Take Action
Unprecedented: Democratic Party War on Bernie Sanders
He’s a leading contender, surging in the polls but the Democratic Party is wielding a real war on Bernie Sanders. According to Princeton history professor Matt Karp, it’s without precedent. Bernie Sanders is clearly carrying on FDR and LBJ Democratic
Undocumented Young Americans: Lives in Limbo
Work hard, do well at school, play by the rules and you’ll do OK. That does not seem to apply to the more than 2 million young Americans whose parents may have fallen through the large cracks in our broken
A New New Deal: How Possible?
No question, FDR was our greatest Democratic president. Though we have, at least for the moment, gone beyond the recession of 2008, perhaps we’ve merely swept the problem under the rug, along with opportunities for real economic security. On this
Why Rich Arab States Won’t Fight Our War Against ISIS
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.
Time to Free Pam Smart. Here’s Why
The ice princess, the black widow. Since the circus of a trial on 1990, Pam Smart has remained in jail with a sentence worse than for Charles Manson. It was a made-for-the-movies spectacle in which the judge said he wanted
The Lasting Effects of Trumpism
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,
Billionaire Bonanza: Forbes 400 and the Rest of Us
Chuck Collins, founder of Wealth for the Common Good and senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies talks about the new report on the top .01 percent and the impact on our democracy. They are not job creators as
The Disturbing Reality Behind Turkey and the Russian Jet
The mainstream media paints a simple picture: Turkey was merely defending itself. But America’s ally, Turkey’s Erdogan, sees his greatest enemy as the Kurds as he works behind the scenes with ISIS. He doesn’t want Russia attacking ISIS and its
A War The West Can’t Win/Ending TV Ads for Drugs
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
Beginning of the End for Super PACs?
SuperPACs are one of the greatest threats to what remains of democracy in the USA. These slippery legal entities circumvent campaign finance laws and enable huge money to own government and elections. The founders idea of democracy is destroyed by
Harm to Kids from Authoritarian Control
Is there a worse crime than child abuse? Is the complicity by knowing adults just as bad? Is there something about the very nature of authoritarianism in schools? Guest on this show lived through an atmosphere of abuse in a
Fighting Police Terror/TPP Revealed: Destroying Democracy
For decades police have gotten away with murder. Thanks to cell phones, today they’re getting caught. And they are fighting back, actually threatening such people as Quentin Tarantino. On the first half, guest Travis Morales of Rise Up October and
Government Terrorism Against Asian, Muslim Americans
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
Torture and Drones: Democracy Broken
In their chilling and intense new novel Broken! , authors Michael Kearns (who taught “enhanced interrogation”) and Ronald Solomon, former TV producer and creator, paint a vivid picture of a world only slightly different from today, filled with swarms of
The Many Accomplishments of America’s Left/Populist Tradition
While the left has had very few actual electoral victories, author Michael Kazin argues it has very effectively changed the nation. The author of “A Godly Hero: William Jennings Bryan,” talks about his new book “American Dreamers.” What’s gone right
Racial Inequality Actually Thrives in Good Schools
You may have thought our schools, at least the better ones, successfully tackled the problem of institutional racism. But in this surprising new study, well-established assumptions based on style of clothes, culture, and, really, skin color serve to keep down
American Exceptionalism? The Religion of Nationalism
American Exceptionalism: it’s beyond mere national pride, it is an insistence that we are above the normal rules and that we are God’s gift to the world. Of course if we know someone who feels this way about him or
Hillary’s Anti-Democracy Foreign Policy
Recently released emails reveal that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enabled the success of the military coup in Honduras in 2009 which overthrew a democratically elected president. Why should we care? It was the same old American heavy-handedness which creates
The Dumbing Down is Working
Started under Reagan in 1983, the drive to put public education in the hands of for-profit interests has greatly weakened education, done real harm to thousands of kids, and weakened our real national security. Today’s guest is John Kuhn who
The Revolution Before the War of Independence
We’re all familiar with 1776. But before the actual separation from England, there was revolution across the land. The spirit of 1774 was focused on class-blind democracy and a lot of what happened then, with powerful actions from the grassroots
The Right Is Quite Wrong About Founders
What was the actual intent of America’s founders? The far right has too often gotten away with claiming the mantle of the values of America’s founders. Even Glenn Beck has stolen the title of Thomas Paine’s 1776 pamphlet Common Sense
Police Violence: The Startling Economic Context
Ferguson. Staten Island. Even small town cops are armed like soldiers. The list of disturbing and excessive police violence is lengthy. How did we get here? How is it that the militarization of police has become so widespread across America?
The Real Troublemaker in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia
Republican presidential wannabes fall over themselves to see who can hate Iran the most. And of course, ISIS is despicable. Yet with all their state run beheadings and human rights abuses, somehow Saudi Arabia remains America’s best Arab ally. Guest
Was A Free Press Shot Down With That Ukraine Jet?
Just three days after Malaysian flight MH-17 was shot down near the Ukraine Russian border, Secretary of State Kerry had all the answers. Renowned former CIA analyst Ray McGovern is convinced the secretary of state did not so much inform
Gaza: One Year After
Would any other country have gotten away with it? It might be best called Israeli Exceptionalism. After a 51 day war on the Gaza Strip, more than 2,200 Palestinians died and the infrastructure was devastated. Seventy seven Israelis died, all
Economic Democracy: Working In Cincinnati
We’ve all seen the results of economics imposed from the top down. Sometimes it works well, other times we’ve seen communities devastated as a result of this process. But in Cincinnati, there’s an idea taken largely from success in the
States to Feds re/Weed: Bug Off
Uniting traditional left and right, legislators from all 50 states endorsed a message to the federal government: let us make our own laws on marijuana. Sponsor of the NCSL resolution NH Rep Renny Cushing talks about how and why states
Without This Ingredient, No Peace in Israel/Palestine
Trading land for peace. Overwhelming military force. Drawn out negotiations. Compromises on this or that. None of it has worked nor can it when it comes to creating a sustainable peace in the Israel/Palestine region. Viewing the decades long crisis
Orthodox Rabbi: “Zionists Bring Danger Upon Jews”
Most of the world seems to think that the State of Israel and Judaism are one and the same. They are not. Where Judaism is thousands of years old and lived for peace with Muslims and Christians in what Rabbi