Broadcasts.com - browse "News" podcasts

Dastardly Cleverness in the Service of Good

Winner of national Communicator and W3 Awards: the podcast for people who make progress. Your host: writer, consultant, and national media commentator Spencer Critchley.

Luke Freeman on the promise & challenges of Effective Altruism: how to make giving count

Published: Dec. 22, 2023, 8:01 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 39 seconds

Listed in: News

What Cynics Get Wrong About Politics

Published: Oct. 25, 2023, 7:01 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 2 minutes 11 seconds

Listed in: News

A Hollow Man Vacates the Chair & Other Leadership Lessons, Cautionary & Otherwise, with Kevin Lewis & Zach Friend

Published: Oct. 5, 2023, 6:14 p.m.
Duration: 49 minutes 46 seconds

Listed in: News

Kevin Lewis on AI: Lessons from Working with Meta, Obama, and the DOJ

Published: Sept. 19, 2023, 9:26 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 12 minutes 10 seconds

Listed in: News

Katie Davis: What We Really Know About Kids & Tech

Published: July 11, 2023, 7:01 a.m.
Duration: 56 minutes 41 seconds

Listed in: News

Joan Esposito: Talk radio for people who want better politics

Published: Feb. 1, 2023, 8:01 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 9 minutes 29 seconds

Listed in: News

Sam Farr: How Democracy Can Work

Published: Dec. 21, 2022, 8:01 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 29 minutes 28 seconds

Listed in: News

Why do so many choose tyranny over democracy? Joan Esposito interviews Spencer Critchley

Published: Nov. 29, 2022, 8:01 a.m.
Duration: 43 minutes 59 seconds

Joan Esposito interviews Spencer Critchley on why people choose tyranny over democracy

Spencer often talks with Joan Esposito, who interviews him about politics for her show on Chicago\'s WCPT-AM. This episode of Dastardly Cleverness replays one of those conversations that\'s especially relevant now.

Joan and Spencer focus on why democracy, after all its successes, is now in so much danger from authoritarianism. They talk about:

Why so many people are choosing authoritarianism over democracy, mostly on the right but on the left too
How the sources of America\'s division go back to the Founding
The breakdown of the moral consensus that used to hold us more or less together and how that allows demagogues to appeal to the worst in us
What Plato, Freud, Marx, religion, and Silicon Valley tech bro\\u2019s have to do with all this
And more.

You can hear more smart, thoughtful interviews by Joan Esposito over the air on WCPT-AM Chicago, online at heartlandsignal.com, on SoundCloud, or with any podcast app \\u2014 just search for \\u201cJoan Esposito.\\u201d

'

-->

Listed in: News

Les Francis & Lora Lee Martin: Can Democrats Save Democracy?

Published: Oct. 27, 2022, 7:01 a.m.
Duration: 1 hour 4 minutes 32 seconds

Listed in: News

Sam Quinones: "America and hope in the time of fentanyl and meth"

Published: Oct. 11, 2022, 7:01 a.m.
Duration: 59 minutes 19 seconds

In many ways, addiction has become a defining feature of life in America. More and more of us have become addicted to drugs like alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and opioids, and to other things increasingly recognized as addictive, like sugar, junk food, and social media.

The problem has been growing for decades, but in recent years it has exploded. A record for deaths by overdose was set in 2020, at a level six and a half times higher than just 10 years before. The 2020 record was smashed last year, with the overdose death rate still rising. Overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

Sam Quinones

Some of the toll is probably related to the COVID pandemic. But much of it is also caused by a seemingly infinite supply of incredibly addictive and dangerous synthetic drugs, especially meth and fentanyl. They can be obtained or made cheaply by almost anyone, and sold at an enormous profit. Often they\\u2019re mixed in with other illegal drugs, or with counterfeit versions of legal drugs. Now there are reports of fentanyl pills made to look like candy.

Spencer\'s guest this time is one of the leading experts on the addiction crisis, and one of its most powerful storytellers. Journalist Sam Quinones sounded the alarm on opiate addiction in 2015 in his multiple-award-winning book Dreamland. That book focused on the devastation visited on a small Ohio town from two sources: the aggressive marketing of a supposedly safe universal painkiller called Oxycontin and a flood of cheap, black tar heroin. Dreamland played a major role in exposing the scale and the origins of the opioid epidemic, and that helped produce consequences for many of those who promoted and profited from that epidemic.

