The Rick Smith Show

February 1, 2024 Today we begin the show with a discussion of one of the crazier ideas to come out of the right-wing echo chamber in quite some time – the “Taylor Swift is secretly working for the Democrats” conspiracy. Join us as we laugh at the snowflakiest thing that ever snowflaked, and then we’ll move on to some serious policy talk with Scott Paul of The Alliance for American Manufacturing. D...

January 31, 2024 The silly season is here again, and it appears that, from now until November, we are going to be fed a steady diet of horse race journalism, as story after story will be spun into an election story, whether the story in question is one or not. We speak with journalist and State politics expert Carolyn Fiddler about the mind-numbing state of legacy journalism, how it sold itself ou...

January 30, 2024 Over the course of the last several decades, the wealth class has spent billions to separate us from our institutions – to turn “our” government into “the” government, so it can be demonized and used to divide us. And it worked. To bridge this divide, we’re going to have to start talking to each other again … and these days, that has become difficult, if not impossible. Do we have...

January 29, 2024 While the right has always been in opposition to public education, or really any kind of education for the working class, the attacks have gained a lot of momentum (and a lot of money) in recent years. In this episode, we discuss these trends, and the forces behind them, with one of America’s leading voices in education, Randi Weingarten, President of The American Federation of Te...

January 25, 2024 UAW President Shawn Fain made the choice clear when he announced his union’s endorsement of President Biden. Both candidates have a labor record to run on, but Trump’s record is terrible, and Joe supports working families. Don’t miss our breakdown of the day’s events, including analysis of Trump’s weak finish in New Hampshire with our guest Colin Seeburger, Senior Advisor for Comm...

January 24, 2024 The results are in, and Donald Trump has won the New Hampshire Republican Primary. But what does this mean? Is it over? Is Trump the inevitable nominee, or is there still a chance for some other Republican to defeat him? And if he is going to be the nominee, can he actually win in November? We discuss this and more with today’s guest, comedian and podcast host Pete Dominick. Don’t...

January 24, 2024 Education has become a subject of many divisions in recent years, and most if not all of those divisions are being fueled and stoked by right wing interests that want to turn our schools into corporate profit centers. Our guest today is Mary Cathryn Ricker, Executive Director of the Albert Shanker institute,  a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to three themes: excelle...

January 23, 2024 Join us for a discussion about our differences, how they are used to separate us from our neighbors, and who profits from those divisions. We also discuss recent events in the GOP primary, including Ron DeSantis dropping out of the race and then jumping back on the Trump Train. Don’t miss our daily TV show on Free Speech TV:  www.freespeech.org Find us on: ·      DirecTV (Channel...

January 19, 2024 In a massive case that no one is talking about, the Supreme Court is signaling that it might just put itself in charge of … just about everything. The case is challenging the decision in  Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council  (1984) and if the Court does what it appears it will do, everyone in America will be affected by it. For more on this case, and why it is so importan...

January 18, 2024 We begin the show talking about child labor and a new and shocking case involving the death of a child in a meat packing facility, and the rollback of child labor laws is red states. Then we welcome Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing to discuss the wave of manufacturing construction and the building of a new infrastructure around the production and distribution...

January 18, 2024 As the super-rich gather in Davos to count their billions and expand monopoly power all over the globe, we sit down with Senator Chris Murphy to discuss economic policy and how it can be used to restore some kind of balance and security for hard-working American families. Senator Murphy has been leading the charge in the fight against corporate greed and union-busting. For more co...

January 16, 2024 Trump begins his campaign push at the Iowa caucuses, winning by a big margin and salting the political earth with lies and conspiracies that would be comical if they weren’t so dangerous. From claims that Trump won Iowa twice (even though he lost there in 2016) to wing-nuts claiming that Trump opponents are controlling the weather, the first state to vote in 2024 has it all. To he...

January 15, 2024 The MLK holiday means different things to different people. Dr. King was the most prominent, most important voice in the fight for racial equality in America, but to working folks, he was also much more. Time and time again he showed up in support of working families, often joining strikes and labor movements, treating them as different parts of the same struggle for real freedom...

