Author Archive

Burt Cohen

Macron and Trump standing together outside with Macron giving thumbs up.
EconomyPodcastSocialismTrumpWar

The mainstream left of Europe has largely collapsed. Their national economies are trapped by the European Union. The eloquent English speaking Emmanuel Macron, president of France for just a year, on his April trip to Washington, displayed a public “bromance”

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Book cover showing Robert F. Kennedy with a crowd in Mississippi.
JusticePodcastRacism

How did Bobby Kennedy change from the Red Scare helper of Joe McCarthy to the liberal icon? According to a new book,it was visiting desperately poor families in the Mississippi Delta in April of 1967. In her Delta Epiphany: Robert

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Crowd holding Armenian flags during a protest.
PodcastPopulism

It was a successful popular movement for empowerment. And it was a close call: the parliamentary leader tried to declare himself prime minister, Armenians took to the streets in creative, even artistic, civil disobedience on a mass scale. They successfully

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Donald Trump pointing in front of a tax form and calculator.
PodcastTrumpWar

It’s the same only worse. Much worse. While the Trump/Ryan tax law won’t really hit until next April, there is no question the beneficiaries are those at the very top of the wealth pyramid. Regular income earners will be subsidizing

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A smiling man in a suit and tie against a gray background.
PodcastTrumpWar

He’s brought back hostages from North Korea, Cuba,Iraq  and Sudan. He was governor of New Mexico, US ambassador the UN. He won my vote for president in 2008. Bill Richardson’s record is exceedingly impressive. On the first half, Governor Richardson

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Book cover titled 'The War on Normal People' with a man standing in a large industrial door.
EconomyPodcast

How radical can you get? Well, Nixon was on board with the idea in 1971. Entrepreneur and author Andrew Yang’s new book is titled The War on Normal People: The Truth About America’s Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income

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Graffiti on Trump International Hotel doors with two people walking by.
JusticePodcastRacismTrump

Stormy Daniels and the Russia investigation grab all the headlines about Trump, but his flagrant violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution is the best chance to get him removed. “Emoluments?” Our first guest CommonDreams.org journalist Julia Conley explains

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A large explosion with thick smoke rising over a cityscape.
Israel & PalestinePodcastTrumpWar

Americans are just beginning to learn about our deadly role for the Saudi war in Yemen. For many decades and many presidents, the Saudi royal family has held great sway in Washington. Today the famine and cholera outbreak in Yemen,

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Satellite image showing the Korean Peninsula and surrounding seas.
PodcastTrumpWar

Because of factors beyond his control, Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong-Un may actually succeed. The new leadership of China, and especially of South Korea, have much to gain from fostering a real peace between North and South. And despite the

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Protesters hold signs advocating for water rights and environmental protection.
EnergyJusticePodcastProtests & Resistance

Much of the national agenda is enacted at the state level. The popular protests of The Dakota Access Pipeline scared the crap out of oil companies and they are using something called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) to draft cookie-cutter

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A protest sign reading 'Stop the invasion' with a crossed-out 'Amnesty' symbol.
JusticePodcastRacismTrump

Immigrants under Trump are painted as the dangerous “Others.” Yet despite the successful campaign of fear, the reality is immigrants are more likely to be good hard working, law abiding citizens than Americans as a whole. Journalist Arnold “Skip”Isaacs, who

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Map showing Middle East US bases with key locations marked.
Podcast

You read that right: The chances of a big war between the US and Russia are greater now than ever. But the Russia/Trump scandal effectively prevents the dialogue essential to preventing a war. Our guest Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief

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Crowd with rainbow flags in front of a large government building.
CulturePodcastTrump

All too often in recent decades social, cultural, and political movements have worked in isolation from one another. But there’s so much to learn so none has to reinvent the wheel. Among the more successful movements has been that of

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Woman speaking into a microphone at an event.
CultureGunsPodcast

Change only comes after enough innocent blood soaks into America’s soil. Is it enough now? Forty eight years ago, the war came home. From the Kent State Massacre, college students learned they were not safe exercising their first amendment rights.