Sam Quinones was well ahead of the crowd when he wrote Dreamland, and he still is. His latest book is called The Least of Us. In it, he describes how the addiction crisis has gotten even worse \\u2014 and yet he also gives reasons for hope. Those reasons are found in the stories of ordinary people who reject the despair that addiction feeds on and amplifies. They\\u2019re replacing it with small acts of rebuilding and love, the mutual care that may be the only lasting cure for addiction.

'

-->

Listed in: News

Sheri Berman: Is the Game of Democracy Over?

Published: Sept. 8, 2022, 11:59 a.m.
Duration: 49 minutes 27 seconds

One way of thinking about democracy is as a game \\u2014 a game in which freedom, equality, and even lives are at stake.

And one way of thinking about the state of our democracy is that one of the two main competitors is no longer playing the game, but trying to destroy it.

As with any game, the rules of democracy only matter if we agree they do.

Ultimately, we can\\u2019t prove that things like civil debate, fair elections, and following the law are good things, we just agree that they are, like we might agree that aces are high. Except we\\u2019re not playing for chips.

My guest this time is a leading expert on the game of democracy, why it matters so much, and how it could come to an end.

Sheri Berman is a professor of political science at Barnard College, Columbia University.\\xa0

Much of her research focuses on how European democracies have developed, struggled, and often failed many times before succeeding. That\\u2019s if they do succeed, and if that success lasts. The lasting success of democracy isn\\u2019t guaranteed, as we\\u2019re all seeing, all too clearly, right now.

Sheri Berman\\u2019s most recent book is Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Regime to the Present Day, published by Oxford University Press.\\xa0 She also writes for many scholarly and popular publications, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and VOX.

'

-->

Listed in: News

Why we can\\u2019t \\u201cjust move on\\u201d after the Capitol riot - or everything else that\\u2019s happened over the past four years.
The circle of shared moral values that must encompass democracy and how each of us can and must defend it \\u2014 starting by simply speaking up.
Lessons from other countries, especially about the consequences of silence: Germany, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and France.

'

-->

Listed in: News

The Attack on Democracy

Published: Jan. 11, 2021, 8:08 p.m.
Duration: 12 minutes 25 seconds

Listed in: News

Zach & Spencer on Election 2020

Published: Oct. 21, 2020, 5:22 p.m.
Duration: 1 hour 50 seconds

Listed in: News

Mike Madrid of the Lincoln Project

Published: Oct. 1, 2020, 9:38 p.m.
Duration: 40 minutes 38 seconds

Listed in: News

Ryan Coonerty: Facing Historic Wildfires and a Pandemicat the Same Time

Published: Sept. 16, 2020, 5:07 p.m.
Duration: 44 minutes

Listed in: News

How to Do Social Impact Marketing That Works

Published: June 24, 2020, 7:12 p.m.
Duration: 42 minutes 27 seconds

Listed in: News

Patriots of Two Nations: Why Trump Was Inevitable & What Happens Next

Published: April 28, 2020, 6:49 p.m.
Duration: 16 minutes 24 seconds

Listed in: News

How to Communicate in a Crisis, With Brent Colburn

Published: March 30, 2020, 3:40 p.m.
Duration: 52 minutes 7 seconds

Listed in: News

How Republicans Are Beating Democrats Online, With Mark Barker & Jordan Ruden

Published: Feb. 3, 2020, 11:42 p.m.
Duration: 52 minutes 42 seconds

Listed in: News

Tracy Palandjian: Changing How Change Happens, With Pay for Success

Published: Dec. 11, 2019, 9:43 p.m.
Duration: 37 minutes 54 seconds

Listed in: News

Jake Harriman: Fight Terrorism By Ending Extreme Poverty

Published: Nov. 12, 2019, 6:51 p.m.
Duration: 46 minutes 16 seconds

Listed in: News

Jenn Park: What If Government Just Did What Works?

