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WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Latest episodes

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Mar 14, 2025 • 29min

Make the Road CT: Communities Fight Back In Connecticut

Sonia Hernandez and Veronica Ubaldo are team members with the community support organization Make the Road Connecticut, one of a national network of grassroots immigrant-led groups.  They share their personal stories of struggle for a better life in the US and their involvement in the fight for immigrant rights in their home town of Bridgeport, CT.Hosted by Richard Hill
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Mar 12, 2025 • 49min

Resistance Roundtable: International Women's Day Special with Medea Benjamin and Francesca Rheannon

A conversation with Medea Benjamin, co-director of Code Pink, and Francesca Rheannon, host of A Writer's Voice, a podcast which airs nationally and on WPKN-CT.Our guests cover topics from the ramped up oppressive measures against women's rights under Trump 2.0; to the possibilty of an end to the war in Ukraine; and the assault on DEI, free speech and public education.Hosts:  Ruthanne Baumgartner, Scott Harris and Richard Hill
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Mar 12, 2025 • 29min

Monthly Labor Report: 6 Weeks in and YES--We've Got Fascism!

This month the Labor Report focuses on the rapid devolution of the American political system into an authoritarian fascist oligarchy.Michael Zweig, economist and labor historian, provides an overview of these dangerous developments and the type of resistance needed to combat them.Special guest Sultana Hossain, recording secretary for tha Amazon Workers Union, reports on the "holiday strike" against Amazon last December; and then discusses the on-going fight by the AWU to force Amazon to negotiate a fair contract.Host: Richard Hill
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Mar 6, 2025 • 19min

For Decades, the FBI and local Police Have Turned a Blind Eye to White Supremacist Violence

Interview with Mike German, a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice, conducted by Scott Harris.Mike German talks about his new book, “Policing White Supremacy the Enemy Within,” a former FBI agent’s urgent call for law enforcement to prioritize far-right violence and end tolerance for police racism, and an increasingly dangerous situation where Donald Trump and his administration have embraced white supremacist and armed militia groups committing political violence on his behalf.
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Mar 6, 2025 • 16min

Students Across America Resist Trump’s Elimination of Campus DEI

Interview with Nicole Carty, Executive Director of Get Free, a youth-led progressive activist movement, and Carson Delia, a Temple University student and Get Free member, conducted by Scott Harris.Nicole Carty and Carson Delia talk about confronting the Trump regime’s attempt to eliminate DEI policies in higher education and censor curricula that don’t conform to their white supremacist ideology. They’ll also discuss a recent incident at Temple University where students attempting to deliver a letter to the university president addressing their concerns regarding: Trump’s anti-DEI policies, were blocked by police.
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Mar 6, 2025 • 20min

Trump Threats, Attempts to Intimidate US Free Press

Interview with Katherine Jacobsen, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator with the Committee to Protect Journalists, formerly worked for The Associated Press in Moscow and as a freelancer in Ukraine, conducted by Scott Harris.Katherine Jacobsen talks about CPJ’s call on the Trump administration to restore Associated Press access to the White House, and the Trump regime’s removal of the White House Correspondents’ Association from their decades-long role assigning reporters to cover White House press pool events, where the President’s staff will itself select reporters who will cover the presidency.
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Mar 6, 2025 • 27min

Confronting the Democratic Party’s Weak Opposition to the Trump Coup

Interview with Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, conducted by Scott Harris.Norman Solomon discusses his recent article, “Democrats Irritated by Voters Who Elected Them Need an Attitude Adjustment.” where he warns that Democratic legislators who are “perceived as wimps who failed to put up a fight against President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, risk facing primary challenges propelled by grassroots anger.
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Feb 27, 2025 • 13min

Sen. Bernie Sanders Denounces Trump’s Dangerous Move Toward Oligarchy, Authoritarianism & Kleptocracy

Excerpt of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, Senate floor speech on Feb. 4, 2025, edited and produced by Scott Harris.In this Feb. 4, 2025 excerpt of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ speech, he addresses the Trump-Musk coup, describing it as a dangerous movement toward oligarchy, authoritarianism and kleptocracy.
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Feb 27, 2025 • 18min

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is Waging a Dangerous Attack on the Foundation of U.S. Public Health Policy

Interview with Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emeritus, epidemiology at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, conducted by Scott Harris.Elizabeth Jacobs discusses rising concern about newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.’s agenda at this sprawling agency and the damage his anti-science views could inflict on the federal health response to contagious diseases such as measles and bird flu, federally-funded research on new drugs and food safety, as well as supervision of Medicare, Medicaid, CHIPS and the ACA.
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Feb 27, 2025 • 20min

Civil Resistance Strategies and Tactics to Resist the Trump-Musk Coup

Interview with Maria J. Stephan, author of the award-winning book, "Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict," conducted by Scott Harris.Maria Stephan talks about her recent article, “We are Stronger Than We Think,” and issues related to the rising protest movement opposing the Trump/Musk agenda, the power of collective defiance and how to make cruelty backfire. Stephan, co-lead and chief organizer of the Horizons Project, is the author and editor of five books on authoritarianism and civil resistance.

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