Future Hindsight

Thursday, July 13th, 2023   Layla Law-Gisiko serves on Manhattan’s Community Board 5 at the very center of New York City. She currently chairs the land use committee, which makes recommendations on the community’s built real estate environments. We discuss her community advocacy, the land use issues the Community Board considers, and the future of New York’s Penn Station.   The community board’s power is its voice. Community boards give people an opportunity to get involved and participate in democracy. When the community gets together, they can win. Although there are no real victory laps and it’s easy to get discouraged, it’s important to remember that it’s all about being in the fight. Talk to everyone, even if you disagree, and create opportunities for alliances.  Follow Layla on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/laylaLawGisiko   Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Lis

Thursday, July 6th, 2023   We’re sharing an episode from fellow Democracy Group podcast, Democracy Decoded, a show that examines our government and discusses innovative ideas that could lead to a stronger, more transparent, accountable, and inclusive democracy.   During the COVID-19 pandemic, many states took steps to make voting safer and more accessible, but afterward, we saw a backlash with some states erecting barriers to voting access. Democracy Decoded host Simone Leeper speaks with Trevor Potter about the 2020 and 2022 elections and what kinds of changes could help expand the freedom to vote and make our elections more accessible in the future. She also speaks with Aseem Mulji and Gilda Daniels about some of these changes, like state Voting Rights Acts, and how everyday citizens can get involved in the process. Listen to Democracy Decoded:  https://www.democracygroup.org/shows/democracy-decoded    Follow the Campaign Legal Center on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CampaignLegal    Follow Mila on Twitte

Thursday, June 29th, 2023   Dr. Richard Haass is the President of the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Bill of Obligations: Ten Habits of Good Citizens. We discuss how we, as citizens, can fulfill our role in the social contract.   The United States is a country founded on an idea about equality, about opportunity, and about freedom. Rights alone will not guarantee the smooth functioning of a society, but must be coupled with obligations. These include being informed, getting involved, civic education, and rejecting violence. If 1 or 2% more Americans were to get informed and involved in American politics, we could have very different outcomes. Follow Dr. Haass on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/RichardHaass    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Sponsor Thanks, HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/HOPEFUL16 and use code HOPEFUL16 for 16 free meals plus free shipping!   Love Future Hindsi

Thursday, June 22nd, 2023   Anna Chu is the executive director of We The Action, an organization that connects volunteer lawyers with nonprofits that require legal assistance. We discuss how lawyers play a unique and critical role in strengthening American democracy.   A strong democracy relies on everyone having the ability to have their voices heard at every level of the government, but in the US there is a huge gap between who is actually eligible to vote and who actually votes. In addition, there are lots of different rights currently being challenged at the federal level and at the state level. Lawyers can and do advance access to justice, as well as ensure that democracy can be accessible for everyone.    Follow Anna on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/chuster   Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!  http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6t

Thursday, June 15th, 2023   Frank Guridy is the Executive Director of the Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights at Columbia University and the Dr. Kenneth and Kareitha Forde Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies. We discuss social movements in the past, present, and future.    Social movements consist of mass participation from outside of established political structures to address grievances or to pursue larger social goals. They are often long term endeavors that might not fully achieve their goals but nonetheless move the needle in social attitudes. Sometimes they achieve the unthinkable, like freedom from slavery or marriage equality. Follow Frank on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/fguridy    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Sponsor: Thanks to Shopify for supporting the show! Sign up for a $1/month trial period at shopify.com/hopeful.   Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsig

Thursday, June 8th, 2023   David Priess is the Director of Intelligence at Bedrock Learning and has served at the CIA as an intelligence officer, a manager, and a daily intelligence briefer during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. We discuss how the issues of waging war and negotiating peace affect our everyday lives.   The intelligence function is about discovering the truth in order to reduce uncertainty for decision-makers on issues of national security. Intelligence cannot predict the future, especially when it comes to human choices. Although some information is necessarily secret for our own security, we should all be engaged on national security issues. That means asking questions of our elected representatives instead of being passive recipients of information, and to vary where we get our news. Follow David on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DavidPriess    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futu

Thursday, June 1st, 2023   Beto O’Rourke is a fourth-generation Texan, the former US Representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional district, the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2018, and the Democratic nominee for the 2022 Texas gubernatorial election. He is also the author of We've Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible.   We discuss the outsized importance of Texas politics for the nation. Republicans have relied on winning Texas’s electoral college votes to clinch presidential races. However, even without investment from the Democratic party, the trend over the last three presidential elections is improving for Democratic candidates. Texas is currently the hardest state in which to vote and to register to vote. Broad and consistent participation from citizens is vital to changing the status quo. The fight for democracy goes on forever and no victory is ever final.  Follow Beto on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BetoORourke    Follow Mila on Twitter:  htt

