Author Archive

Burt Cohen

EnvironmentJusticeNational PolicyPodcastProtests & ResistanceTake Action

Asleep in her home the night of March 2, 2016, Berta Caceres was murdered. The military police of Honduras are suspected. But the government failed to stop her work: there are many more Berta Carcereses today. A government getting much

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National PolicyPodcastTrumpWar

Telling the truth to power shouldn’t take courage, but it certainly does. On part one, Peter VanBuren, whistle-blower and author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, describes

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National PolicyPodcastReligionTrumpWar

Imagine being a proud part of the military for decades, serving as strategist and then it lands on you: our policy is a failure. Major Danny Sjursen in his inaugural Tom Dispatch post writes from a unique perspective on what

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EnergyEnvironmentFiscal PolicyTaxesTrump

Never motivated by serving the common good, powerful old-school Republican leaders such as James Baker, George Schultz, and Henry Paulson have put forward a proposal for a carbon emissions tax to fight climate change. You ask: why would they do

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CulturePopulismProtests & ResistanceTaxes

We’re all familiar with 1776. But before the actual separation from England, there was revolution across the land. The spirit of 1774 was focused on class-blind democracy and a lot of what happened then, with powerful actions from the grassroots

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CulturePodcastPopulismProtests & ResistanceRacismReligionTrump

” They didn’t call it fascism. They painted it red, white, and blue, and called it Americanism.” That’s from a 1942 movie with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Keeper of the Flame, which imagines a full fledged homegrown American

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CultureJusticeNational PolicyRacism

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/www.dropbox.com/s/f79eihtv7eu5zse/NeoSlaveryEverGreen1.mp3?dl=0Most of us believe what we were taught in elementary school: that enslaved blacks were freed by the Civil War. The truth is far grimmer. In this gripping discussion (recorded during Obama’s term) Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery by Another

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EconomyFiscal PolicyPodcastTake ActionTaxes

Do they really intend to destroy the economy and serve the short-term greed of billionaires, or do they just mouth simplistic phrases and really not know what they are doing? We deon’;t really know. The Bannon/Trump Administration is taking aim

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EconomyNational PolicyPodcastProtests & ResistanceTrumpWar

Aside from the blatant racism, the shocking authoritarianism, and the disregard for the Constitution and laws, President Trump is unwittingly causing the end of a long period of unquestioned world dominance by the USA. According to our guest The Nation

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Women

Everyone knows Eleanor Roosevelt, but her other half was Lorena Hickock. They were as was said “intimate partners,” who greatly influenced FDR and the New Deal. A most unlikely couple: Eleanor from wealth and privilege, Hick from nothing of the

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EnergyEnvironmentNational PolicyPodcast

With the mainstream finally focusing on reducing carbon emissions, the highly capitalized nuclear industry is once again trying for a rebirth. This time as a carbon-free answer to help reduce climate change. But according to guest veteran investigative reporter Karl

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EconomyEnvironmentPodcastRacismReligionTake Action

She traveled 12,000 miles through 18 states and five Indian reservations to discover what local people are doing to address problems of racism, climate change, and economic inequality. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things in places you would not expect. Author

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CultureEducationJusticePodcastPopulismTake Action

Sometimes citizens must break the law to uphold the law. History shows that sometimes patriotic resisting requires taking personal risks. But how to determine which risks are worth it and will yield the results we want? For a long time,

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PodcastPopulismRacismSocialismWarWomen

They were real conservatives. They worried that our republican form of government was at grave risk if America joined the first world war over there. Michael Kazin’s timely new book is “War Against War: The American Fight for Peace 1914-1918.”

