WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Ron Jacobs, a contributor to Counterpunch.org and author of Nowhere Land: Journeys Through a Broken Nation, conducted by Scott Harris. Ron Jacobs talks about his commentary, “Culture, Christianity, and the Afrikaner Blues,” in the context of the blatantly false claims made by Donald Trump during South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent meeting at the White House.

Interview with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, conducted by Scott Harris. Alex Lawson discusses his group’s strategy to defeat Trump’s grotesque budget bill in the U.S. Senate that mandates the largest cuts in U.S. history — totaling $1.5 trillion from Medicaid and Medicare as well as the the SNAP food assistance program — while disproportionately giving the wealthiest Am...

Interview with Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director with Fight for the Future, conducted by Scott Harris. Lia Holland talks about her group’s opposition to a provision included in this year’s Republican reconciliation bill, similar to last year’s H.R. 9495, which would allow the Trump regime to remove the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that it says support terrorism, with no require...

Interview with Sim Kern, a former teacher, journalist, novelist, and best-selling author of The Free People’s Village, conducted by Scott Harris, conducted by Scott Harris. Sim Kern talks about his new book, Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation, a part-activist memoir, part-crash course in Jewish and Palestinian history. Genocide Bad dismantles Zionist propag...

Interview with Analilia Mejia, co-executive director of Popular Democracy in Action, conducted by Scott Harris. Analilia Mejia discusses her group’s opposition to the Trump/GOP budget proposal that will cut a combined $1 trillion from Medicaid and the SNAP food stamp program, which will result in 10.3 million people losing Medicaid coverage over the next decade to pay for major tax cuts primarily...

 Interview with Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with the Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), conducted by Scott Harris. Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with the Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), discusses the group’s views on President Trump’s recent visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the U.A.E., the deals announced, gifts received, and major issues discussed, including the ongoing slaugh...

Allison Pilcher, policy director, with the Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs discusses several important climate bills currently being debated in the Connecticut state legislature; and Luke Pickrell, a writer and member of Democratic Socialists of America, who talks about his recent Jacobin magazine article, "Only a Democratic Constitution Can Stop Trumpism." Resistance Roundtable Hosts:...

Juan Fonseca Tapia, a lead organizer with the Trust Act Now Coalition, discusses the history of this law, first passed in CT in 2013, then revised in 2019. The latest version, HB 7212, is now before the Conneticut State Legislature and contains an expansion of the protections to undocumented residents in the state. Interview by Richard Hill

Interview with Jeremy Brecher, a historian, documentary filmmaker, activist, and author of "Strike!" conducted by Scott Harris. Jeremy Brecher talks about his latest book, “The Green New Deal from Below: How Ordinary People Are Building a Just and Climate-Safe Economy,” which explores community-led initiatives in various sectors such as renewable energy, green schools and fair labor practices. Bre...

Interview with Margaret Poydock, a senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, conducted by Scott Harris. Margaret Poydock discusses EPI’s new report, “100 Ways Trump Has Hurt Workers in his First 100 Days,” which she co-authored, as well as the response of workers and opponents challenging the Trump regime policies. His new book Examines “The Green New Deal from Below” Jeremy Brecher,...

Interview with Jacob Love, senior attorney with the Boston-based group Lawyers for Civil Rights, conducted by Scott Harris. Jacob Love talks about his work challenging President Trump’s executive order to strip birthright U.S. citizenship from children born to immigrant parents. He’ll also discuss his concern about reports that the Trump regime is now actively considering deporting immigrants from...

A Catholic Worker Activist’s Appeal to Pope Leo to Visit Gaza:  Interview with Kathy Boylan, a member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker community in Washington, D.C., conducted by Scott Harris. Kathy Boylan discusses her hopes for Pope Leo XIV, the first American Pope, as a peacemaker and advocate for social justice, as well as personal appeal to the new Pope to visit Gaza and take a moral stand...

