Zipcode Zero: Recent Episodes

Kevin Maley

Trying to understand the world by talking to those living in it. Politics, history, culture and life stuff. Hosted by Kevin Maley.

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The Federal Republic of Germany is a country with a long and rich history. It’s a country that is best known in the West as central to the dominant geopolitical struggles of the 20th century – namely the two World Wars and the Cold War. Today, it is one of the largest economies in the world and the economic powerhouse of Europe – having risen from the ashes of destruction and an artificial division that lasted nearly 50 years.

Or was it artificial division? Was it perhaps instead the case that the fault lines within the state we know today as Germany date back to Roman times? And that those fault lines can help understand everything from the disbursement of the reformation to the rise of the Nazis?

To explore those questions and more, I am joined today by the acclaimed writer and historian James Hawes – author of “The Shortest History of Germany”, an international bestseller that covers over 2,000 years of history.

On the show James and I discuss a range of topics, including:

  • How Britain inadvertently set up Prussia to conquer its neighbors and proclaim a German Empire in the 19th century
  • How that German Empire became the center of arts, sciences, economics and philosophy before the First World War
  • Why Germany set its eyes to the East as a focal point for expansion in both World Wars
  • How one half of Germany was able to bounce so quickly back from destruction after 1945 to overtake every other European economy
  • What the Ukraine War and the rise of the AfD mean for the future of German
  • And more

James Hawes grew up in Gloucestershire, Edinburgh and Shropshire. He took a First in German at Hertford College, Oxford, then did a postgrad theatre studies in Cardiff, Wales. Having failed as an actor, he worked as an English teacher in Spain. In 1985-6 he was in charge of CADW excavations at the now-UNESCO World Heritage site of Blaenavon Ironworks. He took a PhD on Nietzsche and German literature 1900-1914 at University College, London 1987-90, then lectured in German at Maynooth University (Ollscoil Mhá Nuad) in Ireland between 1989 and 1991 before doing so at Sheffield University and Swansea University.

James has published six novels, all with Jonathan Cape. He turned to creative non-fiction with a Kafka anti-biography, Excavating Kafka (2008) which became the subject of a BBC documentary. In 2015, Englanders and Huns was shortlisted for the Paddy Power Political Books of the Year 2015. The Shortest History of Germany, published in May 2017, reached #2 in the Sunday Times bestseller charts in April 2018, being pipped for #1 only by Noah Yuval Harari. The Shortest History of England appeared in October 2020 and reached #4 in the Times bestseller charts in July 2021.

James has reviewed and/or written for every UK broadsheet, on topics from DIY to Prince Philip. His journalistic high-points to date were the cover-story for The New Statesman in September 2017 and the long read The England Delusion in Prospect in August 2021; this was publicly described by Prof Ciaran Martin, CB, founding Chief Executive of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, as “a really brilliant essay on the historical origins of UK constitutional tensions”. He has appeared on Radio 4 Today, Channel 4 News, Sky News and GB News.

In 2022, he was “series story consultant” and key on-screen commentator in the eight-part BBC TV series “Art that Made Us”. He also wrote the accompanying book.

His next book will be The Shortest History of Ireland.

If you like the show, please remember to hit like, subscribe and share.

Enjoy the show!

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Twitter**@KevinAMaley

EmailZipcodeZeroPodcast@gmail.com


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Yesterday Minnesota governor Tim Walz was announced as Kamala Harris’s running mate for the Democratic ticket in the 2024 presidential election.

To discuss that pick, and the state of the race, I’m joined today by Michael Baharaeen, chief political analyst at The Liberal Patriot Substack as well as writer of the Checks and Balances Substack.

Michael and I discuss the Walz selection, key issues animating the race, what to look for in the House and Senate and what reforms we might like to see in the political process.

If you like the show, make sure to describe, like and share with friends. Enjoy.

Liberal Patriot: https://www.liberalpatriot.com/

Checks and Balances: https://michaelbaharaeen.substack.com/

Twitter: @mbaharaeen

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EmailZipcodeZeroPodcast@gmail.com


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Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden. Who will win?

