Ask today and everyone will tell you the American Dream is individuals becoming super rich. But the more traditional definition was one of equal opportunity and justice for all. Americans shared a belief in the social contract and a sense

The shooting in the first world war finally ended 100 years ago November 11. But did the war ever really end? Was anything resolved? So much of today’s world, from the mess of the Middle East to the power of

No matter how hard the Trump Administration tries to keep America ruled by moneyed white men, new Americans are successfully invigorating the democratic process. Often more dedicated to America’s principles than those of us who were born here and take

Shocking history then and now: Liberal Vermont and the Red Scare in the Green Mountains. On part one, Rick Winston discusses his new book. And on part two: why the frantic rush to get Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court? Marjorie

Bombing a school bus that killed 44 children in Yemen was almost two months ago! We Americans have had so many other distractions since then. But the marriage of commerce and war continues largely unnoticed. The military contractors learned that

Economic despair in the face of unimaginable wealth? Scarcity in a reality of plenty? Is there now a  case for giving every American a share of a public wealth fund? In what ways might a universal basic income work to

It did not begin with Trump. How have we gotten to this place where truth and lies are interchangeable? There are a lot of factors not the least of which is the clutter and chaos of the internet, where anything

There’s the European theater and the Pacific. But hidden away as both sides preferred, Latin America held the key to which side would be victorious. There were a lot of Germans in Brazil, vital war resources in Central America and

Remember your not-so-great high school days? Remember wanting to be respected while being consistently treated as less-than? According to author Eric David Dawson, “the system is set up to be destructive of everybody.” His new book, Putting Peace First: Seven

With his open appreciation of violent white nationalists, his insistence that he is above laws, his admiration for dictators, Trump has long embraced the rhetoric of fascism. But with his new attacks on the Justice Department for indicting his special

“Critics see Trump as an abomination, but he is also one of us.” So says Andrew Bacevich scholar and author of the forthcoming book “Twilight of the American Century.” He explains in this podcast that Trump is one of a

Nearly every inch of Africa used to be owned and controlled by the colonial powers: British, French, German, Portuguese, Belgian, Spain. Mussolini’s Italy finally went after its share with a one sided assault on Ethiopia in 1936. Is the long

Blood in the streets. Chaos at the convention. The establishment Democrats won and then they lost. From the vantage point of 50 years later, it may surprise some how less has changed and been learned than we might have thought.

America’s prisons are where we warehouse and punish bad people. But how much injustice behind the walls and razor wire is acceptable? Is using inmates as slaves OK? Is it a good idea to maintain a system that reinforces people’s

Those who were surprised that Facebook was widely distributing personal information were quite naive. Our expectation of privacy is so very quaint. This according to veteran private eye Judith Coburn, whose new article on TomDispatch is titled Goodbye to All

“What we’ve got here is a systems problem.” Americans honor brave whistleblowers and serious investigative journalists who  reveal covered up truths. But according to today’s guest Professor Lawrence Davidson, in his article on CounterPunch, the fate of the very controversial

He’s spoken openly about his concern for justice for Palestinians. As Jeremy Corbyn is continuing to rise as he leads the traditional left Labour Party of the United Kingdom, his detractors are working feverishly to discredit him as an anti-Semite.

At least it’s now out in the open. All Israelis who are not Jewish have had their rights diminished. Given the longstanding discrimination against non-white non-European Jews, Palestinians and Druze are now just third class citizens. Prime Minister Netanyahu described

What is freedom? Coming from a context of widespread economic security, young people across the US and Europe in 1968 drove older generations crazy with the insistence that there was more. More than the grey flanneled conformity in which we

With near consensus from both sides of the aisle, congress just rubber-stamped a nearly three quarters of a trillion dollar spending plan for defense contractors. There is no limit on what we will spend on weapons, according to today’s guest

If we’re spending billions on a defense system that actually makes us more vulnerable,maybe it’s time to reconsider. According to today’s guest Foreign Policy in Focus columnist Conn Hallinan, NATO has gone from serving as a bulwark against the Soviet

America First is leading quickly to America being left out. Even Republican internationalists are gone from the stage. The current administration is making a steady and sustained war on diplomacy and is now standing outside the tent. On this show,

NATO was created to defend the west against the Soviet Union. According to John Feffer, of Foreign Policy in Focus, the west missed a rare “golden opportunity” in 1991 to shift away from wasteful militarism in search of a new

With all the current discussion about ever-more inflamed divides in the currently united States, more people are wondering if we  really are one nation after all. It’s not just blue vs red, North vs South. There’s us here in Yankeedom.

When big gets too big, free market capitalism is stifled. The increased concentration of power and wealth undercuts economic freedom. The socialism of FDR’s New Deal very much helped capitalism become more competitive. A big, though lesser known, aspect of

Much like the toxic combination of angry racist populism with the power of the financial elite here in America, the European Union has been a brake on this dangerous combination in England. Today the British Right’s push for the UK

Since its founding after the Civil War the NRA was concerned about the proliferation of guns in America. They became a sportsmen’s gun club focused on responsibility and safety. And conservative  Christian evangelicals cited Bible references to say life began

Reached somewhere he won’t specify in Nicaragua, our guest is protecting himself from killings, kidnappings, and the coordinated strategy of roadblocks.The Trump Administration and most of the mainstream press paints a picture of the Sandinista government turning against their own

America is shocked at the sight of 2500 migrant kids in cages. But behind high walls are over 50,000 American kids.This is invisible for a reason. According to Professor Cara Drinan, expert on juvenile sentencing and criminal justice reform, if

Donald Trump won a lot of support from conservative Americans who agreed our endless wars are nothing but a big waste. Of course he flipped positions since then but renowned professor Andrew Bacevich observes that there is still anger at