Also, we did our FIRST ever podcast - on Bradley Tusk’s Webby-nominated podcast Firewall. check it out here.

Last time we touched this subject, we had a debate on whether we should regulate social media algos. Now we’re having a discussion on if that’s even possible, and who should do it? Bringing a first amendment law professor together with a tech expert to battle it out. What could we do legally, technically, and who do we actually trust (if anyone) to do it?

Upcoming UNMUTED Events
Thursday, 4/23: An UNMUTED Dialogue: Free Speech is Dead, Long Live Free Speech (link)

Thursday, 5/14: An UNMUTED Forum: Beyond the Yard Signs (link)

Tuesday, 6/2: An UNMUTED Dialogue: Lock Up AI? (link)

The events I’ve got my eye on in the next two weeks. Check them out!

🗓 Monday, April 20
•6:30 PM -1920s NYC: Immigrant Neighborhoods, Culture, and Backlash
Subject: History / Immigration / Policy
Where: NYC bar (location revealed after RSVP)
Who: Lectures on Tap
What: 250 years of America means 250 years of arguing about who gets to be here. This talk digs into the 1920s, when NYC's immigrant neighborhoods were booming, jazz was taking over, and the political backlash was fierce. Sound familiar? RSVP on Eventbrite.

🗓 Tuesday, April 21
•6:30 PM – The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History
Subject: History / Foreign Policy / Politics
Where: The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West Who: New-York Historical Society
What: Susan Page (Washington Bureau chief of USA Today) in conversation with Lesley Stahl about how Queen Elizabeth II worked with thirteen American presidents over her 70-year reign — more than any other leader, foreign or domestic. From Truman to Trump, she played the long game. $35 general admission ($25 members), and yes, a glass of wine is included.

6:00 PM – Digital Colonialism
Subject: Technology / Politics / Power
Where: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Skylight Room
Who: Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center
What: WARNING: this will be a panel of people who likely hate technology. Some of our people are into that, some of us aren’t. This panel takes on digital colonialism: the idea that new technologies can become tools of domination, extraction, and control. AI, land, sovereignty, environmental politics, and who gets to shape the rules of the future. If you want something political and current and you hate tech, this is a strong Tuesday option.Free and open to the public.

🗓 Wednesday, April 22

Happy Earth Day! 🌎
•6:30 PM - Democracy Under Threat: A Transatlantic Perspective with Daniel Ziblatt
Subject: Politics / Democracy / History
Where: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (Midtown)
Who: Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies
What: I really hate titles like this. Like a deep hatred. My eyes roll at unhealthy levels when I see this stuff. Didn’t win the election in 2024! Stop doing it. Anyways, Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard professor and co-author of "How Democracies Die" and "Tyranny of the Minority", gives the annual Otto and Fran Walter Memorial Lecture on democratic backsliding from both sides of the Atlantic. If you read either of those books (or if you didn't but have opinions anyway - likely, if you’re the kind of person who loves hyperbole), this is your night. Free and open to the public. RSVP required.

•7:00 PM – Creative Climate Awards: Collective Power
Subject: Art / Climate Action / Community
Where: DUMBO Archway Plaza, Brooklyn
Who: Human Impacts Institute
What: Climate art projected onto the Manhattan Bridge. A cash bar under the Archway. This Earth Day celebration brings together artists, activists, and regular humans who give a damn about the planet, and does it in one of Brooklyn's most cinematic settings. It's free, it's outdoors, and it's the kind of thing that makes you remember why you live in this city. All ages welcome.

🗓 Thursday, April 23
•6:00 PM- The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment
Subject: Politics / History / Presidency
Where: Roosevelt House, Hunter College, 47–49 E. 65th Street
Who: Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute
What: A panel of serious historians, including Julian Zelizer, looks at Biden’s presidency before the story hardens into cliché. This is the kind of event that gets past campaign-era yelling and asks what actually changed, what failed, and what future presidents will inherit. Good if you want a room full of politically engaged people who can be honest about what went wrong. Bad if you hate that!

•6:30 PM – Soho Forum Debate: Zephyr Teachout vs. John Ketcham
Subject: NYC Politics / History / Presidency
Where: Roosevelt House, Hunter College, 47–49 E. 65th Street
Who: Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute
What: OOOOO this is a good one, I wish I didn’t have an event the same day! The resolution is whether Mamdani can keep his affordability promise…Zephyr Teachout is a famous leftist attorney/politician who teaches at Fordham, John is a friend of UNMUTED and Manhattan Institute scholar. If someone is going to this, I’d love to have Zephyr do a debate on Citizens United!!!!!!

