WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

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...

Interview with David Schultz, distinguished professor in the departments of political science, environmental studies and legal studies at Hamline University, conducted by Scott Harris. David Schultz discusses his recent Counterpunch article, “The Tragedy of Political Violence: It Works,” recounting how violence has played a critical role in shaping history across the world and here in the U.S. He...

Interview with Phyllis Bennis, director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ New Internationalism Project, conducted by Scott Harris. Phyllis Bennis talks about President Trump’s decision to launch of air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, the ongoing Israel-Iran air battle, and the danger that Trump’s entry into the conflict could ignite a dangerous regional war.

Interview with Randi Spivak, public lands policy director with the Center for Biological Diversity, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Randi Spivak, public lands policy director with the Center for Biological Diversity, discusses these threats and suggests ways listeners can help protect America’s public lands.

Interview with Ann Wright, a 29-year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March 2003 in opposition to the war. Ann Wright discusses her views on Donald Trump’s federalization and deployment of National Guard and Marine troops to Los Angeles over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, to suppress mostly peaceful protests regarding:...

Interview with Sasha Abramsky, The Nation magazine’s Western correspondent and author of " Chaos Comes Calling: The Battle Against the Far-Righs Takeover of Small-Town America," conducted by Scott Harris. Sasha Abramsky discusses his recent articles, “Trump Calls Up the Marines. Democracy Is in Danger,” and “Trump’s Dangerous Escalation in LA,” as well as the most dangerous authoritarian actions T...

Interview with Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, conducted by Scott. Elizabeth Jacobs discusses her alarm at Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s changes to COVID vaccine recommendations for pregnant women and children; as well as removing all 17 sitting members of...

Interview with Jennifer Loewenstein, former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducted by Scott Harris. Jennifer Loewenstein assesses the rationale and consequences of Israel’s attack on Iran, Tehran’s retaliation, the Trump regime’s apparent role in the attack, and the threat that this conflict could trigger a wider regional conflict involving t...

Interview with Collin Rees, U.S. program manager with Oil Change International, conducted by Melinda Tuhus. The Trump administration is cutting every subsidy and tax rebate for clean energy under the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in 2022. The Trump administration and the Republican Congress is also eliminating any other laws that promote the tran...

Interview with Charles Haynes, of Citizens Against Tyranny in America, conducted by Scott Harris Charles Haynes talks about Trump’s deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests against ICE deportation raids, and his recent column, “Trump Protestors: You Have No Idea What Is to Come,” with a focus on Israel’s seizure of ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza violates inter...

Interview with Brandon Wolf, Human Rights Campaign national press secretary, conducted by Scott Harris. Brandon Wolf provides an overview of Donald Trump’s many attacks on the LGBTQ+ community over the first five months of his administration and in the first few days of June Pride Month. He also discusses how HRC and a national coalition of allied groups are pushing back in the courts and on the s...

Interview with Tamika Middleton, managing director of Women's March, conducted by Scott Harris. Tamika Middleton discusses a broad coalition’s plans for the June 14th national No Kings and Kick Out the Clowns protests, which are being organized in more than 1,800 locations across the U.S. in response to President Trump and the Republican party’s attack on democracy and the rule of law.

Interview with Craig Mokhiber, former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, conducted by Scott Harris. Craig Mokhiber discusses his urging the UN to convene under Uniting for Peace to mandate a protection force be deployed in Gaza, a call for a complete military embargo of Israel, robust sanctions against the regime, demand for a ceasefire, and action be t...