Shock therapy is President Javier Milei’s prescription for Argentina. But his far-right policies are already faltering — against the courts, a hostile Senate and tens of thousands of citizens who have taken to the streets. Milei’s nickname: the Madman.

Volya Vysotskaia is one of five Belarusian activists recently tried and convicted in absentia. Their crime? Unmasking police who beat and detained protestors in 2020. Vysotskaia and Serbian pro-democracy advocate Srdja Popovic join Steve Parks in our inaugural installment of “The Power of Many.”

In Nevada, a secretary of state struggles against election denialism, political apathy and threats against poll workers. A legal scholar in Virginia, meanwhile, says the surest way to address political and economic inequality in America is by making it easier for poor people to vote.

Patrícia Campos Mello has faced online abuse for doing her job — reporting on Brazilian politics under the administration of far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. Now Bolsonaro is the underdog in an election the results of which he may not accept.

Smedley Butler had served his country in nearly every foreign conflict of the early 20th century, earning him monikers like the “Fighting Quaker” and “Old Gimlet Eye.” But when a visitor tried to enlist him in one last mission, Butler had this warning: I am going to ... lick the hell out of you.

It’s a grad-school reunion this time for Siva and guest-host Allison Wright, as they speak with two pals who are Texas historians about what the heck is going on in the Lone State. Plus, we hear from a teacher in Dallas about some controversial education reforms.

Last summer, young people were at the forefront of demonstrations for racial justice in America. In many ways, they were modeling democratic values for their educators. But can their teachers learn from them? UVA president Jim Ryan offers some insight on this and other tough questions.

Leah Wright Rigueur calls America a failed state. As a polity, she says, the United States has failed Black people, falling short of its promises of equality and justice. This summer’s protests are a dramatic diagnostic of that failure — the latest in a long history of wake-up calls.