Videos

Much of the critical writing about authoritarianism warns that contemporary populism threatens democracy. But as Stephen Hanson and Jeffrey Kopstein argue in their interesting new book, The Assault on the State (https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Assault+on+the+State%3A+How+the+Global+Attack+on+Modern+Government+Endangers+Our+Future-p-9781509563166) , this global attack on legalistic government by wannabe dictators like Putin, Erdogan and Modi endangers not just…

In the 1970’s, J. Doyne Farmer built the first wearable computer which he used to predict the game of roulette. While this didn’t make him particularly popular in casinos, it did mark the beginning of a glittering scientific career in complexity and systems theory, as well as in theoretical physics…

According to the historian Matthew Warshauer, (https://themindfulprofessor.org/) there was no giant conspiracy on 9/11. The real story about September 11, 2001, he argues in his provocative new book Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation (https://www.routledge.com/Creating-and-Failing-the-911-Generation-The-Real-Story-of-September-11/Warshauer/p/book/9781032503875?srsltid=AfmBOooYfT0shvpw-VZE0CLil3eN0wKf0CdtL_TxQcwTde6AHeAsFS3m) , is its impact on Gen Z who he believes should be renamed the 9/11…

Earlier this year, the prolific American political journalist Sasha Issenberg (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-1999-sasha-issenberg-offers) came on the show to offer a playbook for winning elections in our disinformation age. And, on a recent trip to Los Angeles, I sat down with Issenberg in his Venice home to talk more broadly about the American…

Many are called, but few are chosen. In her late twenties, Deesha Dyer (https://www.deeshadyer.com/) was still in community college. By the age of 31, however, she had become Michelle Obama’s social secretary in the White House. So how did this self-styled undiplomatic (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/deesha-dyer/undiplomatic/9781668640197/) young woman become a member of the…

What’s it like to discover a Klansman in one’s own family? A few weeks ago, R. Derek Black (https://podcasts.apple.com/fi/podcast/episode-2057-r-derek-black-on-his-life-as-the-son/id1448694012?i=1000654941044) , the son of a KKK Grand Wizard and an intimate family friend of David Duke, came on the show to confess the exceptional nature of his own family history. But…

We’ve been on a food & farming run this week. First, we talked with America’s “lunatic farmer,” Joel Salatin (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2139-joel-salatin-explains) , about how regenerative agriculture can regenerate the United States. And we followed that up with the food blogger and writer Nicola Twilley (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2041-nicola-twilley-on-how) who explained about how refrigeration has…

While Kamala Harris has announced that she wants to become the first Silicon Valley President, Donald Trump is speaking today at Bitcoin2024 in Nashville in a self-serving attempt to make Bitcoin Great Again. So where should Silicon Valley be putting its (ample) money in 2024? According to That Was The…

A couple of days ago, America’s most controversial regenerative farmer, Joel Salatin, came on the show (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2139-joel-salatin-explains) to explain how industrialized farming is killing our soil, our bodies and our souls. Today, the Los Angeles based food writer and podcaster Nicola Twilley (https://www.nicolatwilley.com/bio/) offers a more nuanced account of the…

Yesterday, we were in rural Virginia interviewing (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2139-joel-salatin-explains) the pioneering regenerative farmer, Joel Salatin. Today, we are on an equally innovative farm in Houston, Texas, in conversation with Kimberley Meyer, author of Accidental Sisters. (https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520384675/accidental-sisters) It’s called Shamba Ya Amani (https://www.famhoustontx.org/shamba-ya-amani) (Farm of Peace) and, as Meyer explains in her…

As one of America’s most outspoken pioneers of regenerative agriculture, Joel Salatin is popularly known as The Lunatic Farmer (https://www.thelunaticfarmer.com/) . Others have accused him of being a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, a charlatan, and starvation advocate. Less of a lunatic and more of an agricultural visionary, however, Salatin has transformed…

A hundred episodes ago (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-2033-batya-ungar-sargon-on-how-american-elites/id1448694012?i=1000652520207) , we had the author of Second Class, Batya Ungar-Sargon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batya_Ungar-Sargon) , on the show to talk specifically about how America’s elites have betrayed the country’s working men and women. So when I bumped into her at the recent Braver Angels convention in Wisconsin, we…

In the wake of Biden’s resignation and the coronation of Kamala Harris, it’s likely that this year’s election will be particularly divisive and vitriolic. We will hear endless hysteria about the election being the most important in American history, blah blah blah. But while I certainly don’t believe that American…

As CEO of the AI start-up DoNotPay, Joshua Browder (https://x.com/jbrowder1?lang=en) is one of Silicon Valley’s rising young entrepreneurs. Born in the UK and educated at Stanford, Browder is from a remarkable family of American innovators and activists. His great grandfather, Earl Browder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Browder) , was head of the US Communist…

Lauded by KEEN ON favorites like Dave Eggers & Dale Maharidge, J. Malcolm Garcia (https://jmalcolmgarcia.com/) might be the Studs Terkel of contemporary American literature. Having worked as a social worker with San Francisco’s homeless community for 14 years, he then became an acclaimed journalist and winner of the Studs Terkel…

I was at the Liberalism for the 21st Century (https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/liberalism-for-the-21st-century-a) conference last week in DC where I bumped into an old friend and KEEN ON regular Jonathan Rauch (https://www.jonathanrauch.com/about.html) . A Brookings Fellow and prolific author, Rauch is amongst America’s most thoughtful commentators on the contemporary crisis of liberalism and…