3 chapters across the catalog
The hosts reflect on the 19-year history of podcasting and its roots in authenticity. They contrast the "sanitized" and "dead" sound of mainstream outlets like NPR with the raw, unedited nature of independent creators. They argue that technical blemishes and real-world background noise are what make alternative media more relatable and trustworthy.
NPR's Audi Cornish and Maya King discuss Stacey Abrams's 2018 loss and her subsequent voter registration efforts. The report claims Abrams registered 200,000 voters for her own race and 800,000 more for 2020. The hosts reiterate that registering one million people in four years in a state with five million voters is "horse crap" and mathematically unbelievable.
NPR reports that Lincoln waited for a Union victory at the Battle of Antietam in 1862 before releasing the Emancipation Proclamation to ensure it carried "moral power" and didn't seem like a desperate gesture. The proclamation was intended to prevent European nations from supporting the Confederacy and to encourage Black men to join the Union Army. The hosts reflect on how Black soldiers were often used as "cannon fodder" despite the strategic framing of their liberation.
