The Progressive Happy Hour

News of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement from the Supreme Court took the country by storm last week. In the July 6 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Drew Courtney and Cici Battle sat down with People For the American Way Senior Fellow Elliot Mincberg to Berry to discuss how Justice Kennedy shaped the Court and what’s at stake if Donald Trump nominates another right-wing ideologue to sit on the bench.

Progressive political resistance has been on the rise since Donald Trump took office – but it’s not new, and we have much to learn from the activists who came before us. In the June 29 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Drew Courtney and Cici Battle sat down with historian and activist Dr. Mary Frances Berry to unpack some of those lessons as outlined in her book History Teaches Us to Resist: How Progressive Movements Have Succeeded in Challenging Times.

Since he took office, Donald Trump has continued to prioritize his business interests over those of the American people. In the June 22 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Drew Courtney and PFAW senior director outreach and engagement Diallo Brooks sat down with Kristine Kippins, director of policy at the Constitutional Accountability Center, to discuss their lawsuit to hold Trump accountable for his violations of the foreign emoluments clause.

The high-profile deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain’s by suicide last week focused a spotlight on the importance of addressing mental health and health care. In the June 8 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Lizet Ocampo, PFAW’s political director, to discuss how progressive activists can openly discuss and destigmatize mental health in our communities, in the workplace, and in the political sphere.

With communities of color enduring one tragedy after another at the hands of police, addressing police violence is an issue that should be a priority for everyone. In the June 8 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Diallo Brooks, PFAW’s senior director of outreach and public engagement, to discuss the urgent need for reform and what activists can do to get engaged.

June 1 marks the first-ever national day of action in support of the rights of sex workers, with advocates from across the country speaking out against policies that could put their safety and even survival at risk. In the new episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Kate D’Adamo, a community organizer for sex workers’ rights, to learn more about what’s at stake.

Since President Trump took office, his administration and Senate Republicans have been filling our courts with narrow-minded, elitist judges at a record pace. In the May 25 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Lena Zwarensteyn, director of strategic engagement at the American Constitution Society, to talk about Trump judges and the right-wing takeover of our nation’s federal courts.

In early May the Justice Department announced they are rolling back rules that protect transgender people in prisons, the latest attack from an administration that has taken every opportunity to undermine rights for transgender people. In the May 18 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” we sat down with Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, director of external relations at the National Center for Transgender Equality, to talk about transgender equality in the Trump era.

Disgraced coal baron Don Blankenship received over 27,000 votes in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary, even after being convicted for his role in an explosion that killed 29 coal miners and running a racist campaign. Blankenship lost, but was one of many fringe right-wing candidates running for office. In the May 11 episode, we sat down with Miranda Blue, research director at People For the American Way, to talk about far-fight candidates working to pull the GOP to the fringe in 2018.

With the lack of affordable housing already at a crisis point across the country, last week HUD Secretary Ben Carson floated a plan that would sharply increase what the lowest-income households have to pay in rent. In the May 4 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Afua Atta-Mensah, executive director of Community Voices Heard, to talk about the fight for affordable housing under a presidential administration working to gut services

As Congress advances a bipartisan bill to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, President Trump is not backing down from his efforts to undermine and interfere with this critical work. In the April 27 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Lisa Gilbert, vice president of legislative affairs at Public Citizen, to talk about the Russia investigation and what activists can do to help protect it.

April 10 marked Equal Pay Day, the day when—on average—women’s wages symbolically “catch up” to men’s wages from the previous year. In the April 20 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Joi Chaney, executive director of Equal Pay Today!, to talk about the gender pay gap and the ongoing fight for gender and racial pay equity.

From the beginning, the Trump administration has been marked by self-enrichment and lavish spending, from EPA head Scott Pruitt’s wasteful first-class travel to HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s $31,000 dining room set. In the April 13 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” Drew Courtney and Diallo Brooks sat down with Adam Smith, communications director of Every Voice, to talk about the Trump team’s spending scandals, its money-in-politics corruption, and what voters can do to hold them accountable.

For the hundreds of thousands of people released from prisons each year, what does community reintegration look like? In the April 6 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Shae Harris, policy advisor for the D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, to talk about the criminal justice system and what happens when people come home after incarceration.

Extreme segments of the Right are exploiting a void left by the absence of progressive investment in many rural communities, according to a new report out from Down Home North Carolina and People’s Action. In the March 30 episode of “The Progressive Happy Hour,” co-hosts Christin “Cici” Battle and Drew Courtney sat down with Jessica Juarez-Scruggs, deputy policy director of People’s Action, to talk about organizing in rural areas.