Thursday, May 25th, 2023   Representative Anna Eskamani serves on behalf of Florida’s 42nd district of Orange County in the state House of Representatives. We discuss her victories at the ballot box and her work to represent her constituents. Her campaign slogan is “Working for you. Fighting for us.”   When serving in the minority of the Florida state legislature, you only pass legislation by working across the aisle. Anna is a firm believer in calling people in before calling them out, and on finding common ground on issues of good government. Her formula for success is showing up for people by focusing on real life issues, like on tax fairness, versus the manufactured culture war debates.   Follow Anna on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AnnaForFlorida    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Sponsor Thanks, HelloFresh! Go to HelloFresh.com/HOPEFUL16 and use code HOPEFUL16  for 16 free meals plus free shi

Thursday, May 18th, 2023   Chris Wiggins and Matthew L. Jones are co-authors of How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms. Chris is an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and the New York Times’s chief data scientist and Matt is a professor of history at Columbia. Together, they taught a course called “Data: Past, Present, and Future," and their book is an extension thereof. We discuss the history of how data is made; the relationship between data and truth; and the unstable three-player game between corporate, state, and people power.    We are currently in an unstable and unpredictable three-player game between state power, corporate power, and people power. In fact, we have a lot of collective influence via the way we construct norms. Our constant human activity is the grist of the mill for machine learning. Corporations do not have all the power. Still, the mix between advertising and data has created a lot of the most pressing concerns in t

Thursday, May 11th, 2023   Judge Victoria Pratt was Chief Judge in Newark Municipal Court in New Jersey and the author of The Power of Dignity. She is currently the Executive Director of Odyssey Impact, an interfaith non-profit driving social change through innovative storytelling and media. We discuss procedural justice, municipal court reform, and increasing the public's trust in the justice system.    Tough-on-crime laws are ineffective. Punishing people for wrongdoing does not change behavior. Judge Pratt asserts her authority when she understands the people who appear in court before her. People obey the law when they are treated with respect and dignity, because then they view the people who impose rules and laws as legitimate authorities. Engaging with the criminal justice system is punishment enough, whether you're innocent or not.    Follow Judge Pratt on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JudgeVPratt    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https

Thursday, May 4th, 2023   Craig Aaron is the Co-CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action. We discuss the civic information bill in New Jersey and the promise of centering civic information in the media.   A vibrant multiracial democracy requires civic information media, which delivers the information that helps us live better lives in our communities. Journalism or civic media are a public good, and the public needs to invest in media along those lines. In New Jersey, bipartisan legislative support led to the civic information bill and the founding of the Civic Information Consortium. The best thing all of us can do right now is to support our local media. Read it and engage it!   Follow Craig on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/notaaroncraig    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!  http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=stand

Thursday, April 27th, 2023   Jeff Sharlet is a journalist, best-selling author, and longtime observer and investigator of the Christian right. His latest book is The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. We discuss America's democratic bankruptcy, the martyrdom of Ashli Babbit, and the rightward shift of the mainstream.    The notion of civil war was a fringe idea, but in recent years it has become mainstream.  It was just a question of time and for some, it was already happening. Fascism does not respond to logic but relies heavily on myths. Fascist movements need martyrs like Ashli Babbitt. Along those lines, the MAGA movement can be understood as an innocence cult, wishing for a return to a time that never was.    Follow Jeff on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!  http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.

Thursday, April 20th, 2023   Chloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward are the co-authors of Dirt Road Revival: How to Rebuild Rural Politics and Why our Future Depends on It. We discuss the importance of winning rural races in America.   When Chloe ran for office in rural Maine, she knocked on over 20,000 doors and discovered that constituents feel a lack of representation in their daily lives. Democrats really stopped showing up and investing in strong organizing infrastructure in rural places, but it's possible to turn things around. There's a huge opportunity to organize in small towns and places that have been overlooked–and not at the expense of urban efforts. A key ingredient is to focus on what we have in common and connecting on those values levels.     Follow Chloe on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/chloemaxmin    Follow Canyon on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CanyonWoodward    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehinds