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Map depicting African countries with various striped patterns indicating different zones or statuses.
PodcastTrumpWar

We don’t even know we’re being kept in the dark. America’s wars are everywhere. With the mainstream news focus on all Trump all the time, major stories affecting us all get virtually no attention. Did you know, for example, that

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Man in a suit wearing a white construction helmet at a microphone.
EconomyPodcastTake ActionTrump

On the first part, we try to talk with author Dilip Hiro in London about his new article “Donald Trump Offers a Helping Hand to Russia and China,” but the connection most regrettable. If you can bear with the poor

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Red apple with text 'When grit isn't enough' and a green leaf.
CultureEducationJusticePodcastRacism

The pervasive myth of kids just needing “grit” and lifting themselves up by their own bootstraps is false and is doing real harm.Our guest today Linda Nathan spent fourteen years as founder and co-headmaster of Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s only

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A man points at a wall labeled 'Truth About Vietnam'.
PodcastWar

The military brass sees new wars as a way to finally do what we should have done in Vietnam, and that is: Win. Guest on this show is Major Danny Sjursen, a U.S. Army strategist and former history instructor at

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Military jet dropping multiple bombs over mountainous terrain.
PodcastTrumpWar

Since September 11, American citizens have yearned for safety and security from further attacks. But instead of reducing violence and terrorism, there’s no question our policy has been very effective at sowing chaos everywhere. Our policies actually serve to recruit

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Frances Moore Lappé and a man promoting democracy at a book event.
CulturePodcastProtests & ResistanceTake ActionTrump

Resistance is great but it’s not enough. Since 1971, there has been a very effective anti-democracy movement aimed at replacing it with plutocracy. Trump is but a symptom of this problem so solutions have to be much more than merely

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Red combine harvester working in a golden wheat field.
CulturePodcast

It used to be that everyone in the Midwest knew “FDR is for people like us” and they voted solid Democrat. Not any more. On Part One, conventional wisdom is that Democrats will most likely make gains in congress in

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A vibrant poster encouraging people to stand up and speak out for change.
PodcastTake ActionTrump

Americas founders intended us to enjoy real power. Yet powers that be have convinced many of us that we are powerless.  From many years of community organizing Gordon Whitman’s new book shares what he’s learned can work to empower average

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Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin posing with contrasting expressions.
PodcastTrump

Russia aims to weaken America. Putin was determined to stop Hillary Clinton who was exceptionally hawkish toward Russia. He found a perfect candidate in Trump. Incredibly enough, a similar story was written as as a political thriller novel by well

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Detailed schematic of a space shuttle's interior and exterior components.
GunsPodcastTrumpWar

What actually works to make us safer? Much of recent military policy has actually worked to strengthen our 21st century enemies. Why is it that the defense industry is so effective at convincing members of both parties that we really

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Close-up of a young woman with curly hair and a neutral expression.
Israel & PalestinePodcastRacismTake ActionWomen

If you are a sixteen year old girl, standing up to the men of the Israeli military is highly risky. You may not have heard of Ahed Tamimi. She is being held in an Israeli jail for slapping an Israeli

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Classic cars on a vibrant street with colorful buildings.
CulturePodcastSocialism

Talk about great mysteries: what do you think of when you hear the name Cuba? Cigar chomping communist dictator? People yearning to breathe free and live like Americans? We get one small picture here while the rest of the world

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Illustration of raised fists with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote on disobeying unjust laws.
CulturePodcastProtests & Resistance

“Just following orders” is no defense. In a democracy we assume that individuals in society will take personal responsibility and disobey immoral commands. But as many experiments have shown, people rarely question orders from authorities. Our guest on this show

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A woman speaking passionately behind a microphone with an American flag in the background.
Podcast

Democrats have gone from a state of shock to one of denial. It’s time to face up to what needs to be done to win in 2018. On this show, former Congressman Paul Hodes discusses how we blew it and

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Red Christmas-themed background questioning if Christmas is pagan.
Podcast

While some argue Christmas is really an international religious Christian holiday, that is just not the case. On this show, Burt’s guest is the Reverend Selena Fox, a Wiccan priestess, interfaith minister, Pagan elder, author, and lecturer in the fields

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Menorah and Christmas tree with crossed lightsabers symbolizing Hanukkah and Christmas.
Podcast

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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