WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Interview with Gerry Condon, a Vietnam-era veteran and war resister, former president and current national board member of Veterans For Peace, conducted by Scott Harris. Gerry Condon discusses Veterans for Peace’s condemnation of the Trump regime’s spying on anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis/St. Paul against the backdrop of President Trump’s criminal prosecution of his perceived political enemies...

Interview with Sasha Abramsky, journalist and author of Chaos Comes Calling: The Battle Against the Far-Right Takeover of Small-Town America and American Carnage: How Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the U.S. Government, conducted by Scott Harris. Sasha Abramsky discusses his recent columns in The Nation covering the Trump regime’s open planning for a coup to manipulate the outcome of this November...

Interview with Greg Palast, investigative journalist and author, conducted by Scott Harris. Greg Palast, who’s been reporting on voter suppression for over 20 years, is an award-winning investigative journalist and best-selling author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, whose investigations were featured in the documentary film, “Vigilante: Georgia’s Vote Suppression Hitman.” He talks about the U...

The first episode of "Live Boldly with Rev Sara Smith," features an introduction to the new WPKN Radio program, by host, Rev. Sara Smith, Senior Minister of the United Congregational Church of Bridgeport, President/CEO and Founder nOURish BRIDGEPORT, Inc., and Sacred Heart University’s Protestant chaplain. As the program opens Rev. Smith talks about her life's journey and engagement in important i...

Interview with Anna Bernstein, principal federal policy advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Anna Bernstein who talks about the new policy the Trump administration is implementing that prioritizes abstinence, a policy directly advocated for in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 playbook.

Interview with Sam Carliner, freelance journalist covering U.S. foreign policy, immigration policy, and social movements, conducted by Scott Harris. Sam Carliner, a freelance journalist covering U.S. foreign policy, immigration policy, and social movements, talks about his recent article, “Pro-Palestine Academics Have Been Fighting the New McCarthyism,” which recounts how in recent years hundreds...

Interview with Thomas Meyer, deputy political director of Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Action, conducted by Scott Harris. Thomas Meyer discusses his group’s important work opposing the construction of data centers nationwide, where public opposition is on the rise to the rapid construction of artificial intelligence and cloud computing data centers, driven by bipartisan concerns ove...

Interview with Dr. Jake Scott, a clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine, conducted by Scott Harris. Dr. Jake Scott is a coauthor of “Updated evidence for COVID-19, RSV, and Influenza Vaccines for 2025-2026” in the New England Journal of Medicine. He discusses his Aug. 11 commentary, “What the vaccine executive order gets wrong, and what it wil...

Interview with Michael Sozan, a senior fellow at American Progress, conducted by Scott Harris. Michael Sozan talks about his critically important and comprehensive report, written with Ben Olinsky: “The Trump Administration is Interfering in the 2026 Midterm Elections to Entrench the Imperial Presidency,” which lays out the existential threat posed to democracy this November that isn’t getting the...

The Monthly Labor Report speaks with Hae-Lin Choi, co-founder/co-executive director of Hands Off NYC (https://www.handsoffnyc.com), in the lead up to Labor Day 2026. Hae-Lin talks about Labor Days past and how this one will set a marker for a new worker-immigrant alliance in preparation to fight for a fair election on November 3.  Hosted by Michael Zweig and Richard Hill

Interview with Joshua Rovner, director of Youth Justice with The Sentencing Project, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Josh Rovner, a senior research analyst with The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, where he focuses on youthful offenders and works to keep juveniles out of the adult court system. Here he talks about several major recent...

Interview with Autumn Waddell, an activist with the Elbit Out of South Carolina coalition, conducted by Scott Harris. Autumn Waddell discusses the recent arrests of three protesters picketing outside the Elbit Systems of America’s factory in Ladson, South Carolina. She also talks about Israel’s genocide in Gaza, violations of free speech surrounding dissenting views on the U.S. relationship with I...

