Podcast

On Veterans Day: Suicide and the Moral Injury We Look Away From
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

Remembering the Dogs on Veterans Day
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

He Knows a Coup When He Sees One
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

What Was the Obama Presidency Really?
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

Tax The Rich to Boost the Economy
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

How Measuring Education Fails
If it can’t be seen, it can’t be measured, and it doesn’t count. But a lot of the best results of public education can’t be seen. Quantifying was put there to assure command and control from the top down bureaucrats

Pervasive Yet Invisible White Christian Privilege
It’s been normalized. Americans who are neither Christian nor white may not necessarily feel open discrimination, but privilege underlies everyday life. The starting point is not neutral, as we’d prefer to believe. On this show Dr. Kyati Y Joshi talks

Making the World Safe for Plutocracy: The History of American Policing
It was called the Gilded Age. In the late 19th and early 20th century, there was extreme wealth and everybody else (remind you of another time?). Wall Street bankers back then were getting robbed, someone had to protect them. In

Republican Goal: End Public Education, End Democracy
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

The Prescience And Vision of Rosa Luxemburg. Who?
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

For Inspiration Today: Fannie Lou Hamer In the Early 60s
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

From Heroes to Targets: Medical Workers Under Attack
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

The Harmful Naivete of A Foreign Policy of Violence
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

Even When It Loses, the Pentagon Wins
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

There Is Enough to Go Around. But Not the Way We’ve Been Doing It
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

Must We Do the Cold War Again?
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

Decolonize Philanthropy: What Does That Mean?
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

Are We There? How Empires Fall
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

20 Years after 9/11: Are We Any Smarter?
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

Plagues and Extremism: The Perfect Storm
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

The Biggest, Most Inhuman Power in America: Amazon
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

A Benefit From Covid? 4 Day Work Week
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

Now They Must Govern: Prospects for the Taliban
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

Pack The Court!
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

The Emerging Post-American Non-West Order
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

After Rich Trumka: Now What for Labor?
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

Horseshoe Crabs and Covid//Biden’s Options for China Policy
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

Veterans and Suicide: The “Moral Injury” We Don’t Want to See
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.

The Global Right’s Bizarre Obsession with Pedophilia
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