Culture
Philanthrocapitalism: Charity as a False Front
Q: When is a donation not a donation? A: When it’s an investment. It is a rare super wealthy philanthropist who gives without need of great public recognition? From feudal times, it has been in the interests of the baronial
Teens as Adults?//Cholera Cover-Up!
A teenager kills another with his knife and is tried and sentenced as an adult. Is this the best we can do? Is justice served? In her new book: Boy with a Knife, activist, author and professor Jean Trounstine explores
How Did We Get To Be Incarceration Nation?
American exceptionalism is a reality in terms of locking up almost 5 times as many citizens as all other advanced industrialized democracies. Over the last 40 years, the incarceration rate has skyrocketed by nearly 400 percent. How did we get
Making Saudis Share the Neighborhood
They’ve been the big boys ruling their neighborhood for half a century. They really don’t want to give it up, but with their war in Yemen hurting their standing (and America’s) and the dropping price of oil, they are being
The Panama Papers: Big Silver Lining
Tremendous wealth is being sheltered from taxation. The rules for the rest of us apparently don’t apply to the super rich of the world. But think about how that now-hidden wealth might help millions throughout the world. This is the
The Civil War: An Unnecessary Failure?
America Aflame is a major new interpretation of the civil war era. In this interview with author David Goldfield, light is shed into important dark corners, such as the tragic role played by evangelicalsm on both sides, why a post-war
The Supreme Court Guarantees Economic Unfairness
It’s not just the rapacious, perhaps truly pathological greed of the super rich. The Supreme Court has actively participated in the devastation of the formerly-large middle class. According to law professor Michel Gilman, the US Supreme Court has taken a
Exonerate Ethel: Save Our Democracy
“Our mother was not a spy, and her execution was wrongful… The government cannot return our mother to her loving family. But it can admit this miscarriage of justice…exonerate our mother” These words from guest on this show Robert Meeropol
Trump Obssession Misses the Real Race
Politics is theater and yet the mainstream media is missing the real drama. It’s not on the Republican side: the genuinely close race is for the Democratic nomination. On this podcast, Robert Borosage, founder and president of Institute for America’s
How Our Military Weakens American Security
Gregory Foster is a decorated Vietnam vet who teaches at National Defense University. He is dedicated to an efficient and effective defense of our country and argues what we most need to achieve that end is a demilitarization of the
Obama in Cuba and Argentina: How Much of a Change//The Anti-AIPAC March and Rally
How significant a change in policy toward Latin America does Obama’s trip to Havana mean? As Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy research explains, while the opening to Cuba is beneficial, it seems the American tradition
The Future of Work: We Can Make It better
Between 1945 and the Reagan era, Americans understood that work benefited all and when productivity when up, all stakeholders shared in the rewards. Of course that all changed. But in his new book “Shaping the Future of Work: What Future
Is Obama a Black Leader?
He’s a mirror of our culture, the question is: will America look in the mirror? Guest on this show is Erin Aubry Kaplan, author of the new book “I (heart) Obama,” and a long time writer about the black experience
Brexit=More Democracy for Europe?
http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/48358971/Brexit.mp3The European Union was supposed to mean a continent of nations united by democratic ideals. Instead power and decision making has become more concentrated and centralized. First it was Greece, then Spain threatening to pull out of the EU, now
This Populist Moment
Throughout American history there have been times, rare moments in which the political establishment’s movers and shakers quiver as their best laid plans have gone awry. Their too-often successful efforts to keep citizens believing that we are powerless are on
The NH Primary From Media Optic
The 2016 New Hampshire Presidential Primary is history. No one predicted a 22 point blowout for Bernie Sanders. The establishment of both parties was flattened by the results. What the heck happened? Media talent trainer and consultant John Kosinski puts
Cowboy Socialism?
The myth of the rugged individualist settling the west is just that: a myth. The work needed to tame the wild and vast open spaces was not done with a lasso. The white people who populated the massive west needed
Unprecedented: Democratic Party War on Bernie Sanders
He’s a leading contender, surging in the polls but the Democratic Party is wielding a real war on Bernie Sanders. According to Princeton history professor Matt Karp, it’s without precedent. Bernie Sanders is clearly carrying on FDR and LBJ Democratic
Norway’s Democratic Socialism Yields Great Freedom
When Americans hear the word socialism, they feel frightened. Bernie Sanders has looked to the nations of Scandinavia for models, while Hillary Clinton runs away from that. What is reality? On this show, Ann Jones (author of Kabul in Winter
Democracy, Chocolate, Hammocks: Italian Style Imperialism
Of course our democratic system of government comes from Italy. So do chocolate, cigars, and hammocks. Instead of simple brute force, the Italian style of empire building relied on commerce and culture. Guest Christopher Kelly (Italian by marriage) talks about
Undocumented Young Americans: Lives in Limbo
Work hard, do well at school, play by the rules and you’ll do OK. That does not seem to apply to the more than 2 million young Americans whose parents may have fallen through the large cracks in our broken
A New New Deal: How Possible?
No question, FDR was our greatest Democratic president. Though we have, at least for the moment, gone beyond the recession of 2008, perhaps we’ve merely swept the problem under the rug, along with opportunities for real economic security. On this
One Day of Peace, 364 of Perpetual War
In the Christmas Truce at the beginning of what was then The Great War, and other lesser know fraternizing between “enemies,” it took courage to question the madness. Still today, Christmas is the one day of peace, while we feel
Time to Free Pam Smart. Here’s Why
The ice princess, the black widow. Since the circus of a trial on 1990, Pam Smart has remained in jail with a sentence worse than for Charles Manson. It was a made-for-the-movies spectacle in which the judge said he wanted
Can Democracy Emerge Against the Tyranny of the Troika?
When the combined power of the Troika–European Central Bank, European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund–puts the squeeze of austerity on places like Spain and Portugal, a lot of people feel severe economic pain. But in the Iberian countries, they
Billionaire Bonanza: Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us
Chuck Collins, founder of Wealth for the Common Good and senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies talks about the new report on the top .01 percent and the impact on our democracy. They are not job creators as
December 7, 1941: Transformation of American Policy and Politics
Of course President Roosevelt knew the Japanese would do something, their oil had been cut off, yet we can conclude he did not know about the specific attack. What no one expected was the transformation of America from a nation
Harm to Kids from Authoritarian Control
Is there a worse crime than child abuse? Is the complicity by knowing adults just as bad? Is there something about the very nature of authoritarianism in schools? Guest on this show lived through an atmosphere of abuse in a
Fighting Police Terror/TPP Revealed: Destroying Democracy
For decades police have gotten away with murder. Thanks to cell phones, today they’re getting caught. And they are fighting back, actually threatening such people as Quentin Tarantino. On the first half, guest Travis Morales of Rise Up October and
Government Terrorism Against Asian, Muslim Americans
Of course America is a mosaic of cultures, and all citizens are equally American. But since 9/11, South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Americans have been routinely harassed and often bullied and terrorized, often by actual government policies. People are