Dad, Did We Just Break America?

The Ribotsky Institute
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What started out as dinner table conversation; part debate, part disbelief, turned into an ongoing attempt to make sense of the moment we're living in. "Dad, Did We Just Break America?" brings together two people from different generations trying to untangle how we got here - politically, culturally, and generationally, and what it says about where we might be headed. Because we can't be the only ones asking the question.

  1. 6d ago

    Nothing is What it Seems: Truth, Facts, & An "Altercation" at 35,000 feet

    How did we get to a point where the world seems more willing to condemn the people fighting terrorism than the people responsible for it? There was something almost surreal about watching the United Nations General Assembly this year. The president of Iran stood before the world representing a regime that brutally represses its own people, funds and arms terrorists, threatens Israel’s existence, and then portrayed Iran as the victim. He denied targeting civilians. The room listened. Benjamin Netanyahu took the same podium. Delegates walked out. The problem is not disagreement. The problem is what happens when facts become optional. At some point, “context” stops being a way to understand what happened and becomes a way to explain away what is directly in front of us. The United Nations was created in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, after six million Jews were systematically massacred, while the world catastrophically failed to protect them. It was supposed to represent a promise that the world would never allow something like that to happen again... to anyone. More than eighty years later, the world that once failed to protect the Jews has somehow found itself walking out on them. There is an ugliness to that irony that should be impossible to miss. And perhaps an even uglier question underneath it: when did refusing to call something what it is become a virtue? A co-pilot stabbed his captain at 35,000 feet and attempted to hijack a commercial flight bound for Tel Aviv. Israeli passengers fought their way into the cockpit and stopped him. The headlines called it an “altercation.” A “brawl.” A “fight.” A “struggle.” Words so absurdly small for what happened that they almost tell a story of their own. At some point, the question isn’t whether we need more context. It’s why we have become so reluctant to call evil by its name.

  2. Sep 24

    Welcome to New York: Feel Safe Yet?

    New York City is having one of its safest years on record—or at least, that’s what the numbers say. Murders are at historic lows. Shootings are down. Major crime is falling. And yet, another stabbing, assault, or seemingly random act of violence seems to make the news almost every day. So, what exactly are the numbers measuring? This week, we talk about the New York we actually live in; and why it feels so far removed from the one described in the statistics. We get into what’s changed, why police seem increasingly unable to do the job we expect them to do, and a criminal justice system that often seems more concerned with what happens to the accused than what happens to everyone around them. At the center of the conversation is a harder question: how do we protect the constitutional rights of the accused without losing sight of the rights of everyone around them? Due process matters. So does being able to walk to the deli at 10:30 at night without wondering whether you’ll make it home. The statistics may say New York is safer. We’re not convinced.

  3. Sep 17

    MACKLEMORE “SAME LOVE,” SELECTIVE HATE?

    Macklemore has never been shy about mixing music and politics. But after bringing his pro-Palestinian activism to the stage during Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour, the fallout quickly became bigger than the performance itself. What happened at MetLife ignited a much larger fight over Macklemore’s activism, accusations of antisemitism, and where political expression ends and something more troubling begins. Soon, venues were refusing to host him, Macklemore was off the remaining U.S. dates, and other artists were walking away in solidarity. This week, we look beyond the headlines, and ask: Where is the line between political activism and antisemitism? Is removing an artist from a stage censorship, or a consequence of what they choose to say on it? And for an artist who once built one of his biggest songs around a message of tolerance and “Same Love,” does that same standard extend to everyone?

  4. Sep 11

    9/11: Never Forget. But Did We?

    Twenty-five years after September 11, America remembers a day that changed the country forever. But as the generation that lived through it gets older, a new one is growing up with no memory of the attacks—and, in too many cases, without a clear understanding of what actually happened. In this episode, we talk about the growing disconnect between 9/11 as lived history and 9/11 as it is taught today: who carried out the attacks, why the truth matters, what gets lost when history is softened or rewritten, and why nearly 3,000 murdered Americans cannot become a footnote in someone else’s narrative. Corey remembers the fear, grief, and unity that followed September 11—and how close his own life came to intersecting with that morning. Skylar, born after the attacks, explains why remembering a day she never witnessed still feels like a responsibility. September 11 showed America the very worst of humanity — and some of the very best of itself. Twenty-five years later, the obligation is simple: remember the dead, honor the people who ran toward danger, and tell the next generation the truth about what happened. Never forget. Photo credit: “Tribute in Light” by Anthony Quintano, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Cropped and edited.

