Author Archive

Burt Cohen

CultureFascism on the RiseFreedomJusticePodcast

In a world of smart homes and cities, data is the coin of the realm. Everyone is vulnerable, nothing is too private. We consumers are unintentionally paying for our own surveillance. The fourth amendment is taking a beating in the

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Book titled 'Hope on the Border' with a person's hand gripping metal bars.
Podcast

What we’re seeing today is a far cry from justice. Today’s policy of cruelty toward immigrants is an abject failure, yet it’s impractical to have a totally open border with Mexico. As with most solutions, the answer has to involve

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EconomyNational PolicyPodcastPopulismProtests & Resistance

Even Fox News is openly admitting that Donald Trump’s policies are destroying the American farm industry. The agricultural heartland has been solidly ruby red for Trump but, as farmer and advocate Anthony Flaccavento writes in The Nation, there’s a Farmer’s

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CultureFascism on the RisePodcastProtests & Resistance

While the hard right has had significant success in rallying young people (mostly males), the anger at ICE and a desire for a sense of belonging is moving more and more kids to the populist left. Look how many high

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EconomyElectoral politicsNational PolicyPodcastTrump

Why would an American president stab Americas signature industry in the back? Our guest today, Ryan Cooper senior editor of The American Prospect argues that it makes no actual economic sense but that Trump is dragging his obsessive anti-green agenda

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AsiaMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastReligionWar

After an assassination attempt, Ngo Dinh Diem saw proof that he was God’s agent. In some ways he did try to do well for his people, but in others he and his family were ruthless against the majority Buddhist population

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Fascism on the RisePodcastProtests & Resistance

They were not victims of fascism, but characters who survived and eventually thrived. In this new book, The Secret Buttons, for young adults, author Ellen M. Shapiro spins the tale of kids coming to solutions their parents in 1938 did

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Fascism on the RiseFreedomPodcast

From tinny AM pop to stereo underground rock, WBCN was right at the vanguard. According to our guest, the legendary Charles Laquidara, it was part of an exciting wonderfully freeing time. A commercial station, it still managed to be the

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Podcast

More and more people are coming to the conclusion that keeping power utilities in corporate hands no longer makes sense. Legislators in conservative places like Hudson Valley and Massena NY are passing laws to put ownership of power companies in

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Four books about war and American history on a table.
Podcast

There is in fact a lush garden of American greatness and it is not MAGA. Though less well known, there is a proud history of successful dissent which does make America great. Military power and straight white male domination is

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Electoral politicsPodcastPopulismTake Action

You’ve seen the ads on network TV:Huge data centers bringing life to hollowed out communities. But the reality is these huge projects suck electricity and water and provide virtually no lasting jobs. Not just people on the left but people

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EuropeFascism on the RisePodcast

He’s only president of the United States, not the European Union, right? Unlike the US, there’s a longstanding bipartisan commitment to social democracy on the continent. Yet Trumpism is having a serious mark on this tradition, with Trump making civilizational

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Podcast

It’s a historical fact that Democrats win when there is a movement beneath the electoral process. Karishma Manzur is running for US Senate having risen from the leading base of such a movement. On this show she speaks about what

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EconomyElectoral politicsFiscal PolicyPodcastPopulism

It’s a long term necessity, but tragically, short term policy-makers put off a solution essential to a strong economy and restoration of our republican form of government. As of today, both the economy and democracy are in a downward spiral.

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Map of South America with countries represented by their flags.
Central and South AmericaForeign PolicyInternational NewsMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcast

We’re in Monroe Doctrine 2.0. Our guest on today’s show Terie Matson is in Mexico City, the other side of Rubio’s multipolar scheme for division of the world. Trumps random attack on Venezuelan vessels is but a symptom or a

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Fence with a sunset and text saying 'IN OUR FUTURE WE ARE FREE'.
Civil LibertiesElectoral politicsJusticePodcastRacism

After decades of having to look “Tough on Crime”by jailing teenagers, notably people of color, at last we’re seeing the end of  adult prisons housing kids. Forty four states have dialed back the sequestering of kids in medieval fortresses where

