Virtually Speaking

Richard, a health policy wonk's wonk,  joins us to discuss some gory details of the GOP HCR process.  RIchard has  spent most of his career in the health insurance industry managiing rate structures,  For several years now he has shared his knowledge of health care policy and elements of the PPACA with readers of the Balloon Juice blog. And in January he tossed aside his super hero  grab to reveal himself as David Anderson, Research Associate at Duke's Margolis Center for Health  Policy

There is no fact/fiction lobe, no area in the cerebral cortex that holds true facts.  We're not wired for truth---but we are deeply wired for stories. In fact, compelling stories trump true facts as often as not, and our world view is defined by the fake world of 24 or suitcase nukes than they are by cold reality. We're been looking for this program for a decade, someone who can talk clearly about the nuance of narrative, the  power of stories and the resilience of myth.  Tried twice before, and didn't get it. But tonight America's leading investigative journalist draws on her academic training and over a decade deep in the weeds of natiional security, intelligence and politic to talk about truth. The discussion draws heavily from Marcy's post On "Fake News"

Ian Welsh  has been blogging since 2003.  He was the Managing Editor of FireDogLake and the Agonist. His work has also appeared at Huffington Post, Alternet, and Truthout, as well as the now defunct Blogging of the President (BOPNews) He is an editor, writer and social media consultant who currently lives in Toronto. In this episode we discuss Ian''s review of Jane Jacobs' Dark Age Ahead. Note: Some profanity. With good reason.

Research polls, media interviews, and everyday conversations reveal an unsettling truth: citizens, while well-meaning and even passionate about current affairs, appear to know very little about politics. Hundreds of surveys document vast numbers of citizens answering even basic questions about government incorrectly. Given this unfortunate state of affairs, it is not surprising that more knowledgeable people often deride the public for its ignorance. Some experts even think that less informed citizens should stay out of politics altogether.  As Arthur Lupia shows in Uninformed, this is not constructive. At root, critics of public ignorance fundamentally misunderstand the problem. Many experts believe that simply providing people with more facts will make them more competent voters. However, these experts fail to understand how most people learn, and hence don't really know what types of information are even relevant to voters. Feeding them information they don't find relevant does not address the problem. In other words, before educating the public, we need to educate the educators. 

This is the world of Democracy's Missing Arsenal, an alternate history thought experiment that chronicles world events in the century following a Confederate victory in the Civil War. In Volume One--A Nation Sundered-A World Engulfed--authors Michael King and John Bredehoft described how the success of Robert E. Lee's September 1862 invasion of the North and the aftermath.  Volume Two--Bloodshed Universal-Slavery Triumphant--King and Bredehoft chronicle an alternate "Great War of 1914-1918" whose scope and devastation vastly exceeds the World War One of our history. At the end Imperial Germany emerges master of Europe, seconded by a revivified Habsburg dominion. Reminded by Confederate consultants that "Slav" shares a linguistic root with "slave," and inspired by the Confederacy's emergence as a viable model for industrial and military development based on human bondage, Germany and Austria-Hungary restore serfdom to the Eurasian hearyland.

Thomas Levenson is a professor at MIT and head of its science writing program. He is the author of several books, including Einstein in Berlin and Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist. About The Hunt for Vulcan, can't  top AMNH Director Neil deGrasse Tyson “Levenson tells us where Vulcan came from, how it vanished, and why its spirit lurks today. Along the way, we learn more than a bit of just how science works—when it succeeds as well as when it fails.”—Neil deGrasse Tyson  

Born to a dark-skinned maid, fatherhood acknowledged by Lorenzo II de Medici, Alessandro de' Medici rose to the Dukedom of Florence. Catherine Fletcher discusses the world of Renaissance Florence, the Holy Roman Empire ruled by Charles V and Papal Rome ruled by the de' Medici Pontiff Clement the 7th in the context of her book The Black Prince of Florence

We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance—are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. But as mathemetician and former quant Cathy O’Neil reveals in Weapons of Math Destruction, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they’re wrong.  