  5. Sep 3

    The House of Wintour: Out of Vogue

    How many times should John Galliano have to pay for the same crime? Fifteen years after antisemitic and racist remarks destroyed his reputation and career, Galliano is still being asked to pay for them. He was convicted. He was disgraced. He lost nearly everything. He apologized, got sober, rebuilt his life and career, and spent more than a decade living with what he did. If that still isn’t enough, what exactly would be? And what happens when someone with the power to decide who gets welcomed back, who gets shut out, and whose past can never be escaped has never been forced to answer for her own? Because Galliano didn’t choose to honor himself at the Met Gala. Anna Wintour chose him. She bestowed the honor—and when the backlash came, his supposed longtime friend was nowhere to be found. Galliano took the fall. Anna called him courageous for doing it. For decades, Wintour has been celebrated as an icon while accounts of her cruelty, elitism, and treatment of others have become almost legendary themselves. But take away the sunglasses, the front rows, and the cultural cachet, and a far more troubling picture emerges. Because the questions surrounding Anna go beyond whether she is cruel. We look at the views, choices, and contradictions that have gone largely unanswered, including what we see as a glaring double standard when it comes to antisemitism: an industry that would rightfully recoil at hatred directed toward other minority groups has too often seemed willing to look the other way when that hatred is directed at Jews. And when virtually nothing surrounding the Met Gala happens without Anna Wintour’s approval—down to who sits where; it becomes much harder to separate those choices from the woman making them. At some point, the question isn’t simply what Anna tolerates. It’s what her choices tell us about what she believes. The deeper question isn’t how Anna Wintour became so powerful. It’s how someone with this many questions surrounding her character, her choices, and perhaps even her beliefs became so untouchable—and why an entire industry spent decades turning the very things that should have made us question her into reasons to revere her. For years, the sunglasses, the power, and the mythology made it easy to look away. Maybe Anna Wintour hasn’t changed at all. Maybe what’s changed is that we’re finally being forced to look directly at—and reckon with—who the woman behind the sunglasses has been all along.

  6. Aug 27

    Ken W. Good: Crime, Politics & the America We Live In

    Ken W. Good has spent decades at the center of America’s debate over bail and criminal justice. An attorney specializing in bail law, Ken has argued cases before the Supreme Court of Texas, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas and is the author of Good’s on Bail, a practice guide for bail industry professionals. This week, Skylar and Corey sit down with Ken for a conversation that begins with bail reform but quickly becomes about something much bigger. Ken takes us inside a system most Americans only encounter through headlines, breaking down why bail exists, why he believes the movement away from traditional bail has failed, the realities of electronic monitoring, and what these policies can mean for repeat crime, public safety, and the communities left dealing with the consequences.  But the conversation doesn’t stop at the courthouse doors. Crime and criminal justice intersect with politics, elections, public policy, our cities, and the decisions Americans make about the kind of country they want to live in. Because whether or not you ever find yourself inside a courtroom, the decisions made there have a way of reaching all of us.

  7. Aug 20

    Hollywood: 15 1/2 years. One Conversation.

    Something a little different this week. Skylar and Corey step away from the usual conversation to share something much more personal. For 15½ years, Hollywood was part of their family. In this short conversation, they talk about the place he held in their lives, the memories that stay with them, and what it means to say goodbye. Originally recorded as part of another conversation, this one felt like it should be shared all on its own.

  8. Aug 13

    EVERY CHILD LEFT BEHIND. When the basics stop being basic.

    America’s literacy problem is bigger than bad grades. On this week’s episode, Skylar and Corey dig into the numbers behind declining reading and math proficiency and ask how we got here. From changing teaching methods and students moving through school without mastering basic skills to the growing influence of smartphones and social media, this episode looks at what happens when the fundamentals start slipping. Skylar and Corey look at the problem from two generations shaped by very different classrooms and technologies, examining what has changed in the way kids are taught, the skills they’re expected to master, and the growing role technology plays both inside and outside the classroom. They break down the difference between phonics and comprehension, what evidence-based reading instruction actually looks like, why schools spend years teaching math most people will rarely use while overlooking the financial and practical math they actually need, and whether the technology designed to make our lives easier is slowly making us less capable of doing things for ourselves. This isn’t just about whether kids can pass a test. It’s about whether we’re raising a generation equipped to read, understand, calculate, question, and think for themselves… and what happens if those skills continue to disappear.

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About

What started out as dinner table conversation; part debate, part disbelief, turned into an ongoing attempt to make sense of the moment we're living in. "Dad, Did We Just Break America?" brings together two people from different generations trying to untangle how we got here - politically, culturally, and generationally, and what it says about where we might be headed. Because we can't be the only ones asking the question.

Information

  • Creator
    The Ribotsky Institute
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    41
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Ribotsky Institute
  • Show Website
    Dad, Did We Just Break America?