Podcast
Redefining “Smart” in the Smart Machine Age
Millions of jobs will be eliminated because artificial intelligence is smarter than we are in many ways. We humans therefore face a serious and historic new challenge. What must we do to endure? According to our guest, author Edward Hess,
America Better Off Broken Apart?
No one in their right mind would ever think the Soviet Union would suddenly break down into its component parts. Then it did. Clearly America is more divided now than since the 1861 war against Southern independence. Many would argue
BDS at 12: The Fight Against it Shows It’s Working
It took a long time but Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions worked to end South African Apartheid. Now powerful forces are working in the US congress to penalize businesses and individuals who express support for BDS against the State of Israel.
Is the Democratic Party Determined to Keep Losing?
The Democratic Party has been compared to a doomsday cult: no matter how thoroughly their assumptions are refuted by reality, they just dig in deeper, with devastating consequences for America and the world. They rejected the most powerful candidate in
America’s Founders on “Independence” Today
Independence day: It’s not just about choice of things to buy and consume. Recovering corporate CEO and Huffington Post columnist Richard Eskow on this show shines a light on just how far we’ve veered from what the founders meant by
US Pilots As Bait in War With Syria
In the 21st century, it seems every new war is a “humanitarian intervention.” Our guest on this show, Jim Kavanagh of Counterpunch defines that as just more “missionary imperialism.” As the US quickly ramps up its war against the government
A New Consideration of Uses of LSD
LSD has long been feared. No question, it is uniquely powerful. But does it have potentially uniquely powerful benefits as well? On this program, Dr. Phil Wolfson delves into many aspects of the substance; the foolhardiness of the drug war,
The Right Took Over the Republican Party; Liberals Can Learn from Them//A War The West Can’t Win
Millennials would make a big mistake to give up on the Democratic Party. There is proof that liberals are successfully taking it back from the corrupt corporate wing. On the first half, In These Times staff writer Theo Anderson specifies
Truth as an Effective Political Weapon: Corbyn//Use Public Money to Fund Public Projects
Is truth still the first casualty of politics? Not in the UK, where Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn stunned PM Teresa May. He dared to tell the truth; authenticity works. So says Marc Weisbrot of the Economic and Policy Research Center. And
More Than Just Hacking; We’ve Become Like The Soviets
As we are bombarded by endless news about Russian hacking, interfering with our democracy, a more subtle yet equally serious concern is how much we have become like our former enemy. What we value most of all about The United
Kill It To Save It
The forces currently in power may actually believe that by killing democracy they are saving America. Or they may just be driven by simple greed. In his new book: Kill It to Save It; An Autopsy of Capitalism’s Triumph Over
Yippies, Satire, and Fake News: Paul Krassner Today
He published The Realist from 1958-2001. A magazine of satire that afflicted the powers that were. Paul Krassner along with Abbie Hoffman launched the Yippies to inspire young people in the late 60s, mixing rock and roll with politics. And
Truth is the Beliefs of the Strong: Trump and 1984
How dangerous is it that Americans are adjusting to truths changing by the hour? What is official truth now may not be so tomorrow. It’s all up to Trump’s White House. We mere citizens must accept and believe the dictate
Prisons Don’t Work; How To Do Better
You can’t incarcerate people into mental health. Prisons are a very old concept and it’s time to ask: Do they accomplish the goals for which they were created? What can we do with dangerous people if we do away with
American Guns Mean Mexican Slaughter
In the American war on drugs, the Mexican drug cartels work hand in glove with the federal, state, and local police. Most of the guns used in the tens of thousands of killings in recent years come from (guess where)
Is Trump a Threat to National Security//What is Net Neutrality?
Imagine being an intelligence professional. At great personal risk, you gather information crucial to America’s security. Then you have to share that information with the president. How would you feel when he blithely give those secrets to the Russians, of
Military Worship Threatens Our Democracy
Who better than a military person to talk about the dangers of what he sees as a worship of all things military? Major Danny Sjursen commanded troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and here talks about his deep concern about military,
On the Ground in Yemen: Famine Approaches
What can winning look like if the nation is decimated in the process? Sara Tesorieri speaks to us from Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, where she is working with the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide desperately needed humanitarian aid. The
Tax Policy: the 1% and Racism//Trump a War Criminal Already?
Tax breaks for capital gains are a form of class privilege. So says history of US capitalism professor Julia Ott. It’s better public relations for Southern senators than outright Jim Crow, but taxing capital gains less than ordinary income was
The Clintons and Obama Started Trump’s War on Immigrants
Imagine your very existence being seen as proof of guilt. The blatantly racist anti-immigrant policies Trump is known for did not originate with him. In fact, as our guest Avi Chomsky, professor of history and coordinator of Latin American, Latino,
While We’re Not Paying Attention; Remaking State Governments
We all focus on the top, the presidency and then congress. But more than you may think is at stake at the state level. Top corporations are focused where they can accomplish a lot for themselves relatively cheaply. A little
The Real Story of North Korea: It’s Complicated
Behind the simple image of two madmen facing off with nuclear weapons, there’s a lot more to the North Korea story we don’t know. For example, who knew that more bombs were dropped there in the early 50s than in
Better Than Bombs: Freedom from Want
Franklin Roosevelt understood that to be successful at defeating foreign threats, reliance on military power alone was insufficient. In this discussion from 2012 with David Woolner, Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute looks beyond the presidential candidates of the day
The Top 1% Want Us to Hate Taxes
As Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” But today’s greed-driven super-rich are determined to destroy America’s traditional valuing of the common good. If regular people hate taxes, then the top one tenth of one
Trump Bombs Syria: Now What?
On the one hand, somebody had to do something. Using Sarin gas to kill babies must not go unchallenged. On the other hand, what did the Tomahawk missile attack accomplish? What about the thousands of innocents already killed by all
Has Populist Wave Crested?//World War One Never Ended
The Democratic nominee was the very antithesis of populism; with her hand out to big money interests seeming to ignore everyday people. So we got Trump. In an article written by internationally recognized historian Alfred McCoy has written about The
MLK’s 4/67 AntiWar Speech Kicked off Today’s Split Among Liberals
It was the beginning of a 50 year split among liberals. Those in power, President Johnson in particular, wanted to relegate Dr. Martin Luther King to his safe civil rights leader role. But boldly, Dr. King spoke out against imperialism
WWI: America Made a Huge Mistake April 6 100 Years Ago. We are Still Paying.
It’s 2017 and no one would dispute that Germany is indeed “Europe’s pre-emininent power.” But on April 6, one hundred years ago America declared war for the explicit purpose of preventing this, though no one was really sure what the