A Gentlemen’s Disagreement

Episode 111 - Pulling back the curtain on polling with David Paleologos

We are joined this week by David Paleologos, the director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center (SUPRC) and one of the preeminent pollsters in the country (8:19-53:46). David shares how he got into the world of polling, how he turned Suffolk into a polling powerhouse, how polling has changed over the years, lessons from the 2016 polls, and what to watch for with the 2024 polls.

 

Episode 110 - Six in Sixty: Republican field, Mike Johnson, George Santos, SCOTUS ethics, debt, & Israel-Palestine

After a run of great guests, we are back just the two of us to discuss some of the topics that have been in the news over the past month. We start with a trio of Republican topics: the current state of the presidential candidate field, the election of a new Speaker of the House, and the latest development in the George Santos saga. We then talked about SCOTUS releasing its first code of ethics, whether the current amount of personal debt in the U.S. presages greater economic concerns, and we finish by checking in on the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Episode 109 - Parallel Troubles: Ireland & the Middle East with Professor Larry Donnelly

We are joined this week by University of Galway Professor Larry Donnelly to discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict from a different angle (4:57-43:50). We began by comparing the reactions to the conflict in Western Europe, Ireland, and the U.S., and then dove into some of the history of the Troubles in Ireland, the eventual peace agreement, and the current state of affairs in Northern Ireland. We then debated whether there were any lessons from that conflict that potentially could be taken into the current conflict in the Middle East.

Episode 108 - A tale of two cities: a conversation with former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin

We were joined this week by former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin (3:55-53:40). We discussed how his childhood experiences led him to become a public defender and then to launch a longshot bid to become the District Attorney of San Francisco, his historic election and becoming one of the faces of progressive prosecution in the country, the politics behind his eventual recall from that position, and the current state of progressive prosecution in the U.S. 

Episode 107 - Running for local office with Framingham City Council candidate Brandon Ward

We are joined by Framingham, Massachusetts City Council candidate Brandon Ward for a discussion about what it is like to run for local office. Brandon talks about why he wanted to run, what he would bring to the office, and the many things he has learned on the campaign trail. 

Episode 106 - A ’23-’24 SCOTUS term overview with Professor Renee Landers

We are joined this week by Suffolk University Law School Professor Renee Landers for a breakdown of the major cases on the Supreme Court docket this term (3:48-1:00:05). We discuss the two First Amendment/social media cases, the Second Amendment case, the racial gerrymandering case, and several cases presenting challenges to administrative agencies. A great listen for lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

Episode 105 - The tragedy & horror of Israel & Palestine

We started this week's episode with a discussion of the Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day debate (0:30-20:10). We then spent the majority of the episode trying to examine the enormously complicated, difficult, and tragic situation currently unfolding in Israel and Palestine (20:18-1:10:40). We concluded with a brief conversation about the historic ouster of Speaker McCarthy (1:10:45-1:13:27).

Episode 104 - On Capitalism

Ricky wanted to zoom out a little bit for this episode and engage in a discussion on how we currently think about capitalism and how capitalism does--or does not--meet the current moment in our economics and in our politics. 

Episode 103 - The immigration crisis with Carine Hajjar

We are joined this week by current Boston Globe and former Wall Street Journal writer and reporter Carine Hajjar to discuss the many angles of the current immigration crisis (4:18-33:04). Carine has been writing about this mounting crisis for years now from Texas, New York City, and now Boston, and she provides us with some excellent knowledge and perspective to ground this tremendously tricky topic.

Episode 102 - Six in Sixty: UAW strike, impeachment, abortion, North Korea, Iran, Morocco & Libya

A big news week, so we return to our model of covering six of the major topics in (about) an hour. We start domestically by discussing the UAW Strike (7:38-21:35), the road to another presidential impeachment (21:36-31:31), and President Trump's recent comments on abortion (31:32-39-24). We then move abroad to break down the implications of the Russia-North Korea meeting (39:28-50:00) and the U.S.-Iran prisoner swap (50:01-59:09), and we conclude by looking at the terrible natural disasters in Morocco and Libya (59:10-1:05:25).