999 episodes

From under the desk to in your ears, V. Spehar joins Betches Media in a new podcast dedicated to curing the collective malaise brought on by our chaotic political environment. Every week, Spehar and co-host Sami Sage will tenderly guide you through the biggest moments in politics and pop culture with a healing dose of perspective and humor. Rather than spiral over the latest unprecedented event, the hosts dig for the 2024 political tea you *really* want to hear while offering all the information you need to be an empowered citizen, without the side of despair to keep you up at night.
For constant news updates, sign up for the Sup email newsletter at betches.com/newsletters and follow us on Instagram at @betches_news. And follow V on TikTok and Instagram @underthedesknews.

American Fever Dream Betches

    • News

From under the desk to in your ears, V. Spehar joins Betches Media in a new podcast dedicated to curing the collective malaise brought on by our chaotic political environment. Every week, Spehar and co-host Sami Sage will tenderly guide you through the biggest moments in politics and pop culture with a healing dose of perspective and humor. Rather than spiral over the latest unprecedented event, the hosts dig for the 2024 political tea you *really* want to hear while offering all the information you need to be an empowered citizen, without the side of despair to keep you up at night.
For constant news updates, sign up for the Sup email newsletter at betches.com/newsletters and follow us on Instagram at @betches_news. And follow V on TikTok and Instagram @underthedesknews.

    America Doesn’t Give Time for Grief

    America Doesn’t Give Time for Grief

    Sami and V are joined by host and creative director at MSNBC Live, Luke Russert, to talk about his book Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself.
    “Give them the best and the world will take care of the rest.” Luke shares how his grandparents’ and parents’ legacies shaped not only his career but his worldview.
    There is no correct way to grieve. Luke shares how his life has changed after the passing of his father and how he has navigated his grief.
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    • 1 hr 9 min
    The Gen Z D.A.R.E.

    The Gen Z D.A.R.E.

    04:45 TEMP CHECK: Will this week’s headlines give you a fever or make you freeze?
    24:45 MAIN NEWS: Now that Louisiana has posted the 10 Commandments in every classroom, Sami and V discuss how extreme conservatives are spreading the Christian Dominionist Movement and how they want to completely rewrite the Constitution to create a more evangelical America.
    50:15 DOWN BALLOT: It’s Election Day, and the primary race between Jamaal Bowman and George Latimer has now become the most expensive in history as well as controversial due to the Within Our Lives protest.
    1:03:20 AMER-I-CAN’T: Hyper-capitalism in journalism is baring its fangs now that journalists are revealing they acquired important information while researching and how their contracts kept them from disclosing it.
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    • 1 hr 17 min
    Can Roe Be Reinstated?

    Can Roe Be Reinstated?

    00:00 Sami and V are joined by authors Lisa Lerer & Elizabeth Dias of the new book The Fall of Roe: the Rise Of A New America, to discuss the decades of work done by anti-abortion groups to finally overturn Roe.
    11:00 V wonders if American politicians had been more comfortable with using the word ‘abortion’ and didn’t shy away from these conversations, would it have been harder for conservatives to chip away at reproductive rights?
    20:20 Everyone knows that religion affects politics, but less discussed is how politics has actually changed religion, and how that has played into recent elections.
    24:20 Can Roe be put back? Lisa and Elizabeth’s book theorizes about how we go about getting our reproductive rights back.
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    • 33 min
    Media Literacy 101 - What’s Legit & What To Quit

    Media Literacy 101 - What’s Legit & What To Quit

    00:00 Welcome to your guide on media literacy. V and Sami explore how social media is used in hybrid warfare to manipulate public opinion through disinformation and emphasize the need to rebuild social trust.
    16:00 How can you spot a bot? In a few easy steps you too can spot disinformation through fake accounts, false engagement, and artificial intelligence.
    50:00 Don’t forget to mind the gap. Sami and V give listeners the tools to combat problematic accounts and how to find reliable information.
    1:00:00 Where does this leave trad media? While traditional media can still be used as a reliable source of information, listeners should be wary of their overlords.
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    • 1 hr 13 min
    A Vision for Progressive Capitalism & Economic Patriotism

    A Vision for Progressive Capitalism & Economic Patriotism

    1:20 Sami and V are joined by Representative Ro Khanna to share his economic philosophies and proposed changes to the legislative and judicial branches, which already have bipartisan support among voters (though not lawmakers!)
    9:00 They discuss the threat of AI to elections and discourse, and what regulations are needed around to rebuild trust in political information on social media.
    16:30 They dive into Rep. Khanna’s Political Reform Resolution, which presents a comprehensive roadmap to achieving broad political reform for the federal government through things like court term limits and a binding code of ethics.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 27 min
    We Are The Exhausted Majority

    We Are The Exhausted Majority

    13:00 TEMP CHECK: Will this week’s headlines give you a fever or make you freeze?
    45:00 MAIN NEWS: Sami and V define the term ‘Manufactured Consensus’ and how social media has been used to sway popular opinion towards believing that a third party has more support than we think. Not sure how to spot a bot? Make sure to tune in next week for an in depth media literacy lesson.
    1:01:40 DOWN BALLOT: Our down ballot girlie of the week goes to The Working Families Party, which is going about the third party thing the right way, while striving to build a multiracial party of working people to transform our country.
    1:06:00 AMER-I-CAN’T: Why is the rent so high? Because corporate landlords are fixing it!
    Pre-Order Democracy In Retrograde: https://shorturl.at/7xQO2
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 1 hr 15 min

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