This Is Hell!

We replay a listener chosen favorite interview from 2022 with Laura Mauldin who is a writer, sociologist, and interdisciplinary scholar based in New York City. The interview was initially recorded August 22, 2022 and discusses Mauldin's article "Care Tactics" published by the Baffler https://thebaffler.com/salvos/care-tactics-mauldin

The Listeners (you) chose this August interview with Heather Berg, Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Washington University St. Louis. Dr. Berg talked about her Boston Review article "Freedom, not Benefits: Sex Workers are the Vanguard of Labor. The Left ignores them at its own Peril." We also feature an somewhat new Past inside the Present, present this week's Question from Hell!, and then also give you this week's much needed Hangover Cure.

Michael Hawthorne is on to talk about his investigation into "Forever chemicals: They’re in your drinking water and likely your food. Michael is a Pulitzer-finalist investigative reporter who focuses on the environment and public health for the Chicago Tribune.

Our planned interview is rescheduled for tomorrow. Today we review Rotten History and new answers to the Question from Hell. We play back an interview with Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law, recorded August 5th, 2020. https://thisishell.com/interviews/1214-victoria-law-maya-schenwar

We welcome environmental scholar Leslie Kern to talk about her new book "Gentrification is Inevitable - And other Lies." We also present you this week's (long) Question from Hell!, and have another Icelandic hangover cure. Producer Sebastian has this week's Past Inside the Present, in which he details some of the reasons for Germany's awkward relationship with Israel.

Today's guest had to reschedule, so we replay a past episode, Lindsey has a hellride to work and is called to play back a musical episode featuring artist Wesley WIllis, recovered from the vaults by producer Dan Hill.

Lawyer and activist Flint Taylor returns to the program to discuss his recent article in the Police Misconduct and Civil Rights Law Report "The Wrongful Conviction of Johnnie Lee Savory. Taylor’s work in fighting against police torture in Chicago over the past 29 years has been instrumental in obtaining the conviction and imprisonment of police torture ringleader Jon Burge and the precedent setting decision that upheld the inclusion of former Mayor Richard M. Daley as a co-conspiring defendant in the Tillman civil rights case.

We welcome Associate Professor of Media and Communication Matthew Crain to the show to talk about his Boston Review article "How Capitalism and not a Few Bad Actors Destroyed the Internet." We also present this week's Question from Hell!, have a brand new Hangover Cure, and producer Sebastian talks about how railroad strikes getting cracked down upon by the government is a tradition in this country almost as old as railroads themselves in this week's Past Inside the Present. https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/how-capitalism-not-a-few-bad-actors-destroyed-the-internet/

Mick Dumke is a reporter for ProPublica. His work has focused on politics and government, including investigations of local and federal gun policies, secret police databases and corruption at Chicago City Hall. Mick is on to discuss his reporting on the growing Chicago Housing Authority scandal. Mick's most recent article on the topic at ProPublica is headlined, "Chicago Officials Withhold Key Financial Information as City Hands Public Housing Land Over to Wealthy Ally of the Mayor.

Chuck Mertz speaks with science writer Spencer Roberts and political economist Jan Dutkiewicz about their New Republic Article, "How the Meat Industry Undermines Effective Climate Policy". https://newrepublic.com/article/168766/meat-industry-lobbying-climate This week in Rotten History and new responses to the Question from Hell! Spencer Roberts is a science writer, ecologist, musician, and engineer from Colorado. His writing focuses on corporate greenwashing and science corruption. It is featured in places like Jacobin, Wired, and Current Affairs. @Unpop_Science Jan Dutkiewicz is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and comes to Harvard after Postdoctoral Fellowships at Johns Hopkins University and with the Swiss National Science Foundation. He is a political economist whose research focuses on large-scale conventional meat production and the emergent world of alternative protein. His work examines how business interests, ethical and environmental debates, and con

Chuck returns to the studio, we have this week's Hangover Cure where Sebastian mispronounces Icelandic names, an all new Question from Hell! for the week, and a brand new installment of The Past inside the Present, talking about the connection between billionaire worship, the Puritans and the history of the prosperity gospel movement. Chuck welcomes historian, writer, and activist Austin McCoy to talk about his Baffler Magazine article "After Floyd - If you can’t rein in the police, you can’t save democracy."

Board Operator Dan selects a Golden Oldie from the This is Hell! vaults while Chuck recuperates from the Creeping Crud. In this selection, Dr. Monique Morris talks about how racism and sexism collide to criminalize Black girls. After which, this week's Question From Hell contest culminates thunderously.

Producer Lindsey Gorry replays an interview from 2019 with political scientist Thea Riofrancos while Chuck recovers from Covid-19. More info on Thea Riofrancos work here: http://www.theariofrancos.com/about And find her on twitter here: https://twitter.com/triofrancos

Chuck is out sick this week, so the producers run the show in Limbo Mode. Sebastian presents a 2015 interview with South African political economist Patrick Bond, talking about the FIFA bribery scandals of which the now (in 2022) ongoing world cup in Qatar is a fruit.

We speak with political science scholar, Nojang Khatami who is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Justitita Center for Advanced Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt. Beginning in the fall of 2023, he will be Assistant Professor of Political Science at Fordham University. Nojang is on to talk about his Boston Review article, “The Lifeblood of Iranian Democracy: From street demonstrations to song, dance, film, and poetry, women are advancing a long legacy of struggle against authoritarianism in Iran.”

Alec Karakatsanis joins Chuck Mertz to discuss his piece "Warning to Journalists About Elite Academia" published at https://equalityalec.substack.com/ . Alec is the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps and Author of Usual Cruelty. New responses to the Question from Hell and this week in Rotten History.

Chuck interviews political scientist Lilliana Mason on her books on partisan violence in the United States. We also introduce this week's Question from Hell!, and the weekly Hangover Cure. Producer Sebastian talks about why it's really better to not use the term "Kristallnacht" to talk about the pogroms against German Jews on November 9, 1938.

Board Operator Dan spins some golden oldies; two classic interviews with John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman. Regular shows resume next week!

Lindsey replays an interview with Jenny Odell from May 18th, 2019. Odell is an artist and author of the books How to Do Nothing and the forthcoming, Saving Time. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/672377/saving-time-by-jenny-odell/

We revisit an interview with Michael Parenti from November 2005. Chuck is back next week.