Breaking the mold of powerlessness happens, in the US Senate and in our neighborhoods. On the first segment Political Science professor and author Ron Feinman points to six little known US Senators who courageously stood up against war and injustice.

When Iraq invaded Kuwait, we went to war. With Russia massing at the Ukraine border, we threaten war. But when the repressive kingdom of Morocco claims possession of another distinct nation, silence from the US. The rest of the world

One might think it was purely an honor, but it can be brutal. Especially for women. Sexism may generally be more subtle now, but not always. In this discussion of her new book, Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the

Both establishment parties are competing to be toughest on the Ukraine crisis. But the fact is America’s founders were solidly non-interventionist. Our constant search for new monsters to destroy; where has that gotten us? More peace and justice? Our republic

A dangerous addiction to war is a result of what our guest retired Lt Col. William Astore calls victory disease. He actually served at the nuclear trigger under 2000 feet of granite. Reagan fired up the desire for conquest, but

In walling out Palestinians, the State of Israel has walled in themselves. Former Zionist Israeli Defense Forces paratrooper Sylvain Cypel speaks to us from Paris about his evolution.  As a Jewish Frenchman, he says how that country’s experience with Algeria

There used to be a long held American tradition of opposition to colonialism and that government served the common good. FDR’s vice president Henry A Wallace was an outstanding visionary. Then a corrupt political machine performed a bloodless coup at

A consumers republic was born at the end of the second world war. And though it was genuinely intended to be a tide lifting all boats, it has increased economic inequality and created isolation where public space once was central.

He voted against one thing that can actually address what he says is the problem. Where once men felt pride in what they contributed to family and community as sole breadwinners, that is gone. The anxiety is real.  In her

The words seem so obviously neutral and just technical. In her new book “Does Skill Make US Human?” author Natasha Iskander reveals that the language of skill versus unskilled is being used to justify dehumanizing workers in Qatar, much the

We barely pulled democracy back from the ledge. Now there’s work to be done to make democracy work even better. On this show Kristen Eberhard talks about steps described in her new book “Becoming a Democracy: How We Can Fix

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

Distrust of the press is hardly a new phenomenon. In the 1920s two American literary luminaries shared a concern about bias in the press. But they offered widely divergent reasons and ways to correct the unfairness. Upton Sinclair insisted the

You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems

You’ve heard of the famous Christmas Truce of 1914 between the trenches of the British and German soldiers. These were indeed brave men. But that was not the only such event: there were desertions, mutinies, and fraternizations. Today it seems

In the name of advancing the public good, protecting Americans from dangerous diseases, in the mid twentieth century, certain humans became guinea pigs. It used largely marginalized groups like people in mental institutions, often times children, who became subjects of

It was “the best and the brightest” who brought us the disaster of Vietnam. And such elitists in Democratic Party still bring avoidable disaster. From northern Iowa, Professor Wallace Hettle sees how the power of big money over the Democratic

One hears a cry for “unity” today, but though America is one country, we have always been actually many nations. On this show, author Louis Salome talks about places like Afghanistan, the other “stans,” Iraq, and other countries whose borders

The original “banana republic,” Honduras is the second poorest country in the Caribbean region. A few wealthy and many poor. You know the story. It’s had a right wing government since a US supported coup in 2009, but on November

In his new book, The Privatization of Everything, author Donald Cohen directly takes on the myths which have led to intense concentration of power a an wealth and offers ways to reassert what America’s founders had in mind. Despite the

Unless it’s a spectacle, we don’t see it on screens. But as our guest author Andrea Press spells out in her new co-authored book Media-Ready Feminism and Everyday Sexism, everyday sexism is just accepted. The Me Too movement originated in

“‘Opposite sex’ is a phantom concept—nobody lives it.” So says our guest author Kathryn Bond Stockton. Her new book Gender(s) argues that what seem like obvious genital distinctions are in reality incomplete. When children are born, it’s like parents “lower

Pat Buchanan was ahead of his time. He used the KKK’s David Duke to breed a new nativist religious nationalism, based on fear of liberalization. On this show political science professor Joseph Lowndes sheds light on how the Republican Party

How can one have optimum performance at your job when you have to hide your identity? There was fear of disruption by having openly trans troops in our military.  But the truth is the only disruption was from people in

It’s easy to be all for cutting “waste” in the Pentagon budget but that enables continuing plans to spend 7.5 trillion over ten years. And on what? Could shoveling money to the military make us less secure? On this show

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 religion professor Kelly Denton-Borhaug whose new book is

They’ve save countless human lives in many wars. Military working dogs have a new monument at the Navy Memorial in Washington DC and it’s about time. Dogs are an essential asset deserving recognition. On this show first up is 20

Claiming the election was stolen, “angry loyalists storming the building while overwhelmed security guards gave way. The slavishly loyal vice-president who would, the president hoped, restore him to power.” Sound familiar? This was 1986 in Manila. Author and history professor

Everyone who supported him projected what they wanted to see on him in 2008. In his new book He Was Our Man In  Washington, A History of the Obama Years, author Owen Symes reveals such little known facts as Obama’s

For decades the majority of Americans, Democrats and Republicans have supported taxing the rich but politicians in both parties have turned a deaf ear. But the grudging acceptance that everyone but the richest pays their taxes may be ending. On