America's identity is evolving in real time. Immigrants are being scoffed at for looking a certain way and not being "American" enough. Transgender individuals are being determined not "fit enough" to serve in our military. Sexual assault and neo-nazi behavior is being condoned by the Oval Office. The First Amendment is being ridiculed. And, America's moral authority is eroding internationally, begging the question of who is "enough" of an American ally. Former Obama White House senior advisor and Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of Commerce, Vikrum Aiyer, is joined by journalists, comedians, politicians, activists, and listeners, to unpack...
Latest episodes
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49 min
This Is Life with Lisa Ling - Stories of American Identity
This is Life with Lisa Ling is an investigative docuseries on CNN. Lisa Ling, award-winning journalist and author, immerses herself in extraordinary, unusual, and sometimes dangero…
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47 min
How to Rebuild Trust in American Leadership
From the NFL to Media Executives to elected office, the trust & faith we have in the very organizations that define American culture is has dwindled. But Dr. Jerry Toomer, a 30 yea…
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53 min
If You’re Not Cheating, You’re Not Trying: Gaming College Admissions with a 14-Year Veteran of the Game
While wealth has been used to hack college admissions for generations, the FBI indictment in Operation Varsity Blues underscores vast inequities in higher education. Eric Rath, a 1…
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37 min
Fewer Veterans Are Running for Public Office. Meet the Team Changing That: New Politics
Emily Cherniack & Micah Scharf of New Politics join the pod to discuss why recruiting service members for a second tour of duty — representing their country, after spending years f…
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38 min
Is an “America First” Strategy Disrupting Alliances Abroad? We Asked a Parliamentarian from Europe.
Dr. Ricardo Leite, a Member of Parliament from Portugal, joins the pod to discuss how multilateral relations between traditional allies is shifting in real time; and what those evo…
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45 min
Opportunity Zones – Can a Tax Break Save the US-Mexico Border?
Should Amazon Have Invested In Opportunity Zones? And, what do Napster, Cory Booker, and VP Pence have in common? Even though Amazon was pilloried for seeking tax “incentives” from…
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51 min
Changing of the Guard: How Millennials are Grabbing Seats of Power
Why Millennials in America are becoming the face of community organizing, new technologies, and the nation… Founder & Executive Director of the Association of Young Americans (AYA)…
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16 min
Why Women Still March
Showing up at The Women’s March in San Francisco, CA – January, 2019 While 2019’s Women’s March was criticized for size, affiliation, accusations of bigotry and beyond — women and…
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53 min
Is 2019 the Year America Finally Enacts Paid Family Leave Policies?
Why working families in the United States struggle to spend time with newborns & raise their families… Executive Director of the nation’s leading paid family leave advocacy organiz…
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48 min
(Golden Globes Special): Is Hollywood Shifting from Commercial Impact to Social Impact?
The transforming of creative content in Hollywood… In an era where entertainment increasingly mirrors the despair contained within our daily news cycle, one studio in Hollywood is…
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50 min
Why are Paychecks Shrinking, if the Economy is Booming?
Why Most Americans Can’t Afford a $400 Bill Rachel Schneider (Author of the Financial Diaries, and Entrepreneur in Resident at the Aspen Institute’s FSP) followed 235 American fami…
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22 min
How New York Trains Workers For a World of A.I. – with Karen Bhatia
With all the promise & fret of automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics — Karen Bhatia, Vice President of New York City’s Economic Development Corporation, joins the pod t…
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25 min
How the City of L.A. Resists Anti-Immigration Policies in the Era of Trump
Dealing with changing Federal policy in immigration affairs departments in major US cities… Dr. Linda Lopez, Chief of Immigrant Affairs to LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, joins the pod to…
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28 min
#GivingTuesday & Lyft: Are Tech Companies Leading the Way on Social Impact?
Lyft’s Head of Social Impact, Mike Masserman, joins the pod to talk about how a tech company can still invest in social good — even in an era of heightened government scrutiny acro…
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51 min
The Unsung Heroes of The West Wing
Presidential speechwriters, Pentagon advisors, and the staff who help confirm Supreme Court justices don’t often grace the front pages of newspapers or tabloids. But in their book…
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59 min
Automation and the Future of Work in America
New forms of work, through apps like Uber, and new forms of automation — are sparking both new opportunities and considerable angst among American workers. CEO & Co-Founder of The…
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46 min
What’s the Matter with Florida? Comparing the 2000 and 2018 Election Recounts
Bush v. Gore Florida recount attorney, and veteran campaign operative, Todd Elmer joins the pod to describe what the chaos inside an election recount looks like, while reflecting o…
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44 min
Banning Gender: How America is Attempting to Rewrite Definitions of Sex
The first openly transgender staffer to The White House, Raffi Freedman–Gurspan, outlines how Americans can stand up to a White House plan to rewrite definitions of sex in this cou…
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22 min
5 Issues to Watch as a result of Tuesday’s elections
As the nation turned out to the ballot box in record numbers for the November midterm elections… …the world watched in awe as Americans were pitted against each other with threats…
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43 min
What the City of Chicago is Doing to Re-Claim the American Dream
Chicago, immigrants, and American identity… Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has stood up to anyone who tries to point at a finger at an immigrant in Chicago and imply that they’re not w…