Sean Dempsey is dedicated libertarian stalwart and party member from the great state of New Hampshire. As a stalwart leftist (me) and dedicated libertarian (Sean) we breakdown the first 2024 presidential debate. God help us all.

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“Today, every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longa be habitable. Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness. " - John F. Kennedy, 1961

For over half a century, from the end of the Second World War to the turn of the millennium, avoiding nuclear war has been a key pillar of American foreign policy – guided by arms agreements, communication and common sense.

But today, many of those controls have faded away or ceased to exist – and the Bullet of Atomic Scientists – has warned we’re closer to the nuclear precipice than we have ever been before. 90 seconds to midnight, to use their terminology.

In fact in one of the most recent near misses, in the steppes of Eastern Europe, U.S. intelligence officials estimated that in the fall of 2022 it came down to the flip of a coin as to whether or not Russia would use a tactical nuclear weapon to stave off a Ukrainian offensive.

So how did we get here? Why has the fear of nuclear catastrophe faded from the public imagination even as the threat has increased? And what the hell happened in Ukraine that brought us so close to the edge? Today I am joined by The New York Times' W.J. Hennigan to discuss.

Bill, as he goes by, is serving as the lead writer for an ambitious, NYT series on nuclear threats and the challenges our world faces in combating proliferation. Bill has deep expertise covering the U.S. military and national security issues. He has reported from more than two dozen countries across five continents, covering war, the arms trade and the lives of American service members.

Bill come to the Times from Time magazine, where he was most recently a senior correspondent. In 2021, he received the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense for his series on the role of the U.S. military throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year he was part of a reporting team that received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for Washington Correspondence on the Jan. 6 attack and its aftermath. Before joining Time in 2017, Bill worked for more than eight years at The Los Angeles Times, where he covered the Pentagon and the defense industry. He has earned several awards and citations, including the Associated Press Media Editors Award for international perspective and the National Press Club’s Michael A. Dornheim Award, and he was part of a team of journalists who won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

Twitter: @wjhenn

At The Brink Link: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/07/opinion/nuclear-weapons-nytimes.html

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Today’s guest is Ryan Grim, author of the new book “The Squad – AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution”.

Ryan Grim is the Intercept’s Washington bureau chief and cohost of the show Counter Points. He was previously the DC bureau chief for HuffPost, where we led a team that won a Pulitzer Prize. Grim has been a staff reporter for Politico and the Washington City Paper as well as a contributor to MSNBC and The Young Turks. He’s the author of the books We’ve Got People: From Jesse Jackson to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the End of Big Money and The Rise of a Movement, and This is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America. He is the host of the podcast Deconstructed and lives in Washington, DC.

In the book, Ryan recounts the rise of progressive forces in the Democratic Party since the 2016 Sanders campaign and how they have helped reveal tension points within the left, including on identity vs class, establishment vs insurgent and grassroots vs big money politics. We talk about all those themes and more.

If you enjoy the show, please remember to hit like and subscribe. Happy holidays to all and enjoy.

Book:https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250869081/thesquad

Twitter:@ryangrim

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Twitter**@KevinAMaley

EmailZipcodeZeroPodcast@gmail.com


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We’re now in two months of the Israel-Gaza War and after a brief ceasefire, the fighting has erupted again.

I think its hard to understand this current conflict without understanding the history of Israel and Palestine, and how it led to where we are today

To help with that understanding, today’s guest is Dr Zachary Foster

Zach is a historian of Palestine, having gotten his PhD in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He’s a distinguished fellow at the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights. He also runs the PalestineNexus.com, which offers an invaluable newsletter, accessible research and even courses you can enroll to learn more.

