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Culture

CultureFascism on the RiseJusticePodcastTrump

Chaos and anarchy engulfing America. Won’t that be the result of “defunding the police?” A Trump ad (audio included herein) gins up that fear. But using war-fighting methods and equipment demonstrably feeds and exacerbates violence. Fighting crime after the fact

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CultureJusticePodcast

The current system clearly tends to worsen already bad situations. Forcing people to see who they are as “bad,” not just they they did bad things. Did you ever think about how we came up with the prison system in

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CultureFascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowJusticePodcastRacism

With the killing of George Floyd and the resulting rage in the streets, this is a year like none other. Old reassuring myths are falling away. Statues are being ripped down. What is still worth preserving?  Can we use today’s

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Civil LibertiesCulturePodcastRacismReligion

It goes back to the 1300s actually and not just non-Christian people are affected; we all are. Often in subtle but meaningful ways. The understanding of the meaning of “patriotism” is involved. When one has this privilege, less exertion is

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Civil LibertiesCultureFascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowPodcastRacism

In 1980, candidate Ronald Reagan had the advisors and discipline to be subtle enough about racist messages. Southern white fundamentalists and the NAACP’s Ralph Abernathy all endorsed him for president. As our guest author Rick Perlstein says, Trump turned a

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CultureHistory That Matters NowPodcastTrump

The similarities are uncanny and deeply disturbing: Kaiser Wilhelm II and Donald Trump share an amazing number of attributes. Such as fascination with and envy of more powerful people, the need to belittle other heads of state, believing themselves physically

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CulturePodcastReligionTrump

How is it that so many Americans who consider themselves religious can be so deeply devoted to a president who consistently lies and displays immoral behavior? Because Reagan and the two Bush presidencies failed; Trump is the first president to

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CultureJusticePodcast

Suffering in silence is no way to manage the crisis in democracy. Union membership may be down but this moment is an opportunity to create new ways for workers to assert the constitutional rights. In his new book, Tell The

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CultureMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

Memorial Day 2020. In 2009 at age 23 Erik Edstrom went to Afghanistan as an infantry officer, Army Ranger, and became a Bronze Star Medal recipient. In this Memorial Day of the Covid 19 era, he dug up his journal

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CultureJusticeNational PolicyPodcastTrump

Ever since slave traders insisted the kidnapped people were enthusiastic about coming to America, many big businesses have thrived on lies. Remember doctors saying cigarettes were OK? Industrial Strength Denial is the name of a new book by former environmental

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CultureEducationPodcast

Democracy requires an educated populace. That means more than just pressure and STEM education, not only well qualified and competent, but we need good moral kids. Private tutoring and other franchises are doing quite well, but they are serving to

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CultureEconomyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastProtests & ResistanceRacismTake Action

The novel coronavirus is forcing us to see that the very economic structure of America itself is in ill health. We know more poor Americans are dying, they can’t work from home and stay safe. All of us depend on

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Civil LibertiesCultureFascism on the RiseFreedomPodcast

Could the coronavirus-caused sudden disruption of the worldwide economy result in unforeseen exercise of harsh nationalism and extended government emergency powers? The people protesting with AR-15s are of course threatening the rest of us taking appropriate precautions. Meanwhile our guest

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CultureFascism on the RiseNational PolicyPodcastTake ActionTrump

Trump as usual: kicking something when it’s down. The Republicans saddled the USPS with a $72 billion burden, now they are going full steam to just eliminate the postal service. After all, if it doesn’t make money, what good can

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Civil LibertiesCultureEconomic IssuesFascism on the RisePodcastPopulismTrump

Why did so many Obama voters go for Trump in 2016? What happens when party elites don’t know how to react to changes of popular opinion at the ground level? While they may try to do both: keep the elite

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Civil LibertiesCultureFreedomJusticePodcastPopulism

Pure individualism is not conservatism, much as though people who call themselves conservatives like to think it is. They’ll tell you the American Dream is individuals becoming super rich. But the more traditional definition is one of equal opportunity and

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CultureHistory That Matters NowNational PolicyPodcast

From the pre-coronovirus archives:  Nostalgia looks with fondness to the 19th century as a time of rugged individualism and unemcumbered free markets. As with so many mythic images, reality is exceedingly different. If you like corporate personhood, thank the railroads.

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Civil LibertiesCultureHistory That Matters NowJusticePodcastPopulism

From the Covid stay-at-home greatest hits:  Patriotic Americans were shocked by the outcome of the 2016 election. As they were in 1920 when Republicans put up Warren Harding, a big business Republican who campaigned and won on an America First

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Civil LibertiesCultureEconomyPodcastTrump

Many, including Trump, reject science and embrace myth instead. But just as technological advance depends on knowledge gained through science, so the future of America relies on knowledge of our history. Until recently it has been tough times for History

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Civil LibertiesCultureEconomyHistory That Matters NowPodcastPopulism

Creeping centralization. Tax dollars are being used to prop up bigness. Well there may be an answer. While I’m on vacation, enjoy this 2009 show with author Paul Starobin whose article “Divided We Stand” appeared  in the Wall Street Journal.

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CultureMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

He was a famous military hero known throughout America. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler was awarded two Congressional Medals of Honor between 1898 and the early ’30s for his outstanding military service. Eventually he realized those wars were not

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CultureEducationPodcast

How is it that we don’t see four and a half million young Americans? Kids who have fallen through the cracks,not connected to either school or work. People between the ages of 16 and 24 living in their parents basements

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CultureJusticePodcastRacism

When some say African Americans can also be racist, that is not accurate. So says noted sociologist and author Margaret L. Andersen. Individuals can be prejudiced, sure, but racism is linked to a system of power. Since there is no

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CulturePodcast

Twenty two million Americans. That’s the number of people working for the government. Trump insists this huge amorphous mass is the enemy of his administration and has it in for him. But our guest Cedric Alexander argues in his new

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CulturePodcastRacism

Did you know the United States had open borders for 100 years? Building walls and caging children as families are separated certainly won’t stop the flow of refugees. People only flee their homes from truly extreme threats and can not

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CultureFascism on the RiseFreedomHistory That Matters NowPodcastProtests & ResistanceTrump

Often called the father of scientific or objective history, the ancient Greek philosopher Thucydides did not see himself that way. According to our guest, history can never be a blueprint. We just can’t make sense of it. There are no

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CultureIsrael & PalestineJusticePodcast

It’s more than the similar time of year. According to guest Rabbi Michael Lerner, of Tikkun Magazine and chair of the Network of Spiritual Progressives, both holidays mark times in which people without power successfully took on the powers of

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CultureEducationPodcastRacismWomen

All too often, schools function as a pipeline to prison for troubled kids. Kicking out troublemakers, punishing for bad attitudes leaves kids feeling they are disposable. Authoritarian models too often make schools feel like locations for punishment, when they can

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CultureEducationPodcast

We traditional Americans are doing what we can to take on oligarchy, plutocracy, and patriarchy.But our effectiveness is limited if we do not figure out the whys and hows of what our guest Melanie Joy calls “powerarchy.” Her new book

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Civil LibertiesCultureHistory That Matters NowPodcastPopulism

Conventional Democratic Party wisdom is that McGovern lost to Nixon because he was too liberal, and as a result of that belief, ever since that loss party insiders have trended steadily to the right. But if today’s measuring tools had

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