WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Joan Cavanagh, a founding member of Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide, conducted by Scott Harris. Joan Cavanagh talks about the new documentary film titled, “Thoughts on Medical Assisted Suicide,” which will be available for viewing online from July 23 through July 30, in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into la...

Interview with Greg Palast, author of several New York Times best-sellers including,The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, conducted by Scott Harris. Greg Palast talks about his recent investigations into the Trump-Republican party plan to win the 2026 midterm elections in 2025 by employing massive voter purges in purple states, racial gerrymandering, and voter suppression tactics.

Interview with John Tarleton, editor-in-chief of The Indypendent, New York City's free progressive monthly newspaper, conducted by Scott Harris. John Tarleton discusses his coverage of Zohran Mamdani’s surprise victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary and the obstacles ahead for his progressive campaign in the November election, where he’ll face both Mayor Eric Adams and former New Yo...

Interview with Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and critical care surgeon, and Dr. Ayaz Pathan, an emergency room physician, conducted by Scott Harris. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa and Dr. Ayaz Pathan discuss their experiences working as physicians in Gaza; the ongoing slaughter and starvation of Palestinian civilians there; and their understanding of the mission of the Israeli-U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Found...

Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor emeritus at St. Mary's College and author of The Scourge of Neoliberalism--US Economic Policy from Reagan to Trump, looks under the hood of the recently-passed MAGA tax and spending cut bill, and finds more of the putrefaction associated with neoliberalism and late-stage capitalism. Interview by Richard Hill 

Excerpt of speech by Jonathan Kuttab, Palestinian-American human rights lawyer and author of Beyond the Two-State Solution, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus. Beyond the current bloody war and genocide in Gaza, people across the Middle East and world are asking whether or not the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians can ever be resolved. Jonathan Kuttab is a Palestinian-Am...

Interview with Debra, an organizer with the group Indivisible Amity, Connecticut -- and Tom of the Indivisible chapter in Orange, Connecticut, conducted by Scott Harris. Indivisible organizers Debra and Tom discuss plans for the Thursday, July 17 “Good Trouble Lives On Rally” — with speakers and music on the New Haven Green in downtown New Haven, CT from 6 to 7 pm. This event, part of the day’s so...

Interviews with several participants in the pro-democracy, anti-Trump ‘No Kings Day’ June 14, 2025, protests in Trumbull and Newtown CT, conducted by Scott Harris. The ‘No Kings Day’ protests involved 2,100 protest sites across the U.S. and attracted the participation of an estimated 5 million protesters.

Interview with Kali Holloway is columnist for The Nation and the former director of the Make It Right Project, a national campaign to take down Confederate monuments and tell the truth about history, conducted by Scott Harris. Kali Holloway discusses her recent articles on white supremacy and the Trump regime, with a focus on the multiple ways Trump has carried out an explicitly racist, white supr...

Interview with Victor Pickard, professor of media policy and political economy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, where he co-directs the Media, Inequality & Change Center. Victor Pickard discusses the important issues examined in his recent Nation magazine article, “The Media’s Profits Trump Democracy, Once Again,” with Paramount’s settlement with Trump as...

Interview with Xavier de Janon, an attorney representing one of 61 ‘Stop Cop City’ defendants in Atlanta, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Xavier de Janon, an attorney representing one of the 61 defendants. Here, he discusses the status of the cases and the serious possible sentences — up to 20 years in prison — that await any who are convicted. On July 7, a...

Interview with Maggie Mitchell Salem, executive director of Connecticut-based IRIS, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, conducted by Scott Harris. Maggie Mitchell Salem discusses the impact of the Trump administration’s new immigration policies on IRIS services, as well as federal funds revoked or withdrawn from IRIS’ budget. She also talks about her group’s latest Know Your Rights campaign...