Zach and I go through a brief history of Israel and Palestine over the course of the 20th century, including why Jews emigrated to Palestine, the impact of the 1917 Balfour Declarationand why Palestine effectively became a british colony that was critical to the imperial interests of the empire, the post World War II partition of Mandatory Palestine, the humanitarian catastrophe that came out of the 1948 and how Israel came to occupy the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. We also talk about the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel and dive into the horrific conditions of life in Gaza today.

It’s a lot to cover but Zach was the right man for this job – his deep knowledge of the history is incredible and the insights he offered made for a really substantive, meaningful discussion. It’s been one of my favorite shows so far and I hope you all find value in the conversation.

If you do, don’t forget to download the show, share clips with friends, and help spread the word about Zipcode Zero. Enjoy

WebsitePalestineNexus.com

Twitter@_ZachFoster

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Foreign policy is all over the news these days as wars rage from The Middle East to Eastern Europe. To help get a better sense of those issues, as well as what a better, more values based U.S. Foreign Policy could look like, I am joined today by Matt Duess.

Matt is the Executive Vice President at the Center for International Foreign Policy. In the past Matt has served as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he served as a foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, he was president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace and an analyst at the Center for American Progress. So he comes very well credentialed.

Matt and I had an interesting discussion on Israel and Gaza, the causes of the invasion of Ukraine and whether or not the U.S. is interested in peace, NATO expansion into the Pacific and what the rules-based international order is really about.

If you like the show please remember to hit like, subscribe and share. We’re still running our annual t-shirt contest and currently have Dave Iacucci in the running to take first place, so if you want that swag then get active.

Enjoy the show.

Twitter:@mattduss
Website:https://www.internationalpolicy.org/

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Today’s guest is former Congressman Mike Capuano, who represented Massachuetts’s 7th Congressional District from 1999 to 2019.

I pick Mike’s brain on a wide range of issues, including, of course, Israel and Gaza, Ukraine, what he thinks of Matt Gaetz’s demands, whether or not we should abolish the Senate and what he thinks of an old proposal to combine Boston, Cambridge and Somerville

This Thanksgiving I’m thankful for all you listeners and your ability to follow, like and share the show. We’re coming up on our annual t-shirt contest which I’m excited to share more details about in the future. For now, enjoy the show.


Representative Capuano previously served as a member of Congress for twenty years, initially representing the interest of the 8th District. Following redistricting in 2013, he was elected to serve the 7th District of Massachusetts including his native Somerville, parts of Boston, Cambridge, and Milton, and the communities of Chelsea, Everett, and Randolph. Capuano began his life in political office as a member of the Somerville Board of Alderman at age 25, where he would write one of the first sanctuary cities ordinances in the country. He eventually ran successfully for Mayor in 1989, a role which he held until 1999 when he was elected to Congress. During his time in Washington, Representative Capuano was a passionate advocate for urban issues, founding five Congressional caucuses including one each for former Mayors, Community Health Centers, and Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities, as well as Sudan and Korea. He was also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and long-time advocate for a single-payer health care system. He served on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Financial Services committee. During his tenure, he helped to secure federal funding for affordable housing redevelopment in Roxbury, increased resources for community health centers and medical research, and major transit investment like the Boston area Green Line extension. He earned his BA from Dartmouth College and JD from Boston College.

Twitter@mikecapuano

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In an economy with steady growth, low unemployment and core inflation down to 3.2%, why do so many Americans say that the Biden Administration has left them worse off economically? How is Trump winning or tied with voters under 30?

And why are the Democrats, once the party of the common man, continuing to lose the support the working class, not just among white voters but increasingly among non-white voters?

To discuss those questions and more, I’m joined today by Robert Kuttner. Robert a journalist, writer and scholar - is a co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, a professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School, an author of many great books, most recently “Going Big: FDR’s Legacy, Biden’s New Deal, and the Struggle to Save Democracy” as well as 2018’s Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism, one of my favorite books for understanding the post-war economic order and the rise of the neoliberal era.

On the show Bob hit on a wide range of issues – including Biden’s prospects for next year, whether Carter was our first neoliberal president, the state of the British and German economies, the elitism of the Democratic Party, Israel and free speech on campus, and much more – it’s a heck of a show, folks.

