Why Is This Happening? With Chris Hayes

What is gender-affirming health care? Around the country, there’s a Republican campaign to legislate and regulate the lives of trans youth. The most destructive of these efforts would bar trans youth in certain states from accessing gender-affirming treatment. Dr. Izzy Lowell runs Queer Med, a private clinic that specializes in providing accessible health care to trans patients ranging from kids to adults. Her practice covers 10 states across the South – and half of those have anti-trans health care bills on the docket. If they pass, it would become criminal for her to provide this care to many of her patients. Dr. Lowell joins this week to break down what exactly we mean when we talk about gender-affirming care, how the decision is made for kids and teens ready to transition, and the potentially devastating impact this legislation would have on their lives. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What causes violent crime rates to rise? It probably won’t surprise you to learn that 2020 was the deadliest year in American history but what you may not know is that 2020 also saw a staggering rise in homicides and violent crime. It’s impossible to separate the two – the indefinite closure of crucial community spaces and abrupt economic upheaval were felt nationwide but hit hardest in areas most vulnerable to increased interpersonal violence. To understand what happened last year, it’s worth looking back at the last major wave of violence in the United States – what caused the spike then and what caused it to go down? Sociologist Patrick Sharkey’s book, “Uneasy Peace”, lays out the most successful strategies cities used to decrease violent crime and joins to lend his expertise on what we got right – and what we’re getting wrong.READ MORE:Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence by Patrick Sharkey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.c

