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Coming up Monday on BPR:
Political commentator Anand Giridharadas from The Ink
Former Mass. Education Secretary Paul Reville
The Atlantic’s food policy writer Corby Kummer
Tech guru Andy Ihnatko
Recent segments
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Alex Beam: Funerals Are Better Than Weddings
The Boston Globe columnist joined Jim and Margery to dig himself out of that six-foot hole. -
In His New Book, Robert Kuttner Outlines What's At Stake In 2020
In January 2021, the person inhabiting the White House has to be a progressive, according to Kuttner. -
John King: Support For Impeachment In The House Is Growing
The recent scandal involving President Trump and the president of Ukraine has mobilized Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry. -
Karen Spilka On Hands-Free Driving Bill: 'We Should Be Able To Do This'
The Massachusetts Senate president stopped by the Boston Public Library to discuss a range of statewide policy issues. -
USDA Relocation Is Part Of Trump's 'War On Science,' Says Corby Kummer
The move will force many researchers to give up their jobs, threatening their robust climate science research. -
Bill McKibben: Climate Deniers Are 'Beginning To Peter Out'
The sheer number of climate protestors on Friday signals that a turning point has arrived, says McKibben.
Listen to previous shows
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BPR Full Show 11/4/20: Politics, Narrative, & Power
Today on Boston Public Radio: We opened Wednesday’s show by turning to callers, to hear your thoughts on Tuesday’s presidential election. Rosa Brooks talked about her work over the summer with the Transition Integrity Project, and weighed in on how Tuesday’s results compare with some of the exercise's worst-case scenarios. Brooks is the co-organizer of the Transition Integrity Project, a former Pentagon official under the Obama administration, and the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. Her forthcoming book is “Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City.” CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem gave her analysis of Tuesday’s election results, and explained why she expects former Vice President Joe Biden will breach 270 electoral votes before the end of the week. Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Washington Post columnist and Brookings Institute senior fellow EJ Dionne talked about what we can gauge from the tallied votes of Tuesday’s election, with respect to both the White House and the Senate. He also discussed the road ahead on issues like climate change, racial equity, and political division in the U.S. Closing out our final hour, we opened our lines to hear your thoughts on everything related to election 2020. -
Juliette Kayyem: No Foreign Activity Detected In US Elections
Homeland security expert Juliette Kayyem spoke with Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about the current state of the 2020 presidential election. “My biggest fear was a systemic breakdown of voting, such that you would get a real question from both sides that these counts were not legitimate,” she said. “There are huge issues around the post office, and we still have votes to count, but you didn’t see the kind of the thing I would’ve worried about.” One potential threat, currently undetected, was nefarious interference from foreign governments, Kayyem noted. “You didn’t see any activity in particular of foreign activity or disruption,” she said. “My worry was that that would lead to a majority of the population going to the streets demanding our democracy work better.” Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. -
Rosa Brooks Offers an ‘Optimistic’ Post-Election Debrief
Back in June, the bipartisan Transition Integrity Project gamed out a handful of likely outcomes for the 2020 election. On the Wednesday after Election Day, one of the group's co-organizers, Rosa Brooks, called in to Boston Public Radio for a debrief on how Tuesday’s results compared to the project's worst-case scenarios. "Never say never, but I am actually more optimistic now,” she said in reference to the possibility that President Trump might successfully manage to discredit and nullify late-counted election ballots. "The ballots will get counted, and the Trump team will make legal challenges. But I think we’re gonna get through this – I hope we’re gonna get through this – without the level of crisis that some of our exercises got us to." Brooks is the co-organizer of the Transition Integrity Project, a former Pentagon official under the Obama administration, and the Scott K. Ginsburg Professor of Law and Policy at Georgetown University Law Center. Her forthcoming book is “Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City.” -
BPR Full Show 11/3/20: Your Premier Election Primer
New York Magazine writer-at-larger Frank Rich talked about some worst-case scenarios for Democrats ahead of Tuesday's election tallies, and what he believes might happen to the careers of GOP Trump loyalists if the President loses his reelection bid. Next, we opened lines to talk with listeners about your feelings on everything related to Tuesday's presidential election. Mass. ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose talked about the work being done by the ACLU to ensure a fair election as day-of voters head to the polls. She also touched on some complaints about long lines and improper ID checks that her organization has already received. Robert Blair, an assistant professor of political science at Brown University and coordinator of the Democratic Erosion consortium, discussed his recent writing for the Boston Globe on why Democrats should have a plan for how to respond if President Trump loses the election and contests the results. Jennifer Horn, former Chair of the New Hampshire Republican Party and a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, talked about what her collective of anti-Trump Republicans is doing to encourage fellow conservatives to support former Vice President Joe Biden on Election Day. Historian Allan Lichtman discussed the reasoning behind his prediction that Joe Biden will clinch a victory in the 2020 election, after correctly predicting the winner of every presidential race across the last nine elections with his famous “Keys to the White House." CNN’s John King gave a debrief on the latest political headlines on Election Day, and talked about which Senate races he'll be watching closely as Tuesday night’s results come in. We closed out Tuesday’s show by returning to callers – including former Secretary of State John Kerry – to hear your thoughts on election 2020. -
Writer Frank Rich Has More Than One Worst-Case Election Scenario
New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich joined Tuesday’s Boston Public Radio, breaking down a slew of worst-case scenarios ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day vote tallies. "We all have a million fears – I’m speaking now, of course, of those of us who want to see Biden win,” he said. "I’m sure there’s another group of fears on the other side, as it were.” Rich spoke about the possibility of votes not getting counted, partisan court rulings, and the ominous presence of pro-Trump militias popping up the Midwest and elsewhere. He also weighed in on what he thinks might come of the careers of the many Republican Trump loyalists, should the president lose his reelection bid. Rich is writer-at-large for New York Magazine, where he covers politics and culture. He’s also an executive producer of the HBO’s “Succession,” and “Veep."