Always remember to hit the like button, subscribe, and share with your friends. It might just win you a free Zipcode Zero t-shirt.

Enjoy the show.

Website: https://robertkuttner.com/

American Prospect: https://prospect.org/

Twitter: @rkuttnerwrites

Full Bio:For most of his career, Bob has been an economics journalist. He is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect magazine, He was a longtime columnist for BusinessWeek, and continues to write columns for The New York Times international edition. He was a founder of the Economic Policy Institute and serves on its board.

Bob is author of thirteen books, including the 2008 New York Times bestseller, Obama’s Challenge: American’s Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency; and most recently, The Stakes 2020 His best-known earlier book is Everything for Sale: the Virtues and Limits of Markets (1997). His other books on economics and politics include: The Squandering of America (2007), The End of Laissez-Faire (1991); The Life of the Party (1987); The Economic Illusion (1984); Revolt of the Haves (1980), and Debtors’ Prison (2013).

As a scholar and teacher, he has taught at Boston University, the University of Oregon, the University of Massachusetts, and the Institute of Politics at Harvard, as well as his present chair at The Heller School at Brandeis.

He is the two-time winner of the Sidney Hillman Journalism Award, the John Hancock Award for Business and Financial Writing, the Jack London Award for Labor Writing, and the Paul Hoffman Award of the United Nations Development Program for his lifetime work on economic efficiency and social justice. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Fellow, German Marshall Fund Fellow, and John F. Kennedy Fellow.

Bob’s journalism and scholarly research has been at the intersection of economics and politics. His current research is on the impact of globalization on political democracy at the level of the nation state; and on possible alternatives to the current structure of the economy that would be more conducive to greater equality of income, wealth, and opportunity as well as to stronger democracy.

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Over the last decade we’ve seen the rise of a wide range of social justice movements, from Occupy Wall Street to Me Too to Black Lives Matter. Where are those movements now and what impact have they had?

In his new book “How the Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement” Freddie DeBoer explores these questions. Freddie argues that in the digital age, social movements flare up but then lose steam through a lack of tangible goals, the inherent moderating effects of our established institutions and political parties, and the lack of any real grassroots movement in contemporary America. Hidden beneath the rhetoric of the oppressed and the symbolism of the downtrodden lies the inconvenient fact that those doing the organizing, messaging, protesting, and campaigning are predominantly drawn from this country’s more upwardly mobile educated classes.

DeBoer lays out an alternative vision for how society’s winners can contribute to social justice movements without taking them over, and how activists and their organizations can become more resistant to the influence of elites, nonprofits, corporations, and political parties. He argues that only by organizing around class rather than empty gestures can we begin the hard work of changing minds and driving policy.

In my conversation with Freddie we discuss his takes on why the Bernie Sanders campaigns failed, illiberalism and intolerance among the activist left, the quiet expiration of the Child Tax Credit, why Freddie favors a much more open immigration policy, and more.

I hope you enjoy the discussion. Please remember to like, follow and share the show. Enjoy


Bio:
Fredrik deBoer is the author of The Cult of Smart, a book about meritocracy, education, and the potential for a more humane society. It was selected by New York magazine as one of its Ten Best Books of 2020. He holds a PhD in English from Purdue University, where he concentrated on assessment of student learning. He lives in Brooklyn with his girlfriend and his cat Suavecito.

Book:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/How-Elites-Ate-the-Social-Justice-Movement/Fredrik-deBoer/9781668016015

Substack:
https://substack.com/@freddiedeboer

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On October 7, Israel suffered a brutal attack as Hamas militants from Gaza rampaged across the south, massacring up to 1,500 Jews and taking 200 more captive.

Israel’s response has been to unleash a massive bombing campaign on the Gaza strip, home to 2.2 million people who have nowhere to go to escape the carnage. As of this recording, the bombardment of Gaza continues, with thousands dead and up to a million people displaced in what has become a complete humanitarian catastrophe.

