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Podcast: Fear and loathing in Washington: The debt ceiling

Podcast: Fear and loathing in Washington: The debt ceiling

Here we go again. Congress is facing a June 1 deadline to avoid a totally preventable “debt ceiling” crisis. If no one flinches in this dangerous game of chicken, the U.S. economy will be dragged into a cataclysm, destroying America’s global reputation and unleashing unfathomable pain for every American family.

An artifact from World War I, the debt ceiling comes back every few years to provide existential drama — the battlefield of partisan politics. It all sounds a bit insane, but it’s only the latest crisis to be spawned by our increasingly dysfunctional political system.


On this week’s episode, Fernando is joined by Washington uber-insider Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, to discuss her mounting fear that a “default is possible” and what we can do about it.

Also, Fernando chats with Nellie Gorbea, former Rhode Island Secretary of State, for the latest installment of the X-Ray Vision interview. In this quirky conversation, Nellie shares her dream superpower, transformative leadership vision, and why Puerto Rican rum is superior to scotch.

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Federal Funding Cuts Are Only One Problem Facing America’s Colleges and Universities
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Federal Funding Cuts Are Only One Problem Facing America’s Colleges and Universities

Higher education is under stress. The highest-profile threat has been the Trump administration’s efforts to cut funding to several universities, including Harvard, Columbia and Northwestern.

Research universities heavily depend on federal money to conduct research and carry out other areas of work. For example, after tuition, federal money allocated for research made up 40% of the total revenue for two major research universities – Johns Hopkins University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology – in the 2022-23 academic year.

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Workshops, Street Promotions and Alleged Covert Operations: Russian Propaganda in Latin America

Workshops, Street Promotions and Alleged Covert Operations: Russian Propaganda in Latin America

Amid political unrest ahead of Mexico’s 2024 presidential election —between late 2023 and early 2024—, Russian state media outlet Russia Today (RT) launched a street-level promotional campaign in Mexico City. Posters appeared in Metro and Metrobús stations, encouraging commuters to scan a QR code to watch the channel’s newscasts.

The host of RT’s program Ahí les va also mocked accusations that the channel spreads propaganda on his YouTube show.Photos from the Telegram account “¡Ahí les va!”

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An illustration of an AI chatbot and an iphone.

AI is transforming how people seek help, share stories, and connect online. This article examines what’s at stake for social media and the future of human connection.

Getty Images, Malorny

What Happens to Online Discussion Forums When AI Is First Place People Turn?

No doubt social media and online discussion forums have played an integral role in most everyone’s daily digital lives. Today, more than 70% of the U.S. adults use social media, and over 5 billion people worldwide participate in online social platforms.

Discussion forums alone attract enormous engagement. Reddit has over 110 million daily active users, and an estimated 300 million use Q&A forums like Quora per month, and 100 million per month use StackExchange. People seek advice, learn from others’ experiences, share questions, or connect around interests and identities.

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A Lasting Solution to the Gerrymandering War
A view of the capitol building from across the street
Photo by Joel Volz on Unsplash

A Lasting Solution to the Gerrymandering War

Perhaps the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee knew what was coming. As an early proponent of a federal bill banning mid-decade gerrymandering, she now appears to have been ahead of her time. Indeed, today, no fewer than seven bills in Congress bear her legacy of concern for fair representation in redistricting. That’s more than any other time in modern congressional history.

The story of the current gerrymandering war flows through her home state of Texas. The legal fight over congressional maps after the 2010 census was complicated; the U.S. Supreme Court struck down several sets of maps as racial gerrymanders.

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