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CultureGunsJusticePodcastPopulismRacismReligionTake ActionTrumpWar

Over 3,000 prominent scientists, musicians, religious leaders, intellectuals, artists, actors, and others signed on to a full page ad in the January 4 New York Times, with the bold letters, “NO! In the name of humanity, we REFUSE to accept

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CultureEnvironmentPodcastReligionWomen

While some argue Christmas is really a religious Christian holiday, that’s just not the case. The holiday has been with us for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and only morphed into what we see today as Christmas

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EnergyEnvironmentNational PolicyPodcastTake ActionTaxesWar

Is America merely a conduit for corporate wealth? Is the earth merely for exploiting without care? Trump’s designate to be secretary of state, Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson is all that an more. Though the job of SoS is about

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EconomyPodcastPopulismSocialismTake ActionTrump

People are asking: what can we do to fight the new authoritarianism? Our guest argues: “People  power need not be confined to a chant.” Keeping decision making close to home is something both right and left can agree on; municipalization

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PodcastWar

You’ve probably heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. Today it seems anyone with a uniform is dubbed a hero, but what about the peacemakers?

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National PolicyPodcastRacismWar

75 years ago on December 8th, war came. What no one expected was the transformation of America from a nation which craved peace to one which thrived on militarism. On this show, military historian Christopher Kelly, author of “America Invades:

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CultureEnergyEnvironmentJusticeNational PolicyPodcastProtests & ResistanceRacismReligionTake ActionWar

Indigenous Americans for over 300 years have been treated as invisible; treaties and promises routinely ignored. Mainstream media ignored it as long as they could for fear of upsetting advertisers but pressure kept building and, surprise: the water protectors put

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CultureEconomyJusticePodcastPopulismRacismSocialismTake Action

Most of us thought Right to Work was a 20th century scheme to destroy collective bargaining rights. According to Cedric DeLeon, author of The Origins of Right To Work: AntiLabor Democracy in 19th Century Chicago, it started out as a

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CultureJusticePodcastTake ActionWomen

Trump won’t do it; time now to push Obama to bring justice to a grave injustice. When guest on this show Robert Meeropol was six his mother Ethel Rosenberg was put to death. Knowing she was innocent, our government held

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CultureEconomyEducationEnvironmentFiscal PolicyNational PolicyPodcastRacismSocialismTake ActionTaxes

The Vikings were brave explorers and they found wondrous new things. Today Scandinavia holds promise of how America can become happier and more free. George Lakey, author of the new book Viking Economics, talks about struggling toward something rather than

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CultureJusticePodcastPopulismRacism

With the election of Donald Trump, there’s talk of secession in California. But have we ever really been one nation? Certainly not.  Colin Woodard, author of the acclaimed book “American Nations,” reveals a history of eleven rival regional nations and

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CultureEconomyEducationFiscal PolicyJusticeNational PolicyPodcastRacismSocialismTake ActionTaxes

Generally American cites are dumped on: Budgets cut, services eliminated, schools ignored. But 80% of us live in cities and despite the pressure from uncaring financial interests and their politicians, we are close to a tipping point where an urban

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CultureEconomyEducationEnvironmentJusticePodcastPopulismRacismTake ActionWomen

It was a disastrous day for Democrats. Senior strategist and media advisor to the Bernie Sanders Campaign Mark Longabaugh (remember that great “America” ad?)talks about opportunities ahead for traditional liberal Democrats. He argues Trump’s victory was less about hate and

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Podcast

For the sake of America itself, of course we must stop Trump. As our guest on this show author and columnist Arun Gupta points out: Trumpism is simply ethnic cleansing. On what issues will she need pushing from the public?

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CultureEconomyEnvironmentPodcastRacismTake ActionTaxesWomen

Everyone wants it to be over. On November first, the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party sees real weakness in the Republican Party, despite its projection of powerful anger and hate. Raymond Buckley also fills in the blanks as

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CultureJusticePodcastPopulismTake ActionWarWomen

From the Dadaists through Abbie Hoffman to today, the art of transforming everyday life into theater, challenging and befuddling unjust authority, has unique power to make real change. The unique new book is Tactical Performance: The Theory and Practice of

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