Episodes

  • Episode 16: Janno Lieber on Transforming NYC Transit

    Episode 16: Janno Lieber on Transforming NYC Transit
    Jul 28 2023
    Less traffic. Cleaner air. Safer streets. Better transit. That’s the personal motto of Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. And it’s certainly a good one aspirationally. The challenge is putting it into practice. Lieber joins host Charles Lane to discuss the triumphs and pitfalls of running one of the world’s greatest social and infrastructural experiments: the New York City subway system.
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    35 mins
  • Episode 15: Gov. John Bel Edwards on Being a Deep South Democrat

    Episode 15: Gov. John Bel Edwards on Being a Deep South Democrat
    Jul 17 2023
    Louisiana is a unique state and Charles Lane knows its history; his 2008 book, The Day Freedom Died (https://www.amazon.com/Day-Freedom-Died-Charles-Lane/dp/0805089225), told the story of the Colfax Massacre of 1873, in which dozens of Black men were slain. And the state has a unique governor, John Bel Edwards, who has been elected to two terms as a rare pro-Medicaid expansion, pro-life Democrat. Charles met the governor at the recent dedication of a monument to the victims at Colfax and asked him to join the podcast to discuss his unusual place in American politics.
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    32 mins
  • Episode 14: Josh Kraushaar on Antisemitism and Politics in America

    Episode 14: Josh Kraushaar on Antisemitism and Politics in America
    Jun 5 2023
    Political extremism and antisemitism have a habit of going hand in hand throughout history. Josh Kraushaar, veteran political analyst and editor-in-chief of Jewish Insider, joins host Charles Lane to talk about the rise of antisemitism in America, partisan sentiment and the U.S.-Israel relationship, and political trends more broadly.
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    36 mins
  • Episode 13: Colbert I. King on D.C., Journalism, and Black History

    Episode 13: Colbert I. King on D.C., Journalism, and Black History
    Apr 18 2023
    Colbert “Colby” I. King has served the nation in a myriad of roles, including as “the unofficial journalistic voice of the city for more than three decades.” He sat down with host Charles Line to share his thoughts on the District’s political limbo, the state of journalism today, and the importance of teaching Black history. This episode was recorded on March 29, 2023.
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    33 mins
  • Episode 12: Natasha Crampton on Building Responsible AI

    Episode 12: Natasha Crampton on Building Responsible AI
    Apr 5 2023
    Artificial Intelligence has played a game-changing role across many industries, from banking and health care to retail and manufacturing. But as AI impacts our lives in increasingly direct ways, are companies harnessing its technological power safely and responsibly? Microsoft’s Chief Responsible AI Officer Natasha Crampton joined Charles Lane to discuss Chat GPT software, how system design can be used to remove structural biases from AI, and the ethical implications of our AI future.
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    41 mins
  • Episode 11: Anna Lembke on Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

    Episode 11: Anna Lembke on Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence
    Mar 1 2023
    Is pain necessary to appreciate the good in life? Has unfettered access to pleasurable stimuli–from drugs and alcohol to internet and streaming TV–dulled our ability to experience true pleasure? Dr. Anna Lembke uses neuroscience and narrative to explore these questions and more in her book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (https://www.annalembke.com/dopamine-nation). In conversation with Charles Lane, Lembke offers up hope for how to get back to our center.
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    46 mins
  • Episode 10: Jorge Castañeda on the Challenges Facing Latin America’s Young Democracies

    Episode 10: Jorge Castañeda on the Challenges Facing Latin America’s Young Democracies
    Jan 26 2023
    Do democracies offer progress or only the promise of progress? NYU professor and former foreign minister of Mexico Jorge Castañeda breaks down some of the challenges currently facing the western hemisphere’s youngest democracies, those of Latin America. From Mexico to Peru and Brazil, a centrist vacuum in the region is contributing to everything from copycat insurrection to populist violence.
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    50 mins
  • Episode 9: Jon Grinspan on American Political Wildness

    Episode 9: Jon Grinspan on American Political Wildness
    Nov 22 2022
    Americans have a penchant for telling themselves the darkest version of their history. But Jon Grinspan (https://americanhistory.si.edu/profile/1214) looks to the wild campaigns of the 1800's to show how the lived drama of the American political experience offers lessons of hope for political participation and civility.
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    36 mins