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A grand, ancient city in flames during sunset with crowds and ruins.
Civil LibertiesCultureFascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowPodcastPopulism

At the nearly two hundred fifty year mark, we’ve already lasted longer than most great nations. As with others which declined and fell, a loss of confidence led to anxiety and the impulse for a strong man to protect us

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Book cover with red background, blue stars, and white text.
Podcast

This book actually changed my view of US History. The author says the Confederates and the January 6th assault are the inheritors of the original intent! He argues that the standard story is not the truth. The surprising reality of

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A man illuminated by his phone screen in a dark room.
Podcast

Why do they feel a need for violence to prove their manhood? What’s the connection between an angry Germany after the First World War and what many young men are feeling in 2025? Why do they see equality as deprivation?

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Vintage poster urging action against fascism with flames and distressed people.
Civil LibertiesElectoral politicsFascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowPodcastRacism

Fear of the other. Fear of woke, of LGBTQ+, of Black liberation, and of course the old big fear: Communism. In the age of the Cold War, right after WWII, Americans believed the Soviet Union was bankrolling worldwide liberation movements,

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Burned matchstick with flame symbolizing the impact of concentrated wealth.
EconomyFascism on the RiseJusticePodcast

Think billionaires have no impact on your life? Think again. We never blame billionaires for our day to day problems even though they deserve it. For example billionaires buy up housing projects then up the rent. And as business owners

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Ancient Hebrew script densely inscribed on a stone surface.
CultureEuropeFascism on the RisePodcastWomen

Under Trump 2.0, we adults are taught to fear The Other, we must become a monolinguistic culture: English over all. But during this week of Jewish high holy days, we ask what is this ancient language of Yiddish? It is

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A fighter jet flies above a war-torn city with an explosion below.
Israel & PalestineMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

We all know what terrorism is. We’ve seen it on the ground in Israel. That’s terrorism on the cheap. Is the answer the most modern ultra high tech bombers to decimate the enemy? For centuries, a key measure of modernity

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A detailed pencil sketch of a serious man in a suit.
DemocratsElectoral politicsFascism on the RisePodcast

The far right got a major boost with the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk.  What used to be the Republican party is no more. The young man’s appeal to other young men is a major hurdle for traditional patriotic Americans. And

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Credit Brenda Navarro
CultureFascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowPodcast

When America was indeed great, the federal government brought theater to all people. Free. In a mirror opposite of Trump 2.0, under FDR there was the Federal Theater project in which one quarter of the nation’s population saw free performances

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Four books about war and American history on a table.
Electoral politicsFascism on the RisePodcastPopulism

There is in fact a lush garden of American greatness and it is not MAGA. Though less well known, there is a proud history of successful dissent which does make America great. Military power and straight white male domination is

Read More
A detailed red-toned sketch of a young woman and an older man.
EuropePodcastPopulism

England’s Labour Party is a lot like America’s Democratic Party: all over the map. Both used to be the party of laboring people. The UK’s current PM Kier Starmer won claiming to be of the left. Now he’s pushing an

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A man stands solemnly before a kneeling figure in a tense, historic village scene.
CultureFascism on the RiseJusticePodcastProtests & Resistance

Researchers are beginning to understand why some of us demonstrate what is called “moral courage” and others do not. In fact, most of us actually have a warped sense of our own moral courage. We like to think nothing would

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A man in a suit smiling with arms crossed on a city street.
DemocratsElectoral politicsHistory That Matters NowPodcastPopulismSocialism

After 2024, the mainstream of the Democratic Party is in the wilderness, but Zohran Mamdani may lead a way out. This week’s guest Fred Glass, talks about what early 20th century California history can teach us about the 2025 New

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Book cover titled 'From Apartheid to Peace' by Roy Sarah Leah Wattison.
Israel & PalestineJusticePodcastWar

Innumerable people have tried over many years to stop the  forever wars between Israel and Palestine. With the world now horrified by the use of starvation as a weapon, the urgency of a resolution has never been greater. Even if

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