Gaius Publius writes about a variety of issues at Digby's Hullaballoo and Howie Klein's Down  with Tyranny.among other places. You can find his work summarized on his tumblr page. He explores the political and  scientific issues surrounding climate change and the interrelationship of climate change, wealth inequality and neo liberal policy.  The time window is closing rapidly.  Will we be able to  mobilize the effort needed? Background reading: Becky Bond rule. Progressive Clinton supporters:  You broke it, now you own it. Despair among climate scientists: New York Times breakthrough "sky is blue" coverage.    And an afterthought from Gaius  

Richard Eskow is a freelance writer, Senior Fellow with Campaign for America's Fujture.  Host of the Zero Hour at We Act Radio; former Wall Street executive and advisor to US State Department, World Bank, foundations and private corporations on social policy, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries re healthcare, social welfare, and technology during their emergence from Communism. Adviser to the Sanders campaign, he discusses elements of that insurgent movement, and how the Democratic Party can harness it  

Culture of Truth provides his weekly Most Ridiculous Thing That Happened This Sunday, identifying the unintentional hilarity of the morning gasbag "interviews." Ths week's episode is called "Sacrifice."

In Ethical Chic,  award-winning author Fran Hawthorne uses her business-investigative skills to analyze six favorites: Apple, Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, American Apparel, Timberland, and Tom’s of Maine.  She and Jay discuss the complex questions that face people who want to consume both fashionably and responsibly. Fran is a prize-winning author and journalist with over 20 years of experience specializing in health care, retirement issues, and the nexus between business and public policy. She writes regularly for The New York Times, Newsday, The Scientist, Institutional Investor, among others.  You can learn more at her web site https://hawthornewriter.com/ and you can follow her on twitter @hawthornewriter

Crack investigative reporter David Dayen has been on the mortgage fraud beat from the late oughts. His book, Chain  of Title, recounts the experience of three citizens who pursued their foreclosure cases through the obfuscation and lies that the banks introduced into the American cadastral system. In the process of circumventing the centuries-old system of real estate ownership and transfer of ownership.

Culture of Truth provides his weekly Most Ridiculous Thing That Happened This Sunday, identifying the unintentional hilarity of the morning gasbag "interviews." Ths week's episode is called "Teflon."

William Black,Professor of  Economics  & Law at the University of Missouri Kansas City is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator. Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economic.  He's the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One  We discuss Bill's recent Naked Capitalism post,  Mankiw’s Mythical Ten Commandments of Theoclassical Economics, where the Economists's Emperor's Neo Classical Clothes are examined and found to be non-existent. And at New Economic Perspectives: Stop Calling Deals That Help CEOs Pillage with Impunity “Free Trade”

Marcy Wheeler is one of the country's most effective investigative journalists working on civil liberties and domestic surveillance, blogging at Empty Wheel and tweeting @emptywheel. Avedon Carol is anAmerican ex-pat living in London  writes about American politics, captured media, captured gov't, censorship and health care.  She hosts the Sideshow  the best blog curation on the internet. Follow @Avedon_Says We discuss the policy direction we can expect from a Clinton administration.

Lawrence R. Jacobs is Walter F. and Joan Mondale Chair for Political Studies at the Humphrey School for Public Affairs, the University of Minnesota, and co-author of both Health Care Reform and American Politics (Oxford) and Class War? (Chicago).  The US Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful institutions in the world, unfettered by institutional or political checks.  Captive to the finance industry, it has become a source of inequality and financial uncertainty. Professor Jacobs describe how this came to be and how a true central bank could be organized and regulated, as presented in Fed Power: How Finance Wins, a book he co-authored with Desmond King.

Sara Robinson is a Seattle-based futurist and veteran blogger on culture, politics, and religion.  She's a consulting futurist and on the national board of NARAL. Find her recently launched blog — Future Imperfect — at sararobinson.net Culture of Truth is a political satirist, posting his weekly Bobblespeak Translations for those who have missed the Sunday Morning Talk Shows.  @bobblespeak Moonshinepatriot.blogspot.com Tonight is Trump Night at VSS.  

Michael Brooks is a contributing host for the four time award winning independent political talk show, The Majority Report. He appears regularly as a political and cultural analyst on outlets including Huffpost Live, SirusXM, AlJazeera English, CCTV and France 24. His writing has appeared in Al Monitor, Al Jazeera, snd the Washington Post. Michael also partners with Philip Mackenzie at 2 Dope Boys and a Podcast Michael and Jay discuss the presumptive Presidential nominees, and the disruption that's arisen along with the rising of rank and file movements on both sides of the  spectrum--and age demographic.

Gaius Publius — Professional writer of stories, poems, and books on education & technology. Currently writes for Digby's Hullaballoo, Down with Tyranny, Crooks and Liars and  Naked Capitalism Follow @Gaius_Publius and his tumblr page, GaiusPublius   See A Look Ahead: Coming to the Philadelphia Crossroads and The Rebellion Won't Go Away