WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Collin Rees, U.S. program manager with Oil Change International, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.The Trump administration is cutting every subsidy and tax rebate for clean energy under the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2022. The Trump administration and the Republican Congress is also eliminating any other laws that promote the transition to clean energy that created hundreds of thousands of green jobs, many in red states.

Interview with Charles Haynes, of Citizens Against Tyranny in America, conducted by Scott HarrisCharles Haynes talks about Trump’s deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests against ICE deportation raids, and his recent column, “Trump Protestors: You Have No Idea What Is to Come,” with a focus on Israel’s seizure of ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza violates international law.

Interview with Brandon Wolf, Human Rights Campaign national press secretary, conducted by Scott Harris.Brandon Wolf provides an overview of Donald Trump’s many attacks on the LGBTQ+ community over the first five months of his administration and in the first few days of June Pride Month. He also discusses how HRC and a national coalition of allied groups are pushing back in the courts and on the street.

Interview with Tamika Middleton, managing director of Women's March, conducted by Scott Harris.Tamika Middleton discusses a broad coalition’s plans for the June 14th national No Kings and Kick Out the Clowns protests, which are being organized in more than 1,800 locations across the U.S. in response to President Trump and the Republican party’s attack on democracy and the rule of law.

Interview with Craig Mokhiber, former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, conducted by Scott Harris.Craig Mokhiber discusses his urging the UN to convene under Uniting for Peace to mandate a protection force be deployed in Gaza, a call for a complete military embargo of Israel, robust sanctions against the regime, demand for a ceasefire, and action be taken to hold all perpetrators accountable.Mokhiber is an international human rights lawyer who resigned in protest from his post as director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2023, due to the unfolding Gaza genocide and the UN’s failures.

The June Labor Report features Jeremy Brecher, co-founder of the Labor Network for Sustainability, and author of the iconic labor history book, Strike!, joined by economist and labor historian Michael Zweig, to discuss the latest alarming developments in the Trump regime's authoritarian putsch, and what shape and strategies an effective resistance must take to counter a free-fall into fascism.Host: Richard Hill

 Interview with Umme Hoque, an organizer with Defend and Recruit, conducted by Melinda Tuhus.Avelo Airlines is the only known commercial carrier that is operating deportation flights from the U.S. under contract with Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security. One of its commercial passenger hubs is in New Haven, Connecticut, where it has grown from a few flights to as many as 14 per day, mostly to the Southeast and Puerto Rico.The Coalition to Stop AveloDefend and RecruitImmigrant Rights Advocacy Group: Siembra NC"Activists Are Fighting Tax Subsidies for Airline Running ICE Deportation Flights By Umme Hoque," Truthout, May 15, 2025

Interview with Juan Fonseca of Danbury, the campaign manager of the Trust Act NOW! coalition, conducted by Scott Harris.Juan Fonseca discusses the CT Senate’s recent passage of amendments to the state’s TRUST Act, assessing what was, and was not accomplished by groups working to strengthen protections for the state’s immigrant community.

Interview with Seth Donnelly, one of the founders of Taxpayers Against Genocide, a grassroots movement spreading across the U.S., conducted by Scott Harris.Seth Donnelly talks about his group, Taxpayers Against Genocide, and the National Lawyers Guild International Committee’s legal complaint filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights against the U.S. government for complicity in genocide in Gaza. The lawsuit includes notarized affidavits by Palestinian-American plaintiffs who have lost loved ones to the U.S.-funded slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Interview with Andra Watkins, a New York Times best-selling author and Project 2025 dissector on the Substack online newsletter, "For Such a Time as This, conducted by Scott Harris.Andra Watkins discusses her recent column, “Project Esther: Where Dissent = Terrorism,” with a focus on the Trump regime’s targeting of individuals and groups protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza and in support of independence and self-determination for Palestine. Watkins says Project Esther’s larger goal is the suppression of all dissent, which they label as terrorism.