January 15, 2024 Many of us can tell old stories about relatives from previous generations who had to quit school to go to work, but those old stories are becoming new again. Red states are rolling back child labor laws at a frightening pace, exposing kids to long hours and dangerous conditions – repeating a terrible history just so corporations can feed their endless appetite for cheap and powerl...

January 11, 2024 Tax policy in America is a mess, and is yet another symptom of growing inequality. The rich pay too little, and the rest of us pay way too much. But if we actually get into the numbers and ask some hard questions about who pays what and where, the problem is actually much bigger than we ever imagined. Our guest today is Jon Whiten, Deputy Director of Institute on Taxation & Ec...

January 10, 2024 US Steel – once the largest company in the world – is being sold, and it is being sold to a foreign company, presenting Congress with a clear choice: approve the sale and allow the chase for maximum profits to weaken US infrastructure and defense, or oppose the sale and keep US production in America where it belongs. Our guest today is Pennsylvania Congressman Chris Deluzio. Don’t...

January 9, 2024 If democracy is going to continue in America, people who disagree have to be able to do so civilly – we have to be able to disagree without hating each other. To show what this looks like, we invited a former GOP congressman and former GOP presidential candidate on the program to discuss the real dangers of the Trump movement and why it is so dangerous to the very fabric of America...

December 18, 2023 As the holidays approach and 2023 approaches its close, we take time to talk about what unions have accomplished in 2023, and what they hope to accomplish in 2024. Our guest is Steve Sallman, Director of health, Safety & Environment for our friends at the United Steelworkers. Don’t miss our daily TV show on Free Speech TV:  www.freespeech.org Find us on: ·      DirecTV (Chann...

January 9, 2024 On the January 6 anniversary, right-wing talking heads took to the airwaves to attempt a brazen and ridiculous rewrite of history. And our corporate controlled media gave them unlimited access to the airwaves and simply let them tell the lies out loud over and over again. But not us. We’re going to call it how we see it, just as we always do.   Don’t miss our daily TV show on Free...

January 8, 2024 Why would one of America’s most prominent union leaders travel to Mar-a-Lago for a meeting with perhaps the most anti-union former president in American history? Teamsters NEVER kiss the ring, but a Teamsters president just did, and Rick has a few things to say about it. Today’s guest is “The Aggressive Progressive” Chris Hahn, a syndicated radio and podcast host and the former Chi...

January 5, 2024 With the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection only a day away, we take a look at the conspiracy industry that the day has become, and how the right is desperately trying to rewrite history and tell us that we didn’t see what we all clearly saw. And not only is is working, but it’s making a ton of money in the process. Today’s guest is Pennsylvania State Senator Art Haywood, wh...

January 4, 2024 It’s officially 2024, and that means it’s election time, and also a very dangerous time for American democracy. However, if we can keep the far-right from flooding the zone with chaos and hate and focus on the very real accomplishments of the Biden Administration, 2024 could be a very good year. Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing joins us to discuss. Check out Th...

December 15, 2023 In 2000, the US tied our economy to China in ways that have since made us much weaker economically and militarily, practically inviting China to lie, cheat, and steal from us – which they have done regularly ever since. Recently, a House bipartisan committee released a report detailing these mistakes and creating a path to fix them and reclaim our economy. Scott Paul  (@ScottPaul...

December 14, 2023 2023 has been a year of staggering success for labor and union organizing. From the UAW to the Teamsters to entertainment workers in Hollywood – there have been more big wins this year than in any other year in decades. If it continues in 2024, it could signal a “reset” in our relationship with work. But will it continue? Former NYT Labor Journalist Steven Greenhouse ( @Greenhous...

December 13, 2023 The AFL-CIO just announced they've formed a partnership with Microsoft "to create an open dialogue to discuss how AI must anticipate the needs of workers." This opens the door for significant labor organizing in the industry, and it also brings up several questions about AI and its future impact on us all in the workplace. Today’s guest is Dave Jamieson , Huffington P...