rule of Law?
Do our tactics throw out democracy and rule of law while purportedly aiming at saving them?
Liberalism Reunited
Classical liberals must rejoin left liberals in fighting for emancipatory politics and against the illiberal right.
Staggering Towards Anarchy
What will replace U.S. global leadership after the Trump-accelerated American decline is not a rising China, but multipolar chaos.
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Holding ICE and Border Patrol Accountable (Half the Answer #72, with Joshua Erlich)
Trent and Caitlin catch up with employment litigator Joshua Erlich about the difficulties of holding immigration and border patrol agents to account when they break the law. What happens when you can't be sure which individual attacked you? How can their actions be restricted, and what should Democrats
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Political Polarization Across the U.S.A. and Europe (Half the Answer #71, with Aurelien Mondon)
Caitlin and Trent talk with Aurelien Mondon about his recent political science paper outlining the limitations of considering all politics through the lens of "polarization." They discuss the pitfalls of the term and the ways "polarizing" events and speech can be drastically different and sometimes even
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Making America Sick Again: How MAGA Is Hurting Healthcare and Science (Half the Answer #70, with Walker Bragman)
Trent and Caitlin reconnect with journalist Walker Bragman to hash out the current state of the NIH and HHS, the ideologies that drive people to promote eugenics and science denial, and the childish nature of fascism. Half the Answer can be heard on Spotify, on Apple, on YouTube, on Amazon,
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America and Iran: Another Forever War? (Half the Answer #69, with Jeff Waldorf)
The United States and Israel have dropped bombs on Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, several of his top-ranking officials, and many civilians, among them more than 160 little girls killed in the bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school. Trent and Caitlin have Jeff Waldorf, the Logical Leftist, to hang
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The WaPo Defenestration and ICE Flight Brutality (Half the Answer #68, with Gillian Brockell)
Trent and Caitlin check in with journalist Gillian Brockell after the release of her article on 'ICE Air.' They discuss the recent mass layoffs at the Washington Post, the abhorrent treatment of deportees, the justifications used to mistreat humans, and the importance of empathy and being a human.
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What’s the Deal With Concentration Camps? (Half the Answer #67B, with Andrea Pitzer)
Trent and Caitlin talk with author and journalist Andrea Pitzer about the modern concentration camp model, its history and public perception, and the concentration camps the United States government is operating and hopes to open in the near future. Half the Answer can be heard on Spotify, on Apple, on
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The SAVE America Act’s Assault on Voting Rights (Half the Answer #67A, with Hunter CG)
Trent and Caitlin chatted with Hunter CG of RoteRote Media and Democrats Abroad, looking at the GOP's latest assault on voting rights, the SAVE America Act. This act has passed the House of Representatives and will be addressed by the Senate in the next couple of days. They
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CBP and ICE Report: New Orleans, Minneapolis, Greg Bovino & Apple Pie (Half the Answer #66, with Amanda Moore)
Caitlin and Trent talk with journalist Amanda Moore about her work tracking the DHS "surges" all over the United States, her efforts to get close to former commander at large Gregory Bovino, and her experience trying to form conclusions about the broader patterns of immigration forces' violence
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Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show, Warehouse Prisons & the El Paso Laser Fiasco (Half the Answer #65, with Jonathan Katz)
Trent and Caitlin boogie with a friend of the program, journalist Jonathan M. Katz of The Racket. They talk Super Bowl, Bad Bunny, the TPUSA halftime safe space show, and immigration detention. Half the Answer can be heard on Spotify, on Apple, on YouTube, on Amazon, and elsewhere via its
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Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself? (Half the Answer #64, with Matt McManus)
Trent and Caitlin catch up with political science assistant professor Matt McManus. They discuss the narratives surrounding resistance in the Twin Cities, the loud and ugly voices on the right describing an ideology of cruelty and dehumanization, and the power of regular people to puncture false claims from the government.
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SCOTUS, the Fourth Amendment, and the Resistance (Half the Answer #63, with Chris Geidner)
Trent and Caitlin talk to Chris Geidner of Law Dork about the absolute deluge of legal news that seems to be crashing over us like a tsunami. What are the current assaults on our constitutional rights? What are judges and lawmakers doing to defend those rights? Why is Mike Johnson
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ICE Flights and Accountability in Journalism (Half the Answer #62, with Gillian Brockell)
Caitlin and Trent talk with journalist Gillian Brockell about her work tracking the flights and airline companies that move people in unsafe conditions to third-party recipient countries, where they will be imprisoned, mistreated, tortured, and possibly sent to their country of origin in violation of international law. Half the Answer