Interview with Gov. Ned Lamont and state Rep. Josh Elliott, conducted by Scott Harris. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and state Rep. Josh Elliott discuss their positions on voters’ top issues, including skyrocketing health care costs, taxing the rich, the high cost of electricity and the urgent need to build affordable housing.

Interview with Branko Marcetic, a Jacobin staff writer and the author of "Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden," conducted by Scott Harris.  Branko Marcetic assesses recent Democratic party primary victories by progressive candidates and members of the Democratic Socialists of America, the millions of dollars spent by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and centrist Democra...

Interview with Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted by Scott Harris. Jennifer Loewenstein discusses her views on the current status of Trump’s war on Iran, how the conflict has spread dangerously throughout the region, and the future of the Strait of Hormuz where Iran and Oman are engaged in talks to manage the...

Interview with Stanley Heller, administrator of the New Haven, CT -based group Promoting Enduring Peace and host of the TV newsmagazine “The Struggle," conducted by Scott Harris. Stanley Heller talks about the global campaign to release Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the prominent Palestinian pediatrician and director of North Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, who has been imprisoned by Israel without charge o...

Interview with J. Patrick Coolican, editor-in-chief of Minnesota Reformer, conducted by Scott Harris. J. Patrick Coolican addresses both the worry and complacency among many Democrats regarding Trump’s clear plan to intervene and manipulate the outcome of the November midterm election. He discusses his recent article, “The Blueprint for Fighting Trump’s Attempt to Sabotage the Election, Drawn up i...

Interview with Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize–winning former New York Times foreign correspondent, conducted by Scott Harris. Chris Hedges discusses his recent commentary titled, “Trump’s Phantom Enemies,”   which asserts the Trump regime is linking Cuba with domestic, communist subversion and is laying the groundwork for McCarthyite blacklisting and criminalizing of all left-wing, progressive, an...

Interview with William LeoGrande, professor of government, dean emeritus of the School of Public Affairs at American University Washington, D.C., conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Professor LeoGrande about the history of U.S.–Cuba relations and the dire conditions faced by the Cuban people during this Trump regime engineered humanitarian crisis.

Interview with Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy and chairman of American studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, conducted by Scott Harris. Professor Stanley discusses his work at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Yale University's response to Education Secretary Linda McMahon's letter to U.S. universities and colleges asking their leaders to publicly c...

Interview with Annelle Sheline, research fellow with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Annelle Sheline, who resigned from the State Department in March 2024 in protest over President Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza. She now serves as a research fellow at the Quincy Institut...

Interview with Khury Petersen-Smith, Michael Ratner Middle East fellow and the co-director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, conducted by Scott Harris. Khury Petersen-Smith talks about the new IPS report, “Forging a Democracy that Works for All: Countering the Power of Billionaires, Corporations, and the Pentagon,” which proposes a detailed progressive bluepr...

Interview with Amanda Hollowell, chief of campaigns with Color of Change, conducted by Scott Harris. Amanda Hollowell discusses her group’s campaign opposing congressional approval for $10 billion to implement key sections of President Trump’s “Save America Act,” designed to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote, primarily targeting communities of color. Although the House approved the...

Interview with Matthew Hoh, a Iraq War combat veteran, former Afghanistan State Department officer and a senior fellow with the Eisenhower Media Network, conducted by Scott Harris Matthew Hoh, a Iraq War combat veteran and Afghanistan State Department officer who resigned in protest over U.S. war policy in 2009, now serves as a senior fellow with the Eisenhower Media Network.  He discusses his vie...

Interview with Melvin Goodman, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, professor of government at Johns Hopkins University and a former CIA analyst, conducted by Scott Harris. Melvin Goodman, whose latest book is titled, American Carnage: The Wars of Donald Trump, talks about his recent Counterpunch.org commentary, “The Sordid Politics of Defense Spending” and “Donald Trump: Killer...