Living in the USA Living in the USA

History was made last Friday in Chattanooga, when  workers at Volkswagen’s factory there voted to join the United Auto Workers -- by an overwhelming margin, 73 to 27 percent. This was the first major union victory in the South in many decades, and it may mark the rebirth of a powerful union movement. Harold Meyerson comments; he’s editor-at-large of The American Prospect.
Plus: Transforming the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to meet today’s realities: a federation, something like the European Union.  That’s the project of the visionary group A Land for All. May Pundak, co-executive director, explains.

Opposition to Biden's unqualified military support for Netanyahu now includes the center of the Democratic party. That reminds some people of 1968 - Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Trump has had a very bad week - in court, in the polls, on the stock market. John Nichols explains.
Plus:: TV right now is featuring several prestige historical dramas.  John Powers compares and contrasts two shows that feature Asians at the center rather than white men: “The Sympathizer,” centering on a spy for the Communists in Vietnam and then n California in the seventies, with “Shogun,” about feuding 17th century Japanese warlords.  John is critic at large for Fresh Air with Terry Gross.

The Arizona Supreme Court's action affirming a near-total ban on abortion is great news for Democrats, and not just in that state: Harold Meyerson comments.
Also: Why did Hamas decide to provoke massive Israeli retaliation now? Hussein Ibish, who writes for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Daily Beast, says Hamas had a clear political goal on October 7: to defeat the Palestinian secular nationalists of Fatah and gain control of the PLO.
Plus: 61 years ago this week, in April, 1963, the Birmingham civil rights campaign directed by Martin Luther King was reaching a climax. April 7, Palm Sunday, police used dogs to attack Black people at a march. the dramatic photos appeared on front pages around the world. Then, 4 Black girls were killed at a church bombing, and then Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Diane McWhorter wrote the definitive history of that crucial campaign--her book is called “Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the climatic battle of the civil rights revolution." (broadcast originally in 2001.)

Cities throughout America are Democratic, often raising minimum wages and strengthening rent control. However, in states where Republicans hold unchecked power, state governments are blocking cities from acting. Harold Meyerson reports on preemption and “pre-preemption.”
Plus: Standing Together, Israel’s biggest Jewish-Palestinian grassroots movement, is organizing against the war and for a Palestinian state. Sally Abed, one of the group’s founders, will explain their vision, their strategy, and their recent actions.
Also: from the archives, Gary Shteyngart talks about his novel "Super Sad True Love Story" --It’s about a world where the Bipartisan Party rules and where everybody gets their news either from Fox Liberty Prime or Fox Liberty Ultra.  And then our hero Lenny meets Eunice.  (recorded in July, 2011.)

Minimum wage initiatives on the ballot in battleground states could mobilize potential Democratic voters who are unenthusiastic about Biden. Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage is on the podcast to explain the strategy, and reports on organizing in Arizona, Michigan, and Ohio.
Also: 100 American cities and towns have formally called for a cease-fire in Gaza—ranging from Chicago, the biggest, to small towns in Vermont. John Nichols has our report.
Plus: The ideological roots of the January 6 insurrection go back decades before Trump entered politics — back to the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995. Jeffrey Toobin will explain; His new book is ‘Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.’  It’s being published in paperback next week.

In the Ohio primary this week, Sherrod Brown got the opponent he wanted - a MAGA car salesman who's never won anything. Harold Meyerson comments.
Plus: In the campaign to end American funding for Israel’s war in Gaza, a key front is the fight against AIPAC. This week, more than a hundred prominent American Jews have joined in a statement opposing AIPAC and its efforts to defeat Democratic candidates who have criticized Israeli government policy toward Palestinians. The signers include author Ariel Dorfman, actors Elliott Gould and Wallace Shawn, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s. Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, will explain.
Also David Cole, national legal director of the ACLU, will make the case for freedom of speech on campus and against cancel culture, starting from that confrontation between Elise Stefanik and the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn.