What explains the worship of guns in America? It’s long been a mystery to many. Historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz says guns have always been central to the insistent belief that God gave America to white Christian males. America’s first industry was

Grades 1 through 12 education may have been adequate to the 20th century. But not anymore. With emerging technology and a global economy, at least a two year community college degree is essential for America’s common good. On this show

So many awful 20th century roads lead back to the First World War. And despite conventional wisdom, there could have been peace two years before it came to an official (but not really) end. Through a process of detective work,

“Crisis at the Border.” The truth is: unless we get to the root of how bad it has to be to force people to leave home, the refugees will keep coming. On this show political anthropology professor David Vine reveals

Traditional liberals argued we’d alienate some by civil disobedience in the streets of Washington. The idea was to stop the center of the war machine to stop the war, which went on an on despite marches and speeches and everyone

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

Self-professed “patriots” stormed the US Capitol Building January 6th, but it was Vietnam Veterans Against the War in late April 1971 who were the real patriots. They came for what they considered another tour of duty, after serving in the

You may have read recently about a flare up of rioting in Belfast. It’s all a result of Boris Johnson’s Brexit. Scholar Kenneth Surin, a British citizen teaching in the US, explains what’s going on in Northern Ireland. Though it’s

As our guest Chuck Collins explains, it’s like one person orders expensive wine for a dinner crowd and sneaks out without paying. His new book is titled The Wealth Hoarders; How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions. What he calls

Thanks to January 6th, the word sedition is in our consciousness again.  Trump is more likely guilty of treason than of mere sedition according to the former director of the CIA and our guest, history teacher and essayist William Pruden

The monuments to Confederate leaders are all about altering the realities of history to empower and enforce old mythic beliefs. They are there on courthouse lawns to remind black southerners of their place. One this show, Southern historian Karen Cox

The message of his calm kneeling and centuries of racist violence is: you could be next, black person. Chauvin knew only 1% of police killing black people are even prosecuted. There have been others caught on film in broad daylight

Americans talk about the surge at the border, but the real point is everyone has a right to stay home. Today’s guest Avi Chomsky says that under Biden, Trump’s cement wall is instead outsourced to a militarized high-tech barrier. Do

He came in as a macho Cold War president but after the reality of near nuclear war, John Kennedy became a changed man. He gave an important speech about peace in June 1963. Now the Cold War is back and

Fierce nationalism and the insistence that the US is indispensable to organize the world has played itself out. With awareness of climate change, worldwide opposition to racism, and the avoidable persistence of great poverty, could this be the time once

Fossil fueled fascism is not limited to the west. The roots of India’s ruling party go back to Mussolini and Nazis. Repressing minorities as they increase wealth and power of the autocratic rulers. The US is tight with Prime Minister

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

Even if it never makes it on TV, progressive action does make a difference. There’s a place for all activists, forcing hidden problems and opportunities to the fore. Our guest Dinah Yessne has a new book called Politically Defined. There’s

Pounding on windows, yelling Stop the Count; the tactics of physical intimidation (led by the president’s men) succeeded in crushing democracy in the US election of 2000. On part one, our guest historian Robert Toplin tells the story where fear

Interviewed in Israel, Jewish author Larry Derfner says Israel has never been held accountable and argues the International Criminal Court is right to investigate Israel for war crimes. Boycott, Divest,and Sanction has been ineffective and that the right has used

So much we have to learn from January 6th. On the first part of today’s show History Professor Robert Schneider calls it a “Populist Transgression,” without a legitimate grievance. Other uprisings and disruptions are purposeful. He likens Trump to Mao:

The greedy hyper-wealthy cheer on their Republican advocates as they fight to crush democracy. But a lot of American millionaires are also patriots and recognize that more democracy is needed to build the common good. On this show, Morris Pearl,

American presidents have assumed that our place is at the head of the table with our European counterparts. In his first (virtual) meeting as president with German and French leaders, Biden was met by, what KDA’s most popular guest Patrick

Jefferson saw America as sovereign independent states, only unified for defensive foreign policy. But today both left and right recognize the costs of empire are too high. And we are really too big to govern. Splitting into more natural bio-regions

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

They are often pictured as competitive opponents, but Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were “The Sword and the Shield” leading the same revolution with the shared goal of human dignity. On this show, Dr Peniel Joseph talks about his

Are America’s perpetual wars having the desired effect of enhancing national security? As USAF retired lieutenant colonel William Astore says “Terrorist acts are mostly the recourse of the weak when taking on the strong. The United States isn’t going to

The former president embodied what our guest calls confined masculinity: old cages locking men into highly limited macho roles. January 6th was a prime example of this. In the new book he co-authored Reinventing Masculinity: The Liberating Power of Compassion

Despite the myths, there is less opportunity to climb the ladder out of poverty in America than in other modern nations. Did you know a majority of Americans will experience poverty in their lifetimes? And that childhood poverty costs us

Unlike other industrialized nations, America values celebrity over governing well. FDR was a rare exception,he became a celebrity because he served America so well. Then there was Reagan, who did great lasting damage to our country yet remains revered as