To get perspective on what is going on, yesterday I spoke to Dalia Hatuqa, a journalist based out of the West Bank, which Israel has been occupying along with Gaza since 1967. Dalia specializes in Israeli/Palestinian affairs and has long covered the conflict.

We spoke about what the perspective is from the West Bank, what's unfolding in Gaza, the impact of a near-sixty-year occupation and prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Twitter@DaliaHatuqa
Website
https://www.daliahatuqa.com/

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While all eyes were on Congress this week, the Republican presidential primary continued to unfold across the country. I’ve found that primary a little bizarre and a little boring – especially the last debate. With Trump ahead by 40 or 50 points it seems like the race is already over. But I’ve been wrong before.

To bring in some outside perspective, today’s guest is Taylor Svehlak – a friend of the show. Taylor is a gun rights advocate and an old school conservative, though a classical liberal in the tradition of Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill. Taylor and I discuss the recent GOP debate, the state of the race, Ukraine, what the general election might look like and the main issues on voters minds this election.

Speaking as someone who’s very much on the left, I always think it’s fun to discuss politics with people outside my own bubble – so very much appreciate Taylor coming back on the show and sharing is perspectives.

As always please remember to like, subscribe and share the show

Taylor's Twitter@Taysway2A

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Liam Cosgrove is a DC-based correspondent for The Grayzone, an independent news website dedicated to original investigative journalism and analysis on politics and empire.

With much of the mainstream media being pretty aggressively pro-war in its coverage of Ukraine, Liam has stood out for pressing both the Administration as well as Members of Congress on the conflict in a way that tries to get to the deeper truth of what is going on.

We talk about Liam’s career trajectory and what it’s like to be the odd man out at these briefings, the Ukraine War, the presidential election, political influences and a little bit about the JFK assassination. Liam comes from a bit of a libertarian background while I look at most things from the left, but we found a lot of agreement when it comes to US foreign policy and strong concern about the risks for escalation with the Ukraine War/Russia, up to and including nuclear war.

Twitter@cosgrove_iv

Websitehttps://thegrayzone.com/

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Michael Valdes is an IBEW Journey Level Inside Wireman. He joins the show to talk about the UAW strike, class issues in America, how politicians of both sides view the working class generally and labor unions in particular, and what gives him hope for moving forward.


Twitter
@michael_valdes
@kevinamaley


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In her book "Faith Defeated My Pain" , Jasmine Pettross describes her journey from being diagnosed with cancer at a young age, to struggling to find meaning in her suffering, to finding purpose in her pain and a path forward in life. As she says in her book "No matter the hardships that are faced in life, the time it takes to heal and face situations that you have no control over only makes you resilient."

You can find her book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

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Robert Powell is a co-founder of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, a non-profit, in September 2017. The purpose of the organization is the scientific study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. Affiliation with the organization is open to all individuals with a background in science, the military, or law enforcement.

Powell has a BS degree in Chemistry and is a former collegiate debater. He has 28 years experience in engineering management in the semiconductor industry. While working at Advanced Micro Devices, Robert has taken numerous internal courses related to device physics, design of experiments and statistical analysis. He helped Advanced Micro Devices develop its first flash memory technology that is used in today’s flash cards for cameras, PCs, video cameras, and other products.

Robert's experience includes managing a state-of-the-art chemistry laboratory and managing a Research and Development group that worked on nanotechnology using atomic force microscopes, near-field optical microscopy, and other techniques. Robert is also a co-holder of four patents related to nanotechnology.

Robert Powell was the former Director of Research at MUFON from 2007-2017 and created MUFON's Science Review Board in 2012. He is one of two authors of the detailed radar/witness report on the “Stephenville Lights,” as well as the SCU report "UAP: 2013 Aguadilla, Puerto Rico". Robert is a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration, the UFODATA project and the National Space Society. He is active with FOIA requests to various government organizations to obtain information on historical cases and is a co-author of the book, 'UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry,' published in 2012. Robert currently resides in Austin, Texas.

