Nostalgia Trap

There's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, there is ONLY THE RAINBOW. On this episode Justin and I talk about the endless present of our strange historical moment, and how that vibe infects everything from Halloween spending to work-from-home culture. Plus, is anti-ICE activism just a "white thing"? Is the Anthropic IPO as insane as it sounds? Is Billy Joel and blue jeans enough to sustain us?
More importantly, what's your costume this year?
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There is a reckoning for Trump on the horizon, but does it even matter? Justin joins me to survey the global wreckage as the midterms approach. From Ukraine to Saudi Arabia, from Gaza to our own backyards, there is a new logic of brutality creeping over the planet. You can't stop what's coming.
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Do you still have hope? And does a left project even need "hope"? Samuel Stein joins us this week to discuss his latest book A Right to Housing?, a refreshingly honest look at the possibilities for change within the grim landscape of American housing policy. 
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This week Justin joins me to speculate on the inevitable "October Surprise" of the coming U.S. midterm elections: Terror attack? Alien invasion? Sharknado? The landscape of possibilities seems endless. Our conversation veers into a wider discussion of MAGA's fracture and the psychosexual politics of homoeroticized schadenfreude, the pleasure of punishment, and social media lynch mobs.
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Is the widespread hatred of AI just another stupid viral moment that will be forgotten in a week? Or is there something deeper happening? Justin and I game out the historical/psychological parameters of an anti-tech cultural politics, and try to come to terms with our own attitudes about the seemingly unstoppable rise of the machines.
Check out Sam Stein's latest book, A Right to Housing?