A Convenient Way To Promote Happiness
It is a felony under United States federal law1 for any newsmagazine over two years old not to have an accompanying podcast. Thus, once Current Affairs hit its two-year anniversary in 2018, we were obliged to introduce The Current Affairs Podcast, your ear's greatest hour of politics and culture.
Our editorial team brings you a biweekly mixture of discussion, analysis, and assorted auditory delights. From Studio H-3 in the Current Affairs World Headquarters, our podcast is a refreshing alternative to the stale and tedious audio products to which you have grudgingly become accustomed. We’re cutting through the nonsense, bursting open ideological piñatas, and presenting a friendly, relaxed, and upbeat guide to everything that matters in the world (and some things that don’t, but are still fun to hear about).
Every other Tuesday we release our flagship panel episodes, in which the CA team dissects and discusses the thorniest and most interesting problems in politics today.
The panel ponder the demise of anti-consumerist politics, debate a future with no cars, and reveal their weirdest hobby-horses.
The panel this week was associate editor Vanessa A. Bee, legal editor Oren Nimni, finance editor Sparky Abraham, and podmaster-general Aisling McCrea. Your host is Pete Davis.
Current Affairs business manager Eli Massey and contributing editor Aisling McCrea are joined by three radical queer writers for a raucous, thought-provoking discussion on Pride, rainbow capitalism, the meaning of queer culture, the politics of desire, and so much else.
The Current Affairs panel opens up the phone lines, answering listener questions on postmodernism, growth, effective altruism, religion, New Orleans and jokes.
With Brianna Rennix (senior editor), Oren Nimni (legal editor), Lyta Gold (amusements editor), Nathan J. Robinson (editor-in-chief), and Pete Davis (host).
Our bonus episodes frequently involve interviews with experts, writers, activists and policymakers. While we make many of these episodes available to all listeners for free (especially when we think the subject is a matter of public interest), Patreon subscribers will get access to all interviews, and also get early access to the episodes that are made available to the public.
Yes, you read right. Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson sits down with the Patron Saint of Current Affairs, himself: Noam Chomsky!
Topics discussed include: consciousness, the limits of human knowledge, Steven Pinker, Jordan Peterson, academia, artificial intelligence and more.
Our former editor, Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy), has returned to the CA team, after a stint as Press Secretary to the Bernie Sanders campaign. Nathan speaks to Brie about the Bernie campaign, what she would and wouldn’t change in retrospect, Warren, Biden and much else. We missed her.
Originally available only to Patreon subscribers, this episode has been unlocked for all listeners! Current Affairs editor-in-chief Nathan J. Robinson sits down with founder and editor-at-large of Vox, Ezra Klein. Together, they debate (in a very friendly manner) the successes and failures of the Bernie Sanders campaign, incremental change versus radical change, and whether Nathan was justified in writing mean things about Vox in 2016.
Patreon subscribers also get access to special “bonus” episodes, which air every Thursday and alternating Tuesdays. Subjects range from world literature, to oft-neglected issues, to the team’s favorite reality TV shows. Whatever your tastes, you will find something to fascinate and enchant you.
“The Swamp” may have become shorthand for the White House, Congress, and the swarms of lobbyists that surround them, but the District of Columbia is a real city, with real residents, and real local concerns like keeping DC’s housing affordable.
In this episode, Current Affairs associate editor Vanessa A. Bee sits down with housing attorney Amanda Korber, tenant organizer Rob Wohl, and historian Amanda Huron to talk about tenant strikes, displacement, and combatting landlord and developer greed.
Unlocked from the Patreon Bird Feed: Current Affairs amusements editor Lyta Gold, senior editor Brianna Rennix, contributing editor Aisling McCrea and friend of the pod Dan Walden continue our "problematic fave" series with a conversation on C. S. Lewis.
Topics discussed include: Narnia, trauma from British boys schools, A Grief Observed, The Space Trilogy, Lewis’ relationship to conservatives, uncertainty, ecosocialism, ecofascism, the human condition, brutalist architecture, cancel culture, and more.
This would usually be a Patreon-only episode, but given how vital this topic is, we’ve decided to unlock it. Current Affairs contributing editor Eli Massey interviews senior editor Brianna Rennix, an immigration lawyer working with asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border.
Premium Listeners get twice as much content! For just $5 a month you can hear two new episodes per week of The Current Affairs Podcast, on subjects ranging from political history to science fiction to every other conceivable subject.
Every Premium Listener gets the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing they're supporting our work. Your money enables us to pay our hosts, improve our infrastructure, and embark on bigger and better projects.