Published: Oct. 7, 2019, 9:31 p.m.
Duration: 31 minutes 23 seconds

Listed in: News

Elin Kelsey: How Optimism Can Help Save the Oceans

Published: Aug. 14, 2019, 4:40 p.m.
Duration: 54 minutes 34 seconds

Listed in: News

Jacob Martinez: How Digital NEST Helps Youth Take Flight

Published: July 16, 2019, 6:44 p.m.
Duration: 42 minutes 47 seconds

Listed in: News

Alex Gershenson: The Huge Potential of Making Corporate Buying More Sustainable

Published: May 21, 2019, 5:51 p.m.
Duration: 37 minutes 35 seconds

Listed in: News

Patrice Maginnis: How TechHigh & LowIs Changing the World of the Blind & Visually Impaired

Published: April 23, 2019, 6:53 p.m.
Duration: 49 minutes 53 seconds

Listed in: News

Saving Democracy: The Way Forward

Published: March 26, 2019, 7:18 p.m.
Duration: 2 hours 7 minutes 14 seconds

Listed in: News

Bud Colligan: Social Entrepreneur

Published: Feb. 4, 2019, 10:21 p.m.
Duration: 49 minutes 34 seconds

Listed in: News

The New Congress: Be Right or Do Right?

Published: Jan. 10, 2019, 1:21 a.m.
Duration: 31 minutes 3 seconds

Listed in: News

Lenny Mendonca: Why Progressive Federalism May Be the Answer to America's Problems

Published: Dec. 16, 2018, 9:36 p.m.
Duration: 41 minutes 6 seconds

Listed in: News

Beyond the Horse Race: What the Election Can Teach Us About Making Change

Published: Nov. 14, 2018, 9:02 p.m.
Duration: 48 minutes 38 seconds

Listed in: News

Highlights From Our First Year

Published: Oct. 2, 2018, 4 p.m.
Duration: 53 minutes 43 seconds

Listed in: News

Amanda Renteria: How to Create Impact in the Public & Private Sectors

Published: Sept. 4, 2018, 4:20 p.m.
Duration: 53 minutes 1 second

Listed in: News

Saving Democracy: National Perspectives From Left & Right

Published: July 12, 2018, 10:25 p.m.
Duration: 2 hours 2 minutes 50 seconds

Listed in: News

Joe Sanberg: We Can - And Must - End Poverty in 30 Years

Published: June 28, 2018, 5:38 p.m.
Duration: 50 minutes 5 seconds

Listed in: News

Find a Purpose or Face the Pitchforks: This Ad Agency Is Betting on Doing What's Right

Published: May 29, 2018, 5:49 p.m.
Duration: 51 minutes 6 seconds

Listed in: News

What If Everyone Were Guaranteed a Paycheck?

Published: May 2, 2018, 6:51 p.m.
Duration: 43 minutes 44 seconds

Listed in: News

How to Communicate for Impact

Published: April 11, 2018, 2:38 p.m.
Duration: 40 minutes 42 seconds

Listed in: News

Can We Make Government Work?

Published: March 21, 2018, 12:59 p.m.
Duration: 46 minutes 40 seconds

Listed in: News

Why Do We Vote the Way We Do?

Published: Feb. 26, 2018, 1:01 p.m.
Duration: 40 minutes 39 seconds

Listed in: News

North Korea & WMD: How to Think About the Unthinkable

Published: Jan. 24, 2018, 6:53 p.m.
Duration: 36 minutes 13 seconds

Listed in: News

The Future of Work with Kristin Wolff

Published: Jan. 4, 2018, 4:31 a.m.
Duration: 54 minutes 48 seconds

Listed in: News

More Than Just Pretty Fish: This Aquarium Is a Force in Ocean Preservation

Published: Dec. 12, 2017, 3:42 p.m.
Duration: 46 minutes 15 seconds

Listed in: News

If We Got the First 5 Years of Life Right, It Would Change Everything

Published: Nov. 26, 2017, 11:33 p.m.
Duration: 31 minutes 55 seconds

Listed in: News

We Know How to Reduce Gang Violence If We're Willing to Act

Published: Nov. 10, 2017, 1:12 a.m.
Duration: 36 minutes 37 seconds

Listed in: News

"Debt-Free College" & Other Ways We Could Transform Education, Jobs & the Economy with Apprenticeships

Published: Oct. 27, 2017, 4:20 a.m.
Duration: 36 minutes 11 seconds

Listed in: News

Hope for Democracy, Part 3 of 3

Published: Oct. 12, 2017, 6:41 p.m.
Duration: 47 minutes 15 seconds

Listed in: News

Hope for Democracy, Part 2

Published: Sept. 25, 2017, 8:42 p.m.
Duration: 30 minutes 38 seconds

Listed in: News

Hope for Democracy, Part 1

Published: Aug. 31, 2017, 12:27 a.m.
Duration: 40 minutes 32 seconds

Listed in: News