WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Nell Bernstein, author of In Our Future We Are Free: The Dismantling of the Youth Prison, conducted by Scott Harris.Nell Bernstein recounts the story of how a coalition of parents, activists and prison officials launched a successful campaign in states across the U.S. to end the prosecution of young people as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75 percent.

Interview with Maurice Carney, executive director of Friends of the Congo, conducted by Scott Harris.Maurice Carney discusses Africa observers’ concerns over Donald Trump’s recent meeting with the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, where they signed an agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo, while opening the region’s critical mineral reserves to the U.S. government and American companies.

Interview with Matthew Hoh, Eisenhower Media Network fellow, conducted by Scott Harris.Hoh discusses the Trump regime’s announced intention to launch covert CIA operations and airstrikes against Venezuela, as well as the U.S. bombing of suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific seas amid news reports of standing orders to kill survivors of those attacks.Hoh is a former U.S. Marine Corps captain and State Department officer, Iraq War combat veteran and Afghanistan War State Department officer.

Vermont Independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ speech from the floor of the U.S. Senate Feb. 4, 2025.Sen. Sanders denounced the Trump administration’s defiance of the U.S. Constitution and rule of law, describing it as a dangerous move toward oligarchy, authoritarianism and kleptocracy. Rebroadcast of his Feb. 4, 2025 speech from the U.S. Senate floor.

Interview with David Rovics, an internationally known songwriter, musician, writer and podcaster, conducted by Scott Harris.David Rovics talks about his latest album of songs, “Ai Tsuno’s Army of Robots,” created with artificial intelligence. He explores the controversy, skepticism and fear surrounding this new powerful technology regarding job displacement, privacy and the potential for abuse and misinformation.  Rovics talks about his music being censored on YouTube, and shares his positive experience collaborating with an AI music production platform that created his new album.

Interview with Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister, former president and current national board member of Veterans For Peace (VFP), conducted by Scott Harris.Gerry Condon talks about VFP’s support for the legislators’ message to active duty military and National Guard men and women, advising them they have an obligation to refuse illegal orders to fight illegal wars at home or abroad. He also discusses the recent tragic shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C.

Interview with John Noël, deputy climate program director of Greenpeace USA, conducted by Scott Harris.John Noël talks about the lack of action to phase out fossil fuels at the UN COP30 Climate Summit in Belem, Brazil that ended Nov. 22. He also addresses the Trump regime’s refusal to send a U.S. delegation to COP30 and the global impact of a diminished U.S. role in green energy production, as well as efforts to mitigate the climate crisis.

Interview with Sasha Abramsky, journalist and author, conducted by Scott Harris.Sasha Abramsky discusses his recent Nation and TruthOut commentaries that have tracked Donald Trump’s increasing depravity and erratic behavior which the nation has witnessed in recent weeks. Abramsky also talks about his new book, American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the U.S. Government, which follows 11 federal workers from 8 agencies for the first half of 2025 as their lives were upended by the Trump regime’s mass layoff of government workers and assault on the government.

Resistance Roundtable features two interviews:  1. Thomas Brzozowski, the former Counsel for Domestic Terrorism in the Counterterrorism Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, will address the looming threat that the US State Department will designate antifa to the level of a foreign terrorist organization;   2. Stan Heller, admin for Promoting Enduring Peace, and Faisal Falah, executive director of the Palestine Museum in Woodbridge, CT, will talk about the appearance and address at the museum by Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate student who was imprisoned by ICE for more than 100 days before his provisional release.Hosted by Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill

Interview with Ann Oliva, the CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness conducted by Melinda Tuhus.Oliva talks about the two approaches to ending homelessness and her organization’s opposition to Trump’s recently announced policy that will  cause 170,000 formerly homeless people to lose their federal funded housing.