PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory is Attempting to Steal the Election” / NewsOne Now / Roland Martin ☮

Republicans may be rejoicing after Donald Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 presidential election, but in North Carolina – a state that our nation’s President-elect won – Republicans are pulling out all the stops post-Election Day in a brazen attempt to hold on to the governor’s mansion.

Gov. Pat McCrory lost the North Carolina governor’s race and seems to be orchestrating an attempt to steal it. Not only did Republicans lose the race, they also lost control of the state’s Supreme Court, four to three.

In the aftermath of the 2016 election, North Carolina Republicans are trying to add two new seats to the state’s High Court so the governor can appoint right-leaning judges and pack the court. If successful, the North Carolina Supreme Court would remain under Republican control.

INTERVIEW: “From Franco’s Fascism to Trump’s Nationalism: Arlie, and Adam Hochschild” / The Laura Flanders Show ☮

In the aftermath of the election, much has been said about what liberal government, media, businesses failed to do: contextualize his rise to office and connect with his voters to change their minds. In this episode, Laura interviews Adam and Arlie Hochschild, the duo who have each spent their careers documenting the complexities of political behavior.

Arlie Hochschild, with pragmatic energy, undertook the work we’d all like to do: she left the liberal haven of Berkeley, CA to go to the Louisiana Bayou — a stronghold of the conservative right. Hochschild interviews Trump voters about their “deep story,” what drives them and how they feel left behind by the same liberal policies they need the most. Her new book — a National Book Award finalist–, Strangers in their Own Land, hopes to find common ground with Tea Partiers and “alt righters” beyond politics.

Adam Hochschild is a celebrated writer, cofounder of Mother Jones magazine, whose new book Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Hochschild, author of eight books, writes with what the New York Times calls prose “constantly vivid yet emotionally restrained” about the struggle of young Americans who joined Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. In our current politically fraught time, Hochschild speaks to the hallmarks of fascism and how to mark its ascent.

All this, and an F-Word from Laura on the media vs. Trump, why it’s not just about alternative news but about finding an alternative to news.

PHILOSOPHY – POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: “Why Socrates Hated Democracy” / The School of Life / MUST WATCH ☮

We’re used to thinking hugely well of democracy. But interestingly, one of the wisest people who ever lived, Socrates, had deep suspicions of it.