It Could Happen Here

Isabella (Isavela) Lopez, community organizer and spoken-word poet facing federal charges from June 3, 2025, discusses targeted arrests and creative resistance. She recounts being tackled and charged, describes community organizing responses like fundraisers and observer trainings, and performs a poem about fear, lineage, and resilience.

A rapid-market emergency briefing after a US strike on Iran and the shockwaves through Asian bourses. Sudden circuit breakers and oil futures spikes tied to Strait of Hormuz risks. Why naval escorts may not secure tanker flows and how Gulf output losses could ripple through supply chains. Connections between energy shocks, semiconductor and metals production, and a possible 1970s-style stagflation threat.

They dissect nine hours of Clinton testimony about Epstein, from travel and foundation ties to odd subpoenas. They call out factual errors, partisan theatrics, and degrading file readings. Strange detours include questions about UFOs and conspiracy theories like Pizzagate. The conversation also covers DOJ withholding claims, optics around the testimony, and missed follow-ups on Maxwell connections.

A medieval comedic tale of trickery and lust is read aloud. Listeners hear a clever plot to cure jealousy that involves a faked death and a disguised visitor. The story follows deception, secret trysts, a staged resurrection, and the surprising moral resolution.

Danielle Cantor, mutual aid organizer behind Culture of Solidarity, discusses building community-led food security in Israel. She describes culturally appropriate aid, partnerships with Israeli and Palestinian groups, and how mutual aid prompted political learning. Conversations cover the shrinking radical left after October 7th, challenges facing progressive organizers, and visions for sustained solidarity and reparative work.

They unpack conflicting reports about Kurdish forces and risks of misreporting in Iran-related strikes. They talk through US munitions and interceptor shortages and how that shapes a potential prolonged conflict. They explore threats to the Strait of Hormuz and the global energy fallout. They cover a new Kansas law targeting trans IDs and legal challenges. They recap surprising twists in the Texas primary results.

Vicky Osterweil, writer and activist known for cultural and political critique and author of The Extended Universe, explores how media consolidation shaped Hollywood. She traces vertical integration, blockbusters, deregulation, and financialization. Conversation covers IP control, corporate cultural power, politics around studio buyouts, and why independent and trans filmmaking matter.

A clear rundown of coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and the scale and precision behind them. Descriptions of life inside Iran during bombings, including internet cuts, shortages, curfews and displacement. Examination of Iran’s theocratic power structure and uncertainty over who could succeed the leadership. Discussion of Kurdish groups’ preparedness, strategies, and historic distrust of outside promises.

Chi Osei, New York City Councilman organizing the Albany rally to push taxes on millionaires. Liz Stevenson, City Tech academic advisor and PSC CUNY member advocating more funding for public higher education. They describe the rally atmosphere, the march into the Capitol, the Repair Act to tax private universities, and urgent budget fights over millionaire and corporate levies.

Danielle Cantor, mutual aid organizer and co-founder of Culture of Solidarity, draws on community food security and political education work across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. She discusses mutual aid’s rise from COVID relief, how relief work exposed structural abandonment, shifts in Israeli politics after October 7, protective presence in the West Bank, and the personal costs of dissent.