Interview with Teddy Wilson, a journalist, researcher and publisher of the Radical Reports newsletter on the far right, conducted by Scott Harris. Teddy Wilson talks about indicted Jan. 6 insurrectionist Jared L. Wise’s appointment as a counselor to Ed Martin, director of the so-called Department of Justice Weaponization Working Group. Wilson also discusses investigations he’s conducted in his “Pa...

Interview with Chris Lehmann, the DC Bureau chief for The Nation magazine and a contributing editor at The Baffler, conducted by Scott Harris. Chris Lehmann discusses the important and timely issues examined in his recent Nation article, “Trump’s Big Bill is Building a Big Police State,” explaining that “with more than $150 billion in outlays to expand the horrific surveillance, detention and rend...

Interview with Dr. Adam W. Gaffney, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus on Children. Dr. Adam W. Gaffney and Bruce Lesley discuss the expected overall healthcare impact of the Trump-GOP federal budget bill just passed by Congress that cuts $1 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare, will take away millions of poor families’ access to foo...

The Monthly Labor Report welcomes Nadia Marin-Molina, executive director of NDLON, the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, to discuss the crisis, the activism, and the fight-back we are witnessing as the right-wing attack on immigrants (both documented and undocumented) reaches critical mass around the country.  The conversation includes Michael Zweig, economist and labor historian, who brin...

 Interview with Padma Dyvine, a survivor of Hurricane Helene from Bat Cave, North Carolina, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus visited friends in the area in June and saw firsthand some of the damage and ongoing recovery efforts. Padma Dyvine and her husband, who live in the hamlet of Bat Cave, were airlifted from their home by helicopter when fallen trees blocked their a...

Interview with Dulce Guzman, executive director of Alianza Americas, conducted by Scott Harris. Dulce Guzman discusses her group, Alianza Americas’ response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limits the power of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions, without addressing the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. She’ll also discuss the next...

Interview with India Walton, senior strategist with RootsAction.org, conducted by Scott Harris. India Walton discusses Zohran Mamdani’s apparent and historic victory in the New York City primary election, and the attacks and obstacles he’ll likely face in the general election campaign as the Democratic party establishment, their corporate allies, and Wall Street attempt to smear Zohran as a “dange...

Interview with Amanda Marcotte, a senior politics writer at Salon.com and author of "Troll Nation: How the Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set on Rat-F*cking Liberals, America and Truth Itself."  Amanda Marcotte talks about her recent commentary, “Evangelicals Push Trump into Conflict with Iran,” making the case that the Christian Right remains Trump’s most important constituency.

Interview with Sarah Kendzior, author of four best-selling books including, “They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent,” and her latest, "The Last American Road Trip," conducted by Scott Harris. Sarah talks about the Trump-GOP mafia state’s aggressive attack on the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law and dissent, as the regime deploys National Guard troops and the Marines t...

Resistance Round Table is broadcast on WPKN the 2nd Saturday of each month where we engage in conversation about local and nationwide organizing for a more just and democratic America during this pivotal and dangerous moment in our nation's history. Show hosts are: Ruth Anne Baumgartner , a longtime instructor in literature and writing at Central Connecticut State University, member of the executi...

Interview with Mike Ferner, former director and former chair of the board of Veterans for Peace, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Mike Ferner, a former national director of Veterans for Peace who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, later discharged as a conscientious objector. Ferner began the fast with the others, but was forced to drop out after 21 d...

Interview with Carolina Bortolleto, co-founder of Connecticut Students for a Dream, and Juliana Soares, immigrant rights activist, conducted by Scott Harris. Carolina Bortolleto and Juliana Soares discuss recent ICE deportation raids in Danbury and elsewhere in Connecticut, the Danbury community’s response and demands issued by Danbury Unites for Immigrants, a collective of local immigrant communi...

Interview with Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org, executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and author, conducted by Scott Harris. Norman Solomon talks about the recent massive June 14th nationwide anti-Trump protests and his recent commentary, “No Kings Day’ Was Historic: Now We Need a Powerful — and Independent — Movement Against Trump,” discussing the strategies and ta...