Author Archive

Burt Cohen

EducationFascism on the RisePodcast

It’s not about education reform; Republicans like Florida’s DeSantis and others are actually out to end public education. On this show, New Republic editor Kathryn Joyce looks behind such appealing phrases as Parents Bill of Rights to reveal a long

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PodcastProtests & ResistanceSocialismWomen

Precapitalist indigenous cultures have a lot to offer us today for a better, greener future. And socialism is not how its pictured. Neglected by the Great Men study of history, Rosa Luxemburg, a 4′ 11″ disabled young woman from what’s

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JusticePodcastPresident BidenProtests & ResistanceRacismWomen

When she came onto the civil rights stage, the men assumed she’d sing, not speak. But Fannie Lou Hamer was a force. As author Kate Clifford Larson tells the amazing story in her new book Walk With Me, she stood

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Civil LibertiesMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

It’s not like displaying a large red cross protects doctors from attack anymore. Yesterday’s Covid heroes are today vilified by some. Across the globe, health care workers have become routinely targeted. For example in Myanmar, since it is not an

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Military and Defence PolicyNational PolicyPodcastReligionWar

With violence so deeply embedded into America’s foreign policy, it’s become invisible. But who does it harm more; us of them? On this show global religion teacher and author Kelly Denton-Borhaug says it is time to grow up and face

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EconomyMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

They’re doing it again. Remember the Peace Dividend after Vietnam? Right, it never happened. Now with another war finally ended, here we are again. On this show, retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel William Astore says the amount of money shoveled to

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EnvironmentNational PolicyPodcast

The earth itself is today paying the price for the 20th century fossil fuel bonanza. Now instead of continuing to have all humanity in service to that powerful sector, it’s time to pay the climate and colonization debt. When George

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Military and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

It’s so easy for the national security state to just paint the same old picture for Americans: Russia and China are military threats. But in truth they are not. They are rising economically in large part because we have wasted

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CulturePodcast

Philanthropies came into being to launder a plutocrat’s reputation. It’s become an industry today whose goal is preserving great wealth and maintaining dominance and control. According to our guest Edgar Villanueva, philanthropy has to be more than a wealth building

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DemocratsFascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowPodcastProtests & Resistance

The prospect of losing the power of empire brings out fear which can lead to police states. Or it can be seen as an opportunity for significant improvement. On this show, Matt Wehmeier, who spent recent years in the former

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Military and Defence PolicyPodcastPresident BidenWar

Have we learned that the military is not necessarily the best tool for the job? On this show New Republic journalist Jordan Michael Smith talks about the self imposed failures, squandering America’s power.  Right after the attack, the world was

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CulturePodcastPopulism

The assault on science and reason:we’ve seen it before. In the plagues of the 1300s and in 1918, as well as Covid-19, fear and uncertainty combine to draw out extremism. On this show professor of history at Messiah University (an

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CulturePodcast

The dehumanized Amazon warehouse as pictured in the movie Nomadland is more benign than reality. There is an “existential bleakness” where every instant is being watched, humans serve robots, and one can be fired by algorithm. In his powerful new

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EconomyFreedomPodcast

With the pandemic throwing everything up in the air, there are new opportunities for us to shape the way it all lands. Going back to the old “normal” is not the only option. On this show Joe Ryle a leader

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PodcastReligionWarWomen

Anything but monolithic, the newly victorious Taliban have internal divisions and are desperately seeking stability. Many confuse the Taliban with Al Qaeda and even ISIS, but the truth is ISIS was the Taliban’s enemy, and the country of Afghanistan is

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Civil LibertiesJusticePodcastPresident Biden

Let’s face it: the current Supreme Court is hostile to democracy. Even if Congress passes the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, the voter suppression right wing will take it to this Supreme Court which will decide voting rights. Does that

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Central and South AmericaInternational NewsMilitary and Defence PolicyNational PolicyPodcastWar

Here we are well into the 21st century and we’re stuck on imperialism, a 19th century western idea. Meanwhile a new non-western, non-American, nonaligned world is emerging. And perhaps it’s a very good thing. On this show international journalist Patrick

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JusticePodcastPresident Biden

You may not have heard of Rich Trumka who passed away suddenly August 5th. From working in the mines of Pennsylvania he served as president of the AFL-CIO from 2009 to 2021. Our guest today is once and future president

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DemocratsMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastPresident Biden

They come to us as they were from millions of years ago and today they are vital to fighting Covid and other diseases. On part one, Author William Sargent talks about his new book Crab Wars. The demand is outstripping

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CultureMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastReligionWar

Great stone monuments to the glory of war serve to silence the pain. Currently four times as many troops and veterans die by suicide as in combat. Our guest on today’s show is  Moravian University professor of religion Kelly Denton-Borhaug.

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CultureFascism on the RisePodcastPopulismReligion

It’s the ideal fear generator; there’s nothing more awful than child abuse. Intentionally whipping up  such fear is a tried and true tool for crushing democracy. Cosmopolitan globalism, the prospect of losing white male hetero dominance has been effectively played

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Fascism on the RiseHistory That Matters NowMilitary and Defence PolicyPodcastWar

Regime change in Iraq was on Bush’s agenda since 1998, September 11 merely enabled it. On this show is historian Larry Hartenian whose new book is titled George W Bush Administration Propaganda for an Invasion of Iraq, subtitled Absence of

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CultureJusticePodcast

Everyone knows the tax code is there to serve the richest Americans. But when it was created, the tax code was actually intended to tax only the richest. The Progressive era was a way out of the last Gilded Age

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PodcastPresident BidenWar

We hold their debt, they hold ours. Yet both countries are openly preparing for all out high intensity war. Flashpoints in the South China Sea. Nationalism here and in China. But as US Foreign Policy historian Lawrence Wittner explains, though

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CultureGunsPodcast

Fear leads to actions people often later regret.  Why are people who’ve been against guns now buying them up? The pandemic isolation and fear of shortages is part of the explanation for the current surge. Feeling safer beats actually being

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Central and South AmericaEnvironmentPodcastProtests & Resistance

The most dangerous thing to be in Central America is a water defender. The transnational mining interests frighten regional governments with massive lawsuits if they don’t get their way. And they have killed. But as the new book The Water

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Civil LibertiesJusticePodcastRacism

Remember Nixon’s “law and order?” It was a clever way to get whites to buy into racist repression. On this show author historian Alfred McCoy (who revealed government heroin distribution to GIs in Vietnam) says the continuing “war on drugs”

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Military and Defence PolicyPodcastPresident BidenWar

President Biden is doing what presidents rarely do: seeing reality and making a change. At no small political risk. Are we abandoning the women to Taliban brutality? Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the conservative Cato Institute, former assistant to President

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FreedomPodcastRacism

While there are major challenges, there is much to celebrate. We are the only country with the same form of government since our founding in 1787. But in light of Trumpism, religious nationalists, and January 6th, how strong is our

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