🗓 Friday, April 24
•6:00 PM – The 122nd Annual Gala of the Metropolitan Republican Club
Subject: Conservative Politics / GOP / Civic
Where: Private club, Midtown Manhattan (address provided upon ticket purchase)
Who: Metropolitan Republican Club
What: New York's oldest Republican club throws its 122nd annual gala, themed around the nation's 250th birthday. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman keynotes, and Mayor Giuliani receives the "Commander in Chief Award." Benny and Kate Johnson pick up the Theodore Roosevelt Award. Cocktails at 6, dinner program follows. For my right-leaning rich people, and those of you who just want to be around people who have too much money, this is the big one.

•8:00 PM – ReelAbilities Comedy Night
Subject: Culture / Comedy / Disability Advocacy
Where: Lincoln Center, Kaplan Penthouse (Rose Building)
Who: Lincoln Center / ReelAbilities Film Festival
What: Part of Lincoln Center's Big Umbrella Festival, a two-week celebration of neurodiversity, this comedy night features an all-star lineup of disabled comedians headlined by Keith Robinson. Pavar Snipe hosts, and there's a magician, a storyteller, and a musical act thrown in too. Choose-What-You-Pay (suggested $5). Ages 13+. Seems like a nice thing.

🗓 Saturday, April 25
•10:00 AM - Car-Free Earth Day 2026
Subject: Civic / Sustainability / Urban Policy
Where: 50+ streets across all 5 boroughs
Who: NYC Department of Transportation What: NYC DOT shuts down 50+ streets to cars and opens them up to humans. Public art, community programming, free Citi Bike rides all day (unlimited 30-minute classic bike rides), and a massive installation by artist Frahydel Falczuk called "The Plastic Sea." Started in 2016 with a few Manhattan blocks, now it's a citywide thing. Whatever your politics, walking down the middle of Broadway with no cars hits different.

🗓 Sunday, April 26
None I liked!

🗓 Monday, April 27
•7:30 PM – The Great Divide: American Jews and Israel Today
Subject: Foreign Policy / Israel / Jewish Community / Cross-Partisan Debate
Where: Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, 1 E. 65th Street (also livestreamed)
Who: Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center
What: Bret Stephens, NYT conservative columnist, Pulitzer winner, and the guy half of you love and the other half want to destroy, goes head-to-head with Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of J Street, the liberal pro-Israel lobby. Moderated by Abigail Pogrebin. The question on the table: Is the American Jewish community splitting apart over Israel, and does it matter? This is the kind of debate UNMUTED was built for, two sharp minds who fundamentally disagree, neither one backing down, in front of an audience that includes both sides. Free with RSVP.

🗓 Tuesday, April 28
🗳️ Election Day — NYC Council District 3 Special Election. If you’re in the Village, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, or the Upper West Side, go vote. Polls open 6 AM – 9 PM.

•6:30 PM – NYC’s Unsung Pioneer of Preservation: Anthony C. Wood on Albert S. Bard
Subject: Urban Planning / Civic Activism / History
Where: The Gotham Center for New York City History, 365 Fifth Avenue, Midtown
Who: Gotham Center for New York City History
What: You probably don’t know Albert Bard’s name, but you know his legacy: he’s the guy who spent forty years fighting to protect New York’s architectural beauty, went toe-to-toe with Robert Moses (subject of one of my favorite books The Power Broker), and paved the way for the Landmarks Law that now protects over 37,000 buildings across the five boroughs. Author Anthony C. Wood tells his story, with Kent Barwick, the preservationist who partnered with Jackie O to save Grand Central Terminal, joining in conversation. If you care about what NYC looks like and who decides, this is your evening. Free.

•6:30 PM – AI Reshaping Markets, Risk, and Investment in Asia
Subject: Tech Policy / Finance / Geopolitics
Where: Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
Who: Asia Society (in partnership with Nikkei Asia)
What: Alok Sama (former president of SoftBank International) and NYU professor Vasant Dhar break down how AI is reshaping markets, risk, investment strategies, and ethical decision-making, in Asia and globally. For my finance-adjacent readers and anyone who wants to understand the geopolitics of AI beyond the DC talking points, this is the real conversation. In-person.

