The Signal

Garen Meguerian is a civil rights, free speech lawyer, with 30 years of experience, practicing in the state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Since 2016, Garen has volunteered with grassroots groups, primarily in Chester County, to preserve democratic institutions. He joins us today to raise the alarm about the threats against Pennsylvania's independent judiciary and the importanc...

“In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country. Never before have so many states passed laws or regulations to facilitate the banning of books, including bans on specific titles statewide. Never before have so many politicians sought to bull...

On this week's episode of The Signal I welcome two guests: Bill V. Mullen , Professor of English and American Studies at Purdue University and Christopher Vials , an Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, where he also serves as Director of American Studies. Together they co-edited the book The U.S. Anti-Fascism Reader . Today we talk about their book, the history of fasc...

Cyril Mychalejko is the Editor-in-Chief of the Bucks County Beacon. He has over two decades of journalistic experience. His work has appeared in The Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer, Upside Down World, Common Dreams, TruthOut, and other publications. Today, Cyril joins The Signal as a guest to reflect on the week that Charlie Kirk was killed, the disturbing history of Turning Point US...

Jordan Green is an investigative correspondent based in Greensboro, N.C., who covers right-wing extremism for Raw Story. His work has been featured in a host of publications, including the Washington Post, The Daily Beast, The Nation, In These Times and Sojourners. Today he joins us to talk about his recent article in The Assembly  “I’ve Seen How the Neo-Nazi Movement Is Escalating. You Should Wor...

State Rep. Roni Green’s professional life has been about helping people climb out of poverty and fighting for working class families.  She began her career serving the people as a human services caseworker with the Glendale County Assistance Office, working for nearly two decades to ensure that Philadelphia’s most vulnerable residents have access to a path out of poverty. Her experience has deeply...

Photojournalist Michael Nigro reported a piece for the Bucks County Beacon earlier this month from the streets of Los Angeles which were turned into a war zone after Trump sent in the National Guard and Marines to quash anti-ICE protests. He was actually shot in the head with nonlethal bullet by police, though thankfully he was wearing a helmet. This multimedia journalist based in Brooklyn, New Yo...

Jessica Pishko is a journalist and lawyer with a JD from Harvard Law School and an MFA from Columbia University. She is the author of The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy . She has been reporting on the criminal legal system for a decade, with a focus on the political power of sheriffs since 2016. In addition to her newsletter Posse Comitatus , her w...

On this special Earth Day episode of The Signal, we welcome Ben Price, education director at the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund , where he has worked at since 2004. Ben is a trailblazer in the Rights of Nature movement and has a new book out: Wouldn’t You Say? A Collection of Essays About Environment and Community .  In this conversation, we discuss his book and how the rights of natur...

Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta was recently elected Vice Chair of the DNC. He joins us today to speak about the Trump administration’s dangerous and disastrous first few months in power and what Democrats are going to do to save our economy, our constitution, our democracy, and our future. Listen on Apple, Spotify , and iHeart   ALSO LISTEN TO: Larissa Hopwood on the Newly Formed Doylest...

On this week's episode, we welcome Larissa Hopwood, also known widely as “Lolly,” to the show. Larissa has lived in Bucks County since 1999. In addition to being a local activist and Democratic Committee Person, she's also a children's musician, author, teacher, designer, and proud mother of a trans son. Recently, Larissa co-founded the Doylestown Action League, which has been organizing rallies a...

Shoumita Dasgupta is the daughter of Bengali immigrants, a woman of color in STEM, and a scientist, educator, and geneticist. She is Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion at Boston University, a Fulbright Specialist, and a member of the inaugural cohort of faculty affiliates at the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Cyril first came across Shoumita’s...

Kadida Kenner is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the New Pennsylvania Project . Kadida is a tireless advocate for social and economic justice issues and is motivated to empower and excite the electorate to enthusiastically vote in every election — all the way down the entire ballot. Kadida has led efforts to stop the passage of a judicial gerrymandering constitutional amendment, raise the...

Elaine Weiss is an award-winning journalist, author, and public speaker. She is the author of The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote and Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of the Great War . She joins us today to talk about Her new book, Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools That Built the Civil Rights Movement , which comes out March 4th. Her book, which tells the story about ho...

Karen Downer recently stepped down as president of Bucks County NAACP after holding the position for six years. In this conversation, Downer shares her experiences growing up as a Black girl in Bucks County, her early involvement in civil rights activism, and her leadership role and work with the local NAACP. She discusses the challenges faced by the Black (and broader) community, particularly in...

Katherine Stewart is the author of The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, the award-winning book upon which the documentary feature, God & Country, produced by Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner, is based. She has covered the intersection of faith and politics for over 15 years; her work appears in the New York Times, The Washington Post, the New Republic, the Gu...

Dr. Anita Varma is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media at UT Austin where she focuses on media ethics. She leads the Solidarity Journalism Initiative at the university’s Center for Media Engagement. She received her Ph. D. in Communication from Stanford University, and her dissertation, Solidarity in Action: A Case Study of Journalistic Humanizing Techniques in the San Fra...

Mike German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has worked at the ACLU and served sixteen years as an FBI special agent, 12 of which he was tasked with combating domestic terrorism, sometimes going undercover and infiltrating white supremacist groups and militias. German is the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist as wel...

David Noll is a professor of law at Rutgers University. An academic fellow of the National Institute for Civil Justice, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, the New York Law Journal, and many others. He clerked for Judges Pierre N. Leval and Raymond J. Lohier Jr. on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Richard J. Holwell on the US District Court for the Southe...

Rotimi Adeoye is a writer and Opinion Columnist at The Daily Beast , covering topics such as American history, voting rights, and constitutional law. He has appeared on MSNBC and various podcasts, and his writing and advocacy have been featured in Teen Vogue, MSNBC, The New Republic, The American Prospect, and Axios. With a background as a speechwriter for the American Civil Liberties Union and on...

Anne Nelson is an award-winning author and journalist who has published a wide range of works dealing with human rights and freedom of expression. Her most recent book is Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, which describes the alliance of billionaires and Christian Nationalists who helped bring Trump to power.  Today Anne joins us to talk about her book Shadow Ne...

On this week’s episode of the Signal we welcome back Bucks County’s Steve Nolan. Steve spent 30 years in the military and 25 years as a mental health professional. He is the author of the 2020 book American Carnage, An Officer’s Duty to Warn , and today Steve is here to warn us again about why Trump, who checks the boxes for Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder, is...

Alan Jenkins is a writer, Harvard law professor, and human rights advocate. He and co-author Gan Golan, along with illustrator Will Rosado, led the creation of the graphic novel series 1/6, which asks the question: What if the Jan.6 insurrectionist attack on the US capitol had been successful? In the tradition of speculative fiction from George Orwell’s 1984 to Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, i...

Sean Kitchen is the Keystone Newsroom’s political correspondent.  The Keystone is a Pennsylvania-based newsroom of local editors and reporters with a modern take on sharing information and telling stories that impact our communities. The Keystone is owned and operated by COURIER , a pro-democracy news network that is building a more informed, engaged, and representative America by reaching audienc...

Kristin Kobes Du Mez is Professor of History and Gender Studies at Calvin University. She holds a PhD from the University of Notre Dame and her research focuses on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Religion News Service, and Christianity Today and has been interviewed on NPR, CBS, and the BBC, among other outl...