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

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

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

Democracy in 18th century America worked fairly easily. Nearly 250 years later, we are the least democratic of all the world’s republics. Right, left, or independent: nearly all Americans feel frustrated that the ability for average citizens to have power

As of Trump’s unilateral declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel, the threat of a wider war is now much greater than with North Korea. So says Patrick Lawrence foreign affairs columnist for salon.com and The

Millennials may think of democracy as something we older people remember. The infamous Supreme Court “Citizens United” decision took legitimate power from the average American and shifted it to big concentrated money. Some Americans have not given up. On the

FDR’s fixes of the 1930s were great for the time: bolstering unions, unemployment insurance, social security, and creation of new jobs rebuilding our infrastructure. Eighty years later, it’s time to adapt the New Deal to the 21st century and create

The notion of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is more of a myth now. According to our guest Rabbi Lev Baesh, who has a unique resume, it’s not so much of a Jewish state anymore and it has

They’ve been forgotten in the face of so much other news. The millions of Americans of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are still largely without electricity three months after the hurricanes. They’ve been forgotten. But on November 28th,

The only reason for the Trump “tax reform” bill is that a handful of donors demand it; after all, they invested heavily in Trump and congress expecting a healthy return. But not all in the top five and one percent

You think being an American teenager was challenging, try being a good Muslim on top of it. It’s a tiny minority in our culture. Most Americans know very little about what life is like as a Muslim in our country.

The union was “pinned together with bayonets.” In his new book The Long Road to Antietam, How the Civil War Became a Revolution, Professor Richard Slotkin traces the battle of egos between President Lincoln and his General George McClellan and

What is a nation? Richard Spencer’s “alt-right” looks to Zionism as a model for an exclusionary Aryan homeland in America. The white supremacist says he “turns to Israel for guidance.” Jewish Americans have a long history of inclusiveness. What is

Few moments in history can be seen as pivotal. The anti-war movement took such a turn on October 21, 1967 when at least 100,00 Americans took their protests directly to the war making hub: the Pentagon. What did it mean,

Since when do the people who actually live in a region get to participate in deciding its future? The British always knew best. People in India and all their colonies were not ready yet to govern themselves. And besides England

When big easy money is involved, it’s hard to push back. But that’s exactly what Democrats must do to win future elections. Robert Borosage talks about his current article “Wall Street Has Some Advice for the Democratic party…And Democrats Need

What works to shore up America’s strength in the world: pure military domination or using a Roosevelt idea: The Four Freedoms, including freedom from want? In this 2012 discussion with Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow David Woolner, then-candidates Obama and Romney

Both parties in recent decades have bought into the idea that letting private business needs dictate the direction of public schools will help education. According to Noliwe Rooks, director of American Studies at Cornell University, de facto segregation in public

A group of families of  Americans killed in Iraq have filed a lawsuit against many big pharmaceutical companies who allegedly paid bribes to Mahdi forces who killed family members. USA Today correspondent Aamer Madhani investigated and reports  that the Iraqi

It’s true. Former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson explains that our tax dollars are giving a big boost to our enemies Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula. While the news media focuses

Italian writer Ennio Flaianon says “Fascists are divided into two categories: the fascists and the anti-fascists.” Both are gangs focused on violence. The American “antifa” actually beat up those they identify as fascists. And according to our guest Diana Johnstone,

One part one, we look at what is being done to address young people’s addiction in new ways. The old law enforcement focus has failed. And on the second half, we delve into the tense situation in Spain. Sebastiaan Faber,

It’s those others. Not good Americans who dissent. At least that’s what Presidents Johnson, Nixon, and Ford thought when their administrations unleashed many agencies to spy at will on us. On this show, Dr. William Burr, Senior Analyst with the

The Madrid government is pulling out the stops to crush a referendum on independence for Catalonia, now a region of Spain. The national police have ripped down posters, detained over 700 mayors, shut down printing presses, attacked the website of

It’s what our guest, Vietnam historian Jerry Lembcke argues is a false balancing, leaving things where they were before we started watching it. America’s war in Vietnam was not as Ken Burns claims: begun in good faith by decent people.

“Based on everything, it appears Democrats will most likely make gains in congress in 2018.” Do you think most likely is good enough? Being risk-averse weakens our chances. Author of The Great Divide: Story of the 2016 US Presidential Race

Follow the money. We’ve heard this so often and it remains the best way to discover the source of social problems. Too often, we blame the victims, the people who through no fault of their own, become addicted to pain

Fire and fury. Crazy Kim Jong Un. Crazy Trump. Mutual threats of mass destruction. Is there a way out? Of course. Korea scholar Tim Shorrock writes in The Nation that not only did Obama make the situation worse, but that

On April 19, 1995 Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols killed Bud Welch’s 23 year old daughter Julie and 167 others in that infamous bombing. At first he wanted revenge, then he actually met with McVeigh’s father. Welch calls him the

Announced with boundless optimism in 1941, “the American Century” is nearing its end. Since WWII, America has taken over from Britain as the leading empire.  So what caused this decline, what must we learn, and what about America may survive