Websitehttps://www.explorescu.org/
Twitter@rpowell2u


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Justin B. Kinney is an Associate Professor in the Simons Center for Quantitative Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University in 2008, is a co-author on >40 journal articles, and serves as project leader on two National Institutes of Health research grants. His lab has developed widely-used research methods, including methods that are now used to understand the effects of mutations present in variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Twitter: @jbkinney

Yanna Lambrinidou, PhD is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech and cofounder of the Campaign for Lead Free Water, a national network of individuals and organizations working to protect communities from lead in drinking water. Her work focuses on environmental health, policy, and justice at the intersection where scientists, engineers, and diverse publics meet. 

Twitter: @DrishtiEthics

Biosafety Now
Website: BiosafetyNow.org
Twitter: @BiosafetyNow


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George Beebe spent more than two decades in government as an intelligence analyst, diplomat, and policy advisor, including as director of the CIA’s Russia analysis, director of the CIA’s Open Source Center, and as a staff advisor on Russia matters to Vice President Cheney. His book, The Russia Trap: How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral into Nuclear Catastrophe (St. Martin’s Press, 2019), warned how the United States and Russia could stumble into a dangerous military confrontation. Prior to joining QI, George was Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for the National Interest and before that he served as president of a technology company that measured the impact of events, issues, and advertising campaigns on audience views. He speaks Russian and German.

Twitter handle@RStatecraft

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A fierce proponent of the right to keep and bear arms, Taylor Svehlak is a longtime gun-rights advocate, and briefly served as Director of Communications for a three-letter pro-gun advocacy group (not that one). In his spare time he is also an amateur firearms collector and gunsmith. In the past, he has worked on campaigns for a variety of conservative candidates across the local, state, and federal landscape. Currently, Taylor works in the world of public affairs and corporate communications, where he helps clients across a wide range of fields address a litany of unique problems.

Twitter handle@Taysway2A

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Derek Earl Baron aka "Wandering Earl" left home in 1999 for what was supposed to be a three month post-graduation trip to Southeast Asia and has essentially been traveling the world non-stop ever since.

He has been to over 130 countries on six continents living a life of adventure that many people dream of. He’s learned Spanish in Mexico, been kicked out of Romania, acted in a Bollywood tv show, kidnapped in Bangladesh and made friendships all over the planet.

Website: www.wanderingearl.com
Tour website: www.wanderingearltours.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WanderingEarl/

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Critically acclaimed author John Schad joins the podcast to speak on his forthcoming book "Jack the Ripper: Revealed".  Schad grew up fascinated by stories of Jack the Ripper and his murder streak across Victorian London. After spending nearly a decade immersed in research, he has published his findings on the true identity of the world's most notorious serial killer.  What he has to say may surprise you.

Twitter handle
Author: @johnschad

Book Website
https://www.ripperrevealed.com (under construction)

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What's going on with Ukraine? The Institute for the Study of War's Alex Mitchell joins Zipcode Zero to give an update on the war, Putin's strategy, what the U.S.'s role is and what we can expect to happen this winter.

Alexander Mitchell is the director of external relations at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), where he is responsible for the planning, management and execution of strategic communications efforts that support and advance ISW’s research, analysis, and other core mission objectives.

Alexander has over a decade of public affairs and media experience operating in Washington, with specializations in defense and national security policy. At ISW, Mr. Mitchell leverages his relationships and knowledge of the Washington DC media environment to ensure ISW’s work and perspective cuts through the noise and remains a trusted, reliable voice on issues of US defense and national security.

Prior to joining ISW, Mr. Mitchell was a vice president at VOX Global, a leading bipartisan public affairs firm located in Washington, DC, where he helped Fortune 50 clients achieve an impact on public policy and corporate reputation through the management of earned media campaigns, stakeholder engagement activities, policy research and executive communications. Before his time at VOX Global, Mr. Mitchell managed public relations and media affairs for clients in the defense, security, aerospace and federal IT sectors while a Senior Associate at Sage Communications in McLean, Virginia.