We largely hear about China in the news through the lens of what the Chinese government is doing, but it is a country with billions of people and a history thousands of years old. For as large and influential as it is, Americans do not consume Chinese cultural exports in the same way that China does in the reverse. Chinese made movies are not screened in most theaters across the United States. We do not watch Chinese sitcoms dubbed. While China and other countries regularly consume American culture that show peaks of what life is like in United States, we don’t have the same regular access to those windows of everyday China. So, what is life like in China? This week journalist and author Te-Ping Chen joins to talk about her time as a student and journalist in China and her new book of short stories In the “Land of Big Numbers”. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Back in 2019, a panel of health experts declared that of every country in the whole world, the United States was the most prepared for handling a pandemic. So what went wrong? Acclaimed author Michael Lewis is unparalleled in unearthing the most compelling characters to tell an unexpected story – it’s no wonder he’s had multiple books turned into movies (The Blind Side, Moneyball, The Big Short). Now, Lewis has done it again with his latest book, “The Premonition”, following the people who spent years preparing for a pandemic only to be ignored at the most crucial juncture – to devastating results. READThe Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How does bitcoin work? Where did it come from, why does it exist, and will it ever be used for everyday purchases? Far from some passing fad, bitcoin has been around for more than a decade now and shows no signs of going anywhere. We figured it was long overdue to understand the most well-known cryptocurrency and the problem it is trying to solve. Lucky for us, Bloomberg editor Joe Weisenthal came prepared. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Racial hierarchy in America is deeply embedded in big structural institutions. From housing to criminal justice to education, there’s decades of scholarly work and research dissecting the lasting legacies of policies that disproportionately disenfranchise people of color. Now, tax law scholar Dorothy A. Brown has a mind-blowing new book about race and tax, uncovering the ways the tax code is constructed to build white wealth while impoverishing black Americans. In a conversation that is engaging, enlightening, and even laugh out loud funny (seriously), Brown lays out the culmination of her life’s work and explains why now could be the time to fix the system.The Whiteness Of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans--and How We Can Fix It by Dorothy A. Brown Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wikipedia is not like a lot of our current internet. It’s not like sites like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube that mines its users’ attention and tries to capture it through push notifications and algorithms in order to maximize profits. Wikipedia is a vestige of an earlier de-commodified, open sourced internet. It’s an amazing well of knowledge built from decentralized human collaboration that anyone with an internet connection can freely access. It is an incredible institution where users can read and learn about almost anything. This week Katherine Maher, the departing CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, joins to talk about the history of Wikipedia, its organization, and its ability to endure amidst a changing internet.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens in your body after you get a vaccine? The arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines feels like the first positive mile marker in the pandemic but folks have a lot of questions – How were they developed? How do they work? Is there anything we should worry about? Dr. Peter Hotez has been a leading voice over the last year, lending his expertise in global health and vaccine development during some of the most crucial moments of the pandemic. Now, he’s here to address our biggest questions about what he calls “the most powerful technology humankind has ever invented”. READ: Preventing The Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy In A Time Of Anti-Science  by Dr. Peter Hotez Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over the past few years a broader conversation around speech has intensified in the United States. It is a conversation about speech, taboo, social justice, power and hierarchy, penalty about what things people can or can't say, should or shouldn't say in what environments, and what censure should attach to that kind of speech.  It’s an incredibly thorny conversation to have, filled with exhaustively overused terms like “cancel culture”, but it is not an unimportant one. This week scholar and linguist, John McWhorter, joins to discuss our discourse around speech and debate where we as a society should set our boundaries. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Amazon puts just about everything you might need one click away and over the last year, people have been turning to the tech giant more than ever. But all that frictionless efficiency comes at huge social costs. In his new book “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America”, ProPublica Reporter Alec MacGillis investigates Amazon’s impact on the deepening economic divide in towns and cities across the country. Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America by Alec MacGillisListen to Amazon's Wish List with Stacy Mitchell Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when you raise the minimum wage? The almost decade long push for a federal 15$ minimum wage made new noise in the last few weeks when Democrats tried to include it in the American Relief Act. Although this new push failed, the policy remains incredibly popular even though there are even some Democrats who are opposed. So, what are the real world consequences of a raised minimum wage, and what are its impacts on the market and labor? This week professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Arin Dube, joins to give an economist’s view of the minimum wage and the revolution in the thinking behind it.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We have reached the point where we are hitting anniversary markers in this pandemic. It was just about this time a year ago when all of our lives completely changed. Businesses went dark, schools went remote, we separated ourselves and hit pause on daily life in order to slow the spread of a once in a century pandemic. It is a rare event that has been completely inescapable and that we have all had to deal with to the best of our abilities. This week New York Times columnist, Michelle Goldberg, joins to talk about her own year and discuss the frustrations felt, the choices made, and the lessons and reflections gleaned from a year of COVID.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Critically acclaimed playwright and actress Anna Deavere Smith crafts groundbreaking art at the intersection of journalism and theater. Her explosive one-woman plays centered on the Los Angeles riots and the Crown Heights riots, “Twilight: Los Angeles” and “Fires in the Mirror” respectively, took shape from hundreds of interviews conducted by Smith herself. Her newest piece, “Notes From the Field” had her traveling everywhere from Finland to the Yurok Tribe of Northern California, compiling 250 conversations about the school-to-prison pipeline. Her work requires a masterful command of storytelling, empathy, and the art of the interview, and she joins this week to describe how those pieces came together in her celebrated career.Read  We Were the Last of the Nice Negro Girls by Anna Deavere SmithFind out more about Inheritance  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This conversation starts at Grid Talk 101 (what even is an energy grid) and ends at the fragility of modern life. That can only mean one thing – David Roberts is back. An energy and climate journalist, Roberts explains that we have every reason to believe that we’ll see an increase in the freak weather events like the one that wrought havoc on Texas. And as we witnessed firsthand, one failure, one breakdown in a system, can have a deadly domino effect resulting in some truly dystopic conditions in a matter of days. So how can we avoid another Texas-sized meltdown? And what exactly went wrong in the first place? You can subscribe to the Volts newsletter here and find David Roberts on Twitter here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A short while ago, you may have seen posts crossing your social media feeds from celebrities and activists like Rihanna or Greta Thunberg showing support for farmers in India. Right now, one of the world’s largest protest movements is taking place across India. Millions of farmers are demonstrating against a set of policy proposals passed by Narendra Modi and his government. In turn, Modi has tried to quash the movement, going so far as attempting to force Twitter to silence any critical voices. This week, journalist and Washington Post columnist, Rana Ayyub, joins to discuss the protest movement and how Modi’s reaction to it fits his pattern of illiberalism and nationalism that marches India away from democracy.      Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Roughly 19 million acres of eastern Oklahoma hung in the balance in the summer of 2020. Before the Supreme Court was a case asking a question crucial to Native land rights - does the United States still honor the treaties signed in the 1800s promising that land to indigenous tribes? And in a landmark 5-4 decision penned by conservative justice Neil Gorsuch, the court ruled that yes, that land remains reservation land. It was a huge win - but what does it mean? Joining us this week is Rebecca Nagle, a member of the Cherokee tribe and host of a phenomenal podcast titled "This Land", detailing the long fight leading up to this moment.Read the McGirt v Oklahoma opinionListen to Whose Land Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Come on a journey with us, dear listener, as we learn the little-known origins of Sen. Mitch McConnell’s beloved obstruction tactic. Turns out, we owe the filibuster to the efforts of John C. Calhoun, a virulent racist and spiritual father of the Confederacy, as he tried to protect the power of a minority of Senators who represented slave states. So how did the filibuster go from a tool of the South, to “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, to today, where a single email is enough to block legislation? That’s right – a single email. With prophetic-like timing, Senate insider Adam Jentleson just released a new book examining the history of the filibuster, making the case that it’s partially responsible for turning the Senate into one of the greatest threats to our democracy. Read Kill Switch:The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by Adam Jentleson Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Content warning: This episode discusses the recent federal executions and details the circumstances of some related crimes, including abuse, assault, rape, and murder.For 17 years, the federal execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana, sat dormant. Then, with only six months left in his Presidency, Donald Trump and AG Bill Barr oversaw an unprecedented 13 executions. Of those 13, three took place during his final week in office. So why, with one foot out the door, did the Trump administration take extraordinary measures to rush through a historic slate of executions? This has been the center of Intercept Senior Reporter Liliana Segura’s work for a long time. One of the best people on this beat, Segura spent months traveling to Terre Haute over and over again as the spree unfolded. So when it came to learning more about what just happened, who these people were, and what it means for the death penalty more broadly, we knew who to turn to. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for inform

We have a lot to get to with legendary tech journalist Kara Swisher this week: the deplatforming of President Trump, the conservative obsession with Section 230 (what even is Section 230), why Parler went dark (what even is Parler), and why some Republicans would rather complain about losing Twitter followers than address the deadly attack on the Capitol. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One day after the attack on the Capitol, Chris Hayes and author Ta-Nehisi Coates sat down to process what we witnessed as a nation and what it reveals about the fragility of American democracy.RELATED READING:Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy by Chris HayesWe Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi CoatesThe Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.