No side won, America lost. The so-called civil war (a civil war is a fight to take over the government; this was not) was America’s biggest failure, started by radical evangelicals on both sides. Lincoln was not the president of

Imagine being a proud part of the military for decades, serving as strategist and then it lands on you: our policy is a failure. Major Danny Sjursen in his inaugural Tom Dispatch post writes from a unique perspective on what

” They didn’t call it fascism. They painted it red, white, and blue, and called it Americanism.” That’s from a 1942 movie with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy called Keeper of the Flame, which imagines a full fledged homegrown American

She traveled 12,000 miles through 18 states and five Indian reservations to discover what local people are doing to address problems of racism, climate change, and economic inequality. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things in places you would not expect. Author

Over 3,000 prominent scientists, musicians, religious leaders, intellectuals, artists, actors, and others signed on to a full page ad in the January 4 New York Times, with the bold letters, “NO! In the name of humanity, we REFUSE to accept

While some argue Christmas is really a religious Christian holiday, that’s just not the case. The holiday has been with us for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and only morphed into what we see today as Christmas

Indigenous Americans for over 300 years have been treated as invisible; treaties and promises routinely ignored. Mainstream media ignored it as long as they could for fear of upsetting advertisers but pressure kept building and, surprise: the water protectors put

You think the Republicans are in a mess, look at Spain. They have been without a working government for years. The right is divided, the left is divided. Corruption is rampant. Catalonia wants to break off altogether. There are a

We’ve all heard of ISIS, we know Iraqi forces flee from them. But have you heard of the Kurdish women warriors of Rojava? ISIS is scared of them. And nation/state powers like Turkey also fear them. Who are these new

It’s starting to fade. The unquestioned backing by Jewish Americans for the State of Israel is slipping.  As author Allan C Browfield discusses, Zionism actually has a short shelf life among Jewish Americans. Before 1948, it was condemned by most

Through twelve administrations, the US has been tight with the Saudi government. On part one, Medea Benjamin talks about her new book: Kingdom of the Unjust: behind the US-Saudi Connections. She argues it’s time to cut the cord, they are

We couldn’t get the simple Equal Rights Amendment passed, but with the support of Hillary Clinton and Republicans across America, Jeff Clements, president of American Promise, believes we can erase Citizens United and restore democracy to American politics. And on

Seemingly out-of-the-way Turkey was central to a world war a hundred years ago, and after the July 15th attempted military coup, democracy looks to be quite thoroughly killed and President Erdogan is loving it. He’s a faithful American ally but

From ruthless cold warrior to taking on his nemesis LBJ over the war in Vietnam, was Bobby Kennedy an opportunist? Who was the “runt” of the Kennedy litter?  In this remarkable interview, bestselling author Larry Tye tells us how Bobby’s

They used to be on top of the world. Remember the mighty OPEC countries? With the fall of the price of oil, countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Venezuela are reeling. Professor Michael Klare looks at the nightmares unfolding and

Of course the North beat the South but Southern Values also won. Northern collusion with slavery, annexing Cuba, the 1% vs the 99%, and the wisdom of Phineas T. Barnum are all entertainingly discussed in Ecstatic Nation: Confidence Crisis and

And not just for Palestinians. With the ascent of the nationalistic right, even Jewish Israelis are feeling the sting of government assaults on democracy. Allan Brownfeld, editor of the magazine of The American Council for Judaism, explains how democracy is

They’ve been the big boys ruling their neighborhood for half a century. They really don’t want to give it up, but with their war in Yemen hurting their standing (and America’s) and the dropping price of oil, they are being

How did a pink flower beat the world’s only superpower? After 15 years, 2200 Americans dead, more than a trillion dollars The US has not been able to pacify one of the worlds poorest nations. One of the worlds leading

On January 2, 2016, our great ally, the Saudi government, cut the heads off 47 prisoners, including the revered Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Shiite Iran was none too pleased. Tensions between them are at an all time high. Guest on

All the presidential contenders and all of Washington’s top brains repeatedly call for the wealthy Arab states to lead the war on ISIS. Why aren’t they doing it? Former State Department whistle-blower Peter Van Buren explains why.

Talk about threats to democracy and to America itself: The Trump phenomenon is blatantly racist, xenophobic, and fascist, more and more from both parties are recognizing this. Does Trump give voice to what many Americans secretly feel? In this discussion,

On the first half, international relations and military history professor Andrew Bacevich on why western belligerence can not be successful against ISIS, and suggests what can work. And on part two, there is a move to once again prohibit those

The horror of ISIS terrorism today grew from the “peace” imposed by the most powerful Western nations on the former Ottoman Empire at the finish of the first world war, a war that never ended. Many more civilians were killed

Of course America is a mosaic of cultures, and all citizens are equally American. But since 9/11, South Asian, Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Americans have been routinely harassed and often bullied and terrorized, often by actual government policies. People are

http://media.blubrry.com/keeping_democracy_alive/www.dropbox.com/s/6issbyw42inhgle/ArabSpringRedux.mp3?dl=0It started out so promising: peaceful revolutions for self-determination. From Tunisia through Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and of course Syria. Now Tunisia is the only stable secular democracy, and on this show author and professor Rebecca Gordon sheds light on

It started out so promising: peaceful revolutions for self-determination. From Tunisia through Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and of course Syria. Now Tunisia is the only stable secular democracy, and on this show author and professor Rebecca Gordon sheds light on

It started out so promising: peaceful revolutions for self-determination. From Tunisia through Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, and of course Syria. Now Tunisia is the only stable secular democracy, and on this show author and professor Rebecca Gordon sheds light on

Perpetual war is now widely accepted. Henry Kissinger’s unique apparently amoral approach to assertion of his and America’s power still casts a shadow on America, both domestically and across the world. This new book: Kissinger’s Shadow, The Long Reach of

A hundred were killed in a peaceful rally in Ankara: who did it and why? It seems to have been ISIS, which our ally, the Erdogan government of Turkey, is actually helping. meanwhile our enemy, Putin’s Russia is helping to