🗓 Wednesday, April 29
•6:30 PM – The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After WWII
Subject: History / War / American Society / Book Talk
Where: Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Midtown
Who: GC Public Programs
What: We like to remember World War II as a clean American triumph. David Nasaw’s new book argues the return home was anything but. He looks past the victory-parade version of the story and into the damage that followed: PTSD before the country had language for it, divorce rates surging, alcoholism, women pushed back into domestic roles, and black veterans coming home to the same racism they had left behind. This is revisionist history 101 - I would LOVE to do a debate on how you can actually marry the good things of the nation with the bad things of the nation, without exclusively focusing on one camp. Free, reservations required

•7:00 PM – Book Launch: “The Pain Brokers” by Elizabeth Chamblee Burch
Subject: Law / Consumer Protection / Investigative Journalism
Where: POWERHOUSE Arena, 28 Adams Street, DUMBO, Brooklyn
Who: POWERHOUSE Arena
What: University of Georgia law professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch exposes what happens when mass tort litigation goes sideways — con men, call centers, and rogue doctors exploiting pelvic mesh patients to make millions. She’s in conversation with attorney Corey Stern. If you’ve ever wondered whether the legal system actually protects people or just moves money around, this book will keep you up at night. Free.

🗓 Thursday, April 30
•5:00 PM – Spring Celebration with Voters For Animal Rights and World Animal Protection
Subject: NYC Politics / Advocacy / Animal Welfare
Where: 1803 Bar (Downstairs Speakeasy), 82 Reade Street, Manhattan
Who: Voters For Animal Rights + World Animal Protection
What: If you want your politics with less donor-panel stiffness and more actual issue organizing, this is a pretty good Thursday option. Voters For Animal Rights is using the night to celebrate the new New York City Council Animal Welfare Caucus and lay out its 2026 legislative and budget priorities. That means actual city politics, not just animal-lover mingling: they’re pushing a ban on the retail sale of birds in pet stores, more affordable spay/neuter funding, and a pilot pet food pantry program in NYC. There are also free vegan bites and cocktails. This is the only thing you need to know. Free, casual dress, RSVP required.

•6:00 PM – She Shaped the Seaport: Secrets and Lies
Subject: History / Women’s History / Civic
Where: Aboard the tall ship Wavertree, South Street Seaport Museum, 213 Water Street
Who: South Street Seaport Museum & Double or Nothing Media
What: Closing night of this series that digs into the women who held power in the harbor’s most clandestine corners, and you literally board an 1885 tall ship to hear the stories. Four storytellers share their tales, but one of them is lying, figure out which one and win a prize. Drinks, snacks, mystery, and feminist maritime history on the East River. I mean, when else are you going to do this? $15, preregistration encouraged, credit/debit only.

🗓 Friday, May 1
•4:00 PM – NYC May Day March & Rally: “We Will Not Be Silent”
Subject: Labor / Civic Engagement / Politics
Where: Rally at Washington Square Park, march down Broadway to Foley Square
Who: NYC Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO) + coalition of labor, community, and civic organizations
What: Not technically past work hours, but this is the big one: the annual May Day march that brings together workers, unions, students, and families to march from Washington Square to Foley Square. This year’s theme is workers vs. billionaires, and the coalition includes NYSNA, the Writers Guild, and dozens of community orgs. Your mileage will vary, contingent on your opinion of protests writ large. Free, obviously. We’re planning a TAX THE RICH debate this summer, FYI.

•6:30 PM – Political Fables (PEN World Voices Festival)
Subject: Literature / Politics / Free Expression
Where: NYU Global Center, C95 Lecture Hall, 238 Thompson Street
Who: PEN America (World Voices Festival)
What: In the tradition of Orwell’s Animal Farm, three novelists who use fable and dystopia to expose what’s actually happening in the world right now. George Packer (Atlantic staff writer, author of The Unwinding) imagines an empire’s collapse in The Emergency. Hungarian novelist Krisztina Tóth sets her dystopia in a surveillance state born from civil war. And Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou turns a ghost story into a razor-sharp satire of corruption and political violence. Atlantic writer Gal Beckerman (How to Be a Dissident) moderates. This is part of the 21st PEN World Voices Festival: four days, 140+ writers from 40+ countries. I’ve been to a few of their events, they have a liberal bias that’s a bit suffocating in its redundancy.Tickets required, non-refundable.

🗓 Saturday, May 2
•All Day (times vary by walk) – Jane’s Walk NYC 2026
Subject: Urban Planning / Civic Engagement / Community
Where: 200+ walks across all five boroughs
Who: Municipal Art Society of New York
What: The world’s largest chapter of Jane’s Walk, the annual festival of free, community-led walking conversations inspired by Jane Jacobs. Over 200 walks led by volunteer New Yorkers who know their neighborhoods cold: community gardens, hidden architecture, forgotten histories, waterfront ecology, you name it. No tickets, no reservations for most walks, just show up. This is the most democratic thing NYC does all year. If you’ve never done one, pick a borough you don’t know well and go get lost in the best possible way.

🗓 Sunday, May 3
None I found interesting.

That’s it for this week. Let us know if there are events to highlight in upcoming weeks!

Show up, think deeper, and as always, stay UNMUTED!

The UNMUTED Team