The May, 2025 Monthly Labor Report focuses on the fully emergent fascist assault on higher education and intellectual life the US with special guest Fred Kowal, president of United University Professions (UUP) and economist Michael Zweig.  The conversation includes an analysis of what social and political forces must coalesce to create a truly effective anti-fascist front. Host: Richard Hill

Interview with Dr. Kristen Panthagani,  a scholar with the Yale Emergency Scholars (YES) Program, completing an integrated emergency medicine residency and research fellowship focusing on health literacy and communication, conducted by Scott Harris. "The views expressed in this interview belong to Dr. Panthagani and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yale University or Yale New Haven Hospital...

Interview with Mark Colville, longtime social justice activist and leader of New Haven CT's Amistad Catholic Worker House, and a Yale student who wishes to remain anonymous, conducted by Scott Harris Mark Colville discusses Yale University administrator’s decision to revoke Yalies4Palestine university club status, the larger issues of freedom of speech on campus, the illegitimate conflation of any...

Interview with Craig Mokhiber, an international human rights lawyer and former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, conducted by Scott Harris. Craig Mokhiber discusses Israel’s blockade of food supplies to Gaza, starving 2.3 million Palestinians, the recent International Court of Justice hearings on Israel’s attack on and interference with UNRWA and other...

Interview with Ralph Nader, America’s best-known and most effective public interest lawyer, ran for president four times with the Green Party and as an independent, conducted by Scott Harris. Ralph Nader talks about the current constitutional crisis under the Trump regime, and his new book, “Civic Self-Respect,” a handbook on democracy and how citizens are empowered by their several roles, not onl...

Greenport, New York's native Candace Hall talks about being Greenport’s Village Clerk along with some candid personal revelations: the complexities of being part of a large family in a small town, being the first young black woman to achieve community prominence and the psychological importance to her of black representation. (WPKN May 7, 2025)

Interview with Gareth Gore, a London-based investigative journalist and editor, conducted by Scott Harris. Gareth Gore talks about his new book, “Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church. He discusses the late Pope Francis’ views on Opus Dei, the conservative personal prelature within the Catholic Church, and the coming college of cardin...

Interview with Kevin Martin, executive director of Peace Action, the country’s largest grassroots peace and disarmament organization, conducted by Scott Harris. Kevin Martin talks about his article, “Trump, the Peace President? More Likely the Proliferation President,” assessing the Trump regime’s foreign policy on Iran’s nuclear program, the Ukraine war, Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinian...

Interview with Dulce Guzmán, executive director of Alianza Americas, conducted by Scott Harris. Dulce Guzmán discusses her group’s concerns about the arrest of Milwaukee County Judge Hanna Dugan over allegations she obstructed justice after directing a migrant out of her courtroom as federal agents waited to arrest him. She also addresses the Trump regime’s continued defiance of federal and Suprem...

Interview with Melvin Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, a former CIA analyst and author, conducted by Scott Harris. Mel Goodman talks about his recent article, “The Meltdown of the United States,” where he observes, “The executive branch has taken on powers that are usually associated with wartime requirements. The...

Interview with Sam Rosenthal, political director of RootsAction.org, conducted by Scott Harris. Sam Rosenthal discusses his group and Progressive Democrats for America’s petition calling for the Democratic National Committee to convene an emergency meeting, declaring that “business as usual must give way to truly bold action that mobilizes against the autocracy that Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the...

Interview with Ari Paul, a New York City-based journalist and lecturer at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, conducted by Scott Harris. Ari Paul discusses his recent article, “Failing to Rise to the Constitutional Crisis,” about the deficiencies of corporate media’s coverage of the Trump regime’s authoritarian coup, and the growing importance of independent, non-comm...

Interview with Svante Myrick, president, People for the American Way, conducted by Scott Harris. Svante Myrick discusses the escalating constitutional as the Trump regime defies or ignores court orders — and the growing concern that the president may invoke emergency powers, such as the Insurrection Act of 1807, to eliminate all remaining checks on executive power, and establish a brutal and viole...