476. What Are the Police for, Anyway?

All sorts of people have put their mark on Messiah, and it has been a hit for nearly 300 years. How can a single piece of music thrive in so many settings? You could say it’s because Handel really knew how to write a banger. (Part three of “Making Messiah.”) SOURCES:Charles King, ...  Show more

In the 18th century, Handel relied on royal patronage. Today, it’s donors like Gary Parr who keep the music playing. In this bonus episode of our “Making Messiah” series, Parr breaks down the economics of the New York Philharmonic. SOURCES:Gary Parr, senior managing director and ...  Show more

Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. A truth many Americans are acknowledging since the murder of George Floyd, as protests have occurred in all fifty states calling for justice on his behalf. But this tension between African American communit ...  Show more

Recent high profile cases of unarmed black men dying at the hands of the US police have sparked outrage, protests and civil unrest in several American cities. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray are - some claim - evidence of long-standing prob ...  Show more

On today's episode of @TheBreakdown I unpack and explain how police brutality is a math problem. African Americans are forced to interact with police FAR too much. And by drastically reducing these number of forced interactions, we will, by default, reduce the incidents of police ...  Show more

We talk to Adom Getachew, Jasson Perez and Gary Gerstle about the politics of protest and the politics of policing in America. What does 'Defund the Police' mean in practice? Is the current crisis likely to empower or curtail the surveillance state? How are the current protests d ...  Show more