Thursday, April 13th, 2023   Anat Shenker-Osorio is a renowned communications researcher and campaign advisor, the host of Words to Win By, and the Principal of ASO Communications. We discuss how to empower voters, the impact of repetition, and the importance of being clear on what you stand for.   All candidates should repeatedly state what they stand for because repetition is an essential ingredient in making sure a message is heard. Negative messaging can often be counterproductive because when you’re negating the other side, you are actually reinforcing their argument. What’s more, by focusing on the opposition and not clearly stating your own position, you risk leaving your message unheard. It’s impossible to have a message resonate if no one hears it. The most telling sign that a message is reaching the masses effectively is if the public acts on it.  Follow Anat on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/anatosaurus    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagr

Thursday, April 6th, 2023   We’re sharing an episode of Drilled, a true-crime podcast about climate change, hosted and reported by award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt.   Four years ago, the Drilled podcast asked a question that changed how people thought about climate stories: What if we stopped acting like the climate crisis was inevitable and instead treated it like it truly is… the crime of the century? Now, the original true crime podcast about climate change is back with a new season all about the opportunistic oil industry.   The story is packed with high stakes court cases, intrepid journalists, and a whole lot of intrigue, set in the world's largest oil boom town.    Listen to the new season of Drilled:  https://link.chtbl.com/futurehindsightdrilled   Follow Amy Westervelt on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/amywestervelt    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsig

Thursday, March 30th, 2023   Alana Sivin is the New York State Director of Criminal Justice Reform at FWD.us. We discuss the history of bail reform legislation, the subsequent roadblocks, and the truth behind the efficacy of this policy.    Bail reform was passed to end a system of wealth-based detention of people who have not been convicted of a crime. Many of them are Black and brown. Verified public data shows that bail reform is not leading to a rise in re-arrest rates. It is also not contributing to a rise in crime. Alana says, “Bail reform has been an extremely successful policy that is not only good because it's the right thing to do for human beings, but it's also the right thing to do to create long-term public safety.”  Follow Alana on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/_AlanaSivin    Protect Bail Reform Phone to Action Tool: https://p2a.co/cjyxei9   Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Futu

Thursday, March 23rd, 2023   Joanna Schwartz is a professor of law at UCLA, where she teaches civil procedure and courses on police accountability. Her new book is Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable. We discuss the multiple levels of protection for police offers and how local and state laws can break us out of the qualified immunity maze.   There is a broad systemic problem with holding police accountable when they abuse their power or violate the law. The Supreme Court and state and local governments have created interlocking layers of shields for law enforcement officers. Qualified immunities have become so strong that officers are protected even if they have acted in bad faith, so long as they have not broken a law. Indemnification is also an important part of the shield, which results in officers virtually never paying. Police accountability can improve and we should all be invested in making it work better.   Follow Joanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JCSchwartzProf   Follow Mila on Twitter:

Thursday, March 16th, 2023   Laphonza Butler is President of Emily’s List, an organization that aims to help elect pro-choice democratic women to office. We're inspired by the organization's motto to "reject apathy and the status quo. Repeat daily." We discuss how women bring the challenges and dreams of their community to the policymaking table.    Running for office is perhaps the ultimate form of civic participation. Bringing more women to policy making discussions is crucial, but it takes women to be asked at least seven times before they choose to run for office. In addition, we have to pay extra attention to women as voters. We need to ask and answer the question of whether women will elect women to office.     Follow Laphonza on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LaphonzaB    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!  http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.

Thursday, March 9th, 2023   Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider are co-authors of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School and co-hosts of the education podcast Have You Heard? We discuss the ideology behind the unmaking of public education and the dangers of losing one of our most prized public goods.    One of the original visions of public education was about building individual democratic citizens for a polis, an American society.  Schools are at the forefront of expanding civil rights, whereas private schools can discriminate on all kinds of grounds. The current intense push to dismantle public education is part of a larger effort to roll back the gains of the civil rights revolution from the 1960s.     Follow Jennifer on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/BisforBerkshire    Follow Jack on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/edu_historian    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023   Daniel Squadron is the co-founder and Executive Director of The States Project and also a former New York State senator. We discuss what it takes to win legislative majorities in state houses and why this is the essential ingredient to making change.    State legislatures are the most important force in this country. When parties win legislative majorities, they can govern effectively. The good news is that tiny levels of new engagement make a seismic difference in state legislative races. Regular folks getting involved and becoming strategic players will create governing power that can deliver for people.  Follow Daniel on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/DanielSquadron    Follow Mila on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/milaatmos    Follow Future Hindsight on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/futurehindsightpod/   Love Future Hindsight? Take our Listener Survey!  http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=6tI0Zi1e78vq&ver=standard    Want to support the show and get it