Mr. Mitchell received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he studied American history, international relations and philosophy. Mr. Mitchell is a lifelong student of military history, specifically the American Civil War, and volunteers in his free time for organizations that support battlefield and other historic preservation.

Twitter handles
Alex Mitchell: @heel_be_ok
Institute for the Study of War: @TheStudyofWar

Website
https://www.understandingwar.org/

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David Plotz is the CEO of City Cast, a network of daily local news podcasts in cities around the country - also accompanied by a daily email newsletter that keeps you in the know about what’s happening in your community.  Currently available in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Salt Lake, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, DC, Philly, Boise, Portland, Madison – and in other cities soon, City Cast is the smartest, easiest way to connect with the place you live and love. You can find it wherever you download politics and at CityCast.fm

David has worked in digital media for 25 years. He is the former Editor in Chief of Slate Magazine, former CEO of Atlas Obscura and is a long-time host of the iconic Slate Political Gabfest.

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Norman Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist, former professor, and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D. in political science at Princeton University. In the year 2020, Norman Finkelstein was named the fifth most influential political scientist in the world.

He is the author of many books that have been translated into 60 foreign editions, including The Holocaust Industry, He is currently writing a book tentatively titled, I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It. 

Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

Music by Urban Deer Hunt:  https://linktr.ee/urbandeerhunt

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Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor at Slate and, in that capacity, has been writing their Supreme Court Dispatches and Jurisprudence columns since 1999. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The New Republic, and Commentary. Lithwick hosts Amicus, Slate’s award-winning biweekly podcast about the law and the Supreme Court.

In 2018 Lithwick received the American Constitution Society’s Progressive Champion Award, and the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis. Lithwick won a 2013 National Magazine Award for her columns on the Affordable Care Act. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in October, 2018. Lithwick has held visiting faculty positions at the University of Georgia Law School, the University of Virginia School of Law, and the Hebrew University Law School in Jerusalem. She has appeared on CNN, ABC, The Colbert Report, the Daily Show and is a frequent guest on The Rachel Maddow Show.

Lithwick earned her BA in English from Yale University and her JD degree from Stanford University. Her new book, Lady Justice, published by Penguin Press (September 2022) was a New York Times bestseller.

Twitter: @DahliaLithwick

Instagram: @ladyjusticebook or @dahlia_lith

Website: https://www.dahlialithwick.com/

Cases referenced:

  • Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014)
  • Dobbs v. Jackson (2021)
  • Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2022)
  • NYT v. Sullivan (1964)

Article referenced:

  • Former Anti-Abortion Leader Alleges Another Supreme Court Breach, New York Times, November 19, 2022

Music: Urban Deer Hunt

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Abdul Mukati is an entrepreneur and digital nomad. He has built businesses from a young age, suffered set backs and come back from it all stronger than ever. Today he joins us from Thailand to share how he built his life and offers insights to those who want to get ahead. 

You can follow Abdul on Instagram: @TravelBoundCouple

Music by Urban Deer Hunt

Follow me @KevinAMaley and subscribe to the Zipcode Zero substack (for free!) 
https://kevinmaley.substack.com/

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To celebrate the midterm elections, Zipcode Zero invited Jake Morganstern on to share reactions and analysis as results came in Tuesday night. In this episode we discuss:

  • Initial thoughts on what unfolded Tuesday
  • Predictions for what the results will mean for the next two years in Washington
  • Who Democrats should run in 2024
  • And what current Supreme Court Case Moore v. Harper could mean for elections moving forward

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Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He is frequently cited in economics reporting in major media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, CNBC, and National Public Radio. He writes a weekly column for the Guardian Unlimited (UK), the Huffington Post, TruthOut, and his blog, Beat the Press, features commentary on economic reporting. His analyses have appeared in many major publications, including the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the London Financial Times, and the New York Daily News. He received his Ph.D in economics from the University of Michigan.