Episodes

Knicks win. Ben tries to be gracious. Rossana Rodriguez joins the celebration. And then the conversation turns serious. As she makes the connection between fascists in the White House and conservatives in the city council. He...

Ben interrupts his road trip and Dr D puts down his newborn baby long enough to tell you what’s going on. Firstly…no one believes the Bears are going to Hammond and no one cares if they do. Susana Mendoza outflanks Vallas and...

Trump trolls Biden on the walls of the White House. Ben riffs. Heidi Henry—the Heartland Mama—talks about Trump’s professed love for inflation. Do liberals still think it was the cost of eggs that did in Kamala? The case agai...

Mayor Rahm solidifies his 1 percent base by hanging with the rich guys in the courtside seats at the Knicks game. Ben riffs. Senator Rachel Ventura talks Bears stadium and data centers and AI and paying the state’s bills in f...

Great news! Dr D is now Daddy D—again. Ben riffs. Pushkar Sharma pays tribute to Amisha Patel. And then explains why and how they put together a campaign to reject Raja in the Democratic primary for Senator. He also talks abo...

The pope takes a stand against AI enslaving us. Ben riffs. Ishmael Reed joins the conversation from Oakland. Yes, that Ishmael Reed. One of America’s greatest writers—novelist, poet, essayist, playwright and song writer. And ...

South Carolina Republican legislators defy Trump on congressional redistricting. Ben riffs. Mallory Dittmer fills in the details—46,000 Democratic voters had something to do with it. A Democratic candidate for Congress in the...

The great Murakami hurts his hamstring. Ben howls in pain. Miles and Gave assess the Sox and Cubs two months into the season. Sox fans will be delighted. Cubs fans not so much. Bottom line—if the Cubs were as tough on the Bre...

There’s hardly any money to get books from one library branch to the other, but $1.5 trillion for the military. Ben riffs. Rachel Hinton fills in the blanks, explicating on her recent article on why it takes so long to get th...

Maria Pappas speaks the truth about handouts to the Bears. Ben riffs. Karina Villa gives us the low down on her race for comptroller, the impact of Trump cuts on Illinois, the states’s misplaced budget priorities, the need to...

One last riff about Paul Singer and Thomas Massie. Take it away, Ben. Michael Rabbitt tells you everything you need to know about the ordeal he and his five co-defendants faced in the Orwellian legal charade known as The Broa...

Trump diverts about $1.8 billion in taxpayers’s money to his cronies—just call him President Slush Fund. Ben riffs. Kevin Ryan talks about the lessons he learned from his recent Senate campaign. From there he covers everythin...

Ben and Dr D have all the news you need to know. The City Council stands up for rich people—again. Sorry, everyone else. Darren Bailey almost sorta blames Trump for rising gas prices. SDG takes on Michael Sacks and vice versa...

Amidst Trump’s gangster shakedown of America, a little hope from Mayor Mamdani. Ben riffs. Miles examines Trump's latest shakedowns—the $1.7 billion trust fund for January 6 insurrectionists and other kooks and crooks. And im...

An antigay commercial by Thomas Massie lets MAGA voters know what he thinks of them. Ben riffs. David adds his thoughts. Also, Kash Patel’s payback. Basically, Trump’s moved Nixon’s plumbers out of the basement and into the f...

PCA. Cubs center fielder PCA says something nasty to a Sox fan. Ben riffs. D’Frantz and Natalie offer their views. And then they’re off on a wide ranging exchange about the WNBA. Topics include, in no particular order, Rickea...

Graham Platner runs as a working-class hero, and The NYT says, but his daddy’s a lawyer. Ben riffs. Graciela Guzman runs down the progressive state-wide agenda. Including fair taxes, data center controls, and no handouts to t...

Ben and Dr D reveal some secrets as they race through a week’s worth of news. Chicago pitches for another Democratic convention. The Board of Ed throws away fifty-something thousand. And in honor of his third year in office, ...

Group think is not limited to MAGA. Ben riffs. Mick talks religion. Or the Hegseth variant, a toxic blend of “faith-based” hate. As well as JD Vance cheering on Trump’s attack on Pope Leo. And more. Mick is well qualified to ...

Jamelle Bouie makes it clear what’s at stake in the wake of the Supremes eviscerating the Voting Rights Act—our democracy. Ben riffs. Gregory returns to talk about the Pulitzer Prize the Tribune won for its coverage of Operat...

From his hospice care, former Congressman Barney Frank offers a gloomy message for fellow Democrats. Ben riffs. Monroe dissects recent gerrymandering rulings be the Supremes. It’s all about “white power” from operatives who o...

Trump sics the Feds on The View—as in Whoopi’s show. Ben riffs. The Hussain sisters return! Talking The View, the Met Gala, Kash Patel, Indians as model minorities and Bruce Springsteen. Rummana is a columnist for the Sun Tim...

Ben & Dr D have pastrami on their minds! Why? Cause JB Pritzker was lunching at a deli with a national reporter and talking about running for president, while nibbling at his pastrami. Meanwhile, Mayor Rahm was bike riding in...

Jack Thornell’s photographs of the Civil Rights Movement remind us why we need the Voting Rights Act now as much as ever. Ben riffs. Denali Dasgupta compares the vast contrast in the lives and legacies of Amisha Patel and Rud...