Pontiffs and Politics: Current and Former Catholics on Leo XIV and Religion in Policy
Release Date: 05/15/2025
Misguided Political Anger on Social Media
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: August 15th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Isabella Carolin, Social Media Intern, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guest: Masie Zasadny, Chief Content Officer, Our National Conversation. How do we come back together? Should Trump supporters feel tricked? Our political climate is reaching a boiling point. Fingers are being pointed at people on both sides of the aisle and social media is filled with hate messages that are more viral than messages of peace. It is clear that a political shift is occurring in the digital age.Today, Isabella Carolin makes her debut as host and sits...
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Undocumented Immigrants: Good or Bad for America?
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: August 8th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guests: Sarahi Espinoza Salamanca, Founder of Dreamers Roadmap. Jeff Hall, Former Los Angeles Times VP, Founder and CEO of Our National Conversation. Oscar Ortiz, Video Production Intern, Our National Conversation. Masie Zasadny, Chief Content Officer, Our National Conversation. What should the United States' immigration system look like? How should our population of undocumented immigrants be addressed? In many respects, the Biden and Trump administrations have provided...
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Can Local Journalism Stop Polarization
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: July 31st, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guest: Jeff Hall, Former Los Angeles Times VP, Founder and CEO of Our National Conversation. There are many theories about polarization in America. One theory, which has some significant support behind it, holds that polarization is partially a product of national- and international-scale media. As local journalism, and local discourse more broadly becomes fragmented and piecemeal, the nuanced and cross-cutting identities of communities are swallowed up in the right-left,...
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Does Trump Deserve a Nobel Peace Prize?
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: July 17th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guest: Connor Chung, PhD Candidate in Political Science, MA in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma. Recently, Benjamin Netanyahu followed others in nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. To some, this is laughable; to others, it's well-deserved. In this episode, I check in with a young Trump supporter on this topic. Though he supports much of Trump's domestic policy, Connor argues that the administration's foreign policy is a "mixed bag at best," and...
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What Does Zohran Mamdani Represent?
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: July 10th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guest: Joseph Arellano, Social Media Intern, Our National Conversation (ONC). An NYC mayoral race has been making headlines over the past week. Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democrat's primary election. It seems that Mamdani's success can be largely attributed to one word: affordability. He believes higher taxes on the wealthy, several city-run grocery stores, free busing and similar policies can improve the lives of...
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Three Moderates Try to Figure Out What the Big Beautiful Bill Is
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: July 7th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guests: Masie Zasadny, Managing Editor, Our National Conversation (ONC). Jeff Hall, CEO, Our National Conversation (ONC). The Big Beautiful Bill is currently being debated on the House Floor. This bill, roughly 900 pages long, would extend Trump's tax cuts, impose big restrictions on Medicaid and bolster ICE and the military --- all in addition to about a billion other things. Democrats are saying this is the worst piece of major legislation in modern history --- a bloated...
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Was Trump Right to Strike? Perspectives on Israel and Iran
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: June 26th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guests: Joseph Arellano, Social Media Intern, Our National Conversation (ONC). Masie Zasadny, Managing Editor, Our National Conversation (ONC). Last week, the U.S. launched strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. The White House hails the strikes as a huge success that forced Iran to the table, while others argue that they failed to eradicate Iran's nuclear capabilities and unnecessarily dragged the U.S. further into the Middle East. In this episode, I speak with Joseph...
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Protests and Parades: Talking LA, No Kings and Immigration
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: June 19th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guest: Jeff Hall, Founder and CEO, Our National Conversation (ONC). Last Saturday, amidst a DC military parade, cities across the United States saw protests against President Trump and what many perceive to be his authoritarian policies and tendencies. Most of the focus went to LA, where ardent anti-ICE protests occurred. In this episode, I speak with Jeff Hall, an LA resident, about his thoughts on the protests. The conversation turns to the No Kings protests more broadly,...
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Last Week: Debts, Deficits and Middle-School Drama ... In the White House
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: June 12th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guests: Jeff Hall, Founder and CEO, Our National Conversation (ONC). Connor Chung, Director of Policy Content and Strategy, Our National Conversation (ONC). Last week, we were graced by the first major breakup of Pride Month: Trump and Musk. In this episode, a centrist (Jeff), a conservative (Connor) and a progressive (Sam) discuss the initial drama between the president and the former DOGE advisor, and the spending issues that may have sparked it. That's...
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Different Perspectives on Biden’s Diagnosis and Trump’s Government
OUR NATIONAL CONVERSATION
📅 Published: May 29th, 2025 🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC). 👤 Guest: Joseph Arellano, Social Media Intern, Our National Conversation (ONC). Last week, Biden was diagnosed with cancer. Some have raised questions about government transparency, alleging a "cover-up." Others argue that the diagnosis could have legitimately been made after Biden's term. Even so, concerns exist that many aspects of Biden's mental and physical health were hidden from the public in an effort to stop Trump's return to office. In this episode, I have a...
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🎙️ Host: Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, Our National Conversation (ONC).
👤 Guest:
Jeff Hall, CEO, Our National Conversation (ONC).
Tania Ruedas Ortiz, Director of Community, Our National Conversation (ONC).
Pope Francis definitely showed us that the Catholic Church is not afraid to talk politics --- and even call out specific politicians and policies. Last week, Pope Leo XIV became the first American pope in history. Progressives and conservatives are already making predictions. Is this a likely return to tradition? Will the Catholic Church get harder on social and cultural issues? Or will Leo maintain the relatively welcoming and tolerant atmosphere fostered by his predecessor?
In this episode, we speak with Tania and Jeff: both raised Catholic, one still practicing. How are they feeling about the appointment? How politically important is this to them and their families? And what do they feel is